After all that help...

[PeteL]

After ALL the help that I got with the rack gear (and I do REALLY appreciate the help guys!), I decided to go to a cool local shop that I recall having a bunch of rack gear, just to see if I could try some stuff out y'know. Well, turned out they didn't really have too much guitar rack equipment, mostly just studio effects and equipment.

On my way out, I figured I'll check some of the Marshall stuff, since I've had a DSL401 combo amplifier (my first "real" amp) before. I tried out a bunch of the DSL series and it all sounded basicaly like the 401 I sold, but then I saw a JCM 800 in the head section. It looked too sweet to pass by, so I plugged in, having never played a JCM 800, or any head really, before. Man it rocked! It is the 50watt version, 2204, with the (as I've found out) less desireable horizontal input plugs and 1986 is the year of production. But needless to say, I was leveled by the volume and the tone, it seemed like the more I turned up the volume, the better it sounded! (silly me, that's what it's supposed to do! ) It is also the first amp I have played (and I haven't played many at all) where I can hear each string when I play, if that makes sense... it's not all just mucky mud. I mean, it can be if I throw an overdrive pedal in front of it, but... hmm, hard to explain but it's just really crisp, I like it a lot! It's got (almost) all the basic tone of the players I look up to, which is cool as hell.

Anyways, I took it home and plugged it into the cabinet along with an Epiphone Valve Junior head (just to hold me over) I bought a couple weeks ago to replace my Marshall combo, and it sounds KILLER! I know some people have negative feelings about this particular model, but I love it. I probably WOULD have gone with the 100watt model, but my 2x12 cabinet has 30-watt speakers which the 100watts would probably destroy

So, just wanted to let it be known that I am 100% satisfied with this amp. I have the cleans (via volume control on my guitar), the nice crunchy Marshall sound associated with classic rock (AC/DC'ish), I have a really nice overdriven sound, like G'n'R or something, and then when I throw a Boss distortion/overdrive pedal in front of it all, I get an over-the-top sound, nice and classic Zakk-sounding.

I'm ready for some shows!

Oh, I will throw some pics up tomorrow, but now it's time to go out and have some fun!

[GodWentPUNK]

congrats on the new amp.

joe/

[RacerX]

I got an '84 JCM800; they are pretty sweet.

[Dave L]

I´ve been very close to picking up a 2203 a number of times, since it´s like the industry standard of eighties hard-rock tone... but then I always remember that I need a totally clean channel and that I don´t want to go back to carting around two amps for shows. But none the less, you can´t go wrong with a JCM800... they simply kill. Have fun, Pete!

[Shawn Lutz]

Congratulations, killer amp. I'm a 1983 2203 owner here. 2203/04's with a pedal infront like a SD1 or a TS9 will get you thast liller 80-90's metal tones.

The only down side of the 2203/04's is they are single channel heads but imho that is what makes them the tone machines that the are...no other tone sucking circuits...sheer simplicity in the designe. What I like about the single channel JCM800's is they react very well to the guitars volume pot and can be versatile if they have to be. When the 2203 was the only amp I had fr a while I had no choice but to make it work in a pretty wide variety of dynamic music

[siggy14]

The only reason the 2204's with the horizontal inputs are a little les desirable is because the pots are sodered onto the PCB, but tone wise it is almost identical to the vertical 2204's, of course all marshalls do not sound the same that is why i say almost.

Now the 2203's with the horizontal inputs are another story, these are missing a cap or two and do sound differently and people say when you turn them up they do not sounds as good, or i should say get better sounding.

Depending how much you paid for it, I would say it is still a good score, if my bogner didnt sound so damn good I would have kept my two vertical input 2204's.

After ALL the help that I got with the rack gear (and I do REALLY appreciate the help guys!), I decided to go to a cool local shop that I recall having a bunch of rack gear, just to see if I could try some stuff out y'know. Well, turned out they didn't really have too much guitar rack equipment, mostly just studio effects and equipment.

On my way out, I figured I'll check some of the Marshall stuff, since I've had a DSL401 combo amplifier (my first "real" amp) before. I tried out a bunch of the DSL series and it all sounded basicaly like the 401 I sold, but then I saw a JCM 800 in the head section. It looked too sweet to pass by, so I plugged in, having never played a JCM 800, or any head really, before. Man it rocked! It is the 50watt version, 2204, with the (as I've found out) less desireable horizontal input plugs and 1986 is the year of production. But needless to say, I was leveled by the volume and the tone, it seemed like the more I turned up the volume, the better it sounded! (silly me, that's what it's supposed to do! ) It is also the first amp I have played (and I haven't played many at all) where I can hear each string when I play, if that makes sense... it's not all just mucky mud. I mean, it can be if I throw an overdrive pedal in front of it, but... hmm, hard to explain but it's just really crisp, I like it a lot! It's got (almost) all the basic tone of the players I look up to, which is cool as hell.

Anyways, I took it home and plugged it into the cabinet along with an Epiphone Valve Junior head (just to hold me over) I bought a couple weeks ago to replace my Marshall combo, and it sounds KILLER! I know some people have negative feelings about this particular model, but I love it. I probably WOULD have gone with the 100watt model, but my 2x12 cabinet has 30-watt speakers which the 100watts would probably destroy

So, just wanted to let it be known that I am 100% satisfied with this amp. I have the cleans (via volume control on my guitar), the nice crunchy Marshall sound associated with classic rock (AC/DC'ish), I have a really nice overdriven sound, like G'n'R or something, and then when I throw a Boss distortion/overdrive pedal in front of it all, I get an over-the-top sound, nice and classic Zakk-sounding.

I'm ready for some shows!

Oh, I will throw some pics up tomorrow, but now it's time to go out and have some fun!

[Speiro]

I had one from new back in the late 80's and I used it with a Boss SD-1, it rocked. I always regretted selling it.

[PeteL]

Thanks guys. Yeah I really liked the simplicity of the one-channel setup. No doubt I'll try a rack setup at some point, but I've always kept my setups simple and this amp is certainly that! It's great to be able to play ridiculously loud and still have kickin tone!

Oh ok, so the 2203's are the models that were more different with the vertical inputs, I knew it was one of them. Maybe I did pay too much for it, 800 dollars out-the-door, but I really dig it.

Here's some pics of the cabinet I'm playing the 2204 through. I'll take some of the head itself too. It's a 2x12 Jenkins cabinet with a Weber Blue Pup (they're called Blue Dog now) and a Weber Silver Bell, I'm told both are 30-watt speakers which is why I went with 2204 instead of 2203 too. I had never heard of the brand cabinet or speakers before but they seem to be really high-quality construction and tone, and make anything I play through them sound great, even that cheapo Epi Valve Junior you see!

[PeteL]

And here's the amp:





Looks like some weird semi-circle chalk marks or something on the cloth. I'll clean it up soon.

[Chad]

Kinda strange to go from wanting a super versatile rack setup to a single channel amp (close to polar opposites) but, hey, if you're happy that's all that matters. And that should be a great amp.

[PeteL]

Yeah, I thought it a bit strange too, but yes I am quite happy indeed. I can get most of the tones I'm after right now.