JCM900 Dual Reverb High Gain Head, model #4500, 50 watts, 5881 equipt.
It has a 25/50w switch on the back, direct recording out, an excellent effects loop, 2 channel, seperate reverb.
How does it sound??
Clean Channel: This is the clean you hear in many of the early 90's metal recordings. Just add chorus and you are there. Its a great clean. Useable, toneful and full.
Gain Channel: Anything from blues to 80's and 90's metal. You have to dime out the gain for metal. Perfect. Because its 50 watts you have to turn it up. Perfect. Put it on 25w and you really have to crank it if you are jamming with a loud band. Again.. Perfect.
It is much clearer than my DSL 100, it has less bottom then the DSL100 too. What it does have is that early 90's metal tone straight out of the box. Tons of midrange and a very nice mix of lows, mids and highs.
Believe it or not... after owning just about every Marshall model ever made this is my first JCM900. I stayed away because of the rumours that they suck. I also stayed away because I used a SL-X several times in the rehearsal studio and I was less than impressed.
I think that I have owned enough Marshall amps to make a pretty educated review of how this amp sounds compared to other Marshalls.
The key to the JCM900 is the speaker cabinet. You need to have a 4 x 12 that has a strong bottom. I am using a JCM900 straight cab. It thumps just like all good Marshall 4 x 12's should. Its the perfect compliment to the JCM900. I threw a few stomp boxes in the loop and I was ready to jam in minutes. I just used basic EQ settings on the Marshall and it sounded great. For all you gain freaks you can always add a YJM308 or a DOD250 in front of it for more gain.
Maybe its just this particular head (lhrocker owned it and Strat God was the original owner) but I will honestly say that this is the best sounding high gain Marshall head I have ever owned.
Amp tone is so subjective. Isn't it.
It has a 25/50w switch on the back, direct recording out, an excellent effects loop, 2 channel, seperate reverb.
How does it sound??
Clean Channel: This is the clean you hear in many of the early 90's metal recordings. Just add chorus and you are there. Its a great clean. Useable, toneful and full.
Gain Channel: Anything from blues to 80's and 90's metal. You have to dime out the gain for metal. Perfect. Because its 50 watts you have to turn it up. Perfect. Put it on 25w and you really have to crank it if you are jamming with a loud band. Again.. Perfect.
It is much clearer than my DSL 100, it has less bottom then the DSL100 too. What it does have is that early 90's metal tone straight out of the box. Tons of midrange and a very nice mix of lows, mids and highs.
Believe it or not... after owning just about every Marshall model ever made this is my first JCM900. I stayed away because of the rumours that they suck. I also stayed away because I used a SL-X several times in the rehearsal studio and I was less than impressed.
I think that I have owned enough Marshall amps to make a pretty educated review of how this amp sounds compared to other Marshalls.
The key to the JCM900 is the speaker cabinet. You need to have a 4 x 12 that has a strong bottom. I am using a JCM900 straight cab. It thumps just like all good Marshall 4 x 12's should. Its the perfect compliment to the JCM900. I threw a few stomp boxes in the loop and I was ready to jam in minutes. I just used basic EQ settings on the Marshall and it sounded great. For all you gain freaks you can always add a YJM308 or a DOD250 in front of it for more gain.
Maybe its just this particular head (lhrocker owned it and Strat God was the original owner) but I will honestly say that this is the best sounding high gain Marshall head I have ever owned.
Amp tone is so subjective. Isn't it.
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