We all know that Marshall's quality in the early years was questionable at best with the differences in component availability, so does anyone have that "special" Marshall? I've had a ton of JCM800's over the years and some sound good and some not so good. Tube rolling helps but its not always the solution. I have a '79 JMP 2204 thats sounds great but my '77 blows it away. Neither one is modded. The '79 sounds like classic Priest but the '77 sounds way better. Think S.O.D.'s Speak English or Die. More clean and articulate gain. I also have an '81 2203 that is stock and sounds killer, one of the best I've found. Sadly I've sold off more lame Marshall's then what I've kept. Anyone else have that special Marshall ? '81
This is the One that just Whacks the Moles ‘92 6100 / 6960 by FracStrat posted Feb 24, 2020 at 9:30 AM
My '78 2203 sounded fierce until power tubes and a couple of caps needed replacing. My regular tech was out of circulation at the time so I took it to another dude. When will got it back it worked fine but it's lost the magic....not sure if it's the tubes (it originally had the GE 6550s it was born with) or if he put wrong caps in it or what. When I have time it's going back to my regular amp tech to try to save it from the jaws of mediocrity. I've got an '81 4010 that has the Mystic Mojo, loud, proud and attitude like a red-headed stepchild staying up past his bedtime.
Somewhere I saw a write-up w/ Trace from VooDoo. He said that he got into doing amp mod/repair, because he had a particular amp. IIRC, he blew the output trans' & got it replaced. The amp lost it's mojo. So he started on search for the holy grail in transformers, to find out why his amp sucked after he got it back, w/ a replacement "spec" trans'. That got him also looking into the rest of the components & figuring things out, which is how he got doing his mod's. Even when you look here on the forum, one name comes to mind is David (New Religion), who started tinkering around w/ mod's & if you've been around here following him, he's been figuring out a lot of subtle nuances & is doing his own branded mod-set. Many people dismiss these subtle nuances, but, then they are only hearing much of them on a phone recorded youtube video. Maybe even under controlled recording & presentation, you wouldn't be able to hear it right off. Usually it comes more, w/ the feel, when you are playing it & it inspires your playing in one way or another. One person's holy grail, might be less inspiring to you & vise-versa...
If modded Marshalls count among listable amps in this thread, I have to mention David's Pandora modded Plexis. I've got one of his modded 1987x, and it's off the charts....a true monster. I play it thru a Mesa Road King 4x12. One of the greatest amps I've had the pleasure to abuse in this life ...
I couldn't have said it better. "a true Monster" I wish I had a Marshall that sounded like that back in the 80's. But at least I'm not too old to have one now.
Hmmm. While my JVM covers everything so I love it, I always get a big kick outta playing the 1987 Silver Jubilee 2558. It's special I guess cause I bought it new that year to get a 2 channel amp. Always sounds good to me, sounds great cranked up a bunch and maybe it is mostly sentimental? I dunno. But for me it is a killer amp!
Honestly, I really love ALL my Marshalls so it's so hard to pick a favorite. A JCM 900 SL-X, JCM 2000 DSL50, JCM 2000 DSL100, (6) Lead 100s, and a 3315. They can all hang and party.
I've been through a few over the last 40 years. This is the one that's never leaving. A '76 Lead and Bass 50 watt. 1986/1987 in a box. Peels paint, sounds great. It's the only one I've ever owned that made BOTH single coils and humbuckers sound great. Oh, and as a lap steel amp? Well, it's perfect. I'd clone it if I was smart enough, but since I'm not I do the next best thing and that's just play and play and play...
On a serious note I'll have to go with my blue Satriani. It would be my final and sole survivor. Only in my death do we part:
