Amp pondering - from Marshall to ?

TimmyO

My experience owning my (frankly wonderful) JCM800 reissue has been eye-opening in many ways.

The glorious clean, the revelation of how different it is using pedals with such a high headroom amp, and the genuinely ravaging tone of a boosted JCM in front of you (even with attenuation - it's the rawness - it's quite visceral)

I've surprised myself by using the clean (well, not 'channel', but the low input) base and adding pedals (or indeed not) more often than not (having a couple lovely pedals helps no doubt - couple of Thorpys, Carpe Diem, Guv'nor, Flux Drive)

So (here it comes at last) this has me wondering if that's how I do settle, can I get that kind of action, not in a full size head? Indeed in a combo perhaps? What kind of thing would I look at? 

Thanks for any thoughts, comments, or interesting tangents :-)

Tim

Dopesick

I must say, the one thing that is putting me off from going straight for a JCM800 head is the size.

I believe somebody mentioned a JCM-in-a-combo a week or so ago. Marshall 4210 or something? I believe that's the 50w JCM800 2204 in combo version. I think.

professorben

4010 jcm800
50w 1x12
single channel loveliness 
@icbm will back me up on this. 

Btw I used it exactly as you do, lie input, pedals in the front ( no fx loop anyway) 

ICBM

professorben said:

4010 jcm800
50w 1x12
single channel loveliness 
@icbm will back me up on this. 

Btw I used it exactly as you do, lie input, pedals in the front ( no fx loop anyway) 

Yes. It's the 4010 you want - the 4210 is the channel-switching one.

The 4010 usually comes with either a G12M-70 or a G12T-75, neither of which are ideal, so budget for a Creamback to replace it. If you're lucky and it's an early one with a G12-65 you won't need to.

newi123

I hate how big Marshall heads are - you need a full size cab so the head doesn't overlap and look stupid....... (jtm 45 excepted)

I also don't think the combos sound as good as the head + cab. Mainly as the cabs are always closed back and the combos usually seem to be open backed.

Tim - you're more than welcome to borrow my little jet city jca20hv for a while if you like (assuming you're still in Swindon?) not sure how close it'll go to low input jcm800, but it does the whole 2061x thing surprisingly well!

Flanging_Fred

Yep JCM800 4010.  Cracking  bit of kit. (It's the one on top)

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb102/flanging_fred/Music/my guitars/0a14c1ab67782b71236bbd23e026e635_zpsbsz8yxe9.jpg

professorben

ICBM said:

professorben said:

4010 jcm800
50w 1x12
single channel loveliness 
@icbm will back me up on this. 

Btw I used it exactly as you do, lie input, pedals in the front ( no fx loop anyway) 

Yes. It's the 4010 you want - the 4210 is the channel-switching one.

The 4010 usually comes with either a G12M-70 or a G12T-75, neither of which are ideal, so budget for a Creamback to replace it. If you're lucky and it's an early one with a G12-65 you won't need to.

Which was the one I had Dec '81

mattdavis

I have a 4104 combo from the early '80s. A 50w 2204 in combo form with g12-65s. It is effing loud but a wonderful amp. Heavy as a bastard but a great great amp. Bought it for £200 out of Loot in the early 90s as my first amp - had no idea what I'd got!! They come up once in a while. Mine has vertical inputs which according to forum chatter is better than horizontal inputs being largely the same as the JMP 2204s. 

ICBM

professorben said:

Which was the one I had Dec '81

That would have had a 65 I think.

TimmyO

The JCM reissue is the first amp I've used a loop on - I've been quite liking the slight extra clarity it gives to delays and reverbs there.

If I wanted to keep a loop, what are other pedal platforms? High power is fine - I'm all attenuated up 

professorben

ICBM said:

professorben said:

Which was the one I had Dec '81

That would have had a 65 I think.

Sorry mis typed that, I meant yes that's the one I had in my Dec '81 

ICBM

professorben said:

Sorry mis typed that, I meant yes that's the one I had in my Dec '81 

Ha! I assumed you meant you didn't know. Most people have no idea what speakers are in their amp - despite it being such an important part of the sound.

From memory the 65 was used up to around early '83, the 70 only briefly, possibly in only '83 or into early '84, and the 75 from '84 onwards.

The interesting thing about the 70 is that although it's one of my least favourite Celestions in valve amps, I heard one in a 5210 'solid state JCM800' recently and it sounded great. It seems to be the most common speaker in that model, so possibly someone at Marshall thought so too.