Modern high gain amps are great, however I'm not convinced that there still isn't much better than an SD-1 into a vintage 2203/04...

[Neptical]

OP thread STILL lives up to the hype. BOSS SD-1 and a Marshall of any flavor will always destroy. I've been a Boogie man for several years until finding this secret recipe ( along with a 10 band in the loop) .

I'm a fan of DiMeola, Carlton, Latimer, Gilmour and many other numerous rock/metal guitarist. Marshalls exceed in every tonal degree. Don't get caught up in the booteek shenanigan hype

 

[disaster]

if you modify a 2204/2203 and use a certain MV+ switchable zener diode clipping circuit, you don’t even need a drive pedal, and it sounds better than a pedal - way more transparent, no low end cut, and the volume reduction from clipping eliminates the need for a power attenuator (if using at home)

You know what, turns out my amp has something like this. I discovered it when I took the chassis out for biasing. It’s footswitchable ( replacing one of the 4 speaker jacks). I was suspicious when I plugged a speaker cable in after I got it and no sound came out...

 

[owlexifry]

You know what, turns out my amp has something like this. I discovered it when I took the chassis out for biasing. It’s footswitchable ( replacing one of the 4 speaker jacks). I was suspicious when I plugged a speaker cable in after I got it and no sound came out...

nifty! what amp is it?

 

[disaster]

nifty! what amp is it?

1980 JMP 2203.
I thought it was unmodded, but I ain’t mad since it still sounds great. (And it was an ok deal...)

 

[owlexifry]

1980 JMP 2203.
I thought it was unmodded, but I ain’t mad since it still sounds great. (And it was an ok deal...)

dude that’s awesome.
got any gutshots?
if it doesn’t affect the tone when bypassed/switched off, then no harm done really..sounds like a bonus to me haha

 

[disaster]

dude that’s awesome.
got any gutshots?
if it doesn’t affect the tone when bypassed/switched off, then no harm done really..sounds like a bonus to me haha

I mean, I dunno if it totally doesn’t affect the sound when it’s off, but it does sound like a 2203.
there’s a whole other transformer board (I assume for the switching) under the amps transformer, and then a diode on the opposite side of the board. Weird, but it looks like some thought went into it. I’ll probably have my amp guy make it stock eventually. Apologies for the badly lit late-night amp teching pics!

 

[owlexifry]

there’s a whole other transformer board (I assume for the switching) under the amps transformer, and then a diode on the opposite side of the board. Weird, but it looks like some thought went into it

thanks for that, very interesting. i’m wondering why all the extra transformer business is there..

all i did to get the clipping circuit running was i moved the MV to pre-tonestack, and a few other changes with a couple tagstrips and the clipping diode circuit on a switch.