MIAB your favorite?

KingsXJJ said:
Just ordered the Barber Direct Drive V4 in deep blue. I will find my ultimate MIAB one way or another.

And snag a JCM-900HS when I can… just because.
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Barber stuff is top tier and amongst the most under-appreciated pedals out there. I’ve been curious about the direct drive - will be interested to see what you think.
 
Fwiw, I don't think the BE-OD is a particularly great MIAB pedal. It's rather a BEIAB pedal, hence one of Friedman's takes on Marshalls. I happen to like it and even use it quite often live, but it's compressing a lot more than real Marshalls (which the amp seemingly does as well), which also explains the comparatively high noise floor.

Fwiw #4, I also own a rather cheap Golden Plexi from Tone City, very good bang for the buck (but just a typical single tone control, I defenitely prefer to at least have bass and treble, ideally there'd be a mid control as well). There's an Anderton's Plexi IAB pedal comparison that got me interested, so I just ordered one and allowed it to stay.

Here's that Andertons comparison video:
 
I'm not really a Marshall sort of player, but I do like dialling in a Marshally tone with an Origin Effects RevivalDrive Compact. Gives me my Richie Blackmore "non-master volume on 11” tone when I'm feeling frivolous.
 
EOengineer said:
Barber stuff is top tier and amongst the most under-appreciated pedals out there. I’ve been curious about the direct drive - will be interested to see what you think.
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FWIW, Dave Barber seems like a standup kinda guy in my interactions with him. Reminds me of Dave Friedman and also Peter Taylor from Chellee Pedals. A joy to do business with and refreshing. It makes the gear more personal for me.
 
I was going through my pedals and realized that I forgot my absolute favorite Marshall in a box:
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It’s an actual JCM-800 preamp. The tubes run at 400+ volts. It’s the real deal.

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www.ebay.com www.ebay.com
 
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I got the Catalinbread DLS Deluxe on Friday, but was out of town over the weekend helping a buddy with his beach house that was damaged this summer.

I played with it a little this morning and dialed in some sweet Plexi tones. I had the EHX Glove for a few weeks, but just didnt have enough of something IMO with my setup.

I have a SC20H, so JCM 800 tones are good, but I am trying to get my DSL100H to sound more like a Plexi. Even for the 30 min I messed with it this morning, it's head & shoulders above the Glove I sent back.
 
I used a Marshall pedal in the early '90s when they 1st came out and as best I can remember I was happy with it. Think it was a Drivemaster, but that was a long time ago, so I don't quite remember. Don't remember why I quit using it neither, but I lost it or misplaced it somehow.

Recently got a reissue Bluesbreaker and Guv'nor pedal. The Guv'nor seems to have more gain than the Blues Breaker and I like the tone of it better with the EQ set flat. But the Blues Breaker has a nice old school sound to it too.

I could and would recommend these two pedals. There have been a shitload of Marshall in a box type pedals made by other companies since then too.

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I don't feel any MIAB is perfect and they always run best with an OD such as SD1 or TS9 goosing them along with an EQ like a 6 Band EQ from MXR at the end of the chain.


That being said my go tos are the Bearfoot MartialArtist and the GoldiLocks.



YMMV but it works for me ^_^
 
maguchi said:
I used a Marshall pedal in the early '90s when they 1st came out and as best I can remember I was happy with it. Think it was a Drivemaster, but that was a long time ago, so I don't quite remember. Don't remember why I quit using it neither, but I lost it or misplaced it somehow.

Recently got a reissue Bluesbreaker and Guv'nor pedal. The Guv'nor seems to have more gain than the Blues Breaker and I like the tone of it better with the EQ set flat. But the Blues Breaker has a nice old school sound to it too.

I could and would recommend these two pedals. There have been a shitload of Marshall in a box type pedals made by other companies since then too.

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Anyone know if the vintage ones can also be run at 18V like the reissues?

I don't wanna risk and release the magic smoke instead. 😬
 
dronerstone said:
Anyone know if the vintage ones can also be run at 18V like the reissues?

I don't wanna risk and release the magic smoke instead. 😬
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Not sure, but think I saw a recent post about using 18V with Marshall pedals. Not sure if it was this site or Reddit.
 
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KingsXJJ said:
Just arrived! Dave Barber even signed the receipt!

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Initial impressions… all are great to me. Observations on some:

Cusack best vintage Plexi tone. Nice clarity in the kerrang.
Purple Plexi nice utility Plexi tone with a bit more body and “oomph”
Barber DD highest gain with the most tonal options. Best for more “modern” Marshall tones.

I’m kinda really surprised how much I dig the Meta Plexi on “vintage” mode. The ability to kick in 3db louder for “lead” mode is sweet.
They honestly all sound great… I think for me and others it’ll all come down to how you play, what tones you are looking for and your ears.

I’d like to see Cusack offer a Meta 800 and Meta 900.
 
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