Marshall JVM210H Incoming - Mods?

Bad.Seed

Bad.Seed

Well-known member
I managed to snag a mint JVM 210H off ebay over the weekend, specifically for the purpose of modding it out.

I have had 2 of these amps before, and I liked the basic voicing, but in the end, couldn't get along with it enough to keep it.

My gripes (which seem to be standard for this head)
OD Orange and red are too noisy
There is too much gain on orange and red OD channels
The amp is sterile and solid state sounding when turned up to gigging volume
Brittle high end and lacking a general fullness.

I know there are mods out there that are supposed to combat this, but didn't know if anyone around here had completed them with good results?

Let me know of any feedback or experience regarding modifying the JVM series
 
Bad.Seed":1myuvrnb said:
I managed to snag a mint JVM 210H off ebay over the weekend, specifically for the purpose of modding it out.

I have had 2 of these amps before, and I liked the basic voicing, but in the end, couldn't get along with it enough to keep it.

My gripes (which seem to be standard for this head)
OD Orange and red are too noisy
There is too much gain on orange and red OD channels
The amp is sterile and solid state sounding when turned up to gigging volume
Brittle high end and lacking a general fullness.

I know there are mods out there that are supposed to combat this, but didn't know if anyone around here had completed them with good results?

Let me know of any feedback or experience regarding modifying the JVM series
Click to expand...

The most important mod is a noise gate. Noisiest amp I've ever owned, (owned the 205H 3 times).

Couldn't get along with the effects loop either. Major tone suck.
 
i remember this mods to my jvm and made them way better

compresion mod - 2 x 220k resistors(r72 and r75) need to change for standard 100k marshall value, you can go further and also change r71 from 150k to 100k
OD2 to OD1 if you want the classic marshall tone stack, i recomend this one if you are going to use g12t75
negative feedback mod . i used the EVH value and worked great
bass mod - this one its not on the jvm forum but its great for better bass response especially on channel 1 - change C76 from 100n to 47nf
fianally you can add a choke too

honestly this mods make a better jvm, other mods are to make a diferent animal
 
JMP2203":38l686pq said:
i remember this mods to my jvm and made them way better

compresion mod - 2 x 220k resistors(r72 and r75) need to change for standard 100k marshall value, you can go further and also change r71 from 150k to 100k
OD2 to OD1 if you want the classic marshall tone stack, i recomend this one if you are going to use g12t75
negative feedback mod . i used the EVH value and worked great
bass mod - this one its not on the jvm forum but its great for better bass response especially on channel 1 - change C76 from 100n to 47nf
fianally you can add a choke too

honestly this mods make a better jvm, other mods are to make a diferent animal
Click to expand...

How does this make the amp react? A little more traditional Marshall? I enjoy the tightness, but it seems to come at a cost of low frequencies in general. I'm a tight, punchy thrash metal guy. I wouldn't mind if the amp had a little more give and bloom on the low end, but I still want it to remain tight and punchy
 
Bad.Seed":2a3qcrgc said:
How does this make the amp react? A little more traditional Marshall? I enjoy the tightness, but it seems to come at a cost of low frequencies in general. I'm a tight, punchy thrash metal guy. I wouldn't mind if the amp had a little more give and bloom on the low end, but I still want it to remain tight and punchy
Click to expand...

tight, punchy and thrash metal?

we spoke the same language man, try the mods you will love them
 
JMP2203":18kcjw3w said:
Bad.Seed":18kcjw3w said:
How does this make the amp react? A little more traditional Marshall? I enjoy the tightness, but it seems to come at a cost of low frequencies in general. I'm a tight, punchy thrash metal guy. I wouldn't mind if the amp had a little more give and bloom on the low end, but I still want it to remain tight and punchy
Click to expand...

tight, punchy and thrash metal?

we spoke the same language man, try the mods you will love them
Click to expand...

Fantastic! I will definitely put these on the list of things to be done.

How about the C83 mod with the rest of these? Still worth doing or nah?
 
Well the first mod I would do is change the OD Channel to the same specs as OD1 on the JVM 410. That's the high gain modded Marshall sound. OD1 Amber on the 410 is pure 800 crunch slammed with a pedal type sound. OD1 Amber is the main reason I own the amp. And unlike from a poster above, I love the effects loop. OD1 Red, is just over the top Marshall voiced high gain. Crazy levels of gain.

The OD channel on the 210 is voiced from OD2 on the JVM 410 with the lower mid more modern Boogie (ish) tone. I never use OD2, in fact I've long wanted to mod OD2 on my amp to OD1 so I could have two different OD1 Amber channels and use different gain settings. Anyway that's the mod I would start with, once you do that then if you still need the mods, go from there.

I've wanted to get a JVM 205 just for the lower wattage but I've got other things to knock out on the want list before trying to find a good deal on a 205 and then have the OD channel modded to the 410 OD1.

Just my opinion though.
 
Bad.Seed":erp654hj said:
Fantastic! I will definitely put these on the list of things to be done.

How about the C83 mod with the rest of these? Still worth doing or nah?
Click to expand...

never tried that one, didn't find it necessary
 
I had a JVM 410 modded with a MM Choke, OT and PTthat sounded awesome . I took it and my CCV (Cameron built not the Brad version) to a mini ampfest that also had a 5150, Fortin Natas, and Jason’s Evil Pumpkin. The JVM hung with them and was a top choice for a couple people. Not sure why I ever sold that amp.
 
Hmmm...I've had a 210H for years and never experienced any of the OP's grievances.

I only use the orange high gain mode. (With the gain at 4/10) I run a noise gate with it, but it is only curbing operational hiss. Nothing excessive noise wise.
The red mode is too scooped in nature and has too much gain. I never use it.

At high volumes it really benefits from having the master volume set really high and a channel volume set low. This cures the anemic or lifeless sound complaints when playing at high volumes.

I also like reducing the treble a bit and using more presence to get a fuller sounding high-end.

The amp also sounds better when plugged into an 8 ohm cabinet. It's smoother, fuller & bigger sounding compared to 16 ohms.
 
D-Rock":36erttfr said:
Hmmm...I've had a 210H for years and never experienced any of the OP's grievances.

I only use the orange high gain mode. (With the gain at 4/10) I run a noise gate with it, but it is only curbing operational hiss. Nothing excessive noise wise.
The red mode is too scooped in nature and has too much gain. I never use it.

At high volumes it really benefits from having the master volume set really high and a channel volume set low. This cures the anemic or lifeless sound complaints when playing at high volumes.

I also like reducing the treble a bit and using more presence to get a fuller sounding high-end.

The amp also sounds better when plugged into an 8 ohm cabinet. It's smoother, fuller & bigger sounding compared to 16 ohms.
Click to expand...

They seem to be common complaints about the amp. It's been about a year since I've owned one. I remember digging it at lower volumes. I always try to play with master and channel volumes both ways to see what works best. I just remember not really being satisfied with the amp at band volumes. It thinned out too much, but had a great voicing otherwise.
 
Bad.Seed":2dk6s4xy said:
D-Rock":2dk6s4xy said:
Hmmm...I've had a 210H for years and never experienced any of the OP's grievances.

I only use the orange high gain mode. (With the gain at 4/10) I run a noise gate with it, but it is only curbing operational hiss. Nothing excessive noise wise.
The red mode is too scooped in nature and has too much gain. I never use it.

At high volumes it really benefits from having the master volume set really high and a channel volume set low. This cures the anemic or lifeless sound complaints when playing at high volumes.

I also like reducing the treble a bit and using more presence to get a fuller sounding high-end.

The amp also sounds better when plugged into an 8 ohm cabinet. It's smoother, fuller & bigger sounding compared to 16 ohms.
Click to expand...

They seem to be common complaints about the amp. It's been about a year since I've owned one. I remember digging it at lower volumes. I always try to play with master and channel volumes both ways to see what works best. I just remember not really being satisfied with the amp at band volumes. It thinned out too much, but had a great voicing otherwise.
Click to expand...
Gotta agree with the other guy, mine's never been thin sounding. And live I crank the master. I had a guy who had a Boogie endorsement come up to me after a gig one time and wanted to know exactly what I was using, said it was the best tone he had ever heard in that club. It was my JVM into two 4x12's one loaded with 75's and the other GB's. The GB's were miced up that night. Heard compliments many times. They may have hated my playing lol, but they always liked my tone. Noise, I don't even use a gate. But yeah everyone has different experiences.

Search the JVM forums...I believe there are some amp + eq pedal settings from Santiago that can get the 210 OD channel to sound like the 410 OD1. Or just check out a 410...compare them. That might be the only thing you want to do. Then again, that's just me, I don't bond with the OD2 channel (OD on the 210/205) on my amp. It's not bad but just a little more modern sounding and when I switched back to Marshalls I wanted that full on modded 800 sound. OD1 Amber/Orange is that in spades.
 
A Fortin modded 210 is my main amp now and has been for the last few years. I found diallling in the resonance and presence controls was a key to getting to sound fat.

I run mine with an FX8 and it is maybe the most versatile setup I have ever had. Using the midi send to change green/orange/red on both channels makes it a pseudo 6 channel amp that is really what I need these days. I do think the FX loop is a bit of a pain - I wish they would have just used the standard loop like on the 800 reissues.
 
thenine":1r09p9d6 said:
A Fortin modded 210 is my main amp now and has been for the last few years. I found diallling in the resonance and presence controls was a key to getting to sound fat.

I run mine with an FX8 and it is maybe the most versatile setup I have ever had. Using the midi send to change green/orange/red on both channels makes it a pseudo 6 channel amp that is really what I need these days. I do think the FX loop is a bit of a pain - I wish they would have just used the standard loop like on the 800 reissues.
Click to expand...

What exactly did Fortin do to yours, if you dont mind me asking? Any clips? I'm always curious to hear how others dial theirs in.
 
I will mention that I typically have a boost in front of my amp of some sort. Maybe the JVM's don't quite react to boosts as well as the JCM lines?

I dunno, but I've had 2 of the 205 models and thin and noisy is just how I seem to remember each one. Tube swaps did not help. Darker cabs helped, but still not enough to get me to love it
 
I got this bad boy in yesterday and spent last night jamming through it. Definitely not as thin as I remember, clearer and not as solid state sounding. Could be the Friedman cab just sounds amazing, haha! But the amp is mint and the owner included a nice headcover as well.

Here's some random riffing. Same cab and mic placement, same guitar. Boosted orange od channel

https://soundcloud.com/kyle-bull-760574723/jvm-210
 
JMP2203":2wg24f20 said:
congrats, sounds very good to me, which pickups/boost?
Click to expand...

Thank you!!

KHDK Ghoul screamer for the boost, Bareknuckle Alnico Nailbomb for the pickup
 
everything you said in the first post is true, sounds like SS at gig volume couldnt be more accurate, has too much gain and no balls orange and red, if I was you would have just bought a dsl 2000 all around better amp IMO
 
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