SeriesMarshall JMP

The Marshall JMP was the go-to amp if you were a rock or metal musician in the seventies and early eighties. Everyone from Thin Lizzy to Iron Maiden used them and the picture of a wall of Marshalls sitting behind an arena stage is something every aspiring rocker dreams of. This firebreather used EL34s in the power section to deliver 100 watts of British crunch. It is a single channel amp with standard bass, middle, treble, presence, and dual volume controls. After 1975 these amps were changed to the gain and master volume setup to appease the players who needed that distorted tone but couldn't dime a 100 watt head. There's no reverb or effects loop on this amp unless it is modified. UTILIZATION These amps sound killer for classic rock or hard rock tones. The thing is, even the Master Volume model JMP is still an extremely loud amplifier. You either need to be in a soundproof room or have a good power attenuator to get the cranked tone at a more manageable volume level. The controls are pretty straightforward and act as intended. I find they can get kinda harsh when turned up so I prefer to keep the treble and presence lower when I've turned these amps up to stage volumes. SOUNDS This amp sounds killer for that raunchy British powered rock style used by so many bands back in the day. I would say it is a bit of a one trick pony but it does that trick very well. These amps get gain from volume, so naturally it will sound better as the volume is turned up, definitely. It sounds great with a variety of guitars, but the combination of this amp with a Gibson or other mahogany humbucker loaded guitar is awesome. Definitely the ticket for rock and early metal tones with that classic EL34 bite. These amps also make great mod platforms to be turned into high gain monsters too. OVERALL OPINION All in all I think the Marshall JMP is a great sounding and ultimately one of the classic Marshall amps of days gone by. They can be had for about a grand used which is a good price considering how good they sound and how iconic they are. You might want to budget for an attenuator to really get the most out of one of these, but when you do, look out!

Marshall is one of those amplifier companies as really stood the test of time. They probably easily one of the most recognized amplifier companies in the world. They're mostly used from pop all the way up into metal music. They do have a particular sound and feel that is unlike any other amplifier in the world. If the classic British tone that is inviting in vibrant to say the least. This is one of the all-time best amplifiers that it's ever been built. UTILIZATION Features 100W 4 EL34s in the power stage 3 ECC83s in the preamp True bypass series FX loop 3-band EQ Presence control SOUNDS This amplifier has such a great sound and anyone who has ever been around any type of music knows that the Marshall plexi is just one of the best. This amplifier is basically two channels in one. You have a higher low input for each channel so that gives you a total of four possible guitar to put plugs. Each one of these channels has two volume controls. This is a non-master volume amplifier so in order to get some crank distortion or overdrive you really have to crank the volume out of this amplifier. Of course if you're an apartment or small home this is not easily doable. So therefore you will need any attenuator or some sort of modification to get the amplifier to distort at lower volumes. This can be done quite easily if you push the front of the amplifier with an overdrive pedal such as an Ibanez tube screamer or a boss SD-1 pedal. Or you can or you send it out to get modified by many of the online amplifier modification specialists out there. OVERALL OPINION These amplifiers you can find new for right around $2300 or so. That is a decent price for this amplifier and certainly one that might be a little bit out of the budget range of many budgeted musicians. However you can find these all day long used very easily for probably less then half about. I have seen them as low at $100 used so I would go that way on this amp.

Just before the JCM 800 series amplifiers from Marshall; Marshall decided to compound on the success of the plexi and JMP amplifiers with the 50 W series amplifier. This amplifier used the large script logo you later see on the JCM 800 series amplifiers. The 2204 model was in production from 1975 until 1981. Marshall got rid of the extra two inputs for the darker channel and use the simple high and low brilliant channel. You also had a master volume control which was new during this time that Marshall was rounding off the JMP amplifier series. You also had a similar EQ section of presence, bass, middle, and treble. UTILIZATION This amp is very easy to dial in. If you have spent anytime with a Marshall amp before than you can easily figure this amp out. You have a presence, bass, middle, and treble,e and well as a gain and master volumes controls Set the gain to your liking and the master to your overall volume level. The eqing will change from speakers to speakers and cabs to cabs as well as using different guitars so let your ears be the judge. SOUNDS The tone of this is a very classic Marshall sounding tone. Since this is 50 watt. You really only get 3 db less then you did with the hundred watt amplifier. However, you get less of the headroom than the hundred watt amplifier which in turn would give you a quicker overdrive break up any spongier feel in the power section. Many recording artist used to 50 watt model over the hundred watt because you were able to dial in that nice spongy tone with a little bit easier and quicker power to break up. This amp sounds very good when you modify it to get extremely high gain distortion tones. Many users during 80s would modify these amps to get their recording and touring amplifier needs met. Even today maybe guitar players will take these old original Marshall amps from the 70s and early 80s and get them modified by some of the best Marshall amp modifiers in the business. OVERALL OPINION Many of these amps can be found for just about $1000 on the used market and in the classified section of some forums. They aren't hard very hard to find as Marshall really saturated the market back in those days with these amplifiers. I highly recommend this amplifier if you're looking for a classic Marshall tone and I would highly recommend this amplifier if you want to get a modern Marshall tone. but it will cost you between $400 and $700 extra to get this amplifier modded by someone who is skilled enough to do that.

Like always I was searching for tone. I bought a Hiwatt Dr103 and it was made for Canada so the model number was a little different but still a DR103 nonetheless. I played that for a while but it could never get out of the classic rock vibe. So I traded a guy for his 1974 Marshall JMP 100. That was a very good decision that I don't regret. I got this thing home and man was this a screamer. The first thing I noticed was how sparkly clean the clean tone was. I don't find Marshall to have a very good clean tone but this sure did. I slapped an Ibanez TS9 in front of it and man it sounded to good. This amp was made to take pedals in my opinion very well. The best thing this amp has for me is to jump the channels. It gives that boomy punch that hits you in the gut or chest which I like and others don't. Just a great punch to it when channel ganged. Marshall Plexi 1959SLP 100W Tube Guitar Amp Head Features: * 100W * 4 EL34s in the power stage * 3 ECC83s in the preamp assorted pre tubes for me * 3-band EQ * Presence control UTILIZATION Basically a drunk monkey could figure out how to use this amp. Just beware that as soon as you turn the volume past 1 it gets scary loud. Be prepared that the taper on the volume doesn't work like your television. In between 3-10 the volume doesn't change much it just gets overdriven. I have never used a variac with it like the infamous EVH did but hey maybe one day I'll buy one. Use a small jumper cable and plug it in the lower input of volume 1 and the other end in the upper channel of 2 and dial in that volume as desired for a nice jumped plexi tone. SOUNDS I liked using my amp jumped with a nice OD pedal in front of the amp. My pedal of choice with this amp was a Boss OD-2. I would click the OD-2 in turbo and man was I getting scary close to Paige tones. I was using a Les Paul of course. I also enjoyed using a TS9 with it which gave it even more of a vintage vibe with a little less gain. I was running the amp into a vintage Marshall 4x12 with blackback speakers in it. For classic rock this was the best I could possibly achieve. If you slammed the front of it with a Boss SD-1 you would get great 80's rock tones. OVERALL OPINION Maybe my all time favorite guitar amp. Not an amp I would ever go out and gig with but I have recorded with it several times and it sounds fantastic. I would want to own another one when I get a little money saved up. I would recommend this amp to any Marshall lover. It is classic tone and will not disappoint. I think you can find them for around $1200 if you look hard.