NAD - Marshall… in a box

GoldenEraGuitars

I hadn’t actually been looking with the intention of buying, but I guess these things happen to all of us (nervous laughter). A few weeks ago an amp popped up locally on gumtree that I thought “mmm I wouldn’t mind that”. But another few scrolls down and I kind of forgot about it. 

The day ended up drifting back on to gumtree and low and behold the amp was still there but now the price was less than a lot booteek pedals so I decided to fire off a message to the seller. 

I was passing the town where he lives this morning so with a slight detour I now own…

https://i.imgur.com/PwN8U5G.jpg

….. probably the least interesting amp you could ever see. But I have a soft spot for 900’s. The Lead and Bass head I have is absolutely stunning but it doesn’t do the more saturated sound I like to use sometimes. And to pick this amp up for £300 I’m beyond happy. For the first time in a while I also have reverb and an effects loop which is nice, I think a new overdrive pedal and delay will be bought soon. 

So, there you go.. a nice way to end my working week.

De_Batz

Is this the one that goes to 20?

Presumably it's a channel switcher, so the question is whether the 'clean' channel is any good...? I remember Marshall combos in the 90s and early 00s struggling to be heard on the clean sound. 

Sassafras

And people moan about the price of music gear.

GoldenEraGuitars

De_Batz said:

Is this the one that goes to 20?

Presumably it's a channel switcher, so the question is whether the 'clean' channel is any good...? I remember Marshall combos in the 90s and early 00s struggling to be heard on the clean sound. 

Yip, the lead gain goes to 20. I can’t play it just now as I have no guitar. This is for home use only so I guess I’ll be able to hear the clean channel perfectly

GoldenEraGuitars

Sassafras said:

And people moan about the price of music gear.

Admittedly after a quick search I found 900 heads to cost, in some cases, more than double what I paid for this combo. But for those prices I’m getting close to vintage JMP head prices 

ThePrettyDamned

Nice. These have a worse rep than they deserve I think. 

Fortheloveofguitar

Nice work buddy 

I have a 50 Watt 900 MKiii head arriving tomorrow. Only £325 

CHrisP86

Good score!  

I picked up a 100w SLX recently and it’s excellent.

GoldenEraGuitars

ThePrettyDamned said:

Nice. These have a worse rep than they deserve I think. 

Totally. And usually from people who have never owned one. 

GoldenEraGuitars

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Nice work buddy 

I have a 50 Watt 900 MKiii head arriving tomorrow. Only £325 

Fantastic! I might have preferred a head but the fact that I could actually drive to collect this one made it all too tempting. Really looking forward to plugging into it ASAP 

Fortheloveofguitar

GoldenEraGuitars said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Nice work buddy 

I have a 50 Watt 900 MKiii head arriving tomorrow. Only £325 

Fantastic! I might have preferred a head but the fact that I could actually drive to collect this one made it all too tempting. Really looking forward to plugging into it ASAP 

Let us know how you get on. Mine arrives this afternoon 

TTBZ

The 900s have a bit of a bad rep but I don't mind them. They're great for grunge/90s alt rock stuff with that slightly more scooped mid range, but still sound like a Marshall.

rossi

GoldenEraGuitars said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

Nice. These have a worse rep than they deserve I think. 

Totally. And usually from people who have never owned one. 

Probably dont own a guitar and never have done either.

ICBM

GoldenEraGuitars said:

the price was less than a lot booteek pedals

You also get two free pedals included in the amp .

These amps are often the subject of snobbery because they’re really hybrids, not all-valve - the input channels are effectively an overdrive pedal circuit for the clean channel and a distortion for the lead. But since most players these days use pedals to either provide all their overdrive into a clean valve amp, or use a boost pedal to drive an amp harder, I can’t really see why there’s a difference.

There’s also a bit more solid-state further on in the circuit, but again if you’re using effects in the loop, there is with a valve amp too!

So ignore the technical details of how it works and just enjoy the sound .

If they have a real fault, it’s that the pots are poor quality and often have very odd tapers, even if they don’t break completely. Not too difficult to replace, even though the front PCB is secured in an odd way with three little bolts with heads that get very easily chewed up...

Also, they have the worst output impedance labeling of any amp ever made. Where it says 4(16), that means 4! Some people understandably think that it means 4 *or* 16, and run a 16-ohm cab from it, which can blow the output transformer if you’re unlucky. The reason for it is that there’s a spare tap on the OT which can be used by swapping two wires inside - the head version is the other way round and says 16(4). When I service these amps I always get a bit of solvent and remove the incorrect number, to avoid accidents.

ThePrettyDamned

ICBM said:

GoldenEraGuitars said:

the price was less than a lot booteek pedals

You also get two free pedals included in the amp .

These amps are often the subject of snobbery because they’re really hybrids, not all-valve - the input channels are effectively an overdrive pedal circuit for the clean channel and a distortion for the lead. But since most players these days use pedals to either provide all their overdrive into a clean valve amp, or use a boost pedal to drive an amp harder, I can’t really see why there’s a difference.

There’s also a bit more solid-state further on in the circuit, but again if you’re using effects in the loop, there is with a valve amp too!

So ignore the technical details of how it works and just enjoy the sound .

If they have a real fault, it’s that the pots are poor quality and often have very odd tapers, even if they don’t break completely. Not too difficult to replace, even though the front PCB is secured in an odd way with three little bolts with heads that get very easily chewed up...

Also, they have the worst output impedance labeling of any amp ever made. Where it says 4(16), that means 4! Some people understandably think that it means 4 *or* 16, and run a 16-ohm cab from it, which can blow the output transformer if you’re unlucky. The reason for it is that there’s a spare tap on the OT which can be used by swapping two wires inside - the head version is the other way round and says 16(4). When I service these amps I always get a bit of solvent and remove the incorrect number, to avoid accidents.

Hahaha that is so unbelievably dumb! Do they not know how stupid us guitar-folk are?!

I've only ever played the combos of these, but a friend had the SLX head and a jcm900 4x12 (which he traded for a laney GH50 and matching cab) which I happened to love - in fact, I still would like one if I had the room and the means to play loud... That thing absolutely roared. I don't remember ever hearing it clean to be honest, but for modern rock and metal it was incredible.

Then again, the GH50 was as well... 

ICBM

ThePrettyDamned said:

I've only ever played the combos of these, but a friend had the SLX head and a jcm900 4x12 (which he traded for a laney GH50 and matching cab) which I happened to love - in fact, I still would like one if I had the room and the means to play loud... That thing absolutely roared. I don't remember ever hearing it clean to be honest, but for modern rock and metal it was incredible.

The SL-X and the Master Volume MkIII are simpler than these Dual Reverb models and don't have the 'pedal circuits' in - there is still some solid-state, but it's fairly minimal, just a diode clipping network in the MkIII (replaced by an extra valve stage in the SL-X), the FX loop send/return and the master volume control, neither of which contribute to the tone.

They do share the pot quality and impedance labelling problems though.

ThePrettyDamned said:

Then again, the GH50 was as well... 

Interestingly, modern Laneys have the *best* impedance labelling of any amp - really clear little boxes drawn around each jack and pair of jacks specifying exactly what should be connected to them. As musician-proof as any way of doing it!

Jetsam1

Once again I regret my younger self selling my 50w Head and 4x10............... Through the 4x10 Marshall Cab I thought it really did work nicely. TIght. Actually, I liked that amp a lot. Especially galling considering the summer job I did to actually get it at 16.

I would be happy enough with a 900 in combo form too. I have no worries about solid state. Maybe one day............

ICBM

If I ever buy another Marshall valve amp it will probably be a JCM900 100W Dual Reverb 1x12" combo... I always thought they were a really neat little thing and sounded huge. Although the weight is an issue, a modern high-power neodymium speaker could be the answer to that.