Re: The Vintage Modern is no more
Marshall Amplification is in deep brown stuff.
IMO, the company has not been right since some of the design/development team decided to it was time split and start Blackstar. The current management does not command the respect or loyalty that was freely given to the late Jim Marshall. In blunt terms, people liked Jim so much that they were willing to overlook shortcomings in the products. Today, people are less forgiving. More importantly, customers can buy a digitally modelled "Marshall" sound from almost any manufacturer and often for less money.
A contact that I have in music retail will happily count on the fingers of one hand the "seriously good" Marshall amplifiers. In his opinion, they would do better to concentrate on those plus loudspeaker cabinets and hive off all of the budget products to Asia. Perhaps, the current management has arrived at the same conclusion? A major manufacturer could be about to go boutique.
I'm intruiged by these thoughts. Marshall has a hit with the JVMs. It was what they had been trying to do since the close of the 80's with various degrees of non-success. The single channel JCM800 were really all they needed through the 80s and what great amps they were for the times. But then the market shifted to wanting more and more gain and channel switching, and Marshall hadn't fully successfully addressed this market shift until the JVMs.
The original DSL's came closer, but most still found the DSL heads best used as a single channel amp. You either set it up for low gain or you set it up for high gain and kept it there.
The TSLs didn't address the market shift because there were too many better 3 channel amps out there.
The JCM 600s had too many problems.
At the same time why forget their heritage of the Plexis and JMPs? For many of us these are the true Marshalls. Part of the problem with JCM900s, DRs, 2205s, TSL's ect.. is that while being ok amps in their own right they didn't sound true to the Plexis and JMP amps. The problem wth Plexis and JMPs (and to lesser degree JCM800s), though, is they need to be very, very, loud. Here was another area where the world had changed.
This is where I thought the VM was a stroke of genius. It could address the need for the classic/vintage Marshall sound and feel, but be usable.
I do agree that Marshall needs to trim down and only address the needs and wants of the loyal Marshall players and customers. They can't be all things to all players. The cheapo Marshalls only hurt their reputation. The new DSLs may address that middle market nitch for affordable playing amps though.
One thing I failed to menton in my original post was that the VM also needed a cab loaded with Green Backs. How many thought it sucked after playing it through a V30 or G12T75 cab?
