NAD, After 30 years I finally own a Marshall

[MadAsAHatter]

When I was still with bands I played backline Marshalls all the time and the bulk of the amps I own are Marshall DNA. But for whatever reason I've never owned an actual Marshall. Well that all changed a few weeks ago when I bought a 100 watt Vintage Modern 2466. Bonus points since it's the purple headshell. I know a Plexi or JCM800 is the "typical" Marshall everyone goes for, but I must say I'm really enjoying the Vintage Modern. Other than saying it's a really good example and what I think of as the "Marshall" sound I'm not going to go into any kind of review. It's been out long enough for everyone to know what it sounds like. For the most part I've been utilizing the Master Volume. It starts to open up around 6-7 on the dial and sound great. I've only cranked everything including the MV to 10 once so far and it was glorious.

The main reason I got a Vintage Modern is because I watched the Headfirst/Jason Tong's improvement mods video where he swapped a handful of components to more proper plexi spec. Since I've gotten onto modding/building I figured it would make for an easy enough project to learn from. Even though it sounds really good as stock, to my ears Jason's demo of it modded really seem to bring out the best of how the amp sounds. I'll sit with it a little longer as is stock, but eventually I'll do the mod. Worst case, if I don't like how the mod sounds it should be easy to put it back to stock.

Here a pic of my amp (the pic doesn't show the purple colored headshell overly well) and Jason's video of the mods I want to do to it.

 

[maddnotez]

Guess it depends on what you're after and what your ears like. From this video, low gain mode is significantly better on the stock amp imo. High gain is a little better modded but not the type of high gain for me either way, id still need to boost tf out of it and not really sure how that would sound.

But the low gain mode on this amp stock sounds glorious and i wouldn't want to mess with that but it is just a video. Im sure I could mod it and turn the gain down a little to get what I want who knows.

Congrats on the first Marshall.

 

[2112]

Awesome amp. Definitely has that thick JTM45/100 style crunch in it's stock form

 

[Eagle]

Marshall’s in general just sound great live. Some of the absolute best live tones I have heard were from Stock relatively cheap heads . Jeff Beck with a DSL comes immediately to mind.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I always wanted one of these just because they came in purple tolex. Nice score.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Love these amps. LDR mode I like the master up full (or close to it). HDR mode I like the master at more “normal” volumes. Great sounding amp

 

[laxu]

I always wanted one of these just because they came in purple tolex. Nice score.

Same here. Though they seem like pretty cool amps overall, I think they were just misunderstood when they were released.

Should've bought one when used ones were going cheap.



This is a cool video if you want the story behind the amp. I think they could have done a way better job at marketing it as a hot rodded JTM45 because that's a bit unique. People thought it was meant to be more like a Plexi that goes between vintage and more modern tones.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Same here. Though they seem like pretty cool amps overall, I think they were just misunderstood when they were released.

Should've bought one when used ones were going cheap.



This is a cool video if you want the story behind the amp. I think they could have done a way better job at marketing it as a hot rodded JTM45 because that's a bit unique. People thought it was meant to be more like a Plexi that goes between vintage and more modern tones.

I used to see heads for about £250. I really wish I'd bought one when they were easy to get and super cheap.

 

[DrewJD82]

I’ve been curious about these as I see them pop up for pretty cheap every few months, while also allowing the internet criticism of it to not put any effort into trying one.

 

[MadAsAHatter]

Same here. Though they seem like pretty cool amps overall, I think they were just misunderstood when they were released.

Should've bought one when used ones were going cheap.



This is a cool video if you want the story behind the amp. I think they could have done a way better job at marketing it as a hot rodded JTM45 because that's a bit unique. People thought it was meant to be more like a Plexi that goes between vintage and more modern tones.

This is the main thing that's giving me a slight pause with jumping on doing the mod. Jason's mod makes it more in the 1959 camp, but the original intent of the VM was a hot-rodded JTM 45/100. It's still all Marshall, but more unique in terms of development paths. Like they were saying in the video, Marshal evolution built on the JMP foundation and the JTM line kinda fell off.

As good as Jason's mod sounds to my ears, the amp as stock sounds good too and I'm not fully certain I'd want to lose that in favor of a more Super Lead type tone. That's while I sit on it as is for a while before I would do any mods. Maybe the option is to get (or build) a 1959 and have both.

 

[MadAsAHatter]

Awesome amp. Definitely has that thick JTM45/100 style crunch in it's stock form

I watched your couple of head to head videos of the Vintage Modern against a DSL, Origin & 800. The VM had no problems hanging with any of them. Do you still have it or have you moved it on?

 

[MadAsAHatter]

Love these amps. LDR mode I like the master up full (or close to it). HDR mode I like the master at more “normal” volumes. Great sounding amp

I agree, Master all the way up on LDR is the way to go. I've found it becomes more dynamic and responsive to playing the higher the master volume is.

 

[HomespunEffects]

Welcome, fellow 2466er.

I kinda like some of the mods from Headfirst but I think this one goes way too far. Let me say that if you are going to put that bright cap on VR2 do yourself a favor and put it on a switch. Or maybe use less of a bright cap. Tears your head right off and you can't dial out the extreme sizzle.

For starters, just change C4 from 220uF to 47uF. It makes the Body channel much more useable.

Clipping C7 does make the Mid Boost less woofy.

 

[MadAsAHatter]

Welcome, fellow 2466er.

I kinda like some of the mods from Headfirst but I think this one goes way too far. Let me say that if you are going to put that bright cap on VR2 do yourself a favor and put it on a switch. Or maybe use less of a bright cap. Tears your head right off and you can't dial out the extreme sizzle.

For starters, just change C4 from 220uF to 47uF. It makes the Body channel much more useable.

Clipping C7 does make the Mid Boost less woofy.

Thinking about it, this might be better option. Something minor to make those couple of things better balanced and keep the essence of the amp intact.

 

[la szum]

Marshall’s in general just sound great live. Some of the absolute best live tones I have heard were from Stock relatively cheap heads . Jeff Beck with a DSL comes immediately to mind.

This is the unassailable truth. They shine and reward great players in a live setting.

Always have.

When I saw Joe Bonamassa he was rocking freaking DSLs, too.

 

[la szum]

Congrats! Everyone should Marshall at some point in their life.

 

[megametal7]

Congrats….

Happy Marshall day.

 

[EOengineer]

Congrats on your Marshall!