Very important question.......Is the Marshall JCM 900 any good. If so is it worth buying? I want a tube amp badly. I am in a good band now and this could be a very important decision in my career.

My style is old METALLICA, Slayer, Opeth, Mastadon, etc.

To give you an idea of want I would like to sound like.

If it is not any good I guess I can keep on saving up to get something else.

It is great but only at very loud volumes to get that perfect distortion.

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I heard it had a really great sound, like any older marshall, glassy with great harmonics but only at higher volumes and it's no super high gain amp, but high gain doesnt mean good tone so...

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marshall snobs consider it to be the ugly duckling of the jcms... but i think they are great heads.... plenty of gain for me, and even more good tone. esspecially at higher volumes, though i don't beleive they run on el34's so they don't have the same powertube breakup....
an aural exciter or sonic maximizer in the fx loop would also increase the "heavyness"....

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i remember pissin around on a jcm 900 before a gig, its pretty fucking sweet, nice textured sound. I tryed to explain to my mate that the jcm 900's amp distortion would be better to use than his crappy distortion pedal , but he disagreed and so sounded pretty box standard wen playin

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Some like the peds on good amps, some local band "terratomb", one of the guitarist uses a 5150 with a Mt-2, but I think he had the 5150 on the clean chanel though, but still WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

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Thats the dumbest thing I've ever heard... MT-2's suck ass.

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People who do that are stupid.

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its a black metal band

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Point Proven

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Word

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Haha. Black Metal bands...

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yeh, most black metal stuff these days is just pathetic.... wannabe goth kids that listen to cradle of filth.... some black metal thats been around for a while is pretty cool though....

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I read a review on Harmony Central about Mesa Road King heads and in one review this dude said he uses a MT-2 pedal for his distortion on the head... WTF. I'm thinking about getting one of those heads and will try one out tomarrow. Anyone ever use one before?

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Must've been some little nu metal kid that was using that Mt-2 on the Mesa.
I havent played a Mesa Road King head, tell me how you like it.

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The only amps a MT-2 is good for are 20watt ss practice amps that totaly lack in the gain department.
But yeah, anyone using a MT-2 for distrortion on those amps should be shot, castrated and kicked in the head, not necceseraly in that order.

Btw, in the guitar shop they have an 2nd hand JCM 800 head. Any thoughts on that head? How does it compare to the JCM 900?

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I like 800's better than 900's, but thats just me. Thay are both sweet ass amps.

About the Mesa review; the guy said he was a semi-professional musician in a touring metal band! I couldn't believe it, though, but I bet it was nu-metal if he was in a touring band. What a waste of a good amp. The road king amp is like a modeling all tube 4 channel amp. It has many different modes, 3/channel, that take the best tube curcuits of Mesa amps into one head. So sweet!

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The 800's are good, Zakk Wylde uses one, Slayer uses one, Dino from Fear Factory used one. Try it out and see if you like it.

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there is no god!!!

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So should I get this JCM 900 ?

I am in a DEATH METAL band and I want the DEATH METAL sound or thrash metal. OPETH, MASTADON, and METALLICA their sound awesome.

If you guys think the JCM 900 can do it or get pretty damn close I'll get it.

But when I tried it out it did not sound good but the tubes were probably old that has everything to do with it right ?

So should I get the JCM 900 ?

if you dont like how it sounds dont buy it.

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I did like how it sounded when I was there, but maybe the tubes are old and they would make the sound suck right ?

a cranked jcm 900 with good tubes+ guitar with high output pu's should do alright for deathmetal. a sonic maximizer,graphic eq, ect in the fx loop would probably help give heavier sounds.

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sorry, I meant to type theat i did not like how it sounded when i tried it out but I am pretty sure that the tubes are old.

The JCM900 alone will NOT get you in deathmetal territory.

King and Wylde don't get their gain from the amps.

Cazares' old JCM800 was heavily modded,then stolen and now he uses the Mesa setting on his Line 6 Head.

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King uses an afterburner with his emgs. and an eq pedal.

Zakk uses a overdrive pedal

And yes Dino's 800 was modded

all three of them use emgs too.

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thanks for the replies guys add more if you have anymore information about it.


METALLICA rules !!!!!!

I own a JCM 900 model 2500 with a 2x12 cab. It has a preamp that goes to 10 and a gain knob that goes from 11-20. I love the sound. I'm not sure of the types of humbuckers I have but I still have to find out somehow. Great chugging sound when I get a groove going. Plug in a real guitar (quality) to get a sound out of it and put some volume on it as well. The louder, the better it sounds. I believe I have EL34's in there. Oh well, I love my sound. Good luck with it.
ps if it's over priced, forget about it. There's better deals out there.

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some versions may, if it's cranked and you have some high output pickups.... i had to use my buddies for a show once it did fine for my heavy styles...


correction, they don't get ALL of their gain from their amps... they use gain boosters like o.d. pedals on top of their cranked up marshalls....

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zakk's amps are all modded too i think.

i wouldnt doubt it... but i think he still relies on a boss o.d. to push them a bit harder.

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king uses 6l6 output tubes in his marshalls.

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I have a 4100, the same as Trey Azagthoth. It needs distortion put in through the front. I use a Vudoo Valve. Any pedle will help, but you should add an EQ. I got one in the loop.

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Hardly, he has his amp tech looks through his JCM 800's (which most are bought used) and check all wiring and fix some things may cause porblems in the future. Not really modding IMO

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I read what Zakk does to get his sound. He uses JCM 800 turns the pre-amp to 11, master volume to 4-6, and uses a BOSS SD-1 ( super overdrive ). It is in the new guitar world magazine, look in the back.

The 1960A is switchable from mono [4 or 16 Ohms] to stereo [8 Ohms per side], and is equipped with Celestion G12T-75 speakers.

What does that mean ? I know nothing about Ohms.

you want it to be matched up with your head... those speakers rock....

i beleive he replaced the sd-1 with his new sig pedal.... but i'm not his roady.. i just read somewhere.

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He has 6l6 poweramp tubes! so does kerry king.

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I have an jcm 900 its an awesome amp if u want to play loud. It has great tone like the 800 but you can do more with it. Mine is Custom with my gains going up to 20 so i have no problem with gain. Definatly its a good amp

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Nigel: "All the numbers go to 11..."
Director Marty Dibergi: "I see, and most amps go up to 10. Does that mean it's louder?"
Nigel: "Well, it's one louder, isn't it? You see, most blokes will be playing at 10...you're on 10 on your guitar. Where can you go from there?...Nowhere, exactly. So when we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?"
Marty: "Put it to 11."
Nigel: "Exactly. One louder."
Marty: "Why don't just make 10 louder and make 10 the top number and make that a little louder?"
Nigel (chewing gum, pauses while he considers the question, then states confidently): "These go to 11."

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So are 6L6 tubes the best ? Right now I am in Tennsee visiting my family and there is this awesome place called.....SAM ASH !!!!! I found my grandma has the JCM 900 on lay-away for me. There are some 6L6 tubes here I should buy them then right ?

Slow down, its a personal preference, the tubes have different break-up and different character, you might like ordinary EL34 better than 6L6, try them out if possible. And you need to mod your JCM 800 if you want 6L6 i think.

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no, it's all personal taste.
for an older marshall(jtm,jmp,jcm800&900,ect). i think you'd prefer el34's.... they have an earlier/more extreme breakup than 6l6's which is why marshalls sound the best cranked. it's kinda what marshalls are known for....
6l6's are more for clean headroom....
recto's & 5150's come stock with 6l6's for more clean headroom while their preamps have loads of gain so you don't require powertube saturation for a heavy dist like you would with most tube marshalls(except the jcm 2000's).

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It depends on the amp also, i played a modded 5150 with el34's and it just sounded like ass, it was way too muddy. But el34's in the XXX Sound great. Decide which sounds better to you.

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modded....hmm....where can I get this thing modded and what should I have done to it.

Modded like how ? and I should try EL34's instead....ok I shall try.

i played a 5150 II with el34's and it was a beast.... it also had the bias mod, noise mod and mkII mod..... but it was a beast non the less.

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Fuck yeah I love that movie!

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I've got the Mark III. 3-12AX7 and 2-EL34's.

Marshall answer the cry of Spinal Tap. Hence, the 20 gain knob.

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