JCM 800 series

[JL75]

Hi all, Ive been doing a bit of research lately, here soon Ill be making a switch from 20 years of Fender, to Gibson. And Im going to start with as close to the sound in Duane Allmans rig as possible, its not about Duane specifically, I love his sound, but I believe as a player, we all have to mold our own sound. That being said, I have a speaker combo in mind, 1 G12H30, and a Weber CV123F. Going to end up buying a LP Studio and hopefully put some PAFs in it. The head Im not as sure on. Im seeing a good bit of availability of early 1980s 50w JCM 800s available for a decent price, I can put some EL34s in it with 12AX7s. But Im worried that the 800 series may have me sounding more like I should be joining an 80s metal band which I dont want. Is this a good head to achieve that Allman warmth, and fullness with the punch of the mids, or should I try something else?

[nickthenail]

It's definitely not the first choice. As a happy JCM800 owner for 25 years, I would suggest, if you do go that route, go easy on the preamp gain. :)

[Shiny_Beast]

There are a bunch of different jcm800 models. Do enough research to know what you are getting. The channel switchers are completely different beasts than the Marshalls that preceded them.

[Dr Git]

Maybe thats why i wasn't much of a JCM800 fan...

[MRscratch]

dude, you are there with a 800. its not a "80's" metal amp. it can be, but its so easy to dial in. early 800 amps are classic rock heaven. just get it, experiment
and have a good time. you wont go wrong.
i have a 82 2203, and i can do anything with it. its a amp/tool. set it up right, and off you go.

[HoboMan]

dude, you are there with a 800. its not a "80's" metal amp. it can be, but its so easy to dial in. early 800 amps are classic rock heaven. just get it, experiment
and have a good time. you wont go wrong.
i have a 82 2203, and i can do anything with it. its a amp/tool. set it up right, and off you go.

MRscratch speaks the truth.

I have a JCM800 channel switching combo. I use it in a classic rock cover bad. We play everything from Johnny Cash to Metallica and this one amp does it all.

[cram]

Here: Read this thread (http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=701204). (all sorts of categorized threads are listed there)

Oh and - JCM800 2204.
Rock band - I run it l ight on the pre section, between 3-5.
I use various pedals to get different sounds.
It's my favorite amp.
I can get the 80's sound if I dial it in, but mostly I love the light rasp I can get with it as it stands.

[rob2001]

800's are pretty versatile. Certainly not just 80's metal tones. But they are also pretty bright and edgy. I love mine and can do a faux Duane thing with my 2204 but I also think using the amp he supposedly used might be a better fit. I believe he used a 50 watt non master model 1986 bass.


1986 is the model, not the year.

[gulliver]

I have the 2204 (single channel) and 2205 (switcher), you can get some good classic rock tones from the switcher using the clean channel and pedals, but it's not even close to the organic vintage type marshall tones of the 2204. The 2205 lead channel doesn't back off well and the normal channel is voiced too flat for the best cleans and doesn't sound great pushed (but takes pedals well FWIW). But the 2204 does need an attenuator to get the best out of it IMHO, gotta push the power tubes. The switcher mostly lives on preamp distortion.

[spaceman_spiff]

Most of the `80s metal tones came from modded 2204s. An early 80s unmodded 2204 is, at best, a mid-gain amp. It doesn't get enough credit for the cleans and low-gain stuff it delivers. I loved playing a Tele through the low input into an open-back 2-12 cab with G12H30 (70th annies) in an Alt-Country/Cosmic Americana band.

Cheers,
Carl

[schwa]

While a JCM 800 isn't exactly what Duane played, it can definitely get a similar tone. (Master up, Pre at noon or less. This is quite loud).

I actually like the master volume, gives it a bit more flexibility for my needs. I have a 2204 and love it.

[JL75]

While a JCM 800 isn't exactly what Duane played, it can definitely get a similar tone.

Yea, Ive seen a couple early 70's Lead/Bass 50w heads, but I dont have the coin, and one of them actually has had a power transformer changed, which from what I understand, can completely change the sound.

[grizdeluxe]

Nik at Ceriatone builds a great 1986 head.

http://www.ceriatone.com/productSubPages/BSPlexi50Bass/BSPlexi50BassKits.htm

[philipag]

Hey - I just did what you're asking about - getting Duane tones out of a 800 and am very happy with the results! Here's what I did - got a Fargen Olde 800 used head - the original without the decade switch and higher gain for $800. They are very high quality with Merc Mag transformers, Sozo's, etc. Then I converted it to 1986 specs - not hard to do - took a couple of hours is all. Instead of the cascaded gain stages I have parallel and bridged them internally which works out great since Duane used to use a Y cable to run both channels at the same time. So now I have essentially a single input, 1986 circuit with a master volume! I got a little fancy and added some switches to change the values of the bypass caps - but that's gravy and you don't need that to get the Duane tone. I'll post a clip later so you can hear it.

Add that to the speakers you mentioned and get some slightly overwound PAF clones and you'll def be in the tonal neighborhood - at least as far as the gear goes - but the biggest part of Duane's tone was his technique and that's a bit more complicated! ;)

[hottub]

I have an '85 4010 1x12 combo that I have sort of rediscovered. Always gigged with Fender or D-style amps. For the heck of it I took the 800 to a gig. Always just played it in the basement, never had it out. So I went with no pedals, just totally worked the volume knob all night. I had one of the best gigs I could remember in terms of how I liked the tone and how it sounded so open, raw and natural.
It nailed all the classic rock we do, which included Allmans and Skynyrd. Set up wise, it was so nice to just go straight from guitar to amp. And actually I kinda haven't looked back since. Now I see what everyone used to tell me about the 800's. In fact, in all my time using it, I never really considered it a metal or high gain amp. Plus I also snipped one or two of the caps inside, which may have rounded out and warmed up the tone a bit, and brought the brightness and/or gain down a tad. I miss not having rever, a little, but the tone, and how it cuts thru are well worth their weight.
And I almost made the mistake of selling it for like $500 bucks recently, but then plugged into her and was glad I didn't get rid of it. ;)

recently I came across a guide on how to adjust the eq and knobs to dial in different sounds...eg. blues rock, classic rock, hard rock, etc. I dialed in the hard rock tone in order to have that at full sweep of the volume knob, then just dialed my volume knob back, and I was in blues rock/classic rock territory. I started with preamp at 80%, master at 3-4, treble at 40-60%, middle at 80%, bass at 80-100%, presence at 40-60%.

[ChorusCrackpot]

I bought my single channel 1981 JCM 800 2204 on the basis that it sounded fantastic when clean tones & gritty/slightly dirty tones were dialled up. I didn't even bother to crank the preamp up or hit the front end with an overdrive pedal.

[Tuberoast]

I play through an 83 4010 combo. I use an Lovepedal E6 into the high gain channel but I don't run the amp Gain past 4 or 5. I use the guitar vol to control as well. Just a nice fat sound for me. I used a DR for years, nothing against it, but I prefer the Marshall combo, it cuts through! I prefer it no matter which guitar I use..

[Flameout12]

4010 combo + OCD...add in coil tapping and I can play tons of music, including '80's type hi-gain with the OCD on.

[philipag]

Here's a quick and dirty clip of my "plexied" Fargen Olde 800:
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10338170

[wntbtw]

Here's a quick and dirty clip of my "plexied" Fargen Olde 800:
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10338170

Got them Statesboro Blues!

[hottub]

Here's a quick and dirty clip of my "plexied" Fargen Olde 800:
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10338170



Sounds great!!

[philipag]

Sounds great!!

Thanks, bro! I'm very happy with how it came out and it's a 25w version of the amp so I don't have to shatter any windows to get that tone.

[DICKIE C]

Early '80s JCM800s are just fine for vintage tones. Get it! I used to own one! Loved it!