Marshall 2203 CLONE is HERE !!

[StukaJU87]

Here is the amp my girlfriend's brother built for me. He hit some bumps along the way. One of the bumps was a faulty 2203 schematic from Ceriatone, which has been corrected by them now for future builders.

First a couple pics, then my first opinions.

And yes, it goes to eleven. That's one louder.


First impressions. It souds like an old Marshall.:ROTF: You have to crank the gain to 11 and get the master up to like 3 or 4 before it gets thick. Sounds like the intro to Sin City. Now, it is no gain monster, but we knew this going in. Another thing I noticed is that it gets obscenely loud with the master at about 4 or 5. Once you get past 5 it does not really get much louder.

Maybe Pete can tell me if this is normal. I have not owned a Marshall since the mid 80's and it was a 4 input version with 3 toggles, no master vol in stock form. Mine had a master vol mod done to it.

When I push it with a pedal, the overdrive goes right into Heading Out to the Highway type gain and a bit more. The amp is very bright. You have to be careful how much mids and highs you dial in. I am still experimenting with the tone controls.

I have also posted an ad looking for a Soldano Hot Mod, because I think I'd like to try one in this head. I don't have an aversion to pedals, but I'd really like to plug in and go for gigs that should be coming soon.

Pete, John........any tips or tricks would be appreciated.

[jcm800x]

I'm not Pete or Johm but I've used my 2203 since 91' and yours sounds right. Once you hit 4-5 on the volume it won't get much louder. I use the low input with a high gain pedal so I have a clean sound and headroom for solo boosting. I used to use the high input with the pre around 6 with a pedal but I couldn't get a volume boost for solos. Yours looks great, enjoy.

[rocksoldier]

Looks really really nice, bet it sounds pretty good too.

[Shawn Lutz]

Looks sweet. I have an original 83 2203 version w/6550's and you wouldn't notice much of a difference going up past 7 on volume (It will knock you on your ass LOUD)

Try a Boss SD-1 and GE-7 or a Ibanez TS-9 in front.

A HotMod would make it a gain monster. I have one of those too and it smokes, almost has too much gain but its cool not having to use a pedal. I think I like the SD-1 a little better but I go back and forth witht eh hotmod installed an dremoved. I saw your ad looking for one, you see them on eBay occasionally (where I got mine, just gotta keep your eyes peeled)

[toejam]

Looks great, Scott!

[zeegler]

Very very nice Scott!!!

[jgcable]

Scott, that sounds correct to me. I had an original and it did exactly the same thing. Very nice job. Congratz!!

[StukaJU87]

Thank you for all the replies and compliments.

JCM800x, John and Shawn, your replies are reassuring. I was starting to think that maybe there was something wrong with it already.

[Twisteramps]

Very cool! Some amps have a place where you don't get any more volume, just saturation. That sounds about right for a 2203. Let's see some final gut shots!

Pete

[StukaJU87]

Very cool! Some amps have a place where you don't get any more volume, just saturation. That sounds about right for a 2203. Let's see some final gut shots!

Pete

Pete, Jeff is coming over Friday because he wants to make an adjustment in the grounding. While it is out of the head shell, I'll grab a couple pics.

[EDIT] It is working fine. He called and said he wants to do one more thing for safety's sake.

[rstites]

The volume jump is pretty common. The old nonmaster volumes varied a bit over time. Some of them hit max volume by 2 on the volumes and then just added overtones after that, while others scaled pretty nicely up. My '74 would get there at about 7. My 2203s varied a bit too, but most were at full volume by 6 or so and then just added saturation above that.

[Firebird V]

Looks great Scott! I will call you to set up a day where I can check it out. The Volume level is typical of many amps not just Marshall style / Marshall amps. That is why i kind of like 50w / 2204 Marshalls. They hit that break up sooner and you can run them high and hot. I am sure you have plenty of headroom and at the 5 level it is probably wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy loud.

Most people assume that the double watts = double the volume but that is not the case at all. It would take much more power to equal double the volume.... More like 1000w...

Did you try the Seymour Duncan pedal in front yet?

Let me know if I need to bring some cabinets. I will call you later.

[hippietim]

Looks great Scott! The white looks really classy. BTW, the box is in the mail.

[Firebird V]

Damn I wish I still had my hotmod. If you can find one i would buy it. It will make tons more gain and turn it into a monster.

[StukaJU87]

Looks great Scott! The white looks really classy.

Thank you. Now all I need are 2 white 4x12's to make the tower of power.

BTW, the box is in the mail.

Tim, again, thank you so much. Even though we do not always agree on stuff, you have again proven that we can agree to disagree and still maintain "JCF bro" relationships around here. Great talking with you last night.