FT / FS: Dan Gower Modified 1984 Marshall JCM 800 - swap for Hiwatt/Gibsons/vintage blonde Tele

electricfurnace · January 2015

Putting the feelers out as 1/2 and 1/2 about just keeing this beast.

1984 Marshall JCM 800 2203 100 watt guitar amp. Modified to Killer Kali ++ spec with extra foot switchable clean channel by Dan Gower of DG Amps in November 2014 at a very big cost!

Brand new filter caps throughout. All valves tested at the same time.

Amp was originally a very clean and 100% stock 1984 vertical-input Marshall JCM 800. 100 watt version. I bought it and sent it off to Dan Gower for modding to Killer Kali ++ Spec. I also opted for the extra clean channel to be added. I also opted due to the age of the amp to have all filter caps replaced.

Sounds huge, super aggressive and articulate, tons of gain on tap and huge roaring midrange. Extremely fun to play! And the Clean channel is really lush and rich sounding, lots of harmonic content and detail in the top end. Due to the mods and the extra clean channel it's like having a Modded Marshall and a Fender Twin all combined inside one amp.

CLIPS:

http://tonefinder.com/files/39-Kevin Talley Jam.mp3

FEATURES INCLUDED WITH THE KILLER KALI++ MOD :

Extra 12ax7 tube added for 4 gain stages
Switchable High/Low Gain modes with shared EQ
Dual Gain Controls with push/pull ‘Bright’ switches
Master Volume
Feel Control (adjust the feel from tight/articulate to fat/spongy)
Violence Control (Gain boost control for the high gain mode)
Depth Control
Regulated DC Heater supply for the absolute lowest noise floor

PLUS:

Foot-switchable Clean Channel
Independent Clean Channel with it's own Volume/Bass/Mid/Treble controls. Super lush sounding clean tones!

Consider trade for a vintage HIWATT DR103 or vintage Gibson guitars or a 70's blonde Fender telecaster.

ThePrettyDamned · January 2015

Holy cow, that sounds INCREDIBLE.

samzadgan · January 2015

ThePrettyDamned said:

Holy cow, that sounds INCREDIBLE.

you should buy it!

David5150 · January 2015

Nice

Price for a sale?

electricfurnace · January 2015

It's really does sound incredible, but I have a Soldano SLO as my main amp and I can't really justify two high-gainers.

Dan said this 1984 JCM800 I found was probably the best platform I could have given him for the mods - 100 watt, vertical input, totally stock before he worked on it. Massive range of sounds from it now, and it's very clear and articulate.

Here's the user guide Dan did so you know all the features:

Here's the user guide:

FRONT PANEL:

Starting at the far right of the front panel, you have your main input jack and the ‘FEEL’ Control.

The 'Feel' Control allows you to dial in the overall 'Feel' of the amp (tight/snappy or spongy/compressed etc). Start out with the pot at zero for the tightest setting and as you turn the pot clock-wise, it will bring in more thickness and more of a compressed/spongy feel.

Gain1 and Gain2 controls each have a switch below them. These are bright switches that allow you to select 2 different cap values, and the center position bypasses the bright caps for a darker tone with less gain.

With the bright switches in the left setting, it adds the most gain and thickness to the tone. With the switches set to the right position it is much brighter and thinner sounding in comparison.

The higher you set the gain control settings, the less effect the bright switches will have. And the lower the gain control settings, the more you will hear the bright caps effecting the overall tone.

Working both gain pots in different settings with all the combinations of the bright switch positions gives you a plethora of options to tailor your tone.

The Master Volume on this amp works as usual, but has a much more usable range so you can play the amp at lower volumes too.

The Master Volume is also a push/pull switch which lets you select the Clean Channel when it’s pulled out. If using a foot-switch with the amp, always leave the Master Volume pushed in.

The Treble/Mid/Bass/Presence controls all work as usual, but with a much better range and a more responsive sweep to them.

REAR PANEL:

CLEAN CHANNEL -

The Clean Channel is based around the classic Fender design, providing lots of clean headroom and a full rich tone that will cover everything from thick jazzy cleans to glassy/ chimey crystal clean sounds.

The Volume control is the Master Volume for the Clean Channel. It’s also a push/pull Bright switch, so when it’s pushed in you get thicker warmer tones. When pulled, it makes the tone much brighter with a lot of harmonic detail.

The Treble/Mid/Bass controls in the Clean Channel all work as usual.

The Clean Channel should sound pretty clean even with humbuckers, but to get the cleanest tones possible, either a coil-split setting or even a coil-split humbucker combined

with a middle single coil will sound really glassy and clean. With a single coil pickup guitar like a Strat, it will sound beautiful.

VIOLENCE

The ‘Violence’ control is for dialing in the amount of gain from the added 4th gain stage. It’s also a push/pull switch, so when pulled it engages the 4th gain stage. When pushed in, it bypasses the 4th gain stage so you have 3 gain stages and a more classic tone with less gain/compression.

DEPTH

The Depth control is like your Presence control but for the bass frequencies. This control adds that big modern low end from the power section of the amp.

FOOT-SWITCHING

The FTSW jack on the far right of the rear panel lets you switch between Clean and Overdrive channels. Foot-switching can be done with a single button foot-switch wired up so that it shorts the tip to ground. Always make sure you have the amp’s Master Volume pushed in when you are using a foot-switch.

TUBES:

The amp is setup to run on EL34 power tubes and 12AX7 (ECC83) preamp tubes.

Currently there are 4 Harma Retro EL34’s in the power section.

There are 5 12AX7’s in the amp. Currently it’s running 2 x Harma Retro ECC83 (Input/PI), 1 x Chinese 12AX7 (Clean), 1 x JJ ECC83S (C.F) and 1 x Tung Sol 12AX7 (Gain). This combination sounds great with lots of gain but without any harshness.

electricfurnace · January 2015

Sale price I'd be looking at £1750.00, given the price of a bone stock decent 1984 JCM800, and the cost of the modifications.

electricfurnace · January 2015

Possible Trades for:

Pre-1979 Hiwatt DR103
Vintage 1970's or earlier blonde Fender Tele
Vintage Gibson Les Pauls, SG's, Juniors etc
R9 or R0 Les Pauls
Martin D28 or D45 acoustic maybe

electricfurnace · February 2015

bump

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FT / FS: Dan Gower Modified 1984 Marshall JCM 800 - swap for Hiwatt/Gibsons/vintage blonde Tele

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