JCM900, el34 or 5881 models, whats the difference?

[RaceU4her]

whats the difference in sound? people say the early el34 ones are the good ones?

 

[Phishphood]

From my experience with them, I'd say there really are no good ones

 

[Lord Toneking]

I had a 2100, no reverb (el34's) and my buddy had a 4100 dual reverb 5881. Mine sounded good but not his...in fact, his sounded like s--t.

I don't see too many 2100's around

 

[fearhk213]

I can't comment on the 5881 loaded model, but I had a JCM 900 2100 w/EL34's. I believe it was advertised as an SLX series and was supposed to have a butt load of gain. It was a decent amp, but definately needed a boost to get that over the top gain and to really get the goods IMO. I got a fairly good tone out of it and I got complements on my it, but honestly I think there are much better choices out there that would eat that amp for lunch as I didn't find anything special about it. If you're talking about the JCM 900 4100 stay clear . I've played at least a half dozen and they were some of the thinnest sounding amps I've ever played.