Marshall JCM 900 4100 Dual Reverb

I bought this amp second hand for #400 with a jcm900 1960 lead cab, shared EQ is the main problem, I solve it with a EQ. I used to have a 4 cahnnel AVT, totally uneccessary and for amateurs. Load up on the stompboxes though, I found the clean channel wouldn't go clean enough but it may be broken. I also paid more for the AVT than I have for this, and that sounded like a cheap imitation so don't even bother.

I play modern rock, so no nu-metal shite, more Janes Addiction, Chilis, Muse, Rage, that sort of sound and you can get that sort of ballsy rock I personally love from this amp easily. I haven't even tried to scoop out the mids, what's the point when they sound so good? I use a cheap PRS santana SE with dual humbuckers, a les Paul and a squier tele custom (Im on a budget of course) it sounds the business, if you can't get a decent tone with this then you're a lame guitarist or you like lame music - Nu metal is dead and this amp's rating had been dragged down by kids expecting it to sound like the next big metal band, it sounds good, period. Clean channel is a bit poor though, still 10/10 because channel B makes up for it.

PS-I'm not a middle-aged rocker, I'm 18, and I love this amp.

It occasionally needs turning off and back on again for some reason, but it's old and well used and it works second time. Makes a loud noise when you turn it off though, I should look into that really! Haven't had it long, I'm writing this so I don't lose any friends by bragging about my new amp too much!

This is my dream amp, the next step for me would be something ludicrous custom made, this is all you need. If you can't make it sound good then you have a problem with your technique or somewhere else in your setup. I do wish it had seperate EQs though, and a better clean channel. Still...go and buy one, now.

100 Watt JCM 9000 4100 Dual Reverb Reissue, 2005 or 2006?... 2 channels - the 5881-type tubes in it not the EL-34's. Its all been covered already. Its not the most versatile head out there but its two channels allow it to do what it was designed to do - play rock music! Shared EQ is kind of a bummer though. Effects loop is always a useful feature.

I used it at the store for a couple hours with my 1980's Kramer USA Nightswan. This beast is meant to be played LOUD and absolutely ROCKS. The overdrive is to die for! If you love AC/DC, Whitesnake, Guns N Roses, Aerosmith, or any other classic rock bands I would check this head out. It covers those styles very well and is lot of fun to play! Tight and punchy amp, with a lot of midrange - sustains for days and feeds back beautifully. I was able to get both great rythym (with the gain lower) and searing solo tone (with the gain set higher) on the lead channel. Clean channel wasn't a vox or fender... but don't let that hold you back from trying this amp - the clean isnt half bad and the amp is a MARSHALL! cmon its meant for rocking out. The pinch harmonics seemed to really pop off my guitar through this amp. Also the reverb was great when used moderately. I am no great guitarist but everyone who walked by came over to see what amp/guitar I was playing and they all dropped compliments on my tone.

To be honest, I have no idea why these JCM900's are so maligned by most Marshall fans... you can sometimes see the old ones going for really low prices! I think these things are overlooked and will get more popular as more people come to realize what a great and distinctive rock tone they put out.

Don't know but the salesman (an older dude with a lot of experience) told me that tube-head marshalls have been great over the last few years for reliability. The amp certainly appeared to be well put together - its a tube amp though so it needs to be babied.

Can't say. I think the warranty is 5 years - which is what it should be for an amp of this price. I have never dealt with Marshall.

So to recap:
100 watts - dont play it in your bedroom - get a powerbrake!
Tone - Sweet rock, blues, and even edgier rock/country tones on tap... great rythym and lead tone here.
Metalheads - Don't buy this, you probably won't be happy. Not enough gain and sounds far too warm to be a good metal amp. I find that Krank or Mesa Rectifier series make much better amps for metal. This amp likes standard tuning and searing solos not drop D or C chugging.
Don't play it with crappy guitars - My Kramer was a match made in heaven. I think any solidbody gibson or quality solidbody rock guitar with humbuckers would love this amp. Strats w/fuzz pedal or tubescreamer would be good too.
Don't play it through crappy cabs - I played it through a Mesa Rectifier 2x12 vertical slant cab... WOW did it sound good. Vintage 30 speakers are great for this amp.

I can't fairly give this an overall rating, since I don't own it - but I would say that its worth checking out if you love rock. The price is too steep in my opinion, so I will probably check out some of the old ones to see if I can score one of these amazing (and unfairly criticized) amps. (also see: JCM 800 users who pay thousands for their amp are suckers when this one can be had for a few hundred)

Jcm 900 high gain dual reverb 100 watt 2 channel amp head.
Seperate volume, gain & reverb controls for each channel. Shared eq.
4 el-34 tubes and 3 ec883 preamp tubes. I've used it to play gigs and it has tons of power. Very loud with great tone.

I play a strat, sg, epiphone dot, les paul, Ibanez and a tele.
I play mostly rock, blues, heavy metal, reggae and original stuff.
The amp is like "oh my god" awesome. Very quiet with humbucker equipped guitars. Single coils are a litle nosiy but that the guitar not the amp. I run this head into a Marshall 4x12 jcm800 straight cab
and usually on 1/2 power. I use a tubescreamer with the gain set low and the level a little high so it acts as a boost, into a hendrix wah and a digital delay thru the efects loop. This gives me basically a 4 channel amp. Clean, clean with tubescreamer for a vintage sounding crunch, lead and lead with tubescreamer for over the top sustain for days type leads. The clean channel can get clean to a vintage crunch depending on how much gain you dial in. The reverb is really nice. Its kinda sterile sounding but clear, bright and crisp at the same time. I Like it alot. Usually I set the clean channel up with the gain on 4 and master on 5-7 depending. The lead channel is really great. The distortion rules on this amp. Its much better than any jcm 800 I've heard. This channel has a trebly character to it with a heavy bottom end thump. The amp seams to be starving for fuel unless you turn it up. As it approacheds 1/2 volume it really starts to open up. I usually peg the gain and run the volume between 4-7 depending. It sound great at 6 on the volume with the gain at full, but this is too loud for most situations and people start complaining even on 1/2 power which is how I keep it. The amp isn't really that versitle. Its great for rock and metal and it can do blues allright. Its hella loud even on 1/2 power and it really sounds great. The distortion is where its at on this amp, it has that distictive Marshall roar. The clean is good as well but definately no fender clean.

Yes its dependaple. Other than a couple of pots that are scratchy
which I will replace eventually, the amp has never let me down.

I've been playing 27 years. If it were stolen I would probable try to find another one. I love the Marshall sound.
This amp is the shit for hard rock music.

I got mine used for $800 w/. the matching cab. It's a 1991 i believe. I mostly use the Dirty channel - I play punk music. My only complaint is the lake of independent channels, but you'd be surprised how different you can get the 2 channels by tweaking the gain.

I've used this head to power half stacks, full stacks, (marshall and mesa), the ohm selector is very helpful. Also the half power setting is good when I run the amp thought my 100 watt green back cab (but I do loose some tone)

I use gibsons w/. humbuckers or P-90's, and the all sound good wit this amp.

The Clean channel is really good though...if you put the Gain to 8 or so you can get a killer AC/DC type sleazy rock'n roll tone. The amp doesn't really do a "fender" type clean (but if you want that, get a f*****g fender.

the hi-gain channel is really good. It has a little more distortion than jcm-800's and jmp's I've played. This Amp is very suited to playing punk rock - especially if you don't have the cash for a high priced jcm-800 that's be moded.

the only thing on the amp that is sub par is the reverb. it's barley there - but then again....Marshall's aren't really known for reverb, are they.

I've used this amp to record 2 full lengths and 2 EPs. It's been on 2 US tours and 5 west coast tours and played about 300 gigs locally!

The only problem I've ever had was right after I got this amp it blew a fuse and cracked two tubes..however I finished the set! I had the fuses changed and the amp retubed and have never had a problem sense (that was 2001) and it has failed me sense.

I bought in used and ten years old. It was WAY out of warranty.....

I've be playing for 10 years. I would definitely replace this amp with the same. I've owned Crate, Fender, mesa, and laney heads. They all disappointed me - but not my 900

Enough. If you need more, then buy a couple of stomboxes...(you can never have enough of those little bastards)

People are hating this amp because its distortion(which comes thru every brickwall ;) and they complain that clean isn't good enough. Well, like someone said here that if you don't like like the marshall sound, then why you did buy it in the first place...

The clean channel makes me play with Joe Strummer feel everytime, it is definitely NOT a dull channel. It's not sterile at all, it's more like between fender and mesa. Picture if Jeff Buckley would've been in the Clash :) Ballsy, bluesy, you name it...

The OD-channel: First time I played thru this channel I was like "oh, what the fk". It sounded like thousand bees are about to buzz you. It was so piercing sound that I wanted immeaditely to check the back of the amp that it really had tubes. But as most of you know, this isn't a full tube amp.
I started to like the sound after I had turn the gain little back. The all knobs full isn't the best sound you can get from this head, I must admit that.
But what really makes this amp versatile, is when you put EQ-pedal(like boss)in its FX-loop...Well, it opens a totally different world...like when you using V-curve(at pedal) you get mesa/zakk wylde-tone...
I was about to buy a new head(yep, gotta keep moving, never stay with one girl more than a few months...heh ;), but luckily I read somewhere that you should try to use an extra eq-box with this amp.
When I don't use pedal it sounds like a hard-rock amp should sound. And when the box is on then it sounds "modern USA crunch"...well, I can't complain, this is the amp for me.

I'd gig w/o a backup. Change the tubes once a year(if you gig/practice every day).

Well, the key here is to build machines so good and realiable that no one needs to complain or manage even to crush these things. But unfortunately nowdays everything is made so cheap that it takes no time to break, that's why there's need for this customer support thing.... :)

If you like manic street preachers(90s-era), hard-rock, dave navarro stuff or basic pure rock with no techno tricks, then check this out. But everything depends on your personal taste, so try this amp before you buy...never buy anything without hearing how it sounds live, unless it's superbly cheap... :)

Bought it new in '93; Franklin, TN.
Sales pitch definitely pushed for the controllable dual reverbs feature, but the other JCM 900 features in the 4101 give this high marks. Two channels: one clean, one lead both with separate gain and reverb knobs (I still remember the Nigel Tufnel ad for these exclaiming the lead gain goes to 20!!). Bass, mid, treble and presence a'la Marshall are there (but shared, so a point deducted for the eq limitation). Purchased footswitch separately; kind of a crappy plastic bulky double switch, one to toggle channels, the other to turn off reverb. Valve fail LED light, adjustable level for effects loops (but you gotta use a flat tip screwdriver to adjust). 50/100w power switch built in!! Impedence selection 4,8,16. Direct/Line outs for recording direct or to another power amp.

Used a '91 Fender American Strat, stock pups and a '69 Gibson ES335 with PAF's. Played this thing for most of the 90's straight before selling it. Mostly did 90's rock (ala Soundgarden/Pearl Jam) but used it for occassional country and blues gigs for the green. Ran it through a brand new 1960B 4x12 with Celestion V30's and was not too thrilled with the lead channel until the speakers finally broke in. It went from harsh and squawky to bassy and full within a few weeks of breaking the cab in. The lead channel definitely has the Marshall sound flat, but the master has to be cranked at least to 6 with the gain all the way if you're looking for "that" Marshall sound (12AX7's in front of 4 EL34's sound). Untweaked, it'll get that early Dave Navarro sound. But once I got it dialed in, it had very rich and bright distortion that pushed the humbuckers nicely in my ES335 (feedback a plenty). The single coil through the lead wasn't as pronounced or bodied, but worked very well. Overall, this channel is good for foundation as opposed to lead work.

The clean is not very useful for jazz or country, but works good with blues with the gain up (it's not a plexi sound with the gain turned up as the ad suggests). It's not a bell-like clean, but it's still good for texture if you have decent effects. I toggled between a tc electronics chorus with delay, and used various distortion boxes in front of this with gain set halfway. Got some very useful leads using a TS9 and a chandler tube driver in front of the clean. Still a bit noisy when doing this, though, but voiced very nicely. It really opens up whatever pedal you put in front of it. The only downside is if you really tweak the voicing to the lead channel perfectly, you're stuck with the eq settings for clean. Invested in an eq pedal to compensate. But the eq's are passive anyway which means your reducing from an applied curve rather than adding to it. The presence knob was perhaps the most helpful for me in tuning to live venues.

This amp was used on the road quite a bit playing out. The footswitch jack was the first to go within four months of use. The jack was repaired twice in the time I've had it (had to resort to pushing the button on the panel to change channels during some of the shows). Within the second year the main input jack was unstable and the volume pots were scratching. And finally, the pcb board started coming loose from the chassis causing the amp to either cut out or squeal during the third year. All of this stopped once I invested in a well padded metal case for the head. Tubes were changed between 1-3 time a year. So bottom line, if you use it to gig heavily long-term, I'd invest in a good protective case.

Never dealt with Marshall though my amp repair guy is well versed.
First repair was done under warranty but wasn't very costly to begin with.

Been playing for 27 years. Still playing out live and loving life. Have various gear now, but will never forget the impact (both good and bad) the JCM900 4101 had on me. Regret selling it to help pay for a silly botique amp, but then 'you can never go home again' as they say. There are slew of JCM series amps, but this one shouldn't be overlooked.

i bought my JCM900 4100 in 1995 in garland texas. awesome amp, i used to play solid state until i bought this one. never looked back since. this model has reverb,effects loop, recording output, a high/low output swith. plenty of juice for any venue.

i play a 40th strat. all types of music. this amp is the key to bringing the great players like hindrix and page into your sound.
i was at the crossroads music festival in dallas texas and i spoke to a marshall rep, of course they quit making the jcm900, but he told me that the JCM900 was made for billy gibbions of ZZtop.

i'm embarassed, but also proud to say that my tubes lasted ten years before i just could'nt stand it anymore and had to replace them. ohhh but what a rebirth, this amp sounded sooo sweet with four new EL34's made by groove tubes in china! nice warm tone.

never spoke to the folks at marshall, but i'm sure they are a cool as the amps. i understand that they first started to build drums, then moved on to amps.

perfect! i love my marshall, and i know you will love yours.

I bought this amp new in 92. It is a 50watt 1x12 combo. I have enjoyed owning it verry much. I have useed it to play anything from country to metal(80's style) to jazz. It has 2 channels with a footswitch and effects loop. It is also equiped with spring reverb.It has a tube preamp with 12ax7 tubes. It has a 50watt power stage consisting of 2 El34s and a solidstate rectifier. .

Although the preamp sounds good, humbucker pickups are a requirement to get a truly nasty distortion sound. I enjoy the voicing of the distortion chanel due to its clairity and focused tone. I have found that bypassing the preamp through the effects loop and driving the power stage with an outboard tube preamp/processor, will give me the majestic vibe of the tube power section, which also makes it possible to enjoy tones beyond the range of a typical marshall. The dual EL34s, in which I have been using Svetlana tubes, has a wonderfully organic tube sound. I have never one thought of letting this one go. It has all of the EL34 type of tube tone i could ever use. I tend to use it as a combo although i have plugged it into a 4x12 cab and the distortion became much more brutal.

I have used it many times without a backup(due to lack of one) and it has always delivered. I have had a capicitor blow once(acording to the amp repair guy), although i didn't know it at the time. I don't know why it blew, but I had run the same tubes in it for 2.5 years and thought it was just old tubes. It had lost some of its volume and tone. The next set of tubes i instaled myself, at which time i opened up the amp and adjusted the bias by ear and found a level of volume and tone i had not yet experienced in this combo. This being the first modern tube amp i owned, i assumed these types of situations were just par for the course. At least opposed to a vintage fender amp i own that sucks the tone out of tubes in two or three months.

I dont recall the waranty info. The only repair i have had(blown capacitor), i was unaware it needed and was found when i took it in to be retubed.

I have been playing for 16 years. Mostly stratocasters, but i have had a few others over the years. Now only Strats. I have an old digitech 2101? multi effects rack unit with a tube preamp plus various common effects pedals like crybaby, mxr flange, electroharmonix small stone.... I love the portability factor of this amp. It has a top handle and handles on both sides, making it easy to cary in any possition. The only issue i have had, is the speaker jack, from the 12in speaker, stuck out in such a way that it became damaged and required replacement. After insalling a lower profile jack, never another problem, jack wise. At the time Boogie's were too expensive, which was the only other choice that seemed compairable. All the other brands available at the time either didn't have the solid reputation or was a fender, which aren't known for their brutal distortion. There were alot of solidstate options available, but i didn't consider them options, even at 1/3 the price. If it were stolen, i would probably opt for a old fender or something that would give me a nice overdriven tone, since my tastes have changed over the years and i dont play with a highly distorted tone much anymore. For the size, power and tone, I would surely consider buying another one of these, were i to loos this one.

1992,versatile enough for most rock/hardrock stuff, which are the styles I play. 2 channels, clean/crunch and lead, a series effects loop, spring reverbs for each channel.

I play an ESP M2 custom with EMG humbucer pickups and it sounds great. The distortion is sinister, but warm sounding, responsive, but edgy, the kind of sound that kicks you in the jewels. Bottom line is that it is not a very polite sounding amp, but in the right HANDS it can shine. One thing to remember is not to overdo the gain amount on the 2nd channel, it will turn into mud in any high gain amp. Instead, I strongly recommend learning how to play. By adding an eq pedal in the effects loop you will get as fat sound as you wish, and this thing is so loud, that you will cover any venue no problem. The clean channel is good also. This amp does extremely well what it was designed to do.

No problems

No idea

Been playing as far as I can remember, also own a Bogner Shiva and a Mesa MK3. If it were lost I would definitely hunt down another one, because you cant get this type of sound with any other amp, it is a very distinctive sound. The only gripe I have is the compensated line out. I`ve had plenty of gear in my life and this is one of my favourites along with the MK3 and the Bogner Shiva. They are all totally different kinds of amps and have totally different characteristics.

By the way, Marshall has put this amp back in the production, along with the JCM 800 2203 and a few other vintage gems. What does that tell you?.....

I've bought this amp off ebay two years ago and have played it nearly everyday since.
Its a very veristale amp in my experience. I play everything from jazz, to grunge, to blues, surf ,and some hardcore.
I mainly play a strat I built with a 78' maple neck, ash body, 1980 tele single in the neck (the best neck pickup ever for jazz/flamico lines), mexican middle coil, and a tone zone in the bridge with coil tap. One of the best electronic mods for any guitar Is a no load tone control.
The other axe I use is another homemade strat with a floyd rose, airnorton, tonezone, and steve's special humbucker. That one has a shaved maple mexi neck on it. For when I want to really shred.
Having two different reverb setting for each channel is a great idea and I beleive that more manufacture's should be doing this with all thier amps.
I can't say much for the effects loop as I have never used it.
Tube based tremelo would be cool but that just me and not very "Marshall-like"
The compensated line out it is useable at best, if you want to record, you need to get the voice of the speakers with a decent mic.
The 100/50 Watt switch in the back is cool. I mainly play on the 50 watt so that you can get more ofhte power tube type sound.

I mainly play a strat I built with a 78' maple neck, ash body, 1980 tele single in the neck (the best neck pickup ever for jazz), mexican middle coil and a tone zone in the bridge with coil tap.
The other axe I use is another homemade strat with a floyd rose, airnorton, tonezone, and steve's special humbucker. For when I want to really shred.
The clean channel sound is very rich. Marshalls inheriently compress more than most and thicken up the sound. If you want something jazzy go with the reverb on 4 or 5 with a neck single coil. If you turn up the gain on this channel you get a nice "who's next" type crunch.
CHANNEL B: This is where most marshall users spend thier time. The distrotion is very cruchny and thick. If you dial is wrong it can also be muddy. My drummer says that he preferes a mesa because it has better note clarity. Mesa's do but this is better for sonic textures ala smashing pumpkins.
If I was a heavy metal man (and I'm not) I would like alittle more gain.
IF you want to get a good tone on this amp you really have to turn it up. The creamy compression that we all love is from the power tubes.
Surf tones leave something to be desired though. There just not enough breakup with the reverb and it doesn't do that glassy fender sound that well. I would not used this amp for funk at all.
My roomate has a line six duoverb and this thing smokes it. The line six can do decent clean tones, but it can't stand up to that marshall crunch.

I play this amp everyday and I've had two major problems. One time it got quiet and then just died, I took it in and a capictor had blown.
Now, It getting quiet and won't get very loud whatsoever. I just bought all new tubes for it and installed those last night. It still didn't help. So Now I have to take it in :(
Other than that I've taken it out to many places to jam and it has held up pretty damn well otherwise. It has a feature where if one of your power tubes go out then you can still play on the remaining.
There are also two fuse failure LEDS.
All in all its a very relible amp. Its more relieble than anything else I've ever owned, but nothing is perfect.
My roomates line six just died on him two weeks ago, and that's solid state, so don't be afraid of tube relieblity.

Never had to deal with them directly. Marshally website and documentation is really poor. The only way to get a decent schematic or answers to your question is by looking around on the web.

In the end I would say that there is no silver bullet when it comes to amps, they all have there own strengths and weaknesses. Find a good one and play with is, make that tone your own.
Keep in mind that 80% of your equipment related tone is in the amp so spend the extra cash and get a good one.
There are better amps out there, but for the money and the sound I would say that this amp is great, but I've had my eye on orange amps for awhile though.

One thing to look at when you are buying this amp it the type of power tubes. MOST of the JCM 900's out there use 5881 which is like a CG6L6. If you like marshalls you really don't want this. Its a common mod to change these and some shops can do it.
The earlier one like mine have the EL34's which has more of the classic marshall compression poperties in the tube.