![Marshall 4100 JCM900 Dual Reverb [1990-1999] [2003 - ? ]](https://img.audiofanzine.com/img/product/normal/1/4/1409.jpg?fm=pjpg&w=300&h=218&fit=max&s=9462e899aea0d128602886d0f3e2c51c)
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M Elise
Published on 12/03/08 at 07:18
This is a tube amp with 5881 power tubes instead of the El34s you normally find in Marshalls. It is a 100/50 watt amp with spring reverb and two foot switchable channels that share the usual tone controls but have independent gain and reverb controls. The foot switch also controls the reverb.
UTILIZATION
Its a solid well built Marshall amp with straight forward controls.
SOUNDS
This was my first Marshall. I bought it in the early 90s (along with the matching 4X12 cab) and have long since sold it and replaced it with the 30th Anniversary Marshall so I'm writing from memory here. I was immediately disappointed with this amp when I got it and never warmed up to it. I wanted a Marshall that sounded like the classic Marshall sound of the 70s and assumed that all Marshalls were basically the same. I had no idea that Marshalls could be so different. Now I am wiser but poorer. This 900 Marshall sounded nothing like the classic traditional Marshalls which are based around the EL34 tube. The tube in this amp is more like a 6L6. The distorted sound is harder, more aggressive, darker, with harsher harmonics and for some reason the amp seriously lacks bottom end as well. Oddly enough I loved the clean channel with reverb which sounded beautifully liquid and almost magical at times but who buys a Marshall for its clean sound?
I have also come to realize over the years that the cab I bought was wrong as well for the sound I wanted because it has the now common Celestion G12T75 speakers which are best for metal but not 70s rock. Marshall speaker cabs of the 70s used G12H30s or others that sound entirely different. You live. You learn. You spend gobs of money.
OVERALL OPINION
This amp was not my cup of tea. However based on other reviews I've read some people apparently love it . Its clearly a love it or hate it thing with this amp. It depends on the sound your after. The bottom line is that you've got to realize that Marshalls from different eras sound quite different from one another and so do the speaker cabs depending on the speakers. To get the sound you want you've got to get the right model amp and the right speakers.
UTILIZATION
Its a solid well built Marshall amp with straight forward controls.
SOUNDS
This was my first Marshall. I bought it in the early 90s (along with the matching 4X12 cab) and have long since sold it and replaced it with the 30th Anniversary Marshall so I'm writing from memory here. I was immediately disappointed with this amp when I got it and never warmed up to it. I wanted a Marshall that sounded like the classic Marshall sound of the 70s and assumed that all Marshalls were basically the same. I had no idea that Marshalls could be so different. Now I am wiser but poorer. This 900 Marshall sounded nothing like the classic traditional Marshalls which are based around the EL34 tube. The tube in this amp is more like a 6L6. The distorted sound is harder, more aggressive, darker, with harsher harmonics and for some reason the amp seriously lacks bottom end as well. Oddly enough I loved the clean channel with reverb which sounded beautifully liquid and almost magical at times but who buys a Marshall for its clean sound?
I have also come to realize over the years that the cab I bought was wrong as well for the sound I wanted because it has the now common Celestion G12T75 speakers which are best for metal but not 70s rock. Marshall speaker cabs of the 70s used G12H30s or others that sound entirely different. You live. You learn. You spend gobs of money.
OVERALL OPINION
This amp was not my cup of tea. However based on other reviews I've read some people apparently love it . Its clearly a love it or hate it thing with this amp. It depends on the sound your after. The bottom line is that you've got to realize that Marshalls from different eras sound quite different from one another and so do the speaker cabs depending on the speakers. To get the sound you want you've got to get the right model amp and the right speakers.