Marshall 1987 (1977)

[Thebigt71]

Hi everyone,

I'm a Marshall amp guy. Specifically, I am a single channel JCM 800 guy. In 1993 I bought a used 50 watt JCM 2204 for $300 in Hollywood (I'm from LA). I've played hundreds of gigs since 1994 with either a 2204 or 2203.

About a year ago I picked up a 1977 50-watt JMP 1987. I really couldn't gel with this amp for well over a year.....until I set the volume on channel 1 (bright channel) to at least 7 on the dial...Man, what a difference. The amp came alive, it filled out nicely, notes sustained nicely, and the harmonics that had been missing decided to finally show up. Also, the amp sounded muffled through a 4x12 with greenbacks before, but now they sound clear, crisp and full. I had no idea that volume was the key to this amp. I'm using an attenuator to tame the actual volume but it's still loud...only knocking back about 3db with the attenuator.

Anyway, I would like to hear from Marshall heads that primarily use 1987 amps or 1959 amps. These amps are just a different beast to the single channel 800's.

 

[Matthews Guitars]

Yes they are. All pre-master volume amps are designed to deliver the goods when played LOUD. You'll never understand what it is that makes a 1959 a magical thing with the volume under 3. It's got to be at least half way up before it wakes up.

 

[marshallmellowed]

Hi everyone,

I'm a Marshall amp guy. Specifically, I am a single channel JCM 800 guy. In 1993 I bought a used 50 watt JCM 2204 for $300 in Hollywood (I'm from LA). I've played hundreds of gigs since 1994 with either a 2204 or 2203.

About a year ago I picked up a 1977 50-watt JMP 1987. I really couldn't gel with this amp for well over a year.....until I set the volume on channel 1 (bright channel) to at least 7 on the dial...Man, what a difference. The amp came alive, it filled out nicely, notes sustained nicely, and the harmonics that had been missing decided to finally show up. Also, the amp sounded muffled through a 4x12 with greenbacks before, but now they sound clear, crisp and full. I had no idea that volume was the key to this amp. I'm using an attenuator to tame the actual volume but it's still loud...only knocking back about 3db with the attenuator.

Anyway, I would like to hear from Marshall heads that primarily use 1987 amps or 1959 amps. These amps are just a different beast to the single channel 800's.

Yes, they are. The non-master amps need to be cranked up to do their thing, and that means a strong signal hitting the phase inverter and power tubes. This is why I'm not a fan of adding master volumes to these amps, or using a volume box in the loop (if it's a reissue with a loop). A good attenuator is a must.

 

[Mitchell Pearrow]

Hi everyone,

I'm a Marshall amp guy. Specifically, I am a single channel JCM 800 guy. In 1993 I bought a used 50 watt JCM 2204 for $300 in Hollywood (I'm from LA). I've played hundreds of gigs since 1994 with either a 2204 or 2203.

About a year ago I picked up a 1977 50-watt JMP 1987. I really couldn't gel with this amp for well over a year.....until I set the volume on channel 1 (bright channel) to at least 7 on the dial...Man, what a difference. The amp came alive, it filled out nicely, notes sustained nicely, and the harmonics that had been missing decided to finally show up. Also, the amp sounded muffled through a 4x12 with greenbacks before, but now they sound clear, crisp and full. I had no idea that volume was the key to this amp. I'm using an attenuator to tame the actual volume but it's still loud...only knocking back about 3db with the attenuator.

Anyway, I would like to hear from Marshall heads that primarily use 1987 amps or 1959 amps. These amps are just a different beast to the single channel 800's.

My favorite amp period..
Love them just as they are. But if I had one, I would still put an SD1 in front of it.

Cheers

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

I had a VW Bug years ago. Price was right, gas was expensive, so I bought it. I told my buddy who had one also, that I thought mine was an underpowered dog. He told me, “Ya gotta drive ‘Em like you‘re mad at ‘Em”!

Same thing with Marshall amps, they perform best when you put the cane to them, in other words, drive them hard!

Enjoy, ( while protecting your hearing )!

 

[AndyD]

The best sounds that I have got out of a Marshall have been through a non master volume head. In my case 50 watters. There is no doubt about it, these amps sound wonderful dimed. However, another way to use them (and generally this is how I use them) is to set the volume to about 2 or 2.5, which is where my amps start to get chimey, and then push the amp with an overdrive pedal set on low gain for crunchy chords and then engage a clean boost (a Timmy for example) after the overdrive pedal for sweet lead tones that want to tip into feedback. I have owned 2204/3s and, though I like them, find them a bit limiting. I have too many tones in my head, so pedals suit me well. Just my humble opinion!

 

[playloud]

Yes, it's absolutely imperative to turn up the non-MV amps (especially the ones with bright caps - they sound atrocious at low volumes).

It doesn't matter if you attenuate it later, so long as the power section is cooking.

 

[AndyD]

Yes, it's absolutely imperative to turn up the non-MV amps (especially the ones with bright caps - they sound atrocious at low volumes).

This is absolutely correct! I get away with it because I use small bright caps of 100pf or so.

 

[playloud]

This is absolutely correct! I get away with it because I use small bright caps of 100pf or so.

Actually, at low volumes, the smaller bright caps make the frequency spectrum more unbalanced.

Check out this "bright cap calculator", with the volume setting at 20%.

Here's 100pF:



And here's 5nF:



Of course, the subjective difference isn't quite so dramatic because (a) the amp (+ speaker) isn't producing much content above a certain point (certainly above 5k) (b) the Fletcher-Munson effect means our perception of frequency is already "unbalanced" between different volume levels.

The nice thing about the smaller values is that they give you a little extra "zing" at values closer to 100%. With a larger value, it isn't so targeted.

 

[dro]

only played a 1987 one time. Through 4x10 cab. It didn't have the sweet, my JTM45 had .
So I didn't play it long enough to give it a chance.
The 45 sounds good always.
And if you dime it, well that's a tone you can't get any other way.