my foot is in my mouth

[The Golden Boy]

Re: my foot is in my mouth

The only time my Marshall was in the shop for a repair was when it was blown over by the wind outside, loosened some stuff and bent the chassis. It still rocks like a champ 9 years later.

[Oblivion DC]

Re: my foot is in my mouth

Yeah - my very first real amp was a jcm 800 50 watt head and 4x12 cab. I was maybe 21 years old and thought
Oh man this is gonna be great!!

Well after about an hour or so of playing and making all kinds of ungodly noise, it got loud as hell for about 2 seconds and then the volume rapidly went down and fizzed out.

I took it back to the store I got it from and they fixed it but I never felt like buying another marshall amp. I sold the head as soon as I could (kept the cab though, it did kick ass) and picked up a Laney 100 watt AOR head - I liked it better as it was much more 'metal'.

For years I swore up and down that Marshall was an overrated junk ass amp maker and didn't deserve my business. Now looking back on it I can see that I probably just had a bad tube, and I'm sure Marshall is as quality concious as any manufacturer out there, but I still wouldn't pay for one.

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: my foot is in my mouth

Most people who complain about th "poor" quality of the new Marshalls just don't follow the two simple rules for those ams which are actually well known:

*Tube warmup (for those who don't know... at least 1-2min... BEST 5min before turning on the standby)
*Let cool down before moving (NEVER move your amp directly after playing... let the tubes cool down first)

And yes, the Footswitch seems to be crappy. (Although I haven't had any problems with mine so far... just what others said) But it's not the amp itself.

I had reliability concerns too before I bought the amp, but the I found a site that had sooo many reviews and everyone who didn't have those problems stated that they were following those rules above, while others who had problems seemed to give no crap about. I personally can't comment yet, cause I've only had it for <1 month now... (works fine so far )

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: my foot is in my mouth

I love Marshalls, but all mine are pre-1990. The DSL is a good design from a musical point of view, but the modern construction methods and the poor modern iron supplied are not suitable for high quality tube amps.

To build tube amps in England to the same standard of the original 60's-70's models would probably be cost prohibitive for most working guitarist today. I think Marshall wants to still provide tools to working musicians, and not be a boutique amp company.

In my opinion, where Marshall has made errors; is in bowing to market demands of features loaded amps, and to increasingly less expensive production methods. They need to get back to the early JCM800 construction standard of flying leads and chassis mounted componants, even if it costs a bit more on their end. Once customers are paying more than 1000 USD anyway, why skimp? Models lines like MG's and Valve States only degrade their reputation in the Market. ( Duncan needs to pull the plug on Duncan Designed too.)

The Marshall sound is essentially based around overdriving the output sections of the class AB tube amp. This is way different from the preamp driven designs demanded by modern versatility and modern high gain. The DSL is okay as a design, being essentially a more modrern, all tube, JCM800 2205/2210, but the TSL is way too complicated. When circuts are very complicated, there's just too much that can go wrong, especially with modern plug in type PCB construction.

[tone?]

Re: my foot is in my mouth

look just to get the record staight i have nothing against a good ole Marshall. actually i think that they are great.
they were made with high grade components then and were workhorses. Bulletproof.
it wasnt just my experience with my Marshall but from friends and people who have had the newer series amps.

i really dont think it is so tough to take a look inside these newer amps and see that the build quality is under par.
yes the amp i had was even addmited from Marshall that it was a bad design, but like i said check out under the hood.

Every thing we listen now is based on that Marshall/Fender tone. But that doesnt mean that the amps that they build are of good quality now.
I dont think they care much either cause that isnt their target market anyway. and there is nothing wrong with that. i just think that the build quality is under par for what i am looking for and for the prices at which they sell.
My opinion.

its ok really. not all product makers have to offer top quality. i think it is great that lots of kids can afford to buy Marshalls and they are not for an elite.

[Aceman]

Re: my foot is in my mouth

Hey-what else do you play low quality control Gibsons through?