I have a 1986 2205. People say they’re not as good as the 2204 because of the diode clipping but if you back the gain off a little it sounds pretty close. I love it. Even though it’s on a 4x12 cab and it’s stupid loud for home use. It makes a a statement when people come into the room. And that statement is that I’m a mid-40s teenager but I have a stupid loud amp.
Great job returning this amp to its former glory. Its amazing what youll find in amplifier repair sometimes. I worked on an amplifier head one time and I kept hearing something rattling around in there I wasn't sure what it was so when I went in to do the upgrades and repair I found a small pair of needle-nose pliers just laying inside the amplifier chassis, now that's down right scary!
This amp luckily fell onto the right hands ! Its been now properly saved / restored . The owner will be very happy , as we are now hearing it in good health . Thanks to Jason master tech ! Knows how to make them best they can be .
The dude that said he could smell what houdini was prior cooking, -you are ON POINT. The amplifier was “tweaked” in conjunction with the owners rig. Thanks for gettin’ that damn booger outta’ there Jason! Maybe this fizz turns out fangs when it’s all mashed together in his mix? Me? I’ve always been a vertical imput dude. I sense if someone mods one of those.. -something funky’s comin’…
OH MY GOD!!! I've had hacked amps come across the bench, but yeah, this is probably the worst 800 I ever heard!! It seems to me, the person has no idea what they are doing and just thought....Bigger is Better!! :O NO!!!!! Brutally thin and bright. Thank God it got restored back to stock! Thanks Jason for saving this thing and our ears!!...ugh.
Yeah i agree with your assessment of this. No doubt it sounds much better after Jason T restored it but the amp itself is still let's just say not one of the "Real good ones" 😁 It has to have that "KERRANG"!
On a side note…I had a chance to recently play a Headfirst MTL full build. Not sure what was better, the sound, or the fact that it wasn’t 6 grand…pretty awesome
Not sure what others are smoking but the “after” sounds much more balanced and not “blown out” like a overloaded speaker. Straight nasty and not in a good way. Great job!
@@HeadfirstAmps Awesome! How about you, Jason? I've been digging all of your videos. Just had a nice talk with Mike Soldano on my old '73 Superlead he modded back in '88 that I bought back last year and we got it straightened out to the original mods he did. Fire breather!
Wow what a night and day difference!!! Obviously the tone changed but what a difference in the gain and how much tighter it is afterwards! Sounded like an ice pick had a wet fart before hand 😂
After listening again..hey man, I’ll take that thing as it is! You get in the mix with a bad ass bass guitar player & a new era Malcolm/Izzy.. -looks good from my house! I wonder how it sounded with a mid-boost type of pedal..hmmm..bacon.. What it has over the stock 800? ATTITUDE.
Interesting! I mostly play metal, so no big chords with the high strings included. To my ear the modified version is overly bright, but still has kind of a pleasant sparkle and jangle to it. The stock version lacks bite, but has a good low-mid grit and complexity. This is just speculation, but I think maybe the 10 uF bypass might have been okay. You do see some big caps on the first stage of amps like the SLO, and Rectifier. I do think the bypass on the clipper was a mistake, certainly one that big. And obviously the bright cap was just too much.
Wow. My '85 2204 is the same: modded and (allegedly) returned to stock. Super bright and buzzy. I got it to sound pretty good with 65w Creambacks but it's really buzzy with V30's.
The PCB support is ridiculous, if you think about it it's not held by the pots and jacks, it's actually held by the solder joints! Joints that aren't wrapped around a terminal or even on a double sided PCB. It's not cost cutting, two standoffs, it's just engineers living in their own bubble.
Mouser, Digi-key, Element 14, RS Components for starters, the shipping will get you if you're just looking for a couple of little capacitor etc. though.
Black Squirrel has covered it. Jaycar is workable, you just need to be mindful that the caps have probably been sitting in the boxes for years by the time you take one up to the counter.
It almost seems like the person doing the mod put a bright cap on the master volume by mistake but didn't want to pull the board again to fix it. I bet he wanted to add a .0033 cap in parallel with the stock .001 bright cap to get it closer to the .0047 value used in the superlead. Definitely an amateur job, thankfully it was limited to only a few small changes.
Yeah I prefer the modded tone, stock sounds more like hearing it through insulation foam in another room. I mean yeah the modded version could've used some work but I certainly prefer it.
The fact that they didn't ground the shield on the shielded signal wires tells me they have no idea what they're doing. Fundamental knowledge about the Faraday effect is prerequisite for understanding electricity and why shielding is used. I do all my own work now. I used to have any random idiot do my retube or repairs but no more. I've realized I know more than most of the people who've worked on my vintage 70s Marshalls.
For me, the before and after tones are like live versus a studio take. The stock sounds much more full and like the presence is nearer to 0 than 11. The modded version would be ace for Slayer leads with a boost pedal up front.
The 10uF is fine tbh. extra bass will filter out at the first 0.022 coupler. Fender value of 0.047 or 0.1uF would be a problem but is fine with 0.022. That 100uF is a BLUNDER. Why so anal about the brand though? At 63V, its already over specced for that position. Also, you couldnt find an electrolytic 0.68? The one you put is needlessly massive. What is it? 250V?
The 10uF isn’t fine, too much bass with a 0.022. I don’t care about the brand, it’s more that those caps typically sit on the shelf for years at that store. You don’t know how old they are. That 0.68 is 63v and not an electro because I like how it sounds.
I hate to say it, but...I liked it the way it was. More highs. A little sizzle. Now it just sounds...stock. Myself. I'd actually do the #34 mod to it. (-8 But that's just me. LOL!!!!
Surely if you are going to mod an amp you only make changes that make it sound better. You might use pspice to test your ideas but rely on your ears as the final quality gate. Every amp mod I've seen on amps i have worked on usually gets undone. Usually the original designs sound better than a lot of the mods out there. It seems some people just like to make changes without any real testing and think their changes makes it sound better.
Kinda like the way it sounded before you put it back to stock. After your repair it sounded dull like a blanket had been thrown on it. I bet that amp was used as a back line amp for metal bands that's the reason for the increased bottom end as we all know the 2204 is a little thin in that department. However, it was a little fizzy in the top and got a little flubby in the bottom end on your Les Paul. Pretty sure with a proper metal guitar paired with the right speakers and a tube screamer it was a pretty heavy sounding amp. Not good for rock but pretty good for metal, minus that fizz in the high end.
i'm kinda with you .. yes it was fizzy but I loved the bite it had compared to after ... but then I prefer Soldano/5150 style amps so maybe that's why I dug the first sound
Although I maintain that DIGITAL is SUPERIOR in every way shape and form to these archaic relics that you deal with; I have become forced to admit that there are some glorious magnificent tones very unique in nature that come from these very inefficient collections of antiquated parts. There is a certain magic that happens with these outdated relics. I perhaps might one day try one of these "things' based solely on your skills with them and your unrelenting attention to detail when servicing these "artifacts from another time." Another excellent video and a great "sales pitch" for the continued use of these "relics."
@@BradsGuitarGarage I have a well documented history of both complimenting and "harrassing" Mr. Headfirst. He and I go way back. It is my way of saying that he is the first "tube guy" that has caught my attention and made me think about switching from a Helix only to a 4cm system with AMP/Helix. It's all in good fun.
I have a 1986 2205. People say they’re not as good as the 2204 because of the diode clipping but if you back the gain off a little it sounds pretty close. I love it. Even though it’s on a 4x12 cab and it’s stupid loud for home use. It makes a a statement when people come into the room. And that statement is that I’m a mid-40s teenager but I have a stupid loud amp.
well summarized...laughed...
I actually like this base sound! Very bright, kind of scooped.
Great job returning this amp to its former glory. Its amazing what youll find in amplifier repair sometimes. I worked on an amplifier head one time and I kept hearing something rattling around in there I wasn't sure what it was so when I went in to do the upgrades and repair I found a small pair of needle-nose pliers just laying inside the amplifier chassis, now that's down right scary!
Wow!
I think that is what connoisseurs refer to as the "nose job" mod! Very very scary sounding distortion you will get with this mod.
I can't imagine what that sounded like with a Strat!
Wow!!! 3300pF is a crazy value. No wonder it’s so bright. A typical mod is to put a 100K in series of the master volume wiper per Kevin O’Connor.
This amp luckily fell onto the right hands ! Its been now properly saved / restored . The owner will be very happy , as we are now hearing it in good health . Thanks to Jason master tech ! Knows how to make them best they can be .
"This amp luckily fell onto the right hands" Indeed it did! Nice work Jason.
that PCB looks soooo clean, it has to be super easy to get into modding with one of these
Well , the head was already modded . Maybe a couple of exceptions aside, all modding on Marshalls sound like crap
Ouch - that was a painful listen at the start. Great work as always, Jason
Great job as usual Jason. I bet you had one happy owner!
The dude that said he could smell what houdini was prior cooking,
-you are ON POINT.
The amplifier was “tweaked” in conjunction with the owners rig.
Thanks for gettin’ that damn booger outta’ there Jason!
Maybe this fizz turns out fangs when it’s all mashed together in his mix?
Me?
I’ve always been a vertical imput dude.
I sense if someone mods one of those..
-something funky’s comin’…
Another one recovered!
Good work, mate!
We are saving them one amp at a time brother!
Wow - what a difference a few component changes make!
Sounds better now, good job man!
OH MY GOD!!! I've had hacked amps come across the bench, but yeah, this is probably the worst 800 I ever heard!!
It seems to me, the person has no idea what they are doing and just thought....Bigger is Better!! :O NO!!!!!
Brutally thin and bright. Thank God it got restored back to stock! Thanks Jason for saving this thing and our ears!!...ugh.
Thank goodness it was restored to stock, however it felt then that there's a blanket over the speakers, it is still missing the marshall KERRANG!!
Yeah i agree with your assessment of this. No doubt it sounds much better after Jason T restored it but
the amp itself is still let's just say not one of the "Real good ones" 😁 It has to have that "KERRANG"!
Thank God you got rid of all that fizz! That was mad!
On a side note…I had a chance to recently play a Headfirst MTL full build. Not sure what was better, the sound, or the fact that it wasn’t 6 grand…pretty awesome
Man this is what mine 2203 I emailed you about sounds like! I have a feeling after I get my Alta the 2203 will be collecting dust
AC/DC Flick of the Switch. Very fitting!!
The bright cap on the master volume is hilarious
Unbelievable!
Top work mate 👍sounds great after your magic touch 💪
Thats a huge improvement. 😊
Sounds so bad it sounds like a JCM900.
Not sure what others are smoking but the “after” sounds much more balanced and not “blown out” like a overloaded speaker. Straight nasty and not in a good way.
Great job!
What a night and day difference. That amp sounded like deep fried butthole before. Great video as always!
Sounded like a box of farts. And then...a real JCM 800. Bravo Jason!!!
Steve! How’s things man?!
@@HeadfirstAmps Awesome! How about you, Jason? I've been digging all of your videos. Just had a nice talk with Mike Soldano on my old '73 Superlead he modded back in '88 that I bought back last year and we got it straightened out to the original mods he did. Fire breather!
what a difference... listening with headphones it was unbearable before but now sounds awesome!
Geez that mod was just plain stupid! Good job on the amp Jason.
Wow jason that sonds really good! before it sounded really bad nice jason. JCM 800 is back!
What a laugh! Somebody was having a bad day and ended up bypassing the wrong pot :) I gotta do that 10k Voltage drop on my Matamp GT40!
Sounds great! Laughable preamp mods! Cool voltage drop knowledge!
Wow what a night and day difference!!! Obviously the tone changed but what a difference in the gain and how much tighter it is afterwards! Sounded like an ice pick had a wet fart before hand 😂
Never ceases to amaze me how empty these look.
Gotta have room for the heat!!!!
@@BigTyronie I feel ya 🥵
That before clip sounded like an icepick in my earhole.
Those mods had zero thought put into them.
⭐⭐excellent ! this info is priceless ! cheers, mate ! ⭐⭐
It's hard to believe there was a bloke whom thought his 2204 wasn't bright enough.
When you said "worst sounding jcm800" that's exactly what I was hearing in my head😂
the received mod tone sound reminds me of a Boss Metalzone.
Still sounds 100 times better than my line 6
After listening again..hey man, I’ll take that thing as it is!
You get in the mix with a bad ass bass guitar player & a new era Malcolm/Izzy..
-looks good from my house!
I wonder how it sounded with a
mid-boost type of pedal..hmmm..bacon..
What it has over the stock 800?
ATTITUDE.
Interesting! I mostly play metal, so no big chords with the high strings included. To my ear the modified version is overly bright, but still has kind of a pleasant sparkle and jangle to it. The stock version lacks bite, but has a good low-mid grit and complexity.
This is just speculation, but I think maybe the 10 uF bypass might have been okay. You do see some big caps on the first stage of amps like the SLO, and Rectifier. I do think the bypass on the clipper was a mistake, certainly one that big. And obviously the bright cap was just too much.
I always find the 800 to be bright. I have owned 3 and always ended up moving them on. Now use a modelled jcm 800 on my kemper 😅
Hi, Can i use a 1 watt 10K vs 3 watt for the voltage change on the phase inverter?
Wow. Went sounding like a busted walkman to a clear marshall tone
awesome vid bro churrrr
Why did you change guitars for the last sample??
Wow. My '85 2204 is the same: modded and (allegedly) returned to stock. Super bright and buzzy. I got it to sound pretty good with 65w Creambacks but it's really buzzy with V30's.
V30s could be the problem, never got them to sound very good. G12M or G12T-75 sound much better to me.
It’s just a flick of the Switch!!
The PCB support is ridiculous, if you think about it it's not held by the pots and jacks, it's actually held by the solder joints! Joints that aren't wrapped around a terminal or even on a double sided PCB. It's not cost cutting, two standoffs, it's just engineers living in their own bubble.
That was painfully bright.
It's a personal taste. I preferred the tone when you received it, it's brighter with more sustain and attack.
you are right... that was the worst sounding JCM 800 I've heard... what a farty and fizzy mess beforehand... it's still no SLO though 😆
There would be no SLO without the foundation of mighty 2203/2204!
@@HeadfirstAmps totally agree with you there... bang up job like always!
What do you mean bad sounding? It’s the “brown sound” that everyone fawns over in that first clip lol
Hey mate, you mention JC being no good for components, do you have some recommendations to point us noobs in the right direction?
Mouser, Digi-key, Element 14, RS Components for starters, the shipping will get you if you're just looking for a couple of little capacitor etc. though.
Black Squirrel has covered it. Jaycar is workable, you just need to be mindful that the caps have probably been sitting in the boxes for years by the time you take one up to the counter.
@@theblacksquirrel. Thanks mate ill bookmark those now!
That’s a night and day difference.
This is why I buy new amps!
The before sound was so hard to listen to, how did you stand it to have to record that? Great job returning it back to normal!
You had to have the master up at 4 to even get that bright tone. Anything less and it was worse!!
@@HeadfirstAmps no doubt!
You could probably replace those two 10K/3W resistors with maybe a 20K or 21K/3W resistor.
Absolutely, I do however like to keep the original parts intact as far as possible
It almost seems like the person doing the mod put a bright cap on the master volume by mistake but didn't want to pull the board again to fix it. I bet he wanted to add a .0033 cap in parallel with the stock .001 bright cap to get it closer to the .0047 value used in the superlead. Definitely an amateur job, thankfully it was limited to only a few small changes.
Yeah I prefer the modded tone, stock sounds more like hearing it through insulation foam in another room. I mean yeah the modded version could've used some work but I certainly prefer it.
flick of the switch!
Great job, it was a farty mess before
From 220ful to 2204! 😅
The fact that they didn't ground the shield on the shielded signal wires tells me they have no idea what they're doing. Fundamental knowledge about the Faraday effect is prerequisite for understanding electricity and why shielding is used. I do all my own work now. I used to have any random idiot do my retube or repairs but no more. I've realized I know more than most of the people who've worked on my vintage 70s Marshalls.
👍🏻👍🏻
Oh man, bright cap on the master volume, that is painful
Unbelievable right?
sounds like my peavey windsor exactly ,real mushy.
And scratchy highs
For me, the before and after tones are like live versus a studio take. The stock sounds much more full and like the presence is nearer to 0 than 11.
The modded version would be ace for Slayer leads with a boost pedal up front.
Bright as sin, yep well said😂
The 10uF is fine tbh. extra bass will filter out at the first 0.022 coupler. Fender value of 0.047 or 0.1uF would be a problem but is fine with 0.022. That 100uF is a BLUNDER. Why so anal about the brand though? At 63V, its already over specced for that position. Also, you couldnt find an electrolytic 0.68? The one you put is needlessly massive. What is it? 250V?
The 10uF isn’t fine, too much bass with a 0.022. I don’t care about the brand, it’s more that those caps typically sit on the shelf for years at that store. You don’t know how old they are. That 0.68 is 63v and not an electro because I like how it sounds.
Wow!! 100% better!!!
Blocking distortion at its finest… if you first try modding, you will need to learn that. Pay attention class, Jason is teaching you!
I had a worse 2203 this week.
I hate to say it, but...I liked it the way it was. More highs. A little sizzle. Now it just sounds...stock.
Myself. I'd actually do the #34 mod to it. (-8 But that's just me. LOL!!!!
The real problem with the way it was modded was a bright cap on the volume pot. A volume dependent mod, which is not practical.
Jcm 800, 2 rules. Treble to zero. Mids to 10.
I way prefered the sound before actually
Surely if you are going to mod an amp you only make changes that make it sound better. You might use pspice to test your ideas but rely on your ears as the final quality gate. Every amp mod I've seen on amps i have worked on usually gets undone. Usually the original designs sound better than a lot of the mods out there. It seems some people just like to make changes without any real testing and think their changes makes it sound better.
Sounds like a 800 again
Curiously colourless.
You haven'´t tried Abbath's Marshall ... it's absolutely hideous!!
Kinda like the way it sounded before you put it back to stock. After your repair it sounded dull like a blanket had been thrown on it. I bet that amp was used as a back line amp for metal bands that's the reason for the increased bottom end as we all know the 2204 is a little thin in that department. However, it was a little fizzy in the top and got a little flubby in the bottom end on your Les Paul. Pretty sure with a proper metal guitar paired with the right speakers and a tube screamer it was a pretty heavy sounding amp. Not good for rock but pretty good for metal, minus that fizz in the high end.
I don't think we were listening to the same video clip... 🤔
Wtf?😂
... it sounded like the hinges on a toilet door at my local westfield
i'm kinda with you .. yes it was fizzy but I loved the bite it had compared to after ... but then I prefer Soldano/5150 style amps so maybe that's why I dug the first sound
tone is subjective I guess, but not in this case lol. I think some people have some serious hearing loss.
Flick of the Switch rules
💌📫
Wow. What a joke
Although I maintain that DIGITAL is SUPERIOR in every way shape and form to these archaic relics that you deal with; I have become forced to admit that there are some glorious magnificent tones very unique in nature that come from these very inefficient collections of antiquated parts. There is a certain magic that happens with these outdated relics. I perhaps might one day try one of these "things' based solely on your skills with them and your unrelenting attention to detail when servicing these "artifacts from another time." Another excellent video and a great "sales pitch" for the continued use of these "relics."
Love your comments Ben, always makes me laugh. Haha
Tube amps are objectively superior when used as a space heater. Check mate!
"antiquated parts" which can still be obtained.
Try that on a 5-10YO modeller motherboard.
@@BradsGuitarGarage I have a well documented history of both complimenting and "harrassing" Mr. Headfirst. He and I go way back. It is my way of saying that he is the first "tube guy" that has caught my attention and made me think about switching from a Helix only to a 4cm system with AMP/Helix. It's all in good fun.