Am I the only person who just doesn't get Marshalls?

Gassage

The only one I like is the 6100.

The rest sound awful (to my ears) fizzy, look cheap, feel cheaply made and simply don't have the same tonal response of Fenders and Hiwatts.

Am I missing something here?

Zodiac51

1, no. 2, yes.

Surely there must be some music from the last 50 years that you like the guitar tone from? There is a significant statistical probability it was recorded with a Marshall.

xSkarloey

Honestly, as someone who's just rejoined the Marshall owners' club, when they get it right they get it absolutely bang on.

Blackstar say they help you get "the sound in your head" but a good Marshall will get you the sound in your head, the sounds you didn't know you had in you and the sounds in your record collection.

Gassage

Hmmmm- the sound I hear is that of a Twin Reverb or a Hiwatt, always.

I guess things like the DSL TSL and JCM900's are enough to put anyone off.

But they've always seemed really cheaply made compared to others.....

sweepy

I never got the JCM 800/900 sound , horribly thin and honky to my ears, though I have a 9100 in my rack, but thats a whole different beast tbh .

Misty

I've never got what I call a good sound from a Marshall, so I've never owned one. Other players sound great through them, but not me. For me over the years it's been Peavey (really!), Boogie, Fender, and now Dr. Z. I'd love to sound good through a Marshall, but I don't.

lustycourtier

I had a 1962 jtm45, currently a 6101 and have had many others, but apart from them Ive never liked the sound for me. They sound great for others, but not for me. 

57Deluxe

@Gassage - you mean this sounds tonally unresponsive??

Deijavoo

Is it the tone you don't like as in ballpark, and do you like the new Bogner/Friedman taks on that sound? 

Richardj

Definitely not the only one.  There are classic rock tracks I love that could only have been created with a moderately cooking Marshall behind them.  Unfortunately I find the clean tone just cannot come anywhere near a Fender etc.  Personally I would like to start with that warm clean tone and then dirty things up to suit.  They just seem like a bit of a one trick pony.  Want rock, get Marshall, Want clean or warm crunchy, get Fender etc.  

Gassage

I did love the 6101 for that reason- the clean channel is jaw-droppingly good and the circuitry brilliant.

I am thinking of puling the trigger on the one in the classifieds, as it'll complement my Twinolux to a tee in terms of a tonal mix.

But I like chime- think Johnny Marr, Young, Manazanera, Gill, Gilmour.....

However, they run hot and are complex. Tonally great, as is the 2550, but a lot utterly suck and, I really would love to know if others agree, look so cheaply made.




(calling @ICBM??)

richardhomer

I made a similar comment in another thread; Marshalls don't work for me.

I find the cleans 'stiff' and the drive tones too 'fizzy'.

There are plenty of players who sound fantastic through them - but I'm not one of them.

digitalscream

Zodiac51 said:

1, no. 2, yes.

Surely there must be some music from the last 50 years that you like the guitar tone from? There is a significant statistical probability it was recorded with a Marshall.

Thing is, what you're hearing on the records is a Marshall tone that's been processed all over the place before it ends up in the mix. At that point, you could get almost any amp of similar gain levels and still have it sound almost exactly the same.

I don't get Marshalls either. None of them work for me, at all; at least none of the ones I've tried (JCM800, DSL, TSL, JVM, Haze), whereas my £230 Jet City is perfect. Each to their own, I guess, but one of the most annoying things I see regularly is where you've got a band with two guitarists, both of whom are playing a Les Paul into a JCM800 at almost identical settings...then they wonder why it sounds like mush.

It's pretty rare that you find that kind of behaviour with any other amp brand.

timmysoft

I love Marshall's but I do find their core tone a bit too familiar. At one point in my old band, both me and the lead guitarist had marshall stacks (a dsl and a 900) but even with our different eq settings, playing styles and guitars the core tone was just too close and the band sounded smaller.

Danny1969

The fizzyness goes at higher volume, the whole amp sounds better at high volume, a big stage and a cranked Marshall is a superb sound. In the late Eighties everybody used cranked Marshalls, my band used 4 x 4 x 12" for the 2 guitars in pubs and no one batted an eyelid. 

But you don't wanna be doing that now and there are amps that sound much better at lower volumes so it makes sense to use them if they are affordable.  I still use Marshall in my main band, it's a good enough working crunch sound that can sound like VH or GnR and I just don't care enough to wanna buy a Diezel or Cornish or whatever the current in vogue amp is 

jeztone2

I always used Marshalls from age 20 to 41. I like the DSL & TSL & yes I know they could be better made, but my modern ones spent less time on a repairmans workbench than my Jubilee and Artiste combo s ever did. But then I bought a TSL100 combo to replace my head & it was a dog. I think the problem is, in order to survive, its mass built. But I still want one of those 18 watt combos and I still want a 1987x head.... I guess we are all different.

Gassage

I do think the point about cranking is a key one. That I get more.

Cacofonix

57Deluxe said:

@Gassage - you mean this sounds tonally unresponsive??

He sounds exactly the same through a 1963 vox.  That said, it does sound quite good, although it is attenuated.

matone

I think Marshalls only sound great doing loud,that`s where they excell,turned down the lose a bit.

Si_

Love marshals.. tried all sorts of things but I always return to that marshall tone (or a hot rod custom version).

Cacofonix

Interesting to hear how it plays nice with that Hendrix-y stuff, and the sag bringing notes in gently, but sounds awful with the neck pickup on the Les Paul.

IMHO it needs a singlecoil to take out the midrange woof, but needs a bridge humbucker to take it into saturation.  It's the sort of amp which can only play in certain games, but within those spheres is very nice.  I liked the sound of that Park, but couldn't find a decent review of the JTM45 that went on here earlier.

Needs reverb.

I like the review of the Bluesbreaker as well with the Doug and Pat show.