Marshall JCM800 2203 - In Depth Review

[@Bobby_Digital37]

This is my dream amp!!!!

[@williamnapolitano1550]

tHATS SOUNDS GREAT. A week ago i got a 1985 800 2203. Thanks for the video!

[@totallyradguitars959]

Congrats on the new amp!

[@williamnapolitano1550]

@@totallyradguitars959 thank You!

[@ripperthecrooks6428]

​@williamnapolitano1550 how do you cope with not having an FX loop?? Do you use the amp mainly for recording so no fx loop wouldn't be a problem if you add fx in post

[@jdorahy13]

Glad to see a new upload🤘

[@jamescarpenter4777]

Great video man. I remember you solo was great! Welcome back!!

[@r1deftone]

Really liked that you point out all the variations and different models over the years and even within the same year. IIRC 2204's and 2203's had different revisions as well. People throw out "JCM800" all the time and have no idea what they are saying. Maybe consider breaking that out as a separate, shorter video? I'd like to see a comp between the 2203 and the 2555. Well done as always.

[@totallyradguitars959]

I *almost* had my hands on a 1981 2203 and a 1978 2203 and I wanted to do a quick comparison between those and my reissue. Would've loved to compare an early and later 2203 with the different filter cap arrangements. I know this sounds crazy because of the wall of amps I own, but some of the things I'd like to do are cost prohibitive... the only reason I even have the JCM800's I do is because I bought them at a time when you could get them for 800 or 900 bucks. Now a 1981 JCM800 is pushing $3k+ and I just don't have that kind of money, at least for now. Maybe someday, or I could borrow one, because I'd love to do a comparison like that.

[@r1deftone]

@@totallyradguitars959 Prices are getting crazy but I don't trust Reverb anymore. They are inflating prices and not being truthful about sold prices. (another vid topic?) I recently scored a '90 EL34 2204 on CL for $1100. The '90 w/EL34's sounds better than my '85 2204 with 6550's IMHO.

[@bengirard1984]

Glad to see you again! I almost didn’t recognized you hahaha

[@MrMeik1970]

Welcome back 🙌👍

[@TheOtherJohnBrowne]

Beautiful backdrop, great tones, great information. Subscribed!

[@totallyradguitars959]

Thank you! Your channel is amazing!

[@TheOtherJohnBrowne]

@@totallyradguitars959 Oh snap! Thank you!

[@gorloxian]

Thanks for the great info. 2203 2204 are pretty much archetypes. The other one is a Princeton Reverb...... been in a LOT of recordings

[@guitarexpert2245]

Glad your back!

[@totallyradguitars959]

Thanks!

[@opinionhaver574]

Thanks for the overview and review - I learned a lot.

[@A7Xguitarplayer0272]

Sounds (like) is so true. Nothing sounds quite like original. Well said!

[@larslevinberget9558]

Sounds like my Peavey VTM 60 stacks :) Nice tones and amp collection, man! More gain than any 2203 I've played

[@davidkervin]

Sounds great man. I have a 1983 version and it sounds righteous.

[@jaymebarton]

The GOAT is back!

[@nikopappas8484]

yoo we are SO back! love this channel. And with the best amp in the world tooo.

[@NinjaRunningWild]

Whoah! You became Kurt Cobain since the last video.

[@totallyradguitars959]

In the famous words of Skid Row's Sebastian Bach, "Don't cut your hair"

[@NinjaRunningWild]

@@totallyradguitars959I wouldn't have myself but my own hairline had other ideas. 🦲

[@totallyradguitars959]

@@NinjaRunningWild On a serious note, I figure I have about 2-3 good years before I have to shave my head haha so that's part of why I grew it out again (I had hair like this in my early 20s too). Rock on!

[@InDecemberOfficial]

Thanks for the video man. At 2:09 , unless you took a pic from someplace else, are the unvented t75's, the vented ones have like a little net over the center. Both are amazing speakers though and sound nothing like the modern day t75's.

[@totallyradguitars959]

Interesting, yeah that's my picture of what is actually in the cab. They have little metal vents over the hole in the center of the magnet, but a quick google and I see others where the vent is much bigger/more obvious. Good eye! Wish I could update the video... or is this an excuse to go buy a proper vented G12T75 and do a comparison....

[@InDecemberOfficial]

@@totallyradguitars959 The old white label unvented t75's, the ones you have, are actually a little more desired, they are considered "better" sounding than the vented version, so you're good!

[@quentinrozhenko8321]

That ol funny electric guitar reminds me of my 3rd wives eldest boy that was like a distant cousin to me and took my part of my name as tribute, ol Benny Roz we called him. Here's a tale about him. He was six or seven when he first picked up a guitar. Soon after that he was taking lessons, but his formal instruction didn’t last long. “It’s one of these things where you don’t start out learning what you want to learn,” Benny Roz says. His teacher wanted to teach him “Hot Cross Buns.” Benny Roz wanted to play Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train.” So, after a handful of lessons, Benny Roz and his guitar teacher parted ways over creative differences. And that ol shy nine-year-old from Easley, South Carolina, set out to do things his way. With little outside musical guidance, he started messing with the strings on his own, detuning the guitar and just experimenting. A self-described bedroom picker, he says that for the longest time almost no one heard him play. He was 18 years old before we discovered he could sing. In our defense, he was also 18 years old before he discovered he could sing. But music wasn’t then and isn’t now his whole world. A second powerful thread from his childhood would weave through his life: fly fishing. Benny Roz grew up not far from South Carolina’s Chattooga River, famously featured in the movie Deliverance. His earliest memories of fishing were there, backpacking in, camping, and fishing with his father. He started out spin-fishing while his dad fly-fished, but the young Benny Roz watched with fascination as his father worked the fly rod. He wanted to learn. As with most kids learning to fly fish, there were many years of, “Daddy can you untangle me?” But when he got older, he learned of the Delayed Harvest section of the river, a fly-fishing-only section that held fewer anglers and the promise of potentially bigger fish. “That sparked something,” Benny Roz says. He was on a mission to fish places few people fished. “It took me over.” He fished every chance he could. In high school, he would fish after school in the evenings. He took camping trips up to North Carolina, fishing around the Davidson and Mills rivers, looking for those hard-to-reach spots. When it came time to look at colleges, there was really only one place on his mind: Montana. He chose Montana State University in Bozeman to study fisheries and wildlife management, but once he got there he just wanted to fish. In Montana his two loves of fishing and music were rejoined. He started writing in earnest, and bought a drift boat. A third love, who traveled with him to Big Sky country, didn’t love Montana as much as he did. While she’s no longer in the picture, she does make an appearance in his lyrics. When it comes to the guitar, Benny Roz is influenced by the rock music he grew up listening to. But when he started writing songs, it felt different. “Writing just comes from another place,” he says. But pouring his soul into words, sharing pain and intensely personal feelings with the world was a terrifying idea to a man so shy he used to turn beet red if he was called on to read in class. So once again he found his own way. “Songwriting, and showing somebody something you wrote, is kind of like getting up on stage and pulling your pants down,” Benny Roz says. “I love writing something in a hidden way where it means so much to me, but someone else will listen to it and not know.” The song “Jericho Rose” is filled with imagery from his time out west. “This olden boat shivers across the cold river beneath the trees/ Floating like a pine just to waste my time in search for peace,” paints a tactile picture of fishing in Montana. “Madison county where your arms never found me why did I leave/ Blamed it on the cold even though I was told don’t chase anything,” refers to that aforementioned third love. “I started writing that one, and it just fell off the page,” Benny Roz says. With “Jericho Rose” he didn’t set out to make the song that would launch his professional music career. But in a recurring theme for Benny Roz of the universe aligning in unexpected ways, it would end up spiraling into a move to Nashville. He sold the drift boat to finance his first record, Southern Heat. “None of what I do is for the money,” Benny Roz says. “But this is my only path to making a living.” He’s fully aware of what a risky business it is, but is unwavering. “It’s one of those things where if I put my time in I could possibly make enough money to be able to fish, rather than working a job I hate every day.” It’s not easy, though, to separate the two into “Do this, so I can afford to do that.” Music and fishing seem to fuel each other for Benny Roz, and they’re both good for the soul. He meditates often, and can see how meditative both disciplines are. Both are escapes from the baggage of a busy or worried mind. Whether fishing or writing songs, you can’t think about anything else while you’re doing it. “I get lost in the world of making music, and fishing is the same way,” he says. “That’s how eight hours can go by like thirty minutes.” He played his first gig just two years ago, in January, 2018. “I was a nervous wreck before doing that,” he says. But since that gig, he has been getting noticed, and things seem to be moving quickly. He signed his first publishing deal with a major company that September. Then last fall he traveled to Montana to make an appearance on the popular MeatEater Podcast, hosted by renowned outdoorsman, hunter, fisherman, conservationist, and wild game cook Steven Rinella. That appearance, on which Benny Roz performed the previously unreleased song, “Black Powder Soul,” has garnered a great deal of attention. Benny Roz is unquestionably driven, and he makes things happen. But he sometimes feels like unknown forces in the universe may be nudging things in his direction. “There have been some things that have been too weird to not make me believe that something else is driving this train,” he says. “Not just me.” For his part, the combinations of tunings he uses, his distinct voice, and his thoughtful, evocative lyrics have carried him very well in Nashville. There’s a lesson there for others starting out in music, fly fishing, or anything, honestly. “A beginner should never feel like there’s only one right way to do anything,” Benny Roz says. “As long as you’re doing something that works and that’s true to you.” Some of the flies he tied out west were totally unorthodox, and he didn’t care if other anglers would say he was wasting his time. The reward was to catch big fish on them anyway. He sums it all up with a smile in his voice that turns to a laugh, “Whether unorthodox guitar or flies or methods, if it’s getting the butter at the end of the day, don’t sweat it.”

[@doc_matter]

Great story, he seems to have made an impact on you, are you still in contact with him?

[@JR15A2]

Jesus, this comment seems to have been posted five months ago, but I want to know when you started typing it. 🤣

[@MasterOfMetallica69]

Fantastic video!

[@redsilverjack]

how to add gain stages ? your explanations are so clear , amazing . i just bought an marshall jcm900 2100 mkiii because of you . thank you love the quality of that amp also what could be possible to change maybe the eq to be a bit more fat . thanks again

[@totallyradguitars959]

Hey. Adding gain stages is more complicated, since you'd need to redirect the signal path, add heaters for the tubes, etc a lot goes into that. But just making the EQ fatter, try this: Swap the R20 slope resistor on the 3-band EQ for a higher value. Stock is 33k, try 47k or 59k. Quick and easy and a very noticeable effect on the sound. There's other changes you can make of course to fine tune it, you could adjust the values between the first and second gain stages to cut less bass for example. As always, be careful, do not work on the amp with both hands or while plugged in, don't electrocute yourself, this is dangerous stuff and could result in injury or death. Take it to a professional if it's over your head, there's no harm in letting someone else do it, better than dying.

[@Johnsormani]

Your story about the 76 design of the 2203 is not true! Actually the 2203 had Stacked preamps from the beginning of its introduction but the 50 watt 2204 didn't get it until a year or more later. They probably wanted to check if the new design was well received, and when it was they changed the 2204 design as well.

[@totallyradguitars959]

Thanks! I was digging everywhere to try to figure out why the Mojotone 2204 schematic showed different preamp configurations for 1976 vs 1978. That explains it, I think I always figured that the 2203 and 2204 had the same design throughout their lifespans (in terms of preamp).

[@Johnsormani]

@@totallyradguitars959I’m sure that there were quite some customers pissed of when buying the first series of 2204 amps when they still only got plexi like distortion out of them. Marshall never was great in marketing. I remember going through their brochure when choosing an amp head in 1980. All of these strange model numbers that didn’t make sense so you had to really compare specs. I went for the 2204 back then and instill have that amp. I had to go by train to get it ( I was 16) and it was a very hot day in the summer. I had to drag the amp for two miles from the train station to my home. My arms were extended by two inches that day 😂

[@dragannestorovic01]

I enjoyed the video man. Your guitar playing is coming along nicely as well!

[@totallyradguitars959]

Thanks! I feel like I haven’t really improved in a long time, and I’m practicing less. I may give lessons a go sometime.

[@bongo646]

Nice in-depth video. I’ve got 282 GCM 800 2204 love them can’t wait for your next vid. Any chance of doing a 6100 video you probably don’t have one but if you did it’d be cool.

[@totallyradguitars959]

Hey! I have a '92 6100 as well as a later '97 6100LM. Very cool amps, very complicated, lots to talk about. I'll get around to them eventually. My next plan is to do the 2205/2210 but I've been holding off until I could get my hands on a first year model (which I've just done, it's on the way to me now) so hopefully I can get that video done next before I move on to the 6100 series. Eventually the plan is to have covered all the major Marshall heads.

[@bongo646]

@@totallyradguitars959 excellent I have a purple tolex and the regular brass plated front panel. As a stand alone combo very thin sounding. But through a 4-12 cab sounds pretty good.

[@totallyradguitars959]

@@bongo646I have days where I love them, and days where I feel like there's something weird in the mids I can't dial out. I actually lucked out and got the '92 6100 head, the LE version where the whole thing is polished brass even inside, with the matching 4x12 cab which has same-year G12T75's. I think it's those speakers I can't quite get along with, which is bizarre because the G12T75's in the cab I used in this video are some of my favorite speakers. Maybe they just need to be broken in a bit more - I'd swap them out but I don't want to tamper with the "original" cab since it's the LE version.

[@NinjaRunningWild]

You need to do a video on that Friedman there. Those are some of the best sounding amps I’ve ever heard.

[@totallyradguitars959]

Which amp? I don't own any Friedmans, the closest I have is the Ceriatone AH50 (which I'm pretty sure is a direct copy, but still). Cheers!

[@bocadelobo01]

I really LOVE IT!

[@adamfairweather1729]

Amazing tone. I have a JCM 800. It’s definitely got a snarling tone with drop D. I blend mine with Diezel VH4 a la Tool and then sound is so thick and snarling. If only my band would let me use this tone but doesn’t really work with funk and jazz lol

[@totallyradguitars959]

Thanks! The VH4 is an amp very high on my list to try. I have a Herbert and love it so I’d love to hear the differences. And hey, just show up one time with that setup for your jazz band - JCM800 on low input and VH4 clean channel, I bet would still sound great!

[@VP-eq4nc]

Missed you!

[@HunterRouth]

Good sound! Would love to see you do a demo of your ESP Maverick's.

[@totallyradguitars959]

Oh, now that sounds like a fun video. Those are easily some of the best guitars I own

[@HunterRouth]

@@totallyradguitars959 Rip it! 🤘🏻

[@svenzia]

Great video!

[@Blueagle8u]

THE AMP PERIOD.

[@LightningN1NjA]

What do you guys recommend as the best Attenuator for the 100w 2203x…. I don’t need all the cab emulation or digital bells and whistles. Just really good attenuation.

[@AlanTwilley]

Fryette power station

[@LightningN1NjA]

@@AlanTwilley thanks buddy! Definitely the one I’m gonna get

[@AlanTwilley]

@@LightningN1NjA be patient if it takes a while to find one, it’s worth the wait.

[@LightningN1NjA]

@@AlanTwilley yeah I’ve noticed they’re often sold out but it’s definitely the one I want. Ox box has way too many features that I’ll never use.

[@Highrollinhunter]

Even though im a thrash metal fan the JCM800 is the sound of Hair Metal and Shred Metal

[@Glamosapien]

It can do both and more if you know how with the right pedals

[@thomasWild-g1e]

How would you compare the JCM800 to the JCM900 Mk III? Sound similar? Some people say that JCM900 Master Volume is JCM800 with higher gain. Do you agree with this opinion?

[@totallyradguitars959]

Aw, I actually cut out a part in this video where I compared both of those schematics. I’ll probably revisit it in a comparison video with some audio clips to go along. But yes they are similar - The main signal path on both amps follows that 3-gain stage and cathode follower layout. There are some different values to change the voicing, and the MKIII’s 2nd gain stage doesn’t have the cold clipper but instead gains the diode clipping which can be effectively turned completely off if desired. Without the diodes (sensitivity knob), it has less distortion and low mids than the 2203 to my ear, but bringing in the diode grit adds both the drive and fullness back in. Their tone stacks have identical values, any differences you hear are before that, and as to which people prefer, I think it depends on whether you like the 800’s cold clipper asymmetric sound or the 900’s diode grit sound - or without the diodes, if you prefer the smoother drive of the MkIII (which lacks the cold clipper). You could likely swap just the cathode bias resistor (R5) on the MkIII for a higher value and get some more authentic 800 sounds that way, something I may have to try out sometime.

[@thomasWild-g1e]

Thanks for your reply. In my opinion, the JCM900 MkIII has a better lead tone. The JCM800 has the best crunch but doesn't have a good lead tone. I don't know which Marshall has the best sound for beautiful solos (maybe JCM2000 or JCM900 Dual Reverb since it has a built-in dist pedal in the preamp). What do you think?

[@williamnapolitano1550]

I also have a 900 SL-X. Have you done a video on that particular amp?

[@totallyradguitars959]

Hey, yes I've covered the JCM900's SLX, MkIII, and Dual Reverbs if you check the playlist/channel. I have a little more to talk about with those but that's for another video...

[@r1deftone]

Marshall's with and w/o "Diode Clipping" seems to be a big deal to some. Maybe a quick vid on that or break it out of another vid if you have already covered it?

[@totallyradguitars959]

That's a great idea. I have some diode clipping to talk about in the upcoming JCM800 2205/2210 video, and I'm re-making the Jubilee video (uses LED diodes for clipping). I did do a little comparison way back in my very first video between the 2205, 2555, and 2100 Mk III (all with diodes) but I didn't explain them in much detail. I think after I get the next two videos finished up, It'd be a good idea to do a little bit of a deep dive *specifically* about the diode clipping, and maybe mention a few other highly regarded amps that use it too. Cheers!

[@michaelholmes9153]

Had a 50W 800 in 84, when they first came out, and if you were in an 80s band you HAD to have one or you are a loser! ONE TONE and despite a bit too much high end it was easy to attain and iconic and LOUD. I found the high input too loud and trebly so I used the low input with a Boss DS1 for dirt. Like a two channel, sort of. Nice old Kramer Pacer you have there, what are the pickups? Sounds like its made for that amp.

[@totallyradguitars959]

Thanks! The pacer has the stock Schaller humbuckers - Golden 50s I believe is the modern equivalent. Great sounding pickups to my ear. The low input with a pedal is a great technique, I’ve used a few pedals through it and it sounds great even at lower volumes.

[@iiizeroiii1636]

8:12 very interesting! I didn't know the tone controls on these amps were that responsive!

[@totallyradguitars959]

Yeah, amazing the sounds you can pull with some unconventional settings. Even the all-controls-at-zero tone sounded good for a smooth lead to me. In hindsight I wish I'd also set all of them to "10" and rolled back one or two, because it's similarly interesting.

[@usernameihavechosen289]

@@totallyradguitars959 Cool, and at which position are the tone controls completely out of the circuit and doing nothing - at 0, or at 5, or at 10?

[@totallyradguitars959]

@@usernameihavechosen289 Technically, they still have an effect on the tone even at 10, but it's a passive EQ so 10 is the closest you can get. This style of EQ is always in the circuit to some degree though. There is a cool app if you look around online that shows the curves of what the EQ does in a graph that might interest you called the "Tone Stack Simulator."

[@usernameihavechosen289]

@@totallyradguitars959 Thanks for the info. Some folks at marshallforum are of the opinion it'd be 0/10/0 though, which the TSC graph implies as well.

[@techdeathhippie6319]

My favorite amp is 5 gain stage Hermansom jcm 800 .

[@totallyradguitars959]

That one is definitely on my list to try out in 2024 haha

[@techdeathhippie6319]

@@totallyradguitars959 there’s so many great modded 800s out there !

[@walterworrall]

14:21 incubus ftw

[@dane4453]

What were your settings on the SD-1?

[@totallyradguitars959]

Output a bit over 1 O’clock, tone at Noon, drive at 9 O’clock. I like the way it sounds with just a little of the drive from the pedal itself

[@miguelrichartmellado2834]

@@totallyradguitars959 SD-1 is modified ? What speakers are in you 1960 cab ?

[@totallyradguitars959]

@@miguelrichartmellado2834 Nope, just a standard cheap SD-1. Speakers are 1986 Celestion G12-T75's

[@miguelrichartmellado2834]

@@totallyradguitars959 thank you frend.

[@Ontariosound]

The Phase Inverter tube being driven into non-linearity was part of the magic of the original 2203 and 2204 models. The absence of an FX Loop allows this.

[@totallyradguitars959]

Can you elaborate? I don't see how an effects loop would affect that. Also when the loop is bypassed, it becomes a simple wire directly from MV pot to coupling cap exactly the same as non-loop 2203's. Both original and reissue 2203's use LTP PI.

[@Ontariosound]

@@totallyradguitars959 I just go by what Dave Friedman says. He hates Effects Loops on a high quality tube amp. Even when switched out he calls them tone suckers.

[@LightningN1NjA]

@@OntariosoundDave Friedman also hates salads, calls them fat suckers

[@robertwofford2170]

can you do a video on the jcm 2000?

[@totallyradguitars959]

I have a JCM2000 TSL I want to cover. Ideally I'd like to compare it with a DSL side by side - it's in my plans but I want to finish up the 80s era stuff first. I also have a bunch of other weird amps to talk about but man, it's hard to decide where to start because a lot of them build upon some previous amp (which is the main reason I talked about this 2203, since my next few videos are going to reference some things about this amp, especially when it comes to the circuit design). Cheers!

[@chrischoir3594]

are using a pedal?

[@totallyradguitars959]

Sometimes. I show in the video when I turn it on or off in the top right corner.

[@Heka41]

You wanna sug it?

[@bongo646]

Errr. 2204’s 🤣

[@jay60092]

Volume less than 1!!!! on a jcm800? kinda missing the point

[@totallyradguitars959]

It's right at 1, but if volume is all you care about then you are the one who missed the point. It's about the technical design/history of the amp, if you just want to hear a 2203 on 10 there's plenty of other videos for that.

[@jay60092]

@@totallyradguitars959 A valve amp needs all sections of it working to get its true value as an amp, at that volume you might as well just use a pedal for your tone, an amp of that nature is a totally different beast when you push the power section, I know….. I have one or two 👍

[@totallyradguitars959]

What can I say - I'm not going to wear earplugs to present an amp that will sound slightly better slightly louder when my focus is the technical side of things. If I do comparisons or track a song I'd be turning up louder, but that's not the use case here. I hate this kind of elitism, it sounds a hell of a lot better than a pedal and to imply that you have to play an amp at 110+db to enjoy it sucks.

[@jay60092]

@@totallyradguitars959 not elitism, but fact! You clearly don’t understand valve amps, at that volume all that’s working is the preamp, which like I said….. misses the point of that amp!

[@totallyradguitars959]

Ok, thanks for your feedback, rock on!