Modern Sound For Your Classic. The leading manufacturer of replacement audio equipment for the restoration marketplace. The Marshall Vintage Modern 2266 is a 50-watt combo tube amp. I might buy this model, as it seems to fit all my needs. Can I get away with barely cranking on the volume in an apartment setting for practice? I know the thing will probably sound horrible at the lowest volume setting, but I want to do some FX work on it and I've read it's a great.
Hi folks,I got a VM 2266 fairly cheap on eBay but I did not really like the sound. Sounds too thin on 'detail' and just muddy on 'body'. Mixing both gives a thin but muddy sound ...
Power amp clipping sounded poor, farting noises, some 'ghosting', etc. After some comparisons with my old Marshalls I really would critisize the 2266 being just crap.
But the schematic shows a nice basis for modding, being very close to a JTM45 with linked inputs and switchable extra 2nd gain stage like 2204. I did a conversion to EL34 too, because I got another amp I did not like, a DSL50 tuned with a Mercury Axiom OT. I put the Dagnall from the 2266 along the KT66 into the DSL and sold the bunch luckily for the same money I paid for the DSL before...
(BTW, the KT66 were a big improvement to the DSL, make it less boomy and edgy, adding more organic mids...)
The mods getting the circuit of the VM very close to a JTM/JMP preamp, switching in the V2 getting it very close to the 2204. The differences are still the PPIMV (I pulled it too, not described below...), V2 being both triodes parallel (you can cut the socket legs on pin 1,2,3). The mid boost switch is now a gain boost for the extra stage
That´s what I did, all the work is just on the preamp board, pull tubes, a couple of connectors, 2 screws, unscrew the pots and input jack - 1 hour, conversion done...
The tonal results are VERY nice
Treble Channel:
Replace C1, 220nF with 0,68uF, SoZo
Replace C2, 1nF with 22nF, SoZo
Replace C5, 330pF with 470pF Ceramic
Replace R4, 1K5 with 820R
Normal Channel:
Replace C3, 22nF with 22nF, SoZo
Remove R8
Remove R9, add 470K, link from input R8 to output R9
Replace C6 with link wire
Remove C7
Remove R88
Hi Gain:
Remove C8, 1n
Remove C9, 1uF
Replace C11, 1nF with 22nF, SoZo
Bridge R14, 470K with 470pF Ceramic
Replace R13, 1K5 with 10K
Add R 10K from Input R9 to Ground
Tone Stack:
Replace C14, 22nF with 22nF, SoZo
Replace C15, 22nF with 22nF, SoZo
EL34 Conversion:
Replace OT
Replace R67, 150K with 220K
EL34 Svetlana -C-
Biased @ 43mA
See pix for reference, have fun...