Marshall JTM30

[VH4_BigRig]

Hey guys, I saw one of these at the local store the other day and it caught my attention because it wasn't one of the many used JCM900s that have been sitting there for a while, what are your takes on this amp? I think it was $600 or so...I didn't have time to play it, but if you guys give me a good impression I might have to go back and check it out!

Thanks!

 

[MARK1970]

I had bought one of them amps when they came out. It has a more vintage thing going. The cleans were pretty good. The reverb was excellent. A great looking amp aswell. The only problem I had was after it got hot, it would cut out. I found out from Doug Roccoforte, these had a bad transformer. After a few years I have come across that issue with others that had the amp aswell. If you put a fan directly behind it, the amp does not cut out as much. I sold mine a couple of years back. I wish I still had it. I would have replace the transformer with a MM.

 

[FUZZboat]

or look for the updated (ie heating issue fixed) version that marshall put out briefly - the JCM600

It was out for about 2 years then Marshall started with the JCM900 "diode-distortion"series.


NOTE: it wasn't just cheap trannies - marshall mounted the freaking tube sockets about an inch away from the PBC's causing them to majorly warp and bend !!

I know that fact 1st hand

 

[Tnjpekar]

Have a 600 combo, modded the shit out of it and put a mercury mag vintage 50 tranny in from jerry at fja. the design of the amp is shitty, circuit board mounted perpendicular to the tube mount board, tubes mounted parallel to the board, which cooks whatever is above it.
Still, the 600 sounds much better than the jtm30 imo, even without the mods.

if you plan on putting pedals in front, its not bad, but not a high gain amp imo without changing a few things.

 

[VH4_BigRig]

Thanks for the input guys, don't think I'll bother checking it out now...an amp could sound like pure gold, but if it has reliability issues I don't want anything to do with it. I've dealt with enough amp problems to turn me off of anything that doesn't have a reputation for reliability, especially not something that needs extra modding to get up to speed. Whew!

And this, folks, is why Rig-talk is the sh*t!