How to use a 2205

[Mike_LA]

It's a Marshall. You want clean? Buy a F*nd*r.

No f@#king way.
The Clean in my Marshall 6101 will stand toe to toe with ANY F*nd*r and I own a 1968 Princeton Reverb...

 

[Deftone]

Interesting stuff. I have an '84 2205, I need to try this.

I wonder if any of this applies to the JCM900DR's.

 

[johnnystephani]

I have an '84 ~ 4210.
Loop works just fine at any volume.
I also recently put a JHS Little Black Amp Box volume pedal in the loop, and it works great at taming down the preamp signal so there's more control of the MV.

What's the downside of using a JHS Little Black Amp Box volume pedal in the loop? One fella on reverb listed his as "Pedal board passive attenuator".

Curious...

 

[fitz]

What's the downside of using a JHS Little Black Amp Box volume pedal in the loop? One fella on reverb listed his as "Pedal board passive attenuator".

Curious...

Describing it as an attenuator is not very accurate - it's a line level volume knob, plain and simple.

Downside that I've found with the LBAB is that it doesn't work well on my NMV amp loops if you're looking for native overdrive tones at a lower volume.
If you throttle back the preamp signal on an amp that get some of its tone from pushing the power section, it just makes the amps clean and less loud.
I have used it on my JTM45 to keep the signal clean as a pedal platform.
But it's not going to turn a raging plexi into a whisper volume bedroom amp the way an actual speaker signal attenuator can.

Works great on the split channel JCM800 for me, and like I said, it adds some control to a touchy master volume.
I'm not looking for late night apartment volume, I like movin' air and scarin' the cats.
IMO - YMMV

 

[guitarbilly74]

One thing to keep in mind is there are 2 revisions of the 2205/2210, first one is '83-'86 and works well as the OP described since there is actually channel bleed between the 2 channels so it's best to set the normal channel to crunch and use the boost channel to take it over the top.

From '87-'90 the second revision fixed the channel bleed and added more gain to the boost channel. These amps can be used a regular channel switcher without any issue. BTW, most of the "famous" users of this amp (Schenker, Norum, Morello etc) use the later version.

 

[johnnystephani]

One thing to keep in mind is there are 2 revisions of the 2205/2210, first one is '83-'86 and works well as the OP described since there is actually channel bleed between the 2 channels so it's best to set the normal channel to crunch and use the boost channel to take it over the top.

From '87-'90 the second revision fixed the channel bleed and added more gain to the boost channel. These amps can be used a regular channel switcher without any issue. BTW, most of the "famous" users of this amp (Schenker, Norum, Morello etc) use the later version.

I have the '89.

 

[johnnystephani]

Thanks for the reply! Sounds like I'll need an attenuator...
I just want to hear what it sounds like "cranked", but the whole house shakes and the neighbors could push back.

 

[guitarbilly74]

What's the downside of using a JHS Little Black Amp Box volume pedal in the loop? One fella on reverb listed his as "Pedal board passive attenuator".

Curious...

It's not an attenuator, just an additional volume control. It's great for amps that have a "jumpy" master volume where 1 is super quiet and 2 is stage volume already. Then it gives you more range of control over the amp's volume. But it's not really attenuating anything since it's placed in the fx loop before the power amp.

A real attenuator goes between the amp and cab so you can crank the power section and reduce volume after it.