Marshalls: educate me

BintyTwanger77

Up to now, I have pretty much stubbornly stuck to BF Fender amps, for the cleans and using pedals for filth, and I pretty much know the square root of bugger all about Marshalls, the best models, the ones to avoid, which one has the best clean channel, how they are with mod/delays/reverb, etc.

For my own use, I'm interested in learning about combos, two channels (clean & gain/lead, footswitchable), preferably with an effects loop and possibly with reverb (not essential). Ultimately I would be interested in the one model overall with the best clean and dirt channels, but I appreciate that this is asking the obvious, that tastes will vary, and that looking for this could be a bit of a quest for the holy grail of amps. Grateful for your views. Thanks, all.

ICBM

There aren't any that are good at all those things, that sound good on both channels, and that are well-made and reliable.

If there was I would use one.

earwighoney

BintyTwanger77 said:

Ultimately I would be interested in the one model overall with the best clean and dirt channels

Marshall MG 20. 

crunchman

I'm not sure there are any two channel amps that genuinely sound good on both channels though.

I think you are better off with a good clean channel (Fender Blackface or otherwise) and pedals for dirt.

professorben

@BintyTwanger77 depends entirely what sounds you want, these days the best Marshalls are made by others ( Friedman, Fargen, Wizard etc) but the plexi, JTM45 and JCM800 are the benchmark models in my mind. 

Trying to get a great clean and drive out of a Marshall is a bit like buying a Transit filling with bags of cement and trying to get it round the Nurburg Ring under 10 mins.......

Look at Eric Johnson, he uses Fender for cleans, Marshalls for gain, playing to each Amps natural strengths. 

Jack_

They often manage or organise people, you can find them at places such as race tracks or on some aeroplanes.

HTH.

BintyTwanger77

Jack_ said:

They often manage or organise people, you can find them at places such as race tracks or on some aeroplanes.

HTH.

professorben

https://imgur.com/a/76MDa

Voxman

I realise you might turn up your nose at this, but you could do a lot worse than try out the Marshall CODE amps - OK, they are modelling and the youtube vids varyin quality - but trust me on this, in the flesh they sound very, very good and you can get either a 1x12 or 2x12 combo or even a Head.  Huge tonal rage capturing all the Marshall amp types very well, and with some very good cleans too. Plus, some very nice usable built in effects. 

If you put aside any 'valves only' views you might be very pleasantly surprised.  As with any amp at this price point, a speaker change will give you a big sonic improvement - so try it through an extension cab too to hear the difference.  If I had the space & I didn't already have a DSL401, I'd buy one myself, honestly.  

nick79

crunchman said:

I'm not sure there are any two channel amps that genuinely sound good on both channels though.

Mesa Boogie manage it, but you do pay the extra £££ for it

ChrisCox1994

The Silver Jubilee mini head does ok, the old JCM 800 dual channels were alright, the old DSL50 was my favourite though.

None of them do great cleans and drive though, if you're used to pedal platform amps like the blackface fenders, maybe try a JTM45? A good pedal platform with (obviously) a marshally flavour and great cleans.

ChrisCox1994

or buy a nice uk built marshall clone from one of the fine builders on here, get an AB pedal and run a two amp rig fender for clean, marshall for dirt

ICBM

I honestly think my now-modded TSL122 has good (although maybe not great) clean, great crunch and pretty good lead - but on the downside the reverb is average, the FX loop is poor, there's an annoying switching lag between clean and drive, and it's an unreliable piece of junk. Apart from that it's OK.

Bear in mind this was Marshall's flagship model for more than ten years...

BintyTwanger77

nick79 said:

crunchman said:

I'm not sure there are any two channel amps that genuinely sound good on both channels though.

Mesa Boogie manage it, but you do pay the extra £££ for it

The newer Rectoverb 25W combos look good.

Teetonetal

BintyTwanger77 said:

Up to now, I have pretty much stubbornly stuck to BF Fender amps, for the cleans and using pedals for filth, and I pretty much know the square root of bugger all about Marshalls, the best models, the ones to avoid, which one has the best clean channel, how they are with mod/delays/reverb, etc.

For my own use, I'm interested in learning about combos, two channels (clean & gain/lead, footswitchable), preferably with an effects loop and possibly with reverb (not essential). Ultimately I would be interested in the one model overall with the best clean and dirt channels, but I appreciate that this is asking the obvious, that tastes will vary, and that looking for this could be a bit of a quest for the holy grail of amps. Grateful for your views. Thanks, all.

Brunetti Pleximan - Amazing marshall flavored amp. Had mine a year now and love it.

gubble

The only Marshalls that I can think of that fit this bill are actually solid state or hybrid amps.

The VS65, VS100 and Mosfet (I forget the model).

They look like marshalls, sound like marshalls....

My only other bit of advice is anything made after 1996 will most likely either sound rubbish, set itself on fire or set itself on fire whilst sounding rubbish.

rico

DSL401 with a speaker change to a Classic Lead 80, fresh service and a few choice mods and you are as close as dammit to your requirements.

Aidanspaghetti

crunchman said:

I'm not sure there are any two channel amps that genuinely sound good on both channels though.

I think you are better off with a good clean channel (Fender Blackface or otherwise) and pedals for dirt.

Friedman Smallbox.
No doubt about it

gearaddict

Well, I always liked my DSL50 and it ticks a lot of the OP's boxes. Two footswitchable channels, with a couple of modes on each. It doesn't get a lot of love on here but it's a popular choice and widely used. Used to be, anyway. Might be worth a look.

ICBM

gearaddict said:

Well, I always liked my DSL50 and it ticks a lot of the OP's boxes. Two footswitchable channels, with a couple of modes on each. It doesn't get a lot of love on here but it's a popular choice and widely used. Used to be, anyway. Might be worth a look.

Not available as a combo, except for a very rare limited edition. I would say it's debatable as to whether it's a true two-channel amp too, since it has a shared EQ.

The DSL401 does have two true channels though.

Grunfeld

I got on really well with my JVM 410.
It was pretty simple for me:  It just felt like four Marshalls in one head.  A vintage voiced one (which I liked clean), a crunch classic rock one, and two higher gain models.
I absolutely loved the two master volumes.  I had the first set to evenly balance the volume from each of the four channels; the second MV was my boost for solos.  And with 100W of Marshall you can boost as much as you like; your ears would break before it ran out of headroom.
The foot controller was great too because you could customise it (and I did!).

Yep, it's up for sale (see sig) but that's because I no longer need it and, of course, it ain't exactly lunch box sized.  If I went back to that sort of band band I'd get another JVM in a heartbeat.