In all honesty the JCM 900 was not a good marshal.. Many problems, it really doesn't even sound that great.. Its just not what one would think of as a marshal.. NOW.. The JCM 800 on the other had is an amazing amp.. AMAZING tone and just a beaut of an amp..

The 900 is a little thin on tone, a little buzzy on the clean channel.. Hey, if your friend digs the tone, then he must go for it.. But personally.. At 7k.. There are many amps that i'd look into.. Amps are a personal preference and i'm not going to tell your friend what he should and shouldn't buy.. But my experience with the JCM 900 wasn't an amazing one!!

guitarboy2828 wrote: In all honesty the JCM 900 was not a good marshal.. Many problems, it really doesn't even sound that great.. Its just not what one would think of as a marshal..

+1. Fuzzy, buzzy, harsh. Mosquito tone on steroids.

NOW.. The JCM 800 on the other had is an amazing amp.. AMAZING tone and just a beaut of an amp..

+ another 1. I'm not usually a fan of the Marshall tone, but The JCM 800 2X12 combo helped me see what the attraction was. Blues crunch to hard rock distortion, all served up with a bit of an upper midrange edge to help it cut through without being harsh.

So what would be a good sub except for the jcm 800?

Like I said, it's really hard to answer that.. Depending on his music style, his guitar, how loud it needs to go, where he'll be playing, will it be mic'd? All these things play a HUGE factor in picking an amp..

The other thing is, your friend may like the JCM 900 sound, and if he does, then he must buy it... I personally don't like it, so i wouldn't buy it.. I'd buy a mesa or a fender.. But that is just because those are the tone's i prefer.. Your friend should take his guitar to every music store he can find and play every amp he can within his price range.. Play with the knobs, turn up the gain and see what the noise levels are like, play clean and see what you think of that channel..

Its all personal preference, so your friend needs to get out there and play his heart out on every amp possible!!!

? ya we r going to hav a fun day next week and doing exactly that - personally i don`t like the marshall sound either, but he tried the amp and liked it - but we are going to make a day of it and start in ct and drive around trying amps and c what we can get - thanx for the advice

What looks quite good for an alternative is the line6 spider valve....will def try that next week aswell - looks like a versatile amp, cash to tone pretty good.

hey, the buddy finally got his act together and joined guitar forum. Lost my password etc so now it's all systems go!

Thanks for the advise guys. In economic tough times like these, you don't just wanna spend your money on anything and be bummed about the equipment that you buy. I currently have a Marshall Valvestate II and a PODxt bean. However, the sound of a valve is the next step.

The JCM 900 is really cool and the tone was excellent, but the deal just did not feel right. It's going for R7000 and it lacks a footswitch. The quote I got for a new footswitch is R3000 and then you might as well just buy the spidervalve. I already have a footswitch for the bean.

Now the Spider Valve, that is a different story! But anyway, if I start typing about the greatness of line 6, I will have to write a book about it.

Thanks for the help and advice. Much appreciated! ?

Brazmonk ?