Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: willo on October 08, 2005, 01:36:46 PM
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Hi all,
I know a guy selling a JCM800 2x12 Combo, from the 80's, one of the old ones (the amp, not the guy :wink: )
Anyone got any thoughts on the amp itself and how it sounds, plays, reliability, and what they think would be a reasonable price?
Specifics:
Model Number: 4103 STD
Speakers; Celestion G12T-75s
Price: £300-350ish
Cheers!
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snap it up quick boyo!
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get it! I tried one out (it was used, mind) whilst looking for my new amp (around this time last year actually!) and I really regret not buying that instead of getting my HRDx.. Great crunch tone :twisted: Actually, thinkin about it, I cant remember wether it was a JCM600 or not.. oh well :lol:
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If you don't have it, I will, get your wallet out :P
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ok ok ok ok...you know, how convenient it is that my 21st birthday is on tuesday... :wink:
I'll get in touch with the man and try and broker a deal...
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Go for it Willo and happy birthday.
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Go for it Willo and happy birthday.
thanks man!
I'm hoping he'll let it go for £350, i don't know though. I've always learnt that building your hopes up is a bad thing, but I keep looking at info and reviews on the amp and just thinking 'give me give me give me...' :?
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Yo!
I don't know if this has a master volume so i think if i get it cheap i will buy an attenuator. Can you still use something like a Hotplate with a combo?
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Yes but you may need to extend/ replace the speaker cable so that the attenuator can sit on top of the combo. The hot plate looks cool in this position as it has a blue light at the front that glows when you play. I got mine done for under a tenner.
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I think Tim has one of those... If its the same, it sounds awesome!
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Yes but you may need to extend/ replace the speaker cable so that the attenuator can sit on top of the combo. The hot plate looks cool in this position as it has a blue light at the front that glows when you play. I got mine done for under a tenner.
Yeah, it doesnt really need to be extended, just get a longer cable with the right ends :D I'll be expecting some clips Willo :lol:
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if if if I get it :?
I'll be checking it out in person if it gets to that stage, so is there anything i should look out for (any anything I can use to haggle the price down :wink: )?
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i have one similar ( actually i dont know difference between 4103 and 4104 ) - but mine rocks!!!! you'll love it. yes, you will need attenuation, even if yu do have a master volume on it!
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'03 is 100w, '04 is 50w, same as the heads!
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oo rightyo :lol: yu'll defionately need attenuation then!!! The 50W is great, 100W must be sex too
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try and haggle him down a bit if the valves are a bit old
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i think he had them changed in the last six months, but i know some of the plastic corner-cover things are missing, thanks for pointing that out though!
Anything else i should watch out for/be wary of?
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You're a hard bunch, the guy wants £150 less than it's worth!!!
If it looks like there's any mods, start haggling :wink: The FX loop may be a mod, also check the year, early ones are more desirable because the pots and jacks were wired in, not PCB mount. See if he'll let you open it up, or have a look at the dates on the transformers and chassis
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You're a hard bunch, the guy wants £150 less than it's worth!!!
If it looks like there's any mods, start haggling :wink: The FX loop may be a mod, also check the year, early ones are more desirable because the pots and jacks were wired in, not PCB mount. See if he'll let you open it up, or have a look at the dates on the transformers and chassis
how would i know what mods look like? i've never really checked the inside of a valve amp before :? Also, with regards to the question of whether it is an early model, the serial number is:
V00361
any use?
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I'll check the Marshall book. The FX loop may be a mod, it should only have 3 pre amp valves and 4 power valves, check for anything that looks hashed!
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GET IT! GET IT! GET IT! ;)
Bargain if you ask me, I paid nearly £500 for my 50w 4104 2x12, you're mate's looking for £350? BUY IT NOW!
I use a HotPlate with mine, all you need is the HotPlate (obviously) and another speaker lead. Put the speaker lead in the amp's "Speaker Out", then plug it into the "Amp in" on the HotPlate, then plug the speakers lead into the "Speakers out" of the HotPlate. Mine lives on top of my amp.
The 800's didn't have an effects loop, so if you have one, it's been modded.
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Great amp. I just got mine a couple weeks ago, in excellent shape a 1984 totally stock 4104 vertical inputs for $700.00 U.S. Push it with an OD pedal and you are all set.
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Great amp. I just got mine a couple weeks ago, in excellent shape a 1984 totally stock 4104 vertical inputs for $700.00 U.S. Push it with an OD pedal and you are all set.
where did you get that from (in case i miss out on this one)? :wink:
glad you like it, btw!
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1987
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1987
cool, thanks for that. I hope this guy starts replying to my emails soon... :(
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well he replied to my email, said 2 other people have been in touch but he wants to sell it to someone 'sane' - i hope he means me :lol: I'd like to think i could pass myself off as normal. Hope when he comes round he isnt shocked by the padded wallpaper :lol:
Anyway, so I'm currently trying to call him but i think he's probably turned his phone off for the night. Either way, I havent been this excited since Christmas Eve 1989 when my parents bought me a Lego castle and a train set. Some would say they cant work together, but trust me, they do!:D
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Just been talking to the guy, turns out he never bought the amp himself. He makes guitars and violins, and received the amp as part-ex on one of his creations. He'll be dropping it off tomorrow, and I'll be giving him £350 :D :D
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He shoots, he scores! :D
Nice one, hope you absolutely LOVE your new amp! ;)
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my local shop had a similar combo for £499 and sold it, and it was battered to hell.. £350 is a steal :D
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Hide the straight jacket too Willo
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worrisome situation:
21st birthday celebrations tonight,
amp delivered tomorrow at 10am,
needs to be tested at full tilt,
no attenuator,
terraced house! :lol:
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if there was a horns up, headbanging smilie, i would post it here :D
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Just keep drinking- you come out the other side and you will be able to carry out the test through "beer glasses". Have a good might.
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piss on the nieghbours!
bneen on the boat, tried the women not having it but no bother guitar cometh tomorrow i hit matudity
still time time tinijhgty
! :?:
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:D
The dangers of posting after a few sherberts! :lol:
Happy birthday willo! ;)
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thanks man! apologies about the randomness, i am having to retrace my steps last night and clear up my trail of destruction...
amp came today, 10 am :?
checked it out, its all good. really nice guy too, he makes violins and telecasters and received the amp as part exchange against one of his guitars so was just selling it on.
Incidentally, turns out the guy who sold it to me - Nigel Crinson (?) - knows Tim somehow, i think one of his mates gave Tim some advice years back on pickup making or something? I can't really remember...
distortion is all good, and it cleans up really nicely. very surprised with the quality of the cleans actually. generally just very happy with the amp! and i had £1000 earmarked for an amp, so £350 leaves me with some nice extra money...
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Bargain!! Well done!
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Thank you! Now i have some cash burning a hole in my pocket...i always wanted a Teese wah :wink:
Anyway, i have a question again!
The amp has both pre-amp and master volumes, i can get distortion at bedroom levels, so is there any real point in buying an attenuator? Any advantages?
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If you do go for an attenuator buy a Hot Plate, they're useful to get the power valves working for more harmonics and sustain. Teese Whs are excellent, I have the Wizard. I also hav a 535q modded by www.wah-wah.co.uk - that is excellent too! 8)
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so an attenuator will be an improvement over the master volume knob?
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Big time, you run the master at about 4 on those JCMs and you get more crunch, those power valves smooth up the tone as they distort and the tone gets fruitier!
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rightio looks like i'll be getting some attenuation then...
damn, that £200 out of my funds...
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what do yu mean damn? :P seems like a great way to spend £200 to me!
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Well I gotta say the one I play through must be faulty then coz a mate of mine has/had one and its not a very versitle amp at all. Its just breaks up, there is absolutely no clean sound in that amp at all.
I say "had" because I went round there last night to jam and he's swapped it for a later model JCM900 2x12 100w combo. He's pulled two of the valves out so its operating at half power and well.... its a really good amp.
Not as nice as the Blues Deville but still very nice.
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I would say that a HotPlate is one of the best gear investments I've made, it really does let you USE your amp at reasonable levels at home. You can dial in the gain you want, crank the volume up to get those power valves working (good old power amp distortion, can't beat it!), and still have eardrums left, as well as family and neighbours.
The THD HotPlate is one of the most flexible attenuators around that I know of, and came highly recommended to me. Just remember to get the one with the correct output impedance for your amp. My JCM800 runs an output impedance of 8 ohms, so I bought an 8 ohm HotPlate. It's the most useful £250 you can spend IMO.
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I just got a JCM800 4104 a couple weeks ago, great condition along with an 8ohm Hotplate. Being the tone freak that I am, I also swapped out the stock GM12-70 speakers for a pair of GH1230's broken in by Avatar, they call them "Hellatone". Big difference with the speakers alone. I also had the amp re-biased for EL34's. I went with the JJ EL34L's and a high gain set of preamp JJ's from Eurotubes. I'm still messing around with the preamp tubes but I keep coming back to the JJ's. Finally, my amp is not here now because I was missing one thing for my Echoplex, an FX Loop. I ended up sending the chasis to my buddy in CA, he owns two JCM800's and 2 JMP's and had all his FX Loops installed by his tech out there. He swears that the circuit this guy uses is as invisible as it gets. His recordings with the loop sound awesome. I can't wait to get it back so I can try out my "Cold Sweat/Trilogy" Guitar, that will be done this weekend!
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Thats 3 forumites with 4104's now! :D
Welcome to the 4104 club! ;)
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HELL YEAH! welcome, 4104 brother 8)
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My 4103 eats your 4104s for tea! :twisted:
:wink:
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Haha! but 3 of ours beat one of yours! (getting childish now...) Plus 50W JCM's are yummier than 100W JCM's IMHO. Also, i don't understand how any amp ever could be louder than mine. you could play arenas/stadiums with this thing! :o 8)
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I spent so much time looking for a good combo amp and I just could not find a better sound, at least for me, than an old JCM800 4104. I mean every amp is always referred to sounding like a Marshall or a Fender, so I went with an original.
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i really can't get over how sweet the JCM800 sounds. its so perfect!!! i love it so deeply. I feel like i don't deserve it and its majesty - which is why i'm still up playing it at 1am probably.
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Yup, it is definitely the best amp I've ever owned tone wise. I did like the TSL122 I had a few years ago, but I just didn't need a 3 channel 100w monster just for home use!
That's why I got a HotPlate for the Ampeg I had before the 4104, which luckily enough was the same output impedance as the 4104, so I didn't have the extra hassle of changing HotPlate's.
Although if I was playing my amp at 1am, I'm sure that my other half would be seriously unimpressed! And I mean SERIOUSLY unimpressed! :( . Line6 saves marriages. ;)
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i need a hotplate. i can't decide weather i should get that first, or some Nailbombs. I REALLY need to change cr@ppy ibanez pickups, but i wanna be able to play my amp cranked at home!!!
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i dont think i can afford a hotplate right now either, indy. i know i need one...but theres always something else to buy!
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some photos in case anyone's interested:
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y244/ianwillo/myguitar030.jpg)
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y244/ianwillo/myguitar031.jpg)
note: please ignore the bottle of whiskey - i have no intention of turning into a cliche! Its only there because my dad got it me for my birthday and i didnt have anywhere else to put it...
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That's nice! Looks mint to me!