Marshall 1987 vs. 2204 for vintage AC/DC (Angus) tone?

[core]

For anyone else I found the entire 34 mins on Google Video so you can download. That's about the most awesome AC/DC I've seen!

AC/DC - Rock Goes To College

 

[dualampman]

For anyone else I found the entire 34 mins on Google Video so you can download. That's about the most awesome AC/DC I've seen!

AC/DC - Rock Goes To College

+1000 oh hell yeah.

I remember when these guys came to the states in 78 or 79,came to San Jose on tour, They were so Kick Ass.

 

[MisterScary]

+1000 oh hell yeah.

I remember when these guys came to the states in 78 or 79,came to San Jose on tour, They were so Kick Ass.

Wow! i wish I could have seen them with Bon Scott!

 

[bodhi2600]

This has to be the saddest day ever. Why would marshall do this? The VM has to be the best sounding amp since the JCM800. Damn. Check ebay. Id say there might be one or two there

i feel your pain...
orange recently dropped their rocker 30 too.

 

[Michael1987xl]

This has to be the saddest day ever. Why would marshall do this? The VM has to be the best sounding amp since the JCM800. Damn. Check ebay. Id say there might be one or two there

i feel your pain...
orange recently dropped their rocker 30 too.

Relax, fellas. They're not being discontinued. According to "Steve D" over on the Vinatge Marshall forum, only the purple tolex models are being discontuned. Once that stock is fully depleted, the VM will continue to be available, but only in black.

See HERE and HERE. Steve works at Marshall and he's a pretty reliable source on these things.

Those of you with purple VM's, can you feel your value rising?

 

[MisterScary]

In this live concert both Malcolm and Angus use JMP master volume, of course its not possible to determine if there are 2203 or 2204, but for me didnt matter. Anyway my next move was to find a clean jmp 50w 2204 and buy it. Now I have it for about three weeks and all I can say is that THIS IS IT..
The amp nails all AC/DC sounds and not only. Mine has EL34 tubes with mullard preamps and I use it with Gibson SG's (1981 and 1990 models).

I was wondering, what tube manufacturer you were using for the EL34s?

 

[MisterScary]

I found a clean JMP 2204 on my local Craigslist. It's a 2 channel UK import with a laydown main tranny. It was manufactured in 1976 and all original. The seller is asking $1500. Does that sound kinda high? I was thinking a 2204 from the mid to late 70s should run about $1000 to $1200 but since this one is a UK/2 channel version, would that make the amp more desirable and expensive or does it not make any difference compared to the US versions?

 

[SGACE]

My JMP has marshall power tubes. is really difficult to determine what brand is marshall using to re brand them. Anyway, after more search I concluded that is preferable to choose a JMP after 1977, that because the pre-1977 had several problems.. My 2cent is that if you live in U.S. is better to find a clean JMP(2203-2204) with 6550 power tubes and afterward change it to EL34.

 

[019228]

+1000 oh hell yeah.

I remember when these guys came to the states in 78 or 79,came to San Jose on tour, They were so Kick Ass.

I saw them in Oakland (day on the Green) during the summer of '79 with Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush, Aerosmith, and Ted Nugent.

 

[dptone5]

+1000 SGACE - I found a very clean 1980 JMP-2204 that was stock with 6550's. My tech converted it to EL-34's with a few resistor changes and it sounds great. A very quiet amp with monster tone.

 

[MisterScary]

Thanks for the feedback guys! One last question, do the 2-channel JMP amps have a master volume or one volume for each channel like my 1959SLP?

Conversely, I noticed both the single and two channel amps each have 6 knobs. Do the 2 volume knobs do different things on each amp? Hope that makes sense? I guess what I'm asking is can I get decent gain without rattling the windows with both amps or is one better than the other because it has a master volume knob?

 

[SGACE]

Mr Scary, dont be confused with JMP Master Volume, 2 holer, (2203-2204) and Non master volume amps, 4 holer, (1959-1987). There are not the same amps. As I said I have an JMP 2104 for 3 weeks now and I am very very pleased. To answer your question about decent gain without rattling the windows, I will tell you this, I have a HO attenuator (Ultimate) that I use for the non master volume 2061x, now believe it or not I dont need it for the JMP. My settings are MV on 1,2 - Presence on 1,5 - Bass, mids, treble on 4-6, and gain on 6. With these settings I can have a decent sound for bedroom practise.

 

[MisterScary]

Oh okay, thanks for the clarification! I had seen a couple of 2204s on Carigslist and eBay with 4 inputs claiming they were UK imports. I'm thinking they don't have a Master Volume.

Thanks for posting your settings too!

 

[SGACE]

2203/2204: 2 holes with master volume
1959/1987: 4 holes non master volume

Simple as that, hope it helps.

 

[MisterScary]

2203/2204: 2 holes with master volume
1959/1987: 4 holes non master volume

Simple as that, hope it helps.

Got it!

Out of curiosity, these posts were confusing me because they are 50 watt JMP amps and have 4 holes. They must be 1987s then? (I hope it's okay to post outside links)?

Vintage Marshall 50 watt

1978 Marshall JMP MK II Amp Head - eBay (item 220620724547 end time Jun-16-10 15:00:20 PDT)

 

[SGACE]

Another discovery, 1978 Apollo Glasgow concert [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOC-Unhf7iU]YouTube - ACDC Rock 'N' Roll Damnation Live At Apollo Theater Glasgow -1978[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9qMB8PD_wk]YouTube - AC/DC - FLING THING / ROCKER GLASGOW 78[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHcTZu_h2Uw&feature=related]YouTube - AC/DC - Dog Eat Dog[Apollo,Glasgow 1978][/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z89lvcK95rE&feature=related]YouTube - AC/DC -Bad Boy Boogie[Apollo,Glasgow 1978][/ame]
and some more videos.

Angus plays with Marshall JMP 2203/2204 head.

The most important thing is that the recordered songs from this concert, came up in If You Want Blood You Got It Album. Again I will say that THE TONE for vintage AC/DC (Angus), will come from a JMP 2203/2204 amp.

 

[LPMarshall hack]

Dog Eat Dog is such a bad ass song...Bon Scott rulez.

 

[core]

You know for AC/DC lately when playing at home on my '77 2204 I've been setting it up like this. Master 4-6, Preamp 1 just to keep it quite for the neighbors then I use my Boss SD-1 at full Volume and full Gain and it REALLY gets that AC/DC crunch at low volume. At studio volume I turn the preamp up to 6 so there's a V on the dials (MV 4, PA 6) and then don't really need the SD-1 much.

Honestly more Presence will give you more bite. I keep it around 6.

 

[MisterScary]

Well, I did purchase a 1978 JMP (2204) and you were all right... it nails the classic AC/DC tone I was looking for! Depending on how much volume/gain I mix together, I can get the late 70s and early 80s Angus sweet tone! Thanks for all the input!

My next conquest will be to try different tubes to see how the sound is altered. Right now, the JMP has Electro-Harmonix 6550 power tubes in it. I'm not sure about the preamp tubes. When I need to change them out, I'm going to try some EL34 tubes to hear the difference. Either way, I'm quite happy with this amp!

Btw, I blew some tubes on my 1959 SLP! I was running it through a THD Hot Plate at -16db and the volume knob around 12 o'clock when the amp shut off and a nasty burning smell was being emitted from the amp. I expected the worst, but my amp tech said it was only the power tubes and a fuse. He blames the use of the THD Hot Plate. He said it was too much power for the Hot Plate to handle which caused 1 tube to blow and another to be leaking! I'm replacing all 4 power tubes in that amp with Electro-Harmonix EL34 tubes. The Hot Plate will be on eBay soon. I learned my lesson not to play softly!

 

[core]

Just so you know you can't swap out 6550's for EL34's without modifications. There are threads on how to do and what to change but those tubes are not equal in any way. If you can't find out how through a search ask one of the techs what needs to be done.