Marshall JCM 800 2204

I own a 1982 vert input JCM 800 2204 head with the matching cab. I knew what i was after so i didnt buy it for it's versatility, I just wanted a raw multi-dimensional tone that i could manipulate with my fx. I play mainly rock and with this amp, it doesnt get much better. No channel switching, just high and low gain inputs, no reverb, no fx loop, just master volume, pre-amp volume, presence and the obligatory three tone knobs. I play live every weekend in a venue that seats approx 1800 and power is no prob!! This amp isnt designed to be played quietly. 50watts can be deceiving, this thing roars!! I give it a 5 only to be true although I cannot stand these digital multipurpose, multichannel things that parade as amplifiers.

I play a Les Paul Custom with the stock Gibson pickups and the tone is incredible. Very warm and yet still transparent enough to allow the guitars character to emerge. The low gain channel is whisper quiet and the high gain only really starts hissing from 7 onwards but by that stage everyone is deaf so who cares? Besides the much vaunted drive tones that this amp oozes on the high gain channel, when the low gain input is used, pre-amp turned full with master around 8 with a warm compression in front, the sound produced is a creamy, rhythm that goes on forever. This amp sounds small and thin at master levels below 3. It is not designed for brutal death metal distortion and if thats what you're after then buy something else. There arent enough of these things still around to have some metalhead sticking a square-wave pedal in front and claiming grail tone. I have learned a whole lot about using my volume pots on my guitar as gain controllers. The 2204 is very responsive to guitar volume changes. It is surprisingly bright even with a Les Paul and I often play with the presence quite high to round it out a bit.

This amp has been around since 1982. It still sounds amazing. Enough said. Obviously it needs a regular service and tube changes but besides that it is older than most of the guys I gig with and sounds better to! I cant find a backup so I gig without one. If it brokedown at a gig, I would probably be too distraught to play with a backup anyway.

I live in South Africa and so customer service is a bit ropey on most products. However, the Marshall agents here in SA are really helpful and have always been helpful and contactible via phone.

I have been playing for 11 years. My signal chain is Les Paul > TU2 > Crybaby > Dynacomp > Wampler Pinnacle 2 > Nova Delay > CE-2 > Deluxe Electric Mistress > Voodoo Labs Trem > Ernie Ball Volume > DD-3 > Hardwire RV-7 > JCM800. If my amp was stolen.....hmmm....I would have a memorial service and then either buy another if i could find one (fat chance) or buy a Vintage Modern. I love the tone and breadth of sound, I hate the weight of the thing. It's a lot to lug around every week. In my humble opinion, if it's all about native best tone, the 2204 slaughters the JCM900's, the tsl's, the dsl's and the JVM range. Only the Vintage Modern is comparable in terms of raw tone and dynamics.

Made in 1987, surprisingly versatile for my style - cover band from A-Z, 60/70/90/90/2000. It's a two channel 50w lead series head with reverb and effects loop. I've used the amp for several live gigs ranging from 50-500 people. We mic the amp, so I can only push it in larger and open door settings.

Utilize Customer LP's and Strats. Suits my musical style and tastes well. It's not a metal sound, but more for hard rock and below. I've read some reviews, my amp is VERY quiet, even at larger volumes. I mic the amp, so any down time between tunes is very quiet. I utilize Celestion G12-75 speakers in a closed and open back, very punchy, the clean never distorts with those speakers, but I can set the clean to do so as needed. Again thought, the distortion is not brutal.

Not had a problems gigging with it, but I do bring backup fuses and tubes, and a small backup amp based on the venue location.

n/a - take mine to a local amp tech, they're easy to find on these amps. In fact, when I tell them it's a JCM800, they seem eager to maintain on them.

Been playing for 30+ years, live for the last decade. I've owned Bogner (ecstacy 101b), Peavey Classic, Mesa (Maverick - still have), and other Marshall. I love this amp because its simple to use, and has a reliable sound - extremely simple to dial in. The effects loop is surprisingly good, does not sap the tone. I loved the Bogner, but this has the sound Bogner is tries to emulate. The Bogner had a more compressed sound, this amp is more open that the JCM900 and later marshalls. Feel free to contact me to discuss.

This is a 1982 2204 model that has been outfitted with 6550s. Straight forward; only six knobs to deal with. No effects loop. The only thing I've thought about doing is modding it so I could AB the low/high sensitivity inputs.

The main guitars I use with this amp are a Les Paul Classic and a Telecaster with a Hot Rails. I play mostly rock and metal. There are VERY under rated clean tones hidden in the low sensitivity output. The high sensitivity output gets a little buzzy when you run the gain at max, but I don't normally use that much gain. This amp shines when you run the gain just past half way with the master at about 4. I typically run the treble pretty low and the presence about half way up. Lots o' mids give this amp crunch to die for. The lows can get kind of tubby, so be careful at high settings.

She can be noisy in a club where the power isn't grounded, but in an ideal setting this beast rocks. ANYONE who says 50 watts isn't enough should go back to guitar school.

If it doesn't have enough gain for you, try boosting it or getting an attenuator. I've found the attenuator to retain the character of the amp whereas overdrives help with cut, harmonics and sustain.

This amp is fine in the fore mentioned ideal setting. If you are playing where the power isn't grounded, however, bring a spare amp or some spare HT fuses. You'll pop one almost guaranteed if the power isn't grounded or the venue can't supply enough juice for a band and a PA system.

Who cares? This amp is 26 years old. Do you REALLY think they'd service it if I called them? Luckily I have four local (and very reputable) techs to handle such things for me.

Upon reading this review, it doesn't look like I'm rating this amp too highly, however it is exactly what I wanted. It is what it is; a stripped down, classic sounding amp. I've owned a few Boogies, which have all sounded great, but had too many bells and whistles that went unused. If you want a good, classic, hard sound, find one of these. I know a local guy who even plays jazz through one of these bad boys and makes it sound good.

Keep in mind that this would be an excellent studio amp. You don't have to access sounds on the fly. You can really take time and dial in good sounds. This amp works well when boosted too. I've noticed that the fewer pedals you use, the better this amp sounds.

One last caution: be selective about what year you shop for. The older ones have more of a classic Marshall sound whereas the mid eighties models are a little more modern sounding. I've found you can boost the earlier models for a more modern sound but its harder to get a classic sound from the later models.

If this amp were stolen I'd look for another one. It is by far the easiest amp to dial in that I've owned. They are very mod friendly (although I chose to keep mine stock).

I bought this amp new in 1991, but not sure how long it had been in the music store. It is a 2204, 50 watts, and sits on a matching 1960A
4X12 speaker cabnet. Now, call me crazy, but I use it for all kinds of music. I work in a "bar band" and we play lots of covers, PLUS originals. We cover classic rock (ZZ Top, Skynyrd, G and R), Blues (SRV, Clapton), to all kinds of country. This amp does it all!
It has 2 channels, but I only use the "clean" channel, running through a digitech multi effects. Although it's only 50 watts, I've never had a power problem, normally running the volumn at the 9 o'clock position.

As for my guitars, I use a 1968 Fender Telecaster, 1986 Gibson Les Paul (both with stock pick-ups), a Fender SRV Statacaster, and a few other guitars. Gotta match the sound with the song...LOL. I have absolutely no complaints with the sound of the amp...it's bright when I want it, and those tubes give it the warmth it needs...even on country. The amp is not noisy at all, at least in my opinion. As for the distortion, it's pure Marshall.

Very dependable amp. I never have needed to use a backup except for a couple of times, but it wasn't the amp's fault. You MUST be "earthed", for it doesn't work well on an ungrounded circuit. Also, I blew the bottom 2 speakers at a party one night. I was using an early NADY wireless system outdoors and got some static...and blew the speakers. The only other work I've done on the head was to replace the tubes. I used Groove Tubes, and made it sound the same as brand new.

Only used warranty once, and it took quite a while, but they covered my speakers.

I have been playing for 35 years. I also own a tweed Peavey classic 50 that I like (all tube, Fender twin copy), but it just doesn't have that Marshall sound or warmth. This actually is the first Marshall that I ever played. The store owner was trying to sell me on a couple of Hiwatt amps, but I liked the sound of the Marshall better, even though it was 50 watts compared to the 100 watt Hiwatt amps.

features are simple and straight foward,the way a good amp should be
basic tone stacks were and always will be the best

sound quality contrary to a lot of hype that this amp can only produce one good sound is suprisingly versatile using the volume pot on the guitar and backing the pre amp volume off somewhat tone can be enhanced a heel of a lot with mods to the brite cap which can cause a thin sound at low volumes

this was a re issue amp and when i took delivery of it the choke was not bolted on!!! 12 months later the out put tranny blew
the amp was being used every day for about 2 hours
and was driving 2 8 ohm cabs
it was by no means working overtime
quality control issues need to be adressed

not good in my opinion
i could not raise a response from marshall what so ever!!!!!!!!!

i have been working as a proffessional muso for 30 years and played guitar for 45 years
before this amp i used mesa boogies because of their versatility
i will say that i love this amp barring the quality issues

1981 50 watt. This is a great amp. It is versatile enough even for the cover band circuit I have been using it it for the last 2 years. Everything from Anthrax to ZZ top. The Beatles to Yes. and even some country. the amp doesn't truly emulate tones very well, but it has enough tone to sound good in any application.
I have the vertical inputs. I only use the top one, the bright one.

My Effects: (phase90, ts-9, EB Volume, Line 6 delay modeler) it takes the tubescreamer wonderfully, I set the screamer's overdrive on 8. A lot of people turn the presence down low, I use it at 5, treble mid and bass around 5. Pre-amp at 7-8 and master at 3-4. It's really loud at 4 for my purposes, but that's when this amp starts to sing. I use a Fender American Stratocaster with Tex-Mex pickups in the neck and middle, and a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates in the bridge. It can sometimes be a little bright, but you can't say it doesn't cut through. I also use a Gibson Les Paul Standard with Burstbuckers. It's super meaty and compressed. I always run it through a 1960a 4X12 cab. I've been meaning to get a better cab or speakers but it hard to justify when it sounds great now.
It is a bit noisy especially with the single coil pickups with the pre on 8, the tubescreamer on and no noise gate. But I use a volume pedal to avoid icy stares from bandmates.

It is a dependable amp. I got it 2 years ago, and have used it for about 50 gigs. Nothing has ever gone wrong with it. When I bought it it had just been overhauled, and had the tubes all replaced. I transported it for hours in the back of a trailer, dropped it straight on the concrete with no cover, left it running over 24 hours. I have used it 10 or so times with no backup amp, but I wouldn't recommend it; it is still a tube amp and over 25 years old after all.

I only contacted Marshall once about another amp I have, and never received a reply. But maybe they never got the email, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt.

I've been playing guitar for 12 years. I have a 70's Park 2X12 100 watt combo. It's always a toss-up for which amp to bring to the gig, but usually the JCM-800 wins. If it were stolen I would try to replace it with the same amp or an older one. In my opinion it is the last great amp Marshall made. Maybe I'll get a nice '65 Fender Blackface someday, but other than that, I think I have THE amplifier.

It has all you really need, although this is kinda limited.

The JCM800's 1983 and before w/ vertical inputs sound amazing!!

Mine's from 1982, never really had problems w/ it.

I give it an 8 just because these things are getting more and more expensive. Although still amazing amp, and well worth the money.

Classic control layout, if you're reading this you know what the knobs are. Occasionally I run into the low gain input with a fuzz to see what the JCM can do with a ton of volume and not much drive working on an already-fuzzed-up signal. Answer: it can do a lot of cool tones working that way, but it always seems contrary to what the amp is really meant to do. I"m not going to rate this category because versatility is not what amps are supposed to do, at least not if they're really cool amps that I'd actually want to own.

Crunch crunch crunch. This thing lives and breathes rock and roll. I'm sure some of you can get it to sing real nice and pretty for your bluesy stuff, but for me it's just pure Marshall grind. With my Les Paul running burstbuckers (repros of classic 50's hb's) I can get a great sound for anything all the way up to Slayer levels of gain. Other people might make you think you need some crazy boutique amp, preamp mods, or hotter pu's to get that kind of sound, but it's right here as long as you get the power tubes working. I've got some very nice pedals (SIB varidrive, Monsterpiece fuzz) and my favorite sound I get from this amp is just running the guitar straight in. I sometimes find myself unsatisfied with the tone, then just yank the cord out of my pedalboard and run it right to the high-gain input on the amp and voila, beautiful dynamic sound. That basically sums up what this amp is all about: straight up heavy, but QUALITY heavy. If you want cookie monster vocals and way too much bass in the mix, this isn't for you. If you want the just-right heavy overdrive that brings out the best in your guitar, this is your amp. Responds to picking dynamics really well too.

Listen to Ian's parts on early Fugazi, that's the sound you'll be getting.

Owned it for four years. Once upon a time, I turned it one and saw a big flash from the back of the amp. It didn't make any sound or light up after that. Turns out it was catastrophic power tube failure, like blowing out the filament on a lightbulb. Had it retubed, and it hasn't even hiccoughed since then. Wish I could say the same for my Fender amps. Supposedly Hendrix used Fenders in the studio because he liked the sound, but was famous for using Marshalls since he used them on the road for their reliability. When an amp is simple and well-made, not a lot can go wrong.

No idea, wouldn't dream of bugging a company about something they built 25 years ago unless it's a nuclear reactor. I think there's liability attached to those things.

Been playing about 15 years now. Also own two SF fender amps, love them both. I can crank some serious rock and roll out of the fenders, but they can only offer an imitation of the sound I get out of the JCM. There's no replacement for displacement, and there's no replacement for good ol' fashioned Marshall tone.

I bought my amp back in the 80's, from a moron who needed the money quik, so I think I did a bargain... I bought the JCM-800 2204 with a 1960A cabinet for just 500 USD!!!
OK, it's very basic... That's a good thing. Very easy to handle.

Superb sound quality!!! I use it in combination with a Boss Super Overdrive SD-1. Screaming metal, dirty punk or subtile blues, the 2204 can handle it with charm!
I play a Gibson SG standard and a Fender Strat USA '79 and it sounds like a solid wall... Always using the high gain input, mostly with the preamp at 10, full bass, treble and mid at 12 o'clock, presence at 2 o'clock...
The distortion is the fattest, most natural distortion ever heard from an amp... I used to play with other guitar players with all kinds of amps, but my JCM blows them all away... And with a superb sound!!!

I play this amp for almost 20 years mow, and it served me at 100's of gigs... It has dropped (even while playing!!!), banged from left to right, and it still keeps on playing... MADE FOR LIFE...
After 15 years, I had to replace the tubes, but that's the only thing...

When I had to replace the tubes, I went to a pecialist in tube amps, in my hometown... And he does a superb job! At a very fair price!

As I mentioned, I play this amp for almost 20 years and I would'nt trade it for any other. If it was stolen, I would chase down the dumbass, and make eat him his own genitals...
I can't compare my 2204 with any other amp.
Only a VOX amp is my next purchase...
An JCM900 sounds too flat, less body. A Mesa is only muscle, no soul. And any other valve amps are just (bad) imitations...
Only the JCM-800 2204 has the true rock 'n roll soul and body!!!

Not many features but a good selection of tone-altering controls, including the high and low inputs presence, low, mid high, preamp volume and master volume. No opinion because there are not a myriad of features, but this is definitely not an amp I would want a ton of features on anyway. I get effects from boxes before going into the amp and have always loved the sound. Ohm switching on the back panel.

Through a Les Paul or other Gibson humbucker, you'll instantly recognize an AC/DC tone, which I think is one of the all-time best rock guitar sounds, though I like Judas Priest's sound but Glenn Tipton's and KK Downing's sounds are a bit heavier (more saturated) than Malcom and Angus. Very recognizable early Aerosmith tone(Adam's Apple, Walkin' the Dog) and early Van Halen as well, though Eddie has tone that is really hard to nail "out of the box" unless you have an Echoplex, waxed humbuckers in a strat, and can play the style, but just as importantly the NOTES, he does like a modern-day Mozart. That is just what the tone of the amp sounds like probably because these bands like use some variation of older Marshall.
Clean the amp can sound great. I like a Fender Super Reverb or Twin Reverb as a personal preference for clean amps, but the Marshall can do a nice one as well. No channel switching to get it, though. You need to plug into the low input and crank the pre down and turn the master up a bit to get it, but it can be found. I found an A/B box between my Super Reverb and this along with my stompbox array worked well when I used to play out live. A little bit of hiss when you drive it, sure, but nothing that cannot be worked around. Play an Am. Stratocaster, LP Std., '89 Jackson Custom Soloist for electrics.
All of them sound great through the Marshall. It's an '82 head and cab, bought it used in new condition in '84. I would never give up this amp for anything. The tone is the best to me.

I absolutely depend on it. It went out at a show in '91 due to power tube failure. They were the original tubes and had lasted from '84 until then. I play it intermittently sometimes just to jam, most often to record, since about '94 or so, and it has been stored for some of that time until recently. I think it needs a new set of power tubes at this point. Other than something like tubes, which are just a regular replacement item for tube amps, the light in the power switch has gone out (getting ready to replace it), and one of the fuse holder black plastic flanges on the back broke (getting a replacement at the same time as the switch). Neither affects operation, but they did happen. Surprisingly nothing more because the amp has a good history of use playing live. I'd have to give it a 10 because the power switch is really the only thing that has gone bad on this. Tubes don't count because they are a maintenance item and the fuse holder flange was inflicted by me during regular gigging 15 years ago.

Customer support I've found to be a little vague in answering questions in the US, as it is provide by the distributor, Korg. They recently responded to a question I had about original tube brands used in these via e-mail in two days and had an answer of "it is hard to say because so many different types of tubes were used in the same model of the same year, but it could have been Siemens or something similar." Not a terrible answer, at least they named one of the tubes that were used of the many, but I would have liked to know a little more in the response. Not a bad experience and somewhat helpful, just nowhere near impressive.

My first high school band was assembled in '83 and I've been playing ever since. I played live quite a bit from about '86-'94, and then lost interest in playing live. I record in a home studio now, but may do a weekend setup sometime in the future.
Everything about this amp I love, and I do believe it is one of the best rock guitar amps ever made. I haven't played the reissue 100 watt version 2203, but would expect it may be close in tone, but probably not exact when compared to an original 2203, the 2204s 100 watt brother.
If you want pure, rich, rock and roll tone reminiscent of Aerosmith(A Night in the Ruts, Toys in the Attic, you know the good, early Aerosmith before they broke up and reformed), Judas Priest(you'll have the tone basics, but need to overdrive your preamp more to get the saturation of priest...I have a BK Butler tube drive that works nicely), AD/DC (especially Back in Black and the earlier Bon Scott era albums) which are the first that come to my mind evertime I plug in, this is the amp.

I think it's an '89, (most of the inside is marked 12/88 & 1/89. It has the horizontal inputs. As stock, it is very limited and it truly is a single channel, the 2 inputs are actually electrically linked, so you can't even use an A/B switch box connected to both inputs. However, you can solve this simply with a soldering iron and a re-jig of the existing circuit, if u know what u r doing. The D.I. is awful and not worth bothering with, but it does mean you can swap the mono jack socket for a "sniff & break" jack, and wire in an FX loop which is unbelievably simple to do, and using a "Y" lead instead of 2 separate ones to connect my effects is tidier too. What I'm trying to say, is that although it's limited, it's very easy to modify into something a little more versatile, and there are a lot of circuits around on the web that show u how.

On idle, it's a tad noisy, mostly, hiss, but that doesn't matter because this thing doesn't do quiet, so once you're playing or recording you can't hear the hiss. The low input isn't really very clean, but it is very warm sounding. Single coils sound quite glassy through it. The high input is what it's really all about though. Proper crunch and very responsive. Hit your strings hard and it's metal, back off the volume a bit though and it's lovely and bluesy. I love both BB King and Megadeth, and it's fine for both, although the Megadeth sound needs just a tiny bit of a push, either from a pedal or a very hot humbucker, but that might be because it's running a bit cold (see reliability section). At high gain and loud volume settings it doesn't squeal either, it just sustains more. In the studio it also seems to have far more depth than anything else. Use an SM57 mic and it makes mincemeat out of my peavey 5150, despite that amp having a lot more gain. The secret is in the mids. Most metal amps sound better with the mid "scooped", but not this one, you meed to turn it up, (Kerry King has a mid boost on his).

I bought this amp in '91, 16 years ago. It has been gigged, it has been stored in damp cellars, it's been bashed and dropped, it has seen cigarette ash and beer in equal measure. It's been on the bus, the train, the car and the van over speed bumps, and although it rattles a bit, it is absolutely fine. In fact, (don't ask me how, it was some moron's fault), it actually fell off the train. That was several years ago and I haven't done a thing to it, and it's still fine! I haven't even changed the tubes since '92, which is why I think it's been running a little cold... but hey, why change it??

I bought it second hand, so there was no warranty. I've had it apart and looked inside, and there are no silicon chips or anything fancy, it's all very simple. There's a PCB and a lot of wire, but I think the whole thing was hand soldered. Apart from the valves (tubes) there isn't really anything to go wrong, and it's all solidly mounted. I have approached Marshall for advice when modifying it. Naturally they don't recommend it unless you're a qualified technician, which I am, but they were nothing but helpful and friendly, so a definite thumbs up there. Lastly, they're British, and as I am and I live here, by American standards, they are only a short drive away from me :-)

I have been playing nearly 20 years, and have always had at least 1 Marshall. I have tried the JCM900, the valvestates, the JVM's. Mode 4 etc. etc. I've tried out other makes too. The only reason I would ever consider playing any solid state amp is because of my bad back, (probably from lugging the JCM around all these years). No one would steal it, (last time I was burgled they dumped it because it was too heavy). I also own a peavey 5150, and although that's so much more versatile, with 2 channels, an FX loop, more responsive EQ etc. the less "full on" sounds just don't cut it, the Marshall sounds great at any gain, and where it really wins hands down, is that it's just so responsive to your playing dynamics. There are other makes, but if you want to nail that "classic" sound, this is it.

My 800 was made in June 1986. Single channel. I play in a metal band that does classic '80s sounding riffs ala maiden, priest, slayer. This amp delivers what I need. Don't buy this amp if you want clean sounds, because you can't do it!!

I play a gibson V, with the standard pickups, trough a ts-808 reissue, with it's output level cranked and the drive knob at about 35-40%. I am in love with this tone. I used to use a Rat instead of the ts-808, and that was okay as well, but my current setup...damn.

I have the amp professionally retubed about one a year, and it has never let me down. Except one time it blew a fuse at a gig, that kind of pissed me off, but now I carry back-up fuses. I would gig without a backup, but going on the road, bring a back up, because you never know.

never dealt with them. My amp tech says this amp is the last good marshall, and it is easy for him to work on.

I've been playing for 15 years, and I've owned a '74 Fender Dual Showman, '98 JCM 900, and assorted practice amps. The JCM 800 is by far my favorite amp...ever. If someone stole this amp from me, I would track them down and feed them poison dog crap, and the rip their head off and shove it up their ass. If that didn't work out, I would just buy another one.

sometimes i wish it had an effects loop.

Same as the rest....Just the basics with a useless DI on the back. On it's own.......Way to Loud and a Little Buzzy.

The sounds of ROCK -N- ROLL History; Past, Present and Future. I purchased it off ebay and had it sent to Voodoo Amps for servicing. It needed a cap job and a few points were cold. I also had a Post Phase Master Volume added in the DI jack on the back. Of course, we added new tubes and it runds dead quite ($300.00 Spent including shipping). On it's own the sound is Amazing!! Thick, raunchy Marshall tone is whatthis thing does and it just KILLS!! With the Master on the back I get even more of a range of tones and w/out any pedals I can get a great Stcky Finger Stones feel, Sabbath, Van Halen, G-n-R. etc. I run a ToneBone HB out front and it goes insane from Tool, to Metallica, etc. The biggest difference for me is that the pick attack can change the tone immediately, so by using the volume knob on the guitar and my pick attack I can pull all sorts of tones. Excellent depth and feel and you can knock down walls with this Bitch open up. I prefere to use the Post Phase master on the back to get in a general volume range and than I use the basic knobs on the front to adjust the flavor and it's classic Eddie Van Hallen!!!!!

Have your amp checked out becuase caps dry out and an ampo will sound like shit. Many people say it's vintage and original and that can mean heavilu used and not set up as designed. Check out Voodoo Amps for the best techs in the business!!

This amp now, should last another 10 years w/out major servicing umless something happens.

Today, Marshall production amps suck and the service is less than that!!

For Ass kicking Matshall tones you can't go wrong. On it's own, it's way to loud and little buzzy with the basic pre and master knobs. Pre phase masters just overload the small 12ax7 phase tube and sound fizzy or buzzy IMO. The post ohase master on the back was a must for me and noe I can puol thick, creamy Marshall crunch at lower volumes for home studio recording and it records lkike a small champ. I run a Genz Benz 2x12 and mic the cab with a SM57-GT Brick-Audio interface-Mac Garageband. I can be set up in minutes and this amp sounds better RECORDED than A SLO100, Fargen Bastage, Fender Prosonic or Matchless head. Classic Cream, Hendrix, Zep and all the other Great players that played a Marshall knew whatthey were doing.

Here's a useful technique for using this legendary amp in small to medium sized venues (150 - 500 people).

Purchase a Variac (usually around $80 on Ebay) in order to knock the voltage down to around 80-90 volts.

Out of the speaker output, use an attenuator (such as the THD or Weber).

On the front end of the amp, an SD-1 pedal or other boost effect to thicken up your tone as desired (Java Boost by Keeley is another sweet choice)

The only downside is that there won't be much of a clean sound, but for that "Brown Sound", this is a very cool method.

1986 50W 2204 JCM 800 with horizontal input jacks. Here is the deal, this amp does one thing better than any amp you have ever played ... but it will only do that one thing. Clean is ok, but if you are looking at this amp you do not want a clean sound. There is not much headroom on the clead side. 2-inputs, I only use one, the other is rather useless in my opinion. I use this amp in my makeshift "home studio". It has more than enough power to do anything I ask of it. In an effort to give a detailed and accurate evaluation of this amp I am scoring it low on the "features" rating. Because, well, it doesn't have many features there is no reverb, or channel switching. But if you want monster gain and gourgeous tone it does that better than anything I have ever played through.

I run a Gibson SG (57 Classic Bridge, 57 Classic plus Neck) as well as a Gibson Flying V (496R Neck, 500T Bridge). I really feel that you need humbuckers to really drive this amp, I have played a Strat through it but the single coils really do not push this amp hard enough for my personal taste.

I play in an original rock/metal band but I believe this amp can cover a variety of different music styles. Punk, Rock, Metal, Blues, etc ... I am not trying to tell you what to do with it. But this thing is a serious amp ... play it for yourself, you will see what I mean. In my opinion when you die instead of the angels playing harps in stuff in heaven, they will be playing an SG through a JCM 800.

In any event this amp is it, it is the F**cking bees knees! Oh, one more thing, you have to crank this bad boy up. If you run it at low volumes it can sound kinda fuzzy. There is a sweet spot between 5 an 6 on the master volume (you will know when you hit it). You can not play this amp quietly ... a bunch of guys will recommend Power Brakes or Hot Plates (Attenuators). IMHO they will cause more harm than good, DO NOT buy this if you DON'T want to PLAY LOUD.

Yes, I can depend on it. However, I would never play a show without a back-up, but that is just me. I have had the amp re-tubed and had the bias set, but that is about it. This thing is 21 years old and built like a tank.

Never had to use it.

I have been playing guitar for 13 years now. I own and have owned many amps. I would buy and sell on ebay and craigslist searching for the holy grail of tone. I have owned Fender amps, Hughes and Kettner amps, just recenlty a Vox re-issue AC 30 cc2x12, but this Marshall takes the cake. This will continue to be my baby for years and years to come. If it where stolen and or lost I would by another immediately. I love the fact that it is so easy to use. There is not 45 buttons and switches on this thing there is Presence, Bass, Middle, Treble, Master Volume and Pre-Amp Volume. That is it, and in my opinion that is how it should be.

This review is for my 1986 Marshall JCM 2204 50watt head and Marshall 1960ax 4x12 cab loaded with celestian greenback 25watt speakers. It was a matching 1/2 stack when I bought it in 1995.
It really is a bare bones kind of "one trick pony", however the one trick it does has become synonymus with RnR. It can make ANY guitar player sound like jimmy H for the first 4 bars of any blues jam in a minor key... guar-on-teed!!! After that of course you're on your own. Anyway, this monster rocks with thick harmonics and sustain that is only achieved from this killer amp. Totally different tone than Boogy, Vox, Fender or any of the "boutique" handwired amps like Matchless, Rivera, Topcat and a 100 other newbie companies. This amp actually wrote a chapter or two in the book that the newer companies are trying to emulate. It has GrooveTube EL34's. I heard that some are fitted with 6550's but never A/B'd the tonal difference although people do swear by the difference between the tubes. At %50 bucks for duet I have not replaced them in awhile but they still sound strong and articulate.
Been gigging with this (unbelievably heavy and cumbersome) rig for 10+ years now (approx 50 shows/year) and has created minimal hassle due to "down" time. Had to replace the filter caps and the power transformer (drake) was replaced about 7 years ago. Other than replacing tubes and cleaning with CRC it has been a cheap date.

Wicked sustain, crunch, growl, harmonics, controled feedback, thick and angry. AC/DC, Aerosmith, G&R's, VanHalen, SRV. Although I've heard David Grissom play a PRS through the same amp and it had a totally different feel to the sound... Marshall Tucker, Skynard or 38 special kind of southern rock sound. The sound of this amp is truely legendary.

10+ years and she's in better condition than I am and I'm sure worth alot more cash!

never dealt with them.

1970's and early 80's with vertical outputs are worth more resale value than the later 80's with horizontal Outs however ALL of the JCM800's kick serious butt and they just keep getting more popular decade after decade.

This one is from 1988. All tube, one channel. I play heavy metal, and it's versatile enough for my style. You can't switch between a million sounds, but it can do most sounds real good. When playing with my band, I use the low gain input for clean sounds, and throw a Boss Metal Zone in front for the kickass higain :) In our VERY LITTLE rehearsal room, it kicks severe ass on half volume, with a shitty AVT 4x12 cab. I'll be buying a 1960A in two weeks, guess I'll have to turn the volume down then ;)

Like I said, this amp can do most sounds, except for ultra brutal higain. Unless you have some really hot pickups and maybe a booster. Kerry King actually does that with an amp like this, I think :)

My main guitar is a '94 Fender Stratocaster with a SD Hot Rails at the bridge. Sounds really killer. I also have an Epiphone LP100, which also sounds good, but the pickups aren't that good. The amp is not noisy at all, not even with full gain at very high volumes.

Like everyone says, it's built like a tank. Not much more to say :) I don't think it ever will break down.

Don't know :)

Playing for 15 years. At home, I have a Fender Princeton Chorus, which I rarely use. But it's an OK amp. Our rehearsal room is in a really safe place, so I guess it won't be stolen. If that happens, I'd definitely get another one!

1984 2004 JCM800 50 watt MKI (mint condition).

All tube, brownish grill cloth (perhaps faded to brown?), no effects loop, weights 40lbs approx, has two horizontal inputs (tend to break easier than the vertical inputs, I hear).

bought it just a few years back on a whim. I've always been a JPM player(I still own a 71 Super Bass 100, '73 Super Lead 100, '78 MKII 50 watt and a '79 MKII 50 watt.)

Power out the wazoo! The loudest 50 watts on the planet!

Installed new caps...

Is it versitile? From Hendrix to Tool. Does every kind of style I play. Rock, Metal and Grunge!

Using a 2000 Fender American Series Stratocaster(with Dimarzio YJM very low output pickups) straight into the high input of the JCM with an old Marshall 4x12 slant with 65 and 50 watt speakers....the sound I get is totally awesome. I see why James Marshall reissued these monsters.
I have been playing with a rather loud drummer at his house with it and so volume setting have been rather loud (4 on the master volume and 10 on the preamp volume). Ya, a boost pedal is needed for wild soloing but bluesy solos are possible without a boost. Chord crunch and simple lower register single note hooks are a jaw dropping experience. What I heard was so very classic, first of all. Scorpions, Nugent, AC/DC, van Halen, Priest, Ratt, LA Guns, Tool, and more of course, is what the JCM reminded me of.
I think a mid or top boost pedal would take me right into Slashes tone. Oh and Tool, I know Tool originally used a 1975 Super Bass head but the JCM does the job perfectly.
Still, just because it sounds like all these bands is not all that important. What is, is like the definition, the smallest nuances of my playing have never been easier to hear over booming drumming. Single note runs sustain forever yet you can hear the wood of the guitar in them.
Truly a tube amp, harmonics are jumping out everywhere. Fat, meaty, my low E sounds like a grand piano's low string.
This amp is also loud! Louder than my 100 watters! I think it did structual damage to my friends home. The walls were shaking!
The only problem with this amp is that it's kinda noisy when not playing. Ya, it's over 20 years old and I'm sure there's a cap to replace or something but it's still annoying and without an effects loop a noise gate is not going to fix it.

Hendrix used Marshalls on the road instead of Fenders because they held up better. That's according to a book written about Jimi's life writtin back in the 70's.

I feel it's more solid and practical than my 70's models.

I spoke to James Marshall at the Namm show in Anaheim California (maybe LA...it was a long time ago) back in the lare 80's and he was a very humble fellow. He gave me some Marshall coasters for my coffe table even!
I told him to reissue the plexi's and low and behold he did! Is that customer support?
Other than that I have always relied on Marshall gurus to service my amps.

I've been a Marshall owner since 1980. I must of gone thru 20 heads or so and maybe 10 4x12 cabinets.
I've been playing lead guitar since 1975. I love classic rock, angry metal and grunge. I also dig Tool (whatever they are).

I love the balls this Marshall has. The earth shakes with the Master up to just 4.

I hate the lack of an effects loop and the noisy preamp section.

If it got stolen....I don't know...if I could find another without the noise...YES!

I'm comparing this head to a multitude of other Marshall heads, the Crate Power Block, an old Series 2 G-K 250 ML (really an awesome head but not as loud or ballsey as the JCM) and a B-52 100 watt( no soul ).

Sure beats the JTM45 reissues in all areas except weight!

BIG BIG BIG...it's the Grand Piano of guitar amplifiers!

Well where to start.. This is a freshly built one. Yeah sorry but I don't have a lot of money so I kinda built this one myself. I kept myself entirely to the schematics but changed the design of the amp. Anyways it got the same features. Gain, Low, Mid, High, volume, presence, Stanby, Power. Offcourse it has the usual two channels + the one I add myself. Low input, High input and the ultra. Though no matter what you do. you get the same sound every time. The equalizer is rather a toy then a real tool but.... read on!

OVERRATED??!! How has dared to say that this amp is overrated!
I've only played crappy amps before this and even tried a mesa boogie once. And somehow it was all the same. Crappy buzzy distortion. I really thought it was me or my guitar. When I turned this amp on I was really dissapointed at first. I never heard this type of distortion before (yeah the clean was clean but I don't care about clean). So a friend of mine said to get rid of the svetlana pretubes and fit in a few jj's. And before I knew it I was in tonal heaven. The high channel sounds really clear. Within one hour I learned everything about tone (never heard tone before not even on the expensive amps in store, allright allright the engl thunder really rocks), dynamics, sustain (thats right), punch and not to mention BALLS!! Turn this thing loud and your windows start shaking. Now I love old skool metal like malmsteen and van halen but this amp doesn't have enough gain for that so I punched in an extra hole sticked a tube in and voila.. All the gain and sustain, harmonics a guitar player ever wants.
At first I plugged this amp into a crappy 6,5" ibanez power jam speaker cabinet and I had very good tone. Now it goes into (yeah guess again) my homemade 2x12 cabinet fitted with jensen c12q. It gets even more freakin amazing!! Remember people, good speakers are 50% of your tone.
I have never had the chance to turn the volume up to 5 or higher but I hear from many people that there is a sweet spot out there in the unknown void called power amp distortion. Without the poweramp distortion it allready sounds amazing.
What I also experienced for the first time is the way the sound changes when you turn the knobs and switches. I never have to turn knobs on the amp again.
About noise. Yep its not noisy, you can hear the 50hz hum from the heaters and the ultra channel picks up the noise from my badly shielded guitar. NOW HERE IS A BIG HINT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. Jim Marshall intentionaly left the 20k resistor out of the cap. I don't care about the 0.00001 db of hum If I have to give away all the biautifull tone this amp has away!! Placing that 20k resistor will make you have big sorry regrets SO DON'T DO IT. No matter what the people say. And yes it is worth it to add an extra tube just don't turn the pre gain to high or you start sounding like transistor. srry no 10 for this amp because the perfect amp does not exsist. I wonder when they will invent such a biautifull thing?

I'm not gonna rate this one since I built this thing myself. I did use very high quality electronics though and I play 3 hours a day sometimes on pretty high volumes (till the neighbours start knockin on the walls). What I though can say is that the way the amp has been designed, you can nearly trust your life to it. No microchips that can fail on you. No crappy parts in the poweramp. All values look cool and designed well within spec. The powertranny (dagnall PTX marshall 50) seems to get hot but I guess it is his job to do that. I would gig with this thing for sure all the other things I've ever used before are a plain joke. This thing turns all the other amps into toys. I'm still not to convinient about the pots though, they are made of cheap plastic. I don't like plastic ;)

AHAHAHHAHHAHAHAH "yes sir can I help you" "Yeah I downloaded a schematic and it says marshall, No my amp has died and you are responsible because it was badly designed" "yeah sure bring it over and well fix it + well pay all the mods required to make you even more pleased".
No that is not going to happen not even in the wildest dreams. I will have to rely on myself when this thing fries.

Overall this amp was worth spending money and effort for. Everyone has said the same to me "hey man you sound like a pro". And I really do so right now. The only thing that this thing cannot deliver is modern distortion and certainly not that oversaturated black metal nu metal junk distortion. But if you are into old skool metal ac/dc and even guns and roses or metallica. This amp can deliver that tone. AND NO!! you will not nail the tone. I mention metallica here but it doesn't sound like but it has the sound to play it and impress. If you play stuff like jimmi hendrix totally go for it, you won't be sorry. I play guitar for allready 11 years right now so I may say I know what I am talking about. Wan't to have huge amounts of sustain and gain just slam in a overdrive pedal in front or trow in an extra tube. My search for tone has come to an rest right now because I really love my amp (ANd it is mine for sure). If it gets stolen... Let's say it like this I will form an large organisation and start hunting the asshole down until I get my baby back and people will die for it. He may take my valbee and my kustom kga-10. I was too generous when I rated those two. I feel like a moron for saying that the valbee has tube sound because it has spungy crappy sad op amp generated distortion. You don't believe me, open it up and take a look inside. Now one last thing. Somebody here mentioned that the 2204 has solid state amplification. Well take a look at the original marshall schematics again moron the only solid state that you will find are the diodes that create the power supply. The jcm-800 2204 is all tube to the end!! If you want to play guitar for real go get yourself one of these or something like an orange, fender, ampeg, engl, mesa but make sure you get an acient design because the new age amps are all made to play nU METAL wich is no music to my ears. No 10 the path to the perfect tone lies within the eternal search. It's a way of life.

I bought this amp back in 1984 and sold (near enough gave away) ten years later, so this reveiw is looking back thru the mists of time. As for features very basic and easy to use compaired to modern gear. My six year old could use it! Two input sockets one high sensitivity and the other low, pre-amp vol, master vol, treble, middle, bass eq controls and presence control plus on/off and standby swithes. Thinking back reverb wold have been nice.

As I recall with the pre-amp vol set to max. The distortion was a little weak for the style of music i was playing at the time. Which was 80's rock, eg Ozzy and Van Halen, but a tube screamer sorted that out. However it would have been/still great for classic rock and blues which is what I play now I would love to be able to try a Les Paul thru this now! Oh yes this amp was bone crushingly loud. I never got a chance wind it up past 4, if ever a amp needed a powerbreak this is it.

Built like a Norman castle and would probaly last as long. These things can really take abuse, use to just sling it in the back of a car without care and it would just keep working. The only kid glove treatment it would get was at least 5 minutes warm up and 5 minutes cool down and thats it.

Never had to use them - is that a good thing.

As I said at the begining this is a retrospective review and should be taken in that context. I have been playing on and off for 32 years as an amuture but i did gig this amp few times. As for guitars at the time i was playing super strats as was everyone else. would I buy another? The simple answer is no, because i've no need or room for anthing that big. Still a great amp though.

No B.S. That's what this amp has. It's got everything you need to rock and nothing you don't.

I've owned it for about a year now. Mine's one of the horizontal input models, made in 1989. It has EL34s.

I'm giving this thing a 10 not because it has a lot of features, but because it has the right amount of features for an amp of it's style. If they threw on another channel or an effects loop, I wouldn't want it. It's very nice not having a footswitch. When I want to use four channels I've got my Mesa Roadster.

Here is the formula for amazing tone:
Gibson Les Paul (or anything that sounds big and thick) -> MXR ZW-44 (or any overdrive you like, I bet a Bad Monkey would sound pretty cool with this amp) -> Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster (level ALL the way up) -> the LOW input of the JCM800. The Pickup Booster into the low input is the secret weapon that makes all the difference.

Do that and you'll have rich, screaming tone that doesn't sound thin and squeaky like the high input does. Trust me, nothing compares to this tone except maybe some of the older Marshalls out there or the new handwired ones.

This amp is getting a 10 for tone because it's irreplacably good sounding and sounds like YOU do when you play through it. If you really know how to play electric guitar, you can make this amp sound great. If you suck, it's going to sound pretty bad. It's as versatile sounding as your playing is and is 100% British flavor.

I once accidentally plugged my speaker cab into the D.I. input. Yes, it was dumb of me. I blew a power tube and the fuse. I was hoping the amp would be stronger (my Mesa amps can handle that and tons more).

Aside from that, there's not a whole lot that can go wrong with this thing. It's from 1989 and it's still in near-mint condition.

I can only imagine Marshall would have terrible customer service, but I don't know first hand.

I've been playing for 6 years. I've owned plenty of amps and currently own a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Roadster and a Mesa/Boogie F-50 combo. This JCM800 replaced my Peavey 5150 before I bought the Mesas. I use a Gibson Les Paul (Duncan JB and Jazz pickups) and a couple other guitars, but when I play this thing I use the Gibson cause it's got the magic.

I would only ever get rid of this amp to buy a better Marshall. I'd love a '78 JMP2203 or a handwired plexi. Probably someday...

Feel free to email me with questions.

I have owned this Amp since 1980 bought it brand new for $995 that was allot of money in those days....and it still plays like the first day i bought it.It can conqur any situation or stlye of music and is second to none...the finest amp ever built by man imo.It has all the buttons a good player needs and none of the ones yoiu dont.

What can i say about a legend like this the creammy sound just keeps comming as the years roll buy...i am using this amp for recording now and it still blows any of my new amps off the map.Buy the way always use aMarshall cabinet with this head others just will not cut it.

Its been with me since i wa s18 and has toured with bands gotten bounced around frozen in the back of our gig mobile and has never complained...the heater valve wnt last year and i had Marhall fix it thats the only thing ever!

have only dealt once with them

Been playing over 25 years and i am playing more now than i ever have in the past and my Marshall is still right in there sounding phenom.If i lost it idon't know what i would do to find one in my shape would be around 6 grand, but with the reissues i guess you could come close......i honestly feel sorry for anyone that has never had a chance to own an tube amp as good as this one "BUILT FOR LIFE"

ok here we go..my little red monster was born in 1984..red tolex excellent condition i bought it used on ebay..the only modification is a parallel loop i think that the 2204 is the definition for the rock amp...no features only 6 knobs to play with the rest my friends is on your hands...let;s see....

i'm in 4 piece band and we play hard rock funk in the style of GLENN HUGHES music.the band called 4BITTEN and we play at least 6 gigs in a month here in greece i have two guitars a fender american standard and a jem blue floral pattern...the amp sounds fucking great with both of them...i can play a variety of songs covering all the 70's 80's and 90's i strongly reccoment the thd hotplate cause this beast is freaking loud with the hotplate my band mates love me my soundman love me....and the crowd in front of the stage.the amp isn't noise at all with hotplate i play it with the master at 5 and gain in 7.5 and sounds fantastic the sound is tearing you apart you want to play more and more and more.....i use it only with a morley wah a ts9 a phase 90 mxr chorus and dd6 the clean channel stays clean in higher volumes and you can get this srv page clean tones
excellent i play it through a 2x12 mesa boogie rectifier cabinet with V30'S excellent

this beast is built like a tank no problem i gig also with a mesa boogie rectoverb 50 w head as a back up so no problem

i play guitar since iwas a 14 years old kid and i'm now 27 i'm a professional musician and my all life is to play in front of lived crowds with my band i used to have an engl screamer 50 combo an ashdown fallen angel head the mesa rectoverb and now my new baby 2204 marshall i wrote this review to tell everybody that if you like true tone with balls get one of this heads but your hands must play cause this amp will not cover your shity playing also this head is LOUD so check it also with a thd hotplate the tones that can give you a 2204 head is the ones that you have in your head from all this records from the 80's try it

1984 50 watt horizontal inputs. This amps is very versatile considering it is only one channel and no reverb, if you tweak the EQ right with different guitars,pickups, and effects combinations you can get about any tone out of it, minus the shimmering fender clean, or some crazy hi gain, distortion. That sounds like poo anyways. I usually play it with american teles and strats straight through and i find the versatility is in how you play your instrument, not boutique gadgets. I just wish this amp had an effects loop, every once in a while i play with chorus and delay and it would be nice to loop it. I use this amp everywhere, its loud enough for anything. I play through a 4x12 cab with only 2 30 watt celestion copies. Plenty loud and a lot of low end.

I use an american telecaster and an american stratocaster, all single standard single coils. Styles range mostly in blues and rock. The blues tone is amazing, if you set it up right. Real edgy glassy tube in your face tone with the strat and a warm ballsy tone with a tele. This amp is very quiet, I found with this amp it sounds best with heavy strings and the high end scooped, especially on the tele. I play with 13 gauge strings and the difference is amazing.

Amazing, never had a problem with it and if it did, its relatively easy to work on. And easily modded as well

Never called them, but wouldnt depend on any foreing speaking typist on the other end of a support line. I would go to the local amp tech.

This is the best amp in the world. I have heard a just about every amp out there, If you want clean, get a fender, if you want dirty, get a marshall, if you want something in between, get the JCM 800, if you want both, get a fender and a marshall. These two are all you will ever need, everything else is just an imitation of an overkill boutique flash. I wouldnt care if I saw hendrix himself playing a line 6, I wouldnt respect him as a guitarist. Line 6 sucks! Purist know where its at Marshall is the best! Hands down, fender is number 2 everything else just sucks, save your time, money and headaches! and if anyone ever reads this and wants to get rid of any JCM 800, email me, I will buy it.

Made in 1986-just bought it used.Not a lot of features and that's the way I like it -UH huh-UH huh.
Not alot of circuits to filter all the harmonics out of the amp.
Big Drake transformers that give this amp it's rich ballsy sound.
EL34 Ruby tubes suited for rock and blues.
The eq knobs actually adjust the tone noticalbly to go with the mood you want to exoress.

Strats ,Teles,Les Pauls -single coils and hums.Strats will give you the Hendrix sound and Les pauls will give you the Beck -Zeppilin sound .
This amp is so quiet I can't tell it's on when idling.
This is my third Marshall and I've kept them all-the huge transformers and filter caps give this amp some serious kick ass sounds.

It's getting on in age but my tech says this beast has lots of life left and is in great shape.
It gets a nine because anything is possible

Warranty is long gone but I have a great tech and he goes through my amps very thoroughly.

MArshall is one of the corner stones of modern rock and roll so unless you have your head in the sand you have to own at least one ,even if you have the higher end boutiques -nothing sounds like a Marshall like a Marshall!
I've been looking DR Z,Soldano,Mesa Rects,Reissue this and that -but you know this is not a reissue and at the price I paid is a severe bargain-they are getting harder and harder to find.

This 2204 with horizontal inputs is dated March 17, 1986. I bought it new (along with a 4x10 1960 cabinet) shortly after that, and I've had it ever since. We all know the features, so I won't repeat them here. I've played several different styles of music, including metal (in the '80s), sort of Austin-style blues-influenced rock in the '90s, and just mess around with it these days. It was a little heavy for the Austin stuff, but I got by.

I started with a Gibson Les Paul Custom -- it sounded really good with that. Later, I went to one of the new Ibanez RG550's - I had to work hard to get that sound right, ultimatley dropping EMGs into the guitar. I used an Ibanez Tube Screamer pedal for metal stuff, and it sounded *kick ass*. Later, I used a Charvel Surfcaster, which was really a mismatch, but worked OK. Now I also use a Gibson SG Supreme. I've never used the clean channel much. The distortion channel is great, but needs assistance for a real metal crunch. The amp is a little heavy on treble and light on bass, but that can be remedied with the tone knobs. Altogether, the sound is really good. It is *loud* -- I rarely have ever been in a situation where I could turn it up to 3 or 4.

I once looked out the back of a pickup truck window on the way to a gig and saw the 2204 head fly from right behind the cab and slam against the back. Proceeded on the to the gig and played for hours. It's been bashed around dropped, etc., and I've never had a problem with it -- never needed a repair.

I have never dealt with the company, and, like I mentioned above, never needed a repair. It is easy to find people who say they can work on these.

I've been playing for 21 years, almost all of it with this amp. I had to take out a loan to buy it (with the cabinet, the price was >$1200 1986 dollars, which was a lot for a 17 year old), but based on my research it was the only thing to buy at the time -- I think I was right. I've had a few small practice amps (like a VOX AD15VT now that's pretty cool), but this has always been my workhorse - never gigged without it. At different times, I've wished it had a certain feature or other, but ultimately I don't think I'd change a thing. It has always sounded great and been extremely solid -- *never* flaked out. It is heavy and bulky, and sometimes I wished it was lighter, but that really shouldn't be a consideration.

Hecho en 1989 este equipo es lo mas versatil que escuche en toda mi vida (por lo menos para mi).En mi banda manejamos un audio muy moderno desde Nu metal hasta pop metal y por mi cuenta soy amante del blues y el equipo responde a la perfeccion en ambos extremos.
El equipo me parece q esta perfecto cmoo esta , muy sencillo y con una infinidad de sonidos.
La entrada high permite conseguir sonidos saturados de pre de increible calidad , sobre todo sumando algun drive como ser un rat o un ts-9.
La entrada low junto con una distorsion (en mi caso un RAT 2) puede llegar a niveles de distoriosn increibles dandonos la posibilidad de "switchear" entre un "canal limpio" (drive off) o uno sucio (drive on).

Mi set up esta conformado por 2 Les paul.
La primera es una samick artist series con dos mics di marzio ; un "tone zone" y un "humbucker from hell".
La segunda es un Gibson Les paul estudio deluxe.
Con ambas guitarras el equipo repsonde increiblemente tanto en sonidos sucios como limpios (y todo lo que se les pueda ocurrir en el medio).
Es un poco ruidos sobre todo si sumamos muchos efectos en la cadena desde la guitarra , pero nada q no tape el volumen de esta bestia o un noise supressor en su defecto.
LAS DISTORSIONES Q SE PUEDEN CONSEGUIR DE ESTE EQUIO CON LA AYUDA DE UN DRIVE SON INCREIBLEMENTE BRUTALES!

CONFIO 100% EN CUALQUEIR COSA Q TENGA LA FIRMA DE JIM MARSHALL POR ALGO SON LOS MEJORES EQUIPOS HACE DECADAS.
Jamas tuve un problema con el equipo.

Tengo este equipo hace algunos mese y lo busque durante 2 a?os , ara cualquier persona q viva en Argentina sabra entender lo dificil (por no decir imposible) q es conseguir este equipo y este modelo (sobre todo de 50 w y con volumen de pre-amp).
Eh probado soldanos , mesa boogies , vht , incluso otros marshall , pero nada puede superar al 800!!!!!.
Si me lo robaran o se me ropmiera compraria otro sin dudarlo.

My JCM was madet in 1987 , and its built like a tank - never had any problems ... It's definitely versatile enough for me , as i use one distorted sound - i play hardcore , no need for clean channel ... You don't have 30 channels etc , but the sounds you get from this 800 are the sounds you need , in many music styles , so i think it's verstatile enough ...There is one channel , you can choose low or high input , which is like clean and distorted channel ...50 watts , tube ,not modded 2204's have six knobs - presence , bass , middle , high , master volume , gain - there is also one more knob on the back of my 800 added , it's the same thing as resonance in 5150 - something like low end control on the poweramp , and this is the only mod on my 2204 ... Never heard louder amp , it's rather impossible to get past 9 o clock of master volume and be able to still hear the drummer , the other thing is that it's getting louder to 12 o clock , and then its still the same volume level , but no one will ever need to play this loud , it just kills - definitely enough power ...

I use ibanez sz320 with emg81 bridge pickup, and epiphone les paul custom with gibson bridge pickup - i use mostly ibanez , as epi needs some repairs ... It suits my style perfectly , as i said i play hardcore , i use only one channel , so its almost perfect for me - but there is not enough gain , i mean i can play on the 800 alone and it sounds great , but i just prefer some more gain - so i boost the dirty channel with mxr kfk-1 eq ... i add some frequencies and gain/volume on the mxr , and it sounds just awesome ... i was using ibanez ts9 to boost gain , but i think that mxr eq sounds better - i can get clean boost adding just volume/gain on the kfk-1 , or add some frequencies , which makes the great sounding 2204 sound even better ... my settins on marshall are - presence - 2 o clock , bass full , middle - 12 o clock , treble - 12 o clock , master volume mostly around 8-9 o clock , gain around 3 o clock , mod resonance full , and i add some stuff on the eq , i don't remember settings now ... it produces some noise when the eq is on , but i don't care about it too much... some days ago i borrowed my 800 to studio , and i was playing rehearsal on my friends dual recto 3 channel - and it was ok - second guitarist was playing on the 800 2204 ... on the next rehearsal we were playing on one guitar , so i took the recto , but there was something wrong - after some minutes i changed amp to 2204 - and the sound was awesome , even without the gain boost ... i'm not saying that recto is a bad amp - for metal it's great , but i just prefer 800's for my style - it's more musical somehow ... distortion can be brutal ,when you boost it - alone there will be not enough gain for modern high gain music - and the best thing with marshalls is that you will hear them on stage etc - some amps may sound great when you play without the band , but in the band you just can't hear them , haha - that's not going to happen when you play marshall ...

i never use backup , i never had any problems with my marshall - and it was built in 87 , i guess its rather hard to break it - but shit happens as we all know , the good thing is that it's rather easy to repair

when i bought it , the sound was terrible , because of some ugly mods - i took the amp to my friend , amp tech , and now the amp is like he was built originally + one mod - resonance od the poweramp ... never dealt with marshall company

i am guitar player for about 13 years , i don't own many gear ... if it was stolen or lost , i would definitely get another single channel 800 ... i played some amps like peavey 5150 , mesa recto , mesa triaxis/2:90 , engl 620 and 530 preamps + mesa 50/50 poweramps, soldano sp77 preamp + mesa 50/50 poweramp , marshalls jcm900 etc - but i think single channel jcm800 mk2 is the best one for me , the sound i get from 2204 boosted with mxr equalizer is awesome - aggresive , musical and cuts through the mix ...

'86 Marshall 2204. 6550 power tubes that sound better than the EL34s, IMHO. Punchier tone with more top and bottom end (not squishy like some EL34s). Features? 6 freakin' knobs. It's simplicity at it's finest. Plenty of power from bedrooms to stadiums and anywhere in-between.

The Marshall 2204 is the definition of the rock amp. Used by the best guitarists of all time. Used in major recording studios around the world. Look at all the boutique amp manufacturers that brag about their "Marshall tone" (for $3000+). I say if you want Marshall tone, get a Marshall 2204. The 2204 has the cascading gain structure that provides rich, complex, harmonic overtones. Not much clean headroom. Can be a bit bright if the treble is turned up. Has the best "just breaking up" tone of any amp out there. There is plenty of gain for classic rock, but it may not be enough for ultra-high gain nu-metal tones.

I've owned Marshall amps for over 30 years and have never had one break down. nuf sed.

Been playing over 30 years. The Marshall 2204 is the best rock amp ever made. Period. That's an informed opinion. I've played almost every style amp at some time. I own other vintage Marshall amps. I would definitely buy another 2204 if it were lost/stolen. Don't spend $3000+ on a boutique amp that only pretends to duplicate the Marshall tone. Side-by-side, the Marshall still blows away a Bogner Ecstacy at $3200, IMHO. If you want great clean tones, go buy a Fender withn the $ you'll save.

Supplement to my previous review. Cant believe these guys below have bagged two of these amps for $150-$200. Pawn Shops rule! A Marshall reissue JCM 800 costs in the region $2500-$3000 and these reissues are not considered better than the 80's models by the purists. You cant argue much with the name users of these amps. Guys like Schenker, Marrs, Morello, Aldrich, Sykes, Wylde, King.. the list is endless. These guys could afford any rig but they're all addicted to the classic bass riff heavy pure valve sound of the JCM 800. The old JTM, 1959 and Jubilee Slash models are also amazing for classic Marshall tones (I should know because I've gigged all of them), but there is just something about these 800's when you tug on that open stringed power chord that is unique. These amps especially love to be cranked - thats when they really show their true guise. Pull back on the middle, treble, prescence get the pre-amp full then push that master up for that early EVH brown sound. I read on John Sykes website that he's now using these heads without boosters, chorus or delay - thats how these amps potentialy are! They love to eat Gibsons of course. A P-90 DC faded I've got sounds incredible plugged straight into this beast - awesome. For me there's more than plenty gain for leads - if you know how to use this amp. A lot of players with high gain amps just cover up their shitty playing with distortion - U cant do that easily with this rig because each note shines through. If you are a 'player' this fact will show up, but if your covering up this amps transparency will nail you. Basically the JCM 800 is a players amp.

It isn't very fancy. It only has one channel & no reverd.(just the way I like it) It has aneffects loop. I believe the simplicity of this amp is what makes it so appealing.

This amp is incredible! I paid $150.00 for it at a pawn shop. I took it home and it didn't sound right at first. I kept playing it thinking that I just wasn't use to it yet. Two days later the tubes went out. I replaced the tubes with Groove Tubes #3's, had it biased and the thing almost scorched my pad! This amp will give you the Zakk sound with no problem. I love this amp! I actually went back to the same pawn shop a month or so later just to see what they had and low and behold there sat another one! Yes, I bought that one also. I paid $200.00 for that one. Two for less than the price of one.($350.00) Disgustingly good deal!

Never let me down!

I have called Korg/Marshall on several occasions and they are always very knowledgeable and quite helpful.

IF you find one for a reasonable price, buy it! You will not be sorry.

This amp has one feature... tone. The absolute personification of hard rock amplification. Mine is a 1981 and it had all the original tubes and LCR filter capacitors in it when I bought it. I replaced all the originals and keep them for collectability sake. No reverb, no effects loop, no problem. This amp taught me how to play guitar, I used to hide behind a wall of reverb and gain, and found out I was only fooling myself. The simplicity of this amp made me an honest player. I repair and modify amps and some guys like an extra 12AX7 put it for more gain, I like mine just as it came out of the box. The good news is that if you like the extra gain stage added, there is plenty of room, Hell I could even add a Fenderish tube reverb circuit, or effects loop if desired. I like this wattage, 50 watts is definitely enough for any club I play, and when I need more I leave that to the sound tech and the PA. I'm giving this a ten because Marshall knew what not to put into this machine.

I play American Standard Stratocasters, American Deluxe Telecasters, and Les Pauls. I use this amp and a '64 Vibrolux Reverb, or Blackfaced Super Reverb A\B'd. This Marshall doesn't have a clean channel, and quite frankly I don't like the Marshall clean sounds I have heard. To me Fender has the fattest clean amps, so why fight it I use them both. It's a bitch carrying two amps, but man... I have the best of both worlds and my tone is always primo. I front the Marshall with a Fulltone Fulldrive 2, or a Tube Screamer (TS9) I modded to TS808 and then some, and these give me the extra kick I need in some of the heavier stuff I do. I also use Vintage 30's with this amp and they are in love with each other. Personally I never use the gain past 2 o'clock.

Absolutely dependable. I have replaced the tube sockets, but that's to be expected in a 24 year old amp, I did it before they went bad and retained them... again for collectability. I think that the simplicity of this amp is the reason it's so dependable. This amp has NEVER let me down. With my maintenence routine I expect it never will.

Never had to call about this amp. Never will. I've delt with Marshall on amps I have repaired, not the greatest, nowhere near as bad as Mesa though.

I have been playing 20+ years, I bought the amp at a pawn shop for $200 bucks. I have never spent a better $200... ever. If it were stolen I would devote the rest of my life to hunt down the MF'er that took it, then I'd get a couple of hard ass pipe hittin' fools to go to work on Holes with a blow torch and a pair of pliers. You hear that thieves you'll spend the rest of your soon to be over life in writhing agony if you touch my Marshall 800! Yes, I would find another one if it were stolen.

This is a one trick pony, no doubt, but it does this particular trick better than any other amp on the planet. You'd be amazed at how many bands used this amp in the 80's at the recording studios.
This amp responds like a dream, and goes from warm to hot with a flick of a pick. I use my volume knob with great success when I tame this shrew. Don't be confused by other models, this is THE one. Other Marshalls utilize solid state signal clipping via LED or Zener bounding. Yes they are all tube but the solid state clipping gives it a buzzy sound which the purist would frown on. A friend of mine loves that LED clipping... to each his own I guess.

Mine has the 6550's in it, I like them the best. I tried the EL34's in it for a while and they weren't my cup of tea... too brittle. They aren't directly replaceable. To all who don't know any better you have to change the value of the bias resistor and re bias the amp; I wouldn't suggest trying this at home unless you are real comfortable with hunreds of volts or a technician or avid and capable hobbyist. Also the circuit board isn't the easist to work with in comparison to a point to point amp. My only bitch is that they quit making this amp... I know that the Zakk 800 is out there, but that's the 100 watt amp and to be honest I can't see the price tag as proportional to the cost of making the amp. In other words I love this amp but the sum of the parts to make this amp can't be more than $400.00. I guess Zakk wanted a big kickback.

I am threatening to make a point to point replica of this amp for my own use as soon as I find a beater to donor the transformers. Did I mention I love this amp?

It isn't a jack of all trades amp so its lack of features isn't a problem. It would be nice to have some reverb, but then Triple Rectifiers don't either. I don't know what year it is, but it has the stacked inputs so I presume its an early one.

Even at low volumes you can get a convincing AC/DC tone without having to crank it to ear bleeding levels. At high volume, having my Analogman-modified DS-1 going into the clean channel it sounds wonderful. I hope my Analogman Metal Zone sounds just as good.

It would be nice to have the modern metal crunch sound, but then this amp preceeds the genre by over a decade. However, if Kerry King and Zakk Wylde still use these amps then why should I complain.

I haven't owned the amp long enough to find out whether there are any problems, but I had it serviced by Marshall when I first got it. All it needed was new valves/tubes, jacks and a new pot so I would say that 20 years service says its reliable.

I have heard negative comments about Marshall's service, but my own experience was very good. My advantage is that I live near to their head office, which might have helped. The guy who I dealt with was very good (Andy Marshall) so I have no complaints.

I made a few mistakes with buying effects for my amp, but the Analogman stuff is the main staple in my equipment. The head runs into a 1960AC cabinet (greenbacks).

I would certainly buy the amp again if stolen, as Boogies cost a fortune over here. Marshall seem to be relying on past laurels, but with equipment this good I am not complaining. I would love to try a Diezel, but out of my price range and I think the neighbours would kill me.

1982 JCM 800 100 watts. Veritcal inputs, modified custom effects loop, JJ Tesla EL 34's, Mullard re-issue 12AX7 pre-amp tubes. Single channel.

I currently run Fender Strat's ( YJM models, 1970, 1973, 1974) with Hs-3/YJM pickups some with Dimarzio Virtual Vintage 54' pickups. I played in the styles of Blackmore, Roth, Malmsteen, Halen, Beck. This amp does the trick with and interesting revelation I stumpled across...I route an Echoplex EP-3 through effects loop with foot switch to ly turn off echo...I actually prefer the unit to not bypass because the Echoplex dulls out the original highs, so Iprefrer that "darker" sound. As far as pedals, its the strat to a dunlup 535Q wah, MXR Phase 90, Ibanez tube screamer ( TS-9 modded to 808 ) Old grey DOD overdrive 250 preamp and thats it. i use both overdrives in combination but with half way gain settings on each so you ultimately get the transparency yngwie bubbly tone put punch with a slight mid from the TS-9. Works and sounds unreal! this amp is loud and mean and awesome! I also run two old 70's checker board 4X12 cabinets with vintage 30's and one that has hybrid 25w celestions mixed. I roll of volume knob on strat to obtain clean tones that are decent. I've had people come up to me and tell me that amp has got a Van Halen/Malmsteen tone. The echoplex through the loop is key!!!!!

Bob Segar said it best...."like a Rock"

never had to deal

Great amp and yes I would be bummed if this got ripped off because of the unique sound to replace and the fact that they are and arm and a leg now! Effects loop standardization would be nice.

umm it was made by marshall hahah. the amp suites me well idk about everyone thats all about some brutal gain but i adore my amps sound i play in a hardcore emo/screamo band and it sounds really good our other guitar player has a triple rec and they go together wonderfully.just one channel oh well :( . i wish it had another channel. i use this amp in my band play lots and lots of shows with it.its a 50 watt and the thing gets louder than the triple recs its the loudest marshall i have ever heard. its tube two el34s and 3 12ax7as i think sounds wonderful

i use a fender tele because i love the way they look with a seymour duncan hot rails to get that humbucker sound. it suites our style very well.we are hardcore screamo kinda music.it has a slight hisss when you arent playing but thats probably because it was made in the 80s haha.this amp can be a beautiful clean sound or a nice barely distorted rock sound mostly i have the preamp turned just about up and that gives me just enough gain for what i am going after.the distortion is def not a rec or anything but thats good to me its 100% tube tone no solid state crap.

i depend on it everyday for practice and every show we play.i do use it without a back up.the amp has never broken on me

never dealt with marshall never had to.

i have been playing guitar for 12 years.i used to have a daul rec but i sold that for a carvin legacy and then i bought this.if it got stolen i would buy one again or maybe an orange amp or something along those lines.i love the way it sounds through my 1960ax 4x12 cab with green back speakers its true tone. i compare it to my daul rec and i like it alot better because its more of a tube sound to me.this amp is great

Wanna hear it?

Hear ya go...

http://4.78.22.159/mp3s/derek_shred.mp3

Marshall JCM 800 2204 made in '82! This thing fits the bill to a T for classic rock ( without any pedals ) to 80's rock, grunge, alternative, death and trash to even Nu-Metal. I play fusion, jazz, blues, funk, classic rock, 80's rock, grunge, modern rock, screamo, death and thrash metal, nu metal and so on. This beast is not suited well for jazz. Sounds great for Gary Moore or Zeppelin blues. 1 channel. It's all that is needed. Use the volume knob. It's inspiring because of its simplicity. I wish it had an fx loop, but this head is still a JOY to play. It is loaded with Svetlana 6550 tubes and it rocks!

Let me just say this:
I hear RHCP, RATM, Toadies, Smashing Pumkins, Soundgarden, ZZ top, AC/DC, Jet, The Darkness, The Donnas, Judas Priest, Maiden, Sabbath, Zeppelin, Anthrax, Testament, Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, Whitesnake, Dio, early crue, Kiss, Ted Nugent and the list goes on.

It is a 1 trick pony and does what it does VERY WELL! Clean sounds vary from Gary Moore to Page or Red Hot Chili Pepers ( think Under the Bridge ). It sounds good, but I would rather use my Mesa Boogie Mark IV for the cleans.

Turn up the preamp drive and the master and slam the front ned with a keeley TS9 ( tubescreamer ) and your in shred territory. Stick a Keeley Twiligth Zone modded MT-2 ( Metalzone ) in front of it and your in Mesa Recitifier territory. Sounds a lot like a Mesa Rectifier or VHT Pitbull.

It has been alive and well for 22 years! I would say it's very dependable.

Never called...

I've been playing 20 years. I have played on may amps. I own a PRS Artist III series and a Mesa Boogie Mark IV head and cab. This thing picks up in places where the Mark IV doesn't, Don't get me wrong. I love the Mesa Mark IV. I use it all the time as well. It's just nice having the best of both worlds. Again, I do wish the 2404 had an FX loop.

pres,ass,mid,treb,master,pre vol,high low inputs very simple.An FX loop woulda been a nice feature.

OK first off the amp in review has 6550s.Anyway this particular amp is very thin and harsh and blunt sounding.I look for an almost 4 inputter sound outta my Marshalls and this is a dead duck.I own a Jubilee combo(tone monster)had a JCM900 SL-X 50,recorded on PTP original and reissue plexis,channel switching 800s and IMO there all better than the single channels.I giged a 2203 800 / EL34s and it was a better amp also.6550s in a Marshall should be a crime.They suck!!!I borroed this amp for 2months while I saved to replca ethe SL-X I had(long story of amp swapping).Anyway if it were mine I think an EL-34 swap would e a great improvement.This is a vertical input model.

hey its made it 20yrs so it can't be too bad.

With an EL34 swap a good bias and nice pretubes I have faith that it would sound pretty good ut you'd still prolly need a pedal to boost sustain or solos.

1987 2204 with horizontal inputs

As the last reviewer stated you can largely forget about the low input socket. Using the high input you can get an excellent bass response with any decent cabinet, a lot of treble on this head so back off on that. The gain is decent but not overpowering, with a
quality gibson guitar it has good thickness and can easily achieve the Billy Gibbons and Angus Young 70's sound.
Using a Fender I am able to get a very pleasing clean bright SRV type tone, while whacking it up full approached Blackmore/Hendrix
Overall I'd describe the sound as authentic old school Marshall
and that means to get the real heavy rock sounds a booster is desirable. I use a Marshall Shredmaster and believe me it delivers BIG TIME through this rig - searing metal with any guitar.
Modern tube Marshalls like the TSL/DSL dont need boosters get real high gain, but in my opinion the quality of the sound from the JCM 800 with the booster edges these newer amps and that is the reason your Kerry Kings etc use them.

Bullet proof

N/A

A very basic amp but possessing more classic tones than any other Marshall I've tried.

I recently had a chance to audtion a JCM800 Lead Series 2204 MKII Amp head. I always look to harmony central when checking out any equipment I'm interested in so I figured I'd post my results. I borrowed the amp from my tech's shop for about three days and figured if it lit up in my hands I would buy it. I had heard great things about them and had become interested. There isn't much in the way of feautures however, just the eq knobs and a master volume,No loop or reverb.

I'm not really sure what the big deal is at all. I have been playing guitar for about 13 years and have a Decent amp collection(Fender Super,Mesa Tremoverb,Roland Jc-120 Jazz Chorus,Fender Pro JR, Peavy ultra plus, JCM 900 Dual reverb 50w) and I couldn't figure out the appeal for this one. I cranked it and still it didn't really excite. It had just been retubed with Svetlana El-34's and Electro Harmonix preamps.Tubes biased for 40mA. It has this real nasty brightness that is too raw and biting. There is no gain on this amp, it sounds like when you roll down your guitar volume knob on a high gain amp.Anyone who tells you that there is enough gain on this amp to play metal without external effects or a booster is bullshiting you to make themselves feel better or to sell the amp. The other thing that bugs me is that the low sensitivity input is practically useless on the 50w amp. You can't get enough volume to ever compete with a drummer with the gain and master cranked. Your only bet is to use the high input and roll down the volume on the guitar for clean, although it's not that good of a clean sound on the 50watt version atleast.If your interested in this amp get the 100watt 2203 because it might have some headroom atleast. This amp is really hyped up and It doesn't even compete with the sounds I could achieve with the 50watt JCM900 Dual Reverb,(The El-34 version). Not in gain, Volume, versatility, or clean sounds, yet the JCM900 gets a bad rep from what I've seen (it's probably the 5881 version).This doesn't make any sense. Guitarist hear that the circuitry is simpler in the 800 therefore it must sound better.The only good thing I could say about it is that it had a nice bass response to it and If I owned it I could probably do the extra preamp tube mod to give it a set of balls.

Its pretty old and there is alot of them out there still so they must be reliable. Although I got it from the My amp tech's shop so who knows.

What customer support, this isn't Mesa Boogie.

Overall a huge dissapointmen.It May be the most over hyped amp of all time. I'm just writing this review to help people before they buy it off Ebay on reputation alone for like $800 because the vintage collectors are saying there are rare now.You need to have effects or a stompbox to really get any tones that are useful out of this thing and if that's the case why not use an amp that has a good clean sound to start with so you know that you can have a great clean when you turn off your distortion or booster pedal.Also there is no effects loop to help out the situation. Don't think that Zack Wylde or Kerry King of slayer use these things without pedals or rack effects to get a metal tone because it aint happening.The earlier Jcm 900 blow these things away. Everone was modding these things because they were so devoid of gain that Marshall finally caught wind and gave us the 900.Beside that there is a very bright ice pick in the ear tonality that you can't dial out with the treble or presence knob. When I buy an amp I want it to have great tone without adding other effects. Those effects should add to an already great sound not the other way around.

this is a 1985 2204 jcm 800,,, i can play any style on this amp... i mean any style... one channel... no channel switching now effect loop on this year... i don't want anything on this amp to affect the tone... it is right where i trip on it... i am only playing this at home but when i do i dream i am in front of a crowd sharing this sound with them... and power it is right there is terms of power,,, i would run two of these if i needed more.

i don't really like to give up my set up... although i will say that a good quality set up is a must... and once one finds how to get this set right you got a pro sound... classic and would impress millions of people tone wise. the sound and tone of my set up gives me goose bumps... usally when it is turn up a bit like most music the right volume for the right mood. a quality overdrive pedal or two will help get sustain at less that 3 on the dial. again i say i can play any style with this amp... just have to know how to use it.

i think i could depend on it... but as things go it is always good to be prepared ...so have some basic tools on hand and a set of tubes... i tube about once a year and ooooh! i can hear what i've been missing... don't over bias your amp to get some harder sound, bias it right and get the right tube brand and type to get the tone you need for the style you need, i have found that everything matters so just don't go at this willy nilly... this future design of the tweed bassman is one of the best. wow how we travel...

i think it is korg now so hands on and i care about MY craftsmanship has kinda gone the way of the flesh horse. there are alot of marshalls out there and alot of people own them so parts or replacements are always there... and the amp is simple in design so easy to fix. good high quality parts are being made for the good old stuff that most of us want but it really takes hard work and risk to make the good stuff... so keep demanding the good old days quality.

i have been playing for wow, 24 years, i am angry at my dad. mom too !but the rock and roll doesnt bother her as much as my dad.
i believe i would get another one... they are running 800.00 or better on e-bay... depending on shape and a little too on year earlier ones where a bit better but i have heard and worked on 1987 jcm 800... and it sounded quite impressive. i did get this amp because i have another earlier marshall 50 watt... and i wanted a jcm 800 because it will run the el34's better sound wise that the lower plate voltage idea. the jmp runs at about 368vdc and the jcm runs at about 440vdc. so i get less compression than i do with the jmp. i wish i wish... i would like to own alot of differnt marshalls to see how many i needed to own... i also want a early hiwatt dr504... but hey that would be more money on getting that sounding well with other guitars-pick-ups-speakers the right tubes...setup on and on... so sometime down the road... i like the tone sounds of the earlier amps i think... but hey i did hear a guy on a old guitar and a newr dsl and he had a sound... go figure...

This is a late eighties 50W head without any features. Just a basic 2204. It has 2 inputs, high and low, no real channels, inputs work fine anyway. I play Satriani style rock, this amp is ok for that, Satriani plays pretty basic, so do i. Tonal controls are limited, however, you can get a very good rock sound out of it.

I use it with a heavily modified Gibson SG with P90 humbuckers, it works very well and sounds really classic. However, this is a rock amp, period! No features and only one choice of volume, loud as hell at any setting using the high input because the low input really is too low, just use it as a link to another head. The volume settings are loud-louder-ohmygod!, so don't buy this amp if you have to deal with neighbours or small bars or cafe's. By the way, it can sound very ACDC with my SG, thats cool, but actually you can get all the classic haircrime sounds out of it just like another reviewer said, this amp was actually used a lot back in the eighties so it sounds very familiar.

It is solid as a rock, i have several marshall amps, they never pooped out.

I am playing since i was 12, now i am 43. I bought this amp as a live replacement voor my original 2204 wich was heavily toured out. It does very well. If it was stolen it would be too bad, i would probably try to buy another or maybe i will try a Koch or a 50W Mesa rectifier head. It is a sad thing that these 2204 amps are becoming expensive collectors items nowadays, prices are driven up by greedy dealers mostly. It is like another reviewer allready stated, don't pay too much for a second hand 2204, they made a lot of them back in the eighties, they were not very expensive back then, and they are not scarce or vintage in any way. There even is a reissue that sounds identical to the original so that makes these originals just old amps, nothing special. They are made very basic and there are no gold or alien parts inside to drive the prices up. When buying, better avoid professional dealers.

This is a JCM800 2204 MK2 lead series amp, pretty basic, 50Watts with 2 EL34 output tubes and 3 ECC83 pre-amp tubes, Drake transformers.
It has a DI output in the back, but i never use it, don't even know if it actually works at all haha. The amp has everything i need, only thing it lacks in my opinion is an input for a channel select pedal (to switch between the high and low input) instead of 2 inputs.
I use my Marshall heads with the standard 1960 cabinet, loaded with the standard G12T75 speakers. Only mod done to my speakers is a damping filling (rockwool), as a experiment actually, i can't hear a difference but nobody feels the urge to remove the filling again so it just got left in there.

It sounds from smooth bluesy (not fender clean, just straight to the point "gee i should buy a better guitar" clean), to brutal! I do not agree with other reviewers that it is not suitable for metal, i have a Gibson LP Classic, Strat, and a Kramer Pacer bananahead with a humbucker from hell in the bridge, with the last guitar this amp screams harder then the hell this Dimarzio humbucker came from. With the LP Classic it sounds, hmm, classic? The Fender sounds pretty Jimi if you want to, but it can be very Yngwie too! The amp is a bit noisy when cranked all the way up there is a hissing sound when not playing, and sometimes some interference from the power supply can be heard through the speaker (like coolers in bars, and mobile phones beepin' through). It is not a real problem though. The amp has some nice sounds, you can get all the famous 80's rockin sounds from this amp since they actually used this amp a lot in the eighties. The low input stays well clean even in high volume playing, the high input tends to overdrive immediately and only gets more overdriven. The tone control reacts well in high volume playing, however, you should do a soundcheck with the volume you will be playing live since the tone does change a bit when pushing this amp harder. The amp could have some less low, it tends to sound really brown with humbuckers, when playing metal you should turn the low-knob allmost shut and the prescence wide open using the bridge humbucker. But finally, this amp sounds good, without a doubt 100% Marshall tone (unlike the jcm900 and newer series).

It is a tube amp, tubes can wear out so if you can afford it, just use 2 or more stacks like me, it looks cool by the way. My amps have never let me down, but i keep them well serviced by my tech.
I give it an 8 because it is a tube amp, they just need srvice once in a while.

Never dealt with customer support.

I am playing from somewhere early eighties. I got myself 5 of these amps during the early nineties, they were abandoned after a tour by the rental company that turned out to be bankrupt and selling them for jack shit, so i adopted them stowing em' away in my garage for a few years while playing my heavy modded Fender Bandmasters. However, my fenders were becomming rather old like me and allmost ripe for a museum like me, so i decided to use the jcm800's on tour just to keep my ego upright with shiny newisch amps, and i used em' ever since. I love the sound, my roadies hate the weight, i love the looks, my roadies hate the weight, i love the show, my roadies hate the weight, i love the fact that is has no useless knobs, my roadies hate the weight and i just love em generally because they are so big, lovely, shiny and smell just like a dream, oh, marshall amps are rather heavy did i mention that my roadies hate the weight WOEHAHAHAHAHA (evil laugh).
If they were stolen, hmm, first i would really like to see somebody trying to steal 5 Marshall stacks from under our noses, he would probably be reduced to a damping filling inside the cabinets.

mine is '84, horizontal input, 50W, single channel, presence,bass,mid,treble,master and pre amp volume- classic.
i bought it with brand new Groove tubes.
i'm kinda missing the FX Loop for my MXR Analog delay, but i can live even without it.

I use Epi SG with Gibson 498T bridge PUP and it works pretty good, use my 2204 with 4x12 box with Celestion V30, hand made, not marsall.
The sound of this amp is warm, agressive, but controlable, with not much gain (my heavymetal friends say its unusable:), but its gotta be in your hands, not in "gain" knob, man!
i play classic hard rock and this gear is ideal for it.

i use it without a backup amp, because a had to sell my old combo (solid state 50w sh*t) to afford this screamer. but i should buy some backup, you never know..
so far there was no need for changing the tubes as ive had this amp for only few weeks.

never dealt with them. no need for doing it..

first, i wanted to buy '76 Master Model (you know, those old amps with "JMP" sign) four-hole. but what a shame, it was tooo expensive. just because of its age! this amp (2204) has the same controls (knobs), better tubes and costs half price than the old JMP sh*t! so, search for the sound not for model, guys! so far, jcm800 2204 is the best amp ive ever had..

Master Volume Series, one channel, basic adjstables, plus an ohmage selector, (4, 8 and 16). Good for playing a variety of different sounds, sounds great with classic rock in the vein of ac/dc. The amp is plenty loud, I play it through an old fender 4x12 cab which i recently put celestion greenbacks in, which boosted the sound immensely.

I use an epiphone sg-custom (triple humbucker) with this amp and it sounds really good, better pickups for my guitar would definetely help, but the amp makes these sparkle like nothing else I have used with the guitar. I play it though an old fender cab with celestion greenbacks, and the sound is very chimey and high, plenty loud, but lacking a bit of depth. The clean input is great at any volume. The gain is absolutely not for numetal stuff, but for punk rock, indy, or classic rock, it's an excellent sound. At higher volumes, when the greenbacks naturally distort it sounds exceptionally rocking, still can't match the beauty or smoothness of an orange ad-30 single channel though.

Been rocking since 1987, very reliable.

Been playing since 1994, This is my favorite piece of gear that I have bought yet. If it were stolen or lost (lost???) i would probably buy it again, if the price was right, if i was going to spend more than 800 i would hold out and get an orange though.

I have no idea when this amps was built, i think around 1988 somewhere. It is a MK2 master lead model, 50W, 2 EL34's and Drake transformers. Luxery options, it has a DI output, the rest of the options is standard. I rate it a 10 because it offers everything i need.

I use a Les Paul with PAF57' humbuckers, and a strat with vintage noiseless pickups. Both guitars sound good on this amp. It can be from very bluesy to that very eighties haircrime hardrock style, it sounds just as how a marshall should sound and how much you are willing to put the volume up. A good speaker cabinet i also a serieus factor for creating the sound. I have my marshall stack equipped with Celestion G12H-30 speakers, and this sounds great (warmer and with more definition then 25er greenbacks of the standard G12T75 speakers)
The amp has a little hiss when i put it all the way up, but it is an old tube amp, what do you expect. Variety is limited, but it gives you a good amp to use with several guitars, search for your tone here, trying several guitars or pickups. This amp won't forgive a bad player, when you play crappy, you WILL sound crappy.
I play it clean (without pedals), mostly with my Fender, it does a good job. I like playing heavy bluesrock in a 3 guys (guitar-bass-drum) formation, so i use a lot of overdrive, this amp has a very classic sounding overdrive but to break through the band in a solo, even with the bright sounding strat, you should consider using a pre-amp like the dod250 (Yngwie) to push the gain just a little bit further. I personally have 2 stacks on stage, the first is with this marshall, the second is a Mesa Triple Rectifier, i use the second to break through with solos using a switchbox but a more affordable way is the dod250.
I rate it a 9 because a perfect amp is jet to be invented, but this one is very close (to me).

I keep it well serviced, it has never let me down jet.

Never dealt with them. I bought the history of Marshall book for my tech, all schematics are in the book with kind thanks to marshall.
A good indirect customer support i guess.

It is a very good amp, but one thing that really bothers me everytime again is that some commercial dealer are driving the prices up because they turn em into "vintage amps". These 2204 amps have a very simple layout, and were sold in very large numbers back in the eighties and nineties so don't pay too much for them, they are not a holy item of rock.
I have several amps including a Mesa Triple Rectifier, Mesa Caliber 50, Red Bear MK120, Marshall JTM30, JCM800 combo and a Fender Deluxe Reverb combo. I am playing live with a combination of the jcm800 2204 and a Mesa Triple rectifier stack.

My amp is a 2204 mk2 w/horizontal inputs so I guess mid-eighties. I play punk rock, and this is more than powerful enough. I never use the low input.

I use a Gibson SG standard with a Seymour Duncan JB bridge pick up, no pedals. I had a 1977 Marshall JMP mk2 100w before this but I traded it for this one as it wasn't particularly reliable, I initially wished I could have got a 100w but soon realised that this overdrives way better at lower volumes. This amp has everything a punk rock guitarist needs, in my opinion there is no better amp for this style of music.

I've gigged with this amp all over Europe and the U.S. with no back up and it's served me well, it's never broken down regardless of how much abuse it's had! (Another good thing about the 50w, it doesn't have a grill on top like the 100w, that thing is a beer magnet!)

Never had to deal with them.

I've been playing for 21 years and I own 2 left hand Gibson Sg standards. If my JCM 800 were lost or stolen I'd hunt down and kill the recipient. The sound is incredibly dirty, nasty, powerful yet tender, warm and receptive, all at the same time, I haven't played through a better amp.

my 2204 was made in '87, i bought it last year (2003) from a friend. This amp doesn't have much for features but it doesn't really need any, well reverb would be nice but hey, a jcm 800 with matching cab for $50/week for 14 weeks, I guess i can live without reverb. This amp is very loud, I played a small club in "goat-fuck-nowhere just recently and couldn't get the master volume over 2 without the other musicians getting mad for drownong them out. (wimps)

I use a strat with fender noiseless pickups primarily, and this amp makes them sing. I have tried guitars with humbucker setups and they also sound awesome, only reason I'm not using something with humbuckers is I can't affort a really good new guitar right now. I have always played through a 50 watt Garnet combo (simalar to a fender amp)and was quite happy with it, but when I brought the marshall into the jam space and plugged it in, WoW! The dynamics, sustain, and harmonics you can get with this thing are just fantastic. Really clean sounds at high volume are somewhat hard to come by, but if you roll back on the gui volume it sounds clean enough when playing with the rest of a band. I don't have much in the way of effects, just an older digital delay rack unit w/ footswitch, Crybaby (sometimes), and cheap distortion pedal (that I seldom use). Most often the distorsion you get by cranking the pre amp and backing off on the master is all the gain you need all in all the sound of this amp rocks!

This amp screwed up one time on me, but that was because the last owner never changed the tubes, EVER! So I outfitted her with new JJ's output tubes(matched of course) and pre amp tubes and that was that. The last owner was very hard on it, he kept it in the garage @ -40*C (welcome to Canada, eh)and would turn it on without a care in the world, but the amp would take no problem. If this thing could survive 15 years with that guy it can take anything. Very durable.

N/A, never needed.

I played for about 12 yrs now, and all the while I never understood why people got so horny over "a Marshall". I always thought they were very over rated and over priced. Then I REALLY tried one. While I still think they are over priced(everything is over priced), I definatly don't think of them as over rated. If my jcm800 got stolen I, I, I... I don't want to think about that. One thing have learned, tube amps rock, especially the almighty Marshall [but i still love the fender twins, and my trusty old Garnet (for blues only of course)] If you have the chance to buy a 50 watt half stack, buy it.

This here is a 1981 JCM 800 2204, it's got vertical inputs which I guess is good. its a single channel amp with hi and lo inputs, 6 knobs and an on/off and standby switch. doesn't get much more simple than that folks. and thats partly why I got it, if you want 4 channels and builtin mega-reverb DSP flanging octave-wahs, this is NOT your amp. its 50 watts, which means basically nothing really, whats the difference between that and a 100 watt amp? not even a notch on the volume knob. it's all tube, it uses 6550's(no i don't like zakk wylde, i guess the 2204's actually came stock with these things, go figure) instead of your usual EL34s you see in most marshalls. i'm not rating based on number of features, but really how well it uses the few features it has. it does its thing and does it very good.

I should mention that I traded in a DSL-100 for this puppy, and not one regret either. this thing had a whole new dimension of sound, it doesn't have as much variety but who cares. my only regret is that its not 100 watts. not because i need more power, actually the opposite. but i've found 100 watt amps have more punch to them, oh well. this amp gets dirty, i play dirty gritty rock, this is what it does very nicely, you're going to have to turn it up though of course, which i don't get a chance to do very often, but when i do... it's sweet. it only really does that one thing, but it does it so well that its all worth it. its clean is... well its better than my peavey rage 158. the DSL's clean was better but, who cares about how well a marshall can do clean? thats not what marshalls are for, they're here to dirty up the joint, and thats just what this one does.

the first preamp tube socket is moody. this is because its not stock, its' definately been replaced. and it sucks. the volume will cut out sometimes, i need to have it looked at. but this is not marshalls fault, all of the other tube sockets work fine.

never dealt with them, they'd probably just tell me to shove my 20 year old amp where the sun don't shine anyways - i'm pretty sure whatever warranty it had expired around the time i entered grade school.

Overall this is a kickin amp. it does its thing well except for when the preamp socket gives me trouble, its simple and thats why i like it. i'd like 100 watts as it'd probably be more punchy but, these amps are hard to find and i don't want to pay the ridiculous 1300 bucks for the reissue. but its definately the best sounding amp i've had regardless.

Mines a 1984 vertical input 2204 w El34's. Features already explained. It sounds fantastic....now. When I bought it used it had a tube effects loop installed and the amp sounded farty with the crappiest bottom end. I had it checked out by Dennis at Central Jersey music in NJ. This guy and his shop know their shit bigtime and found a problem with the loop mod. I had him rip it out set the amp back to stock. After I got it home I couldnt stop playint it. Its sounds great. Its a 1 channel amp that can clean up a little bit when the guitar is turned down, but its made to rock and rock loud. Plenty of power for a 50 watter. Its somewhat limited in its versatility but its a Marshall and its made to be cranked. If you wanna play Donnie and Marie Osmond tunes this isnt the amp for you!!

Gibson les paul 60's reissue with 500t and 496r pu's. Also a Fender Strat plus deluxe with EMG's and a mid boost. 85 in the bridge and 2 SA's in the mid and neck. It screams. I play all kinds of rock from Eagles or Zeppelin and everything in between and this amp works well cause I play more of the heavier stuff and out other guitarist takes alot of the clean stuff. The distortion is great but not heavy like the Boogies Dual rectifier. Its more of a cramy distortion not a fuzzy buzzy type of fuzz distortion. Pure British. I know for sure that if you plug in a guitar made of less quality wood..like an Epiphone or a Squire strat, the amp will not sound no where near as well.

Built like a brick (IMO) I dont carry anything extra to a gig cause I have enough crap already. Its roadworthy

Never had to deal with them

I love this amp. Loud, big, brutal. It sounds great thru a 2 x 12 cab or 4 x 12 1960a with 12h-30's. Tight bottom end, but the speakers are desighned for that. I had lots of amps and have sold all SS and gimig modeling toyz and have only my Marshalls and Boogies left. I had a 2204 and sold it years ago and regreted it to thid day so I plan to die with this one. If it were lost or stoled I would buy another one after I kill the one who stole it or lost it on me.

this amp was built in 1988 ,one channel presence bass middle treble mastervolume pre-amp volume and two inputs low/high.
can't be eazier.
i like it that eazy, but if you want extra's you have to use pedals
and it doesn't have an effect loop.
this isn't an amp for at home , because i don't live in the dessert and i'm not deaf

it's 50 watt,i use the high input with a gibson sg (?1970).
motorhead,ac/dc etc. is the kind of stuff i play.
the sound is great but even greater with an ibanezz turbo tubescreamer.
i'm not interrest in to have exectly the same sound like the bands that i like , just wanna have a rocksound straight in your face,and
now i have it!
first i wanted a 100 watt butt i (and the audience) found out that
this was MORE than enough,it was connected with a marshall 1960 cab.
i played in a big tent and not over the p.a,with both volumes not even turned on half!
when i first got this amp it was very noisey,extreme on high volume.
and when i used the high input,it sounded like a boeing 747 having starting troubless 2 meters in front of you.
the store where i bought it (used), said that it was completly checked
didn't went back to the store.
just went straight to cmw musical amps in driebergen(holland)
because i needed it fast.
where it got new tubes/better wiring and some other new stuff in it.
now its almost completly quiet even at the hihgest volumes.
like i said it is an amp best for one cool sound , maybe it needs a little more gain.

does it's job every time but i haven't got it that long.

i play guitar about ?6 years, first i had a marshall vs 8240 combo.
there was much variety in that one but i always sticked by one setting
and needed more power,.....so the jcm 800 was the answer .
if it was stolen i would buy the same amp again.
one of the reasons that i bought the jcm 800, is that i could't
find annyware one bad word by annyone for this amp.

Early 1980s Marshall JCM 800 2204. Two inputs, high and low stacked inputs. 50 watts.

This amp gets a great rock sound. Think anything from 1969 on up until the present. If you want to nail a Marshall player's tone, it's really easy to do with this amp. It's very transparent with different guitars too. Sounds funky and terrific with a Strat, thick and evil with a Les Paul, and just the right balance of brutal, thick distortion with an SG.

The clean channel is beautiful as well. I prefer the clean sound of a Marshall to a Fender Twin, to be honest. I don't think this amp is all that great by itself for metal or hardcore stuff, but you might be able to get that sound with a pedal. I personally run this through a Marshall 1960A, along with a Peavey Ultra Plus head running through a 1960B with a Mesa/Boogie 2x12 Recto cabinet stacked on top. The sound is sick (think His Hero Is Gone, Acrid, The Swarm) and definitely has a lot of balls.

Yes, it's a fairly reliable amp. I haven't had any problems with this Marshall, or a JCM 800 2203 that I used to own.

(Side note: I foolishly traded the 2203 for a Mesa/Boogie Mark III. While I missed the 2203 for it's astounding amount of volume, the tone of the 2204 is superior in every way. I think it has to do with the power tubes breaking up much earlier than the 100 watt version - at least, the EL34 equipped ones. I can't speak for the 6550 equipped JCM 800s, although one of my friend owns a 2203 that has some in it and I liked it.)

I wouldn't even bother with the Marshall company these days - especially not with vintage amps. I don't want to give them my support anymore, especially now that they're asking a grand or more for these amps when you can buy the real deal from Ebay for a much lower price used.

I've been playing for about six years. I own a Gibson SG Special, an Epiphone Les Paul Standard with a beautiful maple flame top, a Peavey Ultra Plus, this JCM 800, a Line 6 Delay modeler, a pair of 1960 series Marshall cabinets, and a Mesa/Boogie Recto 2x12. Out of all of the gear I own, this is the one piece that I hope I never decide to hastily trade. I've already made that mistake once.

If this amp were stolen, I would be very upset but I could live with it. I have a backup, although it doesn't really belong in my rig for the sole purpose of being a backup. I would probably try to find another one, and I would hurt the person who stole it. Badly.

I really love the clean tone of this more than anything, and the beautiful Marshall midrange that makes that 50 watts go the extra mile when I run this in conjunction with anything else, as well as the rest of the band. I really feel like the rig I'm using right now is the exact sound that I've been looking for.

I own a 1982 jcm 800 head 2204! I bought this animal 4 years ago. This is one of the easiest amps to use I ever saw. This has a lot of vintage feel and tone.

Only one channel, one high input, one low. I preffer the high input for raw tone and the low one if you are going to use a lot of effects.

This is an amp to play real 70's rock on. Music like Ted nugent, The Black Crowes, Led Zeppelin. Nothing more, nothing less. This is your amp!!

You won't get a high gain tone like on the jcm 2000.

this amp is 23 years old. It is as old as me. We will see who survives:)

I playt for 9 years. this is my second high quality amp. My first one was a fender blues deluxe. I've sold it to buy this head. I certainly want the fender back but I will never sell my marshall to buy the fender!

Six knobs, 50 watts, and two inputs. This amp does anything that your hands will do - ie this amp won't hide a lack of ability. If you know how to control your clean and dirty sounds with a volume know and subtly use your fingers, you're fine as far as versatility goes.

I use this with a Gibson SG Special, either straight into a Mesa/Boogie Recto 2x12 or through a Line 6 Delay modeler. I play in a hardcore band with this, and as far as the sound goes, it's perfect minus a little more bottom end chunk, but it's not LOUD enough live. I used to have a 100 watt model (the 2203) which I foolishly traded for a Mesa/Boogie Mark IV. This one sounds a lot better for recording though, because it has less headroom and compresses at a much lower volume than the 100 watt.

I haven't had any problem with noise, even with a computer sitting right next to my amp in a room. Not too many problems around florecesent lights, either.

You can get a variety of great sounds out of this amp. It's very transparent and really lends itself to whatever guitar you're using. I'm sure with this amp and a Strat you could nail Hendrix, Clapton, etc. It's a Marshall...it sounds great. I just wish it could nail the bottom end of a 5150.

This one is built like a tank, but I wouldn't throw it out of a building.

I've been playing for about 6 years now. My biggest complaint is that live, this is NOT loud enough to play unmiked. The band I'm in tends to play basements and small venues where the PA is usually only used for vocals and not drums, bass, or guitars. I like to have a wall of sound so to speak and I need to get more equipment. However, the tone of this amp is to die for and it makes a great recording amp. It needs a little more juice live though.

This is a review of a 50W JCM 800 2204 made in 1987 (horizontal inputs and EL-34 power tubes). One single channel and only six knobs: presence, bass, mids, treble, pregain, and master volume. This has all the features I wanted. It does one thing - amazing distortion. And it does it better than anything I've heard. Don't be swayed away by the 50W rating - this amp is loud enough to play anywhere and I'd say is actually more desirable than the 100W model 2203 because you'll get a more saturated gain sound at a lower volume.

But it is one channel with no reverb or effects loop, so I'll knowck its rating down a little.

I have three guitars that I use with this amp: a custom made "Uli Roth Sky Guitar" (fans of the former Scorpions lead guitar master would know what this looks like. otherwise, check out <<http://www.yehao.com/ulijonroth/ulihome.asp>> and look at the photo galleries). The construction or mine is like a Les Paul- mahogany body with a maple cap, and a mahogany neck with an ebony fingerboard. It has a Seymour Duncan Hotrails at the neck and a Gibson 57 Classic at the bridge. The other guitars are a Gibson BB King ES-355 (Lucille) and a Fender Strat with two Texas Specials and a Seymour Duncan Screamin' Demon.

I play this through a 4x12 Marshall 1960BC, which is the square cab loaded with 25W Celestion Greenbacks. I tried out all the Marshall 4x12s and found the Greenbacks delivered the best sound for my purposes. I should note that it sounded great through EVERY Marshall 4x12, though.

This amp sounds absolutely amazing for my style, which is metal down to rock. If you like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Dio, etc., then this is the amp for you. I believe Maiden used these very amps on the World Slavery Tour (supporting Powerslave) that eventually was compiled into the "Live After Death" album.

Plugged straight into the amp, you'll get a very crisp distortion sound that cuts very well through the mix. This is perfect for rhythm, though for leads, I'll generally use an Ibanez Tubescreamer or Boss SD-1 for a boost in gain.

I should really stress how good this amp sounds as part of an entire band- during rhythm playing, it blends in perfectly, and if you solo, it cuts so well that you don't need to get turned up either by a soundman or by using a volume pedal or eq pedal. This is an important featre, because if you're using, say a Mesa rectifier amp, the mids are so scooped that your sound won't cut through when you solo and you WILL need to fool around with volume boosting.

So, overall, if you like the sound of metal bands like Maiden, then this is the amp for you. NOTHING will do that sound better. If you like more modern sounds, like Soulfly or Limp Biscuit, then this is not the amp for you.

Regarding clean sounds- the amp won't get absolutely crystal clean, but will deliver a very very good clean sound. All you have to do is turn off any distortion or volume boost you've got going between the guitar and amp and roll down your guitar's volume knob. You won't loose overall volume, you'll just lose distortion if you do this right.

This is a tube amp, so you need to treat it nicely by not banging it around. You should also use the standby feature when turning the amp on or off. Also, the tubes will need to be replaced now and again, though I don't consider that to be a reliablilty issue. That's more of the sacrifice you make to get the better tone if you choose to play tube amps. One other thing with the 2204 is that it has Drake transformers, which are considered superior to the 100W's Dagnall.

Considering the fact that my amp is 16 years old and still works perectly, I'm giving this a perfect score.

I consider myself very luck to have found this amp, particularly at the price I paid (I would have paid at least another $200 more to get this same amp). The "vintage" JCM 800 2204 and 2203s are getting harder and harder to find, and with the modern reissue and Zack Wild models now available from Marshall, promoting the 800's visiblity, I'd expect the demand for the older ones to increase, driving up prices.

I have been playing for seven years (I'm now 23) and in terms of "quality" amps, I also own a Peavey Classic 50 2x12 combo. While that is a really great amp, I have never been more pleased with my tone. And that includes experiences at rehearsal studios, in which I've used JCM 900s, Peavey 5150s, and Mesa rectifiers.

If you like metal, then this is the amp you should get. Period.

1986. one channel. no fx-loops or anything that'd make you sound ok even if you weren't "good" player at all...
Althou it's "only" 50 watts, it sounds very loud.

I'm using two strats: Big apple with 2 humbuckers and '68 re-issue with single coils, and must say that only the Big Apple is the right one for this amp. The sound is nicely warm and full(filled with bottom end...)
When I'm using "Hendrix Woodstock"-strat, the sound is like RHCP's By the Way-type...Sort of Lo-Fi, but sometimes it's just what you needed.
I'm using only one setting: presence 0, bass 10, mid 3, hi 5, master 5, gain 1...The reason for using as little gain as possible, is because it's so piercing: if it'd be more like peavey's classic 30, I'd be delighted...but it's not, but I can live w/ it: I'm using Tech's Comptortion to get warm distortion.
Everyone else who's been playing with it, says it's shitty, but I like it: I've finally created my unique tone with this marshall.

This amp has never let me down: it's worked well thru every gig...

-

If you like the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Californication" & "By The Way" albums, this is the amp...
And if somebody would like to steal this amp: I'd hope it'd go to a nice family...

1982 800 Model 2204 vertical inputs with one glorious channel. This is the one amp that I cannot live without. I have plowed through many others, but the 8 is here to stay. Versatile enough for me, just roll back the volume pedal and I get a very usable clean although I do not use clean sounds much. Loaded with all Sovtek tubes, this baby bleeds tone.

My rig: Gibson LP custom with duncan 59 in the bridge. I use a valvulator to push my signal through my maze of effects and it ends up coming out of my greenback reissue cab. Nothing sounds better to me. Distortion is just right and if I require a little more bite, I just stomp in the Tube Screamer.

Never had any problems from the head or any of my gear for that matter. Take care of your gear and it will take care of you.

Never had to deal with Marshall, no need to.

Silly questions suggested by HC here. Overall, this is the best rock amp I have ever had the pleasure to play through. There are lots of good amps out there, and this one takes the cake. It will never get stolen...I don't let any of my gear get in a situation where it could be.

Made in 1981 - this is the first year for the JCM 800's. This amp for all intents and purposes is a cosmetically altered (and a little brighter) 50 watt 2204 JMP with a JCM exterior. I see a lot of people giving this a low versatility rating - not true at all. We play from Santana to Stray Cats, Bush to Black Sabbath, Toadies to Ted Nugent - with a few alterations - this amp does extremely well. No reverb, no effects loop, 6550 tubes - warning: this amp is very very loud. Too loud for most applications. I bought a THD Hotplate which I would think is a necessity with this amp. I play this amp through a Marshall Reissue 4 x 12 with Greenbacks and it sounds extremely good.

I have been playing lead guitar for 22 years. I have a ?88 Gold Top Thin Line with Seymour Duncan SH1 pickups and a Strat with a Seymour Duncan JB Jr. in the bridge and SD Duckbuckers in the middle and neck. For the types of music we do (see above) this amp is unbeatable. I did replace the preamp tubes with the Groove Tube Special Marshall High Gain setup (Myles at Groove Tubes was extremely helpful) ? which I think helped out somewhat. The amp isn?t really noisy at all. I run the amp at full 10?s for the most part ? backing off the tone at times. Believe it or not, when you crank back the preamp, and the master, increase the volume on the Hot Plate ? the amp is very bright and usable. I believe the 6550?s are partly to blame for the cleanness. I see a lot of people change them to EL34?s ? this will definitely reduce the versatility of the amp. It is by no means Fender clean ? but I really have no use for that! For Stray Cats and Bill Haley and using my Les Paul in the middle its sounds great. Having the THD Hotplate is really the way to go ? otherwise this amp is way to loud! I also have a TSL 60 ? the JCM 800 is really night and day from the TSL. The TSL is probably half the volume of the JCM. The JCM has unbelievable compression, very girthy growly distortion - very great sounding amp.

Only had the amp for several months - my understanding is these things are pretty reliable.

??

I bought this amp on Ebay. You will see many of these amps listed there. They are not all the same. I have a vertical input model. The horizontal input designs, though fetching the same (or more) money on Ebay - can't hold a candle to the earlier models. Things were cheapen up quite a bit in the later models, i.e. smaller transformers, and other short cuts. I guess the Canadian models are even worse?.

JCM 800, Master volume,1986, UK, 50 watts all-tube head. The 2204 offers two Sovtek EL34 an three sovtek 12AX7 pra-amp tubes. Two inputs jacks (the high input provides full gain ), no effects loops, no reverb,six knobs, one channel sound exaltly the way I want. Dual spaker outs and inpedance selector 4,8, or 16 Ohms. Not a lot of features but is perfect for me.

Using Fender,Strat Plus (USA, 1988) loaded with SHR-1 HotRail (Seymour Duncan) in the bridge position. Stage pedalboard includes Morley Pedal volume, NS2, BF2, CS3, DS1, GE7, DD2,ZOOM 5050 Choir run through Marshall, JCM 900, 1960B, 4X12 cabinet loaded with Celestion G12-75, 300 watts. Great tone, very good sounds, terrific distorded
sounds (with BOSS DS1). Setting the 2204: Presence 3, Bass 10, Midrange 3, treble 6, Master volume 4, Preamp volume 8. This is a real amp.is made to play loud.

No problem, Marshall perform to the highest standards.

None required

The 2204 amp built to rock and I think late '60s Plexi, 70s Marshall Super Lead, JCM 800 2203 and 2204 are the best Marshall ever made.

My amp was made in 1985 and it has the horizontal inputs. Right now it has el34's and ecc83's in it. All the features has already been said.

This amp is the best. I play punk, hardcore, indie rock, and jazz. I use a Hamer echotone, squier strat. , and a american series telecaster. It sounds awsome for all the types of music I play except jazz. This amp isn't very clean, but who cares?

I've had this amp for about 2 months now and I'm sure it won't kick the bucket any time soon. It looks real bad; it has holes on the sides and on the bottom, the chassis is oxidated, dusty, and rusted, and it's missing many screws. That's what I call reliability.

I've been playing for about 6 years and I've played on some good and some crappy amps. This amp is incredible, I want to buy another one.

This Marshall is a 2204 50 Watt MK 2 SuperLead Series,JCM 800.Made on 27/6/1988. Serial No S/A W23789. Single channel with side by side Low and High Sensitivity jacks. Presence,Bass,Middle,Treble.Master Volume and Pre-Amp Volume.These are all the controls needed on a Classic amp like this.

The only thing between the 2204 Marshall and me is a Gibson Les Paul 1960 Classic Reissue.With this combination you can get AC/DC ,Guns and Roses,Led Zepplin,Pete Townsend,Deep Purple and Thin Lizzy etc, you just have to know your Amp and Guitar settings.Some people say it would be nice to have more Channels,Reverb switching and such gimmicks.But as my Amp Tec Danny with 30 years of experience said " Anything that goes and changes that Layer of Signal ie,Transistors for switching Channel or Reverb, the Real Virgin Amp sound is gone" When you stop and think, it that makes sence.

New set of JJ's Power Valves and Pre-Amp valves when I brought it to start a fresh, Still rocking since it was made in 1988 that's what I call Reliability.............................

Marshall has allways answered all my emails .Not like some other companies, once you brought it your on your own.

I have been playing for 20 years and have had all the different types of Amps and Guitars. Tried all the gimicky foot pedals,Zoom boxes for the Dial your amp type.They cannot touch the Full force of this 2204 Marshall Amp. If you have one of these models I suggest you keep it, they WILL BECOME A COLLECTERS ITEM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marshall JCM 800, model 2204, 50 watts. It is a fairly simplistic setup, and I wouldn't have it any other way. This version of the 800 has the vertical inputs for its single channel(high and low sensitivity), preamp volume, master volume, treble, mid, bass, and presence. It runs two power tubes-- originally the beautiful GE 6550s but I am currently using KT88s, also it takes 3 preamp tubes-- currently ECC83s. My 2204 came off the line on June 30, 1981 and was assembled by Tina at Marshall according to the handwriting on the final inspection sticker inside. I play a variety of styles ranging from blues to rock to alternative. It doesn't boast a wide variety of features like some of todays digital crap boxes, but I find that the JCM 800's versatility lies in its ability to perform well under many different circumstances. Though it is a simple six-knob beast, it has more than enough power and tone for a variety of applications.

I use several different guitars with the 800 which is my main stage amp. These include a modded Epiphone Les Paul Custom (Seymour Duncan '59 in the neck, PRS Santana in the bridge), a Gibson Les Paul Classic (Seymour Duncan '59 in the neck, Pearly Gates in the bridge) , and a stock Fender American Strat with an ash body. This amp is very very loud-- I'm glad I only have the 50-watt model. The amp complements these guitars very well, but it the Strat can be very bright-- i usually crank the presence knob completely off. The Les Pauls sound wonderful and rather ballsy, but the lower strings can sound pretty muddy and flabby in the upper registers. It is very sensitive to picking dynamics and has equally pleasing tonal possibilities using single-coils or humbuckers. In addition, I have found a nice sweet spot for either-- presence 2, bass 5, mid 3, treble 5 1/2. I find the gain structure of this amp to be simply wonderful-- it has quite a large palette of usable tones ranging from soft and bluesy to hard driving rock. I love the preamp gain in high sensitivity mode because unlike a lot of modern Marshalls it has wonderful range all the way to 10-- not full shred as soon as you hit 2. This channel does bring with it a little bit of noise the more you crank the gain, but then again, it's a 21-year-old tube amp-- a bit of noise comes with the territory. The low sensitivity channel boasts good clean headroom with the preamp rolled back a bit and when it and the master are cranked it sings with classic power tube saturation. It can be very bright which is characteristic of many British amps as well as the ECC83s in my preamp. Some of the brightness could be mellowed by switching to 12AX7s. Also, the presence knob seems to make the sound much too harsh past 5. But overall, it is a great sounding amp and I have come to believe that the model 2204 (and the hundred watt 2203 respectively) is the last great amplifier Marshall built.

I have never had any problems with this amp except needing to swap out the power tubes. It was shipped to me with the original GE 6550s, which performed wonderfully for the first 8 months I had the amp. Not bad at all for a 20 year old pair of 6550s. I replaced them with a set of KT88s, the 6550's European counterpart, and they also are performing quite well. My treble pot is starting to crackle a little bit-- sounds like it's time for a good thorough cleaning. I have opened up the chassis and everything seems to be in order. I definitely trust it without a backup amp, but just a tip for the inexperienced-- ALWAYS have a backup set of tubes when you go to a gig.

Never had to deal with them. I doubt that this amp came with a 21 year warranty.

I have been playing now for seven years and have owned and played such amps as a Crate Vintage Club 50 which I gave away, a 1971 Fender Pro Reverb which I also gave to a friend-- that one was quite a gem, and a Marshall JCM 602 combo. The JCM 800 is my favorite above them all, especially in a live setting, for the styles that I play. If it were stolen or lost (not on my watch) I would search the country again to find another-- they are becoming harder and harder to find anymore (the 2203s and 2204s anyway-- their less wonderful descendants are a dime a dozen). As a discriminating tone freak, let me leave you with this-- I rate the JCM 800 model 2204 a nine (will any amp ever be worthy of a perfect ten?). The 800 is one of the essential amps for any collection and a worthy competitor in the competition for great tone.

My amp was made in 1984, almost as old as me. Considering the styles i play (emo, punk, some hardcore), this amp has more than enough features for me. I know some people may be into the Mesa boogie "i can do anything averagely" amp, buy my 800 does its job perfectly with one channel. I just got some new svetlana el34's put in it and it sounds better than ever!

Right now i play a stock 1997 Epiphone Les Paul and a Fender Standard Strat (modified with a Jr. JB pickup in the bridge). Obviously, I'm a fan of humbuckers. These guitars work perfectly with my music. Basically the only effect(?) that i am using right now is a volume pedal. I just use that to get the cleaner sounds. The distortion is great on it. Just heavy enough to give me an edge, but not so overdriven that it sounds like a solid state p.o.s.

I am pretty sure that i can rely on this amp. I just got new tubes in it, and it hasn't crapped out on me before.

I've never had to deal with marshall.

I have only been playing for 6 or 7 years, and this is my first half-stack. I don't think that i could ever sell this beauty. The sound is just so perfect. The reason i chose this amp is because when my band went to record, i used the producer's jcm 800 2204. when i went into the market for a half-stack, i emailed him to see what amp i had exactly used. If this amp were stolen, i would max out my credit cards to buy another one immediately -- I wouldn't be able to play a show without it. This is truly the amp I was looking for.

This is an '82 or '83 (not sure) Marshall JCM800 head with vertical inputs. Has a single channel, although you have a choice between high and low inputs. I run this amp with EL34 tubes. No channel switching, no effects loops, no headphone jack, etc - nice and simple. I play mainly hard rock and pop/punk and this amp is absolutely perfect. The wattage (50) is MORE than enough for any application - I've never gotten it above 3 at a gig. If you ever have a chance to crank the master up to 10 on this amp, you get a whole different set of sounds which very much surpass the "lower" volume sounds. I'm giving this amp a 10 on features not because it has a lot of them, but because despite it's lack of features, it's extremely versatile. If you're an amp tweaker like I used to be, you'll immediately find a few sweet spots and never need anything else.

I've had this amp for about 2 months now and used it at countless practices and 3 gigs so far. My two guitars: #1 - American Std strat completely stock; #2 - Yamaha SBG200 with a stock bridge pickup and an Ibanez Super70 in the neck position. The amp sounds great with both guitars. I run the amp through an Avatar 2x12 cab with V30's. In front I use a Rotovibe, a Boss BD-2 for a boost, and an old DOD chorus pedal. Like I said above, this amp suits hard rock and punk/pop perfectly. It has a very usable range of distorted tones and cleans up nicely when you back off the volume on your guitar. The amp is quiet, however you will get some hiss if you crank the master up to high levels, which isn't all that unexpected. This amp definitely has a characteristic/signature tone to it, sort of a chunky, nasally high-mid push (I hate trying to describe sounds in print). I suppose this is the signature Marshall sound however I don't have a good point of reference as this is my first Marshall. I, and many others, like this signature sound so I'm elated with it, but I guess if you don't like the Marshall sound, you should look elsewhere. Another thing is that this amp is very BRIGHT. I always keep the treble pegged at '0' and the amp still manages to cut through. I don't mind since I like bright amps, but with my strat, be sure not to be standing directly in front of the speaker cab or else look out! One drawback is the volume of this amp. Like I mentioned, I haven't gotten it above 3 at a gig, which is still a great sound, but the BEST sound with this amp IMO is with the master at 10, pre at 2, mid at 10 and everything else at 0. It has that legendary sweet, "squishy" EL34 overdriven tone. I'm currently looking into an attenuator so that I can crank the amp but keep the volume at reasonable levels.

I've only had it 2 months now and only gotten to bang it around a little bit. But this amp is 20 years old, is built like a tank and still sounds great. Time will tell. Knock on wood.

This is a common enough and old enough amp that I would never need to go to Marshall for anything - just a local tech.

I've been playing for 18 years and have owned a number of very fine amps over that time. My method is that when join/start a new band, I'll determine the best gear for that situation then acquire it by selling off or trading my old gear for new (although always used) stuff. I figured rock/punk = Marshall. I was right! If lost or stolen, I'd definitely get another (unless I joined a jazz band in the interim). I love the simplicity yet versatility of the amp, and of course, the TONE. If you're looking into getting one of these, just be prepared to tame a beast. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions.

Marshall jcm800 made around 86. It is not a versatile amp by todays channel switching standards but i find this amp comes good even with one trick pnoy status. i am 16 and play in an alternate rock band and i first thought this amps style of gain is no good for modern rock tones. after a while i got used to its tone. i even started shaping my own songs around this amps amzing distortion. The distortion of this amp (apparently the very first amp to employ solidstate clippling) is totally amazing, less highgain and more pounding thunderous roar. i really got used to this sound. and for 500 australian dollars for the head and quad with g12ms it was a total steal (300 american), and this is coz the marshall sign came of the cab and the head had a scrathced tolex, so thanx to the guy who didnt look after his gear i got killer tone for cheap.
clean is good, but the g12m speakers dont allow for alotta clean headroom

all sounds with a fender strat made around 84 fitted with breed humbucker. apparently im a idckhead for fitting a add on pickup to such a guitar but i kinda had to. for thunderous rythm i just plug straight into high channel and crank the preamp and master vol soounds good around 3-4. For a more layered sound fx is a must and normally just go into the low input and crank the preamp right up(the clean is still clean this way coz low input by passese the diode clipping). when i got it the previous owner had a third input installed on the back that bypasses the preamp, this is perfect for those who can affored exotic preamps to plug into the jcm800 powersection. and very loud for a 50 watt amp

seems reliable and one little insident seemed to prove this well. it was when i was rehearsing with my band and my amp head was on a bench top with the lead hanging over the bench onto a chair. my bassist who was stoned sat on the chair which my lead was hanging over and it made my amp fall 5 feet off the bench onto tiles. i thought it woulda been fucked but after i plugged my guitar and power cords back in it was working perfectly. i was surprised that the tubes didnt shatter coz i hear from ppl that they are sensitive to shock.

great amp. not very versatile. but plug all your fx into the clean channel with the preamp all the way up for tube compression and it sounds really sweet.

amp was made in early 80's. Not a very versatile amp,but its great for Rock, metal, and blues. It has two channels-high and low gain(which are not channel switchable) It doesn't have a reverb, but never cared for it anyway(muddies up sound) Its only 50 watts but man, thats plenty of juice for practice and club gigs. I never have had to have the volume knob over 4. all around great Rock and roll amp!

I'm currently using this amp with a 95 gibson les paul custom. This amp was made for this guitar! Great singing tone on the high gain channel. Awesome crunch. very responsive to pick-up changes. I made up for the lack of channel switching by changing my pick ups. I use my bridge pickup for lead and rhythm, and the center position for clean sounds. The low gain channel is awesome itself!. on low volume it gets glassy clean sounds -cranked it gets the sound of vintage marshalls

very reliable and dependable. I've used this sucker on gigs many a times without a backup! built like a tank. JCM 800's are one of the last great handwired tube amps.you wont find any solid state components or printed circuit boards here! Newer marhsalls have this junk~

never had to deal with them.

I've been playing 15 years and since have played on tons of equipment, but i settled on Marshall as my amplifier. I also own a JTM 30 tube combo(newer marshall) and it doesnt even compare to the tone of my 800. Wish it had channel switching. It doesn't have reverb or effects loop, but I dont care about that crap anyway. Much more reliable and better sounding than the newer tube marshalls, which incorporate solid state and printed circuit boards. I would definitly replace this amp if it were stolen, but I'd replace it with a newer 800 that has channel switching

1986. JCM 800 Lead series With el34's.Model 2204 50 Watts. For the style of music I play it is plenty versatile. Blues,rock,and some metal. This is a single channel amp. With Presence,Treble,Middle,Bass,Volume,and Master Volume. Two inputs. Low goes from Stevie Ray to Jimi when cranked to 10. High input will blow yor balls off. Super crunch and definition. Every note can be heard. No channel swithing,loops or headphone jacks.10 on features.I like it simple just plug and play.If you are into getting every sound under the sun this amp is not for you.If you like for your amp,guitar,and fingers to provide the tone then this amp certainly kicks major ass.

I use Ibanez guitars. Ts9 Tube screamer and Wah pedal.Amp is quiet and very loud. Pushes lots of air

1986 Scratchy pots and my High input needs replaced. No big deal. Thats it. Has been very dependable.

Service has not been an issue.Plenty of places for service

I've been playing about 35 years. I liked this amp so much ,as soon as I found a 2nd one for sale I bought it. Price Paid for 2nd head 450.00. Well worth it. I use A/B switch to go back and forth. I love these amps And will keep forever. The price seems to keep increasing each year. So I would recommend if you see a 2203 or 2204 jcm 800 with el34 tubes not 6550 tubes buy it now.THAT MEANS YOU MR. JOHN JONES. YOU KNOW YOU YOU WANT ONE. I have owned a few amps in my time and played thru almost every amp on the market. As a musician its cool to see what's new in the world of amps. I must say that I am Partial to Marshall. Plug in crank up and enjoy a major part of Rock And Roll History.Thank You Marshall and company.

This is a 1986 amp With EL34's. Model 2204 lead series. My tone goes from Led. Zep. The rain song to ZZ Top to Joe Satriani.Amp has low and high imputs, no reverb Just flat out pure marshall tone.NO effects loop,No headphone jack.Sometimes Reverb Might be nice ,but I never Used it when I owned Other Amps, So I'm OK.It's 50 watts And Is Plenty loud.

I play an Ibanez RG560 H,S,S,And 1982 Strat Copy Ibanez. I've Also used Telecasters, Sratocaster,And Les Paul's They All sound great.My Effects Are TS9 Tubescreamer And Morley Wah.Perfect sound for my style.Amp is quiet.Cannot Produce the Fender sound,Only Fender can do that.Clean Imput Is slightly Gritty ( S.R V.)At low volume.Fully Cranked JImi Hendrix. High Imput Is Bone Crushing Tight And Clear.

1986 needs some tune up. Never had a problem. I have always had a backup amp anytime I play . My backamp is the same year and Model. I have owned both heads for about 10YRS.

Have not had any repairs.

I've Been playing about 36 Yrs. If this amp were stolen I would Find Another marshall JCM800 With EL34'S, Or Purchase A new JCM2000 With EL34'S. It is the EL34 tubes that create the Marshall tone(In my opinion)I've played almost every amp produced. There are some great sounding amps but I prefer the Marshall tone. The only other amp I might purchase would be the 1965 Reissue 22 Watt fender Reverb. I LOVE MY MARSHALL!!! Thank you Jim Marshall for my amp.

Mid eighties model that does just what you want it to, rock! Pure and simple. As has been stated by numerous others players, it is more or less a 1 or 2 trick pony. I use it as a strait ahead cruncher and use an a/b switch w/ a Traynor 50w combo and some chorus for my clean sound. I did use it in the studio recently for both clean and distortion, just switching the preamp settings when needed and it worked great, thus the 1 or 2 trick comment. I play heavier type stuff (Therapy?, Catherine Wheel, Foo Fighters, Motorhead, etc...) and except for really rare instances, I am solely a rythym player, our lead player has the more crunchy Carvin Legacy, so we strike a nice balance. It has 1 channel (2 inputs of course), so your sound is how you set the knobs. I believe it has a line out, but haven't really looked since buying it a few months ago. Innitially I was put off by it not being quite as heavy sounding as I'd been expecting, but when played opposite the Carvin it was perfect and the cleaner tone (but still heavy) cut through and the notes were clear, so I like it pretty much as is and that's why I bought it. Naturally it's all tube, as there's nothing better in my opinion and is louder then all get out at 3!

I run an Epiphone Les paul w/ stock humbuckers through it and no effects and this w/ the other amp for clean is perfect at both practice and live (it just ticks off sound men cause they have to use 2 mics for me ha!). I hate to use overused titles when describing musical styles, but I guess you could call my band heavy alternative, in which this amp seems almost custom made for. I do get some buzz occasionaly, but that's usually due to over-head lighting or whatever, and it is totally quite when on it's own and I'm not playing through it, even when I'm still plugged in and at full volume on the guitar (I'm also not one to mess w/ volume on my guitar, just plug in and play full on).

I've had nothing but perfect response from this amp, so I consider it totally reliable. As to whether I'd use a back up? Of course I would! Ya never know when some jack ass is going to jump up on stage and knock stuff over, though I suspect I'm being overly cautious.

I haven't had the need to contact the company thus far, and like others on this list, there are quite a few good amp guys here in the Seattle area. I HAVE given some consideration to having it modified and made a touch more "beefy", but the more I think about it, the more I decide NAH!

I've been playing guitar on a serious level for a couple years as I played bass for about 15 years as my main instrument prior to this and just played guitar for fun all along. If this amp were lost or stolen I'd replace it in a heartbeat! Of course I'd look for it at a better price, though $650 seems relatively average. I recently saw another that was fairly similar to mine in all respects for $900, so I'm happy, I guess these amps are now a much more sought after commodity then even just a couple years ago, thus the higher cost. When I got this amp I got it for the classic Marshall sound, and that's just what I got, especially after a week or 2 of getting used to it. As far as tubes go, I'll be honest, I'm not a gear guy, I assume it's stock jcm800 probably w/ 6550's.

I have to give this amp a high mark for versatility despite many of the previous comments. In the context of retro style gritty sound the JCM is extremely versatile. Its all good. In the context of its ability to play jazz, country or even worse nu fasion metal, this amp would is useless. Top marks, but only if you you buy a JCM for the right reasons.
Its got two channels, one cleanish in a very late 60s style and one dirty channelwhickh is very 70s in sound. For what I need its perfect. Mostly I use the the lo-gain input for a lovely dirtied up clean sound (my band do stoner rock) - and a voodoo labs bosstone provides the boost for the mad bits. The hi-gain input is more suited to classic 70s rock in a Bolan or early Bowie style. This gets occasional use but is also very cool. I put in new Harma EL34s from Watford valves and they have made the amp extremely pick sensitive. Its brought my playing to life and it also record very well. Its 50 watts and is enuff for most small gigs without miking up. Sound best when being pushed hard like all good amps. It plays through a very very old 2x12 Marshall Cab with 30watt greenbacks. I actually use this amp in tandem with a Vox AC30 (both at the same time not A/B)and the combination is a chiming dirty perfection. Classic sounds and playability. Metal heads should stay away from all o this!!!!.

Playing a Gibson Les Paul Custom a Tokai SG and a Gibson ES135 with P100s. The JCM suits humbuckers of P100 single coils. Maybe back of the treble with single coils compared to HBs. My particular favorite setting is the cleaner of the two channels pushed really hard. The other channel rocks very hard but stays tuneful, unlike the modern crap. I tried the JCM and the Vox against against the POD thing. I wanted the POD to suceed and be close, but it was miles off and one dimensional in comparison. Thought it might save my poor back for lugging these tube wonders to rehearsals. No chance, sold the POD within a month of owning it.

It seems ok at the moment and is in good shape for its age. If I could find another I would buy it as a back up. Same goes for the AC 30. I also need some more cash then..........
I play a lot (2 hours a day) and gig regularly so I change the tubes frequently (every six months)to avoid problems.
The pots are bit sratchy, so I will fix that soon.

Never delt with Marshall or any other manufacturer cos most of my gear is ancient. Our local shop is quite good at fixing stuff.

Ive had a load of amps and this along with the AC30 is a keeper. I must admit I found it by accident when I was about to buy a Fender Deville but bottled out cos of the price. The marshall was my second choice, but is now my main sound and is indespensibe. Its the clean but dirty sound I needed - a fender would have been too much on the clean side. Versatile enough to go into warm heavy dirt (not glossy metal)if required. An amp that its hard to get any bad sounds from.

1984? one channel jcm800 Canadian(2xEL34) 2204 model with drake transformers. No reverb, no effect loop. This amp is made to rock!
Very LOUD. 6 knobs to play with.

I use a ibanez RG660 with semour duncan JB and a distortion booster in front of the amp. I play metal and hardcore punk and this amp is brutal. Pure tone. Balls. No tone-sucking mid compression. A little noisy at high volume but maybe it's my tubes. The sound is more classic rock if you don't but a booster in front of it.

The amp is in mint condition after over 15 years of use.

I have found my sound. I will keep this amp for the rest of my life.

Quite simple: 6 knobs; high and low sensitivity inputs; 3 12AX7 preamp tubes and either 2 6550 or 2 EL34 power tubes.

Make no mistake, this amp is a one-trick pony. Fortunately, it's the right trick. In my opinion, the 2203 and 2204 were the last real amps that Marshall ever made. They've been trying to keep up with Mesa ever since (I've owned several Mesas. They're great; Marshall will never beat them at their own game. Marshall should start making amps like this again.) I use this amp in conjunction with my PRS McCarty Soapbar and my PRS Standard 22 goldtop, and I find that it's best suited for obtaining 70's hard rock tones (think AC/DC). After auditioning many cabs, I've found that the best choice, for my purposes, is the Marshall 1960 AX 4x12 (25w celestion greenbacks). Unlike many other amps, the 2204 is very responsive to dynamics. I prefer to run the pre amp volume between 4 and 7 with the master volume between 7 and 10. It's not nearly as loud as my Mesa Rect-O-Verb 50, though.

I haven't had any problems yet, but Marshalls were never built as well as Mesa or Matchless.

Never dealt with them.

Just what I wanted tonewise. Absolutely no need for reverb or an effects loop.

just what i need and nothing more. very simple and wonderful. 50 watts sound like 100. el-34 heaven.

great. just the right amount of drive. unmatched tone. better the louder you get. very quiet.

no problems, built like a tank.

never had any contact.

great. traded week old american stnd strat for it. its the 2204 50 watt head with 4-12 top cabinet, dead mint clean with covers. nothing like a marshall. well worth the wait and price, it took a while to get one but the wait was worth it.

This Marshall is a simple 2 input single channel design. It has controlls for presence, bass, middle, treble, master, and preamp.
As far as features go in this day of 4 amps in one head and midi in every application, it does not get any simpler than this. I use this amp in my band and for solo practice. The other guitar player in the band has a Crate 120 watt soiled state (yes I know how to spell solid state) head that he runs through a celestion equipped crate 4x12 cabinet. The first time i brought the amp to practice I had it set on about 8 for the master volume and 10 for the preamp. Half way through the first song he started to make annoyed faces. He asked me to turn down so I came down to about 6. As any tube player knows if you are not at least on 6 your tone is not there. In the middle of the next song he started to make faces again. I walked to his amp and turned him up to 10. He was still complaining about my volume after that song. Bear in mind I am playing a 50 watt Marshall and he has a 120 watt Crate. In the nicest way possible I told him he might want to consider buying something besides a soiled state amp.

I play a mid eighties Jackson Dinky Reverse Pro through this amp. As far as the clean sounds go I just back off the volume and pick lighter. This gives a quasi clean sound. To be honest I own a 73 Silverface Fender ProReverb 2x12 45 watt combo that I ab to for clean sounds.The brutality of the marshalls distortion is beyond comprehension. Imagine an 800 lb linebacker coming straight at you.Go ahead and add in the sound of 376 people smashing Jack Daniels bottles on a brick wall, and your parents yelling at you after they find you passed out in the front hall after your first real drinking binge. You might come close to the sound of this Marshall.I should also say that for a little more versitility i add a Boss ds-1 distortion pedal with the distortion on 3 and the level on 10 this acts more like a boost than a distortion.I use that for solos and whenever the other guitar player is getting too mouthy, it boosts the volume up to about where the amp would be set on 8.Tone that could make you slap your dog and pee on the neighbors cat.

I have only had the amp for about 3 months. I do think I can depend on it, but since I have been playing in bands for about 10 years (since I was 16) I can not think of any amp I would use without a backup.

I have not had to deal with the company. I do most of my own amp tech work or send it out to a friend of mine named Rush Neil, so I hopefully will not ever have to find out about the Marshall customer service dept.

I also own a 73 Fender mentioned above, a 74 Fender Princeton, 94 Fender Strat Plus that i just instaslled a set of vintage noisless pickups in(I highly recommend these for any one looking for classic strat tone without the noise or hum),Boss ds-1 distortion pedal,
Pro-Co Ratt distortion pedal, 78 MXR distortion+ (script logo), Boss ch-1 chorus pedal, Ibanez Tube Screamer TS-9, Boss od-1, MXR phase 90,
Vox reissue wah, Boss ge-7 eq pedal, Boss GT-3 multi effects processor, Korg pandora effects processor. Holy cow my friends are right I do have GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)If my Marshall were lost or stolen I would try and get in touch with Zakk Wylde because i hear from apretty close source that he has a but load of these amps and Hopefully I will always own at least one MARSHALL JCM 800

I have a 1984 Marshall JCM 800 half stack. IT is not a versatile amp...one sound. I don't like guitar equipment that is designed to get every sound under the sun (mesa). Usually amps like that tend to compromise in order to be versatile. I would like a little more gain, I think that I am going to upgrade to a 100 watter. However, if you're looking for a versatile amp this is not the amp for you.

I have an Epiphone DOT (335 copy). The pick-ups in this guitar are a little brite and this I'm sure adds to the overall dislike that I have for my sound right now. I am also considering upgrading my guitar. The amp has a decent amount of bass and it is not noisy. However, it does'nt totally satisfy my needs. The distortion is sort of like a ballsy overdrive not a full on distortion. This is totally cool but not exactly what I'm looking for. I'm looking for that Noel Gallagher, James Dean Bradfield type of sound. This amp doesn't really get there. Not good for leads...

I haven't had any problems with it at all.

Marshall is a good operation. Although whenever you buy used stuff the manufacturer is not going to be a great deal of help.

I have been playing for about 3 years. I have a 1972 Fender Twin Reverb, and a Big Muff, and a Morley Chrystal Chorus Pedal (these things are cool). Eventually I am going to a-b-y the Marshall and the Fender.

1982 JMC 800 2204 50 watt head, EL34s, STOCK! Very straightforward controls, tone change is typical Marshall, minimal. Still, the overall tone is excellent. Good clean sounds and amazing distortion.

Using with a stock 1991 Gibson Flying V, Cry Baby 535Q Wah, Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer into a 1982 Marshall 1960 4x12 with 75 watt Celestions. I can get great UFO (Rock Bottom, Natural Thing) tones plugged straight in and brilliant Metal (Slayer/Dissection) with the Tube Screamer kicked in. Huge, fat tone!!! Good clarity and low end with mids that are fat and will rip your face off! Combined with the Gibson, I get singing lead tones that are full and powerful. I play mostly Death Metal but i HATE that typical scooped tone, so this amp is perfect for me. My sound is closer to older Slayer than this new synthetic tone everyone else is after. For warmth, power and pure tone this amp can't be beat!

Very reliable, a bit too much RF interference at times, but that's easily fixed. No other problems so far.

Not needed so far.

I have been playing for 15 years and I have found my sound with this amp. It also sounds AMAZING with a 1984 BC Rich all maple neck thru Mockingbird, old Slayer tone all the way! And again, with the V, the tone is classic and fat, and is plenty heavy enough for Death Metal. It's great because it's designed to do one thing and do it well, produce a great tube amp sound. It also has the older circut, so the pots are chasis mounted and there is no printed circut board, which I think adds alot to the tone. I think 1982 was the last year they made them this way. So, the only amps I will use are 2204 that were made between 1975 and 1982. This amp is proof that less is more. No effects loop, no channel switching, just two inputs and basic tone controls. The less crap to get in the way of the signal the better! Plexies are nice, but you can have them, I'll take this amp any day, it rules! If it were lost or stolen I would buy another one in a minute! Then I would KILL the bastard that stole the amp in the first place!

*'84 Marshall JCM 800 50wt head
* one channel, high gain and low gain inputs, no effects loop, line out
* presence, bass, mid, treble, master and preamp volumes
* I never use the line out
* I use this amp on stage and in the studio
* Inspite of having only one channel I am able to get a variety of tones out of it by varying my picking technique, guitar's volume and tone knobs, and the dynamics of my playing. It is very responsive to your playing, especially for a pre-amp distortion amp.
* I hesitate to give it a perfect rating for features only because it is so simple. Some players may prefer channel switching and effects but not me. I prefer to plug straight into the amp.

* I am currently using a "well abused" Fender Telecaster with American std. pu's. I have used a Gibson Explorer, a SG Special with Gibson '57 Classic and Seymour Duncan Antiquity Humbuckers in it, as well as a '61 Gibson SG Jr with a stock P-90. All of the guitars retained their distinct personalities through this amp.
* This is possibly the perfect amp for my playing style. I play in a now four piece rock band (just recently added a 2nd guitar) in the vien of bands like Fugazi, Guided by Voices, Sloan, Elliott Smith, and other like-minded groups.
* I've never had problems with this amp being noisey, all my noise issues come from the fact i'm using a Telecaster, with single coils.
* I can dial up a convincing AC/DC style tone, an excellent George Harrison style lead tone, and totally cop the Fugazi sound with a Humbucker equiped Gibson. The amp responds frighteningly well to volume pot manipulations as well as your playing technique. Not unlike a cranked non-master volume amp like a Mesa/Boogie Blue Angel or older Fenders.
* The clean tone isn't pristine clean, while the distortion doesn't reach death metal territory. You can find a beautiful range of distortion between there. As I said before the amp responds well to your technique, you may find yr self playing with slightly more grit on clean passages than you would with other amps because of this heads articulate tone. In distorted chords each note is well articulated.
* "articulation" is the word with this amp. Beautiful sparkle without ever being harsh on the highend.

* This amp is a tank!
* I've had to replace a preamp tube since I've gotten it and that's all.
* With used Marshalls I have a theory. The more beat-up they are the more they've been used, and they don't get used unless they sound good.

* Never had any need to contact Marshall.

* I've been playing for around a decade. I also own a '73 Fender Pro-Reverb, an assortment of old and neglected (ie. I never use them) pedals, various recording and drum gear.
* If this amp were stolen I would probably cry. Then I'd go out and find another one.
* I have compared this head to nearly ever other Marshall I've come into contact with. I used to own a '72 Marshall SuperLead 50wt head that sounded beautiful with humbuckers but the JCM 800 beats the superlead, because I can get distorted tones with out blowing eardrums out! Plus it gave the Tele more bottom and didn't have the harsh highend of the SuperLead, without making humbuckers sound muddy by comparison. I have owned a '73 Fender ProReverb, '61 Fender Princeton, '70's Fender VibroChamp, a customshop Fender, an Ampeg SuperJet, and the old SuperLead and this is my favorite.

* made in 1984
* six knobs, two inputs(high and low gain), 50wt, line out, as simple as could be!
* One channel
* This amp was designed for one purpose: ROCK!
* Many swear by 100wt Marshalls but this is one powerful 50watter!
* I use this amp on stage and in the studio. It records amazingly.
I have gotten countless compliments on the tone
* may not be the most versitle amp in the world but with a tone this good you don't want any other sounds.
* the only reason I hesitate to give this amp a 10 rating is the fact that I'm sure many players would want more features.

* I play in a four piece rock band. Both guitarists using 50wt Marshalls. In the vein of Guided by Voices/Sloan/Fugazi and other like-minded groups.
* This is the perfect amp for the context of our group and those that we draw inspiration from. In fact Fugazi uses the 100wt version of the same amp
* Amazingly this amp provides my with multiple tones despite having only one channel. I'm able to get great George harrison style lead tones with the gain turned down using my Telecaster as well as serious AC/DC style crunch with the gain up higher. I't also offers a rich midrange and articulated highs with a good humbucker or p-90 equipped guitar. Very beautiful highs. Alway sparkly, never ever harsh! Probably the best amp I've ever heard as far as it's complex high end. It's not designed for brutal distortion sounds or crystal clean. However the amp responds so well to your touch and dynamics you may find yourself playing with more distortion on cleaner passages than you would with other amps. The dynamics on this amp are downright scary for a pre-amp distortion amp. Usually you only get response like this from a non-master volume amp cranked, like a small Fender or Mesa/Boogie Blue angel.

* This thing is a tank!
* The thing is with Marshalls, if they look beat up it's probably because they've been used a lot. And if they've been used a lot that means they sound GOOD.
* It has never broken down on me. As long as you replace the tubes when needed you shouldn't have any problems.
* I would most certainly use this amp without a back-up. Although I have considered buying another just because this one is so great!

* I bought the amp used and have never had any reason to contact Marshall other than to inquire about custom color cabinets. And they were very friendly an responded back to me quickly by email.

* I've been playing for around a decade and own a Telecaster, a hand full of pedals that never get used various drum and recording gear.
* If this head were stolen i would probably cry! And then when I was done I'd go out and try to find another.
* i love the simplicity of it and the ease at wich you can get beautiful tones. You don't have to monkey with EQ to make it sound good. I leave my EQ more or less at 12o'clock across the board, with the presence down at 9o'clock.
* I have compared this head to every Marshall model I have come into contact with. I have even since gotten rid of a awesome '73 50wt SuperLead in favor of the JCM 800. This head even stands above others of the same exact model I have played.
* There have been a few times where I thought it might be good to have a 100watter (only on really big stages) but the tone of the 50wts is so good.
* I have owned a '73 50wt superLead, a Custom Shop Fender, as well as various small Fender and Ampeg combos and this is by far the best amp I have ever owned!

*'84 JCM 800 50watt single channel head with el34's.
*Though most players like multiple channels, reverb, effects, etc. I prefer the "straight into the amp" method and am able to get multiple tones by varying my pick up selection, volume, and playing technique.
*Many players swear by 100wt. Marshalls but I've never had trouble with volume or headroom using my 50wt JCM 800, and I'm competing with a SVT on the other side of the stage. Besides I like the tone of this amp when you really crank it. It's got a sweeter tone when cranked than a 100wt of the same model. I've owned a '73 Marshall superlead and found that to be unholy loud. 50 or 100 watts means nothing in terms of volume with many Marshalls. Depending on their plate voltages a 50 watt can seem drastically louder than one might think.
*I generally don't use the low-gain input. I find I am able to get workable semi-clean tones by manipulating my guitar's volume knob.
*I find this amp to have all the features i want, including simple easy to use layout. Many other guitarists may disagree with me on the amps features because of it's appearent lack of flexibility, but if you like it's sound as much as i do you probably won't want to use another amp, pedal, or channel.
* I just wish it hand a ground switch.

*I use a "well abused" American Telecaster as well as the occasional borrowed guitar for recordings such as '99 Gibson Explorer, '61 Gibson Les Paul Jr.(SG style).
*I play in a three piece rock group influenced by the Who, Guided by Voices, Fugazi, and other like minded groups.
*I can get everything from tough AD/DC style tones to sparkily George Harrison style lead tones. This amp responds amazingly to your touch, guitar volume and pick-up selection.
*This isn't a "Metal" amp, the distortion is more in the vein of Fugazi or AC/DC.

*This thing is a tank! A general rule of thumb I have for Marshalls is if the look beat-up chances are they sound good. They're beat up for a reason. They've been used alot, and they get used a lot because they sound good.
*Like any well used tube amp I've had to replace tubes. That's it!

I've emailed Marshall reguarding ordering a custom color cabinet and although they weren't producing any at the time they were very helpful and friendly via email. I haven't had any reason to contact Marshall with my JCM 800 other than to brag about how much I love it.

I've been playing for around a decade and own a '73 Fender ProReverb, asorted pedals that get neglected and a Line6 POD 2.0 for recording, as well as various recording and drum gear.
*I f this amp was stolen or irrepairable damaged I would probably cry. This is the best amp i've ever owned, and I've owned a Custom Shop Amp, a Roland JC-120, Ampeg Rocket, and various vintage Fenders.
*I love the simplicity, amazing responsiveness, reliability, and of course tone.
*I have been considering getting a second one for either a back up or to use additional in larger venues.
*This is in my opinion the best amp Marshall has ever made.

50 watt all tube single channel head with dual inputs.

That's it. Not very versatile, but it does the job.

I bought mine at a shop that sells used guitars and amps. A 2x12 Marshall cab (loaded with Vintage 30's) was included in the sale price.

LOW GAIN INPUT
Plugging into the low gain input acts like a virtual clean channel. Using my Godin Radiator, tones go from a punchy clean sound to a mild overdrive at full tilt. Think of it as the "Rolling Stones Channel" and you've got a pretty good idea of how the low input sounds with low output pickups.

Tones become thicker and more throaty when using my Epiphone '58 Korina Explorer re-issue. Clean tones break up earlier and the overdrive gets fuller at full throttle. At full crank, the overdrive sounds a lot like the guitar sound from Aerosmith's "Walk This Way."

HIGH GAIN INPUT
This is where the amp's tones scream "Marshall!" Driving the amp with single coils brings out the Marshall classic rock sound. The distortion is fairly bright, but doesn't get harsh unless you crank the presence control full up.

With my Explorer plugged into the high gain input, tones range from AC/DC "Highway To Hell" crunch to full out 80's shred tones. The distortion is very warm and punch and guaranteed to cut through a full band in the mix.

And speaking of cutting through a full band, this amp is LOUD. I would say that 50 watts is a fairly conservative power rating by Marshall. When I voiced concern about the amp being able to hang tight with a heavy handed drummer friend of mine, the clerk told me to crank up the amp as high as I wanted to test it out at full volume. With the volume set on "3" and the preamp on "8" I was shaking the windows at the front of the store - while plugged into the low gain input using my Explorer. I didn't bother to go any louder.

However, this amp only does the Marshall sound. You won't find any "Tweed" spank or Vox-style bark. Another thing this amp will not do left to its own devices is the super high gain metal sound.

What you will find is plenty of warm, punchy Marshall tone.

When I bought the amp, the only thing I did was replace the tubes and re-bias the amp. No problems for me since.

The store where I bought it gave me a 30 day guarantee on the amp. But come on, any decent shop will know how to service a Marshall amp.

I absolutely love this amp. The only thing I wish I had was another head and 2x12 so I could a/b between cleaner sounds and higher gain tones.

If it broke down or was stolen, I'm sure I'd try and find another. There's a certain magic to be found in medium gain amps like this one.

I bought this 1983 model in 2000 for about US$400. This is a very basic Marshall head: single channel, master volume, 50W rating, all tube, no reverb.

No, not a lot of features, but you don't need them if you're going for this sound. 10 for what you'd expect, 5 compared to actual versatile amps.

ES-335, Telecaster, Strat. Low noise, not a lot of gain, but on a single amp setting a lot of different sounds can be made simply by picking differently, from almost clean to a "I am/my guitar is a V12 lamborghini engine at redline" type of sound.

With a 4x12 celestion-loaded cab attached, for blues and jazz this baby can make you feel like you're Jimi, Stevie Ray, Jimmy, or Angus himself, if only for a moment.

No problems so far, and I'd get it fixed in a second at any price if it needed it.

Haven't needed it yet.

I've been playing for 18 years, strictly amateur. If I had bought it sooner I fear it might have derailed me into an attempt at a professional career in music. I love this thing!

The amp, as said, is really simple.... master volume, preamp volume, treble, mid, bass and presence. Hi and low inputs..... and thats it :-)

Now this is where this amp leaves the rest for dead! Nothing I have played, since becoming addicted to this old girl, comes close to kicking arse like this amp. Only 50 watts, but it is the loudest damn amp I've heard! JESUS! LOUD! I have used it always with my Ibanez JEM77FP.... and the combination is wonderful. Using the single coil settings, while the MV=2 and PV=6 is enough to give a slight distortion to a great and full rhythm sound, while a simple flick to neck or bridge humbucker will drive the amp to give a very cool lead distortion!!! Through the 1960A slant quad is just a musician's wet dream.... (real muso) I can get all the classic guitar sounds with the flick of my pickup selector.... no effects used.

These old girls are INDUSTRIAL strength. I have a mate go through her and put in Mullard spec Svetlana's and replace the caps with better quality replacements.... and have now used it for the past five years without having to touch her at all! TONE, TONE and more GRUNT than King Kong :-)

What support.... none required.

The 2204 is simple, powerful and sweet! I have been playing for 30 years, and pro for 15. I wish I had another one in as new condition, like mine.... I'd then set one up to amp switch from one to the other.

Great sound.....! It is funny that all the other amp makers say, hey buy this amp of ours, at thousands of dollars, and you can get a JCM800 sound from our amp :-)))) LOL. You can have the real thing for $400! Does this say something???? Everyone, who is anyone plays a good guitar through a JCM800 2204 or 2203.... there is a good reason. They have THE sound.... blues, rock, grunt!

This is a review that is an update to John Given's review a while back on this amp. ITs features are very limited but hey it is after all Tone you were looking for, right? Master Volume, Pre amp, bass, middle, treble and presense. High and Low input (horizontally mounted as opposed to Verticle like most 800's. El34 Tube amp that is really loud 50 Watts. It was made when I was three in 1984.

I use a Jackson Soloist, Fender Floyd Rose strat, and Flying V. All Duncan or Gibson pickups. It is not a really distorted sound, but enough gain past 3 on the master for my rhythm tones. A pedal is necessary for good leads. I use a Maxon Tube Screamer, which is merely an overdrive pedal to push the tubes a little more. Plus, it is really quiet even with the pedal on and volume to 10. It fills more than enough room even with another guitar player using a Marshall as well. I am in an Iron Maiden Tribute ban in San Diego called PIECE OF MIND and this amp was the perfect tone for all Maiden. Even Judas Priest Painkiller is here as well with the pedal.
My guitar player has a 76 JMP with a master volume mod. and he is a little louder than me because he has a new power transformer and mains transformer. But tone is there no matter how loud you are. My advice is that if you aren't a giging musician than this is not going to do well in your bedroom. Basically it has an on or off button with the volume control. After 3 or so it is at full volume but the tone gets sweeter with every notch louder. Funny thing is, the amp "cleans up" at higher volumes, it removes the fuzzyness of the Master Volume and Tube Screamer. This amp in particular is very touchy. It is very sensitive to your finger's touch and how hard you hit the strings. Great dynamics.

I am fairly confident in its reliablity. It is very simply built like John said. I had it on the bench after I recived it. Tests lead me to belive that the Amp had some transformer damage either with John or a previous owner. The amp was only putting out 398 volts at the center tap. Most marshalls have upwards of 450 volts. But apparently it is fine cause it sounds sweet.

Marshall is Marshall. I am on my own on this one. It is easy to operate on so to hell with the warranty.

I just love this amp. It is going to be used for a while as a giging amp but will be retired as one of those great recording amps. I have a Marshall 9000 all tube rack system that is great for all situations. I love the tone, it is a Marshall. This and a Dual rectofier would be a great rhythm tone for tape, but the Marshall is the only answer for leads. Pick one up. John Given was a big help and a great seller, you are lucky to find one like him. Take care all. Keep rocking!

50watt 1 channel head. Mine is 6550 powered although I have seen el34 powered ones out there. Contols are presence,bass,mid,treble,volume,gain. has 2 speaker outs on back of head and ohms selector. Simple amp but effective

this amp is to me THE marshall head. Its crunchy but not highgain. Very tight sounding and easily smokes my jcm 4500 is tone,feel and volume. Very loud head. louder than my 5150 head. It cuts through the mix well. I use a lespaul and together, its old school punkrock at its finest.kick ass!

made in 86' and still works great

wouldnt know

for classic marshall sound buy a lead series jcm 800. they are getting hard to find so look hard. 900's and 2000's cant compare in sound. those sound like pedals compared to the roar this puts out. True tube crush. tears your head off.fucking riot!

Made probably in the early '80s. Not entirely versatile, but it sings at high gain. Hi and low inputs, preamp and master volumes, bass, treb and mid range, presence. No channel switch, no effects loop, no headphone jack, no reverb. Plenty power on the low input unless playing auditoriums. As was noted by the first reviewer, this amp really needs to be driven hot for it to sound great. In contrast to him however, I have not modified the amp at all. Instead, I use a several different preamps in addition to the onboard preamp which I keep pretty much cranked most of the time. I have an Ibanez Tubescreamer which was modified by Analog Man to TS808 brown specs, and a stock Boss DS1 cheapo distortion pedal. Using those two pedals connected next to the guitar in the effects chain gives you the ability to go from a warm fuzz to a fairly crunchy sound on a bridge humbucker. I also have an ADA MP1 tube preamp which puts the MkI lead 2204 head way over the top in distortion. I think the JMP1 Marshall preamp would probably be even better. All in all this head is fabulous for Classic, Metal and Alternative rock guitar. It is rapidly becoming a coveted piece and I have recently seen similar heads selling for over $500 on Ebay...

The amp is very good for overdriven and distorted classic British sounds like Cream, Who and Zepplin. It also works great for punk, metal and alternative sounds. It sounds thin and weak at low gain settings (clean sounds) so I use it with the preamp volume at 7-10, and the master volumes set from 5-10. Controlling the volume at the guitar helps keep down the feedback. It's a very loud amp for 50W and you need a loud band to use it properly. It's use in the home is likely to alienate neighbors and family members...

Besides getting it biased and cleaned up when I first bought it and replacing a couple tubes, it has worked well and has been reliable for the past three years.

I've been playing for around 15 years. I use this amp primarily with a modified Fender Jag-Stang and a 1960A slant 4x12 cabinet with Celestion speakers. I would like to get another unmodified 2204 for backup purposes. I compared it favorably to later Marshall JCM900 series which didn't have the raw tones I liked. It doesn't have reverb which is an important effect, I use a Digitech 128+ unit for that and delays.

Very simple.
Single channel, 2 inputs, 2 outputs, 6 dials and 2 switches.
What could be better.
No f*cking switching or useless add ons.

THE most awesome sounding head around. Crank it up above 4 and just melt with the amazing tone this baby puts out. Warm and stylish with that 70's rockin flair.
I poked the Low input back inside the amp and just use the High.
I play a 1968 Gibson ES345 Stereo, and a 1974 Fender Jaguar and I just set my Volumes for each pickup and basically use the pick up selector as a Channel switch. I use the neck pick up on both guitars for my dirty channel as it is heaps warmer.

Never missed a beat.
My leads always f*ck up though.

never dealt with them

This amp would be irreplacable on a sentimental level. But I would definitely buy another as soon as I find one in good condition.
Turn it up LOUD.

I'm not sure about the year,but it's a 2 input,50 watt head with just tone knobs,preamp,and master volume.
This amp sounded good,but I pulled out the 6550 tubes,replaced a few resistors,and Whammo!! it's a beast now! Groove tubes el34LS tubes with a 6 hardness...it's a basic amp,but with the right toys,it'll cover almost anything.I use a MXR distortion...it sounds like eddie or Randy.with emg's and a dual overdrive,this thing actually shreds! I was shocked!
Oh ya,I have a 100 watt version also which has a bit more headroom,but this thing is JUST as loud but warmer.with the EL34ls's,it's quite womany/brown...I think Eddie would trade his peavey for it!!Anyday!(and his crappy new axe...sorry hartley!)
Seeing it has nothing for major features,I have installed a line out so i can run effects into another power amp and have a wet and dry signal...man does that sound full!!

I have 3 strats,one of which has a floyd and emg's in it.One is a ballsy strat,the other is quite bell-like.I also use 2 esp's which sound like les pauls,and a jackson dinky which has dimarzio pickups...
for effects,I use fulltone 69 and 70 overdrive pedals,boss od-1 and dual overdrive pedals,a dejavibe and clyde wha(fulltone...NICE!), a voodoo labs chorus...OMG this thing sounds luschious! all of these I plug straight in...not all at once of course...with the line out,I go into a boss multieffects processor to a marshall valvestate power amp,into another 4x10 cab.may i just say,this rig sounds HUMONGEOUS!
I turn the amp all the way up,and kill off the preamp od so i get a nice,sweet sound.with the preamp all the way up,I get a basic od sound.Not too shabby,but I like to run it hot!

I have a few marshalls,and the only problems I have ever had was a blown fuse or a bad tube.I use this rig everyday at loud volumes so it's pretty damn sturdy!(what?I can't hear ya! haha)

I never had to call them

I have played for over 14 years and the only other amps I would like to own are an Old plexi,and steve morses' marshall jubilee...I have my rig similar to his...man what a sound!Thick,full,fat,HUGE!
If I lost it I could replace it as they are quite common,but ya have to play them and find one that's not too raspy...than change it over to el34's,hard wire it(makes an unbelievable difference!!OMG!),and put in a line out.

I would not call this amp versitle. One channel(high and low gain inputs).

Wow. Great tone. You will have to give this baby some juice, though. At low volumes, it's pretty thin. But crank it up to about "3" and over, and it starts to cook. Now, be forewarned, these things are LOUD, I mean LOUD! These things push more air than any other 50 watt I've ever heard. But once you get the power amp section involved, your really havin' fun. GREAT TONE. Not a high gain "Metal" type amp, but who really wants that kind of fuzz crap anyway. I guess if you do go for that stuff, just shuv a good stomp box distotion in front of it and you'll be more than happy. I use it with a modded TS-9 to boost some leads, but that's about it. As for the "8" rating, sorry, can't give it a ten: Remember, the perfect tone is not a destination, it's a journey.

Havn't used it at live gigs enough to rate this catagory, but from what I've read and heard, these things are built really solid, I'm not worried.

Never dealt with Marshall directly.

One great amp. I've been looking for one of these things for years. Finally found this one used at a "Guitar Center" 'used' area(Phoenix). Played it and bought it on the spot. I've owned the 2550 Jubilee Silver anaversary head, 4550 JCM 900 head, and EVH 5150 head. This little guy blows them all away!. True, honest, Marshall crunch. No fuzz, just tone. These things are starting to get far and few between, better get one while you can.

Very simple controls. Presence, bass, mids, treble, master volume and pre-amp. Not a lot of bells and whistles on this bad boy but very easy to get used to.

This amp sounds absolutley awesome for classic rock and other types of rock music. There isn't a lot of gain on this amp so it does not work well for my style of music (metal). However, if your looking for an amp that will knock you on the floor this is it. It starts to sound real nice when you get it cranked up past 5 but unless your playing a descent sized room you may not get it up that high. The clean tones are descent at low volumes but start to break up a lttle bit when really pushed, but that's a nice sound too. The tone is thick and rich and the amp has a lot of bottom end when I play it through my Marshall 4x12 cab. If you wanna cop a Led Zepplin, Cream, or Grand Funk type of tone look no further, this is the amp to own!

It seems as though there is no abuse that this amp can't withstand. It is a monster and has never failed me.

No reason to deal with the company yet.

This amp is killer for classic rock and roll. If you wanna get some serious high gain you may need to get another amp. I'm planning on getting a JCM2000 DSL real soon for my metal band but this amp will always have a special place in my heart (and rig).

This amp is completely unversatile. It has one channel, no footswitches here, 50 watts, all tube. No effects loop. No headphone jack. It uses EL-34's and 12AX7's, and it's LOUD. Loud enough for me anyway. High and Low sensitivity inputs. Accross the board: Presence, Bass, Middle, Treble, Master Volume, Preamp Volume. Very limited features, less to break, no problem.

This Marshall has kickin sounds. Plug into the low sensitivity imput and get a pretty nice clean tone, then plug into the high sensitivity, turn up the preamp volume, and let the crunch roll. This amp really doesn't have the greatest high gain distortion, but adding a good MXR Micro Amp or a Boss Metal Zone and you've got every tone imaginable, PLUS A LITTLE. PURRRRRRFECT. i play three main guitars through this amp: a 1978 SG, an Explorer, and a Les Paul Custom. This amp produces that great rock sound. I'd give it a 10, but you have to add the distortion pedal. Oh well, it still rocks.

Marshall builds their amps like tanks. You could drop this baby out of a moving car and you would AT MOST just have to change the tubes. these amps are definitly road warriors, where I go, they go, around the world and back. I gig without a backup pretty frequently and I never have to worry. Though, you should ALWAYS have spare tubes on hand in case one blows.

I have never dealt with Marshall, but I hear that their customer support is pretty decent. I really don't need to call them because I have a GREAT shop right near me, here in Ny, Ny. It's called First Flight Music (www.firstflightmusictoo.com) and they always hook me up really well. If you're ever in the area I URGE you to check it out.

Pretty much everything that you need to know about this amp is above. It just sounds great, really great. If you aren't liking your amp, take it back and try to find one of these. They don't make them anymore, but you should be able to come across one somewhere. A GREAT AMP.

Circa 1983. One channel with bass, treble, mid, presence, volume and master. Two inputs. Basically a non-footswithcable two sound amp, depending on which input you plug into. Ohm (4-8-16) selector which allows you to hook up to any combination of cabs. Voltage selector for those world tours -- yeah right!

Am Std Strat with a Dimarzio Fast Track 2 in the bridge position -> Ibanez TS-5 -> high input of the JCM800 head. The head by itself doesn't have enough gain for the stuff I play, but the Tubescreamer does a great job of adding the compression and sustain that I need without affecting the overall tone of the amp and guitar. By itself, the amp is very gritty or grainy sounding, probably good for classic-type rock. When I put the TS-5 inline, it smooths out the tone and sounds very similar to my Soldano. I would rate it at a 9 with the tubescreamer inline and a 7 without. The low input is great for using distortion pedals as the only source of gain. However, you need something with more girth than a tubescreamer to use this input unless you're going for a milder tone. This is medium-gain amp. If you want to play chunkin' metal, you will definitely need to supplement this amp with a pedal, but it sounds great when you do.

It has never broken down. Solid as a rock. In my opinion, these are built way better than the 900 series, which are notorious for going down.

Never dealt with them

Made in 1985, Master volume, no bullshit, loud rulz

Kick ass sound, put the pre-amp on 10 and the master vol. on 10, plug a MXR Distortion+ before the amp, and stand way the hell back. great for playing Iron Maiden or Judas Priest.

I bought it when it was 10 years old and it has not let me down yet.

What can I say? It's a Marshall

This amp is mainly a one or two trick pony. I don't consider that a bad thing, what it does, it does well. I use a whole bunch of pedals anyway. High input, low input, master volume and basic tone controls. No reverb. No channel switching.

I play a Fralin-equipped G&L Legacy and a late '60's ES-335TD. First of all, this amp is LOUD. Too loud for me. Rare is the occasion I get to let it rip. It sure can shake the floor in a very satisfying way, though. Second, this amp is BRIGHT. Way too bright for single coils! To remedy this, I removed all of the bright bypass capacitors. With the caps out, it's just right for me. It should be noted, I prefer dark tones and use mainly single coils and reissue Greenback speakers in a ported cab. If you play humbuckers and use Vintage 30s, you may like this amp just the way it is. A few words about the tone: very harmonically rich, good bass, and really lovely clean tones with a strat. That's something the diode clipping, channel switching JCM800s can't accomplish. Vintage 30s are likewise lousy for clean.

This is a circuit board amp, probably made around 1984. The circuit board is a bummer, but the components are easily accessible. The pots and jacks are large and sturdy. No problems with this amp! Did I mention that the output transformer is massive?

A good, solid amp with a big sound. Believe it or not, you could use this thing as a jazz or country amp--that's how good the clean sound is. Great crunch when cranked. I don't run the gain all the way up because it sounds fizzy to my ears. I've never encountered a louder 50 watt amp.

The amp I own was made in 1983. This amp is great for classic rock tones through the high gain, and absolutley great marshall cleans through the low. Presence/Low/Mid/High/Master VOL. and Preamp Vol. this amp is a sweet marshall and only a marshall. It is simple and made for a guitarist who wants his gear set up in 2 mins. I play in a Metallica, Greenday Offspring band. I run a Boss Metal Zone through the front end of a Peavey Bandit, and then run that through this, and the tone is TOTAL ROCK! I also run just my metal zone through it with a little loss of my low end but that is it. I still get a kicking metal/hardrock tone.

Like I said above I run a metal zone through it. I play a Peavey patriot with a Semour Duncan Custom in the bridge. Total metal or hard rock. This suits this musical style perfectly. It also has an awsome clean tone. The tone is one to make a fender jelouse. the clean channel dosen't distort at loud volumes. If you plug into the high gain, it is pure acdc rock. Hard and loud. It pummels you to stand infront of a 4/12. When I play with my metal zone, I feel like my insides are getting a massage. The sound just rips you apart and makes you want more. totally awsome

I have one thing to say. This amp fell from the top of 2 4/12's stacked. I thought it was going to need a bit of help. I did break the speaker cable off in it too. I pulled out some plyers, removed the broken cable end, pluged in a new one, cranked it on, and it was untouched. I have also had this amp dropped out of the back of a slow moving car, and again it played with no problems. This thing is a tank!! I can't seem to break it, and that is enough for me!

Never needed it. Probably never will

AWSOME, Just totally awsome. I would by the thing all over again if I had too. But I hope I don't, becasue I love this one so much. The only thing I would gripe about it, is it is heavy. but to own the sound it has, I don't care!!

I give it about a 7 because it's a simple amp with few bells and whistles. One channel, gain, master, treb, mid, bass, pres. Pure all-tube simplicity. I have two of these heads, bught one new, one used and have used them professionally for ten years. With the right settings I can get an SRV-like greasy tone or classic crunch. When I played in a metal band in the 80's I pushed the front of the amp with a Boss SD-1 all the time and just backed the guitar off a bit for rhythm. I use quad boxes with 25 watt greenback Celestions because I like the compressed tone they give.

I use a Les Paul Studio Light with Duncan 59's and a '57 reissue strat With 2 x Lace sensors and a Duncan Lil' 59 HB in the Bridge for my main band. We play original hard rock; more punk/pop than metal, and a mix of cover stuff from 60's to 90's, and this amp seems to work well for me. With my guitars I can go from a pretty good edgy 'clean' to chunk rhythm just by turning the guitar up/down. I usually run pre on 7 master on 3 treb and mid on 6 bass on 2 pres off. for leads use Boss ge-7 or sd-1 to get extra boost. I also have a switchable second master volume fitted to my main head which allows me to preset a louder amp setting for solos at gigs where I can't play loud all the time. The only thing this amp won't do is Really heavy distortion. It's a classic rock amp. Period. Turned up full (pre 10, master 10) it is a bit 'squashy' and you have to roll the bass off although it gives pretty good sustain. For loud playing, I recommend the Tesla E34Ls Groove Tubes and the addition of transient suppression diodes to the output circuit (ask your tech). The other Mod that I did to the second head was to remove the "bright bypass" capacitor from the preamp gain control, because I use this amp with a standard strat-style guitar for blues work and it was too bright as stock. I give it an 8 because it works well for me but may not suit everybody.

As I said I have two of these amps and the only problem I have had was a blown HT fuse once during a gig due to old O/P Tubes. I had to replace one of the filter caps in my main head last year. I blew one 25 speaker once (think it was on it's way out) I retube at least once a year. Both amps have been in roadcases all their lives and have done many thousand kilometres and hundreds of gigs indoor and outdoor. With good maintenance and a little care these heads should go for years. Anyone considering buying one of these should find a good tech and have it checked and/or serviced.

Never dealt with Marshall directly so can't really say. Spare parts support in Australia fairly well sucks!!!! I do my own work on my amps.

I have tried a lot of other amps and while I am hankering after a VHT at the moment nothing else I have played seems to work for my style. A lot of players I have spoken to either love or hate these amps. There ain't much middle ground. Sometimes I wish it was more versatile. It basically has one good sound - controllable rock raunch I bought the first one when I started playing professionally - I wanted a Marshall; I actually thought it sounded like crap when I first used it;take a little getting used to and you definitely need tofind the right pickups for your axe to match these heads. Tonally they are warmer than the JCM 900's, and more reliable too. I also have a really nice '63 Vox AC-30 (non top boost) which I mainly use for recording and sometimes live with one Marshall and an a/b box

Basic Marshall head - Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence, Volume. Effects loop in back, PA out. Gain channel is the standard channel. I play mostly Metal, and did not find the gain enough at all, but since I don't have a footswitch, was stuck with it. Never used the reverb, the pot was dead.

Using it through a vintage Fender Strat, the amp had MAJOR buzz with the gain cranked and the volume cranked (I don't know why others say it's quiet, I don't know what head they have heard), same thing with an EMG-81 loaded Warlock (though not quite as bad, still very audible). The amp has the basic Marshall sound to it, there's really no explanation there. The EQ didn't do too much for the sound itself, just the presence knob.

Although I'm definitely not a fan of the amp, I'll say that it's built like a rock. Throughout the course of my owning it, I've had things spill into the back grill, the reverb pot destroyed (as long as it was on 0 the amp still worked fine), the effects loop busted (oops), the tubes bursting into flames (doesn't help the appearance - charred the back grill, set the front cloth on fire, quite an interesting look on people's faces as they watched it basically explode), and dropped it from about five feet in the air onto concrete, in a puddle no less. After replacing the tubes, it worked perfectly. Believe me I was amazed!

I have never dealt with Marshall.

Overall, I'm not a fan of this or basically any other Marshall (or tube, for that matter) amp. I played it for over a year, through heavy abuse, without it breaking, but the major noise and constant replacement of tubes inspired me to trade it for a Randall RG120H head, which I'm very glad I did - it's much louder and better (check out my review of it in the Randall page - I also owned a 100 watt version of this Marshall head which I compare it to in that review). I definitely would not get it again, it was too much of a pain.

Basically a one-trick pony, but it does it very well. 50 watts, all tube ( 2 x El 34's, and 3 12 AX7's). I bought this head because of the fond memories I had with a 4104 (same electronics, but a combo with 2 x 12" G-series Celestions. Controls are simple: Presence, Bass, Mid, Treble, Master, Preamp. 2 Speaker outs. High and low gain inputs. I noticed that the electronics (eq stage) is not as interactive with the volume control in this amp. With my 4104, I could roll the volume almost all the way back via my tone controls, and thus get intense, crackling Marshall tones with the Volume controls wound up all the way, and using the Bass to control the overall volume. I know it sounds crazy, but that is the way it was! Anyways, all rambling aside, this amp is pure Marshall, no frills. A great amp in terms of value, and in terms of TONE! It is excellent for my rack gear (using the LOW gain input), but I prefer to crank it through the High gain channel, with a tube screamer, or Boss super overdrive (SD-1) in front of it. Unfortunately, I have to rate the versatility as low, because I love the high gain tones so much, I prefer to use a MosValve to power my rack gear, but this amp ranks with my Hiwatts, and others in my arsenal.

This amp is surprisingly quiet, even when cranked! A real rocker, but good for clean tones when you use the low gain input. PLENTY HEADROOM!!! I always underestimate the power and balls of these amps. They ooze with Marshall tone, at all volume levels (the louder the better!) It has great punch and definition, and is everything a Marshall should be. I have compared it with newer Marshalls ( 900's and those JTM-60 things), and they are lacking something. I think the new Marshalls are lacking a soul. I know it sounds crazy. People said the same thing of the JCM-800 line when it was introduced, so I don't want to sound like a hypocrite! But the newer amps do not do it for me. They just don't have the balls that the older Marshalls have.

I am not gigging live at present, so I defer to comment!

Marshall have been good to me in the past. They sent me a unique Christmas present one year, after Efkay Distributors (who used to handle Marshall imports in Canada) would not get me some Marshall parts I ordered (nine months in passing!). I wrote to Korg USA (the American distributor), and they forwarded my letter to the Marshall factory in Milton Keynes (GB). They responded with an apology, and stated that the did not want to lose an "avid" Marshall user. To make up for my suffering, they sent me the parts from England as a gift. God bless them (Jim too!).

Overall, I can't give this amp a rating. You either love them or you don't, plain & simple. A Marshall by any other name would ever sound so sweet (as long as it was made before the 900 series!). Grab one, before it is too late.

Very simple...Presence/Bass/ Middle/ Treble/ Master vol./ Preamp Vol. And it all works perfectly. Single channel operation.... and I wouldn't have it any other way!

The sound is MARSHALL.... it's only one sound, but its the THE sound that a hell of a lot of guitarists try to get using crappy little transitor amps, or wimp valve amps! You can't beat it! You plug it in, turn it up and it "kicks arse" from the very start. The music I play varies from rock originals to Joe Jackson to Hendrix to REM to..... and the 2204 does the job. The amp is REALLY quiet! and I use an Ibanez JEM777 through it! It's great. Preamp on 6 and master volume on 3, and for all my rhthem sounds I use the single coil settings on the guitar for a clean (with slight edge) sound, and then for any solo... forward or back to the two humbuckers.... and KA-POW! Start stripping the paint off the walls. As you probably realise... I'm as happy as a pig in poo!

These things are built like Mack trucks, so they could be on bloddy fire, and it will still work perfectly! INDESTRUCTABLE!

Haven't need to... Its simple, sounds great, and works!

I have been playing since I was 9, and that was thirty years ago! I have played professionally for 6 of those years, and I have had regular gigs for the rest of that time. (21 years at about 2-3 gigs per week for 40 weeks of the year) Other gear includes Digital home recording gear, on old Seymore Duncan 100w Convertible (if it's good enough for Jeff Beck...etc) and a few guitars and samplers. I've always played in 3-4 piece bands where I play lead guitar, and lead vocals. Yes... I would buy another one if required... this old JCM800 is just to honest and sounds to good for such a little price... if you were buying a "designer" amp, you would pay twice as much for the same outcome. I don't hate anything about it... as I said... it's simple, solid and sounds GREAT! If you are looking for an amp that cranks... get one!

The MK II 2204 50Watt is probably my favorite of the newer Marshalls. Bear nuts and bolts, no effect loops, no channel switching. Just the basic with master volume, input gain, high and low sensitivity inputs Very Simple, All Tube, 3-12ax7's, 2-EL34's. For what I use I would not any more features.

If you use rack preamps & effects this is about the best head to use. It's warmer than 100 watt. Input on low sensitivity side, pre-amp gain at about 8. This will make just about any processor happy. Real Warm clean tones with early Marshall flavor. High gain presets will bring out more modern character. using this input makes for very quiet (for a Marshall) operation, at least mine. With out the loss of an effects loop. Really brings tube warmth to processed sound. This 50 Watt 800 and a 4-12 really puts out. I use a 100 Watt 900 Dual Reverb half regularly (for convienience only) Front end my rack into it on clean side. I can't get my effects to sound good thru loop. This 2204 will blow the doors of this 900, other players that have tried this particular head are amazed of the level of output. Also distortions can be warmer and more natural than the 900's. My set up is an old twin(clean) and this Marshall half(Edge). I A/B VIA midi loop processor, still use an echo-plex, as well as digital stuff. The RAT also works this set up pretty good. High gain side sounds real good although not metal, it has early Marshall character, it really cuts thru. I'm happy with my tone, I can get that Marshall edge tone while being able to use current processors. Can give great vintage and modern tones.
I had a 1959 post-plexi(71')4-holer 100watt stack in early 70's I really miss it if you see a 1959 #2388E, or 1960 A&B's #07354, #07231 Please Email info@hamptonplace.com

No problems with it yet, I bullet proof my amps.

No experience.

Absolutely!! Its my favorite of this breed. I bought the head and a slant 4-12 for $625.00. The previous owner wanted to buy a motorcycle and he moved it cheap! This thing is flawless looks never used, not even faded grill cloth. (In which if you use a little Armor-all on a sponge, it won't fade.)