New ‘Modded’ Marshalls

[norminal]

That 800 sounds KILLER too.

 

[Whizzinby]

The 800 is badass.

 

[norminal]

Anyone else find the mouth breathing in that video annoying asf?

 

[la szum]

I’m going off very stale decade+ memory but I recall finding very cool stock and modded 1959 and 2203 style tones in the Stiletto I played. Totally underrated amps.

Totally killer amps. The most Marshall of all Mesas, in my experience. Which is why so many people
ended up kind of hating them and they didn't last all that long in production. Been a theme for Boogie
when it comes to nailing the exact Mesa British recipe.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Totally killer amps. The most Marshall of all Mesas, in my experience. Which is why so many people
ended up kind of hating them and they didn't last all that long in production. Been a theme for Boogie
when it comes to nailing the exact Mesa British recipe.

Yup. Want a modded JCM800? Get a Stiletto Series II or Ace.

 

[laxu]

Marshall can fuck off with the pricing. The 1959MS is £2999 in the UK, so ~3550 €.

The Marshall 1959HW is 1899 € at Thomann. You're seriously trying to say that these mods nearly double the price of that amp?!

To put this into perspective, I could buy a Bluetone Plexi 50 with better features for something the price of the 1959HW. It's not handwired, but a very high quality PCB design, and I could ask any mods I want from the builder. Just doesn't say Marshall on it.

To me these modded amps should have been closer to something like 2000-2200 € at most.

 

[laxu]

Totally killer amps. The most Marshall of all Mesas, in my experience. Which is why so many people
ended up kind of hating them and they didn't last all that long in production. Been a theme for Boogie
when it comes to nailing the exact Mesa British recipe.

Yeah I really did not like the first gen Stiletto. Never tried the Stiletto Ace.

Now I'll chalk it up to maybe being connected to the wrong cab (Mesa 4x12 with V30s), or not knowing how to set it up right...but all I remember is that it sounded like a very bassy Marshall which was not a good thing.

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

That sound of that 1959 was really awesome. I love the Marshall sound so much!!

Can never dial it in myself tho on the Helix it’s probably because of that brightness discussed in the Anderson movie.

It must also be the best practice amp ever (in the helix) because there is nothing you can hide. Not being able to hide seems like a very good thing to me!

What a beautiful amp they made. The looks of it are also sooo good.

 

[Tanax]

These mods puts them in Friedman price category. Tbh, I'd still pick Marshall over Friedman any day of the week, especially given how much better support for Marshall there is here in Europe, but also because I prefer Marshall sound by a long shot.

But the main question is these modded versions vs stock ones + TS/SD1 pedals. I have no need for MV mods as I have an attenuator.
Mid hump is cool, but can be achieved with a simple pedal as well.

I don't know. Having these, essentially pedals, built in is cool.. but worth nearly double the price?? That's the hard question.. and it's not really that hard really. Not worth it to me.

I'm thinking that a Gower modded SC20H/SV20H would be way more practical and way cheaper. Probably sounds better too.
Dan is a champ also, really great guy!

Hermansson is another option, which would be even better for me since he's located in Sweden like me, but IMO he guts them too much. They sound amazing, but loses too much of the character. The amp sounds Hermansson after that, not modded Marshall. Cool if you want that sound though.

 

[hemmelight]

That sound of that 1959 was really awesome. I love the Marshall sound so much!!

Can never dial it in myself tho on the Helix it’s probably because of that brightness discussed in the Anderson movie.

I don't want to be a jerk and rain on anyone's parade, but all of the Marshalls in the Helix are crap IMO. I tried for like five years to make the Helix work for me and none of the Marshalls hit the spot, personally. The Placater got the closest but it's still not exactly a Marshall. That said, I just remembered the Brit 2203 that was added last year (?) sounded pretty good. Maybe that's the only decent one, but I've not tried it myself.

More on-topic, it's cool that Marshall have finally started to embrace the modded amps in an official line-up! The Super Lead sounds awesome.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

No extra tubes. Extra gain in both amps is either diode or transistor. I’ll stick with a stock 2203x and a pedal or a hot mod.

are you sure? I’d have thought they are swapping cathode bypass cap values.

For £1200 of extra mods, I’d kind of expect the full kitchen sink - channels, upgraded FX loop, extra valves added, depth/NFB, maybe another master volume. Most of all though, IMO, the whole premise of modifying your amp is that you have someone tailor the amplifier to your specific needs. It would have been cool if Marshall were offering a service to customise your amp with a choice of mod options.

Part of the appeal of using a big name to mod your amp is they can do whatever you like - it’s all customisable.

If the mods aren’t customisable from Marshall, it seems a waste to not make new faceplates and give them a slightly more purposeful look.

They sound pretty good but I think I’d still be sending an existing amp somewhere else for mods.

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

I don't want to be a jerk and rain on anyone's parade, but all of the Marshalls in the Helix are crap IMO. I tried for like five years to make the Helix work for me and none of the Marshalls hit the spot, personally. The Placater got the closest but it's still not exactly a Marshall. That said, I just remembered the Brit 2203 that was added last year (?) sounded pretty good. Maybe that's the only decent one, but I've not tried it myself.

More on-topic, it's cool that Marshall have finally started to embrace the modded amps in an official line-up! The Super Lead sounds awesome.

Marshall would have made a smarter move if they made these amps into digital amps like the Fender Tonemaster.

I would buy that when there would be an attemntuatoe in it.

 

[Tanax]

One interesting thing is that they have the plate "M01" (Mod 1?) on the front. Perhaps indicating that there are more mods to come?

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Hm, should I buy Greenland or a new Marshall? I guess I can‘t afford them both.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

One interesting thing is that they have the plate "M01" (Mod 1?) on the front. Perhaps indicating that there are more mods to come?

Yeah in 6 months you can pay an extra £300 or £600 for mod levels 2 or 3. For level 2 Marshall the active the hidden effects loop and an extra gain stage. Level three activates the reactive Loadbox and the ability to load artist tones from the subscription based cloud.

Your M02 and M03 stickers come in the post.

 

[HotRats]

I've only heard a small clip of the 1959 and sounds really good.

Anyway seeing marshall doing this is a good sign, really. I love it.

 

[James Freeman]

But the main question is these modded versions vs stock ones + TS/SD1 pedals.

Not worth the money at all.
An SD-1 in front and a good parametric EQ in the loop and you have all the high gain Matshall tones you can think of.

 

[HomespunEffects]

It seems they’ve raised the price on the JCM800 Modified a little.

 

[Exluthier]

I don't want to be a jerk and rain on anyone's parade, but all of the Marshalls in the Helix are crap IMO. I tried for like five years to make the Helix work for me and none of the Marshalls hit the spot, personally. The Placater got the closest but it's still not exactly a Marshall. That said, I just remembered the Brit 2203 that was added last year (?) sounded pretty good. Maybe that's the only decent one, but I've not tried it myself.

More on-topic, it's cool that Marshall have finally started to embrace the modded amps in an official line-up! The Super Lead sounds awesome.

Same. The 2203 is okay but the others are just really frustrating to me. I haven’t messed with them in years. They all feel a little neutered to me compared to my actual amps, including the 2203 though it's definitely better. I had an Amperium Live from St Rock for a while and the Marshalls in it trounced the helix.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

I'm mildly interested in the modded amps, but mostly, I hope Marshall fixes US distribution this year and we can find them in stores again. That would be better news than new amps.