Marshall Code 25 - surprisingly good fun

Voxman

Went round to friends for dinner last night and tried out a Marshall Code 25 Combo - I'd only tried out the bigger 100w 2x12 previously.  It's a very cute little amp and he had the Marshall bluetooth link set-up on his phone which allowed quick tweaking and patch selection without having to bend down and go through the amps menus.  And it has on-board patch-naming too.

Although it only has a 10" speaker I was actually pleasantly surprised how full it sounded, and whilst no where near the volume and bottom end of its bigger brother, it actually sounded pretty decent and was more than loud enough for home use.  The bluetooth connectivity and ability to play music through it from your phone to jam to actually makes it a lot of fun.  Clearly its not the same as playing a real valve Marshall amp from the perspective of tonal accuracy, dynamics, power and bottom end thump, but the modelling is actually pretty good for what it is and its tones and feel are certainly in the right ball-park. 

Build quality and reliability is suspect though - I've read that software updates seem to be a bit buggy.  And having seen vids of their insides there doesn't seem to be an awful lot there ...and what is there looks cheap and doesn't seem to have been put together that well.  So I wouldn't trust a bigger one for gigs.   But as a small, light home practice amp, or for maybe taking round to friends or a small club for a jam, I can certainly see its appeal.   

zepp76

I bought my best mate one for Christmas, he's only an occasional player so is perfect for him to have a little play now and again. It's a good sounding little amp as long as you aren't expecting pro level tones!

Plectrum

Build quality is perfectly adequate. I've been using my CODE 50 live for close on 2 years now. Never had an issue with it. It happily takes being trundled a mile each way to and from open mike on a folding stack truck each week. I wouldn't throw it out of a 5th floor window and expect it to survive though.

Voxman

Plectrum said:

Build quality is perfectly adequate. I've been using my CODE 50 live for close on 2 years now. Never had an issue with it. It happily takes being trundled a mile each way to and from open mike on a folding stack truck each week. I wouldn't throw it out of a 5th floor window and expect it to survive though.

  Reassuring - but probably not too many amps that would survive that severe a build quality test!

goldtop

Does the backing track sound muffled on these? Wondering if the speaker is guitar-voiced or full-range.

darthed1981

I've played through a Code 25, it's a lot of fun like all it's brethren, and very wee.

Edit: unfortunately though the victim of a recent massive price hike, recently available for £125 it is now £189, and it isn't a match sound-wise for a Katana 50, though it is smaller, and controllable from a phone, which may sway one.

Voxman

goldtop said:xç

Does the backing track sound muffled on these? Wondering if the speaker is guitar-voiced or full-range.

Not muffled and it sounded pretty good.

Voxman

darthed1981 said:

I've played through a Code 25, it's a lot of fun like all it's brethren, and very wee.

Edit: unfortunately though the victim of a recent massive price hike, recently available for £125 it is now £189, and it isn't a match sound-wise for a Katana 50, though it is smaller, and controllable from a phone, which may sway one.

The code is £150 and the Katana 50 is £200. From a fun perspective I think the Code is better 're it's Bluetooth connectivity and patchnaming facility. Also I suspect the Marshall tones are likely to be better.  But I concur the price differential isn't as good as it was and I wouldn't pay £150 for it...but I'd pay £100. It also has some surprisingly nice cleans.

darthed1981

Voxman said:

darthed1981 said:

I've played through a Code 25, it's a lot of fun like all it's brethren, and very wee.

Edit: unfortunately though the victim of a recent massive price hike, recently available for £125 it is now £189, and it isn't a match sound-wise for a Katana 50, though it is smaller, and controllable from a phone, which may sway one.

The code is £150 and the Katana 50 is £200. From a fun perspective I think the Code is better 're it's Bluetooth connectivity and patchnaming facility. Also I suspect the Marshall tones are likely to be better.  But I concur the price differential isn't as good as it was and I wouldn't pay £150 for it...but I'd pay £100. It also has some surprisingly nice cleans.

I'd buy a Code 25 for £100 any day of the week agreed.

Plectrum

darthed1981 said:

Edit: unfortunately though the victim of a recent massive price hike, recently available for £125 it is now £189,

£153 at PMT.  Which is about what it's been for a long, long time.

darthed1981

Plectrum said:

darthed1981 said:

Edit: unfortunately though the victim of a recent massive price hike, recently available for £125 it is now £189,

£153 at PMT.  Which is about what it's been for a long, long time.

I almost bought one for 125 from Amazon last year.

Now 189 on there, glad it can still be had for 153

Voxman

£149.53 from Richtone, and Rattle & Drum.