Yeah thanks. I'm definitely not a gain monster, and I'm definitely no hair metal guy. Lol. This amp with no pedals has more than enough gain for me. The JVM has ridiculous amounts of gain that I never even come close to using.
N.A.D. for Greg - it's one louder over here - classic Marshall w/ pics!
- Thread starter Greg_L
- Start date
Yeah thanks. I'm definitely not a gain monster, and I'm definitely no hair metal guy. Lol. This amp with no pedals has more than enough gain for me. The JVM has ridiculous amounts of gain that I never even come close to using.
antichef
pornk rock
*so* happy for you - that thing looks and sounds awesome - as for the 6550/EL34 thing, I bought my 2204 new in the 80's in Nebraska, and so I know what has happened to it (nothing, essentially) - my amp tech recently said it had been factory set up for EL 84s and that he had not seen one that was headed to the US set up that way. So who knows?
antichef
pornk rock
btw, if you have an overdrive pedal you like (and I don't think you do, but you know, hypothetically speaking), try it on the low sensitivity input. A friend showed me this [just] last week (ah!, and yes I have had the thing for almost 30 years) I'm going to do this for gigs - you can get a great full clean sound, and a really nice crunch with the pedal. Actually, I'm probably just going to use a boost pedal instead of an OD, which sounds great that way.
Thanks Ray and antichef. Cool tip about the low input. I pretty much never use clean sounds, but I'll check it out. The JVM's cleans are pretty hard to beat though. I have three dirt/OD pedals. A Tube Screamer, Boss SD-1, and the old ProCo Rat. The Rat never gets used. The other two get used as clean boosts. I don't use any of their built in drive, just the volume boost in front of the amp. They do add a little flavor though. The tube screamer especially. It makes everything sound like 1985. Lol. I'd rather a straight pure clean boost but I don't have one. I also have an MXR 10-band EQ that can be used as a clean boost, I just haven't tried it yet. So yeah I have some options. I'm really mostly interested in just plugging in, turning up, and letting it rip. The pure natural sound of this amp is something special to me. I can't wait to use it live. 
antichef
pornk rock
Oh - one more thing. My JMP is a '71, so yours may be different, but on the back, if you have the output Ohm selector that is a plastic plate with two pins that you pull out and re-insert back into one of three pairs of holes (as distinguished from the set-in-place dial like the one on my later JCM 800 2204), be sure to get a tech to look at it and possibly tighten it up. My plate fell out during practice a few weeks back, and I wound up scorching one of the output tubes and blowing a fuse - thank heavens that's all (OT is OK), but it was a scare. Now the terminals are tightened up so that won't happen again for awhile.
Nah, it's got this one:
That's one thing I like about the JVM. It's got a jack for every option. Just plug in to the right output(s). No switches, sliders, or shit to break.
jonny deep
Disappointing Member
Nice score, Greg - if there was anyone who needed a new amp, it was definitely you. You certainly get more than your fair share of luck finding decent prices.
Haha thanks. It might be a little bit luck. I just never seem to stop looking for a sweet ass deal on the things I like.
antichef
pornk rock
The difference between me and the folks with all the great stuff who got it for cheap was mostly temporal - they had been patiently stalking the stuff for years, and I was bummed because I couldn't walk out and buy it for what they paid for it. Patience is key... (Luck is also key, but we're each a lot luckier over a significant period of time than we are on a particular day. )
Yeah I've acquired A LOT of cool stuff that I've wanted for free or seriously on the cheap by just networking, keeping my eyes peeled, and/or being patient. Since getting the JVM, I really haven't even thought about any other amps. It does everything. It's really the perfect amp IMO for the shit I play. I wasn't actively looking for this JMP, but I found it, I've always loved them, and if I didn't scoop it up fast someone else would have. I can't let something like that slip away when I know how killer those amps are. 2203/2204s are like "holy grail "amps as far as I'm concerned. I don't know if it was luck, fate, divine intervention, karma, or whatever. I just saw it and couldn't stop thinking about it. It's fucking awesome.
Congrats!!! THE SOUND of ROCK is truely yours.
Congrats!!-Great classic amp. Probably because of my age, but when I hear a riff in my head, it is typically the voice of this circuit pushed hard that comes to mind. This one is my fav as well due to the simplicity of the layout, flying leads, easily replaceable pots, easy to get at and service sockets, etc... I recall hearing that Marshall used 6L6's in the US bound versions of these heads due to "the fragility of el34's making the trans-atlantic trip." Still, I picked up one in Montreal in 1980 w/el34's OEM stock, so who knows. The Canadian version I have is from 79 too with the older style metal toggle standby and power switches and the red cubic power light. Oh yeah and everything on the chassis is red-printed in French as well-anyways You scored a Great Amp. Would be interesting to know what your bias (mV) is running with the current power tube set in there. Best, J
Congrats!!-Great classic amp. Probably because of my age, but when I hear a riff in my head, it is typically the voice of this circuit pushed hard that comes to mind. This one is my fav as well due to the simplicity of the layout, flying leads, easily replaceable pots, easy to get at and service sockets, etc... I recall hearing that Marshall used 6L6's in the US bound versions of these heads due to "the fragility of el34's making the trans-atlantic trip." Still, I picked up one in Montreal in 1980 w/el34's OEM stock, so who knows. The Canadian version I have is from 79 too with the older style metal toggle standby and power switches and the red cubic power light. Oh yeah and everything on the chassis is red-printed in French as well-anyways You scored a Great Amp. Would be interesting to know what your bias (mV) is running with the current power tube set in there. Best, J
Thanks, yeah I don't know about 6L6s. I'd always heard 6550s for the USA, but fuck if I know. My build tag on the chassis says "USA" on it and the retainers don't quite fit the EL34s so I assume that it originally had something else. Many USA Marshalls from this time period have 6550s. I haven't checked the bias yet. I usually jump right in, but this fucker sounds sweet right from the get-go so I never looked at it. I got some schematics and pics of un-modded 2204s from this year, so I'm gonna check what I can tomorrow. What I do know is that the tubes and caps appear to be brand new, the transformers are original, and there's no holes or weird wiring anywhere that would indicate a mod that's been removed. As far as I know it's bone stock. It sounds fantastic!
Hmmmm, upon further inspection it would appear to my untrained eye that this amp has indeed been converted to EL34s. There is some, as far as I can tell, extra wiring in the bias circuit and at the tube sockets that would indicate, to my again untrained eye, that it's been converted. And there's a handwritten tag on the side of the chassis that says "new speaker jacks - rewire converted to EL34s". So I guess that's that. No problem. I used it at band practice last night and noticed that it was getting a little farty/compressed/sizzly sounding as the night wore on like it's biased super hot or something was going wrong. Hadn't noticed that before. So I go to check the bias today and notice one of the power tubes is kind of loose. So I pull it out to see what's up and the little locator peg breaks off, or was already broken. Great. Lol. These were supposed to be new tubes, or so I thought. Not to be deterred I line it up anyway in the bias probe and stick it back in. Fire it up, warm it up, and holy hell the bias is mega hot. 60ma. I check plate voltage - 393v. That's about normal for this amp. But the bias is way hot. Bias should be about 44ma. So I yank the power tubes and put in two known good ones that I had in another amp. Bias is still way hot so I adjust it down to 43ma. A little back and forth and it settles down to even bias between the two tubes at 42ma. Cool. I also threw in a NOS 12ax7 I had laying around just for fun. So now to sound check it. Fire it back up, all systems go, sounds great! It's a little less compressed sounding with the normal bias. Or maybe it's the old school preamp tube. I don't know. It's not much different, just a little smoother with the volume up. A little more open sounding with a tighter bottom end. It actually now sounds even closer to the hot rodded JCM 800 I used to record with a while back. That amp was great, but I don't miss it anymore with the piles of amps I got now. Anyway, that's about it. I'll get some brand new power tubes soon and maybe take it in to a real pro - if I can find one - for a full going over. I'm in no hurry though. It sounds good, doesn't make any weird noises, and I got two other amps to play with.
CMunch
Well-known member
CMunch
Well-known member
Yes, a loud one.
Lol, much fun, just about finished recording all the gay and gonna get the class 5 out fer some stuff soon.
Seeker of Rock
The One and Only
Liv rong said you just got a new JMP so I had to come over and congratulate you. Awesome fucking amps. I still have 6550s in mine (the American import version). I read that they put 6550s in because they were less fragile than the EL34s, which would break sometimes during overseas shipping. Idk it it's the reason or not. Sweet amp, man. Welcome to the 2204 club! 
Also, I recently picked up one of these V V. Not trying to pedal snake oil, but this isn't the newer one or the 'B' version 7 band that followed the originals, but the original 6 band made from '83-ish until '87-ish. I used one as a front end for my 2204 in club bands and eventually in Felony after trying a Tom Scholz Power Soak, a bunch of OD boxes (but oddly a TS-9 was not one of them or else I would have bought that), a tube driver, and the Boss pedal EQ. The circuits are good in these, but the newer ones (which I owned for one night before returning) suck ass. The sound cheap and the level boost mashes your strings all together in a bad way. I have an old MXR 10 band too and it is good, but this one is great if you want a little extra boost without losing the 2204 tone. Anyway, toys are good.
Also, I recently picked up one of these V V. Not trying to pedal snake oil, but this isn't the newer one or the 'B' version 7 band that followed the originals, but the original 6 band made from '83-ish until '87-ish. I used one as a front end for my 2204 in club bands and eventually in Felony after trying a Tom Scholz Power Soak, a bunch of OD boxes (but oddly a TS-9 was not one of them or else I would have bought that), a tube driver, and the Boss pedal EQ. The circuits are good in these, but the newer ones (which I owned for one night before returning) suck ass. The sound cheap and the level boost mashes your strings all together in a bad way. I have an old MXR 10 band too and it is good, but this one is great if you want a little extra boost without losing the 2204 tone. Anyway, toys are good.
Seeker of Rock
The One and Only
Just played the clip. Nice. You're getting a really clear string-to-string sound with your chords, even when the pre gain is up. Very nice. Try some Judas Priest or KISS with it and you'll be in Marshall heaven.