What’s your favorite Marshall?

SpiderWars said:
I prefer 4-holers too. And I like a Superbass with a low bright cap like 300pF-500pF for different things than a SL with a monster 4700pF. I often jumper a SB but usually just a cranked Bright channel on a SL.
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My 72 has a 5K Lemco. Holy shit it’s off to $&&@ loud. Clipped one leg and it’s so much better. Now that pulverizing tone is way up at 6.5 on vol 1. Gonna try a 100 and 500 this weekend
 
A buddy of mine has a mid 80s Canadian 2203 that has been modded, but we have no idea who did it or what they did. It has a little extra gain, with an added pot on the back of the amp. The damn thing sounds unbelievable. I've tried countless times to talk him into selling it to me with no luck.
 
braintheory said:
Me too. Surprisingly tough amp to beat and has been over 40 years now since it came out
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I had a MONSTER 79 2203. Just a beast. Traded it for a modded 2204. Sold that, and found a museum quality 79 2203, with cover and original receipt! But, it might have been the worst of all the MV Marshall’s I’ve ever owned. Not bad but nowhere near that first 79.
82s have been the most consistently killer of all the model years I’ve owned MV Marshalls.
 
Racerxrated said:
I had a MONSTER 79 2203. Just a beast. Traded it for a modded 2204. Sold that, and found a museum quality 79 2203, with cover and original receipt! But, it might have been the worst of all the MV Marshall’s I’ve ever owned. Not bad but nowhere near that first 79.
82s have been the most consistently killer of all the model years I’ve owned MV Marshalls.
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I wonder if maybe that 2nd ‘79 needed servicing or something else. I’ve actually found every ‘79 I’ve tried to sound great and more or less the same sounding. None really stood out to me more than others of what I’ve tried. I’ve tried lots of ‘79’s, not as many examples of other late ‘70’s admittedly, but still wonder if maybe ‘79 was a particularly good year from them. I like the early ‘80’s vertical input 800’s too, but have mostly preferred the late ‘70’s JMP’s for the extra growl/roar and richer tone

The Jubilee’s I thought were pretty good too, but not as organic sounding and a bit too smooth for my taste and not as raw/aggressive to me as the JMP’s or 800’s
 
braintheory said:
I wonder if maybe that 2nd ‘79 needed servicing or something else. I’ve actually found every ‘79 I’ve tried to sound great and more or less the same sounding. None really stood out more than others of what I’ve tried. I’ve tried tons of ‘79’s, not as many examples of other late ‘70’s admittedly, but still wonder if maybe ‘79 was a particularly good year from them. I like the early 800’s too, but have mostly preferred the late ‘70’s JMP’s for the extra growl and richer tone
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Usually an anemic Marshall means bad filter caps or tubes...this one had newer caps and I rolled plenty of tubes. Just didn’t have a great tone; good but way off the previous 79. It was after that one that I found an 82 2204 for 799 at a GC, this was not too many years ago too...it had a loop and ‘slight’ circuit mods...and that amp was without question the best sounding MV Marshall I would ever own, better than the first 79 and my recent 83 2203. Just punishing and sweet sounding at the same time. Sold it because I found an SLO cheap..but regretted it.
 
Racerxrated said:
Usually an anemic Marshall means bad filter caps or tubes...this one had newer caps and I rolled plenty of tubes. Just didn’t have a great tone; good but way off the previous 79. It was after that one that I found an 82 2204 for 799 at a GC, this was not too many years ago too...it had a loop and ‘slight’ circuit mods...and that amp was without question the best sounding MV Marshall I would ever own, better than the first 79 and my recent 83 2203. Just punishing and sweet sounding at the same time. Sold it because I found an SLO cheap..but regretted it.
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Sounds like that one was a dud I guess. I may wanna look out for an ‘82 2204. That was the donor amp for that white Monomyth and it sounded so much better than my ‘79 2203 with the same mod, so maybe I would’ve liked the stock version of that ‘82 better too. Would’ve been an interesting to compare, but also a lot of money invested to unmod both amps to find out lol
 
jabps said:
Stock JVM 410. Yes, I've owned modded ones and the Satch model. I've owned and played this stock model the longest I've stayed with one amp in my life and it won't be changing anytime soon either.
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The Satch JVM is one of the only amps I GAS for. Too 'spensive for me though :(
 
The only real Marshall I've ever owned was an 8200. Fucking sucks on it's own but with a boost it was like a totally different amp; thing became a beast
 
Racerxrated said:
My 72 has a 5K Lemco. Holy shit it’s off to $&&@ loud. Clipped one leg and it’s so much better. Now that pulverizing tone is way up at 6.5 on vol 1. Gonna try a 100 and 500 this weekend
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I like my Super Leads to take your head off at “1” on the dial :D I’ll take that 5k Lemco off your hands if you end up taking it out and not using it.
 
NewWorldMan said:
I like my Super Leads to take your head off at “1” on the dial :D I’ll take that 5k Lemco off your hands if you end up taking it out and not using it.
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I like those too...when you get the volume way up there is a window there where it gives that The Song Remains The Same tone.
 
My JMP 2203 was my all time favorite boosted with an OCD, and active pickups that thing could sing. I owned a Langner Marshall as well that did 80's thrash in spades. I always think about that Langner. One day I'll hopefully own it again.
 
NewWorldMan said:
I like my Super Leads to take your head off at “1” on the dial :D I’ll take that 5k Lemco off your hands if you end up taking it out and not using it.
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I like it BUT there is NO taper at all; and it sounds glorious...but it will get a bit louder than that, like another .2 up from 1 then it starts to saturate in a bad way. With one end of the 5K clipped, I can get a nice taper up to 6 or so which equals the 5K on 1...I'd never liked clipping bright caps on any Marshall after I tried it once and it totally neutered the 2203 I had..never again. But this amp may be the exception
 
Racerxrated said:
I like it BUT there is NO taper at all; and it sounds glorious...but it will get a bit louder than that, like another .2 up from 1 then it starts to saturate in a bad way. With one end of the 5K clipped, I can get a nice taper up to 6 or so which equals the 5K on 1...I'd never liked clipping bright caps on any Marshall after I tried it once and it totally neutered the 2203 I had..never again. But this amp may be the exception
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The 5000pf ceramic Lemco adds alot of aggressive crunch to the tone. You may want to experiment with either a 500pf or 1000pf but look for something like a NOS Mallory or RS/Lemco ceramic cap as they sound pretty much like the Lemco's.

The 1000pf caps in 2203 and 2203 also contribute to the crunch and aggressiveness. Use your ears to get what you like.

I suspect you may eventually miss what the 5000pf brings to the table. If your amp is a 72 then you should probably look at your 470K mixer resistor an see if is bypassed with 500/560pf small ceramic or the red lemco dogbone ceramic caps. These tend to get harsh sounding after 40-50 years. I found the small ceramic 500pf cap on my 72 SL really contributed to making the amp strident and harsh in the highs. I removed it and replaced it with an 1980's NOS CE silver mica cap and then the amp suddenly sounded like the of tone my 68 has that is running NOS lemco micas in the mixer and tonestack. My 72 has a Lemco mica 560pf in the tonestack but just that one mixer cap made it harsh. YMMV!

If you want smoother then try a silver Mica or a Lemco or RS Mica cap.
 
Racerxrated said:
The ‘anti Anomaly thread lol’...My favorite nowadays is a totally stock unmolested 4 holer. Jubilees, 2203/4, 2205/10 are all killer but ever since I scored my 72 Tremolo I have no desire for any other Marshall. Right now I’m experimenting with different bright cap values so I can have some low volume taper lol. With a couple pedals it might be the best amp I’ve ever played. Even over 50+ modded Marshall’s I’ve owned.
What say you?
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send it to me. I will try it out...and give it back?
 
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