Modded Marshalls.... Talk to me about your favorite mods etc... ;) A-Z thread??

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Hey folks,
like most of us I love a bit of dirty, greasy rock'n'roll and in the end after all the racks and shit ya just come back to a stompin good head and cab.
Nowadays theres god knows how many different variations of the "hot rodded Marshall" that it becomes presumed we all know the complete history of the genealogy of the HRM so how about a well informed thread that covers the birth and current state of play about them?

From Jose up to Cameron and Friedman etc . . . a good well informed post by you guys who know this stuff backwards could lead to a sticky mebbe about the terminology for this genre..

Rig-Talk is a great high gain haven but as its primarily american brethren who have an amp cellar with several million quid worth of designer amps (;)) i'd like to put this out to us folk over here on this side of the VAT and disposable income bracket, to chat about.

Ive a nice old Marshall that im going to get modded and would love to see/hear some examples of industry norms so to speak..

Anyhoo, thanks for stopping in, if you've something to add (please dont all tell me not to mod my marshall etc..)...

Any clips etc would be really cool too =)
Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life
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Comments

  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71960

    please dont all tell me not to mod my marshall etc..
    Don't mod your Marshall :).

    Not if it's a real old one - pre-JCM800 - anyway. You won't improve it (no really, you won't) and you will wreck its value if it's currently original.

    I started modifying Marshalls in the mid-80s when it was fashionable and about the only way you could get a higher-gain Marshall sound. Even then I had a policy of never doing anything destructive that I could avoid, and especially never to drill front panels. This was a good thing, because about ten years later much of the work I was getting - and still is - is "de-modding" old Marshalls... including a few I modded in the first place. Every single one of them sounds better back to stock, or close to it with some very minor upgrades for reliability.

    If you want a higher-gain Marshall, buy a more modern Marshall or a modern derivative, or run a decent pedal or preamp into it.

    I no longer mod Marshalls by the way.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • in the small world of internet guitar forums as soon as you start talking about modded Marshalls all hell breaks loose....hopefully as were all over this side of the pond we can avoid the whole Cameron/Jose fun and games... :D i have a Splawn Competition (Quickrod without the clean channel) i have no idea which mod it is, but to my ears it sounds like a better JCM800

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  • I had a Cameron CCV and I didn't like it. I do like a good Marshall though! Overrated overpriced and over here! but the bloke who owns it now bloody loves it (nice one Darren!) I'm still trying to find a great Marshall sounding amp I don't have to tweak the bollocks off it all the time to get it to do what I want, without shoving a pedal in front of it. Satch JVM is quite nice tho' I've modded JVM's and they are still lacking IMHO not tried a friedman though, in fact I've never seen one! Went through a lot of Bogners for a time -nice but expensive for what they are I think. Stuck with the old faithful EVH 100 III best amp for me ATM!
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  • Best sounding marshalls I've heard are the jcm 900 sl-x, the old jcm 800 (although I much prefer the sound of the Laney gh50 or gh100, which is supposed to be a jcm alike) and the Marshall vintage modern (which is supposed to be unreliable and is a right bitch to dial in).

    No idea what the 900sl-x is based on, but I'd happily use one.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71960
    It's not really "based on" anything, but it could be described as a further evolution of the JCM800 2203/4 circuit. The original version of the JCM900 'High Gain Master Volume' was even closer, not very much more than a slightly tweaked JCM800 with a diode clipping section to increase distortion, and an IC-driven FX loop and Master Volume switching stage. The SL-X took it further by replacing the diode clipping with an extra cathode-follower valve stage, something like a Soldano SLO which is itself derived from modded Marshalls that Mike Soldano did before he started building his own.

    So it's somewhere between a 2203 and a SLO in circuit terms, although by no means a copy of either.

    For what it's worth the Marshall 6100 30th Anniversary model used *three* cathode followers on the third channel! These do also sound very good and have tons of gain, although they have reliability problems.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • Blimey. The gain on the slx went to insane levels, perfect for bedroom shredding, but crank up some juice and back it off and it's still enough for modern styles.

    Are they reliable? It's interesting that it sits between an SLO and a jcm800, I've never heard an SLO but I have heard a jet city and it definitely sounds Marshall-y.

    I ask only out of interest. I'm saving for a guitar, not amp. I'm not gigging :(
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71960
    edited September 2013

    Are they reliable? It's interesting that it sits between an SLO and a jcm800, I've never heard an SLO but I have heard a jet city and it definitely sounds Marshall-y.
    They're not bad. They suffer from the usual JCM900 faults of extremely crap pots, occasional switching-IC failures, FX loop jacks and the triode/pentode switch arcing, but they're a bit better than the JCM2000s.

    The guitarist in my band has an SLO and a JCA50, and they do sound pretty similar - the JCs use basically the same circuits, with a few small changes and cheaper components. They're a bit brighter and less awe-inspiring :) when cranked up, and maybe just a touch more 'Marshally' than the full SLO. Not at all bad considering the JC cost him not much more than a tenth of the price of the SLO...

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • Not bad at all. They almost seem too cheap to be true!

    So pots, jack sockets, ics... I've heard of worse. I remember the genz benz amps that seemed to fail if you looked at them too long. Still, I'd more likely go for a jet city, I guess, those slx marshalls sometimes fetch a higher price than they probably sold for new when clearing out!
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  • DarrenDarren Frets: 168
    I had a Cameron CCV and I didn't like it. I do like a good Marshall though! Overrated overpriced and over here! but the bloke who owns it now bloody loves it (nice one Darren!) I'm still trying to find a great Marshall sounding amp I don't have to tweak the bollocks off it all the time to get it to do what I want, without shoving a pedal in front of it. Satch JVM is quite nice tho' I've modded JVM's and they are still lacking IMHO not tried a friedman though, in fact I've never seen one! Went through a lot of Bogners for a time -nice but expensive for what they are I think. Stuck with the old faithful EVH 100 III best amp for me ATM!
    Hi Rod
    Yeah mate i love the CCV-100 to death...To me it's kinda like a blend of a good marshall with a little bogner thrown in the mix too..Currently have it in a Wet/Dry configuration and sounds HUGE!!

    With regard to the topic..There are many modded Marshall variations out there and i have had my fair share of them..

    I have owned modded Marshall's by Mark Cameron..Scott Splawn..Martin Golub at LA Sound Design..Dan Gower..
    Each of them have there own unique thing going on and each were great amps..

    But Like Rod (Rockmonster) with his EVH 5150 III the CCV-100 just fits my needs at present..

    image
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  • Nice looking rig Darr! That would be interesting down the Dog and Duck I bet!
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  • MoltisantiMoltisanti Frets: 1131
    what cab/speakers do you like with the CCV ?

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  • DarrenDarren Frets: 168
    what cab/speakers do you like with the CCV ?

    The Dry cab on the left has G12h30's and the wet cab has G12m25's.. I just change the settings slightly depending if I'm playing my San Dimas or Les Paul.. Overall though it's a fantastic rig
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  • AidanspaghettiAidanspaghetti Frets: 844
    edited October 2013
    Is the W/D/W really all that? I'm sure it's one of those "in the room" things.. Would be interesting to try it with a cheap pair of Harley Benton 1x12s.....
    Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life
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  • DarrenDarren Frets: 168
    Is the W/D/W really all that? I'm sure it's one of those "in the room" things.. Would be interesting to try it with a cheap pair of Harley Benton 1x12s.....
    Mine is just set for Wet/Dry at the moment..I have heard Wet/Dry/Wet with 2 Marshall 1x12's and it sounded excellent.
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  • slateslate Frets: 89
    OP - the best mod for a Marshall- indeed the ONLY mod worth having- is a tubescreamer on the floor in front of it
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  • TimmyOTimmyO Frets: 7350
    I miss my '77 JMP :-(
    Red ones are better. 
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  • @slate ill give it a whirl when my amp arrives ;)
    Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life
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  • LewLew Frets: 1657
    edited October 2013
    I've got one of these that I bought off the classifieds http://www.morganamps.com/amps/mv45/mv45.php based on a 50W small box whatever they are - guess it's some sort of plexi but with alot of gain added. I have no real knowledge of Marshalls but for how much it would cost it seems a bit silly to mod an old Marshall rather than just buying what you want and keeping its value? If it's a JCM800, I'd understand. Having said that, I do like the Fortin stuff. 
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71960
    Even 800s are going up in value now - particularly vertical-input 2203s and 2204s, which are the easiest to mod. I'd probably leave alone apart from possibly adding an FX loop.

    Modding the later amps gets harder, the PCBs are more difficult to work on - although things like choke mods (JCM900 onwards) are worthwhile and not too difficult.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • benvallbenvall Frets: 79
    @Lew I miss that amp. give me a heads up if you ever plan on selling it.
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