played a jcm 900 at band rehearsal...

[plexilespaul]

you guys know i am a sucker for the jcm 800's series and it's difficult for me to play anything else...anyway yesterday i was without my trusty 2204 and plugged my guitar to a jcm 900...all i say is that it really stood proud all through rehearsal...it was thick , articulate had a nice bottom end for those chunky rythem riffs .Lead work was what was expected from a marshall, cutting the overall band mix nicely.
so next time someone puts down a jcm 900 infront of me i will smack his face

 

[GuitarGeorge]

Couldn't agree with you more, have a lot of love for the 900 series.

 

[Duppy]

Which model was it?

 

[Thiez]

The SL-X model jcm900 is verry nice! The other jcm900 aren't bad eather. But the combo's i think missing a lot of balls. You need a closed back cab to get a lovely punch out of it i think.

 

[Lowlife]

Former 4100 DR owner, and i loved that amp. Highly underrated, but that also means cheap second hand

 

[Roadburn]

Current 900 MkIII owner = happy with his souped up 800...

 

[Blacque Jacque]

I've had a MkIII & have an SL-X, both are great amps, no 900 bashing from me

 

[plexilespaul]

Which model was it?

duppy there comes the interesting part...it was the amp that i thought would never surprise me...ready for this??? it was a 100 watt reverb model with the clippers
That amp gets a lot of heat from all of us and the reality from my experience with marshalls it is a work horse and i really dig the tone !! heck i might even buy one

 

[plexilespaul]

Current 900 MkIII owner = happy with his souped up 800...

i am really on the lookout for that model for sure

 

[Ken]

duppy there comes the interesting part...it was the amp that i thought would never surprise me...ready for this??? it was a 100 watt reverb model with the clippers
That amp gets a lot of heat from all of us and the reality from my experience with marshalls it is a work horse and i really dig the tone !! heck i might even buy one

If I were you, I'd try and buy THAT one. Lots of DR's have the wrong tubes in them, or were modded to take EL34's which would be a different sound from most stock examples. If you buy one off fLeabay you might not get even close to the sound you got from that one, so I'd see if the owner wants to sell it..

Ken

 

[Lowlife]

If I were you, I'd try and buy THAT one. Lots of DR's have the wrong tubes in them, or were modded to take EL34's which would be a different sound from most stock examples. If you buy one off fLeabay you might not get even close to the sound you got from that one, so I'd see if the owner wants to sell it..

Ken

The early ones came stock with EL34's, mine did, shortage of that particular tube type meant they changed them to...hmmm...don't recall the name 5881's??

So no, they didn't necessarily get modded to take EL34's, they sound better with them, supposedly.

Edit. Ken is right though, I think a lot of the heat they receive is from having a rather high percentage of duds in the batches, so if you found a winner (most will be, but still) go for the throat.

 

[Adrian R]

i am really on the lookout for that model for sure

Dude, there is a ton of those on the market (4100s)...they ARE, like most Marshalls, great amps when setup correctly. Its REALLY important to get the right power tubes and ensure you can get its bias warm..(65%-%70)..plug up the FX loop...or put an eq in there..and those amps have HUGE balls..very tight and focused...

 

[plexilespaul]

Ken is right though, I think a lot of the heat they receive is from having a rather high percentage of duds in the batches, so if you found a winner (most will be, but still) go for the throat.

as ken suggested i might just do that...belongs to the studio we play..if he wouldn't sell it i might just steal it and write #40 on it

 

[Adrian R]

as ken suggested i might just do that...belongs to the studio we play..if he wouldn't sell it i might just steal it and write #40 on it

Keep your eyes peeled...the 2100 MK3s imo sound even BETTER!

 

[Ken]

The early ones came stock with EL34's, mine did, shortage of that particular tube type meant they changed them to...hmmm...don't recall the name 5881's?? at.

That's my point. The factory EL34's are more rare and if this amp is one of them, it will be harder to find. OTOH lots were modded to take EL34's and that could mean they sound better or not so good, depending.

Point being, there's a wide range of sound with these amps so if the OP loves this particular example, he should at least look at the tubes even if the owner won't sell. It might help him find a similar amp setup wise.

I also agree that the Mk III or DSL might be a better choice but I don't want to go down THAT road again!

Ken

 

[dmnall]

I've had a MkIII & have an SL-X, both are great amps, no 900 bashing from me

I had a mk3 2100 with el34 *from the factory but with winged Cs* in it a bit harsh until a mxr108 and it woke up. Now I have a sl-x 2100 that when I bought it had unbiased el34s and I had it modded and replaced all the tubes with jj high gain preamp tubes and e34L tubes and what a Beast, a bit noisy when no playing but will wake the dead when playing though lol. I know the 800s are more popular, however, I prefer my sl-x because of the fact I don't need to run any pedals in front to give it the metal tone I want.

The early ones came stock with EL34's, mine did, shortage of that particular tube type meant they changed them to...hmmm...don't recall the name 5881's??

So no, they didn't necessarily get modded to take EL34's, they sound better with them, supposedly.

Edit. Ken is right though, I think a lot of the heat they receive is from having a rather high percentage of duds in the batches, so if you found a winner (most will be, but still) go for the throat.

Well the issue where they got the flack was from 5881 on the later models because they did not sound the same as the earlier ones. Really to mod them was change a resistor on the bias pot to properly bias el34s in them and they really wake up. Not saying 5881s sound bad they don't but in terms of the 900s, they sound different. Just my opinion.

That's my point. The factory EL34's are more rare and if this amp is one of them, it will be harder to find. OTOH lots were modded to take EL34's and that could mean they sound better or not so good, depending.

Point being, there's a wide range of sound with these amps so if the OP loves this particular example, he should at least look at the tubes even if the owner won't sell. It might help him find a similar amp setup wise.

I also agree that the Mk III or DSL might be a better choice but I don't want to go down THAT road again!

Ken

Ken,
You are right with the exception of the mk3 master volumes they were el34, and at first my sl-x sounded like crap because whoever originally the previous owner had install el34s in it did not even bias the amp at all and it lacked the tone and punch my mk3 I had at the time. Now after having all new tubes installed *it had svetlana el34s and marshall preamp tubes* which I had all replaced and the resistor changed out to bias properly, the amp sounded better than the mk3.

Cheers,
Charlie

 

[Rahlstin]

I had a 4500 head I bought new that came with EL34's stock. i always liked it but thought the bottom end was a tad lacking.

 

[Adrian R]

I had a 4500 head I bought new that came with EL34's stock. i always liked it but thought the bottom end was a tad lacking.

I use to run a BBE sonic maximizer in the loop..and that turned the amp into a VERY good sounding Marshall...far more dynamic... But now that I look back...I was using all the wrong preamp tubes and biased it to hot...

I may get another one someday and apply what I have learned about the amp. But, I just can't get around the 'B' channel on the DRs..to thin, and very little cut through the mix tone..

 

[fastdave]

Lots of good stuff here, and just a little addition - I bought a 99 JCM 900 4100 with EL34's - I found they were different types, so put in manufacturers recommended 5881's - (Harma) one blew up after just 10 months - replaced them with 6L6's (basically same valve) matched set (of course), and one blew within a week - the first time, it took out a 1.5K resistor (grid) - I had e mailed Marshall for the biasing procedure, explaining that I was an Electronics engineer, and they recommended setting the bias voltage to -49V, but to take it to an engineer.
Now, two sets later, I used the basic method of reading the Cathode current, found it was insanely high, and on further research, modded the voltage divider - so much for Marshall tech's advice - it is now working with 5881's beautifully.
Basically, it had been modded for EL34's, and I was trying to run the spec'd 5881's at EL34 bias current - hot, hot, hot.
Dave.

 

[plexilespaul]

Lots of good stuff here, and just a little addition - I bought a 99 JCM 900 4100 with EL34's - I found they were different types, so put in manufacturers recommended 5881's - (Harma) one blew up after just 10 months - replaced them with 6L6's (basically same valve) matched set (of course), and one blew within a week - the first time, it took out a 1.5K resistor (grid) - I had e mailed Marshall for the biasing procedure, explaining that I was an Electronics engineer, and they recommended setting the bias voltage to -49V, but to take it to an engineer.
Now, two sets later, I used the basic method of reading the Cathode current, found it was insanely high, and on further research, modded the voltage divider - so much for Marshall tech's advice - it is now working with 5881's beautifully.
Basically, it had been modded for EL34's, and I was trying to run the spec'd 5881's at EL34 bias current - hot, hot, hot.
Dave.

by the way the model i was playing at rehearsal was a 5881 model not the el-34 one. so that alone also took me by surprise as i am not fond of those tubes. but with the dr-900 model i guess it works...