borrowed backline - Marshall 2525

bbill335

zero cleans, even on 25w/clean channel/moderate pregain. somehow too much treble, quite nasal even with the mids down low, and yet sounds very dull? thinking on my feet, i repurposed the usually always-on OD (fredric klone) as a boost but obviously it was just clipping harder.

maybe an ok amp if you just need slash/angus sounds but i wish i'd plugged into the hot rod dlx that was on stage!

Keefy

Apparently it ‘delivers the heavy grit and sparkling classic rock tones of 1987’.

GoldenEraGuitars

A Marshall jubilee does do cleans but I believe the lower wattage and small box combo doesn’t lend itself to the Marshall experience terribly well. I think if you were to run it through a larger cab it would change the sound significantly.

ICBM

Glad it’s not just me... I‘ve never liked them. Virtually no usable clean sound - when I want a clean sound, I mean *clean*, not what some people call slightly dirty - and they sound oddly dull and fizzy at the same time.

I still love a good Marshall though... the 2203/4.

John_P

Never had a problem getting useable cleans on my original jubilee.   Quite a deep bold sound but can give a bit if variety with eq.      Surprised and sad to hear the new model struggled.  

bbill335

GoldenEraGuitars said:

A Marshall jubilee does do cleans but I believe the lower wattage and small box combo doesn’t lend itself to the Marshall experience terribly well. I think if you were to run it through a larger cab it would change the sound significantly.

the head through the matching vertical 2x12 was just as bad as the 1x12 combo. it's not often an amp has too much of the harsh frequencies, but no sparkle or clarity either.

i imagine the 50w/100w versions might be better? it was just a shock when i couldn't get a clean sound from a modern, two-channel, 25w amp.

p90fool

A friend of mine has one, I'm convinced it's actually a rebadged MG30 with some sockets to store some valves. 

impmann

Genuinely never understood the fuss about the Jubilee amps - I owned one in the very early 90s and soon offloaded it. 

I’ve played through a couple since and they sounded exactly as I remembered them... like a poor digital model of a Marshall. Fizzy, yet somehow boxy and lacking dynamics. Nope, not for me. 

Each to their own and I’ve heard others get a good sound out of one... I can’t!! 

TTBZ

I don’t see the logic in looking for a clean tone in this kind of Marshall, 20w at band volume will get the output valves going which is surely the whole point of a low wattage amp - you generally don’t buy one for clean headroom. Odd choice for a back line amp.

I love my Jubilee though and don’t really get why a lot of people seem to find them fizzy or bright unless they’re just playing them at low volume, or through the wrong cab. It’s all about the lead channel for me - treat it as a single channel amp, get the master above halfway and take some time to get used to the EQ. Tbh I don’t think a Greenback is the best choice though, I much prefer it through V30s or Creambacks (or a blend of the two). It can get raspy and fizzy with the greenback in the combo. Through my V30/Creamback H cab it sounded huge, no fizz or harshness.

fwiw when I was deciding between amps I also A/B’d it with the Studio Classic (JCM800) through the same cab and found I could get the Jubilee near enough identical sounding on rhythm clip. It was just a bit more compressed and less “immediate” in feel, maybe due to the less simple circuit?

DrCornelius

I’ve had a couple and liked them, I’m selling my current one as I’ve gone down the modelling route but it’s outlasted various DSL and Origins with me.

In my experience the eq behaves differently than on other Marshall’s I’ve tried. Usually on a MarahallI lower the bass and crank the mids (keeping the.Treble fairly neutral). On the Jubilee cranked mids sound harsh and you definitely need more bass even when you have a load of gain.

I love the cleans on mine and find the liveliest cleans are available when you use the lead channel with the gain around 10 o’clock, the master right up and the lead volume to taste. Drop the mids , crank the bass et voila!

ICBM

TTBZ said:

I love my Jubilee though and don’t really get why a lot of people seem to find them fizzy or bright unless they’re just playing them at low volume, or through the wrong cab. It’s all about the lead channel for me - treat it as a single channel amp, get the master above halfway and take some time to get used to the EQ. Tbh I don’t think a Greenback is the best choice though, I much prefer it through V30s or Creambacks (or a blend of the two). It can get raspy and fizzy with the greenback in the combo. Through my V30/Creamback H cab it sounded huge, no fizz or harshness.

The guitarist in my band very briefly had an original 1x12” combo with a V30, and it sounded even worse cranked up... shrill and harsh, even in 25W mode. Sold it after one gig. (He normally uses an Orange Rocker 30 and a Marshall 2x12” with a Greenback and H30.)

GoldenEraGuitars

A good old Internet forum case of YMMV

DrCornelius

GoldenEraGuitars said:

A good old Internet forum case of YMMV

Or YMUMV..... you make use of master volume 

Twinfan

bbill335 said:

i wish i'd plugged into the hot rod dlx that was on stage!

If you need cleans then that's what you should have done.  Asking a 25w Marshall for a clean tone at gigging volume isn't really what they're about.

The Jubilee is designed to be used for gain, where it excels IMHO.

YMMV, naturally  

bbill335

Twinfan said:

bbill335 said:

i wish i'd plugged into the hot rod dlx that was on stage!

If you need cleans then that's what you should have done.  Asking a 25w Marshall for a clean tone at gigging volume isn't really what they're about.

The Jubilee is designed to be used for gain, where it excels IMHO.

YMMV, naturally  

when you're a guest in someone else’s house, you kinda do as you're told. i think our engineer was more of a studio guy coz he quite confidently declared that the 5w setting should be enough and it most certainly wasn't

ICBM

bbill335 said:

when you're a guest in someone else’s house, you kinda do as you're told. i think our engineer was more of a studio guy coz he quite confidently declared that the 5w setting should be enough and it most certainly wasn't

I would definitely have asked to use the Hotrod if there was one there - I don't think it's rude to ask for something which will make things work better for everyone, if it's available.

'Enough' power in volume terms and a clean enough sound at that volume are not the same thing at all. I struggle with the clean headroom on a Deluxe Reverb, even though an overdriven Tweed Champ is actually *loud* enough.

riffpowers

I just gigged my SC20H again this week. Even on the 5w settina and abut 3 or 4 on the master volume the FOH engineer still kept asking that  I wasn't going to turn it up any louder!
No problem getting a great sound at gigging volume even on the low power setting. Mind you I don't need clean tones.

impmann

A 25w amp should be able to provide enough clean volume to cut over a drummer. It should be rated at 25watts before clipping, therefore with a decent speaker that should be more than sufficient unless you have Meaty McMeathead on drums using his claw hammers instead of sticks. A Fender Deluxe is only 22w, and is known for being loud enough to gig with - therefore if the Marshall runs out of headroom on its clean setting before it achieves the same perceived volume then its either not producing the power it is supposed to, has a terribly inefficient speaker or both. 

Whilst I accept that Marshalls aren't known for cleans, they actually should be capable of producing a non distorted sound.

My issue with the (older) Jubilees (and hence comment above) was that they sounded *bad* at what a Marshall is known for. Can't comment on the newer ones, mind you...

Keefy

impmann said:

A 25w amp should be able to provide enough clean volume to cut over a drummer. It should be rated at 25watts before clipping...

Not necessarily - it’s not unusual to quote a guitar amplifier’s power output at 10% THD i.e. 10% of the output consists of the harmonics that make up distortion. This will probably not sound ‘clean’!

photek

Absolutely cracking amps if you know the tricks with jubilees, they don’t really do clean and need to be above 7 on the master volume. They also need OLD greenbacks or equivalent imo.

Works great as a 2 channel amp if you want crunch and lead.

TTBZ

impmann said:

My issue with the (older) Jubilees (and hence comment above) was that they sounded *bad* at what a Marshall is known for. Can't comment on the newer ones, mind you...

I don’t know about the old ones but if you can’t get a good Marshally sound out of a 2525 or 2555x then you’re doing something very very wrong. It can be as bright or dark as you like and pretty similar to a boosted 800 on the lead channel. very similar to a regular 800 on rhythm clip. An 800 actually goes way brighter/thinner.

I am a self confessed Jubilee fanboy so my opinion maybe needs to be taken with a pinch of salt but I think they’re one of the best amps Marshall have done. 

I thought this demo that popped up a few days ago was pretty good at showing the versatility.

https://youtu.be/GSmD_w70jps