Marshall overhyped?

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

Yo Zerberus, what do you think of the Jubilee would you put in the same category as JTM 45 and JCM800 ???

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

Yo Zerberus, what do you think of the Jubilee would you put in the same category as JTM 45 and JCM800 ???

Zerb would probably agree, but all three have a different sound, and one isn't necessarily better. I've had all three of them, and can say, I wish I still had all 3. A JTM 45 is like a big bubbly and warm Bassman, the JCM is a midgain crunchy amp, and the Jubilee is an extension of the JCM 800, with additional gain and a clean channel. It's like Gary Moore to KISS to Zakk (no more tears).
Maybe not necessarily the same amps, but the gain and tone you hear can be summed up by those 3 examples.

I love all Marshall tones, and that's why I bought a Bogner Ecstasy. :fingersx:
I wanted all those choices in one amp, and to be quite honest, it's the only amp that does it. If Marshall wants to put out a good amp again, they need to blatantly steal Bogner's ideas. He did what they always tried to do.

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

Where are the best sound clips of Jubilee on the net ??? Thanks Dudes.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

Overhyped?

I don't know... but mine kicks all the ass.

 

[JamesHealey]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

over rated? DSL/TSL... YES!! total garbage.
the older stuff was a great place to start and still is, thats why so many of these boutique amp makers have based there design on the older marshalls i mean the Bogner Ecstacy, Soldano SLO100, Splawn Quickrod, ENGL's etc.. it's all the marshall idea but marshall lost sight somewhere along the line.. and well started making ****.

 

[y2stevo]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

hehe,

I dont care what anyone says but my DSL is the greatest amp i've played so far.
Very versatile and overall fantastic sounding amp!

I also use it with one of it's apparent worst speakers (the G12T-75's)

So basically your all crazy :laugh2:

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

over rated? DSL/TSL... YES!! total garbage.

B.S., I can tell you bands that sound great with 'em. Also I have a TSL and I think I have more playtime on it than any of the TSL haters here who obviously just have problems dialing in a good sound.

Another thing... the "overpricing"... actually, here in Europe, they are not really all that expensive, so it looks like shipping does much...

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

Yeah just look at various US pedals here, twice the price of our stuff....an OCD costs 2795DKr and a Plexitone is 1650DKr or something like that....it is insane!

 

[brit84]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

i played a dsl jcm 2000, and a zakk wylde signatute 800, and mode four and thought they all sounded empty. Then i played a tsl and it sounded awsome.

unless you really like the marshall tone enough to pay for the name, then buy one. IMO they are overated, kids see a marshall and think its the best, then see a mesa and think those are, it depends on what their week's favourite band is using.

Some player can get incredible tone from their marshalls (yngwie, priest, maiden etc.) but I think of them as a fad amp.

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

More than anything else, the speakers make all the difference. Get crappy speakers or the wrong speaker for the amp and ANY amp will sound like garbage. Get the right speakers and you will usually be in heaven. Not all Celestions are good speakers and I think some of them downright suck. Go with the classics or a mixture of classic celestion speakers and your marshall will cook with gas. Go with crappy speakers and nothing in the world will make it sound good. I'll bet that most of those bad sounding marshalls sound bad because of a poor speaker choice.

 

[some_dude]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

Overhyped? Yes and no.

As a devout anti-Marshall guy I'll be the first to admit that Marshall's have a great sound. They don't work for me but in the hands of others they do.

I think they're overhyped because the build quality newer ones are crap. Even the uber-expensive 'boutique' handwired re-issues are somewhere between under and minimally engineered by todays standards, particularily for the price you're paying. Yeah, Marshalls used to explode, fizzle out and start on fire back in the 70s, but you didn't have to make the re-issues THAT accurate.

I think that they're underhyped because despite their build quality (or perhalps because of it) they're still good sounding amps. People knock the DSL/TSL because it doesn't sound like an old Marshall....well, no sh*t....it doesn't sound like an old Marshall because it isn't an old Marshall.

Anyway, I don't expect alot out of Marshall. IMO the guy's no engineering genious, which is why smart guys put out better sounding Marshalls years ago. I mean, the best amp he ever built was a f*ck up....and depending on how you look at it it's been all down hill from there.

But....despite all this I still think that Marshall makes a pretty good sounding tube amp.

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

screamingdaisy, what you think of Laneys ??

 

[some_dude]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

screamingdaisy, what you think of Laneys ??

Mine had a heavy steel chassis, torroidal transformer, thick PCB and the pots and tube sockets were mounted to the chassis.

I think they're really well built amps, and the one that I had (GH100TI) sounded great. That said, I think their solid state stuff sounds kinda....crappy.

I have to admit that I don't know alot about the AOR or TTs.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

I like most Marshalls I've played, but personally, I'd rather play a tweed Bassman or Twin clone or RI with a good overdrive pedal in front of it.

As far as what you heard in the demo, an Am Std strat wouldn't be my first choice for that job. I'd rather take my PG loaded LP Std.

Also, what nobody's mentioned is that those speakers and cabs probably had very little play time.

An amp with broken in speakers is a diffrent animal than one running through new, stiff cones.

 

[daemon barbeque]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

Yes they are ,like anything else.
as i allways say "there is no spoon" !

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

.....
Another thing... the "overpricing"... actually, here in Europe, they are not really all that expensive, so it looks like shipping does much...

Not really. The issue is the exact same one as with US manufactured guitars in europe. Th shipping is the smallest part. Import duties and costs of distribution are the lion´s share of the upcharge

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

I don't want to start a flame fest, so watch it.


I went to a marshall promotional concert last night, they had everything from a JTM45 to a mode 4 fullstack.

I believe the guy's name was John kramer, and he was doing all the demoing and playing. Amazing player I must say. He was using a stock MIA strat for all of this.

Anyway, the 100watt plexi halfstack (Greenbacks) was either set up wrong or was a major let down. He had the channels jumpered and had it cranked. It was a total ice pick in ear experence that made me cringe, it was also the loudest ****ing amp I've ever heard in my life.

The JCM2000 fullstack (75-30s) (DSL/TSL) actually sounded acceptable, although for being a fullstack it wasn't even 1/3rd as loud as the plexi half stack.

The AVT150 halfstack (V30s) actually sounded not half way bad, but still not that loud.

The mode four fullstack (V30s) was suprizing to me. Amazing clean channel, and the dirt wasn't to bad. The distortion sounded fairly good until he started playing with all the scooping options then it sounded like trash.

Actually, as stupid as it sounds, the mode four full stack sounded the best of all of them... As I said, this was a demo I had no control over.


So I'm left confused and saying WTF to all this. :smack:
Someone spell out what was wrong here!

Differant strokes, for differant folks, perhaps ?

It also depends (IMHO - not trying to sound condecending) what type of music you like, what type of music you grew-up with, and what you think good tone should sound like !

I am a Fender man *Amen*, but of all the Marshall's out there, i fell in love wih the Plexi tone :smokin:
Never heard a bad Plexi-tone, not even when the band playing, had no chops !!!

I, on the other hand, tested a Mode4 in Sam Ash about 2 years ago, and after 30min. said thank you to the sales clerk (very helpfull, to be honest), and kept wonderring "why the hell did Marshall invest money in this thing ?
(...even by then, the Nu-metal, ala Korn era was almost dead and gone - too little way to late ?)

Also, not a fan of either the TSL or DSL series either. (NO SOUL/MOJO, to my young ears !)

The one other Marshal that i have serious GAS for, is the BluesBreaker 18watter - pure sex to my ears !

So, i s'pose it depends what you are looking from your amp ?

* Generic Rock, ala Creed, Nickleback, etc (...if so, you should be shot on the spot ! NO QUESTIONS ASKED !!!)
* Classic Rock
* Nu-Metal
* Death Metal
* Prog-Rock
* Primitive Garage Rock
* Sweaty, smokey, sexy, gritty Chigago Blues :smokin:


. . . or any other genre that the corporate machine can think off, to sell more CD's !

Test as many as you can, and let your ears buy the right amp for you !


GOOD LUCK MATE !

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

. . . it depends on what their week's favourite band is using.

Very well said mate !

Problem is, most kids who start out playing thses days are into some kinda Metal, or sub-genre there off !!!

* shakes head in sorrow *


Even my cousin (19y) is in a [...get this], a "melodic" metal band !

Once the guitars start to sound like drums or a Hammaond B3, and the vocals like DOOMS DAY are comming, i loose the plot !

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

What I have noticed is a decline of tube quality. I played eight amps yesterday--Marshalls, Fenders and Mesas--FIVE of those had at least one bad tube. One of the amps was used, and I suspect this poor old Mesa Heartbreaker needed some new bottles all around, as it sounded a little tired. It was very frustrating, to not hear these amps at their best.

I've used Mesa amps almost exclusively for ten years, though earlier this year I did one performance using a DSL50 in a backline provided by the venue. It took a little bit of tweaking, but I came away impressed. My choice though, was partially by default, as two of the other amps at this venue had microphonic tubes.

I think tubes are critical in the sound of an amp, and at the very least they should not be motor-boating or microphonic. If they are, I think the dealer should change them. For the inexperienced player, it can be a real challenge to identify this sort of problem--the amps sounds "off", but it's hard to know why.

Another issue, I think many players make a hugh mistake in selecting the wrong amp for the job at hand. The big Marshalls are not bedroom amps. They are designed to be used on stages--on BIG stages. What sounds thin and grating at low volume, will usually fatten up nicely as the amp is pushed. I had a heck of a time trying to sell my old JCM 800--until I had a guy come and hear it on a gig. He bought it, paid my full asking price, and never even played through it himself. A full stack pushed by a 100-watt Plexi head on 6-8 is a darn near religious experience, but not if you're in a club that only seats 50 people. Then it's going to be pain-inducing and less-than-pleasant.

And finally, there are a lot of good amps on the market these days. I personally don't think that Marshalls are over-hyped any more than those of some of the "boo-teek" brands that get a lot of attention on this board. If I were playing a different type of music, perhaps I'd own a Marshall. It's not about the brand, but it is about using the appropriate tool for the job.

Bill

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: Marshall overhyped?

Even my cousin (19y) is in a [...get this], a "melodic" metal band !
Once the guitars start to sound like drums or a Hammaond B3, and the vocals like DOOMS DAY are comming, i loose the plot !

I don't get your point, Melodic Metal such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Helloween, Savatage, Stratovarious, Scorpions, Accept, Ozzy Osbourne, have produced some the best tone Gods as well as brilliant guitar musicians, and quite a few of them were useres of golden era Marshalls ... so .... ???