Who can make me a JCM800 combo 'clone'?

rico

I am trying to get hold of the 'grail' JCM800 combo - the 4010 but they are few and far between and mostly very tatty. Who can I talk to about commissioning one?

Cheers!

simonk

Coda Music have got my old Fargen Olde 800 1x12 combo...

rico

Yowzer - that's nice!

Moltisanti

I will be putting up an ad for my Marshall 4010 tomorrow if you're interested 

rico

Moltisanti said:

I will be putting up an ad for my Marshall 4010 tomorrow if you're interested 

Interesting - will look out for it

exocet

Ceriatone do one but with the £ where it is right now it's no longer the "steal" that it once was. 

RandallFlagg

Marshall make a pretty good one. 

riffpowers

They're out there , I had one a little while ago.

professorben

Yeah I had one......tbh it was ok.
didnt set my world on fire tho, very boxy unless going through a external cab, thin unless you wound up the gain to full, leaving you nowhere to go for a lead boost, no fx loop either, and you really need to get one with the 65 speaker (early ones) and vertical inputs otherwise you get diode clipping which personally I think sounds fuzzy/fizzy

but if you wanna play Back in Black all day it's awesome. 

professorben

RandallFlagg said:

Marshall make a pretty good one. 

I'm pretty sure they don't anymore, as its a not complicated, solid reliable, uk made, great sounding amp for reasonable money. 

Not part of Marshalls mission statement these days. 

rico

professorben said:

Yeah I had one......tbh it was ok.
didnt set my world on fire tho, very boxy unless going through a external cab, thin unless you wound up the gain to full, leaving you nowhere to go for a lead boost, no fx loop either, and you really need to get one with the 65 speaker (early ones) and vertical inputs otherwise you get diode clipping which personally I think sounds fuzzy/fizzy

but if you wanna play Back in Black all day it's awesome. 

Ah man way to piss on my bonfire. What would you suggest then? I play heavy rock through high output humbuckers and I like thick, chunky rhythm tones. I use drive pedals too. 

professorben

rico said:

professorben said:

Yeah I had one......tbh it was ok.
didnt set my world on fire tho, very boxy unless going through a external cab, thin unless you wound up the gain to full, leaving you nowhere to go for a lead boost, no fx loop either, and you really need to get one with the 65 speaker (early ones) and vertical inputs otherwise you get diode clipping which personally I think sounds fuzzy/fizzy

but if you wanna play Back in Black all day it's awesome. 

Ah man way to piss on my bonfire. What would you suggest then? I play heavy rock through high output humbuckers and I like thick, chunky rhythm tones. I use drive pedals too. 

Me too. 
Sorry dude, everyone says how amazing they are, I found out after I sold it how prized they are and I thought ...really? 
It was ok but nothing amazing. 

The only way I could get it to work they I needed was to play it on the low input gain cranked ( which was essentially clean) and use a 2 channel valve drive pedal in the front. 

professorben

It sounded great at full gain, but it's single channel, sobyiubdacrifice s good clean, you are also limited to your lead boost options. 

I went to to an Engl Screamer 50 which I could set up to sound pretty damn similar to the JCM800 ( I had both at same time) 

TTBZ

If you want a similar tone but thicker/more of a lower mid emphasis then it might be worth looking at the Laney GH/VH series. Head only though unless you get an old VC50 combo which is apparently a 50w combo version of the VH100R. 

Saying that I have a GH and still want a Marshall, there's just something about the tone that I haven't been able to get with my amp.

Or look out for a 2x12 version, the JMP 2104 sounds brilliant and not at all boxy though you do need the bass on full and treble quite low if you want any kind of thickness and warmth.

rico

Thanks @professorben & @TTBZ ;

I have a DSL401 - perhaps I should just stay with it for a while. The thing that concerns me is that it may not be loud enough for pending gigs but then again I did used to gig this amp years ago. Maybe its just the incurable GAS within me. 

TTBZ

40w should be plenty for gigs, maybe an extension cab would be a better investment? I quite like the DSL series tbh, I've never really understood all the bad rep they get on forums.

SquireJapan

rico said:

I am trying to get hold of the 'grail' JCM800 combo - the 4010 but they are few and far between and mostly very tatty. Who can I talk to about commissioning one?

Cheers!

I was on a similar hunt a little while back. Emailed a few people who do this kind of thing and didn't get a response. I'd pay a good chunk of cash to get something that's a 2203 clone with whatever mods would be sensible (e.g. it's a perfect 2203/2203X clone, with the option of switching other bits in and out). 

Why not get a 2203? Well, I want something _small_, I love the size of the mini heads (like the mini-rectifier). I want one that takes up way less space. I assume there's a certain limit on size given you're trying to squeeze the transformer and valves into a small space; hence there'd been a heat issue (?). Then you get into all manner of "cork sniffy" stuff around making the circuit smaller, so you're not doing point to point or whatever it is.

Regardless, I'd pay a good chunk of cash for a JCM800 clone that was a lot smaller. I started looking at some of the small victory amps, but not quite at the point of pulling the trigger. 

professorben

40w valve should be fine for gigging especially if you are not looking for pristine cleans. 

rico

professorben said:

40w valve should be fine for gigging especially if you are not looking for pristine cleans. 

Yeah that's what I am thinking - hell I used to gig this exact same amp with a LP straight in to the OD2 channel for a couple of years. 

That was with a pretty straightforward rock/blues band but my latest venture is heavier but some cleans are also needed - time to investigate more I think. Perhaps an extension cab could be a good shout...

Moltisanti

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/94152/fs-marshall-jcm800-4010-1x12-combo#latest

professorben

Good grief. 
I sold mine for £500!!!!

edit: I tell a lie, I just checked it went for £580.