So I was all set to sell my JCM800..

[Kapo_Polenton]

until I retubed it with chinese preamps and played it! Shezam! 1 x 12 open back combo with original g12-65 and 6550's. on 2 this thing sounds like a freakin plane taking off. It shakes the house. SO needless to say, it is staying for a while longer. A nice little amp to bring to a gig or pair with another 1 x 12 for a portable wet/dry rig would be killer.

That said, my MTS gear is not going anywhere. I A/B'd them and ****, if that bloody Judge wasn't really close + a bit more grind. So I think I actually dig the judge! I also noticed that I was running a bit bright compared to my 800. I need to dial back some of those highs I am always craving.

Anyway just thought I'd apologize to the judge and I promise to go a little easier on it in the future. 8) That mode switch still kinda sucks though but hey, maybe someone can brighten that bad boy up for me at some point. MikeP may also have made a good point about the Avatar cabs.. right now i think it is either the cab or it is the modules running under 12. I think the Level really needs to push the 1 pm mark for these amps to open up and have the girth that a real amp has. MTS might not be taking off because the effects loop does suck and most people are not cranking the levels enough. So for fun, I hope to make a comparison clip for you guys this weekend. Judge vs. 82 vertical input 800. As Anthrax once said.... BRING THE NOISE!

 

[SteelDragon]

Cool. You like the 1265s? I have a pair I would like to get rid of, but can't determine a price to set them at. I want a pair of the Black Label Society speakers!

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

You know, in the beginning I wasn't crazy about the 12-65 but it has a smokiness to it that really works with the amp. I think your speakers should go pretty quick if broken in. Not sure why you would want those high rated BLS speakers but to each their own! Zakk drives me nuts these days.. what happened to that guy!?

 

[SteelDragon]

Agreed. Zakk has gotten flakey the last few years and his playing has suffered. Cranking out an album every year for a while took a toll on his creative juices and made his playing stale. He desperately needs to team up in a Supergroup with a real singer and share the song-writing responsibilties. Although the first four albums were killer, Black Label ain't happening anymore. Ozzy ain't happening anymore.

That being said, he's still one of my favorites.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

It's all about Pride and Glory. I loved that album. That was pure and raw with great song writing!

 

[BigBrewtus]

It's all about Pride and Glory. I loved that album. That was pure and raw with great song writing!

Dead on man!! By far my favorite album. As much as I like metal
I will always love that heavy blues mixed with a side of rebel country.
Ozzy albums will just that. I'm happy with Gus G.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

a little known fact Norm,
The first BLS was written when ZW was in G&R
Axl was too often absent, so Zakk made BLS
Mediocre production, but killer songwriting- I actualy even like the power ballads on that one, as opposed to the upcoming discs where it's <skip>
There's always cool tunes on his disc, just did seem to get fewer on each release. I always enjoyed his growly Ozzy/Allman approach, but dislike his Axl influence (as I never liked Axl), which seems to be popping up more in recent years.
Also curious how his guitar sounds so kick *** on recent Ozzy releases, i guess he becomes his own producer on BLS and it simply is not as stellar as Ozzy production. Perhaps too many releases, but how can this be a knock? Love the effort, ZW puts out a disc every year, as opposed to every other major metal band- see Metallica
The latest Ozzy disc was mostly written by ZW but interpreted and played by Gus- it still is in my car rotation, I think it's flat out awesome material/production.
...Regardless, BLS puts on a great live show!

Not as big a fan of Pride & Glory, but Horse called War is one of my top favorite songs ever!

BASS, how low can you go?

 

[Mike P]

until I retubed it with chinese preamps and played it! Shezam! 1 x 12 open back combo with original g12-65 and 6550's. on 2 this thing sounds like a freakin plane taking off. It shakes the house. SO needless to say, it is staying for a while longer. A nice little amp to bring to a gig or pair with another 1 x 12 for a portable wet/dry rig would be killer.

What year was yours built?

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I think it is an 82 or 83 if i am not confusing it with another amp. It is a monster though.

 

[Mike P]

I think it is an 82 or 83 if i am not confusing it with another amp. It is a monster though.

It'll say on the back. The early models were way, way different than the later models.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Here ya go:

Date Code Year
A 1969-1970
C 1971
D 1972
E 1973
F 1974
G 1975
H 1976
J 1977
K 1978
L 1979
M 1980
N 1981
P 1982 <-- mine 07352P serial number.
R 1983
S 1984
T 1985
U 1986
V 1987
W 1988
X 1989
Y 1990
Z 1991-1992

 

[rblyn]

Hey Kapo, check my post in the Sig modules section...Knowing you have and like a JCM800- might want to check out the 1987 module...

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

How about a gut shot of that 1987!? It ain't breaking any rules after all... I am interested in what the circuit looks like.

 

[rblyn]

Not the best pic but here it is...

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Ok, so there is as usual, only a few component changes....

R9, R10 are different
C9 looks to be a larger cap value on the 1987 which to me would retain more of the bottom end I think when the gain is turned down. Might just be an assumption but I am thinking much like when you roll down a volume control on a guitar, you can do a treble mod to keep more highs. In this case it might retain the lows.

Then we have the funky mode switch on the judge which is empty on the 1987 apart from C14.

R10 is also empty on the 1987.

I guess that is prob 5 components different and I think there might be a few more differences in resistor values so let's say 5-7 parts difference but a similar circuit as are all preamps in general it seems. Prob wouldn't be too hard to change the judge over but I don't want any more bass that's for sure. Thanks for posting!

I'd love to figure out how to get more highs out of the judge saturation switch now.. (mode 2)

 

[rblyn]

Nice, sounds like they are close....but the 1987 faceplate is better! It looks bad *** in my RM100! Besides, what other rig would be able to have Soldano, Mesa and Marshall tones in ONE amp!!