Marshall "Digital Classics" amps

[Lysander]

Just ran into this while doing an unrelated search at Thomann: https://www.thomannmusic.ch/marshall_digital_classics_1974dc.htm.

"Marshall Digital Classics 1974DC electric guitar combo, 18 watts, 2 channels, controls: Reverb, Tremolo (speed, intensity), Independent Tone & Volume, Channel Inputs (Hi, Low), Cab Emulation (5+Off), 6-Switch attenuation, Outputs: DI Out (XLR), USB-C, 1/4" foot switch, 1x12 " Celestion Neon speaker, lightweight plywood housing, includes foot switch, universal voltage 110-230V"

Is Marshall about go after some of that sweet, sweet Tone Master cash? Discuss!

 

[Lysander]

Wow, theres's also a digital version of the 1962 Bluesbreaker: https://www.thomannmusic.ch/marshall_digital_classics_1962dc_blues.htm

 

[laxu]

At these prices they make no sense. You can buy a DSL40CR for much less, a JVM or JTM Studio combo for about the same money etc.

 

[Lysander]

At these prices they make no sense. You can buy a DSL40CR for much less, a JVM or JTM Studio combo for about the same money etc.

Well, to be fair, the prices for Fender Tone Masters never made a whole lot of sense to me either.

According to Thomann, the "Digital Classics" 1974X combo is 18kg (40lb) and the 1996 Blues Breaker is 20,5kg (45lbs) so apparently you don't even get to enjoy the main appeal of missing tubes and output transformers

 

[GuitarBilly74]

It's always great to know what else is not going to be available in the US in 2025.

 

[laxu]

Well, to be fair, the prices for Fender Tone Masters never made a whole lot of sense to me either.

They make sense when you consider the all tube versions are overpriced for what they are.

According to Thomann, the "Digital Classics" 1974X combo is 18kg (40lb) and the 1996 Blues Breaker is 20,5kg (45lbs) so apparently you don't even get to enjoy the main appeal of missing tubes and output transformers

Yeah the only benefits seem to be the XLR out, cab sim and attenuation features.

There's not even an fx loop which makes no sense if these are the same "digital preamp + ICEPower module poweramp" thing like the Tone Masters.

 

[jellodog]

In terms of value it doesn't make sense.

But for Marshall it probably does. That is to say - the R&D cost for vintage Marshall designs is zero. They've been cranking those out for decades. So there's nothing to recoup on top of the product manufacturing and marketing costs.

But for their new digital amps, there's probably massive up-front software development and hardware development costs to recover.

I'm not saying it's "right" at all for the customer. Just trying to think about it from Marshall's perspective and trying to make sense of what they might be thinking.

 

[Lysander]

It's always great to know what else is not going to be available in the US in 2025.

Thomann US lists these right now as $879 for the 1974X and $1090 for the Bluesbreaker. Then again, i don't think prices include S/H and taxes - which is where tariffs kick in.

 

[Jarick]

That's interesting. Celestion Neo speakers are pretty expensive, nearly $200 each. I know everyone complains about the Fender TM prices because they assume anything digital should be $200 or less, but if you want a good amp you need good components including the speakers. To me if it's a good sounding amp and well built, the price is very reasonable considering the tube version would be $2500-3000.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

Thomann US lists these right now as $879 for the 1974X and $1090 for the Bluesbreaker. Then again, i don't think prices include S/H and taxes - which is where tariffs kick in.

Thomann won't ship any Marshall products to the US. I've tried it before, even called them directly. They told me they'd love to ship them but Marshall won't allow

 

[jellodog]

Thomann won't ship any Marshall products to the US. I've tried it before, even called them directly. They told me they'd love to ship them but Marshall won't allow

The international price fixing by the big players like Fender, Yamaha, Roland, Marshall etc. makes me so mad

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Just ran into this while doing an unrelated search at Thomann: https://www.thomannmusic.ch/marshall_digital_classics_1974dc.htm.

View attachment 40134

"Marshall Digital Classics 1974DC electric guitar combo, 18 watts, 2 channels, controls: Reverb, Tremolo (speed, intensity), Independent Tone & Volume, Channel Inputs (Hi, Low), Cab Emulation (5+Off), 6-Switch attenuation, Outputs: DI Out (XLR), USB-C, 1/4" foot switch, 1x12 " Celestion Neon speaker, lightweight plywood housing, includes foot switch, universal voltage 110-230V"

Is Marshall about go after some of that sweet, sweet Tone Master cash? Discuss!

18 solid state watts. And for times when that is entirely too much headroom for you, there's 6-position attenuator.

So not enough headroom to really keep up with a band; and a crappy attenuation scheme that will never be quite the volume you actually want for home use.

Brilliant.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

The international price fixing by the big players like Fender, Yamaha, Roland, Marshall etc. makes me so mad

At this point I don't even care about the price fixing that much. It's more about the products not being in the US at all and they're also not letting international stores that do have the product to ship them out to us.

If Marshall was actually being sold at stores here, I'd understand. But aside from the Origin and maybe 1 or 2 other amps, they have completely vanished since the change of ownership.

 

[Lysander]

18 solid state watts. And for times when that is entirely too much headroom for you, there's 6-position attenuator.

FWIW, both amps match the exact same wattage from their tube counterparts.

But yeah, an attenuator on a digital 18W amp seems pretty useless.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

FWIW, both amp match the exact same wattage from their tube counterparts.

But yeah, an attenuator on a digital 18W amp seems pretty useless.

I wonder if that's 18 actual watts or "loudness equivalent of a 18w tube amp"

 

[jellodog]

FWIW, both amp match the exact same wattage from their tube counterparts.

But yeah, an attenuator on a digital 18W amp seems pretty useless.

Do you think that they're saying it's effectively equivalent to "18 tube watts" ?

So really it's 2 or 3 hundred solid state watts?

Because 18 SS watts does indeed seem useless.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

FWIW, both amp match the exact same wattage from their tube counterparts.

But yeah, an attenuator on a digital 18W amp seems pretty useless.

18 tube watts where the point is to go well past headroom level is a lot different than solid state watts. But who knows what they actually mean -- could be a 100 watt solid state power amp and they just make up a number to match the actual amp because guitarists...aren't so smart. I mean, what are the odds that there is a reasonable OEM solid state power amp module that puts out 18 watts?

 

[Lysander]

I wonder if that's 18 actual watts or "loudness equivalent of a 18w tube amp"

A watt is a watt. 18W and 20W are very specific numbers though - my guess is these amps will run off-the-shelf power ICs/bricks, and limit power via input volume.

The overall point of these digital "recreations" is that the amp should behave as much as their analog counterparts as possible.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I mean; could you tap an out somewhere on these and run it into the 1000 watt Fender FR12?

 

[GuitarBilly74]

A watt is a watt. 18W and 20W are very specific numbers though - my guess is these amps will run off-the-shelf power ICs/brick and limit power via output volume.

yeah I know, it's just that the description is a bit vague. For example I think on the Tone Master Deluxe, Fender uses a 100w power amp to get the equivalent volume of the 22w tube Deluxe.

the original 1974X is 18w. So are they saying this is going to be the same loudness of the tube 1974X, or is this just a 18w SS amp? Which in the case will not going to be nearly as loud as the tube counterpart.