

The JTM 45 head was available in lead, bass, and p.a. Again, there also will be little point in discussing the differences in transition from badge logo to script logos and those types of details with this particular series. Being the most expensive and most collectable, I will make the assumption that the majority of readers won’t be shopping for a $3,000-$5,000+ Marshall head or a combo that can cost twice that amount or more so we’ll make this section relatively brief.
Marshall jcm 800 serial numbers series#
These are the first series of amps to cover and certainly also the most expensive out of the group here we’ll talk about. JTM 45 series, including “Blues Breaker” combo

They were invaluable and it was great to learn and grow as a result of the common goal and quest for great tone! I hope that this article can answer most of the questions you may have about shopping for your Marshall. The thoughts that I share here should also be credited to fellow friends and musicians that I’ve known and worked with throughout the years. The intention of this guide is simply to provide some input and experience about what has seemed to work and not work for me over the years during a period of many purchases and playing experiences through various Marshalls. Not only are these rare, but are collectible and therefore expensive. This article is by no means made to cover oddities such as Marshall’s “Club and Country Combo”, “Capri” or others like it, and at the same time, there’s no point in discussing the first series of early badge logo Marshalls made in the early ’60s. So with that all said, the purpose of this article is to simply cover a range of various Marshalls made throughout the years, discuss some of the good as well as the bad of the most popular, or well-known models. It also helped that he had a fantastic technique so never discount the benefits of practice! He had the right cabinets, guitars, and pickups installed to maximize the sound he was after. He knew and understood that the amplifier itself was only part of the equation.
Marshall jcm 800 serial numbers full#
It took years to full understand and grasp why, but to make a long story short, this guitar player friend of mine had factored in all the appropriate ingredients to his sound. and I was happy with it at first, I became discouraged over time in part because the amp didn’t seem to cut well through the band mix and also because a good friend of mine was playing through an older, seemingly less-sophisticated model and was getting a tone that was blowing mine away. In any event, when I did purchase my first Marshall in 1989 (a brand new 100 watt channel switching JCM 800 2210 100 watt head), while it sounded o.k.

Of course I didn’t know about which Marshall to get in the first place and there wasn’t an Internet resource at the time (much less an Internet) as well to help. For years I wanted a certain tone and I think where I failed first is I tended to put too much emphasis on the amplifier head of choice with little regard to the cabinet/speakers, type of guitar and pickup, etc. I know this all too well because I was once in this category. Models have of course changed much through the years and while the well-known rock recordings seem to always get all the great Marshall tones, it can sometimes feel somewhat elusive for the person who has saved their money and gone out to get their first Marshall and then perhaps felt some disappointment by not hearing or obtaining all the sounds they expected. It’s easy to understand the love/hate attitudes among guitarists regarding Marshall amplifiers.

We’ll explain those models and reveal why… In addition, there are some notable models that the potential buyer should be made aware of that may not be as solid or good sounding as another particular amp from the same series. While certainly there is much opinion about what makes good tone – which can be an argument in and of itself – there are certain facts and consistencies of setups to avoid. Some work well with high-output style humbucking pickups, others really come alive with PAF (i.e. We’ll cover that and cover in general what seems to work the best to maximize a particular Marshall. lower powered models, types of speakers and how do they all sound, etc.īut back to the first question regarding what kind of Marshall to get… That isn’t such an easy question to answer because the various Marshalls over the years have been really each optimized for particular types of tones and guitar types and have changed both due to the tastes and demands of musicians as well as for cost or manufacturing reasons. One of the most common questions we get here is, “What kind of Marshall amp should I buy?” We get countless questions not only about what type to get, but also questions about specific vintage vs.
