marshall....quality amp...or piss poor?

[Opus(sy)2]

yo........who owns a marshall......what do they think of it?......i personnally love the messa/boogies and line 6 because of their great gain and nice tones.........but when i plugged into a marshall recently on stage at a gig........all i got was some piece of fucking shit with no gain.......it sounded like a 'muddy' mess when i turned it up full and lost all its tone and character. of course thats my opinion

 

[Nate The Great]

Marshall has a pretty wide range of amps. I have no idea what you plugged into, but it wasn't one of the good high gain amps like the JCM 900. I personally like Marshall's; however, I don't live by them.

 

[ChickenScratch]

It was most likely one of the cleaner sounding Marshalls. Let me tell you man, those amps slay anything out there, I don't care what they think they are, that can't fucking touch Marshall. You have to know how to coax a good tone out of em though, but once you get a handle on the Marshall controle scheme you'll kill everyone on your block.

 

[Opus(sy)2]

ok cool.........i didnt check the name of the marshall....i really couldnt be bothered but i will check out other marshalls

 

[Floyd]

I have a little 30W Marshall, and i really like it. The gain is good, but it was a bit to weak for the stuff I wanted to play, so I bought an Ibanez TM5 Thrashmetal distortion-pedal .
The sound is good, anyway

 

[Nate The Great]

I currently am using a Marshall AVT50 for just messing around. It would work at most small gigs. If I am not mistaken Chuch Schuldiner of DEATH used Marshall Valvestate amps. Marshall tube amps are by far the best Marshalls to buy, but even Marshall solid state amps hold their own.

 

[The Wanderer]

Marshalls are good for some styles and tones, and shit for others. totally depends on what you are tying to get. the only marshalls i really like re the JCM 2000. as far as plug and play amps go, you can get good tone from those. i think rack systems are better in the long run though. more control.

 

[Nate The Great]

If I were in a town that I could find some people to start a band, I'd definitely think seriously about a JCM2000. They are the ultimate Marshall.

 

[7 Dying Trees]

I am an advocate of the JCM800 and earlier marshalls. You can get some dirty sounds out of them. Very nice. They do a bit of help though, but once you overdrive the preamp

louder they are they are the better they sound

Never liked the 900's though, and have not really been a fan of anything since then either.

 

[Nate The Great]

It sounds like you take Zakk Wylde's train of thought. I think he is into the JCM800's. Or, at least he used to be.

 

[scarr3d]

just get a marshall power amp and a line6 POD. that way you can get every amp tone mentioned in this thread.

 

[xenophobe]

Originally posted by 7 Dying Trees
I am an advocate of the JCM800 and earlier marshalls. You can get some dirty sounds out of them. Very nice. They do a bit of help though, but once you overdrive the preamp

louder they are they are the better they sound

Never liked the 900's though, and have not really been a fan of anything since then either.

A man who knows what he's talking about!!!

Yeah, the older Marshalls are good. I don't like the newer ones... Diode Clipping for their distortion in their tube amps... Like a Cheap $40 pedal.

How F'n pathetic, IMO.

 

[scarr3d]

diode clipping?

 

[xenophobe]

First off, I'm not talking gain, I'm talking distortion... two seperate beasts, so with that in mind:

Diode clipping is the use of a diode (simple transistor) to clip the sound into distortion.

As opposed to pushing a tube with a hard or boosted signal.

Diode distortion is harsh, cheap, clips your signal, masks the input sound, is noisy and can cover up technique.

Tube distortion sounds warm, can get raspy, does not clip your signal harshly, sounds lively, but can be brutal, and articulates your sound and technique. And generally when you stop playing, there is no background hiss at loud volumes.

Marshall has preamp tubes, yet since their JCM 900, uses diode clipping to achieve distortion.

That's like getting a $1000+ tube amp, and then sticking a $40 distortion pedal in front of it...

 

[Ziller]

Originally posted by xenophobe
Diode clipping is the use of a diode (simple transistor) to clip the sound into distortion.

Ok, so maybe I am being anal about this, but:
a diode is not a "simple transistor." A diode is a device consisting of two layers of semiconducting material, one (P)ositively and the other (N)egatively doped, whereas a transistor has three layers in either NPN or PNP configuration. A diode basically just blocks current going one way while letting it flow freely in the other; a transistor is basically a voltage-controlled switch.

 

[xenophobe]

Okay, you're being anal.



That's okay.

 

[Ziller]

Thanks for the absolution xenophobe :-D

On the subject of amps... has anyone tried out any hughes & kettner amps, in particular the Zentera or Triamp heads? Any good? Having once tried a good line 6 combo, and liked it, I'm very interested in the modeling capabilities of the Zentera.

 

[xenophobe]

I dunno. But Line 6 is great for the bedroom or recording direct. The louder you get, the more one dimensional and lifeless sounding they become.

Any good tube head or tube amp/preamp setup willl cut through the mix and at the same volume (db level) will drown out the Line 6 stuff.

All you will really hear of the Line 6 is solid state hiss over the tube amp... the tone (or really, lack of it) is more apparent when you can hear them both playing at the same time....

 

[ChickenScratch]

I have a Line 6 Spider for my room and I love it. It's amazing what they are doing with medeling now, and I'm not just talkign about the Spider, I mean the POD, J-Station adn all those other tone factories in a box things. If a guitarist has a tough time finding his tone, he's just not looking.

BTW, Joe Stump resently switched to Rhino Amps and introduced them to me. Awsome sounding things, great tubes and everything. Next thign you know, Mr. Marshall-Addict himself Yngwie Malmsteen has his own signature model over there and all these othere shredders start joining the company's list of endorsers. They got some good stuff going on over there.
http://www.rhinoamps.com/

 

[7 Dying Trees]

Originally posted by Ziller


Ok, so maybe I am being anal about this, but:
a diode is not a "simple transistor." A diode is a device consisting of two layers of semiconducting material, one (P)ositively and the other (N)egatively doped, whereas a transistor has three layers in either NPN or PNP configuration. A diode basically just blocks current going one way while letting it flow freely in the other; a transistor is basically a voltage-controlled switch.

If you wanted to be really anal you could point out that you can in effect diode connect a transistor, such as in current mirror circuits, but that be past anally retentetive now wouldn't it

In any case, both transistors and diodes don't sound as warm and nice to the ear as tubes, well to me and a load of other people anyway

Don't get me started on amp-modellers, now they are truly evil pieces of equipment. Instead of getting one of them, get a good amp , they don't sound bad, but they really miss something that playing through a good tube amp gives you (that feeling of tension in the air )