The best Marshall tone ever

[eaeolian]

My favorite Mashall sound on an album.

Man, that's a great one.

 

[itchyfingers]

So many of my heroes play(ed) Marshalls, but it took me awhile to find the "right" Marshall for what I do. Modded boutique JCM was too gainy, DSL was too raspy, Bluesbreaker had the punch but not the breakup I wanted to hear/feel. My JMP is checking all of my boxes right now...

 

[la szum]

to me it's still "fair warning."

Yup. Best Van Halen Album---to me. It's so good.

EVH never needed my approval , but man he strayed from his best tones and
for me his tone progressively grew more and more mushy, inarticulate, compressed,
and too gainy.

Progress is not always evolution, or something like that.

 

[la szum]

Those iconic Queensryche Marshall tones are pretty fucking special, too.

One of the things I have always loved about Marshalls is the rhythm tones
merge/blend so seamlessly with the lead tones. They just flow together so
nicely.

 

[TSJMajesty]

GAS'ing for a Marshall, then getting one, was some of my favorite time in life in general!
Especially when I was able to really crank it!

 

[DrewJD82]

Those iconic Queensryche Marshall tones are pretty f*****g special, too.

One of the things I have always loved about Marshalls is the rhythm tones
merge/blend so seamlessly with the lead tones. They just flow together so
nicely.

All those Ryche records could be in a Marshall museum of how awesome their amps got in the 80’s.

 

[mikah912]

Gah....so many "benchmark" Marshall tones for me. The hot-modded Marshall/variant is THE tone I've always chased, and I do still play with it for fun and personal recording (although I rarely need anything heavier than a DC30/Vox with a drive pedal in front for most of what I do for others).

But the "best" recorded one for me probably still is:

 

[Life Eats Life]

The best Marshall that should have
been a Marshall?
Decades of the gamuts,
Minions circling the wagons…
This one here,..changed that whole mess.
First word to describe the amplifier?
Depth.
I still haven’t engaged the push-pulls.
-From Castles Made of Sand,
to Castles Made of Carcass-
This one took the #1 slot from
my Mezzabarba Eric Steckel amp,
-And this is a single channel amp
versus a multi-channel-.
I have the most bad ass matching
4X12 cabinet being made as I type this.
Time to fire that thing up, ya hear?

 

[VegasGuitar]

Euge nails my favorite JCM800 tone of all time ...

 

[Deadpan]

You ain't kidding! I loved the modded Marshall tone so much, that I chased it with all of my gear, for probably 30 years before I realized that while I loved listening to it, it's not "my" tone for when I play.

What tone did you land on?

 

[DrewJD82]

Euge nails my favorite JCM800 tone of all time ...

I’ve been watching a LOT of his vids lately and he’s part of the reason I tossed EMG’s in my Edwards. Great player and absolutely killer tones.

 

[laxu]

It's funny that I tend to hate most actual Marshalls but love a lot of modded ones. The last actual Marshall I owned was a JCM2000 DSL50 with the dreaded bias drift issue. It tended to sound like most Marshalls do - fizzy and thin until turned up very loud. Listening to that ZW guitars only track it does show why that sound works so well in a mix when you add the rest of the band.

I've been to some basement gigs where I desperately needed earplugs because someone brought a JCM800 and 4x12 and had it at no more than 2 but it was ear piercing and loud in the rather crappy, low ceiling space with concrete all around.

By comparison modern modded Marshall amps tend to give that "full mix" tone when you are just playing by yourself or at a low-ish volume with a band. Several years ago I was shopping for one again and ended up with the Bogner Goldfinger 45 Superlead because it was more vintage voiced than Friedmans. I feel with my BluGuitar Amp 1 ME I can get pretty much all that in a much more practical package, plus those old school Marshall tones if I want.

 

[DrewJD82]

It's funny that I tend to hate most actual Marshalls but love a lot of modded ones. The last actual Marshall I owned was a JCM2000 DSL50 with the dreaded bias drift issue. It tended to sound like most Marshalls do - fizzy and thin until turned up very loud. Listening to that ZW guitars only track it does show why that sound works so well in a mix when you add the rest of the band.

I've been to some basement gigs where I desperately needed earplugs because someone brought a JCM800 and 4x12 and had it at no more than 2 but it was ear piercing and loud in the rather crappy, low ceiling space with concrete all around.

By comparison modern modded Marshall amps tend to give that "full mix" tone when you are just playing by yourself or at a low-ish volume with a band. Several years ago I was shopping for one again and ended up with the Bogner Goldfinger 45 Superlead because it was more vintage voiced than Friedmans. I feel with my BluGuitar Amp 1 ME I can get pretty much all that in a much more practical package, plus those old school Marshall tones if I want.

I was the same way for a long time. Hated every Marshall I ever tried, including 800’s the first couple of times because I just didn’t understand they had to be cranked to get those killer tones from them and they were just brittle, stiff and not-good sounding.

 

[Baba]

What tone did you land on?

I'm not sure if you'd call it the "German" tone, but, I really dig my H&K Grandmeister Deluxe 40, and I liked the Switchblades I had years ago.

I seem to like "tweener" tones, tones that may lean towards this or that, but aren't quite this or that. My favorite amps that I've owned have been Riveras, Peavey's, and H&K's.

 

[Elric]

Gat D*mn. This thread is making me want to fire up the 800 Syn module I got at Christmas and try to pull some tones. TGFers have some great taste.

 

[KingsXJJ]

For me it’s stuff like Jane’s Addiction Nothing’s Shocking. Titles like:

Just admit it, Ted.


Coming Down the Mountain.


Boosted JCM800 sound via a JCM900.

 

[HotRats]

This what I call the best ever (classic) marshall tone.

 

[Desertdweller]

@VegasGuitar already said it, here’s another example. Euge is the modern Marshall sound:

 

[Rocco Crocco]

@VegasGuitar already said it, here’s another example. Euge is the modern Marshall sound:

Man, this kicks ass. I just wish the drummer had more cymbals.

 

[scole]

Come back, no beard Zakk….

Come back, no beard Petrucci…