Helix JCM800 2203 Request Thread (FW 3.70 new Brit 2203)!

First time I played an 800 was in a music store. It was a used device and I was convinced it was defective because it sounded SUPER bright and light-years away from the rock monster I associated it with. I had no concept of what a bright cap was.
 
In my touring days the JCM 800 was the default backline amp you got. That was a long time ago always seemed bright to me, I was traveling with a Strat playing pop music at the time, so who knows but my hearing was better back then ;)

i would love to have a recent stock model of that amp on the HX Stomp!
 
In my touring days the JCM 800 was the default backline amp you got. That was a long time ago always seemed bright to me, I was traveling with a Strat playing pop music at the time, so who knows but my hearing was better back then ;)

i would love to have a recent stock model of that amp on the HX Stomp!
I remember JCM 800's (among other high-gainers) with cheap, rundown 4x12 cabs spread across beginner rehearsal rooms across town back in the mid to late 90's, when I started playing guitar as a teenager.

They sounded like crap to me, bright and definitely not transparent or dynamic.

On the other hand, I didn't know how to dial in an amp back then, and putting a beat-up DS-1 or Big Muff in front didn't help at all... 😂😂😂

A few years later, Marshall Valvestate took over the "cheap but still Marshall" spot, and things sounded even worse.

Some folks owned actual vintage Marshalls, that I didn't like the sounds of either.

*shrugs*
 
I know people are trying to find an equivalent to a stock JCM800 2203 using different amp models and pedals but there is none, nothing in the Helix sounds or behaves like a stock 2203.
The Trainwreck Express is a Fender/Boogie Mark like amp with the tonestack before the gain stages, similar to a Dumble ODS we got recently, yes it has a switchable bright caps but it's very far from being a JCM800.
Thanks @James Freeman for telling what kind of circuit the Derailed Ingrid comes from!
By the way, what about the Cartographer? Isn't it (somehow) in the family of Marshall 2203? I see that it has two high shelf boosts (following the first preamp stage, and the second preamp stage). Not exactly a bright cap, but it seems to me that they behave similarly (to a bright cap).
The Cartographer is an amp model in the Helix that I have never explored a lot, maybe because the two separate gain pots make it more difficult to get "instanst satisfaction" and it seems to me that its mids aren't what I like to cut through the mix. But today, after playing a little with it, I realized that maybe I neglected a potential nice amp, with a very good dynamic response to touch and pick attack.
 
I really think people should play what they think sounds good to them and not look for my opinion, this is my honst reply.
I understand your point, but your tips and info are helping me to explore new options. If not I'm always "trapped" by the Matchstick (1 and 2) and the Litigator amp models, because I like them very much, and they have always worked very well in my band contexts. But now I'm a "bedroom" player, and I love to explore what my Helix offers, even if I bought it several years ago.
In the past (some decades ago!) I loved Marshall amps, but I realize that it was a time I even didn't realize what sound I wanted or targeted, even if my bandmated have always appreciated my sounds and my arrangements (more than my "technique" :facepalm). And now the infinite possibilities offered by a good modeler are like a candy store for a guy like me who loved to change caps and diodes in the OD pedals, and who started riding digital multi-fx and modelers when they weren't real modelers yet (I started going direct with a Digitech Valve FX in the '90s!).
This matter of a "real" Marshall amp model made me curious, even if maybe I realize that Marshall sound isn't my thing. Or maybe not... because I fell in love with the tone (and technique) of Marcus Deml, who at the end is a Marshall sound player, or at least his sound is what I define as Marshall-ish.
Ok, sorry for the long futile post :sneaky: but I enjoy sound, music, and tech, too, very much!
 
[...] Or maybe not... because I fell in love with the tone (and technique) of Marcus Deml, who at the end is a Marshall sound player, or at least his sound is what I define as Marshall-ish.
Ok, sorry for the long futile post :sneaky: but I enjoy sound, music, and tech, too, very much!
Do you have an idea of what would be a good sim to get Marcus Deml's OD pedal tone?
 
Do you have an idea of what would be a good sim to get Marcus Deml's OD pedal tone?
Unfortunately I have never tried it and I couldn't find any circuit diagram about his "Sweet Elephant OD" in the web. Anyway I hear a kind of mid hump OD, maybe TS style or similar territory (Zendrive, BB Preamp, Xotic AC Booster, etc.). In the Helix my first choices would be the Klon Minotaur or the Legacy Screamer (that includes bass/treble controls). The recently added Pillars covers a similar sound, too, imho, or even the Timmy followed by an eq block to boost a little the typical TS mid frequencies (about 700 Hz). I still have to explore the Pillars in more contexts; it seems to me it's a very good TS overdrive, with a lot of clarity and dynamic response, but at a first impression it's a little too bright. Another alternative: if the amp is already rich of mids, maybe my current favorite Helix OD is the "Heir Apparent" (BluesBreaker derivative), with gain on high side (about 7) because higher gain means more lows cut in this circuit, presence=0 (it just boosts all the highs from 1.5-2kHz on), and tone <3 (to get a little more mids); this OD has excellent touch response, nice harmonics, not a lof of gain and compression, and a lot of clarity.
 
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Forum question: What are your most asked-for JCM800 mods?
Tech's answer:
My biggest mod request these days, with JCM800s as well as older Marshalls, is... "can you put it back to stock please?"
I've even had to de-mod a few that I modded myself ten or fifteen years ago.

Because all one ever needed is a stock JCM800 and a OD-1/SD-1... it worked in 1978 and it still works in 2023.
 
It sure is, which is why it’s been posted in this thread already.
I Feel Stupid Kurt Cobain GIF by Nirvana
 
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