What Mods do you have on your Marshall head?

[axe arsenal]

After owning and selling several Marshalls (JCM 800 2203, 2204, 2203 KK, 900 SL-X, JVM 410H, 3 TSL 100's) I am now down to 1 Marshall; I just sold the last of my TSL's and another of my cabinets...
Still have 4 Marshall cabs and 1 Bogner.
the only Marshall I have kept is the one in my sig, which is now modded to the bone :
Originally, it was a JMP 1959 SLP but guys over here pointed it out that the chassis was not original but the components all were...(although the new chassis also had some holes in it from previous mods (that were undone before I got it).
- The headshell was replaced years ago (still have the worn original black one).
The original one was badly retolexed by the previous owner(s)..
So far the mods at that point were only cosmetically...
Now a few months ago I have it modded by a guy in my neighbourhood.
He mostly used the holes that already were in that chassis.
So, what has been done :
- Footswitchable "Dookie" mod : so there is a separate "clean 1959" channel that also has a master volume and gain and there is a high gain channel (Dookie mod) that also has a master volume and gain.
- Solo Boost (footswitchable) ; there is a pot on the back were you can dial in the amount of boost.
- Resonance control knob on the back.
- 3 position bright switch on the back for a more open sound.
- Very good effects loop (which can be put out of the signal path if you want with a switch).

 

[Trelwheen]

The only modded amp I've ever owned is my 1987X Pandora. Besides the Pandora mod, which involves an additional 12ax7 in the preamp, it has a BE-100 style saturation switch for a cloudier, more compressed drive and a Metropolous FX loop.

One of my all-time favorite amps

 

[Exotic]

I’ve seen a lot of videos and bits and pieces of people Modding their amps usually JCM800s or old SLP/87x and various other Marshall icons to be likeSlash’s #34. With the extra valve.

I’m interested to hear what you people have done to your amps and why you’ve done it. I love my JCM 900 but I’ve had it for a long ass time and I’d like to know if any of these mods are possibly universal to any Marshall amp. Kind of make it my own.

modding isn’t just electrical it maybe visual as well.

so let’s see and hear what you’ve got!

you people? what do you mean you people? hahaha j/k

 

[Exotic]

wow what a trip

A friend built me a 1987 with PPIMV as an experiment - I go back and forth on using it depending on mood. The other 'modded' amp is a 77 JMP2203 [EL34] that has an OT from a Hiwatt - I guess the original blew up. It has a 'singing' quality that a 78 JMP2203 [6550] doesn't have yet it sounds great in it's own way.

I'm a big fan of figured wood cabs!

Russ

check out my old chief wooden head
hi howa ya, hi howa ya

 

[Drinkingdeath01]

I have a Lee Jackson modded 2203 that I bought from the estate of Ronnie James Dio and the almighty Pandora modded 1987 that I bought from David. Both are amazing.

 

[Geeze]

check out my old chief wooden head

Looks good - walnut?

Russ

 

[Exotic]

oh i have no idea i just got it like that ,thanks .

 

[Mikee57]

I have four Marshalls and none of them have been modded.

As a they shouldn't be,Jim Marshall design those amplifiersTo be that way for reason.The best mod you can do to your marshall Is use a different pedal or a different speaker in front of it and leave the damn amplifier alone. Because when it's all screwed upAnd the technician gets it to Fix-it has to undo all the mods it's going to cost you dummys a boat load of money. LOL. There is a good video on YouTubeOf Angus Youngs Guitar rig,And the only thing he does differentIs runThe amplifiersOff a high end AC Power supplyThat sends a constant voltageTo the amplifier,I think it's 234 VAC.Which is a tad bit hot And they have a full time technician backstage RepairingAmplifiersAt every show.He runs nine heads at once And every few days one is going to blow upAnd the tech will fix itAnd get it back in the rotation.

 

[gary moore]

I’ve seen a lot of videos and bits and pieces of people Modding their amps usually JCM800s or old SLP/87x and various other Marshall icons to be likeSlash’s #34. With the extra valve.

I’m interested to hear what you people have done to your amps and why you’ve done it. I love my JCM 900 but I’ve had it for a long ass time and I’d like to know if any of these mods are possibly universal to any Marshall amp. Kind of make it my own.

modding isn’t just electrical it maybe visual as well.

so let’s see and hear what you’ve got!

I done this.......

 

[gary moore]

As a they shouldn't be,Jim Marshall design those amplifiersTo be that way for reason.The best mod you can do to your marshall Is use a different pedal or a different speaker in front of it and leave the damn amplifier alone. Because when it's all screwed upAnd the technician gets it to Fix-it has to undo all the mods it's going to cost you dummys a boat load of money. LOL

yep,your right!! I went down that road a couple of years ago,cutting this,changing that mooding those etc etc. I ended up going around in a big circle and came back to a stock amp etc. The best tone I had in the first place.

 

[mallcorn]

I’ve seen a lot of videos and bits and pieces of people Modding their amps usually JCM800s or old SLP/87x and various other Marshall icons to be likeSlash’s #34. With the extra valve.

I’m interested to hear what you people have done to your amps and why you’ve done it. I love my JCM 900 but I’ve had it for a long ass time and I’d like to know if any of these mods are possibly universal to any Marshall amp. Kind of make it my own.

modding isn’t just electrical it maybe visual as well.

so let’s see and hear what you’ve got!

Best $100 I have ever spent on a NMV Marshall (1959HW)- Pre-Phase Inverter Master Volume like Marshall uses on their MV Amps. This goes before the Phase Inverter but after the EQ. This makes the amp extremely manageable in terms of loudness. Who needs a SV20 for $1200 when you can put a $100 MV on a 1959HW and get the beautiful cleans that made this amp famous PLUS all the dirt.

 

[Kidlargo]

The 2205/2210 channel switching heads turned on in the boost channel. Always hated that. So I have them both modded to open on the clean channel. Main reason being, I use the clean with a board, and switch to the boost when I need that kick. Soldering iron and 5 minutes.

 

[NoelH]

My DSL 50 Head has a Classictone 3H Choke. Tone definitely improved. Bass is tighter, and when you turn up the volume the tone seems to hold together better, for lack of a better description. I'm very likely going to add the Classictone Output Transformer soon. They have a laydown version that fits the DSL. Heard nothing but good reports from doing that.

 

[TheCharlieBucketProject]

I have an artist 3203 that was modded by Voodoo amps a couple of years back. Made the amp more useable. It eliminated the brittleness that people always criticized the amp for. It has that nice JCM800 saturation that can be used at reasonable volume levels.

I also have his Vplex head in a 25w model. It has the PPIMV in it. It’s been the best sounding amp I’ve owned, almost a close tie to my ‘57 Fender Deluxe(played through an original Marshall 1965 cab).

 

[lespaul339]

On my JTM 45 I put in a PPIMV. I guess it's considered a mod even though I built it like that from the beginning.

 

[Angrycolon]

I’ve seen a lot of videos and bits and pieces of people Modding their amps usually JCM800s or old SLP/87x and various other Marshall icons to be likeSlash’s #34. With the extra valve.

I’m interested to hear what you people have done to your amps and why you’ve done it. I love my JCM 900 but I’ve had it for a long ass time and I’d like to know if any of these mods are possibly universal to any Marshall amp. Kind of make it my own.

modding isn’t just electrical it maybe visual as well.

so let’s see and hear what you’ve got!

I've got two '77 JMP Lead heads. One stock and one modded. I got Jerry at FJA Mods several years ago, to put in the 80's Mod+. Also a lead boost pedal input with a boost volume, push/pull gain boost, a mid-sweep knob on the back of the amp along with a depth knob also on the back. This gave me so many ways to gain stage the input. I'm also addicted to the lead boost switch on my board now. Here is the mod with an JCM 800. Keep in mind my JMP's have 6550 power tubes so there is some difference in the sound with my amp. To the better IMHO.

 

[deke99]

I have a JCM800 that I added a 100K resistor off the wiper(middle lug) of the Master Volume. It helps it sound beefier at lower MV settings. I sadly cannot get above 2 at any indoor gig. It doesn't affect the tone at higher MV settings.

 

[neoclassical]

My marshall has the Voodoo Amps metal mod, then I installed a Classic Tone Power and Output xformers, the Laney has Voodoo's high gain Jose mod and output xformer.

 

[Neptical]

I have a Lee Jackson modded 2203 that I bought from the estate of Ronnie James

Dang! How did you get that opportunity!??

 

[tonefinder]

[QUOTE="SO, I am wondering if I should just have the amp returned to bone stock, if I have to crank it anyway?.[/QUOTE]

Do you record at home? If so, you could build an isolation box, mic your cab inside there, crank the shit out of your amp, and listen on studio monitors. Dream tone!