NAD: Marshall Code 25

andyp

I know these have had a mixed reception from folk, but I've been contemplating a Code 25 for a few months as an upgrade to my Blackstar ID:Core 10. My home / work arrangements mean that the kit I play most (DSL 5 and SG Faded) is up at work so I was only using the wee Blackstar at weekends and mostly at night once the kids are in bed, so a small portable modelling amp fits the bill well. But I began to fall out with it over the course of this year as it just never sounded quite as I wanted and I can't stand the ISF thing, which is the only tone knob on the model I have.

The Codes were on backorder for ages through the summer when I first looked for one, but I saw them appearing in places in autumn although I sort of wrote them off and decided to stick with the Blackstar. That was until I stumbled over them online yesterday going for £139 at Merchant City Music in Glasgow...

I decided to go and check one out today and (predictably) I was impressed by it and promptly bought one. Having had a play about with it for a couple of hours this afternoon, I'm absolutely delighted. It's a fair step up in my view to the Blackstar on all fronts. It sounds great and now I've cracked the Bluetooth connectivity (which was a faff somehow), I've got my head around how to adjust the settings etc. It's got more options than I know what to do with at the moment though. The 100 factory presets is total overkill, a fair few are no use for me but there are a good few (25-30ish) that sound cracking straight away and I'd be happy playing them exactly as they are. How the actual models compare to the "real" amps though, I can't say, but all the ones I've tried sound superb and noticeably different when you change a setting.

I set one patch up from scratch and it's incredible how many options are in there. Size-wise the Code is a bit bigger all round but still ideal for moving around the house, although it's noticeably heavier. Build feels great, and there's a serious beef to the sound that the Blackstar just hasn't got (but in fairness, the Code is more than double the output).

At £139 it feels like a bargain. Merchant City Music were great too and they've got a huge range of Reverend guitars (I played a lovely Sensei to test the amp).

Andy

https://i.imgur.com/rLCFxE7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/KrajUyc.jpg

Plectrum

I think you did well getting it for under RRP this time of year. I've been gigging the 50 for about 5 months now and it really suits my needs. You've no doubt already found that most of the presets are pretty rubbish (geared towards 12 year olds). There's a whole set of basic amp models from about preset 25 to 70ish which are a good starting point to making your own. Just be aware that in most of them the noise gate/threshold is set way to high. My advice when creating your own preset is to set the noise gate to zero initially then set it at the end The speaker needs breaking in too but that's just a case of playing through it a lot - hardly a hardship

Voxman

Personally I think these are great sounding amps & IMO knocks the Blackstar ID's into a cocked hat (I was very, very disappointed with the 1x12 ID60 TVP which was massively over-hyped).  I tried the Code 50 several months back & was very impressed with it.  

Normally, on 'regular amps' I prefer controls facing front for ease of access (I have limited space and can't stack anything on a top control amp).  However, as combos are normally sited on the floor, I understand that Marshall did this because of the LCD display and edit buttons which are much easier to see and access from the top - and to be fair my Valvetronix AD120VTX and our other guitarist's Mustang III have top controls with LED/LCD displays too & I concur that side mounted controls just wouldn't have worked as well with that type of control and display lay out.  

The Blackstar ID60TVP has front controls, but it has no LCD display.  Standing on the floor it was awkward to see all the buttons/knobs clearly - I put it in a chair to try it out, mainly to access the controls and tweak more easily.

The Code 100H Head has side controls because this will normally be mounted on top of a 4x12 cab, so will be higher off the ground when front controls make more sense - & with a double cab, top controls would be too high.  So there is some logic & thought to the control positions. 

andyp

Thanks for the comments guys. I agree completely with you both.

This is my first encounter with a noise gate and I noticed it was set to full (or very close) on the couple of presets I went in to investigate. I'm not quite sure what a gate does, but I'm going to look into it and probably remove it from any custom settings I edit. 

The Code 25s seem to be dropping to £139-£149 in a few places now, so I'm wondering if they're not selling or something. I know that recent Anderton's shootout shows how many other options are out there and I thought the Code 50 came out of that really badly, but I'm so glad I went and tried one. The price made it a no brainer really. I'd been looking at the Katana 50 instead after seeing the YouTube demos and internet comments, but when I looked at them it's not what I was after. Much larger and simpler but basically just a newer / better version of the Blackstar.

With regard to the top mounted controls, it suits my needs better this way as the amp sits on the floor of my home office or living room so it's much easier for me to adjust them and see what's happening.

Marshall seem to get a really hard time from the Internet public, but I love my DSL 5 and already think this wee Code is going to be fantastic.

Plectrum

Looking around the net it seems that a few retailers have the 25 at £139 in their sales. 50s are on sale at under £220 as well.

ICBM

I thought the Code sounded the best in that Andertons shoot-out, so it just shows how we hear things differently!

I understand about the top-mounted controls for home use when the amp is on the floor, but I still don't really like it. If they're going to be on the top they then need to be at the front like the Fender Mustang, but I understand why Marshall didn't do that either because it just looks wrong .

I know this is very shallow but I think the Marshall just looks a bit cheap, too - but if it had basketweave (or even plain straw) grille cloth with a white or gold piping around it, it would look stunning… I can't believe Marshall didn't do that, as it would cost them almost nothing (or exactly nothing, if it was just a different coloured cloth).

But I'm still very tempted… I'm seriously wondering how difficult it would be to change the cloth! And fit gold handle ends too.

I'm not far from Merchant City Music when I'm at work so I'll see if I have time to pop round .

Voxman

ICBM said:

I thought the Code sounded the best in that Andertons shoot-out, so it just shows how we hear things differently!

I understand about the top-mounted controls for home use when the amp is on the floor, but I still don't really like it. If they're going to be on the top they then need to be at the front like the Fender Mustang, but I understand why Marshall didn't do that either because it just looks wrong .

I know this is very shallow but I think the Marshall just looks a bit cheap, too - but if it had basketweave (or even plain straw) grille cloth with a white or gold piping around it, it would look stunning… I can't believe Marshall didn't do that, as it would cost them almost nothing (or exactly nothing, if it was just a different coloured cloth).

But I'm still very tempted… I'm seriously wondering how difficult it would be to change the cloth! And fit gold handle ends too.

I'm not far from Merchant City Music when I'm at work so I'll see if I have time to pop round .

I thought it sounded good in that shoot out too.  What impressed me when I tried the Code 50 (and I did avoid the 'overdone' factory presets and tweaked tones manually) was how good the cleans were (in a typical Marshall edgy clean way, which I like), how good the lighter/mid crunches were (very hard to get right with modeling amps) and how harmonically rich the amp sounded with good but not excessive bottom end.  I realise Marshall purists will turn their nose up at it, but I love Marshalls and I would gig with the Code in a heartbeat.  And the effects are pretty good too - fairly basic by modern MFX standards, but the essentials are all there and all very usable. 

I'd like to try the Code100 through a 4x12 (or even full stack) - from what I hear it's blindingly good and for someone looking for a range of different Marshall tones, reports suggest that through Marshall cabs, you'd struggle to tell very much difference from the originals.  

We'll have to see how reliability holds up though, although seems to be pretty good so far.  Incidentally, Music Radar gave the Code 50 a 5 star review too, so we're not the only ones that really like it.  

http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/guitars/marshall-code50-637963

Looks wise I fully agree with you ICBM - the plain grey look makes it look like a hi-fi speaker, not a Marshall.  I'm not sure I could be bothered to change the speaker grill material but I'm right with you that a classic basket weave would have looked a lot better.

And as the review rightly says, you do need the PEDL-91009 for live use - and at under £40 it's actually offered at a pretty fair price I think.  

andyp

Thanks for the comments guys, it's interesting hearing how you guys see / hear these amps too.

I think I might be a bit of a Marshall fanboy, but after a bit more dabbling last night I really love this amp. I managed to sell my Blackstar 10 in less than 24hrs to a local guy via Gumtree so that was handy.

My old man had a quick blast of the Code when my folks were here yesterday and seemed to be impressed. It sounds a lot better when he plays it than when I do though.

I had a play through the headphones last night too and it sounded brilliant. I don't know why, but the Blackstar sounded crap via the headphones - nothing like it did "out loud", not even close in fact. The Code doesn't seem to suffer from that, it was spot on. I play a lot at night so it's handy to have this option.

monquixote

All the demos I've heard sound a bit rubbish, but it should be good as the people that created it made a really great pluggin. 

I agree that the ID doesn't sound half as good through headphones.

andyp

The demo's didn't sound too great to me either, which is why I was so glad I went and tried one. I fully expected to be disappointed and return home with my cash still in my wallet.

If anyone's interested in the Code amps, I'd really recommend going and trying one out.

timmysoft

I tried the 50w and thought it was great! Practice amps have come a long way, especially in the last 5 years.

andyp

This is a pretty good demo of the 25... It's overly long really and bit too metally, but you can skip to the sections he's listed in the description. My favourite model so far with mine is the JTM45 and that's the same in this video. And when I've heard demo's of the real JTM45 I prefer them to other models too. Interesting.

Voxman

andyp said:

This is a pretty good demo of the 25... It's overly long really and bit too metally, but you can skip to the sections he's listed in the description. My favourite model so far with my is the JTM45 and that's the same in this video. And when I've heard demo's of the real JTM45 I prefer them to other models too. Interesting.

I've not yet heard a decent demo of this amp - and unfortunately this one is no exception.  What the Code is really good at is lower gain Marshall 'harmonic' crunch tones and that just doesn't come across.  Although some of the cleans came through reasonably well, all the thrash/metal stuff made it sound horrible - and it really isn't.  

Marshall, if you're looking in - loan me a Code 50 & I'll do a demo!  

andyp

I do agree that the demo's are all missing a trick so far. It's much better in the flesh than it is in any demo I've seen.

This is really surprising to be honest. You'd think YouTube would be flooded with superb demo's of these amps.

Andy

Voxman

andyp said:

I do agree that the demo's are all missing a trick so far. It's much better in the flesh than it is in any demo I've seen.

This is really surprising to be honest. You'd think YouTube would be flooded with superb demo's of these amps.

Andy

It is surprising - but just found this one which isn't bad - but I'd like to see one (might need 2-3) going through all the amp models, cab models, effects and different gain levels. 

ICBM

Voxman said:

What the Code is really good at is lower gain Marshall 'harmonic' crunch tones and that just doesn't come across.

That is exactly what I want an amp for, so that's very good information indeed. I also use Marshally clean sounds, and in that big Anderton's shoot-out the Code had by far the best clean sound, to me.

Voxman said:

Marshall, if you're looking in - loan me a Code 50 & I'll do a demo!  

Marshall, if you're looking in - make a nicer-looking version of this with basketweave grille cloth and piping, a vintage-style handle with brass ends, and I will probably buy it. I could even live with the top-mounted controls if it looked more like the Acton bluetooth speaker.

Voxman

And although in Japanese, this one's not bad either:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9N2mL2gAaw

andyp

Cheers for these videos guys.

I'm also into the crunch tones and cleans. To me it's got these nailed.

Rock_Zorro

My only experience with digital modelling has been a Digitech RP multi-effects unit played through a pair of active monitors. I never managed to get on with it because what it offered sounded fake, pretend and toy-like compared to analogue amplification.

I know the high end digital modellers are supposedly getting rather good now (I recently saw an Andertons video where they couldn’t identify the modeller against a valve amp) but what about these cheaper digital practice amps like the Code 25? Have they started to sound more real? 

Voxman

Rock_Zorro said:

My only experience with digital modelling has been a Digitech RP multi-effects unit played through a pair of active monitors. I never managed to get on with it because what it offered sounded fake, pretend and toy-like compared to analogue amplification.

I know the high end digital modellers are supposedly getting rather good now (I recently saw an Andertons video where they couldn’t identify the modeller against a valve amp) but what about these cheaper digital practice amps like the Code 25? Have they started to sound more real? 

Yes - the Code is very good (bearing in mind its price point) and is much better sounding than things like the Blackstar ID series (over-hyped IMO).  But the CODE of course focuses solely on Marshall Models - so if you want something that covers a wider range of amp models you might prefer something else.The Fender Mustangs are good modelling amps with (as you'd expect) some nice Fender models.  I haven't yet heard the latest generation of Vox Valvetronix and AV amps, but reports of those has been very good too. 

I'm not a fan of Digitech modelling to be honest.  I tried the RP500 and as you say, it sounded a bit artificial.  I also didn't take to the amp modelling in the Boss GT100 (a bit too digital still).  The Line 6 PodHD500x modelling is good, but I hated the unit - awkward to use and noisy.  

Although old tech now my Valvetronix AD120VTX and Tonelab SE/LE still sounds better than much of the new stuff and I currently gig with the TLSE.  They may not be technically as 'accurate' modelling wise but they sound great in a live gigging environment and feel much more like a real amp.   I'm not counting high end gear such as AxFx, Line 6 Helix, or Kemper which are all reported to be staggeringly good and class leaders, as these are in a different price league.  

andyp

To my Rookie ears, the Code is next generation compared to my version 1 ID:Core. It's no contest to be honest.

I should caveat this a wee bit... my experience is limited and I really like Marshall tones. So maybe I have an inbuilt bias.