I have a confession to make ....... ( 2203x related ) and also a build quality confession .

Hard to beat a good, stock JCM being goosed with the right pedal.
I prefer a Timmy or Klone...but almost any pedal that lets you pull some bass, pump some mids and volume will work.
Modded Marshalls involve a compromise of some sort, but you can go places with a modded Marshall that you can't with a simple boost into a stock JCM.
Which one I would choose to play would depend on the application. Stock 4104 is my ultimate keeper amp. Today, anyway.

Mikeyboyeee said:
5150 6l6 Blue with boost is no slouch. That slays MANY MANY setups.
Click to expand...
The blue channel on the EVH 50 Stealth is pretty great, doesn't even require a boost, imo.
 
Instead of posting a totally different thread ... I figured I'd stick with this one ....

I opened up the 2203x last night .... I've had it for 3 days now ... I've only had maybe a hour or so tops to play it ...
The amp felt a bit cold and sterile .... like it was biased way to low ..... so I decided to check the bias ...
and low and behold ..... 7 whopping mA ....:unsure: plate voltage was 460 .... so I should be in the 36 - 38 mA range .
and guess what ( now that I've watched a few vids it seems to be a common thing ) the bias trimmer only lets me reach about 26 -28 mA
so I have to change ( or probably piggy back ) another resistor to the bias resistor to reach the 38 mA .

The loop totally sucks ( I already ordered a Headfirst zero loss replacement loop )

someone had snipped the bright cap ( not Marshall's fault obviously ) already resoldered that back on .

and one of the main reasons I went with a re issue was to not have to deal with replacing all the electrolytics
but guess what .... 4 out of the 6 cans are bulging ...... and the amp is a 2004 model .

and speaking of soldering ..... I was not impressed with the
soldering work on the amp either ..... I plan to literally go in there and reflow everything ... I haven't seen the underneath of the board .. don't know what those joints look like but everything I can see just doesn't look great .

sooooo ... I did buy it at GC ( which is a 5 minute drive from my house ) ..... 2200 to my door .... and now I have to spend time and money to get it to where I want it to be ???...... I don't care how good the transformers are ..... I'll build my own .... I think I'm going to bring it back and spend the 2200 on my own builds ....

If I'm going to do all this work ..... it's going to say " Griff " on it .... not Marshall
 
griff10672 said:
Instead of posting a totally different thread ... I figured I'd stick with this one ....

I opened up the 2203x last night .... I've had it for 3 days now ... I've only had maybe a hour or so tops to play it ...
The amp felt a bit cold and sterile .... like it was biased way to low ..... so I decided to check the bias ...
and low and behold ..... 7 whopping mA ....:unsure: plate voltage was 460 .... so I should be in the 36 - 38 mA range .
and guess what ( now that I've watched a few vids it seems to be a common thing ) the bias trimmer only lets me reach about 26 -28 mA
so I have to change ( or probably piggy back ) another resistor to the bias resistor to reach the 38 mA .

The loop totally sucks ( I already ordered a Headfirst zero loss replacement loop )

someone had snipped the bright cap ( not Marshall's fault obviously ) already resoldered that back on .

and one of the main reasons I went with a re issue was to not have to deal with replacing all the electrolytics
but guess what .... 4 out of the 6 cans are bulging ...... and the amp is a 2004 model .

and speaking of soldering ..... I was not impressed with the
soldering work on the amp either ..... I plan to literally go in there and reflow everything ... I haven't seen the underneath of the board .. don't know what those joints look like but everything I can see just doesn't look great .

sooooo ... I did buy it at GC ( which is a 5 minute drive from my house ) ..... 2200 to my door .... and now I have to spend time and money to get it to where I want it to be ???...... I don't care how good the transformers are ..... I'll build my own .... I think I'm going to bring it back and spend the 2200 on my own builds ....

If I'm going to do all this work ..... it's going to say " Griff " on it .... not Marshall
Click to expand...

I don't disagree with you at all on this. How much will it take to get it up to snuff vs doing a kit or modding a ceriatone. I still say don't buy into the vintage hype. Yes some sound amazing and some sound like ass. Yes the OT might be smoother but so might yours after 5 years use. When you build it, you build it with all sorts of switchable tweaks or tone mods so you can have them in and out as needed. No fear of butchering anything because it is already a bastard. I still say order a WANG's 1987X and replace the transformer and stick your loop in it. 1K in and you will have a screamer.
 
griff10672 said:
Instead of posting a totally different thread ... I figured I'd stick with this one ....

I opened up the 2203x last night .... I've had it for 3 days now ... I've only had maybe a hour or so tops to play it ...
The amp felt a bit cold and sterile .... like it was biased way to low ..... so I decided to check the bias ...
and low and behold ..... 7 whopping mA ....:unsure: plate voltage was 460 .... so I should be in the 36 - 38 mA range .
and guess what ( now that I've watched a few vids it seems to be a common thing ) the bias trimmer only lets me reach about 26 -28 mA
so I have to change ( or probably piggy back ) another resistor to the bias resistor to reach the 38 mA .

The loop totally sucks ( I already ordered a Headfirst zero loss replacement loop )

someone had snipped the bright cap ( not Marshall's fault obviously ) already resoldered that back on .

and one of the main reasons I went with a re issue was to not have to deal with replacing all the electrolytics
but guess what .... 4 out of the 6 cans are bulging ...... and the amp is a 2004 model .

and speaking of soldering ..... I was not impressed with the
soldering work on the amp either ..... I plan to literally go in there and reflow everything ... I haven't seen the underneath of the board .. don't know what those joints look like but everything I can see just doesn't look great .

sooooo ... I did buy it at GC ( which is a 5 minute drive from my house ) ..... 2200 to my door .... and now I have to spend time and money to get it to where I want it to be ???...... I don't care how good the transformers are ..... I'll build my own .... I think I'm going to bring it back and spend the 2200 on my own builds ....

If I'm going to do all this work ..... it's going to say " Griff " on it .... not Marshall
Click to expand...
When you start your first ground up build check out Jason's ST1 type boards and then mod it. That was a really fun project. You can do this for relatively cheap. Sucks that the transformer market is what it is but you used to be able to do the build for under 500 minus headshell and tubes.
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
I don't disagree with you at all on this. How much will it take to get it up to snuff vs doing a kit or modding a ceriatone. I still say don't buy into the vintage hype. Yes some sound amazing and some sound like ass. Yes the OT might be smoother but so might yours after 5 years use. When you build it, you build it with all sorts of switchable tweaks or tone mods so you can have them in and out as needed. No fear of butchering anything because it is already a bastard. I still say order a WANG's 1987X and replace the transformer and stick your loop in it. 1K in and you will have a screamer.
Click to expand...

ClintN667 said:
When you start your first ground up build check out Jason's ST1 type boards and then mod it. That was a really fun project. You can do this for relatively cheap. Sucks that the transformer market is what it is but you used to be able to do the build for under 500 minus headshell and tubes.
Click to expand...
yeah .......... I'm going to be ordering a few boards from Jason this weekend .... if not by the end of the day today .... .
I've decided the Marshall is going back ...... I'll build my own .
 
griff10672 said:
Instead of posting a totally different thread ... I figured I'd stick with this one ....

I opened up the 2203x last night .... I've had it for 3 days now ... I've only had maybe a hour or so tops to play it ...
The amp felt a bit cold and sterile .... like it was biased way to low ..... so I decided to check the bias ...
and low and behold ..... 7 whopping mA ....:unsure: plate voltage was 460 .... so I should be in the 36 - 38 mA range .
and guess what ( now that I've watched a few vids it seems to be a common thing ) the bias trimmer only lets me reach about 26 -28 mA
so I have to change ( or probably piggy back ) another resistor to the bias resistor to reach the 38 mA .

The loop totally sucks ( I already ordered a Headfirst zero loss replacement loop )

someone had snipped the bright cap ( not Marshall's fault obviously ) already resoldered that back on .

and one of the main reasons I went with a re issue was to not have to deal with replacing all the electrolytics
but guess what .... 4 out of the 6 cans are bulging ...... and the amp is a 2004 model .

and speaking of soldering ..... I was not impressed with the
soldering work on the amp either ..... I plan to literally go in there and reflow everything ... I haven't seen the underneath of the board .. don't know what those joints look like but everything I can see just doesn't look great .

sooooo ... I did buy it at GC ( which is a 5 minute drive from my house ) ..... 2200 to my door .... and now I have to spend time and money to get it to where I want it to be ???...... I don't care how good the transformers are ..... I'll build my own .... I think I'm going to bring it back and spend the 2200 on my own builds ....

If I'm going to do all this work ..... it's going to say " Griff " on it .... not Marshall
Click to expand...
Wow I'd return it too....they don't make caps like they used to...and 7ma? Ugh. Take that refund and find a vintage version or build your own like you said. Snipping the bright cap in any Marshall is just wrong. That neuters the amp every time.
 
griff10672 said:
yeah .......... I'm going to be ordering a few boards from Jason this weekend .... if not by the end of the day today .... .
I've decided the Marshall is going back ...... I'll build my own .
Click to expand...
I think you will be happier especially if you use Jason's boards. I've built like 3 or 4 using his ST1 board and was really impressed with the results and also the support from Jason. I attribute 60% of my amp building knowledge to him the other 40% to Nik at ceriatone, Daniel at deadweald audio and Shea at monomyth. All of them have helped me troubleshoot stuff even sometimes when it wasn't their product.
 
Racerxrated said:
Wow I'd return it too....they don't make caps like they used to...and 7ma? Ugh. Take that refund and find a vintage version or build your own like you said. Snipping the bright cap in any Marshall is just wrong. That neuters the amp every time.
Click to expand...
funny thing ... when I started doing some research on the bright cap .... I found numerous threads at TGP where people were saying things like " I snip every bright cap on every Marshall I own " :scared:
I personally don't get it ...... I guess it's easy enough to try ....but I liked the the tone way better right away when I soldered it back in .
 
motorboy1 said:
Almost bought this amp. Glad I passed.. Good luck with it though …
Click to expand...
It will be back up on their site before the end of the day I would imagine .
I'd tell them what is wrong with it ...... but they 99% of the time look at me like I'm nuts when I try to tell them theres a problem and they put it right back up on the site within an hour anyway ....
so now I just simply say ....... " I don't like it "
 
ClintN667 said:
I think you will be happier especially if you use Jason's boards. I've built like 3 or 4 using his ST1 board and was really impressed with the results and also the support from Jason. I attribute 60% of my amp building knowledge to him the other 40% to Nik at ceriatone, Daniel at deadweald audio and Shea at monomyth. All of them have helped me troubleshoot stuff even sometimes when it wasn't their product.
Click to expand...
I'm really looking forward to building a few ....
 
griff10672 said:
funny thing ... when I started doing some research on the bright cap .... I found numerous threads at TGP where people were saying things like " I snip every bright cap on every Marshall I own " :scared:
I personally don't get it ...... I guess it's easy enough to try ....but I liked the the tone way better right away when I soldered it back in .
Click to expand...
On JCM 800s it is maybe the dumbest thing I've ever read to be recommended. Stupid IMO. On the older 70s Superleads, I can understand trying different values for bright caps but it just takes away that awesome aggression when you totally take them out of the circuit.
 
griff10672 said:
funny thing ... when I started doing some research on the bright cap .... I found numerous threads at TGP where people were saying things like " I snip every bright cap on every Marshall I own " :scared:
I personally don't get it ...... I guess it's easy enough to try ....but I liked the the tone way better right away when I soldered it back in .
Click to expand...
I don't like the sound of a JCM without a brite cap. Too bassy muffled.
I think the guys that clip it on a JCM stay in the hi input and keep the gain knob low. That's a harsh sound with the brite cap intact.
A 4 holer is a different story, imo. I've had 3 different model Germinos, no cap, and they sounded glorious. I've had a couple other plexi clones with the cap in, and they were fine too. Quicker to breakup, eq'd a bit different, but still good.

Yeah, they're going to just relist it. They won't fix unless it's down, and even then may just drop the price.
 
dawnofdreamx97 said:
2 things

1) ksr ceres into the fx return , try it , it's killer

2) you don't need to add a tube to add a gain stage =)
Click to expand...
Yeah but it won't be a Marshall type tone. It is killer though. I used to use one in the return of my VTM60 I had when the Ceres first came out. It actually made me consider selling my Orthos that I had at the time.

I ended up selling all of them only to rebuy everything... Well now I have an Ares and a VTM120. Still need another Ceres though.
 
ClintN667 said:
Yeah but it won't be a Marshall type tone. It is killer though. I used to use one in the return of my VTM60 I had when the Ceres first came out. It actually made me consider selling my Orthos that I had at the time.

I ended up selling all of them only to rebuy everything... Well now I have an Ares and a VTM120. Still need another Ceres though.
Click to expand...

For sure .... Ceres is damn good , instant 3 channel amp! Could do a 4 cable method with a boss ms3 in front and ceres In loop of ms3 into the 2203x... so many options then
 
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