Well, I'd been patiently waiting for about 7 weeks when it finally arrived - my new Ceriatone JCM800 2204 clone.
Extras are an FX loop and a PPIMV (as well as the standard pre-PI MV).
As usual from Ceriatone, the amp was packed superbly.
As usual, the build quality of the chassis, and soldering was superb.
As usual, the cab was merely OK, cheap, light, and bit of cracked ply if you look inside (but I'm not complaining, as they charge so little for the cab - it'll surely last for years, if I look after it, anyway).
It sounded unmistakably JCM800 as soon, as I plugged it in. Comparing it to a 1978 Marshall 2204 I owned earlier this year, I like the Ceriatone better. it's just tighter, less bright and with much, much less background noise - it really is a very quiet amp, even at full gain.
Being a tinkerer, I had the beast open on the first day, and have been tweaking and modding the thing. I knew to start with that I like a much fuller, less bright tone than 800's standardly have. With a few simple mods, the amp is now a chunky, beefy rock monster. Basically, I've added mids and bass, whilst cutting the harsh bright treble that 800's are famous/infamous for. It still sounds unmistakably like a JCM800, but just nicer !
I'll get round to doing some clips at some point, hopefully soon - just need to get my sh1t together !
The FX loop seems to play very well with my DD-20, even though the loop is not buffered at all. I certainly can't hear any tone loss using it.
I've found that the PPIMV is pretty useless with this circuit. It just makes the tone very harsh and bright when you use it (caused by the reduction in negative feedback as you turn down a PPIMV). The standard 800's pre-PIMV sounds much better.
I'll keep the PPIMV installed though, as it doesn't seem to add noise, and I'll just leave it on full. It'll be handy to have installed if I ever change the circuit to 1987 (50W plexi) spec.
So altogether I'm very pleased, and as I seem to be playing 70's/80's classic rock mostly these days, it fits me very well.
I still need to sort out what pedals I'm going to boost it with. My trusty Blue Boy Deluxe does a good job of upping up the gain to get a very full, saturated rhythm tone when I need it, but I'm still searching for a pedal to get those singing lead lines.
I'm thinking tube screamer, or tube-screamer-like pedal. Any suggestions ?
Edit - OK, got round to doing a soundclip. It's through a Marshall 412, with greenbacks. The Back in Black clip is the pre-amp dimed, the other bit is with it on about 8. Master is on about 0.5 - only just on really. I think this amp will be astounding when I get to open it up properly !!
Here's the clip -
http://www.box.net/shared/static/tazlev9ma4.wav . (sorry its a wav - just sounds better than the mp3 conversion I did)
