Brit 800 weird

I had a stock 1978 2203 that in my opinion, had decent gain but not metal gain. It was all stock. We all have different opinions of what high gain may be. It does sound like you may have played a modded one. They are very easy to hop up with very minimal parts. I think the Axe models sound very good. JCM800 Mod is one of go to models.

Here's a short demo video I did on it when I sold if you want to hear what stock sounds like. This is not a demonstration of my guitar playing skills (which aren't good anyway.)

 
Omri Bazelet said:
So.. in order to achieve more gain. I need More Negative feedback?
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this is just to go between a 2204 (50W) and 2203 (100W). To grab a paragraph from Rob Robinette’s website on how a JCM800 works:

“The 100 Watt Marshall amps use the same NFB circuit as the 50 watt amps but the voltage at the 4 ohm tap is 41% higher so they get 41% more NFB which tightens up the transition from clean to distortion and makes the overdrive tone more aggressive.”

It’s why 50W and 100W Marshalls sound a little different - adjusting that can bridge the gap.

For more gain, I’d use a boost in front. The sat switch is great on Plexi’s but gets a bit much on 800’s IMO (unless done very subtly in which case you really get more compression rather than gain).

Stock 800’s sound best to my ear with a pedal in front. It’s also quite common to mod them, either to squeeze out more gain from the existing valves (a la Jake E Lee mod), or with an additional gain stage in front of the amp, or with an additional stage before the cathode follower.
 
Sorry, joining the discussion as a total noob. Is there anyway to get the JCM800 in Axe Fx 3 to be more like the 100w (or is there almost no difference?) and have more headroom before distorting? I'm trying to recreate some muff pedal pumpkins tones and it seems they used low output channel on a 100W, could I replicate this with the 50W one in Axe Fx 3? I think putting the trim to .50 makes it low input but on a 50W I'd imagine thats different. Thanks for any help.
 
zero_ said:
Sorry, joining the discussion as a total noob. Is there anyway to get the JCM800 in Axe Fx 3 to be more like the 100w (or is there almost no difference?) and have more headroom before distorting? I'm trying to recreate some muff pedal pumpkins tones and it seems they used low output channel on a 100W, could I replicate this with the 50W one in Axe Fx 3? I think putting the trim to .50 makes it low input but on a 50W I'd imagine thats different. Thanks for any help.
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Not much tonal difference for a pumpkins tone since it's all in the big muff... basically try to set the muff where you have the distortion you want, use the amp gain knob to shape the overall tonality. Muff is very tonally dependent on the amp's gain knob.
 
zero_ said:
Sorry, joining the discussion as a total noob. Is there anyway to get the JCM800 in Axe Fx 3 to be more like the 100w (or is there almost no difference?) and have more headroom before distorting? I'm trying to recreate some muff pedal pumpkins tones and it seems they used low output channel on a 100W, could I replicate this with the 50W one in Axe Fx 3? I think putting the trim to .50 makes it low input but on a 50W I'd imagine thats different. Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

Low input bypasses a gain stage and actually gets a little more similar to a Plexi/Super Lead type circuit. Perhaps the 2204 Plexi model is a good candidate, just lower the input and increase the negative feedback and you should be good. I generally find the low input a pretty uninspiring sound - the best way to use that is to crank the master volume to the max and use the preamp like a typical Plexi gain control. Being such a flat sound, it makes for quite a nice plain pedal platform.
 
I made a little comparison between my '77 50w 2204 and the Brit 800 (50w 2204) to show that the gain is pretty similar between the two. The main differences happen when you crank the Presence.

The first section switches between amp and model in real time (you can hear the quick gap when switching) with Presence at ZERO, EQ knobs at noon, gain on 10, and Master Volume at 2.3. It sounds really close to me.

The second section is the same A/B method as the first, but with Presence at 10. On some models, the Presence adds a lot of upper mids rather than brightness/crispness, so be careful with that control. As long as you keep the model's Presence on the low side, you should get some pretty authentic results.

Here's the clip.
 
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