Marshall (2204) head on Fender JBL cab

[dwagar]

It may look like an odd duck, but I sure like the tone I'm getting now.

The upside down "2204" head is the amp out of my '84 4010 combo in a home made cab. This is my favorite amp. I love this thing.

The Dual Showman tall cab (2x15" JBL D130Fs) I've owned since the early '70s. Still works great. I haven't noticed many of these old cabs around, they might be a good buy. If you can find one, give it a try.

I was looking for a tone I could clean up a bit more than I was getting out of my Celestions, the Marshall has more than enough distortion for my needs. These old JBL speakers are sweet.

The requisite pic:

 

[bnorm44]

dwager,

I also have the 2204, and I have a friend who is selling his DS cab with JBL'S D130F'S for $500. The curiosity is killing me. Does the sound change dramatically from a 4x12 greenie cab? I figure it would be a good cab to have laying around anyways.

 

[dwagar]

If the speakers are still in good shape, I think that's a great price. The speakers alone are worth at least that.

I'd suggest you take your head over and give it a try. To my ears, they cleaned up my sound considerably over my Celestions. But I've never run my head through greenbacks, so YMMV.

I'm not very good at describing tone, sorry. The JBLs seem to have a huge presence, pump a warmer, less distorted tone. I've dialled my pre way down and get nice break up with the guitar cranked, but nice near clean on a roll off. By bumping the pre, I can throw it back into Marshall crunch.

BTW, I've been listening to a lot of Bloomfield and Green over the last couple of years. So my tone quest has moved away from high gain, I just want distortion when I roll into a solo.

 

[bnorm44]

Yeah. I'm not a high gain guy either, My vols are set at 4. Thats where is sounds best to me. I use 6550's. The JBL speakers in the cab I mentioned are original, but my buddy says, "they're starting to sound a bit tired". Still thinking about it.

 

[Texas Blues]

I believe BFS uses a 2 x 12 JBL120's with his 2204. I've heard his clips and they sound awesome! Me? With my 2204 I like more swamp so I'm stuck on greenies.

That is one cool lookin' head by the way.

Salute', TB.

 

[dwagar]

thanks man. This was my first try at a cab, so I ran into a few problems, but it's good enough for my use.

A better pic of the head:

 

[BluesForDan]

how did you flip the logo of the JCM 800 on the face plate of the head?

BTW - Marshall and JBL will get you real close to Duane tone. At one point, I was going to do the same thing along the same line as BFS, but ended up having to sell my D-120 Fs before I ever got around to it.

 

[dwagar]

I didn't flip the logo/plate. It's the amp out of my combo (4010), so it was already 'upside down'. If there would have been an easy way to flip it, I would have built the cab with the amp on the bottom, it'd look more like a real Marshall head then. I've seen replacement plates on Ebay, but I've never seen one that'd fit an old Canuck model (toggle switches).

Marshall and JBL will get you real close to Duane tone

:hmm
that's a really good description of the tone I am searching for.

 

[Mitchell]

Groovy looking set-up..

Sound clips?

 

[dwagar]

thanks. er, I am a bit technologically challenged. Well, quite a bit. :dang

Maybe someone will get a recording or two at our next gig (next month). I'll get to wind it out a little then.

 

[ScottsR9]

I didn't flip the logo/plate. It's the amp out of my combo (4010), so it was already 'upside down'. If there would have been an easy way to flip it, I would have built the cab with the amp on the bottom, it'd look more like a real Marshall head then. I've seen replacement plates on Ebay, but I've never seen one that'd fit an old Canuck model (toggle switches).



I did the same thing with my 4010 but I just chopped the original cabinet in half...yours looks a lot better than mine!

 

[dwagar]

wow, that works too.

I did want the option of putting mine back to stock someday.

 

[fender69]

I believe BFS uses a 2 x 12 JBL120's with his 2204. I've heard his clips and they sound awesome! Me? With my 2204 I like more swamp so I'm stuck on greenies.

That is one cool lookin' head by the way.

Salute', TB.

BFS?

Nevertheless Robin Trower used this basic setup on his first tour of the US. Amp was older Marshall 50 or 100 but it was a killer sound. Seen him 3 times and he never sounded better than that first tour. :biggrin:

 

[dwagar]

bfs=bluesforstevie I assume.

I'd heard that about Robin Trower (maybe from you?) before, when I was contemplating making the head cab, that was one of the things that helped to push me to go through with it. I'm glad now that I did.