Replace my Marshall - advice

TTBZ

darcym said:

riffpowers said:

As much as I love the sc20h, I don’t think it’ll fit your needs. 

Love to know why ? as on paper it looks a cracking bang for buck little amp

I get the lack of 2 channel EQ - but as I'm really only interested in a quality drive I could cut it some slack at that price, I get more into two channel requirements if I'm spending high value cash.

Its a great amp but I'd agree with @riffpowers - it just does the JCM800 thing really well at a reasonable volume, you can boost for metal and that's about it without changing your settings. I like single channel amps and cleaning up with the guitar volume, so it's great for me but you won't get nice Fendery cleans. I also didn't think the low input sounded as good as they do on a 2203. 

If you want a clean channel the Jubilee would be a better choice but again it's only 1 EQ and can be fiddly to balance the channels out. And no 50w option, though the 20w is loud enough to gig and is a nice size.

riffpowers

I’d probably go for another Mesa stiletto if was after jcm800 ish channel and a clean channel 

fretmeister

I second the comments on the SC20H

I loved mine. I like Marshall cleans and it does them well and of course it does a very good JCM800 and proper metal with a boost.

It just can't do cleans and RAWK at the same time. Unless you are very good and accurate at riding the guitar volume control.

That being said a HBE Detox or a Mad Professor Underdrive might solve that.

mark_jwedge

Rift Amps Aynsley Lister signature?

darcym

it's going to be the Mesa, I can't get away from it, a close second is the EVH EL34, but the Mesa on paper is a monster amp.

Stratavarious

Sounds right choice.   Check out a MK series mesa if you can too.  The EQ is very powerful.

Yamaha77

My Koch Powertone II is available for a great price. Great clean does Mesa/marshall dirty 3 channels, reverb.

TTBZ

Just checked out the demos of that TC50, sounds awesome! I'd go that route based off demos alone haha, I'm not really into channel switchers but every channel seems to sound great on it.

darcym

just thought I'd bump this thread, to give a bit of an update.

I bought the Mesa TC50 loaded it with EL34's and a closed back 2x12 cab with Celestion Creambacks.

the short summary is, this amp is top top top notch as a 'rock' amp and as a really versatile 'all rounder' 

The clean sound is great, and very easy to dial in a Marshall JCM 800 style clean, the dirty switch for this channel (damn, I wish this was foot switchable as it would make it even better) is excellent.

The second gain channel can go for anything from a very mild break up to Plexi / JCM 800 levels of drive, this for me is my favourite channel / sound from it, and the TC50 allows me to tweak the EQ on each channel and control the presence for each channel to how much the EQ impacts the sound, which is exactly what I wanted,  with this amp I can get exactly what I was trying to get out of an amp with the initial question in this thread.

The 'tight' switch doesn't appear to do much at first glance on this channel, but it does, it does what it says, it tightens everything up which depending on your setup, can be very subtle and just give the lower frequencies a bit more thump - but if you're more gain and treble/mids setup anyway puts you into a more 'modern' sound moving away from the classic gain structure more noticable. 

The fact that I can then add a foot switch boost to this channel means job done, this is the problem solved.

There is more....

The high gain channel, I didn't know where they where going to go with this to be honest as the second channel is pretty high gain and I suspect this channel trips up a lot of people (it did me when I first started and I see where the 'thin' comments come from now) 

it appears to be a totally different voiced channel, which means if you're following your EQ structure through the channels and just use more gain on the 3rd channel it's very 'nu-metal' gain themed so if you're expectation is almost like the second channel but more - it will sound bad.

however I found EQ'ing it totally different to the second channel, and using the presence more it basically got me that second channel + more - which again is boostable (for me the boost doesn't work on the 3rd channel as well). if you don't approach the 3rd channel totally different to the other two, I can see how people would be frustrated or even disappointed, as I didn't really need the 3rd channel, it was a bonus so I just messed around, but as soon as I realised the voicing is totally different it made the 3rd channel very good.

Being able to turn the reverb on an off (especially on the clean channel) and set the levels different for every channel is just fantastic. 

I've not really tried the effects loop yet as I've not had cause.

The ability co control all of this with midi gives you what seems like a 20 channel amp (although I admit that gain switch on the clean channel would be a very welcome addition to be switchable) 

The first channel is really easy to dial in a good sound, but each channel gets a bit more fussy as you go up the channel selector, and I've found you have to manage the EQ and balance the presence control with the EQ settings - but once you're put in the time, amp is just killer/

VERY pleased I went for this and would recommend it to anyone looking for a quality rock amp or swiss army knife.

I'd be keen to hear how this sounds with 6L6's but have no rush to try this as the EL34's do the job a treat.

If anyone was in doubt - buy this amp, just be prepared to setup each channel properly, and I advise a good midi controller to get the best out of it as the foot controller is great but it's an on/off type setup for each function where as with midi you can combine setting changes.

monquixote

Sounds awesome.

I must say the latest version of the DSL is brilliant and stupid cheap.

MIDI gives you 4 channels with 2 masters.

darcym

monquixote said:

Sounds awesome.

I must say the latest version of the DSL is brilliant and stupid cheap.

MIDI gives you 4 channels with 2 masters.

the new DSL's are stunning value, I tried one but it just didn't sound like the old UK one (or I had moved to them a long time ago) the gain wasn't the same and the reverb didn't sound as nice either (that wasn't a big deal as I only used the reverb on one or two clean sounds) but it just felt like it had lost something from the original, despite being better value and fixing all the design problems.

It could very well just be my perception and rose tinted not wanting to like the new ones as I'd enjoyed the old ones so much.

TTBZ

I think I'm in the minority that prefers the current DSL! The channels are much better balanced with the single EQ and I find both of them really usable (so long as you ignore the tone shift and keep the Ultra gain low). I keep saying it but if there was a 40 head I probably would have got that over my Jubilee.

rockmonster

TTBZ said:

I think I'm in the minority that prefers the current DSL! The channels are much better balanced with the single EQ and I find both of them really usable (so long as you ignore the tone shift and keep the Ultra gain low). I keep saying it but if there was a 40 head I probably would have got that over my Jubilee.

Agreed I prefer the latest DSL 100  and with the 6 button foot-switch it’s very very versatile and cheap as chips!

monquixote

TTBZ said:

I think I'm in the minority that prefers the current DSL! The channels are much better balanced with the single EQ and I find both of them really usable (so long as you ignore the tone shift and keep the Ultra gain low). I keep saying it but if there was a 40 head I probably would have got that over my Jubilee.

I must say I'm a fussy bastard and I've had some really nice amps, but I really love my DSL. It's stupidly capable for the cash.

donbot

Glad you’re enjoying it @darcym Looks like you’re giving it a good home. Having thought about it since you bought it, I reckon an SG through it would sound epic. 

Anyway, keep us posted on how you’re getting along with it.