Researching a rare amp: Marshall 2000 Lead Series

That is super cool! A real handbuilt amp.

I dig what you did there changing your V1 for a ECC82, too. Kinda rolls the gain off a bit but gives you more headroom and lets you get that natural breakup! I did this on my JCM2000 with an Ecc82 and really love what it did. Took a lot of the harshness out
 
Clockworkmike said:
Those are two nice set ups! Really like the pedal board you've assembled, as well as the Origin and the cab you built. Those DSL40s are very nice combos too and I love the old purple plexi/hendrix look of the Geronimo!

Interestingly enough, I know Mitch Pearrow has sort of a mixture of these two rigs ( Origin and DSL40s) and gets a nice fat, classic heavy sound from them!
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Yes,

I've been to @Mitch Pearrow SJMP 's cave and he has quite a collection.

My rig goes to work with me everyday, so lightweight and portable were prime considerations.

My Origin 50H is stock, except for ultra-high gain Genelex B759 Gold Lions.

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The custom, finger-joint marine grade mahogany 2x12 cabinet houses (1) 50 watt WGS Reaper 55Hz 12" Speaker and one 80 watt Jensen Stealth Neodymium 12" speaker.

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Robert Herndon said:
Yes,

I've been to @Mitch Pearrow SJMP 's cave and he has quite a collection.

My rig goes to work with me everyday, so lightweight and portable were prime considerations.

My Origin 50H is stock, except for ultra-high gain Genelex B759 Gold Lions.

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The custom, finger-joint marine grade mahogany 2x12 cabinet houses (1) 50 watt WGS Reaper 55Hz 12" Speaker and one 80 watt Jensen Stealth Neodymium 12" speaker.

View attachment 50721
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Oh ok, so thats you in the video with Mitch? Awesome! ( sorry, still really new here so im behind a bit lol)

I really like the Gold Lion tubes as well. I had already changed the tubes in my JCM2000 to JJs and in the SLX, Svetlanas and JJs before stumbling across the Gold Lions. I had to change the two preamp tubes in a Mode Four I have and tried them. They are definitely a high grade preamp tubes and really wish I wouldve gotten them for the other two!
 
Clockworkmike said:
Oh ok, so thats you in the video with Mitch? Awesome! ( sorry, still really new here so im behind a bit lol)

I really like the Gold Lion tubes as well. I had already changed the tubes in my JCM2000 to JJs and in the SLX, Svetlanas and JJs before stumbling across the Gold Lions. I had to change the two preamp tubes in a Mode Four I have and tried them. They are definitely a high grade preamp tubes and really wish I wouldve gotten them for the other two!
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I might be in a video with Mitch...Here i am (stage right) with our band. Its cool for me to watch these videos and realize that I keep all the guitars and amps running.

I just finished a fret level and recrown on Mike's 1976 Gibson Les Paul.

I'm always the guy running high gain..
 
Robert Herndon said:
I might be in a video with Mitch...Here i am (stage right) with our band. Its cool for me to watch these videos and realize that I keep all the guitars and amps running.

I just finished a fret level and recrown on Mike's 1976 Gibson Les Paul.

I'm always the guy running high gain..
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Yea buddy when we where at Chris’s command center, I played through the Peavy.
Thanks
 
67plexi said:
I still have a NOS Fender PS-400 Transformer set around 60 pound's. It can run 8 each GE6556-A power tubes 420 Watt's RMS.
I collect transformers. My favorite Marshall's are the Black Flag 50 and 100 watt.

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The Fender PS400, that IS the most powerful production amp ever built! And yeah those transformers are the size of lunchboxes lol

The black flag is an awesome Marshall too. That was the final stage of the JTMs before they went into the Super Lead and had a killer sound
 
Clockworkmike said:
Hey folks! Ive been recently researching a bit, i guess you could say, on rare amps. I find that stuff fascinating, especially to find how many great amps are forgotten sadly enough. But one amp in particular has been something of a Great White Whale ( Buffalo to be apt!) In that i can't find hardly a thing on it and have literally only came across one video on Youtube of it, as well as probably 3 old Reverb listings from years ago: The early 80s Marshall 2000 Lead (2001 Bass) series amplifiers.

What little I know of this amp is that is debuted around 1981 and is somewhat connected the JCM800 series. It came in two versions: 2000 Lead and 2001 Bass and was only in production very briefly and apparently, not many were built either. The 2000 Lead was roughly 250w with (6) 6550s and (6) ECC83s and the 2001 Bass was 375w with (8) 6550s, 3 (ECC83s) and 2 (ECC81s): monstrous amplifiers and arguably the most powerful production model valved Marshalls ever built.

Allegedly, AC/DC played a little bit of role in its creation by asking Marshall for a very loud stadium amp in between For Those About To Rock and Flick Of The Switch ( theres even rehearsal footage of Malcolm Young using one). It had a Master volume and Nonmaster Volume section ( Malcolms was a prototype with only the Nonmaster volume section present).

Anywho, I was wondering if anyone had ever heard of this amp or ever saw or played one?
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The amps were originally conceived (I think...) for Deep Purple.
They had a whole lot of stability problems. They broke down a lot...
I have worked on a few.
Almost nobody would buy them (so the story goes...) because they were so large and heavy.
Not worth buying and I wouldn't recommend you put any money into it.
The speakers were also larger and impractical, heavy.
I know ONE guy in Hawaii who bought one....
I think it was the size of the cabinets and the weight that killed the interest of production, early on.

The documentation is pretty hard to find...

They also made another JCM 2000 amp called "Orange Crush," which is also scarce.
It was built with the defect JCM 2000 power amp board.
It has poor bias stability.
You won't find many of these around, they are collectable but also the board has to be changed to make it work.
I know ONE guy who has one.....
 
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Clockworkmike said:
The Fender PS400, that IS the most powerful production amp ever built! And yeah those transformers are the size of lunchboxes lol

The black flag is an awesome Marshall too. That was the final stage of the JTMs before they went into the Super Lead and had a killer sound
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The Amp built is made by Hiwatt, 8X KT 88.
They won't tell you the price - you have to "en-quire"
(but get a forklift)
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Robert Herndon said:
@Clockworkmike - Did you end up with a JCM 2000???
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Yeah I have a JCM2000 but its just a DSL50 from 1997. That's the amp you probably see me using 90% of the time minus using the Mode Four.

I had forgotten about this post almost! Lol
Unfortunately, i never saw one of these early 80s Marshall 2000 Lead series amps to even try let alone buy one. Incredibly hard to come by it seems, although every so often i see one has just sold on Reverb as soon as it posts for sale. From what I've gathered researching and hearing here, might not be a good investment anyways due to bad technical issues lol

Still, would love to just SEE one in person and try it!
 
Clockworkmike said:
Yeah I have a JCM2000 but its just a DSL50 from 1997. That's the amp you probably see me using 90% of the time minus using the Mode Four.

I had forgotten about this post almost! Lol
Unfortunately, i never saw one of these early 80s Marshall 2000 Lead series amps to even try let alone buy one. Incredibly hard to come by it seems, although every so often i see one has just sold on Reverb as soon as it posts for sale. From what I've gathered researching and hearing here, might not be a good investment anyways due to bad technical issues lol

Still, would love to just SEE one in person and try it!
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I think Mode four is a good metal amp...I liked it anyway.
Of course I have a tendency to turn it up until the drywall cracks....
Well lemme put it this way:
When played at 747 takeoff volume, mode four sounds pretty decent.
 
Amp Mad Scientist said:
I think Mode four is a good metal amp...I liked it anyway.
Of course I have a tendency to turn it up until the drywall cracks....
Well lemme put it this way:
When played at 747 takeoff volume, mode four sounds pretty decent.
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Lol funny story about that! Ive had it cranked to full volume probably 3 times, but the first was thru a full stack configuration. The amp was just slightly off of an exterior wall and when it was cranked, obviously it was deafening but I could actually hear something kinda flapping and banging. So I rolled the guitar volume off and didnt hear it. Began playing again and there was the banging sound. Turned the amp off and it was silent.

Couldn't figure out what the hell that was every time I was playing but it obviously wasnt the amp, so I figured " Oh well, must have been nothing!" About an hour later i walked outside and out of the corner of my eye noticed the vinyl siding on the house was completely loose, unsnapped and only hanging by the nail line: the amp had actually rattled the wall so bad it knocked the sliding loose.

That sold me lmao
 
ALSO WOULD LOVE ONE OF THESE!!!!
Uber rare in the "wild"--- when HIWATT went SOLID STATE
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one can go HIWATT on a budget however
reverb.com

Hiwatt Maxwatt G20R Electric Guitar Amplifier | Reverb

Hiwatt Maxwatt G20R Perfect for the beginner or as a practice amp, the Hiwatt Maxwatt G20R is a 20 watt solid state guitar combo, with an 8" speaker and built in reverb and overdrive channel. Portable, compact and lightweight this amp is very well built, and even has a CD input and headphone out...
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