Marshall jcm 800, 50 W vs. 100w?

I have an opportunity to buy one...which would u prefer?

What are you going to do with it ? A 100 will be largely unusable in anything smaller than an aircraft hanger unless you use some sort of attenuator.

I have a TSL100 and it is very very loud !!

Originally Posted by: Dr_simonWhat are you going to do with it ? A 100 will be largely unusable in anything smaller than an aircraft hanger unless you use some sort of attenuator.

I have a TSL100 and it is very very loud !!

ROFL, yeah...but im like Tim the Tool man Taylor.....Bigger is better...Besides i can just get a device that acts like a overal master volume control. So thats just it? Volume is essentially the only difference?

so the idea with all tube amps is that you run them as hot as possible to get all the pre amp and power tubes saturated to get "that tube" sound. This means cranking the volume !!!

So, if you can do this then yep get a 100 W monster.

The cab / speakers will also make a difference as will the type of tubes you are running . You might want to speak to Bob over at Eurotubes.com.

I have two levels of power attenuation to stop the law from shutting me down. One is a built in feature of the TSL, the other is a Marshall power-break (PB100) which sits between the amp and the cab. This has an incremental attenuation calibrated in db and although it sucks some tone, well it enables me to turn my amp above 1.

Even the 50 watt Marshall will be rediculously loud. I've asked the same question several times before at various places, and the common answere I got was... the 100 watter will have somewhat of a bigger feel to it and will have more headroom (which may or may not be a good thing), and the 50 watter will start to break up earlier (which may or may not be a good thing).

JFRICK has a JCM 800 (can't remember if it's the 100 watt or 50 watt version), so hopefully he'll chime in and tell you his experience with it.

Yep, I have a 50 watt JCM 800. It's one of the loudest amps I've ever played through. The thing with Marshall's is that you have to crank them loud to get the sweet sound they are famous for, and cranking a 100 watt head to that level could cause permanent hearing damage. My 50 watt head cranked up to about 7 will make your ears ring for a while.....

Although I've never used the power break, I've heard people say they shorten the life of the tubes in the amp. Don't hold me to that though, just what I've heard.

Overall, the best sounding JCM 800's to my ears are the ones built in '84 or earlier, although mine is an '87. The re-issue "new" JCM 800's just don't sound like the older ones, they just sound like a new model from Marshall to me.

My 2 main guitars are a Music Man EVH (stock pups) and a Gibson SG (Dimarzio Tone Zone in the bridge) through my 800. Both guitars have about the same output (pickup output). I keep the gain set between 7 and 8 and the volume around 7. That's the "sweet spot" setting for me. Lots of sustain without too much gain. Too much gain muddy's up the tone.