PSA Marshall Origin 20 dropped again

Fortheloveofguitar

GO GO GO!!!!

KrisGee

Has anyone tried this with a matrix nl cab? Seriously tempted to give it a go but not looking to mess around too much with swapping cabs etc.

Barnezy

Boom! 

smudge_lad

£239 at Peach

Barnezy

I ordered the combo and it comes tomorrow. I read about people swapping the 10" speaker for a 12" or a 10" greenback. Anyone tried that here? 

smudge_lad

My 20watt head has arrived at home waiting for me. Won’t get a Vance to play it tonight though

JohnPerry

Barnezy said:

I ordered the combo and it comes tomorrow. I read about people swapping the 10" speaker for a 12" or a 10" greenback. Anyone tried that here? 

Yes, G10 greenback and some decent preamp tubes and it is very substantially better, also less noisy. 

skippy76

I’ll second the decent preamp tube upgrade. Sticking a JJ ecc83 (12ax7) in the V1 position on my 20w head reduced the noise and fattened up the overall tone a dash (to my ear). Not bad for £13

‘I’m looking at a full set upgrade including the EL34s, will update when tested.

paulnb57

Is it possible to get a smidge more gain from a valve swap? O 20 H...

smudge_lad

Had a quick play through last night, into my 1960A cab. Loved it! Even on 5w, I really couldn't turn it up very much.

What a great wee amp!

Will take it along to rehearsal tonight where I can crank it a bit

ICBM

paulnb57 said:

Is it possible to get a smidge more gain from a valve swap? O 20 H...

Not more gain really, but slightly more distortion. If the amp comes stock with a JJ in V1 and Chinese 12AX7s in V2 and V3 (the SV20H does), the first thing to do is swap V1 and V3 - that will give a little more bite and harmonics.

(The Marshall labelled JJ has red lettering and the Chinese ones white.)

If you want to try new valves, old-production RFTs seem to have slightly more gain - as well as a really good bright but rich crunchy sound that suits Marshalls better than anything.

Twinfan

skippy76 said:

I’ll second the decent preamp tube upgrade. Sticking a JJ ecc83 (12ax7) in the V1 position on my 20w head reduced the noise and fattened up the overall tone a dash (to my ear). Not bad for £13

‘I’m looking at a full set upgrade including the EL34s, will update when tested.

You must have had a duff V1, the red label Marshall ECC83s are JJs  

I've kept my stock V1 and swapped out the chinese high-gain V2 and V3 for a couple of valves with lower gain.  HUGE difference in the amp, reduced the previous thick and muddy mids to classic Marshall sounds.

GrahamG

Ordered a 20H last night from Peach,just been notified delivery Today  between 5.00 & 6.00

smudge_lad

Twinfan said:

skippy76 said:

I’ll second the decent preamp tube upgrade. Sticking a JJ ecc83 (12ax7) in the V1 position on my 20w head reduced the noise and fattened up the overall tone a dash (to my ear). Not bad for £13

‘I’m looking at a full set upgrade including the EL34s, will update when tested.

You must have had a duff V1, the red label Marshall ECC83s are JJs  

I've kept my stock V1 and swapped out the chinese high-gain V2 and V3 for a couple of valves with lower gain.  HUGE difference in the amp, reduced the previous thick and muddy mids to classic Marshall sounds.

which valves did you put in?

Question for everyone doing the valve swaps - is it easy enough to do, with no prior knowledge of said procedure?

Philtre

@smudge_lad Take the 5 screws out the back panel, remove the panel and pull the valves out.

smudge_lad

Philtre said:

@smudge_lad Take the 5 screws out the back panel, remove the panel and pull the valves out.

This is what I wanted to hear, lol.

Just wasn't sure about what I'd heard about matching pairs/biasing etc. Or, is that strictly for power tunes as opposed to pre-amp?

Philtre

The Origin 20w head is cathode biased so you don't need to do a manual bias. Just make sure the power valves are a matching pair. Also, make sure the valve pins align when replacing. The power valves have a key indent in the socket, so line that up too.

Disclaimer - I am not @ICBM

Twinfan

smudge_lad said:

which valves did you put in?

A couple of old Mazdas I had knocking about.  Any decent ECC83s should do though - Tung Sol, JJ, Sovtek etc.

simonhpieman

Twinfan said:

skippy76 said:

I’ll second the decent preamp tube upgrade. Sticking a JJ ecc83 (12ax7) in the V1 position on my 20w head reduced the noise and fattened up the overall tone a dash (to my ear). Not bad for £13

‘I’m looking at a full set upgrade including the EL34s, will update when tested.

You must have had a duff V1, the red label Marshall ECC83s are JJs  

I've kept my stock V1 and swapped out the chinese high-gain V2 and V3 for a couple of valves with lower gain.  HUGE difference in the amp, reduced the previous thick and muddy mids to classic Marshall sounds.

I've only done one gig with my 20C so need a few more to dial it in exactly as I want but this sounds like something I'd probably want to do.

What did you change them for?

Twinfan

Read my post above yours