JCM800 2203x just got it

i played one of these at guitar center and just couldn't get a long with it with a tele. I could not dial out the harshness, i even dropped the treble and presence all the way down and it was still to bright. i wanted to like the amp. i just wasn't feeling it.

 

I've had a few JCM800's over the years including a reissue. You should be getting a beefy medium gain with your setup. You could have tube issues causing your problem. Did you buy the amp new?

The best speaker match for me with a 2203 is a V30 loaded cab. I love Greenbacks but the V30's are more round, juicy, fat and gainy sounding than Greenbacks. Greenbacks will sound thinner and crunchier with that lovely woody midrange. Depends on what you want to hear. I also used a hotplate set on -4db which smoothed things out just a hair too. It took some of the brightness out. For more gain, a nice transparent boost will up the gain without coloring the sound much. Seymour Duncan makes a very affordable one called a pickup booster. I have one that I had used with great results on my 2203X. Good luck!

 

I don't have my 2203x anymore, I sold it for a Bray modded Plexi but I can speak from memory. I've got an R7 with a 57' classic plus in the bridge and a 57' in the neck. They provided plenty of push for me. I'm not a high gain monger, I like a medium high gain at best. Just enough that I don't have to struggle too much playing lead but not too much to lose the amp's "character". Your setup should be fine. I'm not familar with your speakers, I've tried G12H30's, Greenbacks and V30's with the 2203's and felt the best match for me were the V30's. Greenbacks did sound a little flat, less gainy and thinner with the 2203 compared to the V30's. My 2203X was bright, the hotplate really worked great on taming that high end. Usually I don't like to attenuate but with the 2203 it ended up being a good thing. I do miss that sound, I'm sure I'll have another one someday. I'm sure you could make that 2203x put a smile on your face with just a little bit of experimenting.

 

+1

I sat and played with one and a few tele's for about an hour and couldn't get a good tone, way too bright. I was pretty disappointed.

 

hmmm well i have a 2203. a 4x12 cab loaded with 2 greenbacks and 2 red fangs. i have three guitars i rotate.

1) 83 Yamaha SBG 1000. Straight in no pedals, this thing kills, add a Keeley BD-2 and Slash, EVH, here we go.

2) EB Silhouette Special HSS, BD-2 to gain it up a tad, great rythm tone, kick in a second OD (keeley SD-1) for solos....

3) EB Silhouette Special SSS. Keeley BD-2 as above, Kick in a TS type (Bad Monkey) to beef up the tone for solos....

Out of all three. The SSS guitar is the "weirdest" combo with the JCM800. I am puzzled about the Humbuckers not sounding good!
IMO single coils and hi-gain don't fit extremely well to me unless you use a bunch of pedals.... Sorta beats the whole idea....

Stupid question... Why Strats?

 

I don't know a thing about the reissues, but I've got a couple of older JCM800s and they don't need a pedal for a medium gain crunch sound with Burstbuckers or 57 Classics. It sounds like that amp is biased cold to me. Have you checked the bias? It's not uncommon for new amps to be biased very cold from the factory. Also have you done any pre-amp tube swapping? You could just have a weak tube in there.

Chris

 

Yeah that to

 

Like a few others mentioned, I'd experiment with a couple of different preamp tubes first. A fairly inexpensive tube that many people like are the 9th Generation Chinese 12ax7's...they have a nice amount of grit and bite to them.

Let me ask...what type of music are you looking to play? What bands emulate the kind of gain you're looking for? What volume have you had the 2203x at??? What are your settings?

The JCM's like VOLUME...and lots of it. I just bought an old JCM from a forum member, I played two guitars with WCR pickups (Herc and Fillmores) and they sounded GREAT through the amp...my buddy played his Explorer with a '59/'59 combo and it didn't have the same amount of gain I did. FWIW, I preferred the Fillmore (less output than the Herc) to the tones I was getting from the Herc...but it was pretty close. I play in a hard rock/metal type band...it had plenty of gain for that. (Think along the lines of Testament, Zakk, Van Halen...etc. Not those bands, but that type gain.)

 

Very odd. I must have gotten a good one.

I just got one of these and my 52 reissue Tele sounds awsome through it.

Sounds to me like the amp has an issue. Bad Tube, needs rebiasing, or bad filter cap.

Mine has loads of gain with single coils. I dont even need a pedal for soloing. This is the first amp I've ever had that really cleans up well with the volume knob on my guitar. Its not to bright either.

The one I bought is about 1 year old. It was a little bright with G12T-75 speakers so I changed them out to Century Vintage speakers. I'm playing through a 2x12 though.

Which input are you using? One is higher gain than the other.

I'm setting my Preamp Volume full up and my Master about halfway and loving it. Then I just roll my Guitar Volume back and it cleans up amasingly.

I'm setting Trebile a little over halfway, Mid the same, Bass a little less than halfway, and Prescense the same as the Mid and High.

I hope you can get it figured out. If you can get your tone to where I am your gonna be one happy camper.

 

I can't speak for the 2203x but I do have an 83 2203 with 6550's. Try using a Boss SD-1 and maybe a GE-7 in front and you should get some cool sounds out of it. I personally think the G12T75's are a good speaker match for the 2203's.

A lot of people don't like them at first but it grows on you in time. Also they have the tendency to not sound good by themselves but when you play with the band, they cut really well.