Marshall JCM 800 2203X - How To Get That 80"s Tone
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2023
- I review & dial in the Marshall JCM800 2203X
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800s are monsters. Definitely got their own thing going on, very powerful sound.
Love the JCM800, instant great US 80s hardrock tones. Bought one new in 1985 and still have it 😀
Thanks for all your reviews
Thanks Jarrod I always look forward to u Amp reviews freaking awesome brother!!🎸🥁🎶👍🍺🍻🥃
Great job.Sounds amazing.
Great video. Love that MudKiller for sure. I know you don't have a DS-1 but you could use the one in your Helix or HX Stomp.
The X reissues have got effects loops right? Ideal, can add all sorts of polishing in the loop.
I love Motor City Guitar, next time I’m in MI I’ll have to fly through DTW and drive through on my way to Saginaw.
Bark at the Moon sounds really good in this 🤌👌
800s are a must own
Legendary Tones makes a simple plug-in V2 mod for these adding another tube preamp into the stage. Boss SD-1 pedal sounds good on the input straight also.
Jarrod I am curious. Did you try raising the master above 2 that I think I am seeing in the video? I am used to plexi like my 1972 50 watt and they come more alive when you turn the master up. That is one thing about Marshalls to get them sounding good you got to crank them.
Thanks for commenting. I really wish I could have cranked it but in my room, it would have blew my ears out. Besides that, I don't want to damage my microphones with too much volume and SPL's.
@@TONEWARSgearshowwtf 😂
@@TONEWARSgearshownot got a clue you American idiot🤣🤣🤣🤡🤛🏻
Jarrod, either use a boss DS-1, or you have to do what everyone has been saying on the forums for over 20 years - you have to turn up the power section to get power clipping along with preamp clipping. These amplifiers back in the 80s were wound up pretty high back when there was loud stage volume. Plug it into your oxbox to get that output tube saturation
As mentioned in the video, I don't have the Boss OD pedal. Also, I'm aware of the cranked master volume thing. I don't want to blow my ears out or damage my microphones. I insist on doing demos with real cabs and mics, not IR's.
@@TONEWARSgearshow I used JCM800s for years and they sound shit until you get them up to loud drum level. At the level you were using it's impossible to get a decent sound. Also, there's nothing really to dial in as the tone controls just deaden the sound like the tone controls on guitars. This is why most JCM800 users just leave all the tone controls at 10. If you have the preamp on 10, then you'll probably find its suddenly comes alive when you get the master volume up past 3. Obviously this is completely impractical for bedroom (or basement) use but these amps simply weren't designed for home use!
Yes, the 800 needs to be cranked. I'm surprised he didn't try the ODD pedal in front of it. But you do need to crank the power section of the 800. And yes, they were never designed as bedroom practice amps!
@@TheCyberMantis I also found that although JCM800s are 'one trick ponys' they still vary considerably in quality of sound, even for the same model. Most of the JCM800s I tried were pretty bad but a 50w dual channel model I bought new in 1987 sounded massive at drum volume level, even without an overdrive. As I wanted to have two full Marshall stacks - I was very metal! - I then bought another one in 1988, but this weighed about half as much and sounded feeble. Apparently Mashall switched the transformers for a far cheaper and more lightweight model to save money on production. Unfortunately most of these crap ones seem to be end up in rehearsal studios, as no one wants to keep them, so a lot of people think that's just what a JCM800 sounds like!
@@tomcootemusic I was in a band with a guitarist that had a jcm800 half stack back in high school in the late 80s. Back then everything was turned up. That was normal for loud practice and the stage. We played a show at this venue attached to our high school that was acoustically perfect,it has like 1,400 - 1,600 seats. And nobody thought we were assholes for turning up, it was normal. I remember having my first run-in with not hearing what was going on very well. So we pulled his half stack further back until I was in the path of the sound waves - that was my first crude monitor! I couldn’t hear the singer at all, a little bass. I just played off of the guitar player. Anyways, he played a Les Paul and we were jamming Ozzy Osborne tunes - the jcm800 sounded sweet! And he was going directly in, only a few guys had these Uber cheap dod pedals that I remember for playing Metallica riffs
This is a very interesting video. Believe it or not, a JCM800 IS NOT A HIGH GAIN AMP. It is a High Volume amp. All of the classic 80s metal tones used HIGHLY MODDED 800s. So the Idea that a bonestock 800 is going to provide that tone is batcrap cra cra. So, everybody goes the route you did and adds overdrives in front. They also added delays, chorus and reverb adding level and gain where possible with each "mod' stage. Kerry King hit the front of his "special" 800 with a MXR 10band eq, which has a tremendous amount of output gain. George Lynch (probably most noted for his use of Plexis) had a mod built that added another gain stage to the preamp section. But every interview, every guitar rig rundown, every player discussion noted that the master volume was set very high: In order to add powerstage distortion. This is fine in a studio where you are in an isolation booth, but not practical when you are in a Home and want to retain some hearing. All that being said, THE BEST JCM800 was developed by Line 6 and is called the 2204mod. By far, it is the most practical and easiest to use "modded 800" out there in the wild. Great video and the only thing missing was a "clean channel" dial in. A notable trait of the 800 is a 'great clean tone."
TLDR
I use a Legendary Tones Hot Mod V2 to splice in an extra pre-amp tube, and it rips! I also have an MXR 10-band EQ that works pretty well to boost the front end.
Cool video as always. I thought the tone was great but then I'm an old metal dude from the late 70s/80s.
Ive been thinking about picking one of these up. My only beef with Marshalls is the tone knobs don't seem to do anything. Or very little at least. One trick pony they are..... but I like that trick.
Man, I had the same feelings. i was expecting too much from the Jcm800 20w stealth. I had to boost the front and the loop with a 10 band eq then i got a not bad gain sound out of it! But when i bought the Silver Jubilee 20w, i fell in love with it, it has more gain and sounded better to my ears!!
I think I'm just used to a modern high gain amp, that is why i did not like the Jcm800 that much!!
Thanks for commenting, I agree, it just doesn't have the goods for what I like anyways.
I couldn't believe how lackluster it was without the pedal and all the game in the pedal
Love to see a jcm800 in action. The only two alternatives that I see to make it more aggressive is using an OCD like Lee Malia uses to do, or go for a Hot Mod/Lynch Mod
Emg81, boss fa1, boss ge7, master on 6 with attenuator of course.
These were my thrash/ crossover settings back in the days: Stock 2203 version at Presence (2), Bass (10), Middle (0), Treble (4), Master (2), Pre-Amp (10) + Ibanez Tubescreamer 10 Drive (2), Tone (10), Level (10); use a 6 string Jackson or other guitar with active pickups such as EMGs.
I've heard with the JCM800 you have to crank that master over 4 and it comes to life gain wise
Fender Malmsteen Overdrive full volume no gain into a Fortin 33 and you come a long way into high gain territory. It works fantastic on my Tommy Folkesson modded JCM 2000 on the green 800-ish channel.
Sounds good to me
Remember it was built in the 80s it took a long time for the other amps to catch up
i used a dod250 with it and was allways too loud for other band members
all those marshall stacks on stages still today just look and sound awesome .
Gotta bring that Master to 11. 😁
Nice demo of this amp. I own a 2203kk(Slayer Kerry King Sig) amp and playing it stock there is little to no gain for my taste anyway, but activate the Beast Mode and we are in tonal metal heaven!!! \m/ If you come across a 2203KK try one out!
I thought it sounded great in the modern mix, I bet you'd like the Kerry King 800
A lot of those 80's tones were from the power section . A good method was to run clean channel all in and use the gain as the volume, then use an overdrive in front of it. The amp wants to be loud to sing.
Did they neuter the reissue? I have a 2203 from 1982 with 6505s and it's the best amp I've ever encountered... and you could not have the volume at 2 and stand that close to it without your ears bleeding, but these last few years I've used a Fryeytte Powerstation (instead of an iso cab) and actually turn the volume up to 5 (gasp). A Boss SD-1 is a must but between working that and my guitar's volume knob I can do everything I want.
Totally spot on. I have a UK spec EL34 modded 2203 to 6550 through the Fryette and SD-1. We know it can be done. 🤘
I bought the 20watt head and matching 2x12 cab cuz I'm an Ozzy fanatic and that's what made all those Jake and Zakk records. Also bought the Mr. Scary mod, Boss Sd1, and even an attenuator to try to get that Ultimate Sin type sound. That's gone on since Dec. Last week I gave up, took it to Sweetwater and traded it for the new Friedman JEL 20 with matching cab. They didn't have it so they're gonna Fed Ex it when they arrive. Wish me luck 🤞
I feel your pain, congrats on the new amplifier, you made the right choice. These Marshall JCM 800's are not worth the effort
Agreed. …great call on the JEL. I want one so badly.
@@reereelization You'll likely get your chance this time around. I wanted the 100w, but with only 100 in existence it just wasn't in the cards.
@@jaredray7001 me too. I’ve watched as many vids on the JEL20, and, so far it looks killer. I should just strike and grab one. Let me know how it is! ….I also rented a JCM800 earlier this year, and, was also so underwhelmed…. …needs too much tweaking.
Isn’t this the amplifier that Kerry King uses with his 10 Band EQ in the loop?
He has the Kerry king model that has his specific EQ built in just like he sets it. All you do is turn it on. Or off.
@@realtruenorth interesting I have the Kerry king eq - but it’s the black one, nothing automatic about it
@@voxpathfinder15r automatic meaning the eq isn't adjustable like a bunch of sliders,, im talking about the Kerry King Marshall head,,JCM800KK version, check it out,,, its just a knob that's turning it up or down/off. So you don't have to set up ten sliders and guess how he set them up. That's what I was trying to say. I think the know is called 'beast' it also has a noise gate
His older 800s were modded to take KT88 tubes. They're tighter sounding and less saggy compared to EL34's. If you can't find a JCM800KK, then a regular 800 will need to be modded. As far as I know, it's mainly biasing the amp for the KT88 tubes and transformer changes as they are more powerful vs the EL34. The tone stack stays as is.
@@AlexRamosDrTaz I have a Fryette Sig X which is a KT88 based amp, and it does Marshall on steroids as well as KSR/Mesa type high gain. It's an absolute beast. Best overall amp I've ever played. Happens to do incredible cleans also.. Hiwatt like.
Great video, but it is quite apparent you are not used to these early true monsters, which behave differently to modded or newer higain amps. You messed with all knobs except the most important one = master, which does not only behave as a volume, but a saturation and another type of gain. Unfortunately at 2 the power tubes barely started to breath, so you need to find a combination of master and preamp volume to get balls, all the harmonics, attack and aggression and then you only need a slight boost from SD1 or OD1 to tighten it up and it will rock. If it was good for Metallica early albums, it should do metal:) I never use master lower than 3 and half but sometimes up to 6-of course I use it with attenuator:)
Thanks for commenting, yes, I'm aware of the master volume thing.
The problem is, I don't have an attenuator hooked up to it and I did not want to blast my ears out in this little room that I'm in LOL.
If you ask me, that's kind of a poor design to have to blast an amp to horrible volumes just to get it to sound good.
@elektrar9620 and there lies the main problem with these older Marshall amps. You need to play them super loud to get that signature sound, which isn't really that practical. I'm not sure how those 80s shredders were able to use them so frequently back in the day, but I'm guessing it was mostly in the studio or once they were established and playing big live venues. But today, if you live in an apartment or can't play super loud, you're better off with a newer high gain amp that doesn't take as much to get that high gain, saturated sound. The other issue is if you go from clean to heavily distorted a lot. That really became a thing in the mid 80s with hair metal and later in the 90s/00s with nu-metal, metalcore, symphonic metal, alt rock, alt metal, etc. Its only a 1 channel amp, and you have to crank the gain already to get more distortion from it, so your clean tone is going to suffer. So its either dial up the gain really high on an OD pedal, take a second amp for cleans, or live with your clean basically being an "edge of breakup" sound.
@@JJDon5150 perfectly said!
The Mr. Scary stacked with an Odd box would be interesting.
Why wasn't the master increased? There's increased touch sensitivity and a certain wheezing/smoldering quality when the tubes are cooking.
I didn't have an attenuator hooked up to it and I'm in a pretty small room and I didn't want to blast my ears out
What speakers are u using?? Speakers make a big difference in tone and distortion
V30's
Did they use that much gain in the 80’s?
That master needs to be at least on 4 before you get that awesome compression and grunt!
I wasn't ever a 800 fan, I used 900 Hi Gains.
There were reasons why these had to be modded. The 50w combos had more gain on tap.
Mids are ok but it seems it is not "modern" sounding amp even with pedals
I dont understand why they didn't put more gain in the amp to begin with?
Same here. I really wish they would have done that
i love how this amp is so highly regarded as like the best amp ever made. There is this mythical magic going around with people thinking that once you plug in.. It's instant Hair Metal tones. It's really not lol. It's like light distortion crunch. Be like putting your EVH 5150iii on about 4 on the Blue channel. And that's maxed out. I hate to say it but i think the 800 is overrated. I wanted one for so long but realized there are better amps that achieve the same tones and happen to have way more gain on tap if needed.
Thanks for commenting. I'm going to do another episode with this amplifier and try to get it to sound better. With an attenuator you can crank the volume up higher and get more gain out of it.
I just couldn't crank it in this room because it's just too small and I didn't want to blow my ears out LOL.
It's still a very impractical amplifier to own especially when there's better options out there these days..
The ODD im surprise you havent tried it
Maybe two in stereo would be beefy enough
Those overdrives you are using are all wrong for the JCM 800. Years ago, we used a metal zone. You don’t use overdrive pedals (not enough gain). A good, modern pedal would be a Friedman BE OD. It’s called an overdrive, but it’s really a distortion pedal and it works well with Marshalls.
One tip. Most 80s was nver rexorded with 800....
I know the JCM 800 is a benchmark for early metal tones. And their tone varies a lot from amp to amp and over the years. This one is OK but not my favorite.JCM 800. The recent amp video of yours of the BadCat Lynx had vastly better rock and metal tones. Thanks for all you do.
Yes, the LYNX is better than the 800. No doubt.
Ithink the Marshall silver jubilee is a little more ballsy and versatile!
Correct. So much better
I thought the boosted tones were great, but yeah, you’re not going to get “modern” voiced tones no matter how you sculpt an 800. That’s just the nature of the beast. With that said, a Silver Jubilee can get really nasty in a good way with a good boost.
Sounds pretty good to me but i don’t think this is your happy place and I don’t blame you 😂🤟🏻
I think they are cool. get an 800 mod the shit out of it and slam it
800's are a good "starting platform" to be used with other gear in front of it.
Lots of players put a ProCo RAT in front of it, along with a Boss chorus pedal.
That would give you 80's metal in a nutshell.
I would take the LYNX over the 800 all day long, and twice on Sunday.
I could easily dial-in a great 800 tone with the LYNX.
( What you said is correct, the 800 is a "one trick pony". )
the lynx is something that will be forgotten in 5 years, the JCM800 will stay legendary forever. Name one album recorded with a lynx that did anything? Casuals.
@@Dobis86 Back when the JCM800 came out, there wasn't as many choices as we have today. It was basically Vox, Fender or Marshall. The guitar was a Fender or a Gibson. And then the market exploded. Now we have thousands of companies making stuff. People like the old stuff because of the "nostalgia factor". Not necessarily because it was so much better than what is available today. If the LYNX was available back in 1980, I'll bet a ton of albums would have been recorded with it.
You just use too much gain. You don't need to turn up the gain very much on the overdrive to get a great metal 80's tone from an 800 even with paf's. You probably have an uderdeveloped picking hand being used to all the modern amps.
LMFAOO
He salts his ketchup
Thats not how you use an 800. No wonder you think its a one trick pony 🤦♂️
Awesome
Things like buying a super Nintendo or sega genesis when you can play all those games on the most modern systems. You can easily get that tone on a jvm ... They created the jvm so that you could. It just doesn't make much sense to buy that thing. lol. I mean to each their own.
See i think you can get that tone out of the jvm 410 and at least with jvm you get 4 channels and more gain on tap if you want it. I would never buy that thing and i'm an 80's Marshall tone loving guy. You're basically buying the nostalgia of it being a jcm 800. Not worth it.
You're definitely making some really good points.
I just don't want to blow the roof off of my house just to make an amp sound good.
@@TONEWARSgearshow Yeah it's ridiculous that you'd want an amp that you have to do that to get the best sound out of it . People like making their life harder because they think they're cool playing an iconic amp from the 80's. Now let me go make a phone call on my rotary phone.
@@JohnSmith-ef2sx haha good analogy! Agreed, too much work to get a tone that can be easily achieved through a modern amplifiers, which in my opinion, do it much better