Got a new Toy

[LSD-Studio]

I've posessed some marshall 2203 (vertical and horizontal) and never understood the hype about them....
tried it over and over again and always sold it in the end, I really consideres myself a Marshall-hater.
until last week,
I recorded a Band that came with a JMP 2203 head and when i set that thing up I had an eye opening moment.
I've never heard an amp with that much punch and dynamics!!
it was am UNMODDED! 78 JMP...the things that are almost impossible to find original/unmodded.
The tubes are like 15 years old and a little microphonic and still the amp sounds sooo fantastic....after replacing the tubes I'll have another orgasmic moment I guess

So i convinced/persuaded the guitarist to sell me that beast for 700€ (what a steal!)

with that old heads it really pays off to test a couple of them, they all sound different (not a tube/bias-issue).

I'm gonna record a sample as soon as the JMP's got new tubes.

(crappy cellphone cam!)


who else on this board uses 2203 ?
(JCM 800 2203 is the same circuit) and what are your experiences?

 

[greyskull]

these are definatly strange beasts!
every single one ive played sounds completely different, but amazing nonetheless

 

[kaomao]

You mean you hated JCM800 2203?
I think you hated JCM800 2203 because they don't sound as ballsy as the old plexi's.
I love ACDC tone and I think those are SLP, something similar to JMP I think!
Fuck! Marshall did some great amps.
Anyway Mr VanHalen used just plexi amps in the 70's and his sound was so fucking powerful!!!!

 

[LSD-Studio]

You mean you hated JCM800 2203?

I love ACDC tone and I think those are SLP, something similar to JMP I think!
!

jepp, I've owned and hated several 800 2203...
but the JMP 2203 is the same amp in a different housing (at least the same as the early vert input 800).
It just seems that 2 of those handwired Beasts never sound the same (as greyskull said).
I'm just blown away HOW MUCH they differ, I HATED my 2203 JCM800 but I'm blown away by the JMP (same circuit).
Try before buy!!

 

[kaomao]

Anyway 700 for an original JMP of 78 is really a steal ahahah
great buy indeed!
anyway here is going for 535 euro.
We have to see how will the auction end eheheh 535 is a steal too

 

[LSD-Studio]

here is going for 535 euro.
We have to see how will the auction end eheheh 535 is a steal too

seems to be unmodded, if so anything below 1000 should be a safe buy.
these amps will definitely increase in price over the next years and it's very hard to find JMPs that have not been modded.


......

here
still a good price though

 

[006]

Hmm, I never thought about that but my 800 2203 did sound better out of the bunch, which is why I bought it. It's an older model (can't recall atm), but it was in a "pile" of old Marshalls at Guitar Center. Out of the old JCM800 2203's, the one I bought sounded the most killer. There were some newer models (re-issues?) that were crap IMO compared to the old-school ones.

I also own a JCM2000 TSL and absolutely hate it. Always have. Only bought it because I saw them come in alot at the studio and people never took care of theirs (tubes were old, pots were scratchy, etc.), so I decided to get one and keep it in good shape so they could use mine instead of their POS version, heh.

~e.a

 

[LSD-Studio]

yeah, you've got a vertical input 800 i assume?
That are the ones that CAN kick ass (not every single one does though).

the newer ones with the horizontal inputs (from 85 on)are PCB mounted they suck sooo much..all of them!

The 2000 suck major ass, too..
too much sand in it.

 

[greyskull]

i dunno, i kinda like my dsl. Its a good alternative flavour to the 5150, not got the same low mid and bottom end fiersomeness, but a nice marshall roar that sits quite nicely in a mix

 

[LSD-Studio]

i dunno, i kinda like my dsl.

i prefer tubeamps

 

[greyskull]

hmmm

4 12 ax7's and 4 el34's,

thought they were tubes lol.

dont get me wrong i prefer my 5150 to it anyday, but the dsl is way way better for clean, imean it even has the word clean written on it and everything!

 

[Exocaster]

I used an unmodded 1976 JMP 2204 for a while, boosting it with pedals for high gain. Easily the loudest thing I've ever played, and it's just a 50 watter. The only thing that's come close was my '89 Boogie Mark IV. It would cut through the whole band on 2. I'm using a Mesa Stiletto Deuce and a Dual Recto now, and the JMP would put both of them to shame, volume wise.

The old Marshalls are in a completely different league in terms of tone than the new ones. I had a nicely set up JCM 2000 TSL, completely re-tubed and properly biased that I A/Bed with the JMP, and there was no comparison. The voicing of the JMP was simultaniously thicker and more open, tighter, much clearer, and had deeper bass response, if not quite as much bass on tap. Surprisingly, the JMP was voiced more agressively, possibly due to its increased clarity and decreased compression compared to the TSL. All the JMP lacked was gain, and a simple boost pedal took care of that quite nicely.

I got compliments on my tone every show I played with the JMP. I used it in a female-fronted goth-metal project I was in for a while. Where She Wept on here mixed one of our shows, and I remember getting a ton of compliments that night on my "old-school Marshall tone". I really regret selling that head. It was completely impractical- way too loud, sounded thin at anything short of ear-bleed levels, no effects loop (and I'll be damned if I'm modding an original JMP 2204!), but it sounded killer once you turned up.

 

[006]

Just checked: mine is an 82 model.

Too bad I'm selling it, it really is a cool amp...just never gets used and my JSX does everything I need.

~e.a

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

i prefer tubeamps

woops!

 

[LSD-Studio]

just modded a friends jcm900, that's a bit similar to the 2000 (or even worse) just alibi-tubes (think they just put'em in to illuminate the amp ).
with the mod i got rid of all the sand (diodes) in the 900, replaced some gridstoppers with the correct values and it sounds awesome now!
I think the dsl is not a bad amp, it's just like ....
i don't like chicks with a dick that's hidden somewhere.....
i don't like amps that pretend being tubeamps but are generating the distortion with diodes...pretty much the same thing

i gotta admit, that the 900 is probably way worse than the dsl...
hey, just my opinion, Dime even likes solidstate amps, and who am i to question him...
just a matter of taste

And yes, the JMP is the loudest amp I've ever heard!
Definitely louder than my 300Watt Simulclas Mesa!
It might be lacking gain on its own, but as you said, slightly boosted (like most of us do anyway) it turns into a metal-war-machine, esp. with a detuned guitar!

 

[Wolfeman]

now!
I think the dsl is not a bad amp, it's just like ....
i don't like chicks with a dick that's hidden somewhere.....
i don't like amps that pretend being tubeamps but are generating the distortion with diodes...pretty much the same thing

i gotta admit, that the 900 is probably way worse than the dsl...
hey, just my opinion, Dime even likes solidstate amps, and who am i to question him...
just a matter of taste

hint- The DSL is a tube amp....

 

[LSD-Studio]

hint- The DSL is a tube amp....

with the signal running thru diodes, yes
just had a quick view on the schematic, looks even like diodes are responsible for a hughe part of the distortion...

Hint- look at that j174 FET at v2b (and at some other places, too)

it has tubes in the pre- and poweramp yes, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have any diodes....

of course you would still call it a "tubeamp" but hey, I've been in Thailand, where they called that shemale a women, so........

the TSL has still more diodes involved though

 

[greyskull]

yeah the tsl is one of the worst for ic's and transistors,. If i'm not mistaken the jcm 900 dual reverb is an even worse culprit for this sort of thing.

The jcm 800 2205 is a diode clipper too and i think that amp sounds mint (tom morello anyone)