Marshall DriveMaster/ShredMaster/ BluesBreaker

[m1989jmp]

Hi all,

does anyone have info these pedals were made exclusively in England? I'm talking about the ones in sturdy black enclosures, not the later silver ones.

Thanks.

[m1989jmp]

Re: Marshall DriveMaster/ShredMaster/ BluesBreaker

Just received an answer from Marshall's customer service.

In short, the version without a sticker was made 'abroad' but with identical design and parts.

[dave74]

Re: Marshall DriveMaster/ShredMaster/ BluesBreaker

I'd only heard of the silver colored jackhammer,,,,,,,,,,I wonder what the shredmaster compares to, say out of the Boss line.

[m1989jmp]

Re: Marshall DriveMaster/ShredMaster/ BluesBreaker

I'd only heard of the silver colored jackhammer,,,,,,,,,,I wonder what the shredmaster compares to, say out of the Boss line.

The whole thing with Shredmaster is that it isn't a pedal with ridiculous gain, but with a wide mid freq range, controlled by contour pot. I don't like it with gain set low, it really shines from noon to max on the gain control.

With contour all the way counter clockwise it's classic Marshall sound; turn it up to max on a decent tube amp and it's a big rock/metal scooped sound but what's excellent is that it's not fizzy or muddy, really balanced sound with lowered mids.

Considering that, it really doesn't have a Boss counterpart, but people say Visual Sound Jekyyl and Hyde is a Shredmaster clone.

The line was offered as a kind of Marshall sound in a box for plugging into all kinds of clean amps, but when stacking it with Marshalls natural tube overdrive, things get crazy.

[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: Marshall DriveMaster/ShredMaster/ BluesBreaker

The Jeckyl and Hyde's distortion side is based on a Marshall Shredmaster but isn't an exact clone. It's got some tweaks. Especially the current version. I really like all 3 versions of it though. I would assume if you dug up the original version, V1 series in Silver, it's as close to the original Shredmaster as you could expect.

And if the OD (earlier versions were a hotrodded TS808, current version based on the Drivetrain, a circuit they designed originally for a line of pedals by Reverend) isn't of interest, the V2 series also had the distortion as a standalone named Son of Hyde.

[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: Marshall DriveMaster/ShredMaster/ BluesBreaker

BTW, I have an original Marshall Guv'nor , which I think was what became the Drivemaster in later years. It's one of my favourite Marshall In A Box pedals. Plexi and JCM 800 tones for days.

If you plan on tracking down these old Marshall pedals, put this one on your list. The made in England ones are obviously more sought after and more expensive, but the made in Korea ones are still pretty awesome sounding.