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How much gain does the Marshall JCM 800 have ?


mbengs1

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Okay, Wikipedia says a single coil pickup can produce peaks of +/-5 Volts and a humbucker can produce +/-10 Volts (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickup_%28music_technology%29). The JCM 800 is rated at 100 Watts RMS or 28.284 Volts into 8 Ohms. That gives a difference of about +9dB for a humbucker or +15 dB for a single coil, so there's your answer. It's probably wrong and someone like WRGKMC could tell you the real answer but you don't really care, do you? Just take it and run with it.

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I was looking at youtube and they seem to have little gain. about as much as an overdrive pedal. i think the jcm 800 is a medium gain amp from those vidoes on youtube. do the jcm800's have little gain as a suppose them to be?

 

The 800 is big bold sounding amp not a high gainer, with the right stomp box it can bring you into metal territory no problem.

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...about as much as an overdrive pedal.
The goal in designing an overdrive pedal is TO REPLICATE an amplifier like the Marshall JCM 800! It's not that the amp has a much gain "as an overdrive pedal", it's the pedal that has "as much gain as a Marshall".

 

The JCM 900 series has more gain - it seems like that's what you want. Joe Satriani used to play (maybe still does) play through JCM 900s.

 

If you are looking for a guitar amp with TONS OF GAIN all by itself (without being boosted with a pedal, ect), you should try either a SOLDANO amp head or a Mesa Dual Rectifier amp head. I have a Mesa Studio .22, it has an INSANE amount of preamp gain, it's basically a tube big muff.

 

You said something in another thread about wanting a "vintage Marshall modded for more gain..." HELLO, there are probably DOZENS of amp builders that make exactly this, without ruining a rare and valuable vintage amplifier.

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Mr Grumpy pretty much Nailed it.

 

You have to decide if you want an amp that's a one trick pony, or an amp that takes pedals well.

 

If you're into pedals you don't need a high gain channel. You can run a pedal board with echo into a high gain channel, its going to sound like total crap. Gain comes before time based effects so you want an amp that runs clean and loud with maybe a little bit of hair and get all you high gain from pedals.

 

If you don't use pedals and want high gain then get an amp with 2 or three channels and get your high gain from the amp. if you then need echo or chorus stick them in the effects loop.

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When we're done here' date=' maybe we can figure out how much wood a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood. ;)[/quote']

 

:D

 

I actually have a Marshall JCM 800 2x12 combo 50 watts (model 4104). It's one of those amps I bought new back in the day.

 

The gain on them is classic old school rock and roll

 

Think Bad Company or 70's Peter Frampton plugged straight in to amp.

 

The gain thing has gotten crazy, you can't tell one guitar from another.

 

I left the 6550 power tubes in my, but many folks modded them with an put in EL 34's.

Mine is in killer shape and I fire it up once a year with a variac. Same with my Fender Twin.

 

 

 

[video=youtube;uAPUxvjbdcU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAPUxvjbdcU

[video=youtube;q7yMgJSOksc]

[video=youtube;y7rFYbMhcG8]

 

I feel that last of the good Marshall tones were the 800's, however there many manufactures out there that make a great Marshall like amp. They were kind of pricey new back in the 80's.

 

I haven't gigged with the Marshall in decades, both the Twin and the Marshall are just way to much amp these days. I have owned more than my share of Mesa amps along the way. Dual Rectifiers T-Verb combo was a killer amp, but weighed in at 98 ls. The Maverick combo was nice. Single rectifiers I liked, but once again it wasn't a one trip from the car to stage. The only Mesa I kept was a 1x12 55 Nomad. It's almost manageable. Right now it sitting on top of my 110 lb UK made Ashdown bass 4x10 combo. Another amp that's killer but bring your friends to move it.

 

 

I think this year I'm considering a Quilter Mach II combo. which speaker configuration I have't decided yet. 20 lbs I can handle these days.

 

Even my modest pedal board weighs a ton.

 

 

[video=youtube;GB30KQd-iQY]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I had a JCM 800 back in the day, it blew out, so I got a Carvin X-100. It wasn't as crunchy as my 800, but when I added a distortion pedal , experimented with 100's 5 band Eq, I could get a JCM 800 or Mesa Boogie Mark 3 sound. The Carvin was more versatile and had way more dynamics than the Marshall.

 

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