GibsonKramer Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Here's the little beast, with my guitars! OK! OK! Its not a JCM-800! Its a Lead 12, which amazingly uses the same preamp circuit at the massively popular and awesome sounding JCM-800. Marshall released these in the 80s and the first run, were excellent amps. They were manufactured in England, with the same standards/care as their big brothers. This little sucker, was even included in the JCM-800 line catalog, while it was available. They even came with birch plywood cabs. Stock, they leave a lot to be desired, IMO. At bedroom levels, they sound great. You can dial in that real Marshall growl. Problem is, it starts to disappear and break up at around 3 on the volume dial. The original G10D-25s are honestly some of the worst speakers I've owned. So, first thing I did was start looking for upgrades. I had talked to several people and had pretty much settled on the Vintage 10 from Celestions. However, a couple things held me back. One, I kept reading the V10s aren't voiced the way they used to be, a lot aren't happy with the new ones and I heard about this company WGS from several forums. I watched video after video and the WGS consistently sounded as good, if not better (in some cases) than the comparable Celestions. I think the WGS have a much smoother range between lows, mids, highs and while I know frequency response is similar/same... these have a wider/warmer mid tone. MUCH closer to the classic Marshall tone and big JCM-800 sound, than any "little amp" I've heard. Modeling amps? Not even close. This has a very natural sound to it. In fact, I'd go as far as saying these are the best speakers I've heard, ranging from early Line 6 Flextone Celestions, to the G12s in my old Crate 4x12. In my earlier years, I owned a JCM-900 Dual Reverb head and the Crate 4x12. I hated that amp. Sounded like cold dog crap and I couldn't ever get a tone dialed in, I liked. Unless you ran it all out, it just couldn't/wouldn't cut it. This little amp, with the speaker upgrade. Sorry, 900 fans, but I'll gladly take this, over one of them. Wouldn't go back down that road, ever again. Plus, with the speaker upgrade, I'm now searching for some small mini tube heads. Something like a JVM1H, or a Egnater Tweaker/Rebel. Would sit right on top of these 1x10" cabs and really just belt the volume out. Its easy to see how and why the WGS have consistently gone up in price. They're putting out a product, that rivals one, that was twice the price. You can now get them anywhere from $30 - $50 cheaper, but... IMO its certainly worth any savings. Once I spent about 12 hours of break-in, it was obvious I liked the speakers and was going to keep them. Another thing that bugged me, was having $40 in cab cables, almost $200 in speakers and 24 gauge wire connecting the jack plug to the speaker. Weakest link, will override everything else. So... I took care of that. Was at Lowe's, bought a couple 16 gauge 6' extension cords (cheaper than speaker cable), cut enough to wire without that nasty bends/kinks, when you remove the back and reduced almost all sounds/noise artifacts. I can unplug my guitar at volume, drop the cable on the floor and no hum. That's pretty damn impressive, actually. I absolutely stole this amp, for the price. Take the SGJ for instance. That guitar, and this amp together... under $500. I told my friends at GC, "you all got ripped off" on both purchases. They just smiled. They know if all evens out... but I took them big time on these. Especially the amp. I had purchased the Fender Mustang II for $179. Problem was, after swapping the THR for the THR-X... the Fender would spend its time plugged into my computer trying to get it to sound like the THR. I didn't want that, plus I really didn't want another modeling amp. I wanted something that was basic, classic and I could shape to my sound. I was browsing GC used ads and came across two of these Microstacks. The first was this, listed at $199. I know my Lead 12s and what to look for. Single output under Lead 12, you will most likely get UK made and if the cabs haven't been swapped... the Birch cabs also (they switched to MDF at some point in the line, about the same time they switched to two jacks below the name and slightly modified the preamp circuit). They also had one, for $399. I called GC, asked if they would swap my Mustang II for the Marshall and was told, no problem. That thing was boxed back up and back at the store within 30 minutes. My new Marshall purchased and on its way. I knew I would have to invest some money, but I really wasn't expecting it to come in the fine shape it did. All the pots are clean, no scratchy one. Wide range on the EQ (almost need 3 turn pots there). Only thing I could really rag on the amp for, is the Gain, goes from mild to wide-open... pretty fast... and those crappy speakers, that will now end up on ebay, as "Rare Marshall Celestions, voiced for JCM-800 performance!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Next amp re-mod I need, I'm getting you to do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 What, no demo vid??? I wanna hear it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GibsonKramer Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 What, no demo vid??? I wanna hear it! You all will be the first. I've been trying to record it for 2 weeks now. All I have is my phone mic and an old Realistic, I used for vocals, doing goofy 4-track stuff with a old cassette TASCAM. I haven't pulled out the Realistic yet... though I really don't know that a 30+ year old $20 mic, is going to sound better than today's tech... but I guess I could try. It's got a 1/4" plug... will plug into anything. I open a meeting every Tuesday. I can usually go in, early as I want... long as they've closed up for the day. I'm going to try some more. But what I get on my phone sounds like a box, inside a box, with an amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 You all will be the first. I've been trying to record it for 2 weeks now. All I have is my phone mic and an old Realistic, I used for vocals, doing goofy 4-track stuff with a old cassette TASCAM. I haven't pulled out the Realistic yet... though I really don't know that a 30+ year old $20 mic, is going to sound better than today's tech... but I guess I could try. It's got a 1/4" plug... will plug into anything. I open a meeting every Tuesday. I can usually go in, early as I want... long as they've closed up for the day. I'm going to try some more. But what I get on my phone sounds like a box, inside a box, with an amp. Two ways that are pretty good (on average) are if your laptop or PC have a camera and mic for video chatting you can record simple videos either in the rood with the desktop or wherever your gear is if you have a laptop. A large portion of YouTube videos are recorded this way too and I think they are better quality that the mass majority of cell-phone vids posted! Cell-phone vids can be OK too if the cell phone (or alot of folks are using tablets/iPads for such things now) is secured well and immobile. I can't stand the hand held cell-phone vids, especially the ones by the drunk recording in a big crowd with several other drunk rowdies nearby insipidly blathering-on in some drunken stupor need to talk about what they're watching, or incessantly responding to the performance as if it's being done solely for their singular communion enjoyment, while it's being recorded... Personally I just use a pretty inexpensive digital camera that has a video recording setting that records audio as well. It's not the best, but it ain't bad. All my vids on YouTube were recorded on this camera, every single one of them... It does OK... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHTom Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Love these things.........they are totally addicting!!!! I'll be anxiously watching your mods as I have not done anything but clean the pots and contacts in these two. NHTom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GibsonKramer Posted February 2, 2015 Author Share Posted February 2, 2015 There's a couple guys on the Marshall forum that have done some nice stuff to their Micros. One guy and I have similar mods, though I have the birch cabs, which is a pretty big deal on the collector scale and IMO with the tone. I think the birch cabs are much brighter cabinets. I think they resonate well, with the speakers. MDF, as far as I know, doesn't really resonate. However, its big drawback, birch or not... is being a very directional amp. You walk off the small 20 - 35 degree sound axis and its muffled. Heck, it really needs to be up on about a 10" - 12" stand in a bedroom situation to sound best. In a wide open room, its not that big a deal. Next mod, is going to be buying some Baltic birch plywood and replacing the MDF backing boards. But, there's one guy... he's replaced the face plate on the head, with a brushed gold one... put matching "Vintage Lead 12" faceplates on each of the cabs, in the lower left corner. Replaced a lot of other little cosmetic pieces. Think he might have replaced all his pots to. Most of mine are centered around, trying to squeeze the best sound out of it. But, I'd like it to look as badass, as possible also Just brainstorming here, on recording options. I have a Galaxy S4 and a Galaxy Tab 10.1. I haven't tried using the camera in video mode to record... but instead tried a sound recording app, which I thought would have better frequency response. The little $20 Realistic mic is an old omindirectional 600 ohms Highball 2. I think they still make it. Couldn't I plug that into my THR, run it on the flat channel (no EQ at all) and then run that into my PC? Do you think I would get better sound off the condenser mic, would it hold up to higher sound levels better?I'm a total noob on this all. Of course, I could hunt down some cassette tapes and go old school... (even add drums. rofl!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevDavidLee Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Love these things.........they are totally addicting!!!! I'll be anxiously watching your mods as I have not done anything but clean the pots and contacts in these two. NHTom I want that red one - pure cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHTom Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 I want that red one - pure cool! . I just need to find a matching Silver bottom cab for the Jubilee.........talk about a needle in a hay stack. NHTom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevDavidLee Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 . I just need to find a matching Silver bottom cab for the Jubilee.........talk about a needle in a hay stack. NHTom More like a needle in a stack of needles - I didn't even know they made a silver finish on those. The good news is that now myself & many others on this forum will let you know if we spot one! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GibsonKramer Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share Posted February 4, 2015 Two ways that are pretty good (on average) are if your laptop or PC have a camera and mic for video chatting you can record simple videos either in the rood with the desktop or wherever your gear is if you have a laptop. A large portion of YouTube videos are recorded this way too and I think they are better quality that the mass majority of cell-phone vids posted! Cell-phone vids can be OK too if the cell phone (or alot of folks are using tablets/iPads for such things now) is secured well and immobile. I can't stand the hand held cell-phone vids, especially the ones by the drunk recording in a big crowd with several other drunk rowdies nearby insipidly blathering-on in some drunken stupor need to talk about what they're watching, or incessantly responding to the performance as if it's being done solely for their singular communion enjoyment, while it's being recorded... Personally I just use a pretty inexpensive digital camera that has a video recording setting that records audio as well. It's not the best, but it ain't bad. All my vids on YouTube were recorded on this camera, every single one of them... It does OK... Well, I took it in tonight to the meeting I setup. Didn't get as much time as I liked, plus my hands are fritzing out, from whatever this nerve/circulatory issue is, so I didn't have time to warm up and its sloppy. But, just sticking my phone like 10' in front of the amp, seemed to work ok. Just have to transfer to my pc to convert and upload. Hopefully it won't lose too much, from that... but I used to do other videos and they held sound quality pretty well. Fingers crossed. Hopefully have it up tomorrow. I could really notice speaker break in tonight, so need to find the new tone spot. It was getting a bit muddy on the bottom end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GibsonKramer Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 Excuse my extremely sloppy playing and I'm just screwing around. No backing track and I ain't no damn drummer. Was under time constraints to, so no real set up, nor warm up. Mic'd from about where you see it. 10 feet or so. Volume only at 2, any louder and I would have drawn attention. Yes, it really is that loud. I tried cranking it up, but got to 8 and it was way too loud, someone would have called the cops on me. I'd really like to try it "dimed". Anyone that doesn't think this will hang with drums and bass, I'm just a garage band kid, from back in the day, and this amp with the speaker upgrade would hang in that situation and perhaps a bit more. Sure, you'd get the giggles constantly. But, that's half the fun. It obviously sounds a lot better in person. But, from what I recorded, encoding and everything... I don't think its lost that much in sound quality. The WGS hit a break in spot, this night. So I was playing with it earlier today and tried EQ'ing everything at 10 and was still getting nice separation between notes, so I was pleased with that. Just need to tweak that one spot, I haven't quite got... but its getting there. Don't laugh. http://youtu.be/X-UF_eKEjec Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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