Marshall JCM 800 2203ZW Zakk Wylde Head

Read other reviews about the features. This is my first one channel amp, I think its alitte frustrating finding your right sound. You Definetly need to put a distortion pedal in front of the amp. As Zakk did. I plan on buying the Boss SD-1 (The one that Zakk Uses) to achieve his sound.
Im alittle upset that the head doesnt have Reverb, but thats ok.

My main axe is a 1960 Gibson Les Paul Reissue. Playing straight into the amp is straight up old Led-Zeppelin. Ive read reviews of people calling it distortion, its more like creamy overdrive. If your just plugging straight into the amp.
I also have a 1961 Gibson SG Reissue and Oh My God, it sounds exactly like Black Sabbath and AC/DC.
This amp is so friking loud its not even funny. I have the volume set alitte past 3 and im almost deaf.
My other amp is a Marshall JCM 2000 TSL 100. I have a BBE Sonic maximizer and a TC Electronic going thru the effects loop. This amp sounds totally different. I can Achieve heavy metal sounds with my TSL. Old vintage rock n roll with the 800.
I put the BBE thru Zakks head and I must say, what a wake up in Tone! Balls to the Walls!

I bought this Amp as a Collectors Piece. Its no way in hell leaving my room. There were only 600 of these babies made and only 200 sent to the usa. I have the certificate of Zakk and Jim Marshalls signature in a frame above the amp. I just love looking at it.

The Warranty is 5 years on parts and 3 years on speakers and labor. Thats pretty kick ass if you ask me.

Im honored to be one of 600 people in the whole world to own one. I love this amp, I dont think I could ever bring it out on the road or anywhere else except my room. Im 20 years old and ive been playing for 7 years, Ive only played Marshall, and probably always will.

Not so many features but one channel is enough if you use your volume poti and if you are not a fender guy.

I mostly use my Les Paul with Rio Grande PU`s, Sobbat Drivebreaker, Boss SD-1, Crybaby (first in the line),a Boss and Tsunami Chorus pedal in front of the amp throuh a marshall 1960 Vintage 4x12 cab.
Sounds fantastic to me. Mostly brutal distortion I`ve ever heard.

It`s a marshall and point to point wired too.

The footswitch of my former amp a TSL 100 has broken.
One telephone call and I get a new one.

Been playing a long time but in my opinion too bad.
I ever searched the sound of this amp. Tone heaven.
My second amp is a SL-X Marshall Mod. 2500 and its also a beautiful amp for High Gain distorted things but in brutality and tone it didn't come close. Would buy it again and will never sell these two.

Like everyone below me has said, this amp ain't big on features, but thats the reason that it kicks so much ass!!! 6 knobs (presence, low, mid, high, master vol, preamp vol), a low and high input, and an fx loop with true bypass switch for those who want their pure Marshall sound unaltered by any extra circuitry!

I just recently picked up the JCM800 2203ZW (and the 1960 4x12 cab)and I am extremely happy that I purchased it. The first thing that you will notice about this amp is that it is EXTREMELY LOUD! I have to play it on 1-2 when jamming at home just to stop things from falling off the shelves! If its volume you want, then the ZW is your amp. And when cranked to 5 this thing really screams. I'm afraid to turn it any higher, at least at home anyway. I have the presence on about 4, Bass on 8, middle at 5, treble at 5-6, and preamp at 8. I run through 2 SD-1's in series directly into the high input (a la Exodus) and have both levels at 10 and leave the drives a little less than a 1/4 of the way up. The sound is crushingly heavy and very, very ballsy. Plus you can hit pinch harmonics that will peel the paint off the walls and sustain till the cows come home. Playing with the middle and treble knobs will allow you to dial in just about any metal sound you want from AC-DC to Slayer! Switch off one of the SD-1's, add a 2x2 chorus and I've got No More Tears. Switch both pedals off and I've got a very warm sounding overdrive thats great for fat chords and bluesy solo's. I will never use anything but Marshall.

Only had it for 2 weeks so I can't really comment on this but I have to say that if these can hold up with the abuse that Zakk puts em' through, I have no worrys about reliability

Refer to above.

I have been playing for 10 years now and with all of my previous amps (too many to mention). I have always had a decent sound, but I always ended up getting bored with it after a few days. I've gone from gritty 80's sounds to disgustingly saturated death metal sounds but never have found one that truly fits. I've always loved Marshall's tone but could never afford one. Now that I finally got my hands on this one I don't think I'll ever even consider playing another amp again, I mean it! There is just so much to love about it. The tone, the crunch, the harmonics, the look, everything is perfect with this amp. My only note (this is not a complaint) is that if you're looking to get a sparkling clean sound from this head, look elseware. In my case, I hardly, if ever, use a clean sound so that was not a factor for me. You can use the low input and a chorus and get a mediocre clean tone, but nothing like, say a Fender twin will get. But who needs clean when you've got earth moving volume and mind blowing crunch!

This is the brand new for 2002 Zakk Wylde Limited Edition ( 600 issued worldwide)100 W Marshall Head. There were none too many in my home Country of Canada and when the salesman dropped the price $75.00 I didnt hesitate. It had only been in the shop on sale for 2 - 3 weeks max.

I have only 2 years of guitar playing experience. I am a drummer and now into guitar. I play every day. I love Marshall amps so this is merely my opinion and it may be jaded. I do have a lot of quality amps ( Marshall , Fender, Crate, Tech 21 Trademark 10, Marshall (Park) solid state stacks THD Univalve and guitars ( Gibson Jimmy Page Les Paul,,Fender Artist Hendrix upside down stratocaster , several quality Yamaha SG and old soapbar pickup guitars ( alnico V) ESP James Hetfield Explorer however..so thats where I am coming from...so take it only as an opinion. I bought this amp one week before acquiring a 1996 JCM SLASH as new from a collector. I definetely like the ZAKK WYLDE HEAD A LOT ! I like the 2555SL ( Slash) just a bit more than the Zakk Wylde though Its neck and neck !!!though depending on the day
Some sources on the net tried to tell me these amps were the same amp. No way Jose the 2203ZW and the 2555SL are very different internally and overall build-wise. They both have reputedly hand wired output transformers. I dont know about this hand wiring thing I think it is more hand job. The only hand wiring I saw inside the 2555SL was where the warranty tag was tin-tied to the handle. The Zakk Head I havent taken apart. It has less solid state clipping ( read distortion by design than the 2555SL) ..so I would think some of it is a bit more hand wired than the Slash Model. It is alos about 8 to 10 pounds heavierthan the 2555SL .The only thing that is the same is the marketing...both being sold as artist signature series. They both come with custom covers with Jim Marshalls name and Slash ( 2555SL) and Zakk Wyldes name on the 2203ZW The paperwork for both contain signatures of the artists except the Zakk Wylde paperwork is a genuine signature along with Jim Marshall I guess Slash wasnt around when they issued the certificates for the 2555SL or better still I cant imagine Slash signing 3000 certificates although I bet he would if he was asked. The Zakk Wylde Head can attain tones that are very Marshally sounding ( I hear old Marshalls in this amp and I dont know why I just do. It is of course very eighties sounding ( JCM800) but with the change up being the pre amp section has Ei tubes in it NOWADAYS and Svetlana 6550's in the power amp. Like I said it is a seriously loud head. The loudest Marshall I have ever heard. It also has monster gain that isnt overly thin...if you can get the volume up past 4.5 ( that seems to be a sweet spot) I have tried it through an 8ohm THD Hotplate that I own and a THD 2X12 cabinet which surprisingly houses some very nice Celestion Classic Lead 80's speakers.( total cabinet 140RMS) It is one great sounding cabinet so again my opinion is just an opinion . The cabinet makes all amps sound great. The Zakk head has a cool old style gold capped handle and some cool brushed brass look with tie -dye bulls eyes on the front The lettering is all done in Gothic.
The Zakk Wylde Head is a real unique blend of old and new Marshall with no trace of the TSL series or 900's

This thing is very well built...exceptional I think Marshall got some of their better people to work on the Zakk Series...very high quality compared other Marshalls I see and have taken home to observe Its better built than the 2555SL overall. Its very reliable and can be run with a THD HotPlate as long as yo uuse good cable and use your head and dont overdo it thing is the THD even at full attenuation can just quieten this thing down enough to be bedroom level ( barely) just makes it.

I was always hearig bad things about Marshalls support I found a great Marshall distributor in Canada near Montreal Jam Industries I took not the Zakk Wydle head ( as it is brand new and working fine) but the Slash 2555 and a really great amp tech sorted it out It had been sitting for 6 years with this collector and he didnt use it...so it needed some going through Excellent technicians there...and great end result Luckily they are located just over 100 miles from my home in Canada so I just drove it there and picked it up the next week. The Zakk Head will not require any service as I do not GIG and the power tubes are Svetlana 6550's ( known to be durable) They are however a bit sterile sounding compared to EL34's but they also have more dynamic range and more punch. The Ei tubes in the pre-amp soundgreat in this amp although I have been told by the tech's to watch out for Ei tubes ( some are not good right out of the box Well actually a number of pre amp tube manufacturers that are common in stores etc... seem to have this same problem these days with ever ysecond one or third one is no good

This amp is destined to be a real collectible in the future. It is gorgeous and plays beautifully...and has lots and lots of power. It also has a great Marshall tone and could be real close to original Black Sabbath sound with an SG or can be dialed in to be good for Heavy Metal (tight bass) and also has great sustain. Incredible really
Peoplethat knock this amp may be right...or perhaps they hadnt the chance to try it out. The Ei pre amp tube in position V1 can be swapped out for a svetlana 12ax7 ( ecc83) or another quality high gain preamp tube to "ramp up the gain" although at volumes past 4.5 the gain knob does just the right sound....anyway without using solid state clipping ( PC board)such as in the 2555 Slash although that amp in itself is righteous but thats an entirely different amp Dont let anyone tell you these amps are the same amp They aren't !

This amp is a 100w JCM800 head. It only has 1 channel, no reverb or any effects, which is wot i love - simplicity itself it also gives more of a pure tone i feel. its VERY loud, i need a power attenuator for practicing in my room.

I use a Gibson Les Paul with an EMG85/81, this amp is PERFER for my style which is from Zakk Wylde to Metallica to Megadeth. the settings i have on at the moment are Presence 2, Bass 10, Mid 6, Treble 7, Gain (preamp volume) 10. I find the "sweet spot" is around 4/5, since it is a tube amp u need to crank it up. The distortion is tight, not harsh or weak, very full. The 6550's are superior to the EL34's for my style of music.

Marshalls are built to last, the tolex gets ripped easy.

Never dealt with marshall, shows how good their products are.

I been playing for 5 years now, i also own a peavey classic chorus solid state, which is pants, its loud, but lacks in almost every area.
I love the design on it, it sticks out from other marshall amps. For some ppl they need a clean channel, i have my Neck pickup on a low volume, so when i need to switch to a clean i change from my EMG 81 to my EMG 85
Well it was out of a JCM800ZW a JCM900 and a Mesa Single Rectifier. And this came out tops.
If it was stolen i would kill the bugger who nicked it.

It's not much on features. One channel, nothing more, nothing less. If you want more channels get a Triple Super Lead. It has 6550 tubes and it is extremely loud.

Use a fender strat with an EMG-81 bridge pickup and a Jackson with a Seymore Duncan Invader bridge pickup. We play techno heavy metal similar to Rob Zombie. I was a little worried cause by itself the amp is straight up 80s metal which is everything it is suppose to be. Me and my friend/guitar player for my band experimented with all kinds of effects (Boss SD-1, Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Ibanez TS-9 tube screamer, MXR micro amp, Mesa-Boogie V twin) to add more gain that was tight. It seemed like we may never find a cool sound (that we liked anyway) using the Zakk Head. But then we tried a sansamp classic which we used as a typical stomp box and a BBE sonic maximizer which we added to the effects loop and let me say this WOW!!!!!. This amp kicks butt all over the place. The distortion is so tight and focused I can't even decribe it. Its definitely a very heavy distortion (which is what we like). It's on the verge of Death metal/thrash. The sound is the type that you only hear on million dollar albums by such bands as Metallica. The 6550s give it an unique punch. I have a DSL50 (50 watt Marshall Dual Superlead) and we tried a similar setup to A/B the sound. The DSL 50 sounded very good too but just did have the punch and tight focus of the distortion like the Zakk did. A 10 most difinitely. NUFF SAID!!!!

I've been using a DSL 50, 1960 lead cabs. They've never let me down and I expect the Zakk will be reliable also.

I believe the warranty is Five years, 90 days on the tubes. It's new so no info on this yet.

Been playing since the 80s. I have a Marshall 100 watt Silver Jubilee head, DSL50, Marshal Dynamic Bass head, and Marshall 1960 lead cabs. They made 600 of the Zakks worldwide and only 200 of them came to the U.S. so if you can get one get it! The Zakk head by itself is a great sounding amp if that is the distortion style you are looking for. The JCM800 Zakk heads are a great foundation start with sos you can go in the direction of achieving that signature sound you've always been looking for. If you start off with a crappy amp then you end up trying to build on crap. In my case the Zakk head is the foundation of a sound that I've been looking for all my life. A 10 Absolutely. Nuff said again!

This amp is designed for one purpose, so features are light. One channel with basic tone controls. This is OK for me since I'm playing metal with it, I do wish it had reverb though. Of course, it's very loud too.

It came with a very cool poster that has original autographs from Jim Marshall and Zakk.

I play AC/DC, Guns n Roses, stuff like that. The amp is great for that kind of music. Because it's so loud, I can't always turn it up enough to get lots of gain, so I have to run a Boss Overdrive. When I get the Master voluem up to about 3 (along with the Boss), it is absolute heaven.

I've been playing Ozzy stuff for a long time, and have never found an amp better than this for Rhoads/Wylde sound. My only compaint would be I wish it had just a bit more gain without adding a pedal, but I can live with that. Every note you hit comes through totally clear, even when heavily overdriven.

Just got it so not sure.

I did have to deal with Marshall one small issue and they were great. Responded very quickly via email.

I've been playing for 15+ years and think I've finally found my true love. I've owned lots of different amps, I traded a Rectifier and 5150 for this one. I really liked the Boogie, but the Marshall tone is just so perfect for the music my band plays (Priest, AC/DC, Nirvana, etc.).

I've heard that only 200 of these were released into the U.S. so I'm really happy to have one, but it does make me nervous about abusing it too much. Might be worth more money someday.

If you're into Zakk and you want a great metal amp, this one is awesome.

Este bicharraco, lo tengo desde hace unos dias,creo que esta hecho en el a?o 2001 y es el tipico jcm 800 con 4 6550 en vez de las EL34 y 3 ECC83.El ampli tiene una potencia que te tira de espaldas, caracteristicas: los dos interruptores power y standby,potenciometros de presencia de tono cortante,bajos, medios y agudos,un volumen y un master, para saturar.No tiene mas canales. Las entradas son una de baja sensivilidad y otra de alta.La caracteristica especial en el panel trasero es el Lazo de efectos; con dos botones uno de 2 niveles, por si utilizas un procesador o un pedal y otro para anular el lazo si no tenemos nada.las dos salidas de altavoces(100w) ,el correspondiente selector de impedancias y de tension ,el conector del cable, y dos fusibles.Nada mas, y ni falta que le hace al capullo.Esta dise?ado para la ca?a brutal con pedales de distorsion.Los adornos corren cuenta del maestro Zakk con los circulos concentricos y la calavera del B.L.S. junto a su firma y la de Jim Marsall.El logotipo es en dorado y la tela tipo TV.

Este es el Kit de la cuestion.ES EL PUTO SONIDO ZAKK 100x100.Yo utilizo una Les Paul custom, y tengo que decir una cosa, a cierto nivel, la guitarra se acopla cuando he utilizado el SD-1 de boss,el caso es que de verdad que vais a llorar como se pruebe esta operacion,no por el pitido(debe ser las chapas de las pastillas pero hay unas EMG por ahi...)sino POR EL SONIDO.No obstante, yo tengo una GT-5 de boss, y no se acopla gracias a la reduccion de sonido,(no importa, soy endiabladamente obstinado, y le pondre las EMG,je,je.).Ya si antes os pondriais a llorar, ahora os explotaria la cabeza,cuando escucharais la combinacion,chorus,overdrive y delay...aaaaaaaahhh!!!.SOY UN BERZEEKEER!!! COMO SUEEEENAAAA.

La situacion es bastante competente, si tengo algun problema, solo tengo que llamar donde lo compre,en Madrid.

Marshall es una muy buena marca,y tengo garantia por dos a?os.Tambien con la compra, te regalan unas puas con la firmita de Zakk,el certificado de edicion limitada y el corespondiente manual(Las fotos de Zakk,SON EN BLANCO Y NEGRO,si se?or una putada,ni postercito ni nada..) Lo mejor es la funda negra con el logotipo de Black Label Society.

He estado tocando durante 10 a?os,y he visto muchas cosas...pero ninguna como esta.El ampli en cuestion, es una maravilla, simple y eficaz como todo lo bueno en la vida,y ante todo es un amplificador para tocar Heavy Metal, con sonido tipicamente marshall, embrutecido,la cuestion es tener claro QUE es lo que quieres tocar y yo lo elegi porque Zakk Wylde sabe lo que hace y me encanto su sonido desde el principio, en los primeros riffs de "MIRACLE MAN".Me llena de orgullo saber que de los 600 cabezales del mercado YO, tengo uno.Si alguien me lo robara...lo siguiente seria comprarme una escopeta y le volaria la cabeza,y despues...!!!Le patearia el CULO!!!(como diria Zakk),asi que cuidado si estais pensando robar un cabezal Zakk Wylde y os llevais el mio...

As far as I am concerned the less versatile the better so consider the 1 as a 10 on my behalf cause I dont want extra features or controls.Thes limited production 800's were just released and Brand new(I bought 2 of them)1 channel and FX loop with true bypass. It is a Good ole 800 Marshall.There are practically no features and that is why I love this AMP. I dont need versatility just killer Guitar Sound!!!!!!!These amps walk the walk with no bullshit!!

I use the amp with EMG equipped BC Rich ,Jackson,Ibanez guitars with an SD-1 in front. KICKS ALL KIND OF ASS!!!!! Its an 800 with 6650's AWESOME tone!!!!

I have only had them for about 2-3 weeks.

I called up Marshall /Korg to ask a few questions and I had practically no on hold time and when they took a message Hugh one of the head tech guys called me with in 1/2 hour and was very kind and helpful

I loved it so much I got 2 of them and got rid of my Bogner Uberschall and XTC classic which are both unbelievable amps. The Marshalls are more for me though overall. I dont need all of the versatility that the Bogners have to offer. I am primarily a Death Metal/thrash player and like to keep things simple and pure.