Marshall Kerry King: accurate JCM 800?

[Home Player]

I'm in the market for a JCM800. The Kerry King head is the cheapest I can find. Being a big Slayer fan doesn't hurt. But does the KK head accurately represent the JCM800? I ask because I got a JVM and discovered it's too dark to do the JCM sound. Is the KK a safe bet?

 

[marshallmellowed]

I'm in the market for a JCM800. The Kerry King head is the cheapest I can find. Being a big Slayer fan doesn't hurt. But does the KK head accurately represent the JCM800? I ask because I got a JVM and discovered it's too dark to do the JCM sound. Is the KK a safe bet?

If you're after "The" 2203 sound, I'd keep looking. The KK is a bit different in it's "feel", has the built in dirt pedal circuit ("Beast Mode"), and also does not use EL34's in the output section (KT88's). If you're a Slayer fan (I'm not) or go for that type of sound (I don't), you might like it. Just my take, others will most likely have varying opinions. The KK also does not have an FX loop, where the 2203x does (important to some, like myself).

 

[Filipe Soares]

I have one and by far my favorite marshall.

Yes, out of the beast mode it is a ¨normal¨ JCM800. I mean ¨almost normal¨ as it has KT88s in the power stage, so to my ears it has a better bottom end.

I have made a few mods in mine: fx loop, depth knob and I have changed the NFB resistor to something that sounded better to me.

By no means, it is a real JCM800, it goes from ac dc to slayer, with the beast mode it sounds incredible too.

 

[Moony]

I've just looked at the schematics of the 2203 RI and the 2203 Kerry King signature.
They are very similar, the KK has some minor tweaks in the preamp like the 100p (C124) between the plate and cathode of the input gainstage (V105b) and slightly differnt eq - and it has 47nF coupling caps in the phase inverter (C119, C120) which makes it a bit fatter sounding (the 2203 RI has 22nF).
Both have the same nfb resistor (100k at 4 ohms).
The 2203 is a good amp, it has the same transformers like the JVM410H.
If you can find one for a good price, go for it!