When you discover your favorite recorded Marshall tone was a Super Reverb..

[Bob Zaod]

Alex Lifeson on his amp for Caress of Steel. Which happens to be one of the tones I have chased for eons and my very favorite "Marshall tone" of all time.

REF: Guitar Player magazine June 1980

 

[DrewJD82]

Hahahah I had an awesome guitar class in high school and the teacher ran pro-sound for a lot of NYC shows/events. We were talking about amps one day and after he heard what everyone’s dream amp was he said “If you guys knew how many times I saw someone wheel out a Marshall stack onstage only to mic up a Fender Twin with some Boss distortion pedal plugged into it behind the stack, you’d all want Fender Twins”

I’m sure he was paraphrasing and the Twin could have been substituted for any combo, but the same applies. I really didn’t realize until the last year those older Fender amps were capable of distorting that much. I just figured “Fender = super clean with lots of headroom” because of the Twin.

 

[fretworn]

Fly by Night was my warm-up song forever… These days it’s more Cowboy Song by Thin Lizzy.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Good on you for finally cracking the code!

 

[Baba]

I really didn’t realize until the last year those older Fender amps were capable of distorting that much. I just figured “Fender = super clean with lots of headroom” because of the Twin.

Same, and, to my surprise, when pulling up the Fender Deluxe in Helix, at stock settings, it's a little bit dirty, and if you want a clean sound, you have to dial back the gain.

 

[Whizzinby]

Fly by Night was my warm-up song forever… These days it’s more Cowboy Song by Thin Lizzy.

It’s full on karaoke time, regardless of time or place, whenever Cowboy Song comes on.

Or Thin Lizzy in general lol

 

[fretworn]

It’s full on karaoke time, regardless of time or place, whenever Cowboy Song comes on.

Or Thin Lizzy in general lol

Fugging love this song …

(I love this whole album actually)

 

[dk_ace]

Super reverbs sound epic when you can crank them, one of my favorite sounds and I’m also typically a Marshall guy.

Funny enough I decided to make some new helix presets over the last few weeks to get out of my Marshall rut. I’ve basically used a plexi model for virtually every gig in the last two years (regardless of whether or not it was really a good choice because I’m lazy). I spent some time with the deluxe reverb preset last night and got reminded just how killer they sound when you push them. Oh how I wish I would have bought a Princeton, deluxe, super, and a bassman back when they were cheap…

Every now and then a super comes up on Craigslist and I almost buy it. One day I’m gonna pull the trigger. Completely impractical and unnecessary for me, but I’m gonna end up doing it just because I’ve wanted one for so long even though I know I don’t need it.

D

 

[Bob Zaod]

Super reverbs sound epic when you can crank them, one of my favorite sounds and I’m also typically a Marshall guy.

Funny enough I decided to make some new helix presets over the last few weeks to get out of my Marshall rut. I’ve basically used a plexi model for virtually every gig in the last two years (regardless of whether or not it was really a good choice because I’m lazy). I spent some time with the deluxe reverb preset last night and got reminded just how killer they sound when you push them. Oh how I wish I would have bought a Princeton, deluxe, super, and a bassman back when they were cheap…

Every now and then a super comes up on Craigslist and I almost buy it. One day I’m gonna pull the trigger. Completely impractical and unnecessary for me, but I’m gonna end up doing it just because I’ve wanted one for so long even though I know I don’t need it.

D

I love the Deluxe in the Helix. I really miss my 65 FSR DRRI it was a tremendous amp. I couldn't tell you why I sold it if you held a gun to my head. I got that and a DSL40c in a trade for my Mesa Mark III purple stripe.

 

[metropolis_4]

I’m not surprised, Super Reverbs sound killer cranked. And they seem to really like Les Pauls.

I miss mine

 

[Bob Zaod]

I’m not surprised, Super Reverbs sound killer cranked. And they seem to really like Les Pauls.

I miss mine

the guitar tones on that album specifically are just heavenly.

 

[KingsXJJ]

Alex Lifeson on his amp for Caress of Steel. Which happens to be one of the tones I have chased for eons and my very favorite "Marshall tone" of all time.

REF: Guitar Player magazine June 1980

View attachment 3834

Interesting. What would be your first pick for the track that exemplifies this on Caress of Steel?

 

[Bob Zaod]

Interesting. What would be your first pick for the track that exemplifies this on Caress of Steel?

The opening track on up..

 

[KingsXJJ]

The opening track on up..

Excellent! Great tone. Kinda funny, I instantly hear some openness and jangle that reminds me of something not Marshall. I could cheat and say Fender, but it’s different than that. Maybe mids cranked mid-gain Hi-Watt?

Here’s one of the tones that I chase. Just one of many children…

 

[vino_buono]

I can relate to this… I recently found that guitars on Nevermind the Bollocks are played through a Fender amp.

 

[Stratzrus]

Back in the '90s I picked up my first blackface Super Reverb at Rogue Music in NYC.

I was trying it out with a Zoom Driver pedal set to one of the stack settings. They had a small glass enclosed room where you could really crank it.

I wasn't sure I was going to buy it and left thinking I'd mull it over.

On the elevator down a guy in it with me said "That sounded great! What kind of Marshall was that?" He was astounded when I told him it was a Super Reverb.

He got off on the first floor but I stayed in the elevator and rode it back up.

Left with the amp in hand and gigged it for years.

1965 Super Reverb pictured with my '66 Deluxe Reverb, '81 Dean Z, and JVC Kaboom (with dual subwoofers on either end with their own independent volume control...best boom box I've ever heard).