$499.00 Original price was: $499.00.$275.00Current price is: $275.00.
– an amp designer/technician who worked in the Los Angeles area in the 1980s. His Metalhead Electronics modifications were primarily applied to Marshall amps, particularly JCM800s and Plexi/Super Lead-type circuits.
The basic idea was to take a Marshall that already had a great aggressive tone and add additional preamp gain stages inside the amplifier rather than simply hitting it with a distortion pedal.
On some versions, the added circuit could be switched in and out. With the mod engaged, you could get dramatically more gain while retaining the characteristic Marshall attack. One documented version adds two gain stages and places them into the circuit before the cathode follower.
The result is roughly:
Stock Marshall → extra gain stages → much more saturation → tight, aggressive high-gain tone
Many versions also incorporated:
This is where the mod becomes especially interesting.
used a Memran-modified Marshall, and the sound became strongly associated with Fear Factory’s early records, particularly Demanufacture.
That extremely tight, mechanical, aggressive rhythm tone is one of the reasons the Memran mod has become so sought-after. Contemporary owners specifically describe these amps as capable of the tight, percussive sound associated with Demanufacture.
The interesting thing is that it’s not just “more gain.”
A normal JCM800 pushed with a Tube Screamer, for example, gets more saturation by boosting the amp’s existing input. Memran’s approach fundamentally changes the preamp architecture.
That’s why people describe these amps as having a very distinctive combination of:
high gain + tight lows + aggressive mids + fast attack + lots of saturation
And they’re extremely rare. Original 1980s Memran-modified Marshalls turn up occasionally, but they’re much less common than the better-known Jose-modified Marshalls or later Friedman-style modifications. Recent examples have been offered for several thousand dollars.
There’s also an interesting modern development: Memran’s work is now being offered in new forms, including a current Metalhead circuit and external modification system intended to reproduce the original concept.
Elan Memran’s famous Metalhead mod was a modification to Marshall amps that added extra preamp gain stages, giving them much more gain, saturation, tightness, and aggressive attack.
It became especially famous through Dino Cazares / Fear Factory, contributing to that tight, brutal Demanufacture-era tone.
Basically:
Marshall → Memran mod → more gain + tighter lows + aggressive metal tone.
It’s also very rare and collectible today.
