Is the JCM900 as bad as people say?

[eljeffebrown]

I ran the gain at 3 oclock on lead, had my eq at pres 8 oclock,treb at 7 coclock,mids at 3 oclock,lows dimed.

mine was running KT-77's at that point but, i swapped for E34L's to get a softer crunch. I ran mine at 25 watts most times as well.

You know how your always saying that the 900dr's are very bright, the above is why.

I was always told if you want more lows out of your amp don't add Bass, remove Highs and Presence and add Mids. it's a tone staple that I stick to to this day cause it works. adding Bass just gives you flub but removing Treb and Pres REMOVES highs. when you add Mids to the mix you get some of the highs back but most important you get what cuts, low Mids.

Running a 4500 at 25 Watts makes it sound very brittle W 34's if you were running something like a KT88 then you could crank it and it would sound big but EL34's just sound wimpy and thin when switched to 25 watts (whatever mode that is, I can't remember)

I run my head like this, Pres 3 Oclock, Bass noon, Mids 9 oclock/dimed (depending on venue), Treb 3 Oclock. Vol 2 1/2 / 4 (depending) Gain Ch B, 14 Gain CH A, Dimed.

See I've taken the highs OUT, and added tons of Mids (to cut) and just enough Bass to complement the low Mids.

I hope this makes sense.

 

[Ken]

Dude I run nothing in front of my amp AT ALL except a polytune and a MXR Smart gate cause it has too much gain (my gain is set on 14). what you hear is all guitar and amp nothing else it's just set up properly, something not alot of guys know how to do.

Here ya go.

Marshall JCM 900 4500 VS Crate Blue Voodoo 60 - YouTube

The Crate is good, but I liked the Marshall better; nice playing! Both amps are good; you got the DR to sound better than a Crate which I'm not sure I could do. I wish you had a JVM or DSL to add to the mix though! It's really a whole different ballgame with an amp that has that much more gain available.

We have the same tuner, those kick ass huh!!

Ken

 

[Esc]

I thought I remembered reading that your amp was modded for a + 20 db boost if the loop was jumped, is that acting like a boost pedal in front or something similar to that?

Vids are labeled modded 900 too. What gives Eljeffe?

 

[TheLoudness!!]

There are amps far far worser than a JCM900. Back in the day I would have loved to have owned a 900 instead of some the horrid sounding stuff I owned...

 

[diesect20022000]

You know how your always saying that the 900dr's are very bright, the above is why.

I was always told if you want more lows out of your amp don't add Bass, remove Highs and Presence and add Mids. it's a tone staple that I stick to to this day cause it works. adding Bass just gives you flub but removing Treb and Pres REMOVES highs. when you add Mids to the mix you get some of the highs back but most important you get what cuts, low Mids.

Running a 4500 at 25 Watts makes it sound very brittle W 34's if you were running something like a KT88 then you could crank it and it would sound big but EL34's just sound wimpy and thin when switched to 25 watts (whatever mode that is, I can't remember)

I run my head like this, Pres 3 Oclock, Bass noon, Mids 9 oclock/dimed (depending on venue), Treb 3 Oclock. Vol 2 1/2 / 4 (depending) Gain Ch B, 14 Gain CH A, Dimed.

See I've taken the highs OUT, and added tons of Mids (to cut) and just enough Bass to complement the low Mids.

I hope this makes sense.

I had to add lows on that amp as it doesn't have much. and my treb and presence were almost OFF so i don't see that being a factor. what you do is almost exactly what i did to mine,lol.I actualy had a darker setting than you did because i had only 1 on the dial for treble and only 2 on the dial for presence. the lows are very minimal on that amp and i normal TAKE OUT the lows on my amps but, with that amp it added a sponginess and "tube like" feel i needed at the time.


yeah you have a WAY brighter setting than i had on mine.also mids at 9 oclock is scooped compared to my eqing, that's 2 on the dial maybe 3. i had mine almost all the way up.

 

[diesect20022000]

yeah i don't see it being bright as a problem. I LIKE bright amps. That's why i don't like some amps i've used liek the recto's as much.

the way you dial your DR in though sounds great but, would still be to bright for me on a dual reverb. i take out almost all of the highes and presence and run the mids near all the way and bass fron noon to dimed. that was where i liked mine.

the dual reverb's are brighter amps, nothing wrong with that, just a fact.


If i had mine still though i'd probably run the EQ almost the same is i did then. I don't like a lot of lows but, the dual reverbs are pretty shy in the low end department already and i love resonance functions because i usualy dial out the lows in the preamp. Anyway i dialed the lows UP on the DR because it enhanced the feel, it didn't add much in the low end department and wasn't why i did it.

I'm not a heavy low end or mid scoop guy at all.

Yeah i thnk you missread my "oclocks" though. where i had my treb and presence was almost 0 which would be in the 6-9 oclock range MAX. i had mine dialed in similarly to yours but, DARKER.

 

[Captainwave]

The subject of tone is just that, subjective. It's all down to your preferences. What music do you play? What guitar do you play? How do YOU like it to sound? Where do you play (at home, gigs or both)? There's a lot of metal heads around here and I can see why some of them don't like the 900 because the metal preference sound is perhaps more Mesa.

I play a Strat, mostly at home at moderate volumes (well...) and Pink Floyd, Camel, Dream Theater style stuff. For me, the JCM 900 is just perfect. Here's my setup: TC Polytune - Morley wah - Bad Monkey in the front. FX-loop has a Visual Sound H2O (chorus and delay). Also in the FX-loop is my EWS Subtle Volume Control that acts like an attenuator but really isn't, but works like one nonetheless. Because of the Strat and music preference, I keep my treble, mids and presence quite low and up the bass. I'm all about the soft, creamy and absolutely heartbreaking Gilmour tone.

It's all down to what YOU like. What sounds sweet as pie for one may sounds absolutely terrible and unusable for another.

 

[diesect20022000]

all i know is i'm watching the local list for one again. they're so cheap it's irresistible

 

[impetus maximus]

i don't know what models they were. when i was shopping for an amp
found the 900's to sound artificial in the distortion area.
got my hands on a JCM 800 2204 that the store let me crank up.
no pedals needed. bought in on the spot for $400

that's what sounded good to me. try different amps and find what's good for you!

if the store won't let you crank up the volume, fuck em. find a store that will
and find your amp. two stores/salesmen told me 50W wasn't enough to gig with
then told me i couldn't crank up the 100W heads they had! what a bunch of BS!
i waved goodbye fanning my fist full of dollars at those idiots.

/max

 

[rockinr0ll]

Honestly the 2nd best Marshall I have ever heard was a Marshall Dual Reverb. Sounds great.

 

[J. Burns]

I never much cared for the 900's although I know they have their fans. I was using one (100W SL-X) as a backup for a long time (my main amp at the time had that great "always in the shop" tone) and while it sounded okay on it's own, I just couldn't get it to cut through our other guitar players' '76 2203.

The Sovtek Mig-60 I had just MURDERED it in volume, as did an AC-30 I got to try out around the same time.

Then again, I know the reason some people love these amps is because you can really open them up and the perceived volume was a lot lower than a 2203 or 2204 or pretty much any four-holer. Even when opened up, they just didn't have the roar or chunk I was looking for.

To me, the 900's are just like neck pickups or chorus pedals: some people make 'em sound great, but they just don't work for me.

 

[fenderbender420]

i happen to own a 1995 jcm900 4100 dual reverb and i absolutly love it channel a does some incredible cleans and channel b has loads of gain. i play in a band and we do play some more modern stuff and i never turn the gain on that channel past 12 ( channel b goes to 20)

 

[JTyson]

I have a ( Langner modded) 900 DR that will make you pee on yourself Its one of my favorite heads, and I have a few that others consider to be much better. Its far from stock though.

 

[Jasper.]

I was always told if you want more lows out of your amp don't add Bass, remove Highs and Presence and add Mids. it's a tone staple that I stick to to this day cause it works. adding Bass just gives you flub but removing Treb and Pres REMOVES highs. when you add Mids to the mix you get some of the highs back but most important you get what cuts, low Mids.


I hope this makes sense.

+1 I do it exactly this way. And how louder you crank it, how less bass it needs. My 900 sounds also great at lower volumes, but you have to adjust the bass if you roll the volume down.
I prefer my 900 over an 800.

And don't use too much gain on the 900's. I only go to 12 o,clock. And when i need more gain than that (almost never) I use an overdrive pedal.

 

[Gtrman58]

If the opportunity exists for me to pick one up at a good price in the future I will. I know a lot of people that have used them. I think they are like every other amp/guitar out there, some are good some not so much. Each has its own sound and can probably be tweaked to
deliver that Marshall crunch.

 

[Mats A]

the dual reverb models are the infamous models and no they're fine. It's all preferance but, i loved mine. they're bright as hell though so a unique eqing is needed. set up properly they can be amazing though. Check out "eljeffe's" clips if you like metal and are curios about this variant.

the MKIII is an unsung classic rock HERO and the SL-X is a popular hard rock and metal amp. ACE Frehley swore by them and still uses them.

When Ace played my hometown in December 2009 he used JCM900 High Gain Dual Reverb´s and no SL-X amps. I know for a fact because i know one of the guys that promoted the show and he even took pictures of Ace´s amps.

 

[medicjg]

I usually run two heads but lately I have been running my DR by itself through a 4x12 with v30s.. I have really been enjoying the 4100 albeit mine is modded. Basically I had the preamp revoiced so that I didnt have to use an eq pedal to boost the lows and cut the highs... Its a great sounding amp.. Very thick but still with the ability to cut through the mix on the single note stuff without changing your settings. Very pleasing sound.. Im eye balling a classic tone OT that I think will push it even further.. The deals that are going on this amp make it very affodable. I hope the bashers keep it up and drive the price down some more. I will snatch up another..

 

[HoboMan]

I have a JCM900 2501 MKIII 1x12 50 watt combo and it KICKS ASS!
I sold my DSL after getting this.
I haven't gigged with it yet but I've been using it at rehearsal with no extension cab and it just roars.

Great friggin amp!

It's the top combo. The bottom one is my JCM800 4210.

 

[eljeffebrown]

you know how your always saying that the 900dr's are very bright, the above is why.

I was always told if you want more lows out of your amp don't add bass, remove highs and presence and add mids. It's a tone staple that i stick to to this day cause it works. Adding bass just gives you flub but removing treb and pres removes highs. When you add mids to the mix you get some of the highs back but most important you get what cuts, low mids.

Running a 4500 at 25 watts makes it sound very brittle w 34's if you were running something like a kt88 then you could crank it and it would sound big but el34's just sound wimpy and thin when switched to 25 watts (whatever mode that is, i can't remember)

i run my head like this, pres 9 oclock (from 3), bass noon, mids 3 oclock/dimed (from 9) (depending on venue), treb 9 oclock (from 3). Vol 2 1/2 / 4 (depending) gain ch b, 14 gain ch a, dimed.

See i've taken the highs out, and added tons of mids (to cut) and just enough bass to complement the low mids.

I hope this makes sense.

edited

I had my clock all backwards for some reason!

 

[RazorDave]

You know how your always saying that the 900dr's are very bright, the above is why.

I was always told if you want more lows out of your amp don't add Bass, remove Highs and Presence and add Mids. it's a tone staple that I stick to to this day cause it works. adding Bass just gives you flub but removing Treb and Pres REMOVES highs. when you add Mids to the mix you get some of the highs back but most important you get what cuts, low Mids.

Running a 4500 at 25 Watts makes it sound very brittle W 34's if you were running something like a KT88 then you could crank it and it would sound big but EL34's just sound wimpy and thin when switched to 25 watts (whatever mode that is, I can't remember)

I run my head like this, Pres 3 Oclock, Bass noon, Mids 9 oclock/dimed (depending on venue), Treb 3 Oclock. Vol 2 1/2 / 4 (depending) Gain Ch B, 14 Gain CH A, Dimed.

See I've taken the highs OUT, and added tons of Mids (to cut) and just enough Bass to complement the low Mids.

I hope this makes sense.

So true. This can apply to any amp live as well. Most players use to much treble. It can sound descent right next to you but move all the way to the front, step off the stage and its much brighter.