My old Marshall is coming home tomorrow.

[john_cribbin]

Glad to see you've got your old partner in crime back. But more so that you find yourself in a good place.

 

[Mark617]

Congratulations on every account
Best to you moving forward

 

[Cali Dude]

Congrats to you. What you have overcome, and accomplished is a true measure of strength. Mental health battles are tough to beat, and even harder to maintain. Keep up the fight. Hearing your story was uplifting.

 

[naveed211]

Sounds like success on multiple levels. Nicely done my man.

I wish I had my first Marshall head back. I bought it for $350. JCM800….

I wanna say that’s about what I paid for the JCM800 2205 (Tom Morello amp) that I used to have. I sold it for six or seven hundred? I don’t even wanna look at what they’re going for now.

My very first ever Marshall was a ‘76 50 watt JMP head and matching 4x12. I bought the whole half-stack in a pawn shop for $300. I kept it for years, but finally let it go when it was worth a whole lot more than I paid for it, and there was just no place to play it anymore. We didn’t know about things like attenuators back then. The only ones were the Scholz Powersoak and the Marshall Powerbreak. And they both sounded like doodoo.

I distinctly remember buying the 100 watt 4102 to have a “small” gig amp with a master volume. Lol.

Ah, I love a good Marshall story.

My first tube amp was an '85 2205. Got it for $500. Traded it in at a loss if I recall. Yeah...they sell for a lot more now.........

And probably the best amp I ever had was a '79 JMP 2203 in white tolex. Gain on full, and roll back the volume on the guitar for one of the best clean tones I've ever heard, and turn it up to rock. Should've held onto that one.

Got a JCM 800 Studio now. It's a great compromise in usable size, weight, and wattage, and still has the classic tone in spades.

Congrats on reuniting with your amp. Marshall for life!

 

[JDRNoPro]

You have certainly been through quite an ordeal and I am glad you are in a good place now!

Also very happy for you being able to get your Marshall back.......you have a good friend!!

 

[Esquire Jones]

Ah, I love a good Marshall story.

My first tube amp was an '85 2205. Got it for $500. Traded it in at a loss if I recall. Yeah...they sell for a lot more now.........

And probably the best amp I ever had was a '79 JMP 2203 in white tolex. Gain on full, and roll back the volume on the guitar for one of the best clean tones I've ever heard, and turn it up to rock. Should've held onto that one.

Got a JCM 800 Studio now. It's a great compromise in usable size, weight, and wattage, and still has the classic tone in spades.

Congrats on reuniting with your amp. Marshall for life!

My 800 head was a 1987 Model I think.

What a fool I was to trade it in.

I still have the 4x12 cab (now with G12m and G12H speakers. Lots of miles on that cab. The Tuki cover helped keep it in one piece.

FYI I traded it in for a first run 5150 in 1992. I still have that beast now 30 years later. And it’s been a great amp!

But, boy do I miss that Marshall…

 

[kookaburra]

Jakedog, that’s a heckuva story. Glad you got your head back, and the same for the 900!

 

[elihu]

Here’s hoping that you love it now as much as you did then.

 

[Kevin Wolfe]

A truly great story ‘dog and I’m glad things are coming around.

 

[Frank Roberts]

Way to go jakedog! Glad you’ve come so far and everything is looking up for you. God bless.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Congrats! You rock!

 

[markal]

Congrats. You’re an institution around here, and I bet you’re a well-respected member of your music and overall community. Didn’t know about your story but glad you’re feeling well again.

Rock on with that beast! I wouldn’t want to carry it either but I hope it raises the hair on your arms when you get to crank it up on stage!!

 

[burntfrijoles]

First off, it’s awesome that you made a recovery and are doing well.

Secondly, congrats that you’re getting the amp back but also for having such a good friend!

 

[Wally]

It sounds exactly like I remember it. I can’t for the life of me figure out why 900s still get a bad rap with a lot of Marshall people. No, it doesn’t sound like a Plexi. But it’s a killer sounding amp. The only real downside to these is that the reverb is nothing to write home about. But duh, it’s a Marshall.

I am glad you got the amp back. The reason why many people don’t care for the Dual Reverb JCM 900 amps is that the entire preamp as well as the reverb are in the solid state domain…and one can hear that. If one likes it, then it is an amp for them. It has a Marshall logo, but it does not sound like a 5F6A-based Marshall…which is what all great Marshall amps are, ime/imho.
It does have a Marshall logo on it which ime aids in selling the amp. Hey, I had a young fellow get mad at me because I did not want to sell a non-functioning Marshall amp…and it was an all solid state amp with digital circuitry. I told him I needed to repair the input Jack before I could sell it And to check back with me. He never did. Lol…..

 

[bluesholyman]

And… She’s home. For good.

So glad that you were able to get your old friend back and more importantly that you pulled out of the nose dive back then and are flying level again. I always appreciate your straight-forward and balanced input on the various threads. Glad you are here.

Rock on!

 

[stepvan]

My first JCM 900 4102 combo is coming home.

I’m going to pick it up tomorrow afternoon. I bought it new in 1992. I had it until 2014. I didn’t know it at the time but my head wasn’t working straight at all. July of ‘16 I had a massive mental and physical breakdown, and ended up in the hospital for a couple weeks. That was followed by a long and really messy recovery. It stemmed from undiagnosed mental health issues I’d had my whole life, but looking back now I can see that I really started to nose-dive HARD around mid ‘14.

Anyhow, one of the things I did then was begin divesting myself of stuff I’d treasured forever, with no explanation. A friend mentioned he loved the amp, and I had two of them, so I sold it to him dirt cheap. Even though it was my favorite amp. He kept it for a while, then sold it on. It was lost track of for a bit, but for the last couple years has lived with my buddy a couple of suburbs away.

During my recovery period after the breakdown, my physical health seriously declined. I had to sell the second one because I wasn’t physically capable of moving it. The guy who bought it had to come to my house and drag it out of my basement because I couldn’t even lift it. I sold a lot more stuff then and went totally ultra-light with everything from guitar amps to PA gear, because I honestly did not believe I would ever be “me” again and be able to move the stuff.

More and more things got figured out with my health, and today I’m happy to say I’m finally in better shape mentally than I’ve probably ever been in my life. And while I’m not in the best shape I’ve ever been in physically, I’m light years beyond where I was from ‘16-‘20. I can definitely carry and move heavy gear and play all night standing up like I used to. It’s not even hard. It makes me really happy, because a few short years ago I didn’t think I would ever be able to do it again.

I have a lot of very deep regret about things I did when I was seriously starting to decline. A lot. Even though I know it wasn’t exactly my fault, I’m still the guy who made the awful decisions. One of which was letting my 4102 that I owned for more than 20 years go away for no good reason at all.

But, they say all is well that ends well. I contacted my friend who has the amp today, to see if there was any possibility of ever getting it back. He told me he only bought it and held onto it a couple years back because he knew it was mine, and that I would eventually want it back. He wanted me to be able find it easily when that day came.

So we made a deal, and my old Marshall will be coming home to stay. I’m not looking forward to carrying it around, as it outweighs a Twin Reverb by easily 10-15 pounds, but I am looking forward to hearing it behind me again.

That's a good friend! When I went through my off the wagon period around that same time I sold alot of stuff that I wish I hadn't, and no friends close enough to buy something and hold on to it until I want to buy it back. You are blessed to have good friends

 

[swervinbob]

And… She’s home. For good.

View attachment 985792

Needs cleaned up. It’s got some crap on the grill cloth. Casters are MIA. Apparently they disappeared after the initial guy I sold it to had it, and before it ended up with my buddy, Jimmy. That’s easily remedied.

It sounds exactly like I remember it. I can’t for the life of me figure out why 900s still get a bad rap with a lot of Marshall people. No, it doesn’t sound like a Plexi. But it’s a killer sounding amp. The only real downside to these is that the reverb is nothing to write home about. But duh, it’s a Marshall.

I’m a very happy camper.

Nice. I saw one just like it at a store I’d never been to before in the middle of nowhere last week. They also had a JCM 800 single channel combo at the same place. I’m trying not to go back over there because I really want one of them.

 

[Dismalhead]

Glad you're doing better Jakedog.

Same combo was my main amp for 20 years. I miss it. On the high gain channel it roared with some of the best metal thunder I ever heard. Used to stack it on a 2 x 12" cabinet.

Ended up just being too loud and too heavy to haul around anymore. Traded it for a Sheraton around the same time, 2014ish. I got a Blackstar HT 20 to replace it as my metal amp; it's nice but it ain't the same thing.

Congrats on getting it back!

 

[Happy Enchilada]

Your tale is quite inspirational! Glad to hear you got your amp back - you have great friends and are very lucky indeed. You still might want to find a lighter-weight gigging amp, because your back ain't gettin' any younger.

 

[Gunny]

That's a heck of a story. Good for you. You have a great attitude and overcome so much. And now your beloved amp is back. Love every minute of it.