5150 II vs. JCM 800

[Groove_Machine]

Re: 5150 II vs. JCM 800

I am not sure about the 5150 II, I do know the first series of the 5150, and in terms of Distortion it will blow away the JCM 800, ( I also had a 2204 the 50 watter with reverb).
I liked the marshall for what it did..especially live, it never died. I liked the 5150 alot, I was not impressed with the clean channel, I liked the marshall better..I loved the crunch channel on the 5150...then I goy wiser and replaced all my heads with an SLO-100 and couple of HR50+ and the tone search was over....Bottom Line, I would take the 5150,

[followthereaper]

Re: 5150 II vs. JCM 800

Is there any difference at all between the 5150 and 6505? I read how it hasn't changed at all except the name, but I wanted to check if they started using different or perhaps cheapers parts or anything like that.

[ChlorineRR4]

Re: 5150 II vs. JCM 800

nope, in fact my 6505+ that i bought last year came with Ruby tubes in it [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[jgcable]

Re: 5150 II vs. JCM 800

[ QUOTE ]
The 5150 will crush it in the gain dept. Even with a pedal in front. The 5150 does the metal thing very well.

The Marshall JCM 800. It depends on the year and model you are going for. The 2210 would be more like the 5150. It will do metal. As for any other JCM 800 model you will need a pedal in front. I personally like the SD-1 and Marshall combo or a Hotmod in it.

The 5150 would be my choice out of the two.

[/ QUOTE ]

+1. Wolcott... huh?? Milford representing.

[JerryP]

Re: 5150 II vs. JCM 800

Go for the 5150II for the tones you described. The 5150II can do almost everything a JCM800 can on it's crunch channel and metal all day long with the lead channel.
Jerry

[followthereaper]

Re: 5150 II vs. JCM 800

Thanks for all the advice.

[kmanick]

Re: 5150 II vs. JCM 800

I'd go for the 5150 too.
I have an early 96 5150 combo, and once I replaced all the tubes with JJ's it became a different animal.
the rhythm channel actually cleans up pretty nicely now, and I can actually get a good bluesy sound out it. Punch in the crunch and dime the gain and you're good to go for most 80's metal.
the lead channel has tons of gain, and with the JJ's tons of usable gain. the more I use this thing the more I love it, and I grew up strictly a Marshall guy.
Plus these can be had for short money on Ebay. [img]/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[Fragle]

Re: 5150 II vs. JCM 800

now thats a question for me. atm i own both a jcm800 2210 and a 5150 (I). i'm playing thrash and "scandinavian" stuff mostly.
basically, the 5150 has tons of gain on both channels. a retube is mandatory, though. i retubed mine with a mix of JJs, Svetlana and EH in the preamp and svetlana in the poweramp, and now it's one of the most kickass sounding amps i've ever heared/owned. in fact, it has either TWO distorted channels, or a halfway decent clean and a ripping lead channel. i'd say the 5150's EQ section is more versatile. also, the 5150 has a ton more bass and "chug", and is also very tight right out of the box.
the marshall on the other hand is a classic that will give you the marshall sound, period. the clean channel sucks, there's no denying that. the lead channel rocks quite hard, has enough gain for thrash metal without any outboard help, and the reverb is pretty kickass. i'm using a tubescreamer anyways as it gives the sound a nice edge that cuts right through the mix, but then again i also do this with the rhythm channel of the 5150.

so bottom line is, want the marshall sound and don't need super brutal sounds: get the marshall and an OD box, you will be more than grateful i promise. want a more versatile amp which can cover both super heavy stuff as well as more rock-ish music like ozzy or van halen (although the marshall will do a more convincing job on the latter, that's for sure), go for the 5150.
as far as reliability goes, they're both tough as hell, no worries here.

edit: this is for the 5150 I though....i haven't put a 5150II through it's paces yet, but apparently it has quite a bit less gain on both channels. i guess a 5150II lead channel on 6 is more like 4 on the 5150I. but as jerry said, for old school jcm800 tones the 5150II crunch channel will be even better than the 5150I crunch channel.

[followthereaper]

Re: 5150 II vs. JCM 800

Haha, man, you guys aren't making it easy choosing because now they both sound better than I thought in the first place. I guess now I'll just have to decide if I want crazy gain or the Marshall sound more. A bit curious though if you're using the newer Tube Screamer or that other one that uses like the original wiring of the originals back in the day? Also, would a Boss Metal Zone work?

[Fragle]

Re: 5150 II vs. JCM 800

i'm using a newer one, the TS-7. apparently the ts-808 or the maxon tubescreamers sound better, but seriously, i've heared clips done by andy sneap using various models of tubescreamers and even modded ones, and the difference is minimal to nonexistant.
i'd stay away from the metalzone. i have one, which i used to occasionally use as a boost (a la cannibal corpse), you could try that on the marshall's lead channel (remember, as a boost, that means level full gain zero eq to taste), i'm sure the peavey would hate it. but in general, i'd NEVER buy a jcm800 or a 5150 only to power a fuggin metalzone [img]/images/graemlins/nono.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/bs.gif[/img]

[followthereaper]

Re: 5150 II vs. JCM 800

Yeah, I just have one because I'm making a huge upgrade (I had a Crate combo and the Metal Zone) but finally just got sick of the shitty sound and how awful it was. I'm a bit confused about the jcm... Where do I find a 2210? All I can find as of now are 2203's.

[siggy14]

Re: 5150 II vs. JCM 800

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I just have one because I'm making a huge upgrade (I had a Crate combo and the Metal Zone) but finally just got sick of the shitty sound and how awful it was. I'm a bit confused about the jcm... Where do I find a 2210? All I can find as of now are 2203's.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can only find them used, usually ebay is your best bet but there havent been many on there latley. Your other option is Rack Gear, get a used Marshall JMP-1 with a good power amp will probaly cost about the same as a used 2210. With the JMP-1 you have all the tones of the 2210, plus alot better cleans and as many patches as you want.

[tomparks]

Re: 5150 II vs. JCM 800

both amps kick ass.

[Fragle]

Re: 5150 II vs. JCM 800

yeah, right, i totally forgot about the jmp1 rack setup. if you have the funds go for that one! no, it won't give you 100% exact jcm800 tones, BUT it will give you very good jcm800-ish tones, plus it can get SUPER heavy. the cleans are also better than the jcm800 cleans, although not quite as good as the dsl100 cleans imho. i use the jmp1 / el34 100:100 rack setup for rehersal, and it can cover almost anything. only downside is that it's a heavy bitch, you should consider a less powerful poweramp [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

as for the 2210 vs. 2203...interesting, normally the 2210 is more popular. as siggy already said, ebay is your friend. the 2203 has less gain and NEEDS a pedal to even get into stock 2210 territory, but some people claim it has a more pure sound that's even ballsier...i don't know, never played one. the 2210 has a second channel (clean), though, and as i already said more gain, an fx loop as well as reverb. the clean channel kinda sucks and crosstalks with the lead channel, so in reality the 2210 is more comparable to a modded 2203 imho.

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: 5150 II vs. JCM 800

Haha... I traded my pair of 5150s I'd used for years for a JMP-1/EL-34 100/100 setup, and I have kicked myself in the ass ever since for doing that.

BTW, I love the 800s and the 5150s and have uses for both amps for sure. But, I think the 5150 is the more relevent amp to most metal and to more players that do current metal right now.

For plug in out of the box brutality and chug on rythms, the 5150 is truly the one to get. But the 800s will have a sweeter lead tone.