Are Marshall Amps Available Again in the U.S., Or Is It Just Temporary?

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maguchi

maguchi

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So I was checking out some music gear sites today and saw that Marshall amps, the good ones, were back in stock here in the U.S. and ready to ship at a couple of the larger online retailers. Not affiliated with either of these retailers so I won't name them, but their initials are SW and MF. The 1959 head, the 1962 Bluesbreaker 30 watt combo, the 2203 head, the 1974X combo, the JTM-45 head and the 1987 head are all in stock. MF only has the 1987 head and 1962 combo. But SW has all 6 of those models in stock. Get 'em while they're hot.

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paisleywookiee said:
That wasn’t his question. He wasn’t asking about the authenticity of what Marshall’s currently selling.
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Well, does anyone really think HongShan is going to stop trying to sell amps in the very large US market? Of course HongShan amps will be available. The question is how close will they be to their Marshall predecessors and will they be worth the price compared to other clones?
 
Chocol8 said:
Well, does anyone really think HongShan is going to stop trying to sell amps in the very large US market? Of course HongShan amps will be available. The question is how close will they be to their Marshall predecessors and will they be worth the price compared to other clones?
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Probably not, considering people were willing to buy Marshalls even when they were pretty obnoxiously priced in the US.

Apart from a few models like the new modded Plexi/JCM800, I have no qualms with Marshall's European pricing. Seems pretty spot on for what they are selling.

We are talking electronics here so whether they are made in Asia or UK, as long as costs are not cut in parts quality and manufacturing processes, I see no reason why they would not be pretty much the same as they've been for decades. Solid "middle of the road" built amps.
 
Chocol8 said:
Well, does anyone really think HongShan is going to stop trying to sell amps in the very large US market? Of course HongShan amps will be available. The question is how close will they be to their Marshall predecessors and will they be worth the price compared to other clones?
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Considering Marshall has decades of amps with questionable reliability, even when made in the UK at times, I’d say it remains to be seen.
 
laxu said:
I don't remember anything but the JCM2000 series from the early 2000s having big problems. Afaik most of their amps after that have been pretty solid.
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They don't have "big problems" but they are not premium build quality either.
The JMPs were wildly inconsistent from one unit to the next.
The split channel JCM800s had a channel bleed and filtering issues from 83 to 87.
The 900 SLX had an underspecd bridge rectifier that overheated and burned the PCB.
The JTM60 had overheating issues
The 6100 anniversary had excessive voltage coming into the MIDI board
The TSL100 had bad relays in the switching system
The DSLs had bias drift issues until 2003
The 800 20w had a volume drop with the effects loop engaged for the first 2 years of production.

That's just off the top of my head.
Don't get me wrong. I love Marshalls. They're my favorite amps. They sound great. And all of the above is relatively easy to fix.
But build quality was never their strongest suit.
 
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laxu said:
I don't remember anything but the JCM2000 series from the early 2000s having big problems. Afaik most of their amps after that have been pretty solid.
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Yeah mostly that, and JVM’s to an extent. Also what Billy mentioned. Point is, country of origin isn’t a complete definition of quality (or lack there of).
 
Some JCM2000 would redplate and screw up the pcb. Some probably know the details. Some sort of bias drift issue.
 
paisleywookiee said:
Considering Marshall has decades of amps with questionable reliability, even when made in the UK at times, I’d say it remains to be seen.
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I was thinking tone quality and we all know a Marshall sounds best right before it blows up!

I don't care where an amp is made, I care about how it is made and what goes in to it. Ceriatone's are a great balance of quality for the price. I have one of their amps with their own Malaysian sourced iron and it's pretty darn good. I bought it expecting to replace at least the OT with a Merren one, but I never felt the need.
 
Chocol8 said:
I was thinking tone quality and we all know a Marshall sounds best right before it blows up!

I don't care where an amp is made, I care about how it is made and what goes in to it. Ceriatone's are a great balance of quality for the price. I have one of their amps with their own Malaysian sourced iron and it's pretty darn good. I bought it expecting to replace at least the OT with a Merren one, but I never felt the need.
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The newer Marshalls I’ve played have all sounded fantastic too.
 
I got 3 of them all made within the last 5 years or so. A DSL, a Silver Jubilee and a 1974X and all 3 are holding up well and sounding great. Din't realize that Marshall hate was a thing.
 
maguchi said:
Din't realize that Marshall hate was a thing.
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It's not. I have 4 Marshalls at the moment and I've owned about 40 of them of the years. They're my favorite amp company.

But let's not pretend they're high quality builds because they're not. They're decent for the most part and on par other similarly priced, mass production brands. A move to Asia won't necessarily have an effect on that. That's all.
 
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