I'm fighting my 800 these days

[cardinal]

Some good responses... I'll address a few.

Speakers- I've always used a greenback / weber legacy cab or the G1265 that came with the combo. I think the combo sounds better to my ears (someone else noted they were able to use treb and presence with combo) because of the open back but also because of that 4700pf cap over the mid pot. Shaves off a ton of high end. Makes the amp sound a lot better with pedals too.

Tubes - EL34's in both my randalls and jcm800's and now 6CA7's to mix it up. RFT NOS in V1 as i find it warmer.

Volume - Definitely needed to get a but more fullness and sag. Problem is, even with a hotplate, you still need to wind it up pretty loud to get the mojo.

Clean Boosts - Not a huge fan of them. In the stock circuit, brings out a lot of the high end I don't like. Koko sounds good with the Randall though!

What I did tonight is mess with the treble peaking caps but ended up going back to stock + the mid pot cap which is in a lot of the combos. Also, the negative feedback wired to speaker jacks helps to soften the sound some. That mid cap compromises crunch a bit but I get that back with an SD-1 and a higher output pup. Still wish it had a bit more sag but I guess for my ears, this is as good as it will get. I'm thinking i might just have to reamp if i record anything. Kind of makes the amp seem kind of useless for home playing though doesn't it! I can see the use of those little 1 watter heads now.

I suspect you like the combo not because it's open-backed, but because of the speaker. It'd try to find a 4x12 with the G12-65s if you can and see what you think. I've run my 4010 through an early '70s G12M cab and this '82 G12'65 cab back-to-back: there was a night and day difference. The greenbacks are much brighter and crunchier. The G12-65s are very warm, thick, and smooth.

I run my amps very quiet (moderate TV volumes), and the 4010 sounds fantastic to me without any real extreme settings (I think I have the Treble, Mids, and Bass set to 4, 8, and 6 respectively). That 4x12 of G12-65s is key. It won't sag until it's damn loud, but even real quiet it sounds thick and thumpy; not overly bright or harsh at all IMHO.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I should have added that I have played the weber in the combo as well (still in there now) and it sounds great in the cab too. The only difference between that and the head.. is that cap over the mid pot. Check if yours has it as well next time you are in there. I'd be interested in hearing what you find.

 

[cardinal]

Yup the mid cap is on there as well as the bright cap. I tend to play with moderate output humbuckers and single coils, preamp gain dimed. Either rolling the volume knob back for something clean-ish and, to get into high gain, boosting with a Boost --> OD pedal --> amp. Just the OD pedal is OK, but the Boost pedal (I use a CAE Line Driver) really thickens it up without getting tubby or scratchy.

 

[dstroud]

I'll tell you what I do with my jcm800 and plexi circuit amps/tubescreamer that really works for me. On the overdrive, I keep the level at noon or lower. As you lower the level, you get less highs and lows, but it's a warmer sound. Then I'll up the drive on the pedal to make up the difference for gain, and I keep the gain on the amp as low as I can (while still having it feel comfortable) because that produces less highs as well. I leave the boost on all the time, so I don't care how it sounds when I turn the pedal off. Taking those steps gives a tone that is much more focused in the low mids.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

That's an interesting perspective, I'll try that out. My only concern is that i may not get the gain I want from just one screamer. I hate to admit it but with an 800, I need to stack two ODs. Screamer with the gain 1/4 way up and then I hit that with another boost. (no shame in that YJM and Norum double boosted in the early days..) Right now with the added cap over the mid pot to tame the high end, that other pedal that i can use again, is the KoKo boost. I don't set the gain high on the clean boost side but i use that and then the mid boost side for more gain. Still more challenging to play than super saturated but gives me a bit more oomph. One pedal I wish I hadn't sold now, was the BB preamp. I remember feeling it was too compressed for me but I would probably dig it now.

 

[nevusofota]

I have both, an old 2204 and EVH (100 and 50). The 800 shines in a live band mix when volume is up. It's not for jamming alone in a basement, though many use it this way and it works for them. I think you would really dig the EVH. You can dial in saturation, compression and forgiveness much easier.

 

[glip22]

A Monsterpiece Stud was excellent with my 83 2203. I tried maybe six other pedals including the BBE.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Just tried Darren's trick and was pleasantly surprised. Mind you, I also wound the MV up on the amp to 5 with the hotplate so it was cooking and it did absolutely thicken and fill out. (and was loud as f_ck) I think the key is identifying which mods are useful at lower volumes and not doing too much so that it changes the way it sounds too much at higher volume settings. Anyway as it stands, I'm not going to bother playing my 800's at lower volumes. They sound bright, buzzy, and artificial at anything below 3 unfortunately. They kill my fuego at lower settings!

 

[Mesa\Kramer]

What effects are you using for leads?

A little Reverb/Delay will help to make things a little more forgiving

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

What effects are you using for leads?

A little Reverb/Delay will help to make things a little more forgiving

Actually none right now. Generally my combo has a flashback through a metro loop and you are right, way more forgiving. Lately I have been playing dry with a bit of chorus on the clone because it doesn't have a loop. I usually mic it and pump some verb and delay on it in Reaper though. I just wanted to really focus on how clear my playing is and what i am missing. That's probably also the reason i am critical right now. Having to admit you aren't that good is probably tough lol

 

[FUZZboat]

jcm800 -> 4 X 12 Cabinet

stick the cabinet in soundproofed closet

take directout from jcm800 and run it thru a cab sim & monitor that !

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

jcm800 -> 4 X 12 Cabinet

stick the cabinet in soundproofed closet

take directout from jcm800 and run it thru a cab sim & monitor that !

Yup, was doing this through redwire impulses. Sounds good and is absolutely easier than playing it in the room at lower volumes. Ideally though, I'll reamp back through the cab barricaded behind moving blankets because it sounds better off the mic.

 

[fretout]

I'll mention something that hasn't been recommended yet, and has ALWAYS worked for me...an EQ Pedal. There's two different uses for them...out in front of the amp, or in the FX Loop. In my experience, the FX loop is the best place for it, and depending on where in the amp's tone stack the FX loop is, it's really powerful. Even by hitting the input of the JCM 800s, it thickens things up as much as you want.

In my experience, if you have the gain and grit that you need with your current settings, that's half the battle. The EQ will let you "fine tune" your tone and can be foot switched in and out of the circuit, so you'd be effectively doubling your "tone catalog" with just one pedal. Also, in a live environment, if you need to make minor changes based on how different venues sound, the EQ Pedal would be a great way to tune your rig to each stage.

The MXR EQ Pedals are great, and were made to be used with JCM 800s (Kerry King had a signature EQ to run into his JCM 800). All my Marks have Mesa/Boogie's GEQs on board, and while they don't have all the different frequencies like the MXRs, the five parameters Mesa has are really powerful, IMHO. Mesa just released their EQ Pedal, and while it's more expensive than the MXRs, it should allow you to darken (or brighten) your amp with the least amount of hassle.

 

[Schaf]

Some good responses... I'll address a few.


Clean Boosts - Not a huge fan of them. In the stock circuit, brings out a lot of the high end I don't like. Koko sounds good with the Randall though!

You know, I haven't tried a hole bunch, but the one I prefer in front of my amp is the Seymour Duncan pickup booster. Cheap pedal too. I found it to just hit the front end hard enough and not sound bright. Just enough to where it had the in your face sound JCM/JMP sound. Not compressed. And an eq will work as well. Then you can dial out the brightness. Although, I don't find my 2204 to be bright the way I have it dialed in.