Marshalls...Do I need one?

ESBlonde

Yes once the late 70s mods began the amps lost a little with each revision. I know the current crop of amps are tuned for modern tastes but you really need to play a proper old marshall in a band setting to appreciate what they do and why they were the yardstick by which others still measure themselves. That cut and thump and dynamic response all at your fingertips.

Try one, hire one for a session or a gig.

oddball

I've got my JVM205h going into an old Marshall 4x12 loaded with Greenbacks. It sounds bloody fantastic

ICBM

I do like the Plexis and non-MV JMPs, but for me the absolute pinnacle is the 1976 model 2203 100W Master Volume. I know purists say they don't sound as good as the non-MV ones, but I think they're wrong - to me, the early 2203s are not only the definitive Marshall but actually the definition of the sound of rock guitar.

(The earliest 50W 2204s are quite a different circuit and inferior, to me - they were brought into line with the 2203 after a year or so.)

The peak of build quality was from around 1978/79 - when they dropped the appallingly unreliable pull-out voltage and impedance selectors in favour of rotary switches - up to about 1984 when the 'vertical input' JCM800s were replaced by the 'horizontal input' ones with PCB-mounted jacks and pots. These are some of the best valve amps ever made by any company.

The rot really started with the JCM800 Split-Channel series - although the first ones aren't so bad, they started to use solid-state diode clipping and made too many changes to the basic circuitry, and they lost that great raw tone. After 1984 these got worse too, with more gain and a buzzier sound. The final cut-off point is the end of the Jubilee series and the introduction of the JCM900s, at which point they became pretty average build-quality-wise and in the case of the Dual Reverb models, no more than hybrid amps really.

But with all that said, the reissue amps (JTM45 up to JCM800) they make now are actually very close in construction to the 'peak years' of the late 70s, and really not bad at all. It's sad that they can't seem to make modern-sounding amps to that standard.

samzadgan

I've tried a lot of amps that i liked and didn't like...my favourites were Laney's and i still love to have an old AOR...but when you try a Marshall JCM800...superbass (especially)...you realise what an amp should sound like!

And if you want cheap, the early 900's can be extremely good for very very low cost.

PS. of course the above statement is extremely bias view of someone who loves that marshall tone.

Reverend

What ICBM said. I have a 77 and a 78 2203. They are crushingly loud - loud enough that I only had them.on about 2 both at Bloodstock and playing the Kentish Town Forum.
Whilst you can get a similar drive from a pedal alone. That will not replicate the massive roar of older Marshalls.
Like many, I always found Marshall amps thin sounding and fizzy until I tried using an older amp. Basing your view of them on a dsl or 900 is like saying you don't like beef because you've had a Mcdonalds hamburger.

midlifecrisis

had a jvm 210 combo for a year.too loud, too heavy, too many knobs on the front, just couldn't get the sound that I hoped for,   then plugged into a laney vc30 and found what I was looking for.

Ché

I was thinking about picking up a Vintage Modern stack myself. Going to play it tomorrow. 

The down side, as I have a Mesa MK I, is I now need a Dual Showman head, Orange OD120 and a Solando… 

Whether or not you need one is down to you. I also do a lot of recording and thought about the Class 5 and 1W combo/heads they put out for their anniversary. Given I also gig I though I'd be worth getting something loud enough for stage use. 

ICBM

Ché said:

I was thinking about picking up a Vintage Modern stack myself. Going to play it tomorrow. 

Given I also gig I though I'd be worth getting something loud enough for stage use.

I was playing a Vintage Modern a couple of days ago…

Be warned - it doesn't sound good at low volume. It *does* sound good when it's cranked up, and being loud enough for stage use is not likely to be the problem… it will be the other way round. There's a bit of a design niggle in that the 'Dynamic Range' switch gives such a huge level boost that it isn't really usable unless the amp is already cranked so the power stage compression reduces it.

They also have a couple of known reliability issues, one trivial (power indicator LEDs often blow) and one not so (bias sensing resistors are way under-rated and often blow if a valve does, sometimes resulting in board damage). But by and large not too bad for a modern non-reissue Marshall.