New Amp: Elmwood M90

The first time I’d ever seen - or heard rather - an Elmwood was in an Ola Englund demo video (back when it was just “FearedSE”). I remember thinking it sounded awesome, added it to some metal playlist on my old youtube account, and promptly forgot about it for most of a decade.

But let’s face it, I have a lot of amps, so now it’s time to explore some of the more uncommon, less popular stuff. Sometimes that means quirky budget amps like last week’s Peavey Butcher, but this time, it’s this Swedish made monstrosity.

It’s a pretty small head, physically speaking, but plenty heavy with large and uniquely shaped transformers. This is the big brother to the Elmwood M60, and as far as I can tell the only difference between the two is that this M90 is a KT88/6550 equipped amp while the M60 sports a pair of either EL34 or 6L6 power tubes. Both have the same controls and features - two channels, each with drive/boosts, and a pair of master volumes. Later M60’s also have a pentode/triode standby switch for power tube operation - looks like the M90’s always operate in pentode mode.

This particular amp seems to have lived an interesting life - it was sold on Reverb over 8 years ago, and at that time it had the stock piano black plastic face panel. It was traded on TGP, this time with a new dark wood grained panel, behind a plexiglass front, and newly printed control names - before popping up again on Reverb in 2023 and then traded in to GC where I got it. It looks like they used the correct font, but they couldn’t replicate the “M90 Modena” logo that normally goes about the power and standby switches. Additionally, they misspelled “Drive” on both the channel 2 drive switch and drive amount controls - it’s a minor thing, but what a weird thing to screw up… why not just reprint?

Cosmetic issues aside, it’s a very good sounding amp. The clean channel is particularly exceptional, and adding the boost really feels great - a useful crunch setting without just sounding like a pedal, or some other sacrifice made to add some oomph to a channel that otherwise would prefer to be clean. The drive channel is very mids heavy, and can do heavier metal styles right out of the box with the boost engaged. This boost also seems to cut bass in just the right way, so it stays tight and focused just like using an external boost - I’d love to see a schematic on this one, and I’d be interested to know if this is a tube boost (I doubt it, I guess?) or a more pedal-like diode or opamp clipper.

This aggressive built-in boost with its adjustable control knob reminds me a little of a progenitor of the modern Driftwood amps. This Elmwood dates to somewhere around 2009, a solid 5 years before the first Driftwood amps came out. Of course that’s not to say that no one has ever put a tubescreamer-like circuit into an amp before or after this, just interesting the way it looks/feels on this amp.

This amp is no rectifier or 6505 clone that’s for sure though, for better or worse. That mids-forward sound, even when boosted, is always present. It’s a great amp for developing YOUR tone and sound, but it wouldn’t be my choice if I wanted to cover some classic Recto, Mark, 6505, or even Marshall sounds. I hate this cliche, but it truly is “kind of its own thing.” What this really means is that some people will just not like this amp, while others might love it - it’s more specialized than others in this category. I think it got a bit of a “metal” reputation, but I actually think the place it excels the most is in some crunchy modern hard rock, and I bet it would sound absolutely insane in stereo with a wider/scooped amp like the aforementioned Rectifiers.

More photos available here

New Amp: Peavey Butcher Series 2

I occasionally search for some of the older Peaveys hoping to get a good deal. Sadly I missed out on the days when VTM’s and 80s Butchers were $300 amps, and I still can’t seem to find an Ultra (teal stripe) for sale. Bravos and Triumphs are still pretty available though and those are great amps.

Anyway, I spotted this Butcher 2, with original footswitch and in mint condition. I remember when this amp came out, and at the time I was still playing my TSL most of the tone, so the idea of an amp with Clean + Crunch, but no Lead, just seemed like a straight downgrade. My view of amp tone was a lot simpler then…

So before pulling the trigger, I took another journey through past youtube demo videos - all of which seem absolutely terrible for this amp. Old marketing material barely seems to describe the amp beyond the catch-all terms like “versatile” and “brutal british tone.” At introduction in 2010, this amp was $1499 - at the time, this was a few hundred dollars more than a 6505, 6505+, or 6534+ (introduced alongside this Butcher). I can see why, if you wanted an EL34 flavored amp, and the 6534+ was introduced at the same time as a similar, 2-channel amp based on the provenance of the 5150/6505 series, you’d completely ignore the Butcher II - I know I did back then.

Taking a second look though, I was really missing you - we all were really. This is a USA made amp that is a nearly exact copy of two Marshall circuits, with a few mods that may as well be lifted straight from the Marshall or Metropoulos forums.

The clean channel is very close to the high treble channel of a 1987 or 1959 Marshall amp, with a 1n bright cap on the volume control (on this amp, the gain control for the clean channel). For reference, the 1987X uses a brighter 4n7 cap here, and the normal channel would just be the bright cap not there at all. The main change up from the Marshall is that in this case, the Gain control is located before the first gain stage, as opposed to a standard 1987/1959 where the gain (volume) control would be located between them. Two gain stages, cathode follower, and the tone stack also has the same values - mostly - except for a pair of 49k resistors in parallel with the mid pot - not sure what those do exactly so someone can fill me in there.

The crunch channel is our 2203/2204 copy, with 3 gain stages, including the exact same 10k cathode resistor on the second gain stage just like the Marshalls. The tone stack is identical on both channels of this amp - same slopes, pots, and cap values. What this ends up meaning is that you can jump from your “plexi” clean channel to your “800” crunch channel without any major upset in tone - it’s a smooth transition if you want it to be EQ’d that way. Great for classic rock.

Okay, so two amp clones packed into one, with a footswitch to go between them that’s great already. But remember there are some “mods” to talk about now!

Mod #1 Dual PPIMV’s, plus a standard MV on the clean/plexi channel: The most obvious addition, to me, is the addition of a pair of post phase inverter master volumes, that are also footswitchable. That alone is a huge plus - you can get your grind from the clean channel without needing the huge volumes a quad EL34 NMV amp would normally need to do that. The clean volume control is also a “mod” in a sense, it is a pre-PI master volume located after the tone stack - same place a stock one is located on a 2203, and the same place my personally modded 1987X has its master control. If you still want your NMV style goodness, simple turn the master and channel volume all the way up, and use the “gain” control to dial in your sound, just like you’d do on a real NMV Marshall. Of course I’m sure someone would complain if I didn’t mention that having those volumes in the signal path, even if fully opened, still places some load on the signal, and that turning down the PPIMV does not result in power tube overdrive - if you want those things, an attenuator or playing super loud are your only options. This amp provides an extremely usable compromise for most of us.

Mod #2 Punch Control: The next major mod is the “punch” control, which only works on the crunch (2203) channel. This punch control has 12 different settings, and the way it works is by changing the values of a cap and resistor on the cathode of the first gain stage. In short, selecting position “6” of the punch control (1 is all the way to the left, position 12 is all the way to the right), you have the stock value .68u of an unmodified Marshall 2203. Personally I’ve found this control to sound best in this “stock” position, but a notch or two left or right is really useful for fine tuning. I found it a bit too extreme at either end but that’s all personal preference, and admittedly with some different EQing, or a boost in front, that opens up a lot of options for this amp.

Mod #3 Built-in Boost: Both the clean and crunch channels have separate, footswitchable boosts. These are gain boosts - not volume. The crunch channel adds a switchable cap on the 2nd gain stage, which adds a lot of gain but does result in some looseness on the low end. The clean boost works in a similar way, but on the very first gain stage of that channel. I find these boosts to work really well in tandem with a bass-cutting tubescreamer type boost in front of the amp, but they are a little too muddy otherwise. That said, turning the punch control down and shaving some bass would probably tighten it up nicely, but you’d have a brighter rhythm/unboosted sound as a trade off. It’s not perfect but it’s definitely usable - this is the kind of thing that would just be hard wired on some boutique amp and no one would be any wiser, but this amp lets you have both your modded/boosted voice and the stock voice too.

Mod #4 Effects Loop: This is an easy one, but the amp has a series effects loop, which is tube buffered, and located after the EQ’s of each channel (including the channel volumes), but before the PPIMV’s. Technical details aside, this is a really effective way to set up a good loop and it sounds great so far with everything I’ve put through it, though I’m a relatively simple player when it comes to pedals.

Final Touches: I suppose these technically count as “mods” in some sense, but they are a little more “features” in a way. First is a half power switch, this is simply drops two power tubes from the circuit. The other is the “MSDI” function, which is a compensated line output using balanced XLR, taken off the speaker tap. It is simple but effective - it has a 3-way tone switch, a level control, and a very useful ground lift button.

I never thought I’d be writing so much about a relatively forgotten Peavey, but for the price and features it’s hard not to get excited about it. If I described an amp like this: “Authentic Marshall circuit clone, big transformers, switchable mods, simple controls, USA made” - you’d probably think I was talking about an expensive boutique amp, not an inexpensive Peavey. They aren’t very common, but if you happen to walk by one I’d highly encourage you to check it out, it’s a true sleeper hit.

Photos and schematic here

New Guitar: Kramer Pacer Special Rainbow Graphic

I have an huge soft spot for early 80s Kramers, and especially for those early graphic designs - geometric shapes, stripes, and patterns - as opposed to later graphics which are a little less abstract (waterfalls, planets, statue of liberty etc).

This particular guitar is one I put out a feeler for when I saw a very old picture of it - it was in the possession of a UK Kramer collector who I’d previously bought a snakeskin Baretta I from via eBay. Eventually it found its way to another UK collector who quite frankly, I hounded for a while hoping to buy it. He eventually listed it for sale but the price was a bit too high for me, and money was a little tight and I just never quite could pull the trigger on it. That sounds funny looking back through my previous gear acquisition posts but you have to understand - nearly everything I have bought on this site I bought because it was severely underpriced or I got a huge deal on it. I can count the number of things I paid full market price for on one hand… it’s just a lot easier for me to justify spending if I feel like I can flip something and at the very least break even (even if I don’t do much flipping!).

Anyway, I remember talking to my girlfriend around my birthday in April 2023 about this guitar, then again in Christmas 2023, and then lots of hemming and hawing before I finally was able to secure a reasonable deal, and better yet, one that she was going to buy for me as a birthday gift (now in April 2024). Yep - she’s a keeper, and same for the guitar!

I really love this graphic look, and the edges of the body also have an outline that follows the color gradient all the way around.

Since it’s a Pacer Special (single pickup), it also gets the show off the finish a bit since there’s more surface area on the face of the body. It has all of the other features I like about a Pacer Special from this era too - Schaller 2-in-1 pickup with coil tap, volume, and tone controls, plus a Floyd Rose bridge (although I’d kind of preferred to have a brass fulcrum trem, but that’s got to be hard to find). The neck is a very nice glossy C shape, with more traditional sized frets and is just a joy to play.

I’ve seen a few interesting variations of this graphic as well. Mine is the more common arrangement, with a red-yellow top half and blue-green bottom. However it also came in different orders - see the below picture of one that is yellow-green on top and red-blue on the bottom. I’ve also seen a Voyager with much, much wider striping and a very bold bordering line that ran around the entire body on the outside edge - I’ll see if I can find a picture of that an update this post when I do.

More photos here

Update 6/15/24 - Found it. See gallery below:

New Amp: Mesa Mark III Blue Stripe from 1989

Spotted this one online in the GC used section and figured it was worth a shot. It was described to include the footswitch, but no 1/4 cable, and fully working.

It arrived in decent condition, but with mismatched power tubes - it’s normal to have 2x EL34 and 2x 6L6 with these, but while the EL34’s are matched JJ’s, the 6L6’s are two different tubes. They still sound and play well, so I suppose no real complaints there.

My actual complaint is that the reverb does not work, and this wasn’t disclosed beforehand. I took a look at the basics - tubes and RCA connectors - all is connected properly but there’s just noise when turning up the reverb control on the amp’s front panel. In addition, it blew a preamp tube (cracked, white color above the getter) after a few hours of playtime. I phoned the store that sent me the amp and they gave me a run around, and after some pressing only refunded me the cost of the shipping (about $35). It’s still not worth returning the amp, as the price paid was very good for an otherwise fully working GEQ Mark III, but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed.

Either way, I’ll replace the reverb tank, which fails the continuity test and hopefully that’ll solve the problem there, and I’ve already replaced the blown tube at my own cost.

As for the sound of the amp, it’s wonderful, as expected. The “Blue Stripe” Mark III’s supposedly have the most aggressive lead channel, and I hear it. Someone before me also conveniently added a volume control on the rear panel for the Rhythm 2 mode, to better balance that with the other channels. Rhythm 2 is a fantastic sound as well, keeping the same feel as the Lead but with a little less hair and saturation - sounds amazing boosted, as an alternate texture to the built-in Lead channel.

I generally set the amp up the same way as my Mark IV - volume on 8, drive on 8, treble 10, mids 5, bass 2, and GEQ in a nice smile shape. This does make the cleaner Rhythm 1 mode get into break up with humbuckers, but it’s not too bad. Still, I can see why the Mark IV has a separate volume control for Rhy1 and Rhy2, since that’s effectively the gain control. In addition, this Mark III doesn’t have the output master of the IV, so there is no overall master volume, which makes it a little less flexible in channel switching situations. I solved this problem by placing a volume box in the loop for home practice, and removing that box brings the amp up to expected “gig volumes.”

I’m also enthralled with the pull deep function, especially on the lead channel. I can fine tune how bassy the tone is with the GEQ, but the deep drastically alters the feel of the low end when playing - much spongier, more saturated response, which I really like, especially for lead playing.

I can’t wait to do some more comparisons between this amp and my Mark IV and Mark V, especially on the Rhythm channels.

More photos here

New Amp: Splawn Pro Mod 2005

As a bit of a Splawn fan, I’ve made it my goal to try out all of the various circuits that Scott and his team have offered over the years. One of the harder ones to find are very early high/low input models, made from late 2004 to 2005, such as this one:

These early amps have two channels and no “gears” like later models. The clean channel is controlled with a simple volume knob only, and has no EQ or other frills. Still, it’s a very nice, usable and bright clean channel, and it doesn’t seem to be affected by the preamp gain setting on the overdrive channel - this is in contrast to the 2006 QuickRod where the clean is much dirtier when using higher gain settings.

This particular amp is actually a “Pro Mod,” which is identical to the Quick Rod except it sports a quad of KT88/6550 power tubes instead of the QR’s quad of EL34’s. This amp predates the KT88 equipped “Nitro” models, and documents from the era seem to imply that the Pro Mod is aimed a little more at louder, more aggressive styles and players. However, this is no super high gain metal monster - it has far less gain than Splawns 2006 and newer. The tone is a very open, less bright than a 2203, with a tad more gain and fullness - a bit more of a classic “modded Marshall” tone, while still staying faithful to the original sound. It is less congested in the mids than my other Splawns and really lends itself well to taking a boost in front, which really adds to its versatility.

It’s also interesting that this amp predates the more modern Splawn cabinet construction, and came in a shell that is much more similar to a Marshall 1959 type. While I’m a big fan of Splawn amps, I do think their head cabinets are their weakest point, based on how many I’ve received damaged in shipping, and this finger-jointed cabinet seems much more resilient.

These amps use Magnetic Components transformers (prior to the Classic Tone branding), although it has a Mercury Magnetics choke installed. By the next year, these transformers would be Heyboers instead, before eventually returning to Magnetic Components again.

Now I’m only missing two amps in the lineage. First, for a short time in late 2005, there were some QuickRod/ProMod models that had the high/low inputs, no gears, but the clean channel had a separate 3-band EQ. The other is a current production QR with the new/old and drop B+ switches - I’ve had a recent Street Rod (nearly the same as the QR preamp) but without those switches - I’d love to compare a current model in old mode against my original 2006 QR, which supposedly that mode is based on.

More photos here

New Amp: 2004 Soldano Avenger

I’ve been wanting an Avenger for a while, and though I was tempted by a few Hot Rod’s that came up for sale recently, I’m glad I waited. The Avenger is the higher gain version of that amp, theoretically the same or very similar circuit as the flagship SLO100’s lead channel with a few voicing changes. This early revision Avenger is equipped with Mercury Magnetics transformers, as opposed to the DeYoung transformers of the SLO100 or Onetics that some very early metal-panel Avengers had.

A previous owner looks to have added a few holes to the amp - 3 on the front panel, and 3 on the rear panel, as well as two holes in the top of the chassis that had tube sockets mounted in them at one point. Based on the position of one of them, it looks like a tube buffered effects loop was added, but I’m not really sure what the 3 holes in the front with that tube were for… maybe a tube overdrive with gain/volume/tone controls? Either way, all of these mods have been reversed and I checked over the amp meticulously, and it’s completely restored to stock Avenger values.

Normally I’d be a bit annoyed about the extra holes, but I have to say this amp sounds absolutely fantastic. It’s crystal clear even under high gain, although it never gets metal saturated on its own - very unlike the Splawn Nitro from the previous post. However, this has to be one of the best amps I have ever played for taking a boost. Almost any boost I throw at it provides a great sound, using the Avenger tone as the basis and the pedal for texture. My favorite reliable Ibanez TS7 is great here, with the gain set around 6-7 on the Avenger and all other controls at noon and it’s already a killer high gain tone. Tweaking the bass and depth helps tighten up for very low tunings, or dipping the mids down for chording in standard just sounds great. Consider me very impressed.

More photos here

New Amp: 2015 Splawn Nitro... Another Shipping Mishap

I’ve been wanting to try a Nitro out for a while to compare to my other Splawns, and from what I understand they follow the same Splawn voicing - pretty dark from introduction up until 2012, then brighter and more aggressive after that. I was particularly excited to compare the Nitro with its quad of KT88/6550 power tubes with my 2005 ProMod, which also has the same power tube arrangement but is a much different amp design.

Sadly, it arrived packed in a very oversized box, with poor packing material around it. This means it had a lot of room to move around inside the box and took quite a few knocks in shipping, and because the Splawn head shell cabinets are not finger jointed and just glued (I’ve had 3 Splawn heads with this same shipping damage out of the 6 I’ve owned, so that’s not ideal), this head got really smashed up.

The good news is that electronically, the amp still works, so I was able to demo how it sounds at least. I’m not sure quite what I expected, but now that I’ve played it, I’d really just describe it as a QuickRod if it had a 4th gear. It’s got more bass than the 3rd gear of a QR, and a hair more gain - but not a ton more. Still plenty enough to get very saturated even without a boost, easily up to 5150 III Red channel levels of gain despite having fewer stages from what I can figure from the design.

All that said, I do really like the way it sounds. It is easy to play on, thumps really well without getting lost, and doesn’t have any brittle frequencies that I can find so far. The Nitros don’t have gears, instead that hole on the chassis is used for a power amp resonance control, and the 6550 power section does lend itself to very clear reproduction of low notes. I can definitely see why someone would want this amp, even someone not necessarily the heavy metal player this is aimed at. I personally don’t find a Quickrod’s 1st or 2nd gear to be that great, there are other amps I’d prefer for a crunch tone, so I usually use them in 3rd gear anyway most of the time. With the Nitro, I can just keep that high gain sound plus I get extra control over the low end of the power amp, which feels like a pretty good trade for my style.

This particular model being from 2015 has the later voicing as well as a set of Classic Tone transformers, as opposed to the Heyboer or Mercury transformers of the earlier ones.

Now to wait and see what happens with the shipping/insurance claim, but I won’t hold my breath. Last time I had major amp damage like this, the Bogner Twin Jet, I waited almost 60 days before I finally got fed up waiting for a refund and returned the whole unit. In the meantime though, I’ll enjoy this Nitro and it’ll definitely be on my list to find again if this one doesn’t work out.

Update July 2024: I contacted Splawn and got a quote for a replacement head shell. GC was willing to give a partial refund in that amount, so I took it. For the time being, I’ve glued/clamped to original headshell. It’s ugly, but functional. However, now the clean channel occasionally makes no sound - so back to the bench for this one. Sometimes the clean channel comes back after moving the amp around - probably a loose/cracked solder joint somewhere, so I’ll re-flow anything that looks to be part of that circuit.

New Guitar: '83 Kramer Pacer Deluxe, Rosewood on Black

Picked this very nice mid-C plate Pacer recently. The lower Floyd stud is in great shape which is always a good sign on these, and it arrived with a pair of Dimarzio Area 58 single coils and an 80s-era (but not original) Seymour Duncan JBL humbucker. This came from Guitar Center of course, and I guess no one played it before they shipped it out because the bridge pickup was ungrounded and it made all sorts of noise - unplayable plugged in. That’s ok though, because I wanted to put this old Dimarzio Tone Zone in something, and since the singles are Dimarzios it made sense - it’s back to sounding great again with new wiring.

Overall it is in extremely good condition, with barely any fret wear and no major damage to the body or neck. There is some slight scratching on the edges of the headstock and some swirls on the body from being wiped off but nothing I wouldn’t expect to see on a guitar that is now over 40 years old.

The case is also pretty cool, covered in stickers from the western USA. I find it hard to believe this was someone’s gigging guitar considering the shape it is in, but perhaps it was a backup… even then, the case is in top shape too besides the stickers.

This era of Pacer has the smaller upper horn side body shape, which is very unique feeling to play. The story goes that bodies in this era were made by ESP, but hand shaped - either at ESP or possibly re-shaped a little in the Neptune NJ factory once they came stateside. The easiest way to see this is to look at the rear pictures of a couple around this serial number and compare it to an earlier one. Look at the upper (low E string side) horn where the body contour meets, and you’ll some of them the contour comes right up to the horn with almost no gap. Earlier bodies with the larger upper horn have more space there, and other bodies have varying amounts. It’s a bit of a useless detail, but interesting either way - see the comparison image below:

New Guitar and Amp: Kramer Pacer Melaga Purple and Fender Prosonic

In a rare but exciting double whammy day, I picked up a new amp and a new guitar today.

First, the guitar - it’s a 1982 Kramer Pacer Imperial. Exciting, but I already have quite a few, but this one is unique. This is a very cool color, “melaga purple.” These aren’t too common and it’s a color I’ve had my eye out for a long time, so when a friend posted this for sale on facebook, I immediately sent a message saying I’d take it. I had it paid and he shipped within a few hours, and I got it before the end of the week - awesome.

Pictured in its original hard shell case.

This paint is very interesting. There is a tiny crack in the finish by the floyd post that reveals a red undercoat, but the top is a very soft, pastel purple. However, this purple fades away with time - I’ve seen quite a few faded nearly all the way. Luckily this one is still mainly purple, but you can see a handful of spots where it has worn, either from sunlight or handling, to a sky blue color. This is certainly one that will get the “white glove treatment” here - no hanging on the wall, no leaving it out on the stand by the window, no putting it away wet or dirty. I want to preserve that finish as long as reasonably possible, because it’s not exactly a color you could get in a refinish.

The fade to blue is very visible here, with a few marks on the face of the body as well as on the forearm contour.

Next is the amp, a 1997, Bruce Zinky designed Fender Prosonic. This amp came about around the same time as the Tone-Master head (released 1994), predating the current Super-Sonic which seems to follow a similar lineage (released 2010). Like those amps, the Prosonic has a two-channel layout unique for most Fenders, pairing a clean channel with an overdrive channel. To be specific, the Prosonic first came out in 1996.

I find the clean channel to be excellent, although it is extremely loud - louder than I expected from a 60w amp. It’s not that it gets louder than other amps of the same power, but the volume is all there from basically “1” up on the knob, so it’s a bit difficult to tame for lower volumes - although a volume box in the effects loop solves that easily. The clean channel only uses the volume, treble, bass, and middle controls, so it’s very simple and classic Fender, just with the addition of the mids control in the EQ.

The overdrive channel is really hard to understate, and I am absolutely blown away after my first sitting with this amp. I expected something much more tame, lower gain, less aggressive. I’d argue this amp’s gain channel is better for metal or heavier rock than even the modern Super-Sonic amp, it’s voiced to be much more open, and the EQ just works wonderfully. While on the overdrive channel, the master volume helps control the output although it’s still a loud amp, and in addition to the 3-band EQ, there are two gain controls.

Somewhat uniquely, you can set the Gain 2 control to zero and the amp still sounds fantastic - most amps with two gain controls, if you set the second one to zero the amp makes no sound (such as the Marshall SLX, or Ceriatone Yeti/Chupa/KingKong). Dialing up the Gain 2 control adds more compression and thickness in the low notes, making the amp feel looser and squishier, but not adding a lot more in terms of gain or attack. Gain 1 is downright aggressive by only “3” on the knob, and into metal territory by 7 or 8 - even without a boost. I think this amp would catch a lot of people off guard. Dial up the amount of looseness or sag you want with the Gain 2 for solos and you have an extremely versatile amp. If I had a complaint at all, it’s that I’d like a little more taper on the Gain 1 control, so I could dial in a more tame crunch tone instead of trying to find that sweet spot between 1-3 where it hits that more classic soft crunch tone - but those tones are definitely in there, just have to make tiny adjustments to that control.

Speaking of feel, this amp also has a switchable tube rectifier, a GZ34 type that actually is attached to a 3-way rotary switch on the rear panel. It can select a solid state rectifier with the power amp in push-pull class AB, the tube rectifier in AB, or even the tube rectifier in “class A” mode, which is simply a cathode bias configuration (like a Vox AC30 or Orange Rocker 30). Class A mode makes the amp a hair louder, at least at middle volume settings, and a little punchier to my ear - I really like it. The trade off is that the noise floor is a bit higher on that setting, but still very usable.

In terms of other features, it has a 1/4 jack for a 1-button footswitch, which allows you to switch between the clean and drive channels on the fly. The combo version of the amp has a built in spring reverb tank, so a 2-button footswitch can be used on that model to turn on/off the reverb. I do wish the head version had the reverb tank, I’m a big fan of built-in spring reverbs. It also has a simple series effects loop that does its job perfectly well. There is no presence or depth control, but the EQ seems to perfectly balanced it doesn’t feel like a big loss. Even setting a nice scooped clean tone still sounds great on the drive channel without getting too anemic.

I expected to like this amp, but I’m really shocked at how much I like it. At some point I’d like to pick up a Tone-Master head and do a comparison between all three of these similar Fender amps, and see which one really speaks to me.

More photos here: 1997 Fender Prosonic

New Amp: 1982 Marshall JCM800 2210 - Early Circuit

I have been wanting to do a video on my favorite Marshall amps - the split channel 800 series - for some time. My 2205 made a short appearance as a comparison to the 2555X in my first video, but I never went into the details.

One of the main reasons I haven’t done a video on those amps yet is because both of the ones I own - an ‘85 2205 and a an ‘86 2210 - are the “later” circuit design. This may seem like a minor thing, but the earlier circuit, such as the one used on this 1982 model 2210, is much larger than many realize. I finally got my hands on an early model amp in good condition, with a complete recap job to boot, so it’s in tip-top shape.

Despite sharing the exact same controls, markings, and model number, these may as well be two different amps! This isn’t like comparing two different revisions of Mesa Rectifiers - a value change here and there - these split channel 800’s have completely different signal paths.

Both amps share the same tube complement, as well as a long spring reverb tank, tube buffered effects loop, and Marshall’s first ever channel switching capability via a two button footswitch (one button for channel, the other for reverb on/off). There is a master volume, presence, and reverb control that affects both channels, and the “normal” channel can be kept relatively clean (still a “Marshall” clean) with a two-band EQ, and the “boost” channel has both a gain and a channel volume control, as well as a more standard 3-band EQ, for more drive.

The ‘82 amp’s clipping diode array is visible towards the top right, located between the VR5 and VR6 pots.

However, there are some pretty important differences in the details. This early amp has a post phase inverter master volume, a very odd design that uses a dual-gang pot, one on each half of the phase inverter signal. Later 2210’s had a standard pot, pre-PI master. There are also differences in the guitar signal path itself, with early amps sporting a quad of 1N4007 diodes arranged to clip the signal and add overdrive, situated just after a cathode follower on V2B and before the boost channel volume control - the later design retains some diode clipping, but uses two diodes located in different areas of the circuit, and the cathode follower is gone completely. The last major divergence is the earlier design placing the 3-band EQ just before the gain control, right after the input gain stage - not too different from something like a Mesa Mark series amp. The later design moves the EQ to the more standard Marshall location, after 3 tube gain stages, although lacking the cathode follower/tone stack driver that amps like the 2203 or 1959 use.

The ‘82 amp’s six filter capacitors visible

Also as somewhat expected for 1982, this amp carries a large array of 6 filter caps, just like an early 2203 would have. My later 2210 has only 3 filter caps, which follows the same sort of trend, as a 1986 year 2203 would also only have 3 filter caps. It’s hard to say what effect this has on the sound exactly though, since the other circuit differences make it hard to compare, unlike the 2203 which is still the same basic circuit in 1986 as it was in 1982 (besides HT voltages).

Now that I have this amp, I look forward to working on a video explaining these differences and importantly, doing an A/B comparison between both circuit revisions.

You can review photos of the internals of both amps here:

Early Amp - 1982 JCM800 2210

Later Amp - 1986 JCM800 2210

Early and Later schematics: