In Praise of Marshall

Collings

I know Marshall tend to get a fair bit of stick on the forum around their current offerings and  quality however I thought I would share an experience I had with them earlier this week.

I have one of their amps which late on Tuesday night went up in a puff of smoke.

I'm currently in the middle of recording so didn't want to be without it whilst it was being fixed locally so I decided to chance my arm and drove to Marshall and knocked on their door at 8.30am the following day.

I explained my problem and asked if there was anyway they could take a look for me straight away. To my surprise they said they would try given my circumstances but offered no promises. 

I left it with them while I went off on some other business to kill some time and within a couple of hours I received a call saying they had found the problem and sorted it.

As I say I know they get some stick, and quite rightly in some regards, but there customer service was great in this instance and they were just nice people to deal with.

On another note I was talking about Marshall with a local dealer a week or so ago who told me they have now made the decision to cease UK manufacture and all models now are to be made in Vietnam (he said they had brought the facility) as they now just can't compete.

If this is true it is sad from my point of view but I guess the way of the world.

Bygone_Tones

Some Marshall amps are already made in Vietnam, I didn't know they were going to completely upsticks though. Could just be bollocks. What will happen to the museum if they move? They can donate all that vintage old crap to me if they want.

Grunfeld

The drummer's pint ended up inside my Marshall and all the magic smoke escaped.
I took the remains along to Marshall -- it was a true treacle-covered mess -- and they sorted everything quickly.   
Really nice bunch -- they were like, "We've seen this a thousand times before, don't worry.  It'll be fine."
Very reasonable price on the repair too.

Modulus_Amps

Was speaking to an ex Marshall designer at the guitar show, he said that they don't really have a design team anymore, allot of stuff is outsourced.

They have allot of manufacturing equipment in the UK though and allot of skill, so I will be very surprised if all production moves out of the UK, but with rising minimum wage, rising business costs manufacturing any product in the UK is a challenge

Collings

Yes I know some are already made in Vietnam.

I did not go into the reception fully but I did notice through the window that all the displays of old amps that i'd seen in U Tube vids had been removed and there was scaffolding up.

thecolourbox

You could argue if they made amps that didn't blow up to start with....

But fair play to them for sorting

Collings

thecolourbox said:

You could argue if they made amps that didn't blow up to start with....

But fair play to them for sorting

yes your right and I know others seem to have lots of issues and the techs here often point out poor designs but my own experience is  they have been reliable and sometimes its just the nature of the beast.

I've used Marshall pretty much for 35yrs and they include JCM800s, 900s and JVMs and in that time i've only had 2 real failures the first being a dodgy cap in a JCM800 that was new at the time and the current failure so I guess i'm lucky

impmann

TBH, if they are doing that it may just save them. I genuinely hope that they survive as an independent entity, as their legacy/heritage can't be argued with. 
It could be argued (strongly) that if they hadn't pissed all their good people off 15-16years go (when Keith C left, for example), they'd still be a force to be reckoned with and I'm sure the transition to overseas production would have happened sooner to preserve the brand. 
I'd still argue that there is niche for a 'custom shop' type presence in the UK, making the high end reissue stuff, doing mods for the pros (hah, try asking Marshall to mod something for you) and keeping their A&R team firmly rooted here. 

ICBM

It's a shame it's not economical to make the amps in the UK any more, but actually the quality of the Vietnamese ones is higher than the previous UK versions, as well as them being cheaper. It wouldn't surprise me if they do hand-wired ones there too - the labour cost is one of the main reasons they work out expensive, so if anything there may be even larger savings to be made.

It's just the way of the world - in the 19th Century, globalisation meant transferring manufacturing from handwork countries like India and China to the new mass-production factories in the UK, which decimated the industries in those countries and meant that the British simply saw them as a source of raw materials and a ready-made market. The boot is simply on the other foot now.

Collings

Do any of the larger brands make amps in the UK now?

I get the impression Laney don't anymore?

Orange, are the PCBs make outside the UK for the UK assembled models?

AlasdairDavis

A friend of mine had a problem with his Marshall and it was rectified pretty sharpish but it is very disappointing that these companies are upping their manufacturing plants from the UK to other countries.

richardhomer

Vox amps have been 'off-shore' for years, a lot of Fenders (including the highly regarded 68 Custom range) are built in Mexico and Blackstar are (were?) made in Korea.

If its true that Marshall are going to build everything in Vietnam, it's a shame - but I doubt anyone would willing pay more for (say) a Samsung TV if it were built in this country. I really don't think these things bother most buyers these days.

FX_Munkee

When I stupidly broke a selector switch on my old 8080 valvestate whilst replacing the scratchy pots. I thought I was going to have to spend ages sourcing a "close enough" replacement, seeing as Marshall surely wouldn't have spares for that.
I rang them anyway, and they said "no problem, we'll bung one in the post to you", no charge!
So they've got good karma from me.



We'll ignore the fact I'm using a Laney currently ...

RiftAmps

The service dept. at Bletchley is one of the best things about Marshall today. I popped in on Wednesday for some spares and had a good long chat with the guys. They are not moving ALL production overseas, but most of it. One guy said that the lease on the massive wave soldering machines isn't up yet and the get out fees are too expensive, so they'll keep using them until such time.

menamestom

I think it gets to a point with companies Like Marshall and Gibson, where they can not compete in the lower price brackets and high volume sales.  They should both just concentrate on their heritage and make top quality reissues to a smaller market.  People buy all kinds of high end Marshall style amps, Marshall just need to make sure they make the best ones and charge for them accordingly.  Scale back and don't bother making Code's and MG shit that dilutes the brand. Plenty of people spend 2k+ on American made Brittish style amps for example,  Marshall should win their own market back.

professorben

In a way I think Marshall are victims of their own success. 

They introduced more affordable amps in a bid to establish a grass roots following, but at the same time cheapened the brand to the point where it no longer was the drool worthy amp of choice.

i can't understand why companies such as Fargen, Friedman, Shur, etc can exist and Marshall are deemed second class........
its right fucking there!!!!!???

just make the best amps money can buy, and people will buy them.