What’s going on with Marshall??

[LeftyLoungeLizard]

Club & Country?

Town & Country. It's the new wagon queen family truckster line from Marshall Amplification.

 

[6CA7-A]

 

[6CA7-A]

Wasn't John using the Mesa Coliseum by this point?



For much of the Whitesnake '87 album and first Blue Murder album John used 2 Mesa Boogie Coliseum heads. These amps have a Mark III pre-amp section but use six 6L6 power tubes--giving the amps180 watts each! John also owns several Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+'s, Mark III's and some rack mounted Mesa Dual Recto heads. Other Mesa Boogie equipment includes a Tri-Axis preamp and a Strategy 500 Power Amp. [interweb]

 

[6CA7-A]

Still holding out hope for the Marshall Ed-meth 100 reissue.

 

[laxu]

I don't like the Origin amps either, but this kind of stuff is not new to Marshall. Before the Origins, it was the MA line, before that, the JCM600s and so on , all the way back to the "town and country" combos from the 70s. Usually their "flagship" amps are good but they always had a few duds in their production lines. I don't think that's a "new owner's" thing.

I love Marshall amps, they're my favorite but they were never really a "high end" manufacturer, even in their most classic years, there were always QC issues and inconsistencies.

Yeah over here in Europe, Marshall has IME never been considered a high end manufacturer. They were considered more like a staple, solid option.

Here in Finland the easiest to get amp brands, at the most reasonable prices tend to be Marshall, Orange, Laney and ENGL. A lot of their stuff is on that "both sides of 1000 €" range that appeals to most buyers. On the used market, after the revived appeal of Plexis and JCM800s, those have become very expensive but it used to be that you could pick a 2203 for something like 500-600€, now they are going for double that, while a JVM410 for 700-800 € is pretty standard.

Fair enough, but was Jim doing odd stuff like headphones, blutooth speakers

Making those headphones and BT speakers was probably the best branding decision they ever made, and I expect it made them a good chunk of money too. It brought the Marshall brand straight to the average person who might've seen them at gigs, but doesn't know anything more about them. But now they're thinking "oh yeah, that BT speaker looks kinda like that thing my favorite band was playing last night, I'm gonna get one!"

I still think my first-gen Marshall Acton BT speaker is a really solid product. It looks cute, it's as easy to use as a Marshall amp, and it sounds more than decent for what it is. Even works well for a Yamaha THR type desktop amp thing by plugging a modeler into it.

 

[6CA7-A]

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I don’t think the Origin is a good amp, but that’s not to say that it can’t sound pretty solid for what it costs:

It’s a dumb and impractical amp though, and is confused by what it wants to be.

Club & Country is a KILLER amp. I’ve not used the 2x12 which I believe has something other than Celestions in it. The 4x12 has amazing Greenbacks in it and sounds as good as any Marshall I have ever owned. It is not a clean amp by any stretch, nothing like a twin and everything like a Marshall. Celestions make many amps sound like a Marshall, especially when the circuits have a similar kind of lineage. If you think it’s a clean sounding Fender style amp, then I can’t believe you’ve actually played one for yourself.

I think it’s reputation suffered because Jim Marshall said it was his least favourite amp - that’s only because it cost more to make and had worse margins, so when it didn’t sell a lot it cost Jim more money. He didn’t play guitar or know about circuits, all he was talking about was the financials.

It’s definitely not built any worse - if anything, it’s the opposite, and that’s why Jim hated it. Spring reverb, toggle switches, it’s big and heavy. Same transformers, knobs, chassis, resistors, caps etc as anything else Marshall was making at that point.

 

[laxu]

It’s a dumb and impractical amp though, and is confused by what it wants to be.

I was once in a guitar store and heard a really loud racket from the back of the store. It was someone playing the smallest Origin combo. It sounded pretty decent, but it was clear that it needed that volume to do so because it kinda lost its lunch when turned down.

I had similar issues with the JCM2000 DSL50 back in the day, and running it through an attenuator helped a lot but I was still running it pretty loud.

Which has been my beef with a lot of Marshall's own amps that I've tried. Great at band volume, anything less and it becomes "eh, that's just alright I guess".

By comparison Friedman, Bogner, BluGuitar and many more have figured out how to make all those classic tones in an amp that you can run at any volume within reason and they still sound good.

 

[6CA7-A]

Tis what it tis.

 

[metropolis_4]

Too many guitarists sleep on Marshall for clean to clean-ish tones

 

[6CA7-A]

Ive played single channel JMP's for 40+ yrs.
IDK anyone that ever bought a Marshall for clean.
Maybe they do now IDK.

 

[metropolis_4]

Ive played single channel JMP's for 40+ yrs.
IDK anyone that ever bought a Marshall for clean.
Maybe they do now IDK.

Like I said, too many guitarists sleep on them for cleans. They’re killer amps for clean tones

 

[greatmutah]

Like I said, too many guitarists sleep on them for cleans. They’re killer amps for clean tones

My Metro has amazing cleans. Roll the guitar volume back a bit and you get the there. Still a little hair in them depending on where the gain’s set and what mode it’s in (66 mode gives up the best clean sounds). I handled cleans with that amp live by using my guitar as the two channels. Neck pickup volume set lower to clean up. Bridge pickup running hot and dirty. If I needed more, step on the mode switch to go up to the higher gain mode. Easy.

Also the DSL100s have great cleans in their own right.

 

[6CA7-A]

Like I said, too many guitarists sleep on them for cleans. They’re killer amps for clean tones

Andy Sommers used 1987 model JMP's for cleanish Police tones.

 

[Frodebro]

Always putting your foot in your mouth Charveldan...

 

[6CA7-A]

As usual, you got nothing.

Always the same trolling, dumb memes, prejudice and not a single clue about anything you run your mouth about. Not to mention you can barely play the guitar. Same old Dan.

Perhaps i was cranky after being up 18 hrs for work. You usually have solid talking points and are a great player my apoligies. But im still not sold on UK vs VN manufacturing. I have to take the Asian stuff one at a time. Some good, some not.
I would have loved a VN Marshall in 1972 but all we had was the real thing which wasn't abtainable due to $$$.

 

[HomespunEffects]

I got an O-20 on a trade. Couldn't get rid of it faster. Its the "Anti-Marshall".

Agree. No one will ever convince me the Origin series sounds like a plexi.

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

It's the new wagon queen family truckster line from Marshall Amplification.

You think you hate it now, but wait until you play it.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I don't think ive ever played a Plexi, 800, or any other waxing nostalgic amps so I am of no authority to argue about however anything sounds comparatively.
There is an Origin head, maybe the 50w, at my local GC. Not sure if it's the same one that has been there for a few years but I enjoy plugging into it, cranking all of the EQ knobs and getting a lovely blown-out squishy sound that has this addicting sag. I've been able to get this sound from modeling or amps at excessive dBs but never from a tube amp at reasonable volume.

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

I don't think ive ever played a Plexi, 800, or any other waxing nostalgic amps so I am of no authority to argue about however anything sounds comparatively.
There is an Origin head, maybe the 50w, at my local GC. Not sure if it's the same one that has been there for a few years but I enjoy plugging into it, cranking all of the EQ knobs and getting a lovely blown-out squishy sound that has this addicting sag. I've been able to get this sound from modeling or amps at excessive dBs but never from a tube amp at reasonable volume.

I once got kicked out of a Sam Ash for playing an 800 loud enough for it to sound decent. How else was I going to know if I liked it?