00:09Hey what's up? It's Paul from Guitar World and today we're not in our Guitar World studios,
00:13but at the lovely Marshall New York City headquarters to check out the brand new
00:18Marshall JCM-800 modified head. This is an incredibly cool head and there's a lot to it,
00:24so let's dive in and check it out. Marshall introduced two heads of 1959 modified and this
00:30one over here to my left, the Marshall JCM-800 modified. If it looks like a head that's been
00:36modified by an Amtec, it sure does, but this time it's modified by Marshall and it is a production
00:43model just like the 1959 modified Marshall as well. These are incredible heads, 100 watts, all the
00:52Marshall tone that you've been asking for. Obviously the JCM-800 is well known among hard rock and metal
00:58players and of course a lot of the 70s players and even more modern players do love that plexi sound
01:04from the 1959 modified, but today we're going to be looking at the JCM-800 modified, which sounds
01:10killer and what makes it interesting as well is not only does it have those tone shaping mini switches
01:16at the bottom, but it also has a built-in effects loop as well. 100 watts, EL34 tubes, ECC83 preamp
01:24tubes,
01:24all that legendary Marshall tone you've known and loved, but with even more tonal flexibility. So let's
01:32dive in and check out a lot of these particular features. Of course, as you may not know that Marshall
01:37has been doing these type of modifications on their amps for decades, but this time around they are giving the
01:44players that particular chance to sculpt their own tone by adding these modifications as stock. So this is
01:51an absolute production model that many players are going to totally dig. If you're familiar with the JCM-800,
01:58you'll notice that this particular modified model has all the same familiar front panel and controls,
02:06but of course it has the addition of these mini toggles, which are the modifications. But you'll notice the
02:12power and standby rocker switches, just like a legendary JCM-800. We have the presence, bass,
02:20middle, and treble EQ knobs. After that we have our master volume, then we have our preamp control,
02:26and then next to that we have our high and low inputs. And then just below you'll see the three
02:32mini toggles. The first mini toggle is a tight switch, so basically you can have the original JCM-800 sound,
02:39and if you want to tighten up the frequencies you can click on the tight switch. Next out you have
02:43an OD mini toggle. Now this one has three positions. In the middle it's the stock JCM-800 sound, to
02:51the
02:51left of that is drive one, which is almost like having a pedal in front of it, and then drive
02:56two, which is
02:57even more gain on tap. And then finally there's a mid voice switch, which introduces a mid bump to the
03:04sound,
03:04which is great for soloing and adding just a little more cut. Let's give the JCM-800 modified a whirl.
03:12I brought my trusty 58 Les Paul, all stock 2002, because what's better than a Marshall and a Les Paul?
03:20You can't go wrong with that. Let's hear how each of these mini toggles, or the mods that they put
03:26in,
03:26work. You can see I've set my bass just behind noon, presence just behind noon as well. Middle,
03:32I got just past about one o'clock-ish, and then cut the treble down, because there's a real high
03:37treble on this particular amp. The master volume is about just under nine o'clock, and I got the
03:43preamp volume turned up a little bit. So that's pretty much the preamp, of course, on anyone who
03:48knows an 800, that's pretty much where you get your gain. If I pull it back it'll get more clean,
03:54and if I pull it up I start to get more of that overdriven tone. Right now, of course,
03:59I'm in overdriven territory. Let's take a listen.
04:16So pretty much what you're hearing right there is a stock JCM-800. I basically have the tight switch
04:23off, none of the OD modes activated, and the mid-shift is off. So just on its own,
04:29this is a pretty killer sounding 800, just to start. And as I mentioned before,
04:34I have the preamp cranked to about one o'clock, but listen as I turn it down a bit.
04:46So this one like cleans up real nice, but it still has that cutting 800 tone.
05:04And then as you incrementally bring up that preamp volume, it starts to really get that.
05:33So
05:34you can't go wrong with that sound to begin with, but now let's get into
05:38the tone shaping capabilities of what this amp can really do by activating these switches.
05:43I'll save the tight switch for later. Let's start with the OD by adding just an even more
05:48drive to the circuit. As I said before, this is a stock 800 sound. I'm going to introduce OD1,
05:54which is basically your first gain stage. So let's take a listen stock,
05:59and then I'm going to click the switch to one.
06:08So
06:28sounds really good. So as you heard, we've got a little bit of a
06:30little bit more gain on that, which sounds just fantastic. It's almost like, as I said before,
06:35putting an overdrive pedal. Again, these are the type of mods that so many players
06:40wanted decades ago. And here I am, I've missed the boat, but now I have it here. Let's take a
06:46listen
06:46one more time with OD1 on.
06:49guitar solo
06:52guitar solo
07:29So already that sounds pretty amazing but now let's hear if I add the mid-shift to that where it
07:35kind of adds obviously a mid-bump but really will bring out a lot of single note lines. So here
07:40it is without and I'll introduce the mid-shift.
07:57guitar solo
08:09guitar solo
08:35So there you have that mid-shift which really adds so much.
08:39Take a listen again me just going back and forth.
08:48guitar solo
09:09What I love about this is like
09:12Each mod does exactly what you want it to do so it's definitely a discernible and audible difference as well
09:20as in feel for this particular amp. So really amazing job here Marshall. Now let's move over to OD2 which
09:27again is even more gain and this time I'm going to also play with the tights which this is where
09:32the tight modification really comes in handy. So I'll play on OD1 and then switch to 2. Here we go.
09:37guitar solo
09:59Tight
10:00Tight.
10:47Finally, a really great thing is you can get awesome clean tones by simply turning your
10:51volume down as well, but bringing the preamp down and take a listen to what that sounds
10:56like. And I'll show you a thing about the low input as well in one moment. Take a listen
11:00to this first.
11:15And then even adding the mid shift on that, it just really adds a nice character, bumps
11:19up everything.
11:33Finally, the thing I want to talk about is the low input. Now, if you've had a JCM-800 Marshall
11:39like me, what we used to do sometimes if we didn't want to use basically the tone stack
11:45from the high input and use pedals, we normally went into the low input. And with that, we'd
11:51use our pedals to really achieve a lot of the same things, especially if you're using delays
11:56and all those other things and drive pedals. And using that, you can really get some great
12:00tones. And of course, this JCM-800 modified does all that and more with the added capability,
12:07of course, adding a mid shift and all that. So take a listen to that.
12:34So as you just heard, the Marshall JCM-800 modified is just a good thing. And I'm going to
12:40show you a little bit more about it. It sounds incredible. It sounds incredible and is a great
12:43deal of fun. I think Marshall hit a home run here. And having played the Marshall 1959 modified as well,
12:51I got to be honest, I don't know which one I like better because I love them both. They sound
12:56great. And I think these are possibly the best Marshalls out there. And that's my own honest
13:03opinion. And as I also said in my other review of the Marshall 1959 modified, I wish I had these
13:09modifications in both of these Marshalls, which I had at one time or another. But now, because these
13:16are production Marshalls with all the proper modifications that you could ask for, these
13:20things sound great. And even though this one has an effects loop, you may not even want to put any
13:25effects in front of it. It sounds that good. You're going to see these amplifiers on a lot of stages,
13:30as well as in a lot of session players' hands. And you might even see it in my hands
13:34at one point. Definitely check it out.
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