Old People: How did you feel about the JCM800 at the time of its release?

[Greazygeo]

Never could afford one. Plexi and metalpanel / mid 70’s jmps were $300 range all day long. A friend had a 2210 I could play thru that was pretty good. Another friend had a 2203 he bought brand new. I liked the looks of the older style plexis anyway.

 

[stephen sawall]

Just Curious...what volume levels (gain and master) do you feel you need to have them sound good?

I usually ran the Master between 11 and 1 o'clock. Gain above noon.

 

[inyarak74]

I was playing bass in a ski circuit band in the early 80s and my guitarist used two 800s absolutely cranked(bass rolled off a bit) thru power soaks to dial back the stage volume. I'm talking "All men play on ten" shit. Gibson explorers. His sound was glorious as far as I was concerned. But WTF did I know back then...I was an 17 year old bass player in 1982.

That’s fuckin awesome!

 

[UltraGary]

I got my first Marshall in '83 when I was 17 and was disappointed that I still needed to use my Distortion+ (because it didn't have a master volume and I was a dumb 17 year old ). A few months later I traded it +$250 for a JCM800 with MV and WOW!... what a kick-ass amp! I instantly had awesome tones for all of the Maiden, Priest, Ozzy, etc.. stuff we were doing. To this day, one of my only gear regrets is selling that fantastic 1/2 stack.

 

[JackBootedThug]

My first tube amp was a fender super 60 red knob combo. Not sure when the dsl’s came out but the only Marshalls around here at all were those. Or a tsl. Not sure why but like I said earlier it was mainly pv shit or an occasional twin. This was in the mid to late eighties. My first Marshall was the zakk wylde sig halfstack whenever that came out. And of course I couldn’t wait to get it home and fire it up. I had no idea how to run a Marshall. I did learn pretty quick. And that thing was just stupid. Stupid loud. I ran it in stereo with a tremoverb halfstack. Also boosted it with an Ibanez tonelok distortion pedal. I understand what people mean by hitting you in the chest. The zw800 had 6550’s I believe as well. The matching cab was 4 ev12’s. That’s the only 800 I have ever played so not sure what a standard one would be like compared to it. I had a jvm when they first came out but I didn’t gel with it. I also had my roadking and vh4 as well so that’s probably why. Sorry for the long pointless rambling post…lol

 

[anomaly]

I notice that some of those jcm800 2203 heads hit their top volume at only about 2 - 2.5 on the master volume, after that they just sound like shit. They're really loud too.

 

[JackBootedThug]

I lived in a housing development at the time so there was no maxing the volume on one for me. I couldn’t imagine cranking that thing with 4 ev’s… lol. I remember plugging in the first time and I was like wtf is this? Rockabilly surf music bullshit….but when I learned about the boosting game…watch out… shit got real quick…

 

[romanianreaper]

i was young then, none of us could afford a Marshall, never mind a new Marshall. A few of the older guys in the clubs had Marshalls but I don't really remember which models.

At the time, as I was just getting into being in bands, I had an old pre-CBS Fender Bandmaster, Univox, Sound City, Sunn before getting my first Marshall ( a used plexi in the early '80s) soon (mid-80s?), racks were coming into use, sold my Marshall and got the full ADA guitar and bass rigs...it was around the time I moved to rhythm guitar / vocals and bass IIRC, years may be a bit off.

Oh yeah, back then owning a Marshall almost seemed unreachable as a goal. I gigged in Korea in 1990 with a BOSS ME-10 practice amp. Not sure how I pulled it off, lol.

 

[Geo]

Had an 81' quickly sold it. Very one trick pony.

 

[skoora]

I read the OP and felt a knee jerk reaction to stand at attention and say “Yes Sir, Old, reporting for duty”

…or like the old lady translating jive from Airplane, raise my hand and say …”I speak old”

 

[Little B]

In 84''-85'ish,after hating lugging around my fender twin,I bought an 800 combo from the store in my local mall.Couldn't afford the full stack that was in there.
That 800 combo was pretty darn raw and in your face compared to anything I had at the time.

 

[Beyond Black]

I’m old enough to have seen them everywhere for $400 all day long.

 

[SonVolt]

I bought my first Marshall, a JCM800 2204 for $400 on Brainerd Road in Chattanooga Tennessee back in '98.

 

[skoora]

I bought my first Marshall, a JCM800 2204 for $400 on Brainerd Road in Chattanooga Tennessee back in '98.

Those certainly were the days. Around that time I got a Mint ‘78 2203 for $500 and a Plexi reissue (a ‘93) for $400. In early 90’s had two 100 watt Silver Jubes that I got for well under $600 each, and that was from a store, not private sale. 60’s Bassman heads were $175-200. Good times.

 

[itsme]

Just Curious...what volume levels (gain and master) do you feel you need to have them sound good?

My ‘82 2204 does that thing at 4 1/2. I use a Fryette PS to bring it down and add effects. Makes it completely giggable.

 

[67mike]

I usually ran the Master between 11 and 1 o'clock. Gain above noon.

So the dB would be around 117 to 121 at that point through a 4x12, was this on stages?

 

[67mike]

My ‘82 2204 does that thing at 4 1/2. I use a Fryette PS to bring it down and add effects. Makes it completely giggable.

I usually have mv at 4 for recording.

Playing in jam room or small room....1.5 is fine.

 

[67mike]

I notice that some of those jcm800 2203 heads hit their top volume at only about 2 - 2.5 on the master volume, after that they just sound like shit. They're really loud too.

4 or so is what I have seen....just compresses after that.

There is the mv wide open and use gain to control overall volume-plexi trick

 

[napalmdeath]

I didn't like them, and didn't really try one until the late 80's. I later bought a Valvestate head when they were released and loved it. I then gravitated to Peavey, the Classic Series, and gigged with 2 Classic 50 combos for 4 or 5 years.. I then went to a brand new JCM2000 DSL, and it, (and the 2205), are still my favorite Marshalls. I do like the JVM, but primarily OD2 Orange. I could live with a good sounding old DSL over an 800, honestly.

 

[Smash]

I didn't like them, and didn't really try one until the late 80's. I later bought a Valvestate head when they were released and loved it. I then gravitated to Peavey, the Classic Series, and gigged with 2 Classic 50 combos for 4 or 5 years.. I then went to a brand new JCM2000 DSL, and it, (and the 2205), are still my favorite Marshalls. I do like the JVM, but primarily OD2 Orange. I could live with a good sounding old DSL over an 800, honestly.

Peaveys are cheaply made and get a bad rap. But they sound fucking sweet