Marshall Review: JCM 800 2210 Series

History:

Purchase: Bought used from a private party in NYC with a Carvin 4X12 cabinet for $650. He obviously had no idea what he had. His loss. This is the 100-watt 2-channel lead head.

What I Like About This Marshall JCM 800 2210 Series: This amp is a 2210 series JCM-800 circa 1988. HUGE Marshall sound. LOUD doesn't begin to describe this amp. Try ear-splitting, deafening, I could go on. Seriously, I can't put the volume past 2 in a medium-sized practice room because it completely buries the drums....and we have a hard-hitting drummer. It's that good. Versatile, 2-channel with a footswitch. Clean, it's warm as can be. Distorted, it will rip your head clean off. I play a variety of guitars (Fender custom shop Strat, Les Paul, and Hamer Explorer) through this amp and they all sound great. I use a small-clone chorus pedal and that's all you need.

What I Do NOT Like About The Marshall JCM 800 2210 Series: Nothing. It's the be-all end all. Period. Nothing even comes close. I've tried the new Marshalls (puke), Randalls, Crate, etc. and they're all pretenders.

Marshall JCM 800 2210 Series Quality Rating: It's an old amp and it's been kicked around a lot. I have to have it re-tubed every 6 months or so, but that's the story with tube amps. It's held its own like a champ. It weighs about a ton.

Review Summary: Don't waste your money on the new Marshalls. They suck. Get one of these today...seriously...they truly don't make 'em like this anymore. The only amp that even comes close is a Mesa Boogie triple-rectifier and hey if you've got $1500 to drop on one of those more power to ya. I like the JCM 800 better and you can get them cheap since they're older and most people don't know what they have when they have one.

Rating of this Marshall product: 5

This Marshall JCM 800 2210 Series Guitar Amplifiers Review Submitted By: Eric

Review Date: 2002-01-04