Marshall JCM800 2204S ???

Tadpui

Tadpui

Well-known member
A new Guitar Center opened up in my neighborhood recently. I went there today to buy a couple of insert cables, and of course ended up perusing their other stock. I ran across an odd Marshall mini-stack that I'm curious about. It was labeled as a "vintage 1986" JCM800 2204S head, on top of a matching 1x12 (I think?) cabinet. It was an odd greenish tolex with a tweed face. I can't find anything from the Googles about a 2204S. I see some 50W 2204 JCM800 heads, but nothing about a 2204S. I'm very interested in this little stack. I think that I'll go back tomorrow (well, today) and see if I can crank it up.

Has anybody here heard of a JCM800 2204S?
 
LOL I was using the new MS Edge browser, which defaulted to Bing as its search engine. Now that I'm actually using Google to search, I see all sorts of info about this amp. Dammit, Bing! Why do you suck so bad?!?

I'm definitely going to go and play this amp tomorrow. It's a JCM800 in a smaller format head. I would trade my DSL40C towards this in a heartbeat.
 
I've never seen one in person, but I think it's a 2204 in a small headbox. The JMP era 2203/2204s were actually small chassis amps inside big boxes. They could fit in a smallbox Plexi style head shell. When those JMPs morphed into JCM 800s, they got physically bigger. Same amps, just physically bugger. The 2204S is supposedly just that - a regular 2204 in a smaller box. And being a 50w, it didn't go through the filtering and layout changes that the 2203s did in the mid 80s.

If that's all it is, then go buy it now.
 
Thanks Greg! You're a veritable encyclopedia on Marshall amps.

They had a price of about $1100 on the head. I didn't see a price on the cab. The army green tolex is kinda weird for my tastes but hell, if it sounds good...

My only worry is that some glam rocker in the 80s modded it or something. I have no idea how to authenticate the circuitry.
 
Tadpui said:
Thanks Greg! You're a veritable encyclopedia on Marshall amps.

They had a price of about $1100 on the head. I didn't see a price on the cab. The army green tolex is kinda weird for my tastes but hell, if it sounds good...

My only worry is that some glam rocker in the 80s modded it or something. I have no idea how to authenticate the circuitry.
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That's gonna be tough without taking the chassis out and examining it. A 2204 should only have 6 knobs - total. Any more knobs or switches means it's been modded. On the plus side, even if it has been modded, you can put it back to stock pretty easy. 2204s are caveman amps. That's also why they sound so bad ass. Check to see what power tubes are in it. It could be either 6550 or EL34. It should only have 3 preamp tubes. This is all assuming the 2204S is supposed to be just a miniaturized 2204. I really don't know much about them. They're an oddity.

$1100 seems like a pretty fair to average price though for a second-gen 2204. Just go play it. Keep in mind these are not high gain amps. Your DSL will smoke it for pure gain. But for balls out crunchy punchy goodness the 2204 is pretty bad ass.

In my band, I use my JMP 2204 up against the other guitarist's 100w DSL all the time. My guitar punches through the mix like Mike Tyson. :D
 
I play through a 1986 2204 (no 'S'), and I love it. It was about $600 in 1986, which, adjusted for inflation today is $1288.99 according to the internet. I would definitely check that thing out. I'm not sure how mine would sound through a 1x12 - that's kind of strange. I know if you took one of the 75 watt celestions from my original 4x12 it could probably survive the full force of the 2204, but if you took one of the greenbacks I'm using now, I think it would blow.
 
Greg_L said:
That's gonna be tough without taking the chassis out and examining it. A 2204 should only have 6 knobs - total. Any more knobs or switches means it's been modded. On the plus side, even if it has been modded, you can put it back to stock pretty easy. 2204s are caveman amps. That's also why they sound so bad ass. Check to see what power tubes are in it. It could be either 6550 or EL34. It should only have 3 preamp tubes. This is all assuming the 2204S is supposed to be just a miniaturized 2204. I really don't know much about them. They're an oddity.

$1100 seems like a pretty fair to average price though for a second-gen 2204. Just go play it. Keep in mind these are not high gain amps. Your DSL will smoke it for pure gain. But for balls out crunchy punchy goodness the 2204 is pretty bad ass.

In my band, I use my JMP 2204 up against the other guitarist's 100w DSL all the time. My guitar punches through the mix like Mike Tyson. :D
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antichef said:
I play through a 1986 2204 (no 'S'), and I love it. It was about $600 in 1986, which, adjusted for inflation today is $1288.99 according to the internet. I would definitely check that thing out. I'm not sure how mine would sound through a 1x12 - that's kind of strange. I know if you took one of the 75 watt celestions from my original 4x12 it could probably survive the full force of the 2204, but if you took one of the greenbacks I'm using now, I think it would blow.
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You guys are the best. I'm about to haul my hung over ass out there. Surely a blaring Marshall will cure this headache, right? Silly me, staying up till all hours drinking rum and coke...
 
Well I went and gave it a tryout. This is a small Guitar Center so they don't have a "vault". They set me up in a lesson room. And I dimed the thing. I quickly found out that there were lessons going on in the neighboring rooms, and I was asked to turn it down :) I had heard enough anyways. It's sufficiently bad ass. Found out that the cabinet is actually a 4x10", and it has a surprising amount of balls to it. I wasn't expecting much out of 10s, but I was pleasantly surprised. It appears to be unmodded, no extra inputs, outputs, or knobs.

So I bought the head and the cab :D

They had both the A and B cabinets for it, but I just couldn't bring myself to have a full stack of 10" speakers. So I just got the A cab. I feel kinda bad for breaking up a 20 year old set, but oh well.

They totally tried to rip me on my DSL. They offered $250 for it. No way. So I figured I'd troll around here and see if anybody is interested in it. If not, I can try Reverb. But I did give up my Traynor YCV80 and my HotPlate for way too little money. I didn't feel as bad about that. They just really suck at buying gear. And I wanted this amp.

I got it home, cranked it up, fed some pedals to it, and it's just awesome. This is basically all I was using my DSL for, to crank up and feed it an overdrove. This 2204S is so much better at it than the DSL is. I opened the chassis to take a few pics. The board is a little warped, but it seems to be in good shape otherwise. I did notice a few markings that indicated that a component might go there, but no component to be found...I don't know if that's for a different variant of this amp, or if it was modded. It looks like there was never a part in those places, no burns or excess solder. I'll post a few pics later if anybody in the know might advise.
 
Awesome, congrats! Those 4x10 cabs (1965A for slant) are cool. Good score. See what speakers are in it when you get a chance. I think they originally had G10-35s but I could be wrong about that. It might have 10" Greenbacks, which would be pretty fucking awesome. Pop the jack plate off and peek in there with a flashlight.

Marshall used the same boards for lots of things, so it's normal to find blank spaces here and there.

Yeah get some pics of the board and stuff. I've gotten pretty familiar with the 2204. I'm no tech but I might be able to spot a mod or something. Maybe. No promises.
 
I tried to pull off the back, but that sucker is really on there. I removed all of the screws but it must be glued in place or something. I'm really curious about the speakers too. Good suggestion about peeking through the jack plate, I'll give that a try.

Here she is in all her glory (sorry if the pics are too big...I trimmed them down to 40% size but they're still huge). My photo skillz suck, so you can't really see the faceplate very well. And the tolex is actually dark green, not black. I'm digging it. I really like the tweed face on the cabinet, very retro:

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Here's a shot showing the warped board. Hope it's not serious:

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Here's the right side of the board. Looks like F1, F2, and Lamp are empty:

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This is the middle of the board. C13 and L1 are empty:

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And here is the left side of the board. C6 is empty. Something in the input/master/preamp area is causing some crackling when they're jostled. Could be a preamp tube, or could be some grime in the pots:

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Awesome. I love that cab.

So, just from glancing at the pics, it looks mostly stock to me. I'm not super familiar with that pot/board/chassis mounted layout, but all the components look to be how they should. Those brown resistors are called Pihers and they were common in late 70s JMP era amps. They're somewhat desirable as far as cork-sniffers are concerned, so it's a good thing that yours has them and they all appear to be original.

The red lego block caps are also standard 80s Marshall equipment, sometimes they were yellow or brown, so that looks all good too. The values seem to be correct as far as I can tell from memory.

I think the little disc cap at C5 is your bright cap, and it was commonly removed from older Marshalls, so it's a good thing yours is there. I'm personally a big fan of the bright cap. I can't tell the value of yours, but I think it's supposed to be a 1n/1000pf. In any case, it's good something is there.

The blue caps near the bias trim are your bias feed caps. They're not original, but that's a good thing. They often leak and go bad and need to be changed. Yours has been done, so they should be safe for a while.

I'll have to look at a schematic for your empty spots, but it doesn't look like anything has ever been in those locations, so they may only be used for a 100w amp, or for non-US applications requiring a different power supply.

antichef could probably speak to your sagging board. It's a pretty common problem for gravity to take it's toll on that board that basically hangs from the pots mounted to the chassis. The input jacks are sturdier and have less weight in that area, so the board sags on the other end. I've heard of the board eventually breaking away from the pots. That's something you might consider fixing in the near future.

But overall it looks great! Let's hear it!
 
Awesome man!!! I love that cab, I'm on the fence right now about ordering a similar (2x12) from Sourmash...

Congrats man!!! Let's hear it!!!!!
 
Dang Greg, thanks! You've outdone yourself, I really appreciate the info.

Bawb, minerman, antichef: thanks dudes. I'm really happy with this thing. It's so badass, it could destroy lives and end marriages. The lows and low mids break up in such an awesome way, it's Classic Marshall. I just spent some time pushing it with my firefly fuzz pedal, it was sublime stoner metal tone. Even with no pedal, the breakup when it's dimed is terrific. I'll fiddle with it for another day or two and then post some clips.
 
Really nice looking - about the board, if it ever actually becomes a problem you'll know - it's not subtle. You get volume dropouts or even complete silence. The repair is simple but I would get a good tech to do it anyway - basically reflow the cracked solder joints and reposition the board. Looks like yours could probably be suspended from a top bolt using a nylon strap if needed. But none of that really matters until you start hearing it, if that ever happens.
 
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antichef
Thanks for the heads-up man. I might get paranoid soon and see if an amp tech can reinforce or brace the board to keep it from sagging farther.

ocnor
Thanks!

So I took Greg's advice and unscrewed the jack plate from the back of the A cab, and looked in there with a flashlight. The speakers are Celestion G10L-35, which is what I've read are the stock speakers for this cab. This is my first closed-back cabinet, and I'm really impressed with how much low end these cabs can generate. I just haven't found a good mic position for it yet. That low end seems to disappear. Wondering what all techniques to try. I put a kick mic on one speaker, but it was a little too boomy. Might try miking the back of it and see what happens.
 
Tadpui said:
antichef
Thanks for the heads-up man. I might get paranoid soon and see if an amp tech can reinforce or brace the board to keep it from sagging farther.

ocnor
Thanks!

So I took Greg's advice and unscrewed the jack plate from the back of the A cab, and looked in there with a flashlight. The speakers are Celestion G10L-35, which is what I've read are the stock speakers for this cab. This is my first closed-back cabinet, and I'm really impressed with how much low end these cabs can generate. I just haven't found a good mic position for it yet. That low end seems to disappear. Wondering what all techniques to try. I put a kick mic on one speaker, but it was a little too boomy. Might try miking the back of it and see what happens.
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Dude, you had tons of low end in that last clip you posted.

I personally find 10" speakers kind of tough to mic. I think my ears are just conditioned for 12" guitar speakers. I use old 70s Marshall 8x10 cabs live (for the looks!), and they sound okay from out in space, but mic'd up close they're just meh. The same miking principles apply, you just have to be more micro-fine with the mic position.

I like the two mic technique, putting one near center, and one near the edge. Get em in phase and you can balance bright/dark between the two mics.
 
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