How does the 800 compare to the VM and JVM? I hear the JVM can explore both Plexi and 800 areas? Obviously not perfect. I have a guitar with the Emerald set in them, so would be nice to have something that would be great with these as to single coil shreddness. Something really open and organic. Very responsive too! I like my emotion to shine through in my playing. That's why I picked the Emeralds as to a contemporary pickup for metal.
JVM is a good amp, but the circuit is so oversaturated to the point you can't a proper older amps tones
it's not like some of the boutique hot rodded marshalls (bogner, cameron, suhr) cause they simply went waaay too far on hot rodding it
unlike the Yngwie, the Randy, the Kerry King or the Slash amps, for example, that have messed up construction, but fine circuits
lowering the gain on a JVM gain channel isn't easy, and the low gain channels don't sound like a real low/mid gain amp
although I really enjoy its high gain metal tones AT LOW SETTINGS (which is still pretty high gain) I'd never call it an organic or open sounding or responsive amp
if having both heavy high gain distortion and cleans is your main goal, there are better amps, in my opinion
and as I said, a single channel JCM 800 or JMP has a lot more dynamics and can deliver a lot of different tones depending on guitar, pickups, pedals, playing style and settings
if you search the BKP Sound Clips section you'll find several clips recorded with Tim's JCM 800