Orange Amps Forum

I'm a happy Rockerverb MK1 50w + PPC212 owner, but I needed something to spontaneous grab'n'go situations. Budget around 350-400 USD, preferably 1x12" , all-tube, single channel, fx loop, no fancy-schmancy addons, just simple 30-50W amp.

And I found this:



I immediately called the seller and made and offer that he accepted, got in the car, drove about 70 kilometers to pick it up. It's a JCM900 2501 MK3 Hi Gain Master Volume combo with 12" g12t-75. 50w of pure tube juice switchable to 25W (two EL34 and three 12AX7), fx loop. It has two channels, but second one is rather for solo boost.

Here are some first impressions:

-absolutely NO pedals required, it has plenty of gain to do everything from rock to oldschool metal
-cleans up pretty nicely with strat,
-master volume works great, I can definately play at pretty low volume at home and still get a nice juicy tone
-no shrill / fizz that I've experienced in other JCM900s
-presence knob is so damn sensitive giving even more tone shaping possibilities
-loud enough to play with a band (tested yesterday)
-pretty light, travelling-musician friendly

All in all, it's a hell of an amp, true Marshall classic. Definately breaks the myth as though JCM900 are somewhat worse than other Marshalls.

i can't see the pic.

Not seeing photo here either. That said: Congrats on your new amp! Sounds like a great find. Enjoy!

caldurham wrote: ↑

Fri May 18, 2018 9:11 pm

i can't see the pic.

langmurf wrote: ↑

Sat May 19, 2018 12:54 am

Not seeing photo here either. That said: Congrats on your new amp! Sounds like a great find. Enjoy!

Corrected! You should see it now.

that's awesome. i am a fan of smaller amps like this.

Contrats!

Those Marshall sure have Their thing going. If it rocks your boat , enjoy!!!!

I think they got derided a lot because they have a transistor clipping stage somewhere for their overdrive.
That got them a bad rep.

It's funny, the blues junior also has transistor clipping for the boost function, but that one gets a lot of praise..... doesnt make sense to me. (The transistor bias. I had a blues junior, it's a pretty good amp)

Like you, I have a couple of grab and go 112 combos, Orange AD15, and Genz Benz Black Pearl 30. Hard to beat for simplicity/tone quality.

Les Paul Lover wrote: ↑

Sat May 19, 2018 7:27 pm

Contrats!

Those Marshall sure have Their thing going. If it rocks your boat , enjoy!!!!

I think they got derided a lot because they have a transistor clipping stage somewhere for their overdrive.
That got them a bad rep.

It's funny, the blues junior also has transistor clipping for the boost function, but that one gets a lot of praise..... doesnt make sense to me. (The transistor bias. I had a blues junior, it's a pretty good amp)

Like you, I have a couple of grab and go 112 combos, Orange AD15, and Genz Benz Black Pearl 30. Hard to beat for simplicity/tone quality.

I agree, that is an obvious reason for jcm900 hate. However funny thing is that purist who complain about diode clipping in jcm900, put diode clipping pedal (TS-9, TS-808, SD-1, whatever) in front their "true" jcm800. I say it's hipocrisy.

Other thing is that not all 900 use diode clipping, but I have no idea which model is it.

Saw this and thought I’d say it’s a beauty of an amp. Had one myself for about a year now and I rehoused it in a new homemade cab and it screams.
Mines has a few diodes clipped inside to tame it a tad. Love it!

Here a video of the build if anyone interested

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i5xexxjncxthu ... 9.mp4?dl=0