Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

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F. Hails Railsologist
****ing hails GUys
how are you?!?!
Im discovering some hidden traits of my personality and it just turned out that im a marshall guy, instead of a mesa boogie guy. one thing doesnt necessarily exclude the other but after trying only ****ty marshall amps i disconsidered the brand. But 3 days ago i tried a Marshall JVM 40H HEAD, 120 watts and i loved two of their channels.

SO, since i have only crap experience with very SS limited amount of marshall amps, what would you guys recommend me ?
I need, as always, TIGHT bass , crushing Mids, BUt Instead of screaming highs(i was never a fan of this) SINGING Highs. they can be agressive but they necessarily need to sing instead of scream. High gain distortion. But classic marshall Tone. All tube of course.

I saw recently that marshall website only features the new dsl series, and some other series, like the handwired(are the old jcm800 and 900 under that title too??) and i couldnt find more models.

Thank you very much in advance
Q: )
AH, i recently got a brand new Fender EVH 5150 III head. the 50 watts in ivory version. im waiting my 2x12 so i ll make a video. its loaded with two WGS LIberator speakers.
JP
 
Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

Splawn Nitro :P
 
Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

i ve heard some splawn clips, but ill need to check some more.
thansk for the input man.
 
Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

Master volume JMP or an early JCM800 with an SD1 in front of it.
 
Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

Get one of the Valvestate amps.

Not kidding. You really have to push the 800 and 900 amps hard if you want tons of distortion.


Valvestate + Dimarzio X2N:

 
Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

Ive owned a jcm800 2203 half stack and a jcm900

I did not like either. they do not have much distortion at all, even for my sludge. for death metal would be even worse tone.

they do not have much gain. they are extremely loud and spiked upper midrange which makes it really annoying to get a pushed tubey sound. I do dig the jcm800 2204 that I played, that is just pure rock and roll, but I do not play that style really.
 
Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

I would go DSL if you want the Marshall name on the head but I have to say a Splawn Quick Rod will get you where you wanna be in spades. I'd say a Bogner Shiva or Ecstasy will do you right too depending on your budget. Also a word of warning your cab choice really effects how tight or loose your low end will come through so choose wisely when matching and paring cabs.

Tightest cab I've heard about is the Fryette Fat Bottom cabs, very directional sounding.
 
Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

ya marshalls do not like v30s I found that out
 
Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

A freaking JVM! Positively, no doubt about it. Even I was hesitant. Then I landed a 210H on the used market and its all I play now. The feel and sound is unreal.
It sounds great through V30s too. I run mine through my modified KRANK 4x12 and its a dream come true.
 
Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

I <3 JCM800 or JMP thru a Cab full of Vintage30s with an old RAT
 
Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

Have you tried the Kerry king model?

One lesser known model i like a lot for high gain, and one of the few amps anywhere (apart from splawns) that has one foot in the old skool master volume 800 series and one in the more modern high gain amps is the JCM900MKIII master volume (Not to be confused with the jcm900 dual reverb!). Its not a particularly well known amp because it only has one channel (albeit with two switchable master volumes) and no reverb. I think a lot of the players at that time (early 90s) were not after simplicty - it was all about switchable gain levels and multiple channels, so it got phased out as marshall moved towards 3 and 4 channel amps. What it does tho is give you the sound and circuit of a JCM800 master volume (non channel switching) amp, but with an extra trimmable gain stage to get you into hot rodded territory. Pair it with some notably ballsy celestion g12H100s (now replaced by the g12K100 - same speaker different name) and you have an old school, harmonically rich, fire breathing master volume marshall with an extra gain stage that sings like a choir of evil angels - especially if you do the other old skool trick of kicking it in the nuts with a boss super overdrive for leads.

I reckon it would be a great complement to your 5150.

dscf1198.jpg
 
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Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

Have you tried the Kerry king model?

One lesser known model i like a lot for high gain, and one of the few amps anywhere (apart from splawns) that has one foot in the old skool master volume 800 series and one in the more modern high gain amps is the JCM900MKIII master volume (Not to be confused with the jcm900 dual reverb!). Its not a particularly well known amp because it only has one channel (albeit with two switchable master volumes) and no reverb. I think a lot of the players at that time (early 90s) were not after simplicty - it was all about switchable gain levels and multiple channels, so it got phased out as marshall moved towards 3 and 4 channel amps. What it does tho is give you the sound and circuit of a JCM800 master volume (non channel switching) amp, but with an extra trimmable gain stage to get you into hot rodded territory. Pair it with some notably ballsy celestion g12H100s (now replaced by the g12K100 - same speaker different name) and you have an old school, harmonically rich, fire breathing master volume marshall with an extra gain stage that sings like a choir of evil angels - especially if you do the other old skool trick of kicking it in the nuts with a boss super overdrive for leads.

I reckon it would be a great complement to your 5150.

dscf1198.jpg


Hey man. thank you for the input. thank you all guys too.
Now that you mentioned it, i remembered that my dear friend Necropolo always talked about the MKII JCM900 head. do you know the differences between them?
AH... i WAS looking into the JMP1 rack preamp.. but i think its not 100% all tube right?!
I FOrgot to ask.. you said it has ONLY ONE Channel? so theres no actually CLEAN Channel? i need a 100% clean channel. otherwise, i would not use my distortion pedals. something i always like to do . even if i would never use it as my main distortion, since my plan is to use the amps distortion as my main one. and not a pedal on the clean channel of an amp .
 
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Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

I used to own a JCM2000 TSL 100, and it was a good amp. But I quit using it when I bought my JVM. The JVM is alot more versatile and sounds good out of the box, but sounds better after some mods. The mods I've done to mine so far is the 3rd gain stage bias control, plexi cap, clean channel Blackface, and negative feedback. I forgot to warm up the bias when I was in there, but it doesn't matter now, since I plan on modding it to run 6550s in the poweramp section. My goal is to get OD1 to sound like my Splawn Pro Mod.

But if you want great modded Marshall tones right out if the box, I whole heartedly recommend getting a Splawn. My Pro Mod kicks ass. It originally had KT88s in the poweramp section, but the previous owner installed a set of 6550s, and I couldn't be happier with them. It will get just about any Marshall tone you want.

ETA: I forgot, I also did the Rectifier Mod to my JVM. That mod needs some tweaking though, IMHO, because it doesn't even sound close to my Triple Rec, which is also currently running EL34s.
 
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Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

What you want is a hot rodded 2203. You just don't know it yet. :fing2:
 
Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

You want an SL-X.

But I'd still get something else instead of a Marshall.
 
Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

Have you tried the Kerry king model?

One lesser known model i like a lot for high gain, and one of the few amps anywhere (apart from splawns) that has one foot in the old skool master volume 800 series and one in the more modern high gain amps is the JCM900MKIII master volume (Not to be confused with the jcm900 dual reverb!). Its not a particularly well known amp because it only has one channel (albeit with two switchable master volumes) and no reverb. I think a lot of the players at that time (early 90s) were not after simplicty - it was all about switchable gain levels and multiple channels, so it got phased out as marshall moved towards 3 and 4 channel amps. What it does tho is give you the sound and circuit of a JCM800 master volume (non channel switching) amp, but with an extra trimmable gain stage to get you into hot rodded territory. Pair it with some notably ballsy celestion g12H100s (now replaced by the g12K100 - same speaker different name) and you have an old school, harmonically rich, fire breathing master volume marshall with an extra gain stage that sings like a choir of evil angels - especially if you do the other old skool trick of kicking it in the nuts with a boss super overdrive for leads.

I reckon it would be a great complement to your 5150.

dscf1198.jpg

Yes. In agreement 100%.
 
Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

that kerry king model might do the trick ;)
 
Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

the 900 or 100H. the 900, i think, is a bit more compressed sounding than the 100H-which is great for metal.
 
Re: Marshall amps :Tight bass, crushing mids, singing highs + HIgh gain =which model?

Obviously, a JVM!! My JVM has more gain than any amp I've ever owned, and more than almost anything else I've played. I usually use OD1 (similar to JCM 800) as my lead channel and never more than about 4 for gain (10 for Lead Chan vol). It's unfreakin' believable how searing it is! I had the Hell Awaits/Reign in Blood JCM 800 thrash tone in mind when I picked up the JVM, although as a bonus, it also has AC/DCish tones and beautiful cleans. And the more modern OD2 channel, if you go for that sort of thing, although I'm happy with OD1! I play mine through a full Mark series Mesa Boogie stack. :D
 
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