I have had this JCM-1H for three months now and I am very happy with it.
I am running it into the Celestion Elite GH-50 12" speaker which comes in my Egnater Tweaker 40 Combo.
The amp delivers what it says on the tin - modern overdrive.
In 1 watt mode, it is significantly less loud that my 15 watt Tweaker. I can take it to 6 and 6 on the gain and master volume in the house.
To give you an idea of how loud this is, it's loud enough to make the neighbours get in their car and drive off to get some peace and quiet. But it's not loud enough to make the wood in our staircase/the windows vibrate.
I tend to play clean/properly for a hour or so then switch to the Marshall for ten minutes of self indulgence :)
I have also used the 0.1 watt mode. In certain settings this can be useful. For example, I used the JCM-1 as a preamp running it into the FX return on my combo and this worked okay. In theory then you could run in into your stomp boxes and get round the lack of FX loop.
It is also useful if you don't fancy playing so loud. The tone can get a fizzy at very low volumes on 0.1 watt.
But I can get whey better overdrive on this that on my Tweaker because the sweet spot is that much lower.
I would also say this is a much better amp that the Class 5 if you're looking for modern distortion. I demo'd one in the shop and that lack of master volume was a problem.
I tend to avoid the Jubilee mode. I find it a little too over the top, a bit muddy. Perhaps it would suit different guitars better. I use play an Epiphone SG with SD pups. But it is a nice feature to have.
Build quality on the unit is outstanding. It's nice to have the 'finshed by' sticker on there. To me that's a sign of geniune pride. All the knobs are solid. Definately up there with the top end Marshalls being made today. I'd find it difficult to part with it for this reason. It looks awesome.
Before the 50th range was announced I was considering a second hand JCM 800, but I used to have a 40 watt DSL 401, and I could never get that above 3 at rehersals and for home use it was at 1.5. So I knew I'd have the same issue with the 50 watt JCM 800 and when I heard about this bad boy, I was counting down the months. So I admit to a certain degree of Marshall bias in advance!
But, I'm giving this unit 4 stars. The reason it's not 5 is due to the lack of FX loop. But I think it is kind of a unique offering, so if you really want the JCM 800 sound, it would be a 5 for you.
