Marshall JCM 900 MKIII 2100

[AliensExist4]

Just wanted to know if anyone has played or has this head and how you like it. I have a 2 ch. Trip. Rect. being played through a Trad. Rect. 4x12 and a 2x12 Rect. as well. My goal is to try and get a Marshall distortion to add as another channel to my Mesa. I just want another type of distortion basically to go along with the Mesa distortion. Can anyone help? Thanks

- Patrick

 

[Russ]

The mkIII was the logical evolution of the mkII design. Think 2203 with additional gain. It suffers from slightly less tone but that is what happens when you add additional gain. Being it still has the Marshall sound it should sound fine as a complementary amp to your TR. It won't keep up with a TR at full tilt but you shouldn't expect it to. The TR is 150 watts afterall.

 

[Charlie]

The last good Marshall made imho (the 900's).

I used to play one at a practice space we would rent out and I always liked the sound I got... this was the dual reverb model though not the slx.

 

[pmb]

The dual reverb ones suck pretty bad and I never heard a SLX but they seem to sound very good

 

[Russ]

The 4100 and 4500 also known as the high gain dual reverb heads really took a good thing (late 80's 2205 and 2210) and kind of ruined it. The 900's that replaced the 800 split channels really took Marshall to a bad place in the terms of their gain concept. Though you can still dial in useable tones with the amps, most find them rather buzzy/fizzy. This was the beginning of the end of good Marshall tone. Some even disliked the mkIII and SLX amps for this reason. If you can control your settings and the desire to blindly control the gain you should be alright with any of them though. The DSL tried to get back on track and actually offered a nice clean channel but the TSL was still a lost child in terms of gain. The JVM is now getting better reviews with more hands on time as is the vintage modern. The best way to get the best Marshall tone out of any master volume Marshall is to crank the master above the point of power tube distortion and then bring up the gain to your desired level. This makes for loud playing but yields better tone overall.

 

[Charlie]

The dual reverb ones suck pretty bad and I never heard a SLX but they seem to sound very good

Well for arguments sake I knew I should have said the 800's were the last good amps Marshall made.

:lol:

 

[Russ]

I think like the Dual Rec people find it too easy to abuse the gain in the 900's and end up with bad settings that yield bad tone. That having been said, there are good tones in there but you really have to dial them in. They aren't like the Marshalls of old that you could wipe to 10. There again neither were the 2205/2210. The 900's just felt somewhat compressed and lost that raw Marshall feeling. Trying to get rid of that often led to bad tone also.

 

[AliensExist4]

Anyone have any sound clips of the JCM900 MKIII 2100?

- Patrick

 

[RR]

My Marshall vocabulary goes as far as Plexi, Super Lead and JTM 45 Blues Breaker and that's it.

But I observed the same thing posted, JCM900 Dual Channel (my friend had one) was fizzy sound gain in the distortion. Yet I heard a SLX and it sounded was quite good.

My friend hated his 900 but later did get a DSL and it sounded much, much better.

Russ, thanks for you reviews on the newer Marshalls.

 

[eldi]

I used to own a 2500, which was the 50 watt version of the 2100, through a 1960A cab with the 12T-75's, back when i was playing in this punk rock band many years ago. For what I was using it for, but got the job done. It sounded like Marshall, but not as good as a 2203/2204 or a plexi. The 2 different master volume levels were kind of a novelle idea, but was sort of useless, for it only boosted your volume level, & not your gain. I've often thought about trying to get another one again, & see how much better I could get it to sound than when I had one before. I have better guitars, a better cab (1960AV) and quite a collection of OD/distortion boxes to boost it with, which I didn't have before. Plus, I have a better ear for tone now than I used to, so I would probably take a different approach now to setting the EQ (I used to like to crank the Presence up to 10 back then, I wouldn't do that now....) People rag on them for using a solid state clipping circuit for the extra gain, but, is that really any different than using a stomp box to pummel the preamp section with?

I've read somewhere that there is a mod that can be done to the power amp section of these JCM 900 master volume amps that gives these amps more of that 2203/2204 character...

But, since you're wanting to use it alongside your Triple Recto, then these amps should be adequate enough to blend in a little Marshall flavor to your tone, as they are a cheaper alternative to the JCM 2000s, JCM 800's, etc...

 

[Charlie]

People rag on them for using a solid state clipping circuit for the extra gain, but, is that really any different than using a stomp box to pummel the preamp section with?

+1

I always thought the same thing! Everybody says how an amp must be 100% tube throughout and then they stick a pedal in front of it. I guess if it's not part of the amp you have a choice though..

 

[gallinj]

Hi people,

I just bought a JCM 900 4200 1994, in really good shape,

It sounds great but compared to my Mesa Mark IV it does not have the gain/distortion for metal, Im tweaking it as we speak and trying different effects and compressors and such. I dont want to add a "metal pedal" beacuse then theres no need for a marshall tube amp. From what im reading this is a rock n roll amp. In my older years im starting to see maybe I dont need as much distortion but then this amp suffers in way of harmonics and squeals. Anybody got any setting they use maybe to post up here? Or what are you using on your JCM 900 ?

 

[Racerboy44]

I have had the Dual Reverb 900 and currently own the SLX. I don't think either are particularly fizzy sounding. But they do lack bottom end compared to the JCM 800 I used to have and to my Mark IIB. I always liked the way the DR 900 sounded. It will nail that "Rust In Peace" sound no problem. The 900's have a narrow sweet spot where the tone gets really good. You just have to find it and it's in a slightly different spot on every amp. The SLX is tricky to me because it has the "preamp" knob and the "gain" knob which work together to add gain or overdrive. It takes the right combination of both to get the amps best tone. Get it wrong and it can sound like crap!

 

[acidguitar]

Yeah, I've still got my original JCM900 4100 (DR) that I bought back in '91. I occasionally use it, mainly to back up my JCM800. I Bought it thinking it was better than the 800 (you know, 2 channels!), sounded good at the time in the shop, but after months and months of use and trying to get it to sound like the 800 I had, I just couldn’t get close! None, the less, if you have one and want to use it, here are my rough settings, I'm just going on memory here, this amp is like 4th in line when it comes to my amps...

Pres: 6 to 7, Bass: 7, Mid: 3, Treb: 2 and Gain: anywhere from 12 to 20 depending on what I'm playing, clean channel I run the gain at just below 12 o'clock. Volumes around 6 to 7 and it sounds OK. No Reverb on either channel. I imagine these are standard Marshall setting, I have my 800 running pretty similar (except for the gain region, Volume at 4 to 5 and Pre amp volume at 5 to 6).

I use a GE7 (as a boost) and a DD5 in the loop, a TS9 in the front for soloing and a CE2 in the front end when required on the clean channel. That’s the gist of it.

 

[acidguitar]

Oh yeah, and Svetlana EL34's is a must..

 

[manicsix]

The mkIII was the logical evolution of the mkII design. Think 2203 with additional gain. It suffers from slightly less tone but that is what happens when you add additional gain. Being it still has the Marshall sound it should sound fine as a complementary amp to your TR. It won't keep up with a TR at full tilt but you shouldn't expect it to. The TR is 150 watts afterall.

+1

I've read a few times that the 2100/2500 JCM 900s (91-93) are the closest and best compromise to get a bit a more gain but with almost the tone of a 2203/2204. The other jcm 900s fall short in comparison

Here's a clip of a 2500
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnVPArUtSPw