Voodoo Amps Marshall JCM 2000 DSL-100 Mod

Features is not a very fair catagory to rate a mod, as the amp has the same features before and after the mod. So the rating reflects the amp specifically. The mod only enhances the existing features. There are no added knobs or switches, only tone!

This is where we can rate the mod! I bought this amp specifically to send out for the mod.
I use two Bunker David Lawrence guitars (Trekerguitars.com), which are the best guitars I have found! One has Bill Lawrence (no relation) humbucking pickups, the other has Bill Lawrence L-280 noiseless single coil pickups. Identical guitars except for the pickups. I also have a Gibson Les Paul with DiMarzio Super Distortion bridge and Duncan 59 in the neck, and an American Standard Strat, no mods.
I got the deluxe mod, which includes the new output transformer. The amp was ok before I sent it out, the distortion was a little buzzy. Now the amp is a monster! I almost always use the bridge humbucking pickup and play rock (guitarbanjo1 on YouTube) and the amp has so much bass now that I keep looking to make sure I haven't accidentally bumped the pickup toggle switch. The crunch channel now sounds as good or better than any JCM 800 I have played before! And I can change from the crunch channel to the hot channel, and not have to touch any tone controls! And the distortion now sounds tremendous! Amazing grinding Marshall crunch, and the leads still flow with smooth fluidity. Incredible. And set clean, the amp sounds almost as good as my Matchless Clubman 35 for clean sounds with a Strat type guitar. I now have all my bases covered with one amp, which I thought was impossible until now. Did I mention the tone is amazing? Distortion is thick, meaty, grinding, sustaining, and still retains clarity and you can still hear the differences in pick attack! Crunch is now so good I use it a ton, and with an overdrive pedal for solos it sings forever! Hit the channel switch back to distortion and turn off the pedal, and back to super power! And for clean, and/or slight breakup, which is my favorite for a Strat, the crunch channel on clean is almost to die for!
One note of caution. This amp sounds so good now, that I could hear that the stock speakers in the Marshall 4x12 cab weren't on the same par, so I replaced them with Celestion G12H30s, and now I am happy!
Tone!
I might say that when I first got the amp back from getting the mod, I didn't quite know what to think. That is because they change the tone structure. So your old settings are out the window. But with a little experimenting, I found that what they did was make all three "channels" (Distortion, crunch, clean) sound better but more importantly, work together better. I don't use a pedal EQ between channels any more. Cool.

We will see.

So far, I have dealt mostly with a tech there named Mike, and he has been very cheerful and helpful, even after I got the amp back he was just as interested in me. I wrote and called hundreds of times! In the beginning I was talking with Trace, but maybe I wore him out! Mike has been and is great.

I am 55 years old and have been playing since I was 11. The last several years I have been on a tone quest, and have gone through hundreds of pedals dozens of amps, all expensive! Many Marshalls, many models, as well as lots of other brands; Mesa, Matchless, CeriaTone kits (which are also amazing), and some custom built hand made amps. This amp has now with this mod earned a place with the best amps I have played! I play in two bands, an am kind of picky about tone now. My son usually gets my best amps and uses them in his band. I am going to keep him away from this one. Thanks Mike!

I took my stock dsl 100 to voodoo and had it moded while I was there. The distortion was far to muddy and buzzsaw like. The clean needed to have more presence. The Mod changed the amp completely. Wow, I actully love my sound for once. I had the output transformer put in too. It makes a difference. Also have new preamp tubes put in.

I play a gibson les paul standard, schecter s1 elite, and a 60's reissue strat. The paul and the schecter have duncans in them and the strat has david gilmour emgs. I play mostly rock.I'm a lead player. The distortion on this amp is nice and dirty, but with tons of clarity and sustain. Single notes sound huge, chords sound clear and full. The clean is so fender and the clean crunch is perfect for classic rock or playing some radiohead kinda stuff.

I have faith in voodoo and This amp was a marshall to begin with.

The guys at voodoo were very helpfull and explained every detail to me. Very nice and honest.

I've been playing for over ten years and and playing out the majority of those years. If it was stolen I'd loose my mind I love this amp. I love the look and simplicity of the amp. No 20 button footswitch.

Standard JCM 2000 layout: 2 channels/2 stages of gain on each, separate reverb controls on each channel,bass,mid,treble,presence and effects loop on rear panel.

My set up is pretty basic:Guitar,cable and right into the amp.Sometimes a chorus or flanger pedal, but no heavy duty processor crap. I believe an amp should be able to stand on it's own and rock. If ya' need a dozen effects to sound good, drop the guitar and buy a synthesizer!! My main axes are a custom Tele w/EMG's, stock Strat and Les Paul Standard.The amp in it's stock form had a decent clean channel, but sterile sounding and no real punch. The OD channel in the first stage was very buzzy and overcompressed sounding and forget about the second stage, just a lot of fuzzy mush and no articulation at all.
Well, after Trace got a hold of it and worked his magic, LOOK OUT!! This amp is a completely different beast and the sound is incredible!! The Clean channel in mode one has just come alive! It's clean, shimmering and has lots of punch. In the Crunch mode, it's no longer muddy and compressed when overdriven and reminds me of my old JCM 800 2203. Real nice and Crunchy!!
The OD Channel is also something else! In the first stage, the distortion is just thick, creamy and chunky. The sustain is infinite at just about any level and the harmonics are amazing. In the second stage, hold on to your pants!! The distortion is brutal!! Even with the preamp cranked all the way up, every note is articulate and sweet sounding. No more buzz saw distortion and overcompressed mush! When strumming a chord, you can hear every note ring out. The bottom end is also tight and focused. I've had the amp back for about a week now and I just can't believe how awesome it sounds. I've probably played it more in the last few days, than in the last year and half that I've owned it!!

I've owned and played Marshalls for years and found them to be very reliable. Trace also stands behind his work, which is excellent. Whatever you do, make sure that Trace installs an OEI output transformer in your amp. It' definitely worth the extra outlay of cash.

I've never had to deal with Marshall, but I just can't say enough about Trace. Trace is a rare cat, especially in this business. He doesn't feed you any bullshit,try to install crap ya' don't need and actually listens and nails the tone you're looking for. He answers all phone and e-mail questions without a problem and just treats you like a real human being. Not like some dude trying to take your cash and see ya' later!!

I've been in the recording and production business for years and have been playing guitar longer that I care to remember. I can only say that I wish I had found Trace's talents many years ago. This man knows TONE and is the real deal!! He took a decent amp and modded it into an incredible piece of equipment!! The amp sounds so good and is so versitile, it's the only amp I use now. If it were stolen or lost, I would have Trace do one all over again. I'm actually looking for a JCM 800 2203 to send out to Trace to mod. If you've spent years and countless of dollar trying to capture that elusive tone, do yourself a favor and give Trace at Voodoo a call. You will not be disappointed... Trace, THANK YOU for the AMAZING TONE!!! Keep on rockin' brother!!

Two channel -effects loop-reverb. Everything you need although the effects loop doesn't work all that well with certain effects(eq pedal)

Stock the amp sounded pretty good but I wanted to get rid of the muddy sound and also the fuzzy pre amp distortion.Also the bottom end was a little loose

So far the amp has performed it's duty. It is used a few hours a day every day and an ocassional gig. I can't hear much any more so it is also probably pretty loud!!

Trace was totally excellent. We started out with a batch of bad power tubes and after that was resolved the amp works and SOUNDS awesome. The tubes were not Traces fault and he did everything that could be done to rectify(no pun intended) the situation. In the future I will be sending my Traynor amp in for a complete rebuild and mod to his Hex circuit specs and will review that when it is completed. He responded to my every e-mail(there were a bunch of these LOL) and he answered my every question. The amp turned out excellent and was a great investment. Highly recommended!! Have Trace mod an amp for you and spend your time PLAYING instead of searching for a sound..

I have been playing for 15 years-use a Les Paul classic and play through the marshall.I have owned or tried EVERYTHING it seems. If it was stolen I would probably just take the insurance money and buy one of Traces custom Marshall amps and be done with it. The only thing I dislike about the amp is having to carry the damn thing. In it's modded form it is exactly what i was looking for- Thanks Trace!

Standard controls

Well I tell ya, Trace did what ever I wanted to do to this head. He worked side by side with me and NEVER lost interest once. Thanks Trace. I felt the amp sounded good before the mod but had no personality or feel. That is where and what Trace did for me. The amp all of a sudden came alive and responded. Very smooth and articulate. Great job all around. I must say this: I played a JCM 800 with his hex circuit (I think) in it and I still can't beleive it. I have been looking for a 800 ever since I heard it. This guy has got something every player wants; TONE. Like I said, I went to his shop three times to have him taylor it to my needs and it was incredible that he could do whatever I said.

Are you kiddin? Trace's stuff go down, I don't think so. He stands behind his work.

I know it sounds like I'm gushing but he really is a great guy. His wife was also very kind as well. He will help you make your mind up before he mods it without trying to sqeeze big dollars out of you. Trace understands that musicians (most) don't have that much to play with. PS. I miss his cats:)

I will be seeing Trace again to mod another amp as soon as I get it. Does that tell you anything. Again, you have to hear this guys modded amps to beleive it. Trace, what the hell did you do to make it sound that good?:) One word........BROWN
Thanks Trace!! I'll see ya soon.

I sent my Stock DSL to Trace @ Voodoo Amps with the intention of making the clean channel a little more Fenderish and getting the Overdrive channel a little more versitile. I also had Trace install a 'Cream' mod which controls the overall 'creaminess' of the top end (imagine a presence control that's actually usable and a 'Bottom' mod that controls the tightness of the low end that is more felt in the response of the amp than heard. I am giving this a '10' -- keep in mind that it's the amp NOW and not in it's stock form that I am giving a 10 to......and this is why.............

My influences are Jane's Addiction, Portishead, etc and my styles vary from Alternative to Jazz to Trip Hop to Metal to Blues and back. Here's my set up.....Fender Big Apple Strat (humbuckers, ash body) or Hardtail Strat w/ Antiquity II's into an A/B box (true bypass -- custom made by Rick @ SIB) one goes to the tuner the other goes > Fulltone Octafuzz > Fulldrive II > modded Vox Wah > old MXR phase 100 > Boss FL-2 > Voodoo Lab Analog Chorus > Maxon AD-80 Analog Delay > Voodoo Lab Tremolo II > AMP. I was fairly happy with the amp in it's stock form, but felt that the clean could be a little more clean and the Overdrive was on the edge, but needed to be pushed just a bit over the edge. I got the amp back and in the immortal words of Homer Simpson 'Help Me Jeebus!!!' I've done all I can to tear myself away from the amp to write this review. OK -- A first I was little confused because it's a TOTALLY different amp. It has all of the characteristics that I enjoyed from the amp, but had everything else I wished it could have. The clean is sparkling and delicate, when I engage the crunch it doesn't get all overcompressed anymore....the notes actually have some sort of defintition! The overdrive channel has improved 10 fold. Just AMAZING!!! I usually play OD1 (modded JCM 800 type sound) with the deep on and the mid shift out and I am able to play a Jazz chord and hear every note and the overtones are INSANE!!!! Lift my fingers off and strum and look out!!! There's harmonics flying everywhere, they just seem to jump off the fretboard!!! It's just an incredible gnarely, nasty, dirty sound. OD2 the 'Modern High Gain' attempt is now usable as well, it's not just mush, there's TONE in there. The amp is so much more versitile now, words can't describe it. One little part that makes me gush everytime I hear it is kicking on the overdrive of the FDII and 4th position on the Big Apple and kick the Vox on while on OD 1....somehow the sound ends up like gnarliest blues tone you've every heard....sweet, dirty, nasty....God damned....T-O-N-E!!!!!!

Trace is THE MAN!! Super duper cool in returning email and also a nice guy on the phone....he took what I put down on email and put it into the amp and sent her back to me!

OK -- Here's the deal, Trace is THE coolest guy to work with. I took a big risk sending my amp from San Diego CA all the way to Ithaca, NY based on the reviews that I read here, and man, NOT ONCE, did I regret it. Trace makes you feel comfortable and really knows what you're talking about when you describe it. I am sure that if I ever have a problem he'd be more than happy to give me a hand.

One of the biggest pluses that came out of this was something that Trace brought up that 'The amp in it's stock form has a tendency for the sound to sit in the back of cab, the mod will bring that sound forward' -- he should of just said said it'll bring it straight up in your grill. It's like night and day. The 'Cream' mod is just worth it, even if you get nothing else done, imagine a carpet over the front of your amp, now turn the cream up slightly.....it's like taking it off....unreal....the 'Bottom' mod is waaaay cool as well...you can really 'FEEL' the difference, it's very cool....you can actually feel the amp respond differently in the lowend as you hit the strings. The channels also match up a whole helluva a lot better as well, before when I switched from clean to dirty, the dirty seemed smaller, not anymore!!! I can't say enough good things about this amp now, I've only had it for about 4 days now and I have played it more than I have in 6 months and can't wait to play it today!!! Trace has worked in recording studios and in the biz for a while and really knows what he's doing, in fact, I can't wait to record this thing now!! Especially with all the added perks I can REALLY tweak the sound. Whether I am using the Strat w/ the singles or the buckers this amp is alive and breathing and loving life.