Modern JCM800's, are they any good?

[Racerxrated]

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/JCM800--marshall-jcm800-2203x-100-watt-tube-head
$3k for the reissue, Jesus

If anyone is willing to spend 3k on that reissue, send the check to me, and i'll build you a quality amp.

Maybe I call Dave and order him a 50watt Pink Taco with EL34, the simple clean and some other switches like the Sat and the C45.

If you do have him give it a mod that will make it more 'open'...I had an older BE 100 (hand wired by the Metro guys, I think it was a 2011) that had this mod and with it engaged sounded like a fantastic 2203. Really a great mod that allowed more of an open Marshall tone and the smoother Friedman tone in the same amp.

When I mentioned a Wizard I meant a used one...they are a ton of cash new. And I can tell you it DOES have a spot on the master at a very low volume that sounded fantastic...a low volume 'sweet spot'. Both my 50w MTL and 100w MCI had this.

 

[Jon BCN]

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/JCM800--marshall-jcm800-2203x-100-watt-tube-head
$3k for the reissue, Jesus

If anyone is willing to spend 3k on that reissue, send the check to me, and i'll build you a quality amp.

Maybe I call Dave and order him a 50watt Pink Taco with EL34, the simple clean and some other switches like the Sat and the C45.

If you do have him give it a mod that will make it more 'open'...I had an older BE 100 (hand wired by the Metro guys, I think it was a 2011) that had this mod and with it engaged sounded like a fantastic 2203. Really a great mod that allowed more of an open Marshall tone and the smoother Friedman tone in the same amp.

When I mentioned a Wizard I meant a used one...they are a ton of cash new. And I can tell you it DOES have a spot on the master at a very low volume that sounded fantastic...a low volume 'sweet spot'. Both my 50w MTL and 100w MCI had this.

I didn't knew such mod existed, that's interesting.

I thought the new BE100 Deluxe was going to be the amp for me, but for some reason I don't like the tone that much. Seems to have a different gain structure that has almost a fuzz like quality to it.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

What about the Friedman Jake E Lee?

The second channel it’s based on a JCM800 with two modes: one like a stock and the other like a hot rodded 800.

I haven’t heard a clip that wowed me yet, but the fact that it can be played at bedroom volume and sound good it’s a plus.

THAT amp is the Friedman that I'd go for; seems to be a very basic raw/open modded Marshall tone. Killer. If you are able to spend that much on an amp I'd think you could easily grab a super nice condition 77-84 2203, or a used Wizard MC along with the Jake amp and be good. Any one of those 3 amps will get you want you want...the Marshall needing a boost pedal of course. Those vintage JMP/JCMs sound better than any reissue in my experience.

I love how Wizard amps sound in the videos I've seen, but they are almost 5K and also, unlike Friedmans, they don't sound as good at bedroom levels.

So is almost 5K + Two Notes Captor X + Good speakers to have a Wizard at home. Easily 6000 euros for all. That's just too much.

The Friedman JEL100 is allegedly based on the 800 DNA, but of all the videos I've seen, it’s sounds more like a hot rodded plexi to my ears. It’s dry, tight and a more on the thin side.

My ideal tone is early Metallica, and I don’t know how the Jake E Lee would be for that.

I think you are talking a Mesa into the power section of a JMP/JCM then if that is your jam. I think you could probably get a builder to do a one off for you.

OR talk to the guy at Myasnikov preamps in Russia and have him build you the Mesa preamp that you can then pump into a Marshall power section.

 

[CornNutz]

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/JCM800--marshall-jcm800-2203x-100-watt-tube-head
$3k for the reissue, Jesus

If anyone is willing to spend 3k on that reissue, send the check to me, and i'll build you a quality amp.

Maybe I call Dave and order him a 50watt Pink Taco with EL34, the simple clean and some other switches like the Sat and the C45.

If you're going the Dave route, get the Dirty Shirley instead. The DS is a JCM800 preamp (with some tweeks), with a JTM45 power section.

I did a DS mod on a friends 50w plexi clone, sounds AMAZEBALLS. He loves it now. I initially did a smallbox BE chan on it, and he liked it but it was more compressed than what he wanted.

 

[guitarbilly74]

My ideal tone is early Metallica

The reissue and a boost will do early Metallica just fine. Don't overthink this.

 

[SpiderWars]

$400 FIRM!

Not mine.

 

[Jon BCN]

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/JCM800--marshall-jcm800-2203x-100-watt-tube-head
$3k for the reissue, Jesus

If anyone is willing to spend 3k on that reissue, send the check to me, and i'll build you a quality amp.

Maybe I call Dave and order him a 50watt Pink Taco with EL34, the simple clean and some other switches like the Sat and the C45.

If you're going the Dave route, get the Dirty Shirley instead. The DS is a JCM800 preamp (with some tweeks), with a JTM45 power section.

I did a DS mod on a friends 50w plexi clone, sounds AMAZEBALLS. He loves it now. I initially did a smallbox BE chan on it, and he liked it but it was more compressed than what he wanted.

I thought about the Twin Sister, because it can get more aggressive with the bright switch and the thump control. This video gave me a lot of hype...

The problem is: I want a tight amp for those styles, and the Twin Sister/Dirty Shirley still has that loose character to it.

My ideal tone is early Metallica

The reissue and a boost will do early Metallica just fine. Don't overthink this.

You're probably right.

For the price of a big Friedman I can buy a JCM800 reissue, the Two Notes Captor X, a couple of Yamaha HS8 and a small pedalboard.

 

[Samhain]

Want Metallica get a MK III.

 

[CornNutz]

For the price of a big Friedman I can buy a JCM800 reissue, the Two Notes Captor X, a couple of Yamaha HS8 and a small pedalboard.

I would do the Twin Sister (no pun ). It's $200 less than the reissue, it has two full channels, and It's a far superior amp in respect to quality, flexibility, and probably sound.

Oh, and if it's too loose, you can drop in one of these silicon rectifiers that fit in the tube rec socket:
https://www.stewmac.com/electronics/amp ... D7EALw_wcB

Might run that by Dave to make sure the slight voltage increase is safe on the caps. Probably is.
Or just ask dave to build the amp with a silicon rectifier instead.

 

[guitarbilly74]

For the price of a big Friedman I can buy a JCM800 reissue, the Two Notes Captor X, a couple of Yamaha HS8 and a small pedalboard.

I would do the Twin Sister (no pun ). It's $200 less than the reissue, it has two full channels, and It's a far superior amp in respect to quality, flexibility, and probably sound.

Oh, and if it's too loose, you can drop in one of these silicon rectifiers that fit in the tube rec socket:
https://www.stewmac.com/electronics/amp ... D7EALw_wcB

Might run that by Dave to make sure the slight voltage increase is safe on the caps. Probably is.
Or just ask dave to build the amp with a silicon rectifier instead.

He's in Europe the Friedmans cost a lot more than the reissues there.

And while the TS/DS are great amps, they're JTM45 circuits, that would be further away from what he wants (early Metallica tone).

2203s ARE the early Metallica tone and the reissue is a fine 2203 amp.

 

[CornNutz]

And while the TS/DS are great amps, they're JTM45 circuits, that would be further away from what he wants (early Metallica tone).

Actually just the power amp is jtm45, the pre is very much jcm800. pull the tube rectifier, and pop in a SS rectifier, and your good. Actually even better because the S switch allows that 10k cold bias second stage you find on 800's to go full blown gain.

But yeah, I guess if the 800's are cheaper for him then that changes things.