Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

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maxime1122

New member
Heys guys!

I did a clip that can be useful for the people wondering how the Marshall classic heads sound.

3 Classic Marshall Amps Comparison - Shootout (Best quality) - YouTube

Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps:
- Marshall Superlead 1959SLP 100W Head
- Marshall JCM 800 2203X 100W Head
- Marshall JCM 900 4100 Dual Reverb 100W Head

* All amps were played really loud (volume knob around 7) without attenuator.

Gibson Les Paul with 498T/490R pickups straight into the heads. All amps were played through the same cabinets (Marshall 1960AX and 1960BX). One Celestion Greenback G12M-25 was mic'ed with a Shure SM57 straight where the dustcap and cone meet, about 1" from the grill cloth. No post-processing was applied to those tracks (no EQ, no reverb, etc.).

Hope you like it and please tell me what you think!

* If there's a lot of demand, I could probably add a JCM 800 2210, JCM 2000 DSL 100 and JVM 410H to the shootout!
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

I like them all, can't really fault any of them for anything. I may even like the 900 the best for that song.

I'm guessing you used a lot of presence and/or treble, or was that the greenback providing the nice high end clarity?

One thing's for sure - I'm gonna use this mic placement the next time I record.
 
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Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

DankStar said:
I like them all, can't really fault any of them for anything. I may even like the 900 the best for that song.

I'm guessing you used a lot of presence and/or treble, or was that the greenback providing the nice high end clarity?

One thing's for sure - I'm gonna use this mic placement the next time I record.
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly, the EQ were about: presence 4, bass between 4-6 depending on the head, mid 7 and treble between 4-5. And yes, the greenback provide some good high end clarity!

As for the mic placement, that's a safe one.. It's always my go to position!
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

I'm a plexi guy, and I sold a 2203x this year that I really dug. Having said that, the 900 sounded best in these clips for me. BUT... that's because you were just using the amps to get the OD. The 900 is more high-gain and as such, is voiced to be tighter in high gain mode. I have NO doubt that if I were allowed to use my choice of great OD pedal (OCD, PlexiTone, TS9, etc) and plugged into all three of these amps and stood in front of them, I'd prefer the 1959 and 2203 over the 900. They're bigger and bolder than it is (I refer to my crunch tone as "bombastic" or a "battering ram" -- and the older school amps have more girth than the 900 series).

I used to buy high gain amps and just use the amp gain for all of my crunch. But I've found that I much prefer an amp that's being pushed for some compression and hair, but using a pedal for actual distortion because I like tight, articulate medium gain levels with immediate response over saggy, rounded, flubby amp tones.
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

Plexi for me, but the 900 sounded surprisingly good. It has a lttle extra grainyness on top,but not horrible.
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

I like these shootouts because we can actually hear the sonic differences between the models without all the other variables being different.

At least you cranked them and recorded them, unlike some shootouts that make the amps sound anemic by turning them up to 1. I'm sure they sounded even better standing in front of them because you can actually feel the tone.
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

Are these all EL34s? I know some 800s came with 6550s, some 900s with 5881s.

And is the 1959 a vintage amp, or a reissue?

Thanks, I enjoyed the demo!

Bill
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

Thanks, these were great clips!
My thoughts:
Plexi: tight, clear, with lots of bark
800: same, but a little more saturation and chunk
900: more saturated and compressed. Not as much low-end chunk as 800.
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

I liked the SLP's overall tone the best, and like Red Label said, I would probably throw a boost in front of it and call it good. Probably my OCD for general rhythm stuff and one of my Wylde Overdrive pedals for leads or bluesy stuff, because the OCD's boost is cleaner and let's you hear more of the amp and the Wylde adds it's own color with lots of snarl and harmonics.

The 800 wasn't bad either, but the character of the compression kinda soured it for me.

And the 900 was just too fizzy and fuzzy for my tastes.
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

sure enjoyed all three. the plexi after all these years, still is tonally very appealing. i would opt for the JCM 800, for 1) it is the inbetween gain/saturation model of the 3. 2) cos i grew up loving the sounds they made when some of my favorite bands used them.

maxime1122 said:
If I remember correctly, the EQ were about: presence 4, bass between 4-6 depending on the head, mid 7 and treble between 4-5. And yes, the greenback provide some good high end clarity!
Click to expand...

now most marshalls being mid-heavy by nature, and the awesome tones witnessed here being made with slightly pushed mids (7), is it imperative that mids are set not at noon but pushed to get that awesome 'marshal sound'. now i ve had issues with pumping mids into some non-marshall amps, where they get muddy.
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

Thanks guys!! I prefer the 1959 and 2203 myself, but the JCM 900 is surprisingly good!
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

The 2203X sounded the best to me. That tone is what I would call the epitome of a Marshall tone. Is all the gain you're getting coming from just cranking the amp's volume?
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

Excellent video.

No BS talking, and you can seek whereever you want and know what's currently playing.
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

maxime1122 said:
Heys guys!

I did a clip that can be useful for the people wondering how the Marshall classic heads sound.

3 Classic Marshall Amps Comparison - Shootout (Best quality) - YouTube

Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps:
- Marshall Superlead 1959SLP 100W Head
- Marshall JCM 800 2203X 100W Head
- Marshall JCM 900 4100 Dual Reverb 100W Head

* All amps were played really loud (volume knob around 7) without attenuator.

Gibson Les Paul with 498T/490R pickups straight into the heads. All amps were played through the same cabinets (Marshall 1960AX and 1960BX). One Celestion Greenback G12M-25 was mic'ed with a Shure SM57 straight where the dustcap and cone meet, about 1" from the grill cloth. No post-processing was applied to those tracks (no EQ, no reverb, etc.).

Hope you like it and please tell me what you think!

*[COLOR]If there's a lot of demand, I could probably add a JCM 800 2210, JCM 2000 DSL 100 and JVM 410H to the shootout[/COLOR]!
Click to expand...


Thank you very much for taking the time to do this !

And yes, i for one, would LOVE to see the above mentioned amps in a similar clip . . . and IF possible (at all) add the Vintage Modern.


Thanks

;)
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

Awesome! Thanks for posting! Ive always wanted to hear the diff tween these amps. This is one of the very best shootouts Ive heard. normally, as gearjoneser said, people either record em too low to really hear the tone. Or, they have effects that dont give you a clear sound of the amp or have some other variable.
Of the 3, I found the plexi the most "crisp", I actually liked the JCM the most (im alil biased tho), but I like the dirtier, thicker tone of the 800. The 900 sounds alittle muffled in the first clip and alil too grainy. Still good mind you, but in comparison. Although I liked it best on the slash clip
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

Mad-Max said:
The 2203X sounded the best to me. That tone is what I would call the epitome of a Marshall tone. Is all the gain you're getting coming from just cranking the amp's volume?
Click to expand...

Thanks guys!! Yea, all the gain is coming from the amps (no pedals, etc.). This is the tone you get when you crank them!
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

I dunno about the mid gain with boost trumps high gain... I have a healthy 82 JCM800 2204 and a hand wired souped up 'clone'. The 2204 is great, but for gain and chunk, it simply doesn't compete at all with my souped up version. Now, mine is kinda 'Friedman ish' in specs... So it isn't overly saggy and compressed in the low end... Maybe that is the key, but it has a clarity that is not obtainable with the stock 800.

On the other hand, IF that vintage thrash tone is NEEDED... Or the 'mushy' anthraxy sound is wanted... Then yes... The 800 and a drive pedal does it. That's just my opinion... One man's great tone is another's bad one.
 
Re: Shootout of 3 Classic Marshall Amps (recording inside)

JeffB said:
Plexi for me, but the 900 sounded surprisingly good. It has a lttle extra grainyness on top,but not horrible.
Click to expand...

I'm with Jeff on this one. Plexi all the way but the 900 sounded good with that luscious gain on top
 
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