Okay, I'm in a pop punk band and i'm searching for a modern distortion tube marshall head (jcm 900 or 2000). For those who are going to say : both of these amp are just crappy shit, just don't say anything, cause marshall tube heads are nothing but good. Actually, i'm looking for a jcm 900 dual reverb 50 watts, cause with this I will be able to switch clean/distortion with a footswitch. I'm looking for a blink/AFI distortion sound, and I want to put a lot of gain in my clean channel to have a billy talent clean sound. So, in your opinion, taking in consideration what I need and not what YOU like, please help me chose between the two. I'm saying that cause i'm very tired of people saying marshall jcm 900 or 2000 are shit just because it's not the sound they "like". Thanks a lot for taking time to help me !
jcm 900 or 2000 ???
- Thread starter Colwarter
- Start date
rxQueen
New member
Colwarter said:
no, they really are just crappy shit. no i'm just joking. but tone (guitar sound) is completely subjective, and everybody's got their own opinions. i think blink128 uses mesa boogies. and i haven't a clue of what AFI is. but instead of pursuing someone else's tone, why not search for a tone you really like? (unless you cover songs that is) have you looked into Laney heads? you have many many alternatives, not just Marshalls. before spending big bucks on something, you should try out as much gear as possible. who knows, you might find your holy grail of tones.
Why does anyone like the jcm 900 ??? I don't know what's the diode clipping... is the jcm 2000 dsl 50 better for me in your opinion ? And yes I already considered the mesa boogie ones, but i'm going to purchase my amp used and there's a whole bunch of marshall used and just a little bit of mesa...
cobradenim
New member
The Jcm 2000 are better sounding than the 900s but they're still troublesome amps. You should take RXqueens advice and try a Laney head. The're good sounding heads and have lots of distortion that you might like.
The JCM 800s are a better amp however they don't have the gain you're looking for.
The JCM 800s are a better amp however they don't have the gain you're looking for.
Hard2Hear
New member
Ive been playing a JCM2000 TSL for like 5 years now and have never had a single problem with it. I like the wide variety in sound I can get with it. It will do power punk pop rock all day long. In fact, channel 3 with the mid scooped is awfully mesa sounding. I don't actually use that channel much. The second channel is where its at for me personally.
I had a Laney once. It was ok. It wasn't my Marshall, though.
H2H
I had a Laney once. It was ok. It wasn't my Marshall, though.
H2H
Farview
Well-known member
The jcm 900s tend to be scratchier sounding, they really don't have the meat that the 800s and 2000s do.Colwarter said:
(small history lesson) The JCM 800s had great tone (the good ones, it did vary from year to year) but they didn't quite have the gain that everyone was looking for. Most of the albums of the era were recorded with modified JCM 800s. When Marshall came out with thier JCM 900s, they addressed that problem by putting a diode clippng circuit in the amp that could not be bypassed. (kind of like putting a MXR distortion + in the amp) There were a couple other minor changes as well. All this lead to an amp that was much thinner sounding than the 800s.
These tone problems have been fixed with the jcm2000
I would have to agree with the opinion that the 2000 is better than the 900. Our other guitarist has a JCM 900 half stack, and I am not all that impressed with the tones eminating from it, across the rehearsal space from me. That said, I have tried the JCM 2000s, and have been rather impressed. Reliability? Never heard problems with reliability on EITHER amp, to be honest.
You would be wise to take the advice previously stated, and at least CHECK OUT the Laneys. Back in the metal days, I had a Laney AOR 100 head that I loved. Oddly enough, I just found myself buying an old Laney 4x12 slant cab, recently, and, MAN, I wish I still had that old head to go with this cab! Nice chunky bottom end!
You would be wise to take the advice previously stated, and at least CHECK OUT the Laneys. Back in the metal days, I had a Laney AOR 100 head that I loved. Oddly enough, I just found myself buying an old Laney 4x12 slant cab, recently, and, MAN, I wish I still had that old head to go with this cab! Nice chunky bottom end!
metalhead28
Hates Raymond
A JCM 900 with EL34's in it (somewhat rare) sounds way better and less "Scratchy" as someone said earlier. I personally think they sound good for alot of stuff, but don't get too excited about switching channels on it because it won't clean up for shit. It really does not have a clean channel, just two distortion channels.
Peavey Renown
New member
900..
I played a JCM900 combo.. It was pretty nice.. I've never played one of the heads though.. could be different sounding. I would use the JCM900 for poppunk type stuff..
I played a JCM900 combo.. It was pretty nice.. I've never played one of the heads though.. could be different sounding. I would use the JCM900 for poppunk type stuff..
billmcdonald
New member
good luck getting any gain out of a jcm 900
metalhead28
Hates Raymond
billmcdonald said:
for the record, a JCM 900 has a shit load of gain.
Granted, you've gotta crank the volume to get it, but they sound good with the half power power switch on and it is a very managable volume.
billmcdonald
New member
my friend has a jcm 900 and he has to completely cut the mids and put the gain all the way up to get a distortion sound, and it still sounds pretty crunchy. maybe somethings wrong with his amp. its the only 900 Ive heard, so I dont really know what its suposed to sound like.
