Jcm 800 2210 Reverb: Yay or Nay?

[HolyDirt]

Hey guys, I know Jcm 800 2210's rock, but what are your opinions on a Jcm 800 2210 with reverb from 1982? Just give me your opinions on what it's good for... I'll probably use this amp in conjunction with a rectifier to get some heavy tones along with some vintage growl. But don't worry about me in this thread. Just your opinions. Thanks.

 

[Neeradj]

Re: Jcm 800 2210 Reverb: Yay or Nay?

I had one and didn't care for it. The clean channel was ok-ish, and the lead channel rather disappointed me. I must add that I was playing metal back then, but I still found the amp a little bright for my tastes. I tried it with a Mesa Black Shadow 90 loaded cab. I did hear of a guy that could play slayer with it, but he really abused his power tubes. I'm more of a 2203 man myself.

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Jcm 800 2210 Reverb: Yay or Nay?

Great mod platform - plenty of tube sockets. Get rid of those clipping diodes. See the "Old JCM800s" poll at the top of the page.

 

[shredaholic]

Re: Jcm 800 2210 Reverb: Yay or Nay?

if you had reverb on an amp before the power amp, wouldnt it sound awful when the power tubes distorted?

 

[casblah]

Re: Jcm 800 2210 Reverb: Yay or Nay?

Reverb? Don't need no stinkin' reverb, man.















But if it makes you happy-- go for it.

 

[Brow]

Re: Jcm 800 2210 Reverb: Yay or Nay?

I have a 2210 head and have always been happy with it.

I've heard alot about the 2205/2210 amps being good for modding. What mods are possible on these amps?

1 thing I would do is have the diode clipping taken out of the OD channel, to (hopefully) get rid of some of the 'fuzziness' of the sound.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Jcm 800 2210 Reverb: Yay or Nay?

if you had reverb on an amp before the power amp, wouldnt it sound awful when the power tubes distorted?

BF Deluxe Reverbs sound great cranked and with a pinch of reverb. It's just the wetness of the sound that comes through, it usually sounds best cranked with very little reverb.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Jcm 800 2210 Reverb: Yay or Nay?

For similar money, a DSL 50 or 100 would be a better choice.

Tom Morello is the only one I know of who still uses the 2210, so it can definitely do heavy tones. I'm sure the amp would sound it's best biased with all new tubes, and an OD in front would help smooth out it's gain.

 

[jmh151]

Re: Jcm 800 2210 Reverb: Yay or Nay?

I just bought thwe 2110 combo- 2x12. Love it. Heavy tone, just put a booster like a tube screamer in front of it, and a 7 band eq in the effects loop, and you have a killer metal machine

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Jcm 800 2210 Reverb: Yay or Nay?

I think they're a good amp...but not a great amp. As already noted: the clean channel is good and totally usable but not great or as clear and lively as, say, a blackface Fender or even a Marshall plexi or JCM 800 without channel switching. The overdrive channel is the better of the 2 channels and alot of fun to blow lead through but again: it's only very good...but not magical. The reverb is usable and OK, but it's a solid state reverb and not the magical surfy splashy tone you'd get from a blakface Fender like a Super Reverb or Twin Reverb or Deluxe Reverb amp.

So the amp you're talking about is a very good amp...but not a great and magical amp.

IMO, my '82 JCM-800 was a magical amp. I'm talking about the single channel non-channel switching master volume version with the vertical hi/lo inputs.

Lew

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Jcm 800 2210 Reverb: Yay or Nay?

not to be an ass...but Tom Morello does not use a 2210...Toms is a 50 watt, and is like the amp Lew is talking about "single channel non-channel switching master volume version with the vertical hi/lo inputs"...

Back to the 2210...I thought the clean channels was good for Marshall at the time.

It was nice that they had reverb.

As to the mods that an be done...hopefully Jeff Seal will see this and set some of you guys straight!

Jeff could have just about whatever amps he wants...he uses 2210's...that says something to me!

 

[Jeff Seal]

Re: Jcm 800 2210 Reverb: Yay or Nay?

Well thanks for the kudos there TGWIF!

Alas, the great and mysterious ch. switching JCM800's..... never has there been so much confusion and very strong "opinions" that seem to conflict around one amp........wondering why?

Somewhere around 1985, Marshall "very quietly" redesigned the Ch. Switching 800's but never "officially" said anything about it.....These changes are by far the most radical design change to an amp "midstream" in a production run in the history of guitar amps! The two versions do not sound anything alike, and thus most people's opinions are based on one or the other.....thus being a great source of "confusion" and often leads to major dissapointment after a purchase of one of these....if you're expecting to get the "other" version.

I own 3 2210's and 2 2205's, have modded more of these than I can count, including the combo variant models like forumite Jeff_H's 4210.....(he's got some really good pics!)

Michael Schenker plays through the "early" version 2205
Tom Morello plays through the "later" design 2205

Anyway as far as the original "reverb" question the early verion 2210's used the long 2 spring Accutronics, which partially blocked the "top vent" that is standard to 100w Marshalls, the later versions used the shorter 3 spring tank. (No offense meant Lew, but they are tube driven....just to clarify)
I can't really compare the two of them, but suffice to say I'll give both of them a "thumbs up" and I use reverb all the time!!!!

As always, hope it helped.....

Jeff Seal

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Jcm 800 2210 Reverb: Yay or Nay?

not to be an ass...but Tom Morello does not use a 2210...Toms is a 50 watt, and is like the amp Lew is talking about "single channel non-channel switching master volume version with the vertical hi/lo inputs"...

I think we're both wrong. I always knew he used a channel switching JCM 800 and assumed it was the 2210. He actually uses the same amp, but in a 50 watt version, the 2205. The 2203 and 2204 were the single channel 100 and 50 watters.

I've actually owned two 2205's, and let me tell you, they sucked! For some reason those amps really didn't sound good at all. Surprisingly, the 100W versions sounded pretty good. In my opinion, I wouldn't buy any JCM 800's, except for the verticle input 81 and '82's, like Lew had. The difference was that the early JCM 800's with the verticle inputs had handwired sockets and pots, which lead to the circuit board. The horizontal ones had the circuit board butted up against the chassis, with no flying leads. I think the earlier 800's also had 4 LCR capacitors (big blue cans) rather than 2. That was the defining reason why the pre 83 Marshalls sounded a little better.

Unfortunately, all the channel switching Marshalls had none of that tonal magic, like the single channel 80-82's. Notice that the Zakk and 2203 reissues are built like the early ones.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Jcm 800 2210 Reverb: Yay or Nay?

I just saw Jeff seals explanation about how Marshall changed the 2205 and 2210 in the mid 80's. I didn't know that! That would explain why I knew a guy with a good sounding 2205, while the two I had were sh!t. I knew they changed the single channel Marshalls from verticle to horizontal input, but I never knew they changed the circuit with the channel switching ones.

Marshall really screwed the pooch in the mid 80's.
Then, they redeemed themselves by coming out with the Jubilee for only 2 years. Instead of staying with that for awhile, they jumped right into the cruddy JCM 900's!
Then, they redeemed themselves with the DSL series and 92 Anniversaries.
Then, they insulted us with some more SS and modeling attemps.
Suddenly redeeming themselves again with Plexi and 18W reissues.

Marshall is like a teeter totter.

 

[lpmarshall]

Re: Jcm 800 2210 Reverb: Yay or Nay?

From what I understand, the channel switching models (2205 and 2210) are about the opposite of the single channel models (2203 and 2204) year wise. Most people want the early vertical stacked single channel models (81-83). For the channel switching models, late years are preferred (looks like after '85 per Jeff Seal).

I have a 2210 right now. The cleans are usable, not sparkly clean like a Fender. But I don't expect it to be. The crunch is of the classic Marshall variety. I retubed mine with high gain graded JJ's and the thing is a monster.

I am going to be selling it soon to get a Orange Rockerverb (someone has dibs already). But it is quite a nice amp.