Marshall JCM900 Guitar head for bass?

[backwater]

Hi Folks,
I'm looking to get a new amp (as I've sold mine and am amp-less!). Looking at getting a Marshall amp - preferably a silver jubilee bass head or a JCM800 bass head. Both of these seem to be thin on the ground currently but I managed to find a cheap JCM900 Mk1 head (i.e. the one before the Dual Reverb and SLX) and I was considering getting this to use with a bass cab as a rig.

Has anyone tried using the JCM900s as a bass amp - any thoughts?

Thanks

Andy

[waynepunkdude]

Used it as a guitar amp for years amazing

[umph]

its not gonna do a clean sound as per say but it'll do the job

[joegarcia]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='288708' date='Sep 21 2008, 07:55 PM']Used it as a guitar amp for years amazing[/quote]


Used the JCM900 50w version for a couple of days and hated it. Sold it and got a JCM800 bass series 100w which is great.

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='joegarcia' post='288718' date='Sep 21 2008, 08:08 PM']Used the JCM900 50w version for a couple of days and hated it. Sold it and got a JCM800 bass series 100w which is great.[/quote]


It really is a matter of opinion between those 2.

I have heard a JCM650 that sounded pretty good.

Edited September 21, 2008 by waynepunkdude

[Dood]

Marshall guitar heads have a built in low end roll off so the distortion doesn't sound mushy with guitars. Whether or not that is a sound you are after on bass is preference, but I prfer to *feel* my low end, especially anything around or below a 5 string.

That said, Lemmy's bass sound is gnarly as... and there doesn't appear to be much low end girth there.. as I say, it's down to preference.

[umph]

[quote name='dood' post='288973' date='Sep 22 2008, 09:45 AM']Marshall guitar heads have a built in low end roll off so the distortion doesn't sound mushy with guitars. Whether or not that is a sound you are after on bass is preference, but I prfer to *feel* my low end, especially anything around or below a 5 string.

That said, Lemmy's bass sound is gnarly as... and there doesn't appear to be much low end girth there.. as I say, it's down to preference.[/quote]
aye would be going for a jcm600 or one of the jtm series that don't have the roll off, i think lemmys bass still has the epic amount of low end he needs with his 4X15s

[joegarcia]

Yup, Mr Foxen has a jcm600 he [i]might[/i] be persuaded to part with.

[Mr. Foxen]

Depending on transport, the JCM600 will be being tested as the high end side of my biamp plan. However, if someone were to come to pBristol with a sum of cash to offer me for it, I'd have a hard time refusing, as I have my eye on other toys. It's 60w and I'm suspicious that the reverb might not work. Since the reverb isn't useful to me I haven't bothered trying to fix it, but will if necessary.

[kemra]

Hmmmm it's certainly an interesting idea.

I have Marshall JCM900 100watt half stack in my bedroom but have yet to test it out on my bass......

If it sounds any good I may just keep it instead of selling it like I was planning to. Hopefully I'll get chance to see how it sounds this weekend and I'll report back.

[chris_b]

Years ago I used a Marshall 100 watt guitar head into a bass cab. That was in the days when Marshall had the shop in Ealing Broadway. I tried all the 100 watt amps they had and that particular one sounded the best to me. I suppose it was punchier and might have had a bit less bass but as the regular bass sound of the day was very woolly and indistinct, I guess that was a good thing. I never had less bass than the other players at that time. I also got even more punch out of the amp by linking the 2 input channels together.
It can be done but I don't know how the new amps compare to the old amps.

[mike257]

I've used a JCM2000 [i]as well as[/i] my bass amp when recording, it sounds immense. Why not try that.

You just need to budget for a bigger van to shift it all

[ashevans09]

It might be worth giving alkaline trio's album (Agony and Irony) a listen because their bassist played a P through marshall geetar heads IIRC. Sounds good!

[joegarcia]

Can't lump all Marshall heads together though. I have played through older guitar ones which were awesome but honestly, the JCM900 was horrible. From experience I'd suggest either an old 70's one or a Bass Series one, or using it alongside a bass specific amp.