Thanks very much, Marshall.

randella

So I played an old JCM 900 combo for years, until I fetched up in hospital having surgery on my spine. Given that the suitcase that caused all the trouble weighed in at 17kg, you can probably understand why I lost my appetite for carting a 25kg amp around.

In the end I went down the lunchbox head route, eventually settling on a MESA mini-rec which I love to bits. During all the faff I had a Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister which I couldn't get on with, tried a bunch of other stuff, modellers too.

All the while I was thinking "if only those gannets in Milton Keynes would pull their fingers out and make a two-channel, lunchbox JCM800 with an effects loop, I'd be all over it."

I've spent the last ten minutes flicking through Guitarist mag resolutely trying to ignore the mini-Jubilee review. It's not easy. It looks like one tasty amp. I know from lurking that newer Marshalls don't get a lot of love on here, but it can't just be me who fancies one.

Alnico

If Marshall don't do what you want, there are plenty who will.......

@Martinw ?

MJW amps are some of the finest hand built amps there are and Martin is great person to deal with.

John_P

If I didn't already have a jubilee I'd be very tempted to buy one of the new little models - it looks great. imo

randella

That's just the thing though, they do. Not only what I want, but they've one-upped what I want and made the mini-jubilee. I'm more than happy with the Boogie, but their timing is absolutely atrocious - I don't often suffer with the old gear acquisition syndrome, but this one's got me good.

Lodious

Fear not....watching the Marshall demo should cure your desires (although I'd be surprised if it sounded as bad as this in reality).

https://marshallamps.com/products/amplifiers/mini-jubilee-series/2525h-mini-jubilee/

randella

Lodious said:

Fear not....watching the Marshall demo should cure your desires (although I'd be surprised if it sounded as bad as this in reality).

https://marshallamps.com/products/amplifiers/mini-jubilee-series/2525h-mini-jubilee/

Yeah, I saw that, it did cure it for a while! The NAMM demo with Rob Whatsisname and the guy from Andertons showed a lot more promise, I thought, given it looked as though it was filmed on an iPhone.

Alnico

randella said:

That's just the thing though, they do. Not only what I want, but they've one-upped what I want and made the mini-jubilee. I'm more than happy with the Boogie, but their timing is absolutely atrocious - I don't often suffer with the old gear acquisition syndrome, but this one's got me good.

Forgive me, i misunderstood.

Sassafras

Based on that Marshall demo I'd stick with the Mesa.

ICBM

The Mesa is a far better amp. It can't duplicate the sound of the Marshall exactly, but it will get into the same ballpark, is more flexible, and better built.

FelineGuitars

Having a love for some of the JCM800 sounds - 2203, 2205 etc this offering from MJW appeals to me 

I'd have a 10w single ended version with an EL34

http://www.mjwamps.com/twin/

Evildurka

I had a mini recto and ultimately didn't get in with it I would like to try the mini jubilee though. Especially as I had the slash jubilee for a number of years.

Lodious

TBH, Demos like that and the awful 30+ minute one for the Code amps makes Marshall look like a company who really haven't got a clue what they are supposed to be doing. Pretty much any Youtube video for a Friedman amp ()

reminds you what a good Marshall should sound like, don't Marshall understand what was good about their amps?

I honestly don't understand why someone senior at Marshall didn't hear that demo and said 'That sounds atrocious, Is the problem with the video or the amp? Remake the video or remake the amp, and don't use whoever was responsible for creating that dross ever again'

randella

ICBM said:

The Mesa is a far better amp. It can't duplicate the sound of the Marshall exactly, but it will get into the same ballpark, is more flexible, and better built.

Very succinctly put. Deep down I think I know this. The vintage mode on the red channel sounds like a juiced-up JCM, and I've got the clean/pushed mode that, coupled with a kick from an SD-1, could just about cover my band's set list on its own. It's a great great bit of kit. I've had the lid off it too, nicely put together, alright it's not a turret-board, but it looks pretty bullet proof. How they got five 12AX7s and a couple of EL84s in there is anyone's guess.

The comments here are interesting. I think, for me, the malaise at Bletchley is this: there's an arrogance, this attitude that 'we are Marshall and if you don't need a couple of 100-watt stacks then we're not for you.' Possibly the danger is that they're pissing away an awful lot of goodwill built up over the previous 50-odd years.

I grew up listening to Marshall players, from my dad's records of Clapton on the Beano album, Hendrix, Kossoff, Zep, right up until I heard Guns and Roses "Appetite..." and the seduction of that Marshall badge is strong enough for me to fancy their one token gesture towards a non-pro guitarist enough that I'd think about chopping in a much better amp to get my hands on it.

They need to watch their backs, for my money Blackstar are snapping at their heels, and my brand loyalty isn't going to last forever.

So, rant over. I shouldn't have joined this place, my valve-amp opinion outpourings might have been kept in check . Anyway, it's Saturday. Cheers!

randella

Lodious said:

I honestly don't understand why someone senior at Marshall didn't hear that demo and said 'That sounds atrocious, Is the problem with the video or the amp? Remake the video or remake the amp, and don't use whoever was responsible for creating that dross ever again'

Yeah, really. I suspect Jim wouldn't have allowed it! I was amazed at how mediocre it sounded, I was watching it thinking, hoping almost, that the amp sounded better than that. I'll bet a tenner it does sound better than that too.

ThorpyFX

The amp looks great, genuinely attractive. What I don't understand is this, where are all the bass frequencies in the demo? It's all Mids and treble. I imagine it'll be great in the flesh but why would it be recorded this way? Has anyone heard one live?

randella

ThorpyFX said:

The amp looks great, genuinely attractive. What I don't understand is this, where are all the bass frequencies in the demo? It's all Mids and treble. I imagine it'll be great in the flesh but why would it be recorded this way? Has anyone heard one live?

Bingo! It's like they've taken their most desirable newly-designed product in years and set about dissuading people from wanting it.

ICBM

ThorpyFX said:

The amp looks great, genuinely attractive. What I don't understand is this, where are all the bass frequencies in the demo? It's all Mids and treble. I imagine it'll be great in the flesh but why would it be recorded this way? Has anyone heard one live?

I would also guess it doesn't sound as terrible as that in reality - I think it's the recording, because a couple of times when he does muted stuff you can hear a bit of thump coming through.

I have always found the Jubilees quite bright and harsh though, and I wouldn't ever set the bass control anywhere other than full up on one personally… although that's true of most Marshalls. He has it on halfway, up to about 2 o'clock.

I see no-one has mentioned the diode clipping yet either .

Yes, it's what it sounds like that counts, but it is a fact that these are essentially hybrid amps, of a sort - all-valve gain but solid-state (diode and LED) clipping. Make of that what you will...

randella

ICBM said:

ThorpyFX said:

The amp looks great, genuinely attractive. What I don't understand is this, where are all the bass frequencies in the demo? It's all Mids and treble. I imagine it'll be great in the flesh but why would it be recorded this way? Has anyone heard one live?

I would also guess it doesn't sound as terrible as that in reality - I think it's the recording, because a couple of times when he does muted stuff you can hear a bit of thump coming through.

I have always found the Jubilees quite bright and harsh though, and I wouldn't ever set the bass control anywhere other than full up on one personally… although that's true of most Marshalls. He has it on halfway, up to about 2 o'clock.

I see no-one has mentioned the diode clipping yet either .

Yes, it's what it sounds like that counts, but it is a fact that these are essentially hybrid amps, of a sort - all-valve gain but solid-state (diode and LED) clipping. Make of that what you will...

With all respect, diode clipping be damned! When I was 15 years old and wandered into a rehearsal room in Reading to be greeted by an old 50W JCM800 head on top of an old 1960A cab, both of which looked like they'd seen service in WWI, plugged in, turned it up and hit an open A5 that parted my hair, I was sold on Marshall. I couldn't care if the signal clipped a little red bulb or a Tesco red plum tomato, THAT SOUND!

Again, I can't be the only one

ICBM

randella said:

With all respect, diode clipping be damned! When I was 15 years old and wandered into a rehearsal room in Reading to be greeted by an old 50W JCM800 head on top of an old 1960A cab, both of which looked like they'd seen service in WWI, plugged in, turned it up and hit an open A5 that parted my hair, I was sold on Marshall. I couldn't care if the signal clipped a little red bulb or a Tesco red plum tomato, THAT SOUND! 

Again, I can't be the only one

I agree! Up to a point. But it *does* matter to a lot of people. It's not a big factor, but it does make a real difference.

For what it's worth an old JCM800 50-watter (non-channel-switcher) does not have diode clipping.

randella

ICBM said:

randella said:

With all respect, diode clipping be damned! When I was 15 years old and wandered into a rehearsal room in Reading to be greeted by an old 50W JCM800 head on top of an old 1960A cab, both of which looked like they'd seen service in WWI, plugged in, turned it up and hit an open A5 that parted my hair, I was sold on Marshall. I couldn't care if the signal clipped a little red bulb or a Tesco red plum tomato, THAT SOUND! 

Again, I can't be the only one

I agree! Up to a point. But it *does* matter to a lot of people. It's not a big factor, but it does make a real difference.

For what it's worth an old JCM800 50-watter (non-channel-switcher) does not have diode clipping.

Apologies, I wasn't trying to be contentious. These things matter to me too in a lot of ways, but I was more trying to illustrate the emotional investment I and lots like me have in Marshall amps

randella

Plus, from memory (longer ago than I care to remember) I think it wasn't a channel-switcher