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

koneguitarist · July 2014

I have used Marshalls and Fenders, build quality on old stuff is pretty good on both, as proven by there is so much of it still out there.

Marshalls can get great clean tones, much better than Fender Dirty tones, I used to play in an old country band we all had Marshalls, no problem with clean tones at all.

Clarky · July 2014

I love the JCM800 for funk.. just awesome..

I think what's often missed is that amp / tone choice is about context..

and often the tones that sound best in a mix are not actually those that sound wonderful in isolation..

Si_ · July 2014

+1, the JCM800 or JMP can sound a bit too bright in isolation, but they mix with a band perfectly.

capo4th · July 2014

If only they were reliable....

sted · July 2014

The only thing that bugs me about Marshall is that there seems to be a glut of companies who make them better than they can, Friedman, Bogner, Fargen, Roppolli etc all seem to be having huge success with their pseudo Marshalls whilst Marshall seem intent on making a million shit box MG's.

ToneControl · July 2014

capo4th said:

If only they were reliable....

When he met Jim Marshall in person, an amp repair guy I know told him "thanks for providing me with a living for the last x years"

timmysoft · July 2014

sted said:

The only thing that bugs me about Marshall is that there seems to be a glut of companies who make them better than they can, Friedman, Bogner, Fargen, Roppolli etc all seem to be having huge success with their pseudo Marshalls whilst Marshall seem intent on making a million shit box MG's.

I don't find that at all, the Friedmans sounded grainy, all the bogners I've tried (except the alchemist) sounded bland and then broke and I've not been blown away by the fargens. I think it's pretty hard to beat an 800 and a ts9 for that classic modded marshall tone. Plus there is nowt wrong with MG's, they're a start up amp not to be compared to Marshall's valve lines and for what they are, they do a job well.

Danny1969 · July 2014

I did about 900 gigs in the nineties with a Marshall head and I can't remember anything going wrong ... and that was running the head into a heatsink of wirewound resistors, which I did cos I couldn't afford the Power Break. Back then a used 100 watt head only went for about £120 anyway, people really didn't value em as they wanted to try little GK amps and Boogie combos.

Blackstar seem the most popular choice now for people who like a Marshall-ish tone, looking back atphoto's of rock band recording in my studio there's more Blackstars in the pictures than anything else

Drew_TNBD · July 2014

I'm not just sure how anyone can say that a JCM900 sounds thin. Bonkers. To me they're way too fat and rounded. I did a head to head once with my old Fryette sig X and it was very surprising how much extra oompf the JCM900 had.

I've not played a proper Blackstar. Want to try the Series One one of these days.

koneguitarist · July 2014

I think recently Marshall have had some issues, ie last few years, but we dropped a super Bass 100w head out of the van on the way to a gig once, fell out the side door, stopped went back for it and got to gig was working perfectly.

I have yet to find any boutique maker do an amp that is any better than the old JMP 50 pr 100 from early 70's, no matter what the cost.

Went into Mansons a few years back and they had a 50w plexi head for £1100, mate went into buy a S/H Soldano, compared the two, and even though it was a 50w compared go a 100w the Marshall blew it away in every respect, my mate still bought the pink Soldano! Didn't you @firepaulmusic

midiglitch · July 2014

ToneControl said:

capo4th said:

If only they were reliable....

When he met Jim Marshall in person, an amp repair guy I know told him "thanks for providing me with a living for the last x years"

poor form if you ask me, given that the sounds coming out of the amps Jim Marshall created have brought *a lot* of happiness to *a lot* of people.

I'd agree with whoever said context is everything. If you want the JCM800 pushed by a tubescreamer sound, well nothing else does that as well as a JCM800 pushed by a tubescreamer....

Personally I use a JTM45, and I think the cleans are stellar. I've heard JCM800 cleans and I personally like them a lot.

I sort of get the complaint with the newer amps, but then, I don't play metal so I don't need anything more 'modern' than a jcm800.

ChrisMusic · July 2014

Andy Timmons gets some great cleans and edge of breakup tones.

Using Mesa amps with a mix of Lone Star for the Fender chimey stuff and Stiletto for the Marshall EL34 sounds, including great clean tone.

Take a listen just into the demo, The Prayer & The Answer intro sounds stunning to me, it may not be your thing, but demonstrates how good British type circuitry can do an alternative but excellent sound to add to the colours you play.

edit: Try 0:50 in for clean channel and around 5:40 in for backing off on gain channel for a rather pleasing clean tone.

duration 9:10

He also demos the Loan Star as part of this series on his tones for the Resolution gigs.

ChrisMusic · July 2014

This is - Andy Timmons Lone Star / Stiletto Comparison

duration 4:14

Phil_aka_Pip · July 2014

IMO the only problem with Marshalls is that most of the venues we play in are too small for them. Crank 'em and they're excellent!

ICBM · July 2014

I really like old Marshalls. Non-MV JTMs and JMPs sound great at any volume, including low - although obviously only clean unless they're cranked up, they sound wonderful quiet and take pedals very well.

I also like the MV JMPs - to me the very best dirty Marshalls, better even than the non-MVs. They don't always sound great quiet - they seem to vary - although they certainly don't need to be run flat-out to sound good. Admittedly they do sound *best* at the point the power stage starts to crunch as well... which is very loud, but they also take attenuators well.

Both these sounded really great up to the early 80s. (Although the earliest 2204s aren't as good, until they were brought into line with the 2203.)

The problem is that Marshall have never put both these great circuits into one amp, even though it would be easy. Every time they've tried to build a modern amp they've messed it up and produced something with more gain and more features, but worse tone and build quality. It's as if their own R&D department can't see what's staring them in the face and have no idea what made those old amps great.

Forge · July 2014

I had a JCM800, JTM, JCM2000 (DSL) and they have all been great. The JTM in particular was stellar, the DSL was a peach too. I suppose you either like the Marshall thing or you don't.

Cacofonix · July 2014

ChrisMusic said:

This is - Andy Timmons Lone Star / Stiletto Comparison

duration 4:14

The Deuce Stage I has more of a vintage marshall sound. I prefer it. You need to mess with the channel drives and master volumes to get it sounding just right though. One way (HGLV) and it's too trebly at low volume, and the other way (HVLG) it is just gorgeous. I haven't had mine on for a bit. I'll have to fire it up again.

capo4th · July 2014

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capo4th · July 2014

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capo4th · July 2014

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

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