Anything Close To A Marshall 2204?

zozoe

New member
hiya,,,, my only memories of this 50w beauty was at a much frequented rehearsal studio, and is there anything right down that alley, BUT in a 1x12 Combo? w/master, no fx loop necessary..... I know, it's not apples to apples, but I simply can't lug anything that weighs as much as me, nor half my weight..... Friedman, Ceriatone?? The older Marshall combos are waay not cheep
Thnx folks
 
Just get a DSL40 and work the knobs a little.

FYI - that is my goto model for Hair Metal...with an SD1 boosting...
 
Which 2204? There were 2 the MK II JMP and the JCM 800.
For the JCM 800 a well set up JCM 900 MK III Dual Master can get close but the MK II was pretty unique.
 
Honestly, there's plenty of JCM clones and JCM-inspired amps out there.

I'd take a look at Wangs or Splawn.

And if you don't want heavy, I don't get why you would want a combo, LOL.
 
Honestly, there's plenty of JCM clones and JCM-inspired amps out there.

I'd take a look at Wangs or Splawn.

And if you don't want heavy, I don't get why you would want a combo, LOL.

Buddy of mine I played with a few times had a MK II JMP 50 2/12 combo that still gives me chills thinking about the tones. Just jaw dropping amp in the flesh. If you haven;t heard a really good one of these at volume on stage you just can't understand!
 
Buddy of mine I played with a few times had a MK II JMP 50 2/12 combo that still gives me chills thinking about the tones. Just jaw dropping amp in the flesh. If you haven;t heard a really good one of these at volume on stage you just can't understand!
Never heard one of the OG JMP's, but I've heard a few 80's non-Plexi-looking ones.

I mean... they're LOUD. It's hard not to go like WOAH with something that loud.

They're iconic recorded, true, but for what I'd play, I'd much rather have something else, personally.

When you look at them, they do look impressive. And part of the reason why they sound so good is the iron is sooooooooo humongous.
 
Never heard one of the OG JMP's, but I've heard a few 80's non-Plexi-looking ones.

I mean... they're LOUD. It's hard not to go like WOAH with something that loud.

They're iconic recorded, true, but for what I'd play, I'd much rather have something else, personally.

When you look at them, they do look impressive. And part of the reason why they sound so good is the iron is sooooooooo humongous.

Almost bought Damon's old JMP at a local shop (Brother Cain is from Birmingham) that he used here. Only thing was where could I ever get it up in volume where it really sounded right? In the end i passed but man did that rig SCREAM!
 
Mojotone makes a 50w kit if you're handy with a soldering iron.

Yeah, Mojotone kits are great -Im planning on building a couple 2204s this winter (one for the other guitarist in one of my bands, and one for my lil brother's lake house studio hes setting up_ -except in the smaller case for sitting a top a 2x12 cab

BR-SBHS_1.jpeg
 
the 2204 models didnt really change much between the jmp and jcm years. it was mostly due to the rose morris deal ending that they changed the look/series name. there was some variation even with the jtm years and jcm years. if they cant get 56k resistors, then 47k is close enough to keep production going
 
Almost bought Damon's old JMP at a local shop (Brother Cain is from Birmingham) that he used here. Only thing was where could I ever get it up in volume where it really sounded right? In the end i passed but man did that rig SCREAM!
Link doesn't play, my man.

I don't mean to downplay the 2204. I'm sure it's iconic for a reason, and for leads, they're really great. But like I said, there are many people making tweaked takes on them because they're so iconic.
 
the 2204 models didnt really change much between the jmp and jcm years. it was mostly due to the rose morris deal ending that they changed the look/series name. there was some variation even with the jtm years and jcm years. if they cant get 56k resistors, then 47k is close enough to keep production going
They did use different trannies, didn't they? Or is that more for the modern Marshalls? As in Drake vs Dagnall.
 
theres a lot of nonsense and internet lore. my '84 and 86 jcm800 50w had drakes, my buddies '79 100w had dagnall. i think there was a noticeable change in trannys with the jcm900 series
 
the 2204 models didnt really change much between the jmp and jcm years. it was mostly due to the rose morris deal ending that they changed the look/series name. there was some variation even with the jtm years and jcm years. if they cant get 56k resistors, then 47k is close enough to keep production going

Well, the biggest difference was the MK II leads was the 2 input High/Low over the traditional 4 input people patched. I actually prefer the JMP MKii 2 input or JCM version.
 
yes, but the mkii four input models are 1987 and 1959, not 2203 or 2004 right? the 2203/2004 are master volume single channel amps only as far as i know
 
Yeah, as far as I know, there are vertical and horizontal input versions of the 2203/2204 where they line up the high and low inputs differently, and there seems to be a difference between those. Don't know if it's actual circuit differences or different trannies or what.
 
They went to horizontal input jacks when the pots got mounted to the boards rather than using flying leads between pots and board. At about the same time, though, the number of blue cans, or filter caps, got reduced on the 100 watt models. The earlier ones with more cans are supposed to have tighter lows with more punch. There was no change in the filter caps of the 50 watt models, though.

Late 70's JMP and early JCM800 models had 6550s instead of EL34s in the USA and Japanese markets, but not the European market. The difference between early 800s and late 70's is mostly cosmetic. There's a difference in negative feedback between 6550 versions and EL34 versions, though.

Traditionally, 50 watt Marshalls had Drake trannies, and 100 watt Marshalls had Dagnalls. During the 90's one or both of the tranny companies closed up shop if I recall correctly,
 
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