While Marshall had achieved success with amplifiers like the
JTM45 and
Super Lead, which had become the preferred amplifiers of numerous famous guitarists, Marshall's ability to offer reasonably-priced amps abroad was hamstrung by the company's distributor Rose-Morris adding a 55% price increase to exported models.
Jim Marshall was eager to launch a new product line when his distribution deal with Rose-Morris expired in 1981, and he chose to first rebrand one of the company's existing amplifiers, the 100-watt, "Master Volume" series JMP 2203. While the internal circuitry remained the same, the JMP 2203 was given a cosmetic makeover: black vinyl replaced the grill cloth, white piping was added, the control panel stretched the width of the chassis, and the
Marshall logo was enlarged. Jim Marshall was at first unsure what to call this new amp, rejecting all the initial suggestions as "dreadful," before deciding to use his car's license plate number, "JCM800." "JCM" stood for Marshall's own initials—James Charles Marshall—while "800" on the other hand was meaningless but coincided with the new decade of the 1980s. In 1990, the JCM800 series was discontinued in favor of the JCM900 series, which Marshall had designed to offer more gain in response to many JCM800 owners having their amps modded when brought in for other repairs. Compared to JCM800s, JCM900s were brighter and had less low end and midrange "growl". ==Description==