Peavey Windsor VS JCM 800 ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN 20009

Sloan

Sloan

Sounds like shit!
Oct 22, 2006
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Atlanta, GA
www.sloanstewart.com
Ok.
I haven't seen anyone directly comparing these amps with clips, gut shots, or anything. I've been poppin' boners over the Windsor after hearing awesome clips on this here forum - but if it doesn't clean up, it's not very practical for me when i'm playing Bad Company covers in front of old worn out sluts in dive bars (i'm serious.).

So, I've been comparing the schematics of the JCM 800 and Windsor, but since I'm fresh with all this SHIT, it is indeed taking me forever to figure out how to turn a Windsor into basically a super cheap JCM 800. They look so, so close and I'm not about to buy one just to send it off to get modded, so please don't spill that shit in here, brah!

JCM 800 2203 Master Volume SCHEMATIC:
http://bestnetworx.com/uploader/files/52/Marshall JCM800_lead_mstvol_100w_2203 SCHEMATIC.pdf

Peavey Windsor SCHEMATIC:
http://bestnetworx.com/uploader/files/52/Peavey Windsor SCHEMATIC.pdf


Also:
Please post GUT SHOTS of your Windsor or JCM800 if you can, I will owe you a brew if we ever fleshmeet.



THIS IS A THREAD FOR THE EDUCATION OF EVERYONE. PLEASE HALP BUILD KNOWLEDGE FOR YOUR INTERNET DUDES AND CHICKS.
 
Awesome idea dude - to bad this stuff is so over my head it's ridiculous, but I'd love for some non-n00bs to see what they can make of it all!
 
I get so tired of reading opinions of amps all over the internet, but nobody will ever take steps to actually PROVE anything. All you have to do is FIND THE FACTS. I was amazed on all the speculation that it's a JCM800 "clone" and yet I couldn't find anybody that had actually gone through the schematics or posted gut shots or anything.

Dude, I'm borrowing "The Tube Amp Handbook" from my friend that deals with all the hifi stuff and read most of it last night - it's worded great and cleared up so much shit. I just sat down for like 10 minutes and compared the preamp stages on the schematics and I can't even believe it made sense to me. I still don't know exactly what's going on, but I can definitely see how damn similar they are.


Looks like V2 in the Windsor has a lot more shit going on than in the JCM800:
jcm800_v2.gif
vs
windsor_v2.gif


Could this be where all the extra gain is coming from?


Getting rid of, or adding some type of control for the extra gain is my primary goal, as that seems to be the #1 complaint on this amp.
After that's cleared up, it would be nice to be able to drop the power down to 50w or less, which seems possible.
 
hey sloan, you post now and then over at HR, don't you?

if so, i would see if you can get some of their electronics/amp gurus to chime in on this matter...
 
At the Home-Recording BBS?
I haven't been there in a long time, but yeah.

I figured I might be able to get JBROLL to chime in, or maybe get Oz and Dauntless to post some gut shots!

I work with an electrical engineer all the time and was going to show him the schematics today, but it didn't work out, and I'm chomping at the bit to figure this shit out, thought this was a great place since most people here don't go straight to talking shit and slagging off cheap amps, especially peavey gear.
 
I traced the high gain side of both really quickly. One thing that jumps out is that the Windsor appears to have a plate fed tone stack while the Marshall has a cathode follower.
 
Personally, I like the sound of a Windsor over a JCM 800...we did a shootout earlier this year..... should have recorded it tho.

Maybe again, perhaps.
 
Sloan said:
I get so tired of reading opinions of amps all over the internet, but nobody will ever take steps to actually PROVE anything. All you have to do is FIND THE FACTS. I was amazed on all the speculation that it's a JCM800 "clone" and yet I couldn't find anybody that had actually gone through the schematics or posted gut shots or anything.

Dude, I'm borrowing "The Tube Amp Handbook" from my friend that deals with all the hifi stuff and read most of it last night - it's worded great and cleared up so much shit. I just sat down for like 10 minutes and compared the preamp stages on the schematics and I can't even believe it made sense to me. I still don't know exactly what's going on, but I can definitely see how damn similar they are.


Looks like V2 in the Windsor has a lot more shit going on than in the JCM800:
jcm800_v2.gif
vs
windsor_v2.gif


Could this be where all the extra gain is coming from?


Getting rid of, or adding some type of control for the extra gain is my primary goal, as that seems to be the #1 complaint on this amp.
After that's cleared up, it would be nice to be able to drop the power down to 50w or less, which seems possible.
Click to expand...


compare this stage of the windsor to the SLO, should be pretty close if my memory serves me right.


but don't underestimate how some minor changes can change the overall sound (again, compare SLO to JCM800).
The Windsor IS pretty close to the 800 though (soundwise as well), but keep in mind, that a proper OT and Power transformer etc cost almost as much as the whole Windsor, and esp in a JCM800 design the quality of the OT makes a huge difference.
I don't wanna say the Windsor sucks (!!!) but you can't expect both amps to sound the same.
 
Cool thread, can't say I'm very good with schematics but they look pretty different! Lol. But if they sound pretty similar then thats what counts.

If we could get a shootout between a JCM800, Windsor and 2203KK that would be awesome!
 
TravisW said:
I traced the high gain side of both really quickly. One thing that jumps out is that the Windsor appears to have a plate fed tone stack while the Marshall has a cathode follower.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks for the info.
I'm working with the engineer guy today, so hopefully he'll have time to check it out and give some input on it. The only thing is that since he's an engineer he doesn't quite understand how anyone could WANT distortion in their signal. haha.
 
nnnyes nnnyes, just as i imagined.. hmmm nnnnyesssssss!
some lines are longer than others... hmmmm... numbers are different.... hmmm nnnnyessssss.

:loco:
 
Ok, I had my engineer friend take a look at the schematics and he agrees both amps are pretty much the same.

He suggested removing C5 from the Windsor to clean it up a bit.
windsor_C5mod.gif

I wish I had one here, if it's that easy, woaw.
If anyone wants to to dick with their Windsor, let us know if it does anything!

I asked him about the location of the tone stack, be he figured it wouldn't be a huge change in the sound of the amp.
 
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