Marshall JCM 800 2205 ('86) High-Gain demo w/ V30's & Gibson LP Std.

[MrSkAtEfReAk12]

the beginning sounded like 'Baba O Reiley' by The Who!

[diesect33]

really nice man. the whole song's a hook. nice work. very squishy 2205 ton, warm..i like it. great harmonies man. even though i play more metal oriented stuff i'm a SUCKER for melody,harmonies and hooks. If i weren't fat i'd be doing this stuff too lol. fat ugly guys can't make this music in the "buis" very often and geta free pass.

[skinthesun100]

Oh man this rocks, I would kill for an amp with this tone!!

[PROFETAJCM800]

A QUESTION... THE PROFIT COMES FROM THE 800? THIS MODIFIED? YOU USED SOME PEDAL OF OVERDRIVE? VERY GOOD SOUND CONGRATULATIONS

[montywilt]

@PROFETAJCM800 The guts don't look modified. No pedals.

[weseyedwalk]

Those chords sound sick, the 800 sounds way better than your hughes and Kettner MKII did! What power tubes are you using, EL34's, KT88's ? just curious, I have a Marshall JVM and I can get a tone like yours but not quite as rich in harmonics, of course, it's a combo. I was considering changing tube types.

[montywilt]

@weseyedwalk JJ E34L's in the power. National 12AX7-A's in the pre.

[mdskewes]

@weseyedwalk yes they sound sck,like they need help! I wish the guy that did my marshall work wasnt dead,it makes getting my sound back very difficult!

[siegfried4245]

Can i have the tabs for this song?

[dzava]

Its amazing. Im new into tubes and Id really love to buy myself one. Especially the JCM80 2205, but problem is that except live concerts I will play with it, I also want to practice on it in my bedroom...

Is it possible? How about the Vintage Modern? Is it quieter? Was your Marshall already "roaring" like people use to say for cranked tubes or it needed a bit more volume? Would it be possible to add 80s Boss or TubeScreamer and let the gain flow through it? Thanks...

[dinoman89]

Woah! Is this JUST the amp? Like no pedals? I'm getting close to grabbing my first pro amp and so far I'm sold on the DSL 100. But this sounds almost exactly like what I want; real Our Lady Peace-y. Nice song dude, I'm 'bout to check the 'Space to see what the finished product sounds like.

[aalschaf]

Sounds very cool, reminds me of Boysetsfire.-..got some nice Lyrics in my ear...Nathan should sing them...

[supersimon44]

this amps sounds amazing, song sounds amazing! and you les paul looks amazing!

[Hortulantus]

Hi.

Is this model of 800 good for playing progersive metall mixed with rock ? I always thought about 800 but one channel always scared me but 2205 got 2 cjannels so i think abot buying it. I need lead channel for playing heavy metal solos, and powerfull rifs and clean, which i can use for akords or making climat, for example with delay or chorus. Is this 800 good for it ?

Maciek

[montywilt]

@Hortulantus 800s are good for that. The problem is that each one is different. If you can find some and try them out, then do. Don't just order one blindly, because a lot of the ones for sale are for sale for a reason... they are lemons.  All the good ones will probably never leave their owners.

Maybe look into the following: Bogner Uberschall, Mesa dual recto, Orange thunderverb, H&K triamp MKII, engl powerball, Soldano SLO, Framus cobra, etc...

The JCM 900 is also a good metal head.

[countdelafey666]

@Hortulantus Problem is that if you use the maximum gain, you can't get the clean channel at the same volume level..

I use the same amp and the gain is the best ever but if I want clean I switch to another amp using A/B/Y switch.

[lxlSYNYSTERlxl]

i got the same amp sept its the single channel wut r ur setting it sounds great.

[montywilt]

@lxlSYNYSTERlxl Presence completely rolled off. Bass at 2:00 o'clock. Middle at noon. Treble at 11 o'clock. Gain was around 2:30 o'clock. I have played so many 800's and have never heard one that sounds like mine. Mine is like an 800 breeded with a recto. It is really fizzy.

[lawson25303]

i have this amp but mines a 87, forplaying live i push the gain all the way to 10 and the channel volume to about 9 and turn the master volume up to about 3 and it provides all the stage volume i need, i play a les paul and get my clean sound by rolling the volume back on my neck pickup, works great on my amp and sounds exactly like a rock amp should. but if you want super great clean channels, try a fender hot rod deville, i have one of those too, its a 4/10 combo, sounds great as well

[OantiO1]

this is fuckin' awsome man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[slashlp118]

Wow man this song is great love marshalls and les pauls, put them together u get a fuckload of amazing shit

[Lol927837]

Hey man.. Does this amp play OK for bedroom levels, or how?

Im buying a for live/band usage, but iut would be great if I could get an OK sound at bedroom too.

[12345678ix]

amazing song man fuck man this is awesome add some lyrics to it and bass

[montywilt]

@12345678ix Already did. myspace (dot) com/bransonny

the song is titled To Whom It May Concern

[coreyfromtheband]

i found it! Great song!

[coreyfromtheband]

lovely song !!! is it urs?? can i listen to the full version somewhere?

(love the sound of the amp too!)

[danthecoolman980]

sorry dude i rated this vid 1 star when i ment 5 my mistake

[sk88888888ter]

is it possible to get it from realy dirty distortion to clean, just by roling back the volume on your guitar?

[montywilt]

almost impossible. I can do it with my oranges, but the 800 two channel heads have a transistor in the gain stage that makes cleaning up very complicated. The amp doesn't really respond well to dynamic playing.

[lesdeges]

@montywilt

yes, it has a transistor / IC, but not in the gain stage - it's for the channel switching...

[luiszv14]

@sk88888888ter actually you can, tom morello uses this head and he had never used the clean channel he just use the overdive channel (gain level in 9/10 and volume in 8/10) and just turn down the volume knob of his guitar, but for that you need to have a good presition because you have to roll the vulome knob of your guitar between 1 and 0

[Przecier92]

Is that what you play your own song, or something known?

(sorry for bad english)

[montywilt]

Yeah, its one of my own. My band recorded a full version of it. Just search "Bransonny" in youtube. That will get you to the channel. The band name is branson. Thanks for the interest.

[irarawkstarr]

I have this same amp! Mine's from 1987. I keep the amp gain on 8 and boost it with a TS9 for tighter gain. If I turn the gain up to 10 I get a perfect Anthrax-type sound, but I usually don't need that level of gain. I don't know about all that diode clipping stuff, but it sounds great to me, however it gets its distortion. Not artificial at all.

[montywilt]

The only bummer I have discovered with this amp is it has no playing dynamic.  That is probably due to the transistor in the gain stage. I still use this head for almost every rhythm guitar part on every recording I do for my current group. It is definitely my favorite drive sound.

[dropCownage]

Your jcm 800 sounds more modern because it has solid state diode clipping to give it that heavier tone that many hard rock people were looking for... so it's like marshalls answer to mase boogie in a sense I guess

[montywilt]

uh... if it was response to anything it would be the SLO, not a mesa. I believe there is also a transistor in the preamp stage as well. Solid state diode would have less to do with the tone. Every gig I have played multiple people have approached me afterwards to compliment my tone. I love the amp, my only beef is it doesn't clean up well, thus leading me to think there is a transistor in the preamp.

[teeardee]

Yes, there's diode bounding in this circuit. There's also a gain stage with its cathode resistor bypassed by a diode. There's nothing wrong with diode bounding if it's done well, and 50 million 2205, 2550, and 2555 fans can't be wrong. And by the way, Mesas (Rectos) are a direct ripoff of the SLO circuit, so a response to one is sort of a response to both.

[montywilt]

the mesa recto was introduced after the twin channel 800 series.

[teeardee]

That's true; the twin-channel 800s were introduced in 1983, I believe, which is during the time Mike Soldano was doing mods and before he formed his company officially.

[MarvinMoshaka]

amazing tone!

[Leeper568]

hey that sounded great. I really like the tone you're getting from that thing. Ive got a 2210 and ive been trying to refine my sound with it and that is just about how i wanted it to sound.

[daneswede2]

And these are just the channel switching LATE EIGHTIES Marshalls . Not even as good sounding as the early 1981 1982 1983 as many 3ould say Marshall 2203 single channel amps . I would go with the 1981 2203 a 66 pro reverb vlackface NOS TUBE everything 10% original everything Vintage 30s and G12m#5s and the PRO reverb make sure hasthe porig. spkrs

off yo ugo

[montywilt]

I have played many 2205's, 2210's, 2203's and 2204's and for some reason my mine sounds much more modern than and the drive channels is superior to (in my opinion) any 800 I have ever played. This isn't a really good clip since there are a lot of phasing issues. Hopefully when I get back to NY in a month I can record a better clip.

[countdelafey666]

Always liked the 2205/2210 a bit more than the 2204/2203.

I play Metal so the gain is perfect but missed the ''fat'' sound of the 2204/2203.

Solution was simple, play full stack with a 2205 on the upper cab and a 2204 played simultaneously on the bottom cab.

Sounds amazing, no gain pedals needed.

[ohyeahextreme]

that tone is beautiful.

[deedee9842]

I like this recording better than the "professional" one. That ones too clean, this has some grit to it I like.

[comatose721]

cool song man. i wish i could get my 87 JCM800 to sound like that. can you drop me a link to your bands page?

[PYROSF]

this was just straight into the amp?

[montywilt]

yes

[peenuswrinkle]

Hey bro I asked you bout the E34L tube tube in a JcM 800 reissue...The question is will it sound good you said it will be more compressed and honky ...I was thinking bout putting in JCM 800 thats why =) help me out bro lol

[montywilt]

the JJ E34L is just a tad darker than other EL34's that I have used. I like using it in all my marshalls. I definitely recommend JJ E34L's for any EL34 marshall head.

[Acidrain1993]

omg is ur band "fight the fear"?

[montywilt]

naw, what gave you that impression?

[Acidrain1993]

nevermind theyre out of san diego. idk for a sec u sounded like them

[Marshall12AX7]

very cool tone. sounds good even complressed on here

[ChottyT]

Hey sweet song you got there. What is the tuning for the guitar parts? is one Eb and the other Drop D?

[montywilt]

C# - G# - C# - F# - A# - C#

We finished recording our 5 song demo not too long ago (one of them being this tune). They are being mixed right now. I'll drop you a link when they are done if you wish.

[VicLabs]

I'm no theorist, but it's a little more practical to write Db - Ab - Db - Gb - Bb - Db. Nice progression, though!

[montywilt]

Probably so. I just think in sharps when I play guitar.  It's weird, because its the only instrument I think like this.

[k2snake]

well.. there are a lot of bands that do it the opposite way, there actually isn't "the right way" imo

for example Angels & Airwaves, they recorded the 1st album so that guitars and all the other stuff first and at the end the drummer had his fun :P

[moneyquickeasy]

I know but normally people record the drums first then use that as a backing track...

[moneyquickeasy]

Don't you normally record the drums first? Well, nice tone!

[montywilt]

we used this as a track for the drums to play to.

[thrashmetal1029]

amp sounds great!

[redrocker1055]

This is the beginnings of what could be a great song!

[IRONMAIDENrockinrio]

WOW. amazing tone! but i've got a question;) when you put a mic in front of the box do you plug it into a mic-preamp and then into a computer? if yes do you use a soundcard and a recording program? thank you so much for your answer.! im looking for a long time to record my guitar but till now i've found no solution :(

[montywilt]

setup was sennheiser e609 >> tascam us122 >> sony acid pro

[montywilt]

After listening to this video, I will probably take it down once I make a better replacement. There is just to much crapness happening to the audio and you can't really get a good image of what the amp sounds like. If I get the time I will record a HD demo with a unidyne 57 on the speaker and a Neumann U87 as a room mic. Right now I am pretty busy mixing my bands demos though...

[michael23punkrock]

If you were to choose between the

JCM 900 or JCM 800 Which one would you choose? an why?

[montywilt]

JCM 800... that is if you can find a good one. The 900's are too ice picky. If you have a good enough ear you can notice that transistor gain stage in the drive circuit preamp. The 900s are a lot more consistent in constructions though. It is really hard to find an outstanding 800. I am lucky I found one. If you want a more modern tone get the 900, if you want a more vintage ballsy vibe, get an 800.

[Xanotech299]

Dude! I've never heard anything like that before. That's a sweet tone

[montywilt]

eh, its ok... There is alot of phase issues in the video and the sound quality sucks. I post a link to my bands new demos when we finish mixing them. I used the 800 as the rhythm track and it sounds pretty thick.

[J3sst44]

I reckon that's got a nice tone, I could work with it... Might be my next Marshall choice, currently got a JCM 900 4100 which is dead =(

[oldGNRfan23]

Hey man. Good tone. Could I get a early metallica iron maiden sound from a jcm 800. thanks and KEEP ON ROCKING!

[montywilt]

probably, but you have to find a good one though. You might be able to get those tones from a SLO too.

[AssassinSteven]

Sweet dude how many walts is that?

[montywilt]

1986 50w version

[peenuswrinkle]

I have a 2203 reissue =) how would e34L make it sound ?"

[montywilt]

more compressed and maybe some more honk.

[caressuvsteele]

Love the tune. Great sound! How do you like the E609 compared to an SM-57?

[montywilt]

I like both mics equally. The E609 makes finding the sweet spot a little easier.

[jo5377]

nice riff

[tdawg0993]

that was nice man, i got one of these too (mines an '85 with 6550's) i'm not sure if its the amp, tubes, or whatever, but i can't seem to find a real good clean tone out of it, any suggestions?

[montywilt]

my clean channel sucks, but all the other el34 models I have played have had some awesome clean channels. Although my drive has killed any other 2205 i have played. I think the previous owner of my amp did some sort of mod because mine sounds nothing like any of the others ive played. There is a lot of bleeding through on my clean channel too.

[tdawg0993]

ya dude, i think i'm gonna switch to el34's or kt66, i was thinkin' about putting cleaner preamp tubes in the clean circuit, if that would help?

[montywilt]

it might, but it could also be the circuit

[montywilt]

I run bass around 3 o'clock and treble around 11 o'clock.  neck p-up

[45firebird45]

Wow, what the hell man, nice sounds, you're getting out of that thing, what recording equipment did you use?

[montywilt]

sennheiser e609 into a tascam us122. Nothing special. Thanks.

[montywilt]

fyi... youtube totally destroyed the sound quality