tonesfoyobones
Well-known member
Picked this up locally. This one seems to have a lot of low end that gets outta hand rather quickly and gets flubby. On my previous JCM 800's I usually have to run the bass pretty high. Sometimes dimed. This one seems to be best suited for anything from 2-4. While preamp tube rolling it did not react well to high gain preamp tubes. It seems to like lower to medium gain the best. Most times in these I find the high gainer's work well.
My question is based upon my pics does anything appear to be modded or does it appear normal? I see a couple of capacitors along the ground line between the pots. Where they added after the fact or stock?
I appreciate your valued input guys!
UPDATE: First off thank you to everyone who chimed in! While not being a tech per say I knew that something just felt off with it and from the changes made we were correct.
With your observations and recommendations I ordered 6 ARS caps. I took them to a worthy tech and had them installed and the amp checked over. He too said the same thing about the caps that it came with that while they did work they did put too much strain on the screens and all in all it was a little stiffer. He advised me that there might not be a huge difference tonally but we both agreed to change the caps out. He did the job quickly and I picked it up the following day. ( 8 hour road trip in total over two days. I'll get into why I went to him a little later )
The thing that he initially noticed there was a slight increase in volume. I couldn't tell because I ran a SD-1 in front and didn't crank the master volume much. He on the other hand plays without pedals so he cranks them pretty loud. He's a young guy, eclectic but an old soul. I was stoked to get it home to give it a go.
I got it home and put all the settings back to where I had it prior so that I could get a fair and accurate comparison. Wow it did the trick! The issue that I had with the flubby over excessive bass was gone. Now I had a usable sweep on the pot. The bass now felt right. Even the gain taper was more even across the sweep as well. As he mentioned there was not a huge tonal difference. Slightly but not night and day. The biggest difference was in the feel. There is a way better relationship between the fingers on the fret board and the amp. These are differences that I would not have noticed in my earlier playing days and some may not have noticed it either and thought that it was all in my head lol. In the end it now feels and sounds like what it should, a proper '83 JCM 800 2203!
Again I thank everyone's valued input and for taking the time to chime in. Sorry for the bloated follow up but I wanted to share my experience in the case that somebody else down the road has a similar issue.
Thanks RT!
My question is based upon my pics does anything appear to be modded or does it appear normal? I see a couple of capacitors along the ground line between the pots. Where they added after the fact or stock?
I appreciate your valued input guys!
UPDATE: First off thank you to everyone who chimed in! While not being a tech per say I knew that something just felt off with it and from the changes made we were correct.
With your observations and recommendations I ordered 6 ARS caps. I took them to a worthy tech and had them installed and the amp checked over. He too said the same thing about the caps that it came with that while they did work they did put too much strain on the screens and all in all it was a little stiffer. He advised me that there might not be a huge difference tonally but we both agreed to change the caps out. He did the job quickly and I picked it up the following day. ( 8 hour road trip in total over two days. I'll get into why I went to him a little later )
The thing that he initially noticed there was a slight increase in volume. I couldn't tell because I ran a SD-1 in front and didn't crank the master volume much. He on the other hand plays without pedals so he cranks them pretty loud. He's a young guy, eclectic but an old soul. I was stoked to get it home to give it a go.
I got it home and put all the settings back to where I had it prior so that I could get a fair and accurate comparison. Wow it did the trick! The issue that I had with the flubby over excessive bass was gone. Now I had a usable sweep on the pot. The bass now felt right. Even the gain taper was more even across the sweep as well. As he mentioned there was not a huge tonal difference. Slightly but not night and day. The biggest difference was in the feel. There is a way better relationship between the fingers on the fret board and the amp. These are differences that I would not have noticed in my earlier playing days and some may not have noticed it either and thought that it was all in my head lol. In the end it now feels and sounds like what it should, a proper '83 JCM 800 2203!
Again I thank everyone's valued input and for taking the time to chime in. Sorry for the bloated follow up but I wanted to share my experience in the case that somebody else down the road has a similar issue.
Thanks RT!
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