Brit 2204 vs. Brit 2204 Mod vs ???

[themetallikid]

So, I keep finding myself wanting to use one of these 2 amps for my 'go to' crunch/boosted 80's type tones....few questions?

 

1) Is there a reason you prefer one over the other?  I see the Mod has the extra "pre" frequency...any other advantage?

2) Which Cab(s) are you pairing it with?  I've been having fun with the Amp/Cab single block and the stock cabs, but I'm finding something lacking to get the sound I want....which leads to....

3) Is there another amp that gets me 'here' but enough of a difference to warrant looking?  

 

 

I'm happy with my other tones.  The new amps really have helped me in that low/medium gain area, and the Badonk is my go to for the Modern/Metal type tones....but its the medium/high gain staging it seems there is lots of choices and I get lost in the options.....lol

[frankencat]

Im using an IR with the Brit 2204 but it sounds great with the Greenback 25 cab and a 160 ribbon at 2.5". Low cut around 110 and high cut from 8.8k to 10.6k depending on how you like it. I feed a compressor into the front and it it my go-to sound.

[JimGordon]

One thing a lot of people seem to agree on is that the Brit 2204 model seems to have noticeably more gain than the real thing.  Now, coming from the RP1000, where it seemed the JCM800, among other models, was UNDER-gained, I have no problem with this- it just means that for less saturated sounds (e.g. 80s Queensryche), you need to be in the bottom half of the drive range, and then maybe use a light overdrive or booster for solos.  The 2204 mod definitely has more gain than the stock version- I use it when playing something like Helloween circa 1988, although it might be more mushy than what you are looking for.  Cabwise, I actually tend to use the dual cab option (separate block).  Offhand, I can't remember which ones I use the most, but I'd imagine mixes of the greenbacks, blackback, 1960 T75, and the XXL (for brightness!).  Pairing different mics and cabs gives you more frequency range.  As far as alternative amp models, there are a number of good choices- the Cartographer, the SLO (aka Solo), and Placater all have some degree of Marshall DNA somewhere in them, but are different enough to not be "Marshall clones".  Here's a bit of secret sauce I discovered- the Solo Crunch model, paired with a good overdrive pedal model that's "always on", and setting up a footswitch to simply bump the gain on the overdrive. 

[litesnsirens]

Here’s another thing to consider.  I picked this up watching a YouTube vid that was conducting interviews with some of the amp modelling engineers on the Helix project.  The one engineer’s advice was that regarding the amps not behaving like the real thing is to treat it like the real thing.  Most of the time at practice or rehearsal how many of us could actually turn the master on your 100 (or even 50) watt Marshall up to 5?  It would just plain hurt, yet that’s the default setting on a lot of these amps... dial it back to a more reasonable, real life setting like 2.5 or 3 and for me anyway i found that the amp responds a lot more like I would expect if to.  Something to try.

[BBD_123]

16 hours ago, themetallikid said:

1) Is there a reason you prefer one over the other? 

 

A question only you can answer to your own satisfaction...