NAD: 1988 JCM 800 2204 - Pristine condition inside and out!

[Deftone]

My '90 2204 has EL34's and it sounds incredible. The '79 and '85 both have 6550's...a little brighter, while the '90 sounds more organic. I love that amp.

Does that Mojotone kit have a loop? Very nicely executed package you built there. Is there a build thread on it?

 

[Smellytele]

Congrats! Let's hear it!!

 

[cliffenstein]

My '90 2204 has EL34's and it sounds incredible. The '79 and '85 both have 6550's...a little brighter, while the '90 sounds more organic. I love that amp.

Does that Mojotone kit have a loop? Very nicely executed package you built there. Is there a build thread on it?

No loop…I wanted as close to a horizontal input JCM 800 2204 as possible. I’ll make a build thread on it today in the building the classics forum.

 

[Mitchell Pearrow]

Congratulations
Beautiful score

 

[guitronics]

That is one clean amp head. I'd look around, you might have to buy a whole new handle, to get that cap.

 

[cliffenstein]

That is one clean amp head. I'd look around, you might have to buy a whole new handle, to get that cap.

It isn't a big deal to me...I haven't decided whether or not I'm gonna repair the handle. If I do, it'll be down the road.

 

[Kuga]

Congrats! Really nice one.

 

[Deftone]

It isn't a big deal to me...I haven't decided whether or not I'm gonna repair the handle. If I do, it'll be down the road.

They no longer make those style caps but there is a guy making reproductions with a 3D printer and selling them on Reverb for $10.

https://Reverb(dot)com/item/6173352...e-end-cap-3d-printed-fits-jcm-800-many-others

 

[cliffenstein]

They no longer make those style caps but there is a guy making reproductions with a 3D printer and selling them on Reverb for $10.

https://Reverb(dot)com/item/6173352...e-end-cap-3d-printed-fits-jcm-800-many-others

Well, I guess I care enough because I just followed the link and purchased one.

Thank you!

 

[cliffenstein]

My '90 2204 has EL34's and it sounds incredible. The '79 and '85 both have 6550's...a little brighter, while the '90 sounds more organic. I love that amp.

Does that Mojotone kit have a loop? Very nicely executed package you built there. Is there a build thread on it?

Posted as promised!

Mojotone British 800 2204

Surfing Reverb this past June and a Mojotone kit built 2204 that looked to be very nicely modded/upgraded showed up on my screen. It was assembled/hand-wired by an amp enthusiast from McKinney, TX in 2022 operating under the name of Jasper Amplification. The owner of the amp was doing a big...

www.marshallforum.com

 

[Deftone]

This is how I ended up with my JCM800 2205. I made a low ball offer thinking it would never get accepted and they accepted.

Never hurts to ask!

 

[Purgasound]

Great amp. The main thing that caught my eye was the solder joint on the added shield for the anode wire leaving the second gain stage. I circled the non-stock wiring. The shield for the wire is soldered to the chassis. The reason it caught my attention is that it takes an enormous amount of heat to get solder to bond to the chassis like that. A normal soldering iron can't do the job. It's enough heat that I would be skeptical that the solder glob couldn't just be picked off the chassis with your fingernail. It's so much heat that to do it right it would likely melt the jacket of the shielded coax wire. Second it's odd that they would shield the plate and not the grid as the first two grid inputs are the most sensitive to RFI. They did shield the grid wire on V2 but not sure why.

Does any of this hurt the amp? No, but if that solder blob on the chassis comes loose it could make contact with something it shouldn't and cause a bit of chaos. Push on it with the tip of a flat-head screwdriver. If it comes loose, either snip it off completely or replace the wire. Stock wire would be blue and unshielded. The other wire with the heat shrink on it would be green. It's worth finding out where that shield terminates also.

Other than that it looks great. These are my favorite amps. Have fun with it.

 

[cliffenstein]

Great amp. The main thing that caught my eye was the solder joint on the added shield for the anode wire leaving the second gain stage. I circled the non-stock wiring. The shield for the wire is soldered to the chassis. The reason it caught my attention is that it takes an enormous amount of heat to get solder to bond to the chassis like that. A normal soldering iron can't do the job. It's enough heat that I would be skeptical that the solder glob couldn't just be picked off the chassis with your fingernail. It's so much heat that to do it right it would likely melt the jacket of the shielded coax wire. Second it's odd that they would shield the plate and not the grid as the first two grid inputs are the most sensitive to RFI. They did shield the grid wire on V2 but not sure why.

Does any of this hurt the amp? No, but if that solder blob on the chassis comes loose it could make contact with something it shouldn't and cause a bit of chaos. Push on it with the tip of a flat-head screwdriver. If it comes loose, either snip it off completely or replace the wire. Stock wire would be blue and unshielded. The other wire with the heat shrink on it would be green. It's worth finding out where that shield terminates also.

Other than that it looks great. These are my favorite amps. Have fun with it.

This is all very interesting...seller said it's never been modded or needed repair.

 

[Deftone]

This is all very interesting...seller said it's never been modded or needed repair.

Seller might not have known...he was told by the last owner and so on....

 

[cliffenstein]

Yeah, that’s exactly right. My tech has it now…it has been repaired in the past. The shielding while being “a bit ugly” is rock solid. And that glob is fully bonded. Just biasing it up to proper spec and it’s all good to go!

 

[Purgasound]

If it's in a tech's hands I'd have him take 10 minutes to put those wires back stock. Not only do they not need to be shielded but they didn't pull the wires through the boards strain relief holes. It just doesn't make sense to shield those and ignore the first two grids where the shielding would be beneficial.

The rest of the work looks good, it's nice that it has the filter, screen, and bias supply caps changed out. That's the important stuff. As long as those are maintained the amp will last forever and never give you any problems. They're great circuits. The seller likely doesn't work on stuff so he didn't know but I wouldn't consider it modded by any means. The electrolytic caps don't last forever so its a good thing those were changed. The replaced wires doesn't make sense but it's still a 100% stock circuit. It's hard to find these in great condition like this. So many have been butchered over the years.

 

[cliffenstein]

If it's in a tech's hands I'd have him take 10 minutes to put those wires back stock. Not only do they not need to be shielded but they didn't pull the wires through the boards strain relief holes. It just doesn't make sense to shield those and ignore the first two grids where the shielding would be beneficial.

The rest of the work looks good, it's nice that it has the filter, screen, and bias supply caps changed out. That's the important stuff. As long as those are maintained the amp will last forever and never give you any problems. They're great circuits. The seller likely doesn't work on stuff so he didn't know but I wouldn't consider it modded by any means. The electrolytic caps don't last forever so its a good thing those were changed. The replaced wires doesn't make sense but it's still a 100% stock circuit. It's hard to find these in great condition like this. So many have been butchered over the years.

Didn't see this message until just now...long after returning home with the amp. It's biased correctly and sounds great. Gonna leave it alone for now.

 

[Purgasound]

Enjoy!