The Marshall SL-5. Or, 'How Marshall Are Missing A Guaranteed Seller'

Nerine

Guaranteed seller?

I wouldn't buy one.

SimonC

I think many amp companies still go for the “surprisingly loud for 5 watt” style of marketing, totally missing the point that 99.9% of players are not gigging and do not need or desire a “surprisingly loud” amp.

ecc83

SimonC said:

I think many amp companies still go for the “surprisingly loud for 5 watt” style of marketing, totally missing the point that 99.9% of players are not gigging and do not need or desire a “surprisingly loud” amp.

Possibly but I was in at the gestation of the HT-5 and the concept was "can we make a guitar amp that sounds like a 50W fixed biased PP amp but one that does not remove windows? The result was the Five. I think everyone WAS surprised at how loud it can go! You must remember that as a FB amp it can deliver around twice 5W if you drive the beans off it. Previous 5Wish amps were based on a single, cathode biased 12W pentode/tetrode and that circuit cannot do that.

Bruce, the designer was rabidly against single ended amps and Blackstar had to wait until he had gone to market one!

The power scaling on the latest Five is not just an HT drop but has some input from the Series One DPR circuitry. NOT that they are telling ME any details of course!

Dave.

DrJazzTap

If they did a Marshall equivalent to the super crush it would sell by the truck load. 

stickyfiddle said:

HT986M2 said:

 
I guess my question is, why isn't Marshall putting out good quality, low wattage combos?  

Tbh there are loads of things Marshall could have done yonks ago and haven't cottoned on to. 

- Switchable JTM/SLP in a single box
- Tonemaster-style anything. Make it look like a Bluesbreaker but not weigh a house.
- Desktop thing that works like a THR but looks like a Marshall 
- updated versions of the pedals they reissued recently with sensible switchable mods (noting that those reissues were also 5-10 years behind the curve)
- full-stack sized fridge/freezer (not joking!) 

My God a blues breaker with a solid state power amp and neo speakers would do well. 
The idea of a Marshall style head amp like a THR is very appealing. 
Guitarists tend to be very vain. I'd love one of those boss katana heads with the speakers in...but it looks like an 90s microwave. A plexi style head would kill it. 

ecc83

If I understand the drift of this thread it is that Marshall have not produced a particular style of amplifier that other manufacturers have?

Maybe they decided they do not need to compete in every area of the technology? For instance, Blackstar have never* produced a 'lunch box' style amplifier. They could of course, quite easily but maybe did not want to be seen 'jumping on the bandwagon'? I mean, you had a job not to trip over the bloody things a couple of years ago!

One amp I think they should have developed was a PCB version of the Artisan 15 and 30. Base on a high quality PCB, ditch the valve rectifiers which simplifies the power transformer making it cheaper to produce. The choke can probably go and the small signal stages DC heated.

I think all the sonic qualities of the design can be kept but at a much lower price.

*AFAIK, I am not familiar with all their current inventory.

Dave.

ICBM

ecc83 said:

If I understand the drift of this thread it is that Marshall have not produced a particular style of amplifier that other manufacturers have?

No - they did make it, but then stopped.

ecc83

ICBM said:

ecc83 said:

If I understand the drift of this thread it is that Marshall have not produced a particular style of amplifier that other manufacturers have?

No - they did make it, but then stopped.

Ah, well you cannot just keep rolling stuff out if it is no longer profitable. There is a great temptation to put every variant idea out into the market but this can be a problem. I personally think Blackstar are in danger of "spreading themselves too thin?"  But the WTF do I know!!

Dave.

HT986M2

ecc83 said:

ICBM said:

ecc83 said:

If I understand the drift of this thread it is that Marshall have not produced a particular style of amplifier that other manufacturers have?

No - they did make it, but then stopped.

Ah, well you cannot just keep rolling stuff out if it is no longer profitable. There is a great temptation to put every variant idea out into the market but this can be a problem. I personally think Blackstar are in danger of "spreading themselves too thin?"  But the WTF do I know!!

Dave.

That is true.  It does seem to be a gap in their line-up though, but at the end of the day I'm sure the accountants have run their numbers.

RE:  the Blackstar lunchbox comment.  I thought the St James amps were considered lunchbox heads?

ecc83

HT986M2 said:

ecc83 said:

ICBM said:

ecc83 said:

If I understand the drift of this thread it is that Marshall have not produced a particular style of amplifier that other manufacturers have?

No - they did make it, but then stopped.

Ah, well you cannot just keep rolling stuff out if it is no longer profitable. There is a great temptation to put every variant idea out into the market but this can be a problem. I personally think Blackstar are in danger of "spreading themselves too thin?"  But the WTF do I know!!

Dave.

That is true.  It does seem to be a gap in their line-up though, but at the end of the day I'm sure the accountants have run their numbers.

RE:  the Blackstar lunchbox comment.  I thought the St James amps were considered lunchbox heads?

Oooo! Have not seen those, will have a catchee upee.

Dave.

ecc83

I have looked and no. I don't consider the St James heads a "lunchbox" style, just a conventional head. The genre to me means something more like the Orange MT20?

Dave.

RobDavies

I’d have bought an HT5 if they’d put the bloody knobs on the front.  

 Instead, I bought a DSL20C…. And I’m very pleased with it.  I have replaced the speaker with a Greenback, and it’s completely overkill at 20w but it’s pretty damn perfect for my needs. 

ecc83

"I’d have bought an HT5 if they’d put the bloody knobs on the front."

They are on the head!

Dave.

ecc83

" Instead, I bought a DSL20C…. And I’m very pleased with it.  I have replaced the speaker with a Greenback,"

And that feeds into my contention that some people won't know or care about the speaker and those that do will fit 'better' in their HO.

Meantime, prices are kept in check and (almost!) everyone is happy.

Dave.

RobDavies

ecc83 said:

"I’d have bought an HT5 if they’d put the bloody knobs on the front."

They are on the head!

Dave.

Yeah - but then a head AND a cab wouldn’t fit in the space that I’m ‘allowed’.  

ecc83

RobDavies said:

ecc83 said:

"I’d have bought an HT5 if they’d put the bloody knobs on the front."

They are on the head!

Dave.

Yeah - but then a head AND a cab wouldn’t fit in the space that I’m ‘allowed’.  

Yer gonna need a smaller cab!

Dave.

Hydra

You'd very suprised by what a good speaker can do for an old MG100DFx. 
Marshall would do well to release the old Lead 12/20 line with a good and decent size speaker, that will kill a lot or the opposition. 

ICBM

Hydra said:

Marshall would do well to release the old Lead 12/20 line with a good and decent size speaker, that will kill a lot or the opposition. 

No way they could do it economically today - they’re incredibly over-engineered. They also have problems from a usability point of view for modern players - the gain and volume control tapers are rather odd, and they need to be cranked up to sound their best. I’ve got a Reverb 12 which I fitted with a 12” speaker - currently a G12L-35 - and it sounds great, but it’s not really a good bedroom amp.

Hydra

ICBM said:

Hydra said:

Marshall would do well to release the old Lead 12/20 line with a good and decent size speaker, that will kill a lot or the opposition. 

No way they could do it economically today - they’re incredibly over-engineered. .

Is that another way of saying they are well built compared to what qualifies as a "beginner" Marshall these days?

ICBM

Hydra said:

Is that another way of saying they are well built compared to what qualifies as a "beginner" Marshall these days?

Yes - although the current MG series are perfectly good, far better than the early-2000s ones. From an economic point of view the 80s ones are actually overdone - you can have reliability and good tone for less cost, even though it’s nice to have the kind of quality they are.