Cleanest JCM800 I've Ever Seen

[FourT6and2]

This just arrived today. I don't think I've seen a cleaner JCM800. It's a 1982 (January build) with 1981 transformers (T4145-A and C2668-A). 100% original except for one of the nuts on the second speaker output jack and it even has the original 6550s and 12AX7s from 1982...

 

[csguy0]

So... How are you going to mod it?!

 

[Eazy-ESP]

Hopefully not at all. Examples like that should be preserved.

 

[70 Mach 1]

Beautiful. So simple compared to todays shit

 

[technomancer]

And now time to hack it up lol

 

[311boogieman]

Sweet! Original tubes? Please tell me someone sent it to you for some general maintenance/new tubes and that's it

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I would advise two mods:

1. Sd-1

2. Legendary Tones Mr. SCARY OR evo 2.

Done.

 

[Simon Dorn]

I would advise two mods:

1. Sd-1

2. Legendary Tones Mr. SCARY OR evo 2.

Done.

I vote vote for 3 only: Tubescreamer.

 

[japetus]

PLZ NO MODS

 

[harddriver]

WOW... the zinc coating on the chassis looks brand new! Very Very Nice!

 

[harddriver]

PLZ NO MODS

Oh, it's going to be modded....................... There are plenty of collector 2203's out there.

 

[midnightlaundry]

 

[thegame]

If a stock JCM 800 identifies as a high gain beast, then whom am I to disagree? Mod away!

 

[FourT6and2]

I'm most likely going to mod it. But will first convert to EL34 and replace the electrolytics. Will see how it sounds like that. I tried boosting it and sure, it sounds decent. But nowhere near strong and modern enough for my needs. The goal is to get it sounding like this one:

 

[Techdeth]

That’s art

 

[mnemonic]

Super cool. How common/uncommon are unmodded jcm800’s these days? It feels a shame to mod it but that might just be because it’s from long before I was born. I don’t think I’d feel the same way about a clean jcm800 reissue from 2002.

I wonder if in 20 years people will be posting about the clean vintage Marshall DSL they just picked up.

 

[FourT6and2]

Super cool. How common/uncommon are unmodded jcm800’s these days? It feels a shame to mod it but that might just be because it’s from long before I was born. I don’t think I’d feel the same way about a clean jcm800 reissue from 2002.

I wonder if in 20 years people will be posting about the clean vintage Marshall DSL they just picked up.

Probably not the case for a DSL. I would rather mod a reissue 2203x, but pre-Vietnamese transformer versions are becoming almost as hard to find as an early '80s 800 and the prices people are asking aren't too far off an 80s one either...

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Those super gained out Fortin style Marshalls just feel and sound like a different amp. One of those fortin pedals into the front end might replicate that close enough but hey, if you are gonna mod, go nuts. It is your constitutional right after all. Bit too razor blade gain for me. I like a bit more chewiness that can cut. I would probably just get a 6505 if I want more gainz

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Super cool. How common/uncommon are unmodded jcm800’s these days? It feels a shame to mod it but that might just be because it’s from long before I was born. I don’t think I’d feel the same way about a clean jcm800 reissue from 2002.

I wonder if in 20 years people will be posting about the clean vintage Marshall DSL they just picked up.

I think it is the old iron and caps that make it a " shame" vs the newer stuff but I think that if you put a few reissue 1959 up against some OG amps in a blind shootout? Probably be a wash. Life is too short to worry about trannies

 

[FourT6and2]

Those super gained out Fortin style Marshalls just feel and sound like a different amp. One of those fortin pedals into the front end might replicate that close enough but hey, if you are gonna mod, go nuts. It is your constitutional right after all. Bit too razor blade gain for me. I like a bit more chewiness that can cut. I would probably just get a 6505 if I want more gainz

Fortin's Meshuggah is an 800 with diode clipping. Fortin's Cali is an 800 with plate-fed stack. Neither of those are similar to adding another tube to a cathode follower circuit. Just a different sound and feel. I tried boosting this 800 with a Fortin Grind and I didn't like it.