Why is the JCM 800 such a "great" amp?

[Frankie]

DSL's need the master cranked up too, they're really not any more spectacular at low volumes than an 800 at low volumes. Thin tone is thin tone no matter how to dice it.

 

[TwinACStacks]

I haven't heard one word on the 800's low input channel. I get GREAT CLEANS, (for a Marshall), out of it. I bet it could do respectable C&W.


TWIN

 

[Frankie]

I haven't heard one word on the 800's low input channel. I get GREAT CLEANS, (for a Marshall), out of it. I bet it could do respectable C&W.


TWIN

Kinda, but the low input is a little too flat for C&W. The high input still sounds better with the guitar volume rolled back and the preamp turned down to like 6. A lot of C&W, especially modern C&W, has a lot of top end sizzle, and a JCM 800 with bright cap still in tact does it pretty good in the high input. If I get my 800 back to 100% working order today maybe I'll nab a couple of sound clips of my Telecaster through it for you guys.

 

[Frankie]

In the mean time, the intro guitar/all lead is a JCM 800 (2204), and you really can't beat that tone with a stick! Especially during the break, it's hot rodded wah wah city.

http://www.cowboymafia.net/music/TheRock.mp3

That's Pop with his trusty CBS Strat.

The more open, airy guitar in the background striking full chords is my Les Paul into my Plexi/AC30 chained.

 

[TwinACStacks]

Hey Frankie, Your Dad has some Very respectable chops. You GOT to love an 800's tone.

THAT RIGHT THERE IS WHY 800's ARE SUCH A GREAT AMP.

TWIN

 

[Frankie]

Thanks Twin, Pops is indeed the man and he's been molesting that 800 since it was brand new in '87 so he knows how to coax good tone out of it. 6550's in the power section on that one, so it's nice and fat.

 

[Adrian R]

800 plus BOOST is still 800 just an 800 plus steroids. I love that sound. I boost all my amps on the hi gain channels anyway. i've had a couple that it didn't work for but, rarely.2204/3 for me all the way. i'd love one. prefer the 2204 though.

+1000! Anything short of this is just stupid. I use to have a 1980 JMP 100 watter..should NEVER have sold it..anyway..that amp with just a simple MXR micro amp pedal was incredible...and it DID NOT in anyway change the tone of the amp..it just made it sound more like itself..

 

[kennylee]

talk about kicking a hornets nest! 99% of forum members place the early 800's on a very lofty pedestal. there is no amp that sounds as angry,urgent,bratty,creamy,wooly, or brown[well a plexi does]. 800's need to be dimed my freind,or at least attenuated to get what some would call the greatest tone found in a amp. i myself have a 82 50 watter with 2 x 65's and 6550's. i would never part with it. i also have a blues jr. that has its own perks that i adore.

 

[spiritdave]

Yeah, the 800's have a natural fat sound that just works! What is there to discuss?!

 

[dinkyguitar]

Thanks for all your feedback...

You guys shed light on the JCM 800...and I'm enjoying reading this post with all your opinions..


Dinkyguitar

 

[diesect20022000]

yeah it's just a real workhorse and tank man. set up right it's a knock your teeth down your throat amp and can still do other sounds very well just have to have a guitar with responseive tone controls and pickups and, you can't do them all at once. recording with it though (which is DEAFENING,LOL0 can get the most agressive yet sugar coated tones i've hear. really to me the amp i'm going for is a modern metal 800. The framus cobra's got that same snarl it's just bastardised for us modern players. i still want a 2204 like no ones business though. Even though i do modern metal (KSE,God Forbid type stuff) i still crave that response and articulation found only in classics like the 800's (most not all imo) and boob tique and i'm not shelling out 4 grand for an 800 with a new name plate personaly.

 

[mike mike]

i think you should play them both. i personally would go for an 800 at this p,oint in time, to get that mastodon tone, but i have wanted a DSL since i got my amp, so that would be a very hard choice

 

[richieG]

I haven't heard one word on the 800's low input channel. I get GREAT CLEANS, (for a Marshall), out of it. I bet it could do respectable C&W.


TWIN

I am regularly banging on about how good that low input sounds. I can get most clean sounds I want to get out of it. I actually prefer this Marshall clean sound to say a Fender twin. I have an old vibrolux, and I do like the 800 cleans better. But that is purely a matter of taste obviously.

Yesterday I was practising some Dire Straits with a strat and it sounded pretty good.

I use it everyday for practice with a pedalboard.

One thing not mentioned a lot about 800's is that they do take pedals really well.

The poster who mentioned that if you plug a pedal in then you hear the pedal. This is true, but for me some amps just don't sound great with pedals. Old Fender's are like that for me. But the older marshalls sound great with od and dist pedals.

 

[alvinratsim]

Cuz it aint a 900 and i still dont own one

 

[TwinACStacks]

Cuz it aint a 900 and i still dont own one

Alvin, From the looks of your collection, You will.

TWIN

 

[Marshall & Moonshine]

I am regularly banging on about how good that low input sounds. I can get most clean sounds I want to get out of it. I actually prefer this Marshall clean sound to say a Fender twin. I have an old vibrolux, and I do like the 800 cleans better. But that is purely a matter of taste obviously.

Yesterday I was practising some Dire Straits with a strat and it sounded pretty good.

I use it everyday for practice with a pedalboard.

One thing not mentioned a lot about 800's is that they do take pedals really well.

The poster who mentioned that if you plug a pedal in then you hear the pedal. This is true, but for me some amps just don't sound great with pedals. Old Fender's are like that for me. But the older marshalls sound great with od and dist pedals.

I couldn't agree more. I love my 800's cleans, way better than Fender's, IMACTAFYIYDBIO (In My Awesome, Completely-True-And-Fuck-You-If-You-Don't-Believe-It Opinion). That's a new online acronym, I'm sure it'll catch on.
I started a little shitstorm of my own a while ago with a thread comparing Marshall and Fender cleans. I play C+W-ish stuff (Neil Young/Lucinda Williams/Ryan Adams/Steve Earle/Buddy Miller type of stuff) and get a great sound. My reverb pedal even works fantastic out front, and it takes every other pedal perfectly. Everything sounds warm and organic, with the 6550 chime.
I still feel like, when it comes to clean, Jim shits all over Leo's lawn and walks away laughing loudly.
IMACTAFYIYDBIO

 

[TwinACStacks]

THERE You have it. A completely Un-biased opinion. IMACTAFYIYDBIO


TWIN

 

[Marshall & Moonshine]

THERE You have it. A completely Un-biased opinion. IMACTAFYIYDBIO


TWIN

See? I told you it would catch on! And only amps need to be biased. I'm totally objective at all times. Just because some things happen to be fuckin' stupid don't mean I'm biased against them... It just means they're fuckin' stupid and that's a FACT.

 

[Ken]

The JCM2000's are so over-saturated with distortion it really doesn't matter what guitar you have in front. It's got a ton of distortion on tap so different guitars may not sound as far apart as they would in front of an older Marshall.

.

That's pretty much true for the red channel, but I disagree for the green. When you take the crunch mode off and put the gain up full, you can really tell a Strat from a Les Paul on it.

But I do agree if that's the sound you want, an 800 does it a lot better. The guy I bought my DSL from had an 800 and said pretty much the same thing you did as far as the 800 being more vesitile in it's "limited" range. He wanted an amp with more focus than the DSL.

Ken

 

[blues_n_cues]

i totally agree about the 800 not being a 1 trick pony. i get B.B.,Hendrix,Randy tones,any 80's rock band, & some twang country out of it depending on the guitar & the preamp volume. they put that volume knob on a guitar for a reason.
mine may not get the modern drop tuning scooped distortion the way i have it set but there's pedals for that and i don't think this thing will ever drop in value like some models have.

if i had to choose another amp it'd be the cascaded 1959.