Andertons modelling amp shoot-out

ICBM

EricTheWeary said:

I don't know if the Marshall looks great, I think what it would do is pass as a Marshall in the dark at the back of a stage ( especially because you can't see the hi fi receiver control panel) and that's quite often what people want. I've mentioned before how the rehearsal studio I go to has mostly Marshalls because the owner says his customers always ask for them, they'd rather play through the worst Marshall than the best Peavey. If I was 16 again and wanted to be in a band it's the one I'd choose out of this lot. 

Probably why I get so much work repairing the worst Marshalls, that rehearsal rooms buy…

Of course the big question which hasn't been raised so far is which of these amps is going to prove reliable. The Blackstar ID60 is, and the Fender Mustang seems OK (although I don't know of any in practice studios), but the others are something of an unknown quantity as yet. Older Line 6 Spiders are fine, so I would hope the new ones are. Marshalls have been patchy - most of their modern amps are poor, but the most recent MG series has actually been fine, and the Vietnamese DSLs seem to be too. I'm assuming the Code will also be made in Vietnam.

paul_c2

ICBM said:

EricTheWeary said:

I don't know if the Marshall looks great, I think what it would do is pass as a Marshall in the dark at the back of a stage ( especially because you can't see the hi fi receiver control panel) and that's quite often what people want. I've mentioned before how the rehearsal studio I go to has mostly Marshalls because the owner says his customers always ask for them, they'd rather play through the worst Marshall than the best Peavey. If I was 16 again and wanted to be in a band it's the one I'd choose out of this lot. 

Probably why I get so much work repairing the worst Marshalls, that rehearsal rooms buy…

Of course the big question which hasn't been raised so far is which of these amps is going to prove reliable. The Blackstar ID60 is, and the Fender Mustang seems OK (although I don't know of any in practice studios), but the others are something of an unknown quantity as yet. Older Line 6 Spiders are fine, so I would hope the new ones are. Marshalls have been patchy - most of their modern amps are poor, but the most recent MG series has actually been fine, and the Vietnamese DSLs seem to be too. I'm assuming the Code will also be made in Vietnam.

Are new Marshall amps still distinctly less reliable than equivalent (age) amps from other manufacturers?

ICBM

paul_c2 said:

Are new Marshall amps still distinctly less reliable than equivalent (age) amps from other manufacturers?

The run of valve amps from the mid-90s to a few years ago (roughly JTM60 through to JCM2000 and Vintage Modern) and similar age solid state amps with fan cooling (AVT and MG-DFX series) were, yes - even given the large numbers of them out there. Fender, Peavey and Line 6 among others sold similar numbers are are noticeable less unreliable and for less serious reasons.

The most recent Marshalls - the 'carbon fibre' MG series, and as far as I can tell so far the JVMs and the new DSLs - are much more in line with other brands. In fact I still have yet to see a single CF MG for repair, after (I think) five years. If the Code is made in the same factory I do have some hope it might be good.

Rigid_Digits

My nephew has one of the Mustang III V2 and to my ears it has some really nice sounding cleans so I don't think the Andertons video did it justice in my opinion.

Voxman

Rigid_Digits said:

My nephew has one of the Mustang III V2 and to my ears it has some really nice sounding cleans so I don't think the Andertons video did it justice in my opinion.

+1 it's actually a very good amp, our other guitarist has one in a nice red tolex and I bought a III and tried it for a while a few years back. Its loud and sounds good with nice cleans and decent distortions albeit its operation is a bit fiddly. Although it has real knobs a lot is menu driven via a dedicated main programme wheel.

olafgarten

ICBM said:
In fact I still have yet to see a single CF MG for repair, after (I think) five years.

Too bad they sound like crap.