N.A.D. for Greg - it's one louder over here - classic Marshall w/ pics!
- Thread starter Greg_L
- Start date
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.
View attachment 81083
Thanks Seeker. I just kind of lucked out in finding this thing. I've always loved 2203/2204s and they just might be tonally the most perfect amps ever for me, I just could never find one that wasn't retardedly priced. I wasn't even looking for this one. I just saw it in a corner and couldn't stop thinking about it. Between the 2204 and my JVM, I'm in Marshall heaven.
Yup, I know. It's been modded for EL34s. I'm picking it up from the tech today. He says it also has some weird mods done to the power section, but that might involve the EL34 switchover. I haven't talked to him in detail yet. He says everything else looks as it should be. We shall see.
The 900 is gone. It sold within a week of going on Craigslist. I got what I asked and what I paid for it and it cancelled out the 2204 purchase, so it's all good.
Got it back from the tech. Put it through some quick run-throughs and it definitely sounds improved at huge volumes. Low volume is also much better, mid volume sounds about the same. Where it kind of flattened out and self-compressed before, it now stays big and open all the way to 10 on the richter scale. The preamp gain also seems to be a little kinder and more linear now. Here's what the tech found:
The conversion to EL34s that was done previously was done mostly correctly, although whoever did it over-engineered the thing. There were wires and resistors going places and doing things that didn't need to be done. It was redundant. My tech, I'm gonna call him my tech now, cut all that shit out and reworked the mod to involve less stuff and be like a factory EL34 install as if Marshall made it that way. Also there was a broken ground wire going to/from the output transformer. He also said the broken guide pin thing on one of the power tubes is nothing. Just make sure it's indexed right when it gets installed. All the tubes tested good.
No other mods or tom-foolery was found. No hidden gain mods or anything like that. He cleaned the pots, jacks, tube sockets, blah blah blah and re-soldered some suspicious solder joints. Typical amp tech maintenance stuff. According to him and his schematics, everything besides the EL34 conversion is factory fresh to 1979 2204 spec just like it came from the factory. Sweet. That's all I ever wanted.
Total cost for amp diagnosis/repair: $70. Awesome. He's also a cool old guy. I really enjoyed talking to him for over an hour and he had a lot of work piled up. I wonder if he needs an apprentice?
The conversion to EL34s that was done previously was done mostly correctly, although whoever did it over-engineered the thing. There were wires and resistors going places and doing things that didn't need to be done. It was redundant. My tech, I'm gonna call him my tech now, cut all that shit out and reworked the mod to involve less stuff and be like a factory EL34 install as if Marshall made it that way. Also there was a broken ground wire going to/from the output transformer. He also said the broken guide pin thing on one of the power tubes is nothing. Just make sure it's indexed right when it gets installed. All the tubes tested good.
No other mods or tom-foolery was found. No hidden gain mods or anything like that. He cleaned the pots, jacks, tube sockets, blah blah blah and re-soldered some suspicious solder joints. Typical amp tech maintenance stuff. According to him and his schematics, everything besides the EL34 conversion is factory fresh to 1979 2204 spec just like it came from the factory. Sweet. That's all I ever wanted.
Total cost for amp diagnosis/repair: $70. Awesome. He's also a cool old guy. I really enjoyed talking to him for over an hour and he had a lot of work piled up. I wonder if he needs an apprentice?
That's pretty awesome man. I can't wait till I get to buy a new used amp
I told you where to find a dual rec for 500. Go get it!!
FoulPhil
Well-known member
Yeah that's an expensive adventure man. I would end up spending over 200 bux in gas alone LOL, maybe more. I don't really have the money yet anyways. I'm going to have to wait till I'm in a better position and just keep my eyes open for a good deal. Found a guy selling a dual rec half stack for $1200 too, but don't have the money just yet. Expensive stuff doesn't sell very fast down here. It takes months or longer to sell expensive items here. The bigger cities don't have that problem so much...
http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/msg/3914255213.html
http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/msg/3914255213.html
You need to get the fuck out of the valley. It's like the taint of Texas down there. Yuck.
What about Mexico? Do they have anything down there in tacoland? I can't imagine there'd be anything worthwhile near the border, but you never know. Maybe some druglord is selling some nice gear.
What you do have going for you is that Dual Recs are a dime-a-dozen. They're literally everywhere and sellers can't be greedy. You'll find the deal if you keep looking.
That $500 Dual Rec I found might not even work. I didn't get to play it. But damn....$500!
FoulPhil
Well-known member
You need to get the fuck out of the valley. It's like the taint of Texas down there. Yuck.
What about Mexico? Do they have anything down there in tacoland? I can't imagine there'd be anything worthwhile near the border, but you never know. Maybe some druglord is selling some nice gear.
What you do have going for you is that Dual Recs are a dime-a-dozen. They're literally everywhere and sellers can't be greedy. You'll find the deal if you keep looking.
That $500 Dual Rec I found might not even work. I didn't get to play it. But damn....$500!
Yes is it deep in the Anus of Texas LOL. It's not that bad down here really. It only gets cold for maybe 2 weeks out of the year and the living is cheaper than anywhere else I've been
Seeker of Rock
The One and Only
Yes sir, you have the pwn of rock amps in your possession. I have the 6550 tubes in my 2204...we should do a little a/b sometime using the same settings and see how they do. Remembering (fuzzy mind you) turning this thing up it was cool but didn't come to life that much more than at around 2 or 3 on the mv. Pretty much anything over 1 is rocking a great tone, but about 2-3 is my sweet spot.
Side note, but I used to get bitched at by soundmen that always told me to turn it down from 3 because my stage volume was too loud and they couldn't mix me right. In honesty, I think I've had my share of suck 'sound men' mixing my shit in the live days.
Cool. Hell yeah let's do an A/B. Just put everything on like 5. Something easy like that. Good idea. Let me know how you wanna do it. Yours is an 800 2204, right? What year? Vertical inputs? I'm really liking the raw nastiness of mine with the pre gain around 6-7 and the master up around 5-6. It's brutal, even without a ton of gain. Not like heavy metal brutal, it's just really....I don't know....kind of angry sounding. It's very rock and roll. It makes me want to play AC/DC songs.
Fuck, damn near all sound men suck at the local bar/club level. They're 9 times out of 10 flunkee drunken idiots. I've had tons of gigs on drums where a mic will fall off a tom, or the kick mic will fall over, or something stupid will happen. They don't even notice. They don't pay attention. Hey dude, you notice how that tom has disappeared in the mains? Yeah, the mic fell off, stupid. I'm having to have one of the guitarists stick the kick mic back in the hole, or hand me a tom mic that has fallen on the ground. One time I had a floor tom start booming like crazy. It wasn't the drum. The mic had slipped and was literally resting on the head. I'm no pro sound man, but I've tracked a jillion drum tracks, and never has a mic I set up myself just fallen out of place. And is it really too much to ask to have a decent monitor mix in my drum monitor? Fuck, I'm simple. All I want is rhythm guitar and vocals. Nothing else. Is that too fucking hard for you? These guys are just fucking lazy and stupid. I have no respect for any sound man in my area and do whatever I can as the "talent" to make their lives hell when I gig. I despise them. I've been gigging on guitar with this halfassed punk band lately. I haven't been griped at yet for being too loud, so I obviously need to be louder. This band is so bad though that my being too loud is probably for the best.
minerman
Tonetard
Go for it guys, & when you post the clips, I can download 'em & use 'em for my tone chase thing....
I've got a couple guys in the Marshall forum sending me some clips in a couple/few days, so that should 'bout round it out, I'll have enough clips to drive myself crazy trying to get my little gear to sound like 'em......
Sorry to go off topic there, carry on!!!
Go for it guys, & when you post the clips, I can download 'em & use 'em for my tone chase thing....
Sorry to go off topic there, carry on!!!
Lol. Here's some dumb messing around. See if this helps you out any.
LP Burstbucker 3 bridge p/u > 1979 JMP 2204 > 1960a Greenback > SM 57 on axis halfway to edge of speaker 1" off grill
No EQ in DAW
All tone controls - 5
Master vol -5
"Problem Child" dumbassedness > gain on 5
"Thunderstruck" mess > gain on 6
"Seek and Destroy" clusteruck > gain on 6 w/ Tube Screamer kicked in as clean boost - no dirt, max level, tone at 12:00
JMP Greenback 57
Seeker, if you wanna try something like this for a comparison, knock yourself out. That would be awesome.
minerman
Tonetard
Thanks Greg,
D'loaded the clip, & I have to say, the little DSL slaved into the Tweaker (red channel, gain as low as it'll go & still be heard, vol, treble & mids on 5, bass dimed) can get pretty close to the first part of your clip, I think what I'm missing overall is the mic placement, gonna give it a little nudge toward the edge of the speaker & see where that takes me....thanks again, sorry to hijack your thread, but today's about the only time I'm gonna have for another week, so I'm gettin' it as best I can, while the gettin's good....Haven't tried the green channel yet, might be even better, we'll see...Gonna post some tones in a while....
Seeker: Post some tones dude, either here or in the Tone Thread!!!
D'loaded the clip, & I have to say, the little DSL slaved into the Tweaker (red channel, gain as low as it'll go & still be heard, vol, treble & mids on 5, bass dimed) can get pretty close to the first part of your clip, I think what I'm missing overall is the mic placement, gonna give it a little nudge toward the edge of the speaker & see where that takes me....thanks again, sorry to hijack your thread, but today's about the only time I'm gonna have for another week, so I'm gettin' it as best I can, while the gettin's good....Haven't tried the green channel yet, might be even better, we'll see...Gonna post some tones in a while....
Seeker: Post some tones dude, either here or in the Tone Thread!!!
jonny deep
Disappointing Member
Hey Greg - you been away - didn't see you here for a while? I met a guy from Dallas the other night (he's just moved to London) - any insults I should throw his way next time I see him?
Lol. I don't know. I live in Texas and really do like it here, but I don't really identify with actual "Texans" so I don't really know anything to insult the guy with. I'm from Louisiana and tend to relate to those people better. I'm not a sister fucking shit kicking redneck or a mexican, so I don't really get on with real Texans. One thing I'm pretty sure about though - everyone in Texas outside of Dallas hates Dallas. Dallas is the asshole epicenter of Texas. Every negative stereotype of Texas can be traced directly to Dallas. Dallas is the douchebag capital of the southern US. I've been all over most of this country, and there are only two cities that I literally hate and would cheer like a raghead if there was a terrorist attack on either one of them - Atlanta, and Dallas.
So for insults, I guess you could hit him with the usual stuff. Like a common one is "I hear there's only beers, steers, and queers in Texas, and I don't see any beers or steers around". Something like that. Or something about the typical Dallas urban redneck driving his jacked up diesel 4x4 truck through the concrete jungle never hauling or towing anything. Or anything that would imply that he's a fag or fucks his sister. Texans hate that shit.
jonny deep
Disappointing Member
Lol, I'll probably just read him excerpts from your post.
Quote the whole thing. For example, in American football, the Dallas Cowboys are a perfect example of the city as a whole. They have their fans, and the rest of the country generally HATES them. Very few people are neutral on the Cowboys. You're either a fan, or you despise them and hope their team plane crashes into a mountain somewhere. And those people that are fans, they're usually lower class dirtbaggy kind of people that think their shit doesn't stink. Sure, Dallas as a city has lots of old family oil money. There are a bunch of bloated white-haired red-faced high blood pressure cigar smoking rich oilmen in Dallas. But the average Dallas person is an urban redneck. Champagne taste with a beer wallet. Elitist and entitled, but really teetering on the edge of white trash. The dudes are all douchebags and the chicks are all kunts. Fuck Dallas. Dallas and Austin are neck-and-neck as the most overrated cities in Texas, no, the world, which ironically is actually Texas to most Texans.
jonny deep
Disappointing Member
Lol - keep going - I like a good rant.