JCM800 vs JCM900

Two weeks ago I picked up a beat and broken 1990 Marshall JCM900 2501 50 Watt High Gain Master Volume MKIII 1x12" combo. I finally received all the parts the other day and finished repairing it today. I compared it to my 1982 JCM800 4010 50 Watt Master Volume 1x12" combo.

The JCM900 is a cool amp, but the JCM800 is an awesome amp! The JCM800 has a very organic dirty tone, like a roaring lion or a car with open headers. The JCM900 is smoother sounding and gets even dirtier. The JCM900 never sounds quite as good as the JCM800, except that it can function at lower volume levels. Either way, both of these amps are dinosaurs- relics of a bygone era.


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I was told by a mentor that the JCM800 was the way to go!

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Originally Posted by photoweborama

I was told by a mentor that the JCM800 was the way to go!

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This JCM800 is pretty awesome- an early amp with a browner sound than the later amps due to its lower plate voltage (they changed the power transformer later in the year which increaded the plate voltage by about 100v), though "JCM800" was a line of many amps- heads, combos, multiple wattages (15-100?), single channel, multi-channel, channel switching, all tube, solid state, hybrid, even bass amps! "JCM900" was a line of several amps as well.

Those are fantastic amps. I keep trying to convince myself that I don’t miss my Marshall…