JCM 800 2203/4 vs Quick Rod

[splawndude]

Hey guys,

I'm trying to help someone on another forum but I lack the experience with this amp.

The guy wants to play country (live) up to 80's hair metal (home). I told him the QR will give him 800 tones + more + clean channel + great loop + solo boost + etc.


Can anyone here give me a a good honest opinion on these two? Pro's and Con's.



Additional points for any added discussion on the vertical input (more expensive) vs the horizontal input.
Additional points for any added discussion on comparing these with the Ceriatone Chupa and Yeti.

[briman]

Pro's

Splawn - Loop volume lets you play super low volume without losing sizzle. I am talking really low .......like your wife is sleeping down the hallway. My 800's go low enough to play in a 12 x 14 room without killing your ears but not whisper low like Splawn.
- Build quality......Splawns are built like tanks and beatiful colors and styles.
- Splawn has built in solo boost switch if you are gigging is convenient.


Con's
Switching off stanby always gives a audible jump like a thump with all the Splawns I've owned. If you have delay on, this jump will be echoed.
My 800's are silent when switching off stanby. Also powering off the amp quickly gives a audible squeel with Splawn.


I won't go into tone as that is all subject to user tastes and opinion. I will however say that both amps feel and sound very different. Also the 800 doesn't have a clean chanel but does cleans very very well.

[cvogue]

Really no contest... you've actually answered your own question!

Splawn

Pro - versatility:  multiple channels, a myriad of tones, effects loop with very useful volume control (hair metal at home without having a pitchfork wielding mob come after you!)

Con - You don't get the cool Marshall logo!

Marshall

Pro - Great hair metal tone

Con - Not versatile, single channel (some newer ones have loops)

The Splawn clean channel is pretty darn good considering the variety of awesome dirty tones you can get out of it (gear 2 is basically a JCM800 tone).

I've never had a JCM800 but have been in bands with other guitarists who had them and they do one thing REALLY well, but they really only do that one thing.  The JCM800 would be great for hair metal but if you want a clean tone for country with any amount of headroom (especially important if playing live) you will have a very difficult time getting that with a JCM800.

Also consider that the Splawn costs LESS than a brand new JCM800 2203 (they want $2600 bucks for one on MF... :/ )

Hope this helps.

[briman]

youtu.be/xfOsnJn2jhM

[briman]

youtu.be/MXowMW8Zu2E

[briman]

youtu.be/PivYq-vTjFY

[briman]

In the three links I just posted, you can hear fender cleans to jazzy blues tone in last one to ac dc raw tone. The last link, the guy is only using his volume on guitar to go from jazz to Bonamassa to Ac Dc.

[briman]

Ok last one and it shows how versatile an 800 can be without even using hair metal tone which it has in spades. It also does modern metal very well.

youtu.be/9dk-skkeIKI

[cvogue]

Wow, I'm impressed, much better cleans than I thought. Blues it'll do in spades, and some jazz (with a very jazzy guitar). But I don't know about country...

[splawndude]

Great feedback so far....

[gtrjunior]

Well I have both amps.
We all know what the QR does.
The 800 absolutely needs a boost to reach 80’s tones. Without it it’s closer to classic rock territory imo.
Also, it’s really a one trick pony....it’s a really REALLY great trick but...
When my 800 was my gigging amp I used a Blackstar HT-dual pedal and unplugged into to LO input. That gave me a clean channel and with the HT pedal I had OD and full distortion sounds available. I used an MXR micro amp to boost for solos since there was some headroom left over with the pedal creating to drive.
I had to find creative solutions for all the things the QR does out of the box.
The only con to the QR is that your friend would need to find a low gain/clean boost pedal to achieve those sounds. Unless of course he doesn’t mind fiddling with amp settings on the fly during a gig. Which for me isn’t something I want to do.

[briman]

I have no more pros and cons to contribute. The only other comment i can make is to elaborate on why I think the feel and sound different. This is all opinion and can be debated as pro and con from either side.

I find my Splawns were very bottom heavy. By this I mean they have a ton of bass and heavy mids. The only way I could dial most of it out was to put bass on "0 to 1" and boost the front of amp with light od or clean boost.

This heavy bottom for me made it feel stiff and hard to play leads fluently without extra effort. I felt like a blanket was put over the saturation and sustain of lead notes due to the bass. However for thunderous rythm playing.....fantastic.

I think the newer Splawns were adjusted to be less bottom heavy but compared to an 800 ....still has 4 times the bass or more.
The ultimate set up for me would be to have the two heads to switch back and forth from rhythm to lead!😁

Here are two of my all time favorite clips from YouTube for best tone. The playing in one is sloppy but tone great. They are not 800's but dsl and slp which 800 does both. For my present tone I shoot for right in the middle of these two clips. The DSL is articulate and bright and the slp is heavier in mids.


youtu.be/rJW5quNveBo


youtu.be/kbAOf4vjGQU

[gtrjunior]

Funny you mention that you feel the Splawn is bass heavy....I feel the opposite! Not that I think it’s bass-lite or anything. I just feel like it has the right amount to make it sit in the mix properly and not fight the bass guitar for sonic territory.
I keep the bass knob around 11:00-12:00. In fact all of the knobs are somewhat centered, give or take.
Often times when I’m playing by myself I feel like it needs more bass but once I get into a band situation it sounds perfect.

[briman]

If I turned my bass past noon, my floor and walls were moving lol.

My mid knob would reduce it a bit.

[splawndude]

And I'm the guy with the treble on '0'