Re: Marshall overhyped?
Are Marshalls overhyped? Perhaps a little "history" will clarify my opinion. (read on as there IS a moral here).....
When I started playing in the mid 80's my first rig was a Laney AOR30 and matching 4x12. The guy at the music store sold me (and my Dad who was footing the bill) on it because it "sounds like a Marshall and is cheaper". Well, my untrained ear didn't know the difference, so we got it. It sucked (although I'd love to take another stab at it now that I know what I'm doing). Although, when I played through a Marshall, it, too, sucked, mainly because, as it turned out, I sucked. That's the thing about tube amps, if you suck, they suck. Very unforgiving.
With that "Marshall sucks" mindset, my next two amps were Carvins. Decent amps, although by that time I was relying on a Roland GP-8 for my sound. My first amp where I let the amp actually determine my tone was a 5150 (first version), which I loved. I found that by turning the mid control "too far", it basically would short out the entire eq circuit and just give me the raw tone of my guitar, it roared. Down the line, I grabbed a Laney GH100L cause the 5150 was too "metal" for the gig I was in, it, too, ruled. To this day, I've never gotten a tone as close to Van Halen's old sound as with that Laney. Sadly, those two heads, along with 2 mint 5150 cabs, a few guitars and rack/pedal FX were stolen in mid 2001. Arrrggghh!
After that I went with Line 6 because, well, to replace all the FX I'd lost and still get decent tone, it was a bargain. Since then I've used a good bit of Line 6 gear and been generally pleased with it. I recorded a demo a few months ago with a Grammy nominated producer, we ended up using a PodXT live direct for all the sounds, and I'm generally happy with them.
Rewind to last year. I came upon what I thought was a good "investment deal" on a Marshall half stack. a 1986 50w JCM800 2205 (and in a purple head unit no less), along with a 1979 260 watt 4x12 cab (Checkerboard grill cloth), $750 for the whole thing. Well, of course I jumped on it. My plan was to basically store it and let it's value go up. Well, since it was my first Marshall, I just had to take it to a gig (not exactly a rock gig, mostly Funk, R&B, a little rock) and was blown away by it! I was playing things I'd never even thought of, and people were freaking on my tone. The clean sounds were ok, but the distorted sounds were where I was blown away.
A couple months ago, I decided to further test fate and snagged a 1982 JCM800 2204 off of eBay. I was also able to find another 260 watt cab, albeit this one from 1982 with a black grill cloth (which I plan on replacing with the checkerboard as I like it's look better and have the material for it). Since receiving the amp & running both of them together, I've been in tone heaven like never before. I've decided to ditch the "high tech" gear, bought some stompboxes for the FX I wanted and have never been happier with my tone.
Moral of the story - I was a devout anti Marshall guy, crusader even, for nearly 20 years. What am I playing now? Marshall. Overhyped? Nope.
Interesting story - back in the early 90's, I had the opportunity to play an opening gig with Badlands (Jake E. Lee). As I've always been a fan, I showed up early, even before Jake. His tech allowed me to check out Jake's rig with his guitar - it sounded like the biggest pile of dog doo I've ever heard. While I was messing with it, Jake showed up. I humbly handed him his guitar and, without him touching a thing on his amp or anything, I was treated to a display of the best tone I've ever heard. Moral? Equipment is one thing, but good tone comes from the fingers, heart and soul.
Oh, and to those who cringe at, or belittle, metal players - I've always considered myself a metal/rock guy. My current gig is neither, it's with the house band at House Of Blues, on a nightly basis I play everything from Jazz to motown, funk, disco, beach music, reggae, hip hop (/me cringes at that last one), blues and a touch of classic rock. I still prefer Metal playing. It's not a matter of being "enlightened" to other styles, it's personal preference. I know a lot of "classic" type players look down upon us metalheads. Doing so is shortsighted. I play different chord inversions, melodies, grooves every night (and day) of the week, yet, give me a good Sevendust/Disturbed type of chunk, that's where I get off. A lot of us are like this - it's what we dig. So before slagging the genre, please take that into consideration.
Thanks for reading!
