Rate the new Marshalls please!

Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

which marshalls have you tried?

the jcm800 seemed vintagy and not much distortion/overdrive to me, but I am into sludge which has tons of overdrive and distortion. for instance, I am sure others had a different experience as they are not sludge enthusiasts ;)

Many players, me included, used pedals to push their 800 into hard rock and metal territory. Nowadays, I push my DSL with a variety of pedals. I think there is a lot of mythos about amp-only tones.
 
Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

Im just saying, I used it live with FOH and at parties and it was too loud, and even with the distortion pedal it sounded bad cause I could not crank my jcm800 2203 ONE HUNDRED WATT BEAST. I use a keeley rat or fuzz Pharaoh pedal always with my amp and it sounds great! it is a DIFFERENT tone then amp-only tone. tightens things up and/or makes it really nasty.
 
Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

I'd be interested in a softer, vintagey tone with an effects loop and possibly onboard reverb, personally. With the wide variety of Marshall and Marshall-esque products out there, would there be a better Marshall than Marshall on the market right now?

Absolutely.
Look for a clone.
Ceriatone makes a GREAT amp...look for one of those used.
But there are lots of other Marshall clones on the used market that put a modern day Marshall to shame.
Marshall did do a good job with their reissue of the JTM 45. That is to say, it was a pretty well built amp, and sounded nice...but it was not an accurate clone of Their Own Amp.
You live in Southern Cal.?
Jesus...you guys are lousy with quality clones.!
Check:
1. Your local GC
2. Your local CL
3. Your local msuic stores
4. TGP
I would not buy a modern day Marshall unless it was Real Cheap.
They lied through their teeth to us about their POS, Conductive PCB's, that also had a severe run-away bias problem that burned through tubes. Their answer to that was, and Still Is to sell a replacement board for 250 bux.
Buy a used, hand-wired, clone from a respectable builder.
good luck
 
Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

Gary Holt has good things to say about the new DSLs. Quiet, crunchy and affordable. They still have that lame shared EQ unfortunately. I have a JVM with a 1960A (So does Jolly) and it absolutely rocks. It's seems to have been designed with the metal crowd in mind. The many channels and modes are like a time machine through the Marshall chronology. There are heaps of mods available such as the plexi and rectifier mods. Even with a cap trim it has more than enough gain on the OD channels. The crunch channel with a boost will nail the early Scott Ian bay area thrash sound.
 
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Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

Gary Holt has good things to say about the new DSLs. Quiet, crunchy and affordable. They still have that lame shared EQ unfortunately. I have a JVM with a 1960A (So does Jolly) and it absolutely rocks. It's seems to have been designed with the metal crowd in mind. The many channels and modes are like a time machine through the Marshall chronology. There are heaps of mods available such as the plexi and rectifier mods. Even with a cap trim it has more than enough gain on the OD channels. The crunch channel with a boost will nail the early Scott Ian bay area thrash sound.

I bought the DSL for the reasons stated. Basically, I rarely use the ultra channel but adore the classic side. It is marvelous with pedals like my old 800. Jvm looks brilliant but out of my price range.
 
Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

hey man i my 3 favorite amps i own are a blackstar HT stage 60, marshal JVM250H, and my brand new Carvin X100B. all three are capable of good low gain sounds, but each has their own flavor. It really depends on budget and what you want. Yoou can find used Carvins probably for about 350 to 400 and they are american made, good support staff and its like have a fender and a JCM900 in one amp. the cleans are great and it can do Metallica if pushed to the limit, but really shines for classic rock marshal tones. The blackstar is made up of Ex-Marshal employees and is kinda of a marshal clone, but it has way more flexibilty it can really do anything but i dont think it sounds good with the gain over 2 o'clock gets kinda muddy sounding. The JVM is the most expesive but has the best clean channel marshal has ever made (still not as good as the carvin) but it has 2 channels with 3 different voicings on each, so they break down like this clean channel first : green mode = clean channel, orange mode = JTM45 (ow gain but great town), red mode = JCM800. Distortion channel : green mode = JCM900, orange mode = JCM900 boosted, red mode = Face melt.
as far as reverb all 3 amps have a very good reverb i prefer the Carvins cause its so shimmering beautiful goodness and very responsive, but the black star has a good one as well, the JVm has 2 different reverbs one for each channel. hope this helps
 
Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

I miss the Vintage/Modern. I get to play one once or twice a month at a nearby bar, and it's fantastic. It's a serious shame they discontinued it, that thing had amazing tone.


I agree totally. That was a great sounding amp. The 2X12 combo was pretty heavy though. I wish it had come in a 1X12 model.
 
Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

I have the Marshall JVM Series JVM410C Tube Combo Amp. Always remained primarily a Fender fan but this one Marshall has made it's way into our back line. Has lots of kick and punch.....and so many choices without pedals. You're able to use foot pedals pretty comfortably too. Really adds to the mix on stage and when it comes to rock it can hold its own with any other amp. Super loud if that is anything you need on stage...
 
Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

hey man i my 3 favorite amps i own are a blackstar HT stage 60, marshal JVM250H, and my brand new Carvin X100B. all three are capable of good low gain sounds, but each has their own flavor. It really depends on budget and what you want. Yoou can find used Carvins probably for about 350 to 400 and they are american made, good support staff and its like have a fender and a JCM900 in one amp. the cleans are great and it can do Metallica if pushed to the limit, but really shines for classic rock marshal tones. The blackstar is made up of Ex-Marshal employees and is kinda of a marshal clone, but it has way more flexibilty it can really do anything but i dont think it sounds good with the gain over 2 o'clock gets kinda muddy sounding. The JVM is the most expesive but has the best clean channel marshal has ever made (still not as good as the carvin) but it has 2 channels with 3 different voicings on each, so they break down like this clean channel first : green mode = clean channel, orange mode = JTM45 (ow gain but great town), red mode = JCM800. Distortion channel : green mode = JCM900, orange mode = JCM900 boosted, red mode = Face melt.
as far as reverb all 3 amps have a very good reverb i prefer the Carvins cause its so shimmering beautiful goodness and very responsive, but the black star has a good one as well, the JVm has 2 different reverbs one for each channel. hope this helps

Do you ever blend these amps? Curious how you might do so.
 
Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

no i have not tried that as of yet. i have thought of it but i want to switch out my speakers in my cab first. i currently have a laney 2 x 12 cab that has celestion 70/80's. they are ok speakers but not very responsive so it might not make a very tonal difference at this point, but i am looking to upgrade the cab with WGS ET65
 
Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

I'm loving my recent DSL100 acquisition. The shared EQ is a different sort of thing, sure, but when you're not looking for scoop tones on the gain side, it switches between the two gloriously. I have debated possibly modding it for two tone stacks, but eh... not really that necessary. It's just a different world for me, going from clean to slight breakup single channel, to a channel switcher, though now I can use my volume control and a boost pedal and do unreal things that my other amps don't quite do.
 
Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

Get one of the Pre 2005 DSL heads. Not sure exactly what happened after 2006 but the price went way down and they didn't sound the same. I love my old DSL.
 
Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

I don't know when but the DSL was moved to be manufactured on china. maybe that's why they don't sound as good and that is diffinately why the price went down. the owner of a local guitar shop told me he was shying away from carrying the DSL cause he has seen so many problems with them, when he sent to a repair shop he said it never was anything big usually came down to bad solder joints or cheap components that needed to be replaced. I think marshal is only producing the jcm800 jcm900 all the JVM's, and hand wired amps in England all others are Chinese now
 
Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

Marshalls are brutally honost amps (not as in brutal distortion). Even though they are known for overdrive and distortion they pretty much put out what is put into them. Speakers can make or break a Marshall for a given style of music. Tubes can make or break a Marshall. Bias setting can make or break a Marshall.

There is a difference between old Marshalls and modern Marshalls. As musicians began to demand higher and higher gain at lower and lower gig volumes, Marshalls were not the most ideal platform for that. A modern Marshall can't be the same as an old Marshall. It's not to say that modrern Marshalls are no good but they are different.

I also think that Jim Marshall in later years had turned over the company more and more to the staff and the hired hands, and it wasn't as much just Jim and his friends, and players, as it was from the plexis up through the JCM-800s, and ending with the Jubilees. The economies changed too. It was simply not feasable to build amps the same way as in the old days and still make it affordable for working musicians. That was always something Jim was concerned about. Jim was a musician himself and wanted to serve that community. And I wonder how divorce and family matters affected things.
 
Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

I don't know when but the DSL was moved to be manufactured on china. maybe that's why they don't sound as good and that is diffinately why the price went down. the owner of a local guitar shop told me he was shying away from carrying the DSL cause he has seen so many problems with them, when he sent to a repair shop he said it never was anything big usually came down to bad solder joints or cheap components that needed to be replaced. I think marshal is only producing the jcm800 jcm900 all the JVM's, and hand wired amps in England all others are Chinese now
I've got a 2009 DSL, and it's all made in Britain except the tubes.
 
Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

I don't know when but the DSL was moved to be manufactured on china. maybe that's why they don't sound as good and that is diffinately why the price went down. the owner of a local guitar shop told me he was shying away from carrying the DSL cause he has seen so many problems with them, when he sent to a repair shop he said it never was anything big usually came down to bad solder joints or cheap components that needed to be replaced. I think marshal is only producing the jcm800 jcm900 all the JVM's, and hand wired amps in England all others are Chinese now

Only the solid state and the some of the smaller haze and class 5 were made in the east (some in china some in india some in vietnam) But all the larger tube stuff is still made in england. There are many cost cutting measures that have been done to them across the board though.
 
Re: Rate the new Marshalls please!

My jvm410h is perfect for me and sounds exactly like what I hear in my head for the stuff that I do.
 
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