Anyone actually managed to try or buy one of the new marshall studio amps??

Jonathanthomas83 · June 2019

Gotta say, even after listening to the first 10 seconds of the Dan Hawkins video, I disagree completely. But that's just me. Probably biased because I have the amp, I guess. We're all different :-)

Jonathanthomas83 · June 2019

So did anyone compare and SC20H with an original yet? The GAS is pulling me in and I really want one. Little tiny bit concerned that it'll lack the grunt and depth of the bigger model to possibly take the place of my Dual Rec to be my main high gainer.

clarkefan · June 2019

Jonathanthomas83 said:

So did anyone compare and SC20H with an original yet? The GAS is pulling me in and I really want one. Little tiny bit concerned that it'll lack the grunt and depth of the bigger model to possibly take the place of my Dual Rec to be my main high gainer.

Not sure if it's been linked earlier in the thread but the irritating German Youtube bloke did a long vid on just this.

Jonathanthomas83 · June 2019

clarkefan said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

So did anyone compare and SC20H with an original yet? The GAS is pulling me in and I really want one. Little tiny bit concerned that it'll lack the grunt and depth of the bigger model to possibly take the place of my Dual Rec to be my main high gainer.

Not sure if it's been linked earlier in the thread but the irritating German Youtube bloke did a long vid on just this.

Ah, great. I thought I watched all that video but I hadn't. Good comparison of the new one and the big one. Big one sounds great, as does the little one. Hmmm! Definitely sounds...littler though...but as he says, it's not a bad thing, gives it less bass and more miss, which is kind of a good thing anyway. Sounds like a JCM 800 to my ears.

riffpowers · June 2019

Jonathanthomas83 said:

So did anyone compare and SC20H with an original yet? The GAS is pulling me in and I really want one. Little tiny bit concerned that it'll lack the grunt and depth of the bigger model to possibly take the place of my Dual Rec to be my main high gainer.

Not at the same time , but my reaction was that the sc20h sounded just like it .

ICBM · June 2019

Not strictly what’s being asked, but comparing the SV20H with a ‘71 Super Lead going through a Powerbrake into the same cabinet, the Super Lead was much fuller-sounding and more dynamic - just better, even attenuated to the same final volume. Annoyingly also far larger, heavier, more expensive and just inconvenient...

riffpowers · June 2019

ICBM said:

Not strictly what’s being asked, but comparing the SV20H with a ‘71 Super Lead going through a Powerbrake into the same cabinet, the Super Lead was much fuller-sounding and more dynamic - just better, even attenuated to the same final volume. Annoyingly also far larger, heavier, more expensive and just inconvenient...

It's the trade off isn;t it!!!

Jonathanthomas83 · June 2019

Good old @ICBM, can always rely on you to make me feel better about my purchases! haha. Between this and your diagnosis of my dodgy Les Paul, I've literally put a few grand down the plughole. ;-)

ICBM · June 2019

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Good old @ICBM, can always rely on you to make me feel better about my purchases! haha. Between this and your diagnosis of my dodgy Les Paul, I've literally put a few grand down the plughole. ;-)

lol

Well, to be fair I do like the Marshall for what it does well, which is what's in the Les Paul clip above - it sounds very like an old Marshall in the way it's meant to, which is getting that sort of sound in a smaller package. Where I think it falls down is headroom and dynamics in a band situation - not that surprising given the low-ish power, although still a bit frustrating as I've heard other 20W amps which don't do that as badly, not least the 2061... but that doesn't have a TMB tone stack so doesn't sound quite like a big Marshall either!

If you want it for sounding like Paul Kossoff with a Les Paul straight into it at home, in the studio or at a low-volume pub gig then I think it's great. If you want it to sound like Van Halen or stick heavy dirt or boost pedals in front then it doesn't work quite as well as the real thing.

TTBZ · June 2019

The lead stuff in that Dan Hawkins clip was boosted with a tubescreamer. Of course it's always going to sound a bit smaller with less headroom, that's sort of the point

Jonathanthomas83 · June 2019

Yeah, it's all down to the use case, I guess. I totally get what you're saying @ICBM, I've not had it in a band context, to comment.

My thoughts so far: It sounds great and has done everything I've thrown at it so far, Led Zep, Hendrix, Peter Green sort of stuff, even a bit of Maiden and Van Halen. But I'm no master at them styles and I've never tried a real Plexi either, only ever Axe FX or Kemper variations...and the SV20H sounds great compared to them, more alive and real...but THAT is a whole different, controversial thing to say and a completely different conversation to have on a different day.

I bought this amp mainly to have a but of fun with the above styles of music as and when the feeling takes over. I've got my Laney and Mesa for my bread and butter. BUT, it's got me thinking that this Plexi sounds superb and that it or the 800 version could quite easily take over as my main amp - again, caveated with the fact that I don't gig and use them mainly at home.

fretmeister · June 2019

My local PMT has the 800.

Might have to give it a go at the weekend.

JohnPerry · June 2019

Out of interest how loud does the SV20 need to be at home before it starts breaking up? On low-power mode I guess. Too loud for neighbours?

Jonathanthomas83 · June 2019

Loud.

riffpowers · June 2019

JohnPerry said:

Out of interest how loud does the SV20 need to be at home before it starts breaking up? On low-power mode I guess. Too loud for neighbours?

Loud enough to be uncomfortable to sit in front of!!

zepp76 · June 2019

ICBM said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Good old @ICBM, can always rely on you to make me feel better about my purchases! haha. Between this and your diagnosis of my dodgy Les Paul, I've literally put a few grand down the plughole. ;-)

lol

Well, to be fair I do like the Marshall for what it does well, which is what's in the Les Paul clip above - it sounds very like an old Marshall in the way it's meant to, which is getting that sort of sound in a smaller package. Where I think it falls down is headroom and dynamics in a band situation - not that surprising given the low-ish power, although still a bit frustrating as I've heard other 20W amps which don't do that as badly, not least the 2061... but that doesn't have a TMB tone stack so doesn't sound quite like a big Marshall either!

If you want it for sounding like Paul Kossoff with a Les Paul straight into it at home, in the studio or at a low-volume pub gig then I think it's great. If you want it to sound like Van Halen or stick heavy dirt or boost pedals in front then it doesn't work quite as well as the real thing.

@ICBM My ears just pricked up at the mention of Paul Kossoff, if the amp does a close representation of his tone at low volume I could be interested. Would it pair well with my 4x12 with greenbacks do you think? I don't really want to have to buy another cab, saying that I also have an Orange PPC212OB cab with vintage 30's would either of those be suitable please?

ICBM · June 2019

zepp76 said:

@ICBM My ears just pricked up at the mention of Paul Kossoff, if the amp does a close representation of his tone at low volume I could be interested. Would it pair well with my 4x12 with greenbacks do you think? I don't really want to have to buy another cab, saying that I also have an Orange PPC212OB cab with vintage 30's would either of those be suitable please?

Depends what you mean by low volume... even the 5W setting is loud, in the house - and doesn't sound anywhere near as good as the 20W. It should be fine with a 4x12" with Greenbacks though, if you can get it up to that sort of volume. The V30 cab won't sound right and if anything might be slightly louder even with only two speakers.

I did find it worked well with the Powerbrake though, so that would be an option if you can't get it up to overdrive volume by itself. Since it's only 20W you can be a few clicks higher on the attenuator than you would be with a bigger amp.

zepp76 · June 2019

ICBM said:

zepp76 said:

@ICBM My ears just pricked up at the mention of Paul Kossoff, if the amp does a close representation of his tone at low volume I could be interested. Would it pair well with my 4x12 with greenbacks do you think? I don't really want to have to buy another cab, saying that I also have an Orange PPC212OB cab with vintage 30's would either of those be suitable please?

Depends what you mean by low volume... even the 5W setting is loud, in the house - and doesn't sound anywhere near as good as the 20W. It should be fine with a 4x12" with Greenbacks though, if you can get it up to that sort of volume. The V30 cab won't sound right and if anything might be slightly louder even with only two speakers.

I did find it worked well with the Powerbrake though, so that would be an option if you can't get it up to overdrive volume by itself. Since it's only 20W you can be a few clicks higher on the attenuator than you would be with a bigger amp.

Sorry should've been more specific, my idea of low volume where I live is probably small pub gig volumes so not completely quiet. I have a Rivera Rockcrusher attenuator which has done a great job taming the JTM45 so that's an avenue I can pursue. I've got to have a long hard think about this as there are a few things on my GAS list at the moment.

Jonathanthomas83 · June 2019

@zepp76 you'll like it.

zepp76 · June 2019

Jonathanthomas83 said:

@zepp76 you'll like it.

@Jonathanthomas83 no doubt I will, I have a large wad of euros burning a hole in my pocket from when I had to come back from holiday early, I could cash them in and solve all my GAS problems but I have unfinished business in Italy so am stuck with what to do!

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Anyone actually managed to try or buy one of the new marshall studio amps??

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