Marshalls The voice of God!!

[58lpblues]

Is there any other amp that begs to be turned up to 10???

When I first got my Marshall 69 50w, I approached it with a Fender mentality....Fender amps tend to sound best below 8 on the volume knob....my Marshall sounded thin from 1 to 7, ok...but I wondered what all the fuss was about. Then I went to a buddies house, and lost my fear of turning my amp up....let me say WOW!!! From 7 to 10 on the dial....I must have a million shades of the brownest thickest, best overdriven amp sound I've ever heard.

Anyone else hear the celestial voice of Marshalls???

[Paul G.]

I used to rehearse at SIR's studios in Manhattan many (don't ask how many) years ago. One of the rooms had in it a small box 50w metal panel Marshall that was the best amplifier I've ever heard. Period.

Marshalls were "it" at the time and I played lots of them, and even owned a 100w stack, but this one was extra, extra, extra special. I eventually got up the nerve to ask if there was any way they could sell me that amp, name their price.

The guy laughed at me and told me I certainly wasn't the first to ask, and I wouldn't be the last, and NO!! I wonder where that head is now??

I hope it's the one you just bought.

P.

[Paul G.]

We certainly did play louder then than now. Maybe that's why guys are nuts for the 18 and 20 watt Marshalls nowadays.

P.

[58lpblues]

Yeah I've got a Blockhead 18w 2X12.....and it is the bomb...maybe the best blues amp I've ever played.

But, there is just something so satisfying about shaking **** off the wall with a 4X12 with a Marshall on top of it.

[Paul G.]

will never experience a 100W Plexi full stack at volume. It is an experience that cannot be equalled, or described.

P.

[58lpblues]

will never experience a 100W Plexi full stack at volume. It is an experience that cannot be equalled, or described.

P.

I'm one of them.....unless, ?????

[joeyv]

An old sixties 100watt Marshall Bass Head and 4x12 matching cab...what a tone..right around 5 or 6 it just had that fat, juicy, round ..fill the club up with tone sound...so organic..so perfect....and I was playing a tele through it too...it was like a mega tweed bassman sound..but better and smoother...man if I was younger and stronger...I would play that rig...and the weird thing about it was it wasnt the crunch or typical Marshall thing with that amp..it was a really juicy clean tone..just really rubbery and sensitive...it was unbelievable...

[buglecorps]

but I have owned a few..Unfortunaly I can never turn them up enough to really get "the sound" Most of the ones I have played have been SS or Hybrid models but even those sound incredible IF you can crank them. Marshalls tend to really suffer in MV mode sounding thin and brittle untill you get them going. I had a 30 watt (yea right..) 1X12 Artist combo with a Vintage 30 that I loved but it could take out a wall by the time it sounded "fat", I sold it and used some of the $$ to but a AVT 20 thinking it might be a bit more Semi detached friendly..ummm NO! A friend had a MOSFET 100 head with the funky 2X12 slant cab (sorta a 3/4 size half stack)..with one cab it was only running @ 50 watts but playing it was a incredible experence..I can only imagine what a full blown vintage tube rig must be like... I'm playing a Rocktron at the moment..nice channel switching and good Marshally OD sounds that are available at lower levels..I tried a few of the MG series (the FDD is quite cool) .. but I really like the Presence control on the RT..not something you find on most small amps..

[rbisherw]

Had an AVT50H into a JCM900 1960A cabinet and man did that head SUCK!
Traded it for a new Peavey Classic 50 and have not regretted it for a second.

[BADFISH]

You can't really compare a "AV..?.?.." (What ever?) to the 60's and 70's Marshalls. When peaple Talk about "That Marshall sound" , The 60' s and 70's Amps Are what most are talking about. I'm Not a Fan of any Marshall made after 1982.....But, I love Marshall's.

[Gearjoneser]

I've been into wheelin n dealin amps for awhile now, so I've had a nice amount of Marshall heads go through my hands. One of the funnest things I've done is to take my collection of old Marshalls and add them to another guy's collection, then line them all up at my rehearsal space and run each one through it's paces.

It's very telling of different Marshall's actual tone, when you have the opportunity to plug in and out of a bunch.
The one's that never fail to impress me are late 60's early 70's plexi and metalfront P to P amps. Both 50's and 100's. Also, some of the best modified Jmp and JCM 800's are a blast to plug into! I'll always have a place in my heart for Jubilee's also, especially since I had one as a main amp, when I was 17 to 22. 50 W Jubilees have the best Marshall high gain sound IMO. The best Marshall tones are just hard to beat with a LP. When tubed right, there's very few Marshall tube amps that don't sound great, in their own right.

[64Strat]

These were made for each other!

I have a '69 JMP 50W small box(made the first week they switched to metal panels, #20) that doesn't get going until you reach 8 on the volume knob, a '72 lead-stickered Super Bass through a '74 Checkerboard cab that breaks up early and crunches like mad and on loan from a friend('cause he's got one of my old Teles on loan from me) a '66 JTM100 Plexi Super PA that has unbelieveable balls.

These amps just flatout ROCK! They define what hard rock is all about.

I use mine with a THD 16 ohm Hot Plate and in a complex wet/dry rig, not unlike EJ's rig. The tone is to die for! Every day I just marvel at what I can get out of this type of setup.

I have great old Fender amps like a 61 Bassman and a 64 Showman but they just don't quite compare to the old Marshalls.

[LP26]

I have a Marshall 1974X - the 18 watt hand wired combo.

No matter whgat guitar I plug in - Stratocaster, Telecaster, Esquire and my brand new ES-137 Custom - it is indeed the tone of the gods.

I play jazzy blues or bluesy jazz (whatever you want to call it) and the simple circuit delivers everytime.

[RDS]

I think you have to play around with a Marshall for awhile before you find the sweet spot that fits how you play and want to sound. It took me a few weeks just testing and tweaking. I like Marshalls better than Fenders. Most of my guitar player friends (I play bass in the band) like them shrill Fenders. I'd take a Marshall anyday as far as I know now. I want a DSL and a slant cab. I'm saving for that now. Wish me luck. I just missed one the other day- Amp and Cabinet for $1000. Oh well- all I have is time.

[RDS]

If someone can direct me to who or where I can get info on the best way to set up my TSL 100 / 1960 A Classic 4-25w spkrs. I need the women tone brown sound or something in the vicinity of that. Could it be that I just need to crank it? I'm only using a Boss Super Choros pedal right now and trying to dial in the lead and crunch channels for distortion and it just ain't happening like it should I guess- what I mean is that the full round smooth tone ain't there yet... I'm recording and I'd love to be able to use the amp but as of right now I'm not getting the sound I want from it. This is my first "big" Marshall and I'd like to know if I need a pedal or two to get that full sound at lower volume. I bought the amp from a friend of mine. I used to go to his house and he had the amp sounding really good. He used Boss pedals mostly- Metal Zone, Blues Driver, Super Choros and I think he had an EQ and a compressor. I'd like to know if I need to go total pedal board or what? The amp does sound a little better with my Les Paul than it does with the Strat. The Les Paul has less high end than the Strat.
One thing the previous owner did ( before he bought a Splawn modified Plexi reissue )was install sockets(red/w/ different tubes?) in the already existing tube sockets for some kind of volume reduction or something. Could this have harmed the amp making it sound thin with less body in the overall sound? The red sockets have been removed and the proper tubes reinstalled. I think the tubes in it may be new. They have red logos on the glass. I think he said they cost $50 a piece.
Hey- I've spent the last umteen years as a bassist so please forgive me if I'm not all that knowledgeable about the Marshalls. I need a little help breaking in on it. I don't want to just throw money at it. Can you dig where I'm coming from? I have a couple other Marshalls (non-tube) but this one is in a whole different league. I know there are alot of variables and considerations to consider when searching for the tone. I guess I need a Marshall tone Guru. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks..................

[hans-jürgen]

For what you want a modern Marshall isn't necessarily the best thing, except for the reissues of their old models of course. If you really want or need a 100w amp is up to you, usually 50w non-master volume is already too loud for most of the places where you want to gig.

[RDS]

I understand what you are saying. I would like to make the best of it while I can. If I sell the amp- I think I can get what I paid for it. I'd still like to gain some more "tone searcher" knowledge on what I have. It's loud for sure. I'm just using it here at my house. The thing has never been out of my house or the guys' I bought it from except to move it to the next house (mine). He had the most coolest sounds with the amp. He just knew how to get good sound. He really (I can tell) doesn't want to get into telling me how he did it. It's wierd- I don't want to "rip off" any of his guarded secrets- you know? Maybe there are alot of guys like that. Not me. If someone wants to know how I get my killer tone (bass), I'll tell them. Alot of it is in my fingers anyway. But what does it hurt to say-" Hey you need so and so then run the so and so like this dude?" I don't want to make money from somebodies sound. All in all if noone kindly lends a hand- I'm sure I can figure it out myself. I guess I'm on that road, looks like.:cool:

[hans-jürgen]

The general advice would be to use more power amp distortion and less pre amp gain. But that also includes more overall volume, unless you cut that down with some sort of attenuator, either internal like the one you had or external. To me this always seems to be rather ineffective, first producing 100w with four EL34 tubes and expensive transformers, then destroying their output with any device.

But maybe you have more luck with questions about TSL settings for your sound on other amp forums:

http://marshallampforum.com/forum/
http://www.metroamp.com/forum/
http://thegearpage.net/board/
http://vintageamps.com/plexiboard/

[RDS]

Thanks Hans- I'll check the sites out. I appreciate it--RS:cool:

[RDS]

The Marshall forum is a good site. I've been learning alot over there. It was definately worth checking out. Thanks again Hans .....:biggrin:

[hans-jürgen]

You're welcome! I even found another new Marshall amp forum lately, but I'm not sure if it's really necessary to have that many... ;)

http://marshallforum.com/phpBB2/index.php

By the way, congrats to your full stack! Hope you got some ear plugs, too?

[RDS]

Yeh- I've got me earplugs. I found some vintage tubes at work. 12ax7 ecc83. I'm going to put them in soon. We'll see how that thing sounds with those. The tubes are new in the box and they're probably 25 years old. Amperex (brand). Later