Marshall gurus give me some guidance

[ErikH]

Marshall gurus give me some guidance

Not really... in the DR's none of the gain stages are tubes... tube rolling the preamp on one is pretty much a waste of time... if memory serves (sorry im too lazy to look at the moment) V1 is the tone stack V2 is the phase inverter and V3 is the reverb driver.

Regardless, the tubes have made a difference IME. From what I can tell, V1 is the tone stack, V2 is the reverb and effects loop and V3 is the PI.

The SL-X has been mentioned and that's a good one too. All of the clipping is tube driven. There's 4 pre-amp tubes instead of 3. Compared to the MkIII, it's got a bit more drive to it but at the same time, with the wrong tubes it can go to mush real quick.

In my MkIII, I'm running JJ's in the preamp and EH in the power amp. Sovteks were too noisy and EH's too brittle. The JJ's are just perfect for it.

[MetalManiac]

Re: Marshall gurus give me some guidance

If you want my advice, just get a Dirty Deeds, and slam the front end of your Twin, and save some bucks.
Consider going balls out, spending more , and finding an old JCM800..those Marshall JCM's are still a relative bargain IMHO.They can still be found, but I think the opportunities to get a clean one at a great price may be deminishing pretty fast..IDK< there wrere a lot of them made.
As you saw in 'Crushers clip, the difference isn't all that totally dramatic from a revered and cherished Early NMV Metalfront-panel /'Plexi' to a JUCM800/late 70's JMP( although having heard both the difference is enough to knock your proverbial socks off);.
Anyhoo..just a quick note ..remember the Forum Saint Theodie was always saying how much he dug his 900, and he knew his ****. If you can get it cheap enuf, then just having a real Marshall is epic, and the 900 is real.

[Aceman]

Re: Marshall gurus give me some guidance

Go SL-X or go home. It goes to 11.

[ErikH]

Re: Marshall gurus give me some guidance

Pffft. My MkIII goes to 20.

Theodie's was the same as mine. He loved that amp.

[Securb]

Re: Marshall gurus give me some guidance

If you can get it cheap enuf, then just having a real Marshall is epic, and the 900 is real.

My thoughts exactly

[JOLLY]

Re: Marshall gurus give me some guidance

There's always a bunch of those 4100 models on Nashville's Craigslist for great prices

[Securb]

Re: Marshall gurus give me some guidance

Jolly just called me. I think he talked me into a JCM 800. Back to the drawing board.

[DankStar]

Re: Marshall gurus give me some guidance

I have potentially one of the buzziest of them all, the JTM30. But then I plug in to convince myself I don't like it, end up having a blast with it and the cycle continues. With the gain down around mid-way it's pretty spot on classic marshall sounding. Plus the clean channel is killer, and I'm playing more clean these days as well. I also had a 900 dual reverb combo in the early 90s, I liked it.

I'm weird though. Not as weird as say, Crusty, but still.

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: Marshall gurus give me some guidance

For a 1st Marshall, I would go with a Lead 100 Mosfet or better yet an Artist head.

The Artist is sonically in the same family as the JCM800 but it has a solid state preamp section paired with power tubes.

The Lead 100 Mosfet has a solid state power section to go with the Artist's solid state preamp.

They can be picked up quite cheaply and have the Marshall sound. Even the Lead 100 Mosfet has the Marshall sound... the best value in Marshall heads on the planet IMHO.

I used to play through all 3 in the 80s and I didn't miss the tube preamp section when I downgraded from the JCM800 to the Artist... and I didn't miss the power tube section of the Artist when I further downgraded to the Lead 100 MOSFET.

Great amps.

[Securb]

Re: Marshall gurus give me some guidance

I have a solid state Marshall already a VS100 I love the thing. The half stack is more about go big or go home.

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: Marshall gurus give me some guidance

I have a solid state Marshall already a VS100 I love the thing. The half stack is more about go big or go home.

The Artist and MOSFET 100 have the JCM800 thing going on and are closely related as far as tone is concerned... that's why I mentioned them. Forgot you had that Valvestate...

[Securb]

Re: Marshall gurus give me some guidance

Forgot you had that Valvestate...

Yep, Ace and I are amp bros. He has one also. The Valvestate was the best $200 I ever spent on gear. Portable, sounds great, awesome reverb and it is loud as heck.

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Marshall gurus give me some guidance

It depends on how you want to use the amp. The 2100 series are essentially single channel JCM800s with the diodes acting as an exctra gain stage in place of an extra pre-amp tube (like a modded JCM-800 or a SLO). People generally like these for high gain lead. The SL-X is the same thing but it has the extra pre-amp tube in place of the diodes. Most people like these even more. The single channel 900s are really pretty good.

All the hate is directed at the 4100 series channel switching 900s. These are not JCM-800s with more gain but channel switching between clean and dirty with not so great reverb. They have a lot of op-amps in the preamp and don't do a great high gain. They do a decent mid gain though (think 70s Stones) with good tubes.

Look for a Vintage Modern if you want a cool Marshall for the sake of having a Marshall

[Aceman]

Re: Marshall gurus give me some guidance

Yep, Ace and I are amp bros. He has one also. The Valvestate was the best $200 I ever spent on gear. Portable, sounds great, awesome reverb and it is loud as heck.

$200???? Ripped off man. Got mine for one fiddy!

And it ain't skeerd of my other guitar players Blackstar either…

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Marshall gurus give me some guidance

If your looking for 80's hard rock and metal look no further than a JCM800 with a TS in front. However, bedroom levels won't happen, will sound like poop. Also, I disagree with the JCM900 being a 800+ OD sound. I see where your getting at in terms of gain, but no. If you want more gain out of an 800 look at the two channel versions.

For bedroom level Marshalls, I think the valvestate is a wicked amp.