Marshall 20/20 EL84 Power amp ?

siraxeman

Anyone used one....20w per side stereo - how loud is that? Plenty loud for a typical pub gig ? Or will it only be loud enough dirty and no real cleans at "over the top of the drummer" volumes ? Thinking of bidding on one on ebay but a little unsure if it will have enough guts to it, if it does great - its smaller and lighter (being only 1u) than the Marshall 50/50 etc

sweepy

Plenty loud enough though they do get very hot, look out for a noisy fan and clean out the fan blow route. 

Danny1969

I gig'ed one for about 2 years .... I found it loud enough but I was mic'ed up. Mine vented from the side so got too hot until I cut a hole in the side of my rack

Currently use the EL34 100 \ 100 .... now that is heavy !!

FelineGuitars

I have a Marshall 9100 50/50 dual monobloc in a full aluminium flightcase for sale £395 or good offer
Only ever been used at home though and barely used for the last 6 years as I have many amps.
I also have the 20/20 you speak of and I like it a lot - it's plenty loud for me to use at home ...the 9100 is a bit louder
Here it is on top of some of my rack preamps

drwiddly

I got one fairly cheap last year. I wanted a lighter valve power amp for my Axe fx and it seemed like a good option. As mentioned above, mine vents from the side so I've had to drill a few holes in the side of my rack.

The first gig I did with it, I thought I'd need it about half up with the Axe about the same,, leaving me headroom on the Axe's volume, if needed. When I hit the first chord it nearly took my head off! I play in a loud rock band with a loud drummer but in the end I had the 20/20 on 10 o'clock and the Axe on about 11 o'clock and it was plenty loud enough. Unless you play in a Motörhead tribute, doing large halls and you're not miced up, you'll be fine.

Plenty of clean headroom but it does get hot so venting must be unobstructed and best to leave an empty rack space above it.

Sassafras

FelineGuitars said:

I have a Marshall 9100 50/50 dual monobloc in a full aluminium flightcase for sale £395 or good offer
Only ever been used at home though and barely used for the last 6 years as I have many amps.
I also have the 20/20 you speak of and I like it a lot - it's plenty loud for me to use at home ...the 9100 is a bit louder
Here it is on top of some of my rack preamps

Your 'home' must be absolutely massive!

ThePrettyDamned

FelineGuitars said:

I have a Marshall 9100 50/50 dual monobloc in a full aluminium flightcase for sale £395 or good offer
Only ever been used at home though and barely used for the last 6 years as I have many amps.
I also have the 20/20 you speak of and I like it a lot - it's plenty loud for me to use at home ...the 9100 is a bit louder
Here it is on top of some of my rack preamps

Christ, I'd *love* to hear that in action. 

digitalscream

I gigged with a 20/20 (fed by an Eleven Rack) for a while - believe me, it's plenty loud enough for pub gigs. Bear in mind that it can only run stereo (or dual mono), though, so you'll at least need a cab with two isolated inputs. You can't run it bridged, to my knowledge.

Funkfingers

siraxeman said:

Anyone used one....20w per side stereo - how loud is that? Plenty loud for a typical pub gig ?

Hell, yeah. 

Obviously, the efficiency of your loudspeakers has some bearing on the final sound pressure level. 

I have never owned the Marshall 20:20 but I do have its nearest MESA/Boogie equivalent. Similar heat dissipation issues and cooling fan noise. Almost inevitable with seven valves, arranged horizontally, inside a 1U rack case, with just a titchy extractor fan.

FelineGuitars

digitalscream said:

I gigged with a 20/20 (fed by an Eleven Rack) for a while - believe me, it's plenty loud enough for pub gigs. Bear in mind that it can only run stereo (or dual mono), though, so you'll at least need a cab with two isolated inputs. You can't run it bridged, to my knowledge.

Lee - my 20/20 is your old one- I bought it from you .

Still sounds great - one fan is a bit noisy on startup but calms down aftr a few minutes.

siraxeman

digitalscream said:

I gigged with a 20/20 (fed by an Eleven Rack) for a while - believe me, it's plenty loud enough for pub gigs. Bear in mind that it can only run stereo (or dual mono), though, so you'll at least need a cab with two isolated inputs. You can't run it bridged, to my knowledge.

Yeah I'm aware of that but my HB 2x12 cab (V30's) can be run as a stereo cab. Watched an ELO tribute band (ELO Experience) and their guitarist was running one of these with a JMP-1 and a G Major 2 - sounded great, filled up the venue but of course he was mic'd up and through a very decent PA system...

digitalscream

FelineGuitars said:

digitalscream said:

I gigged with a 20/20 (fed by an Eleven Rack) for a while - believe me, it's plenty loud enough for pub gigs. Bear in mind that it can only run stereo (or dual mono), though, so you'll at least need a cab with two isolated inputs. You can't run it bridged, to my knowledge.

Lee - my 20/20 is your old one- I bought it from you .

Still sounds great - one fan is a bit noisy on startup but calms down aftr a few minutes.

Ah yes, I forgot! Damn senility...

Glad it's still working out for you

siraxeman said:

digitalscream said:

I gigged with a 20/20 (fed by an Eleven Rack) for a while - believe me, it's plenty loud enough for pub gigs. Bear in mind that it can only run stereo (or dual mono), though, so you'll at least need a cab with two isolated inputs. You can't run it bridged, to my knowledge.

Yeah I'm aware of that but my HB 2x12 cab (V30's) can be run as a stereo cab. Watched an ELO tribute band (ELO Experience) and their guitarist was running one of these with a JMP-1 and a G Major 2 - sounded great, filled up the venue but of course he was mic'd up and through a very decent PA system...

I used mine in a pub gig with a 2x12" (with less-efficient speakers than V30s) and it was easily loud enough to get over our obnoxiously loud drummer without assistance from the PA. You won't have any problems.

siraxeman

@felineguitars how do all those preamps compare? Do you stack em all like a long line of metalzones on a pedal board all on at once on full gain? ;-)

FelineGuitars

No - always only one at a time - it's just like a huge sonic buffet where you can pick and choose what you want to play at any given time.
That's why I have the rack mixer so whichever preamp I plug into can then feed into FX and power amp and on to speaker cabs.

siraxeman

be interested to hear your views on how they compare to one another - espesh compared to the old 'industry standard' jmp-1.

Danny1969

I had the Kitty Hawk one in the early nineties but can't remember what it sounded like ... got the JMP-1 now, always fancied the ADA

siraxeman

Whats a reasonable price for one of these 20/20 PA's  ? The one I was watching ended without reaching its reserve price..went up to £258 but no sale (well unless the winning bidder ups his offer privately to the sellerer)

Danny1969

I sold mine for £340 which is more than I paid for it new ! 

siraxeman

old discontinued marshall stuff - priced mad - like them original Blues Breaker, ShredMaster and Guv'nor pedals...£45 each new back in the day! Now look what they bring.....

professorben

@icbm is that 20/20 still at your gaff?

They were asking £299+ postage about 6 months ago.