JCM800

[ytse_jam]

Have got a question for Russ or anyone who might know: what speakers are there in the 16 ohm jcm800 4x12" cabinet?

I'm not 100% sure but I think they are 75 watt celestions. I've heard negative things about those speakers btw. The 65 watters are the bomb though. I've read that initially the JCM 800 got a bum rap until people started using them with older Marshall cabs and not the JCM 800 cabs.

Thanks for the info Charlie. If you have any idea about the exact model let me know.

 

[djw]

Got a related anecdote, just for kicks...

I while back there was a thread in the Modern Era section in which a guy had fired up his DR without a speaker connected, and fried at least a fuse and maybe more... I piped in rather unhelpfully that I'd made the same move with my JCM800 recently, but with no apparent effect on the amp, it still purrs along like nothing happened.

This reminded me of another thread (which I can't find) in which some other poor bloke had left his Mesa on standby for a few days, and flipped the amp on to find that it was DOA (probably just another blown fuse, I think/hope).

Not long after that (last weekend, in fact) I went on a 4-day trip out of town, very relaxing, aaahhhhhh.... came home, unpacked, went to work the next day; came home, looking forward to sneaking in a few minutes of playing time in my den; flipped on my LSC, played for a while; and noticed that my JCM800 was on frickin' standby.

Thinking, oh crap, nice move especially after having already just put it through that empty speaker load session. I tried to remember when I'd turned the thing on... I hadn't been in the room for 5 days at least, probably turned it on the last time I'd been in there -- the amp had been on standby for a week or so. Dumb ***.

I tentatively plugged in, noticing how nice and warm the chassis was, oh crap oh crap oh crap... turned it on... and good gracious, the thing sounded like Angus Young, just like it always does. I've played through it again over the last couple of days -- not a problem. It sounds great.

I'm a serious idiot, but that JCM800 is a really sweet piece of work.

 

[ramalam]

People used to turn on their Marshalls, including JCM 800s an put a packing blanket over them an hour or so be for their concert to get everything nice and hot so they would sound better. Of course, when most of that was going on, tubes were a lot less expensive. I notice that JCM 800s, (that came equipped with hot 6550's for the US market) don't even have a vent above the tubes. The 100 watters do have a vent. I left one of my JCM 800, 50 watters on for about 8 hours the other day and I don't feel that it got excessively hot. That amp, contrary to some PC board nay sayers is about as reliable as any amp you could name. These things were cranked for millions of hours especially back in the 80s and 90s. I have had three of them in the last 5 years and had the use of 2 100 watters in the mid 80s. I never had a problem with any of them.

 

[francm]

It really all depends upon the sound you are looking for. Personally, I have a 1960b with 75's, a 1960ax with greenbacks, and a 1960a with 65's. I pretty much can make any sound I am looking for as far as Marshall goes.
...

The 75's sound like your typical Marshall with picky highs but a slightly scoopier sound thus giving the feeling of harshness. The V30's tend to have a little more honk therefore like you said a little warmer. If you really want honk though try the greenbacks.
...

The 65's give you a nice round sound. These are probably the most versatile of the lot. Nice rock tone there in spades. These speakers can also do classic metal. I just realized something. I haven't plugged the Mark IV into the 65 cab yet. I have had the 800 plugged into the 65's and the 75's for so long. I guess certain speakers just sound good with certain amps.

If you play fast lead runs or quick rhythm patterns (ala Metallica, Ozzy, Maiden etc), I recommend against Greenbacks. They just mush everything up.

The GT12-75s, or 65s will do a great job. I love 'em. The 65s are real expensive though. I've never tried a 4x12 loaded with v30s though so I can't comment on those. Would love to get one though...

 

[francm]

Maybe we could have someone well versed in Canadian Marshalls pipe in here.

The Canadian Marshalls had metal power switches for the longest time. Even my 1987 Silver Jubilee has the metal toggle switch. I prefer the look of the Canadian amps for this reason.

They lack the power selection on later 80's models (my 1983 JCM800 has it while my 1987 Silver Jube doesn't).

They only had 4 or 8 ohm outputs in the 80's.

They were equipped with EL-34s exclusively as opposed to the 6L6s in the US versions.

 

[ramalam]

I don't know what you mean by they lack the power section unless you are referring to the tubes themselves. Also, the American models came with 6550 tubes not the 6L6.

 

[francm]

I don't know what you mean by they lack the power section unless you are referring to the tubes themselves. Also, the American models came with 6550 tubes not the 6L6.

Read the post - power selection... not power section. i.e. 240 vs 220 vs 120 volts.

yeah, 6550 - to me, they're interchangeable (6L6 vs 6550). You're right though. They had the mil spec version. Don't know why they didn't go with the 6CA7 instead.

 

[ramalam]

Hey, I just woke up. Give me a break. I'm getting some coffee. LOL

 

[ramalam]

This is the near mint one that I just sold Sunday on eBay. Item number 270244840252

 

[CoG]

Maybe we could have someone well versed in Canadian Marshalls pipe in here.

The Canadian Marshalls had metal power switches for the longest time. Even my 1987 Silver Jubilee has the metal toggle switch. I prefer the look of the Canadian amps for this reason.

They lack the power selection on later 80's models (my 1983 JCM800 has it while my 1987 Silver Jube doesn't).

They only had 4 or 8 ohm outputs in the 80's.

They were equipped with EL-34s exclusively as opposed to the 6L6s in the US versions.

Got one, a 4104CA 50W 2x12 combo. I think it's an '87-- the CSA stickers and badges obscure the Marshall serial. It has metal toggles, vertical inputs, EL34s w/an internal bias pot, and it has power selection. I don't know if it has 16 ohm output, I have never turned the selector off 8.

 

[Sustain]

too loud, not enough features (okay, no features), not enough gain for modern tastes but the cleans aren't that hot either. Basically you really need to either be playing classic rock or be playing insanely loud, or really like boost pedals.

Besides, there's no shortage of JCM800s around at decent prices as it is...

I dont know what you are talking about, my JCM 800 has a great reverb, a great loop, the distortion is plenty, i never needed any more than comes with it, the tone was great, and the clean channel sounds super awesome.

I have a 4212 Combo (2205 basically) with 2 12" 75's in it, and I have drawn people from quite a distance to come hear what new monster stack someone was playing, to see their look of shock and awe that I have a combo amp.

Then again, I am not the kind of guy who likes to have 64 half-assed effects built into his amp, in fact I only use a compressor, and a wah, and sometimes a chorus if im playing some King Diamond...oh yeah and I use an EQ.

All the amps with tons of effects I have seen sound like ***, but then again people still worship dimebag to this day.....if I wanted to make noises I would still have a keyboard.

 

[CoG]

too loud, not enough features (okay, no features), not enough gain for modern tastes but the cleans aren't that hot either. Basically you really need to either be playing classic rock or be playing insanely loud, or really like boost pedals.

Besides, there's no shortage of JCM800s around at decent prices as it is...

I dont know what you are talking about, my JCM 800 has a great reverb, a great loop, the distortion is plenty, i never needed any more than comes with it, the tone was great, and the clean channel sounds super awesome.

I have a 4212 Combo (2205 basically) with 2 12" 75's in it, and I have drawn people from quite a distance to come hear what new monster stack someone was playing, to see their look of shock and awe that I have a combo amp.

um, dude, we're taking about different amps... I am talking about the 4104/2203. One channel (unless you count "low" and "high" inputs :lol: ), no loop, no reverb, nothing. Very different amp... a pony with one very, very good trick.

 

[Sustain]

too loud, not enough features (okay, no features), not enough gain for modern tastes but the cleans aren't that hot either. Basically you really need to either be playing classic rock or be playing insanely loud, or really like boost pedals.

Besides, there's no shortage of JCM800s around at decent prices as it is...

I dont know what you are talking about, my JCM 800 has a great reverb, a great loop, the distortion is plenty, i never needed any more than comes with it, the tone was great, and the clean channel sounds super awesome.

I have a 4212 Combo (2205 basically) with 2 12" 75's in it, and I have drawn people from quite a distance to come hear what new monster stack someone was playing, to see their look of shock and awe that I have a combo amp.

um, dude, we're taking about different amps... I am talking about the 4104/2203. One channel (unless you count "low" and "high" inputs :lol: ), no loop, no reverb, nothing. Very different amp... a pony with one very, very good trick.

HAH! Yeah after I blew up my first 4212 (using bad impendance settings given to me by the music store "expert") they gave me 2 JCM 800 single channel heads w/ 4x12 cabs, and a silver jubilee combo, which was also the single channel deal i think, or at least if it was 2 channel it had no real gain.

Clean sound was nice as hell on the jubilee combo, but had no distortion unless you call AC/DC distorted.

All 3 had no effects, no reverb, I cant remember if they even had a loop! They were all 3 returned while I waited on a new 4212.

I would only approve of those single channel 800's if you have a nice pre-amp, at least if you want to play metal that is. They certainly were a one trick pony, and they didnt do the trick I wanted at the time. If I had owned the ADA back then I would have kept the head and 4x12 just to save myself the trouble of returning and waiting..... but yea! I am with you 100% regarding the single channel models. I never heard one that sounded half as good as my combo.....

 

[francm]

Clean sound was nice as hell on the jubilee combo, but had no distortion unless you call AC/DC distorted.

All 3 had no effects, no reverb, I cant remember if they even had a loop! They were all 3 returned while I waited on a new 4212.

I would only approve of those single channel 800's if you have a nice pre-amp, at least if you want to play metal that is. They certainly were a one trick pony, and they didnt do the trick I wanted at the time. If I had owned the ADA back then I would have kept the head and 4x12 just to save myself the trouble of returning and waiting..... but yea! I am with you 100% regarding the single channel models. I never heard one that sounded half as good as my combo.....

The clean on a Jubilee is nice for sure. You have to crank the master up though.

As for distortion... The Jubilee has more than enough to do AC/DC or stuff like GNR without external pedals.

The single channels 2204/2203 JCM 800s are a true reference in hard rock tone. They do clean up real nice with the guitar's volume knob. You can still have a cleanish sound and all out rock without the need for switching channels - You just have to use your guitar to control the sound.

 

[Sustain]

the jubilee combo i played was identical to the 4212 as far as the clean sound was, which was super sweet, but the distortion was ACDC at best, you werent getting guns and roses overdrive out of it at all. I keep hearing people talking about how awesome the jubilees were, these must have been a later issue of these, a schematic not like the one in the combo I had, or they were seriously customized.

It was not usable by me without external overdrive, and I blew everything I had on the 4212 because I didnt need a preamp, so this one trick pony jubilee combo wasnt exactly a legitimate replacement for my 4212. Which is by the way the best marshall I have ever seen or heard personally.

 

[kb7010]

Got a related anecdote, just for kicks...

I while back there was a thread in the Modern Era section in which a guy had fired up his DR without a speaker connected, and fried at least a fuse and maybe more... I piped in rather unhelpfully that I'd made the same move with my JCM800 recently, but with no apparent effect on the amp, it still purrs along like nothing happened.

This reminded me of another thread (which I can't find) in which some other poor bloke had left his Mesa on standby for a few days, and flipped the amp on to find that it was DOA (probably just another blown fuse, I think/hope).

Not long after that (last weekend, in fact) I went on a 4-day trip out of town, very relaxing, aaahhhhhh.... came home, unpacked, went to work the next day; came home, looking forward to sneaking in a few minutes of playing time in my den; flipped on my LSC, played for a while; and noticed that my JCM800 was on frickin' standby.

Thinking, oh crap, nice move especially after having already just put it through that empty speaker load session. I tried to remember when I'd turned the thing on... I hadn't been in the room for 5 days at least, probably turned it on the last time I'd been in there -- the amp had been on standby for a week or so. Dumb ***.

I tentatively plugged in, noticing how nice and warm the chassis was, oh crap oh crap oh crap... turned it on... and good gracious, the thing sounded like Angus Young, just like it always does. I've played through it again over the last couple of days -- not a problem. It sounds great.

I'm a serious idiot, but that JCM800 is a really sweet piece of work.

Kind of very old topic.. but I also have a JCM-800 2205 I bought new back in the day.. it also has never given me one problem.. not one..!!!!!

I don't know how many giggs I have played with that amp.. 500 or more..??? never let me down.. plus it is in like new condition.. no joke.. I paid big bucks for that head back in the day.. ( I still have the receipt from when I bought it new ) so I am not going to tear it up.. or let any of my band mates tear it up.. so it always went with me when it was time to tear down or set up.. they only thing I have against that amp/head.. is the spring reverb drives you nuts when it is in the front seat or even the back seat of the car when you are driving..!!! :lol:

it has and still is a great amp that looks and sounds new..!!!!!!