Cheap Marshall?

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rsm said:
They are not expensive; and you can always sell it for what you paid if you get one used.

Probably the best bang for a buck Marshall tube amp to get the early Marshall sounds...with an OD you could push to JCM 800 tones, and as @griff10672 posted there are mods for it.

I'm mostly Marshall here, if I was a casual Marshall amp guy on the cheap: Origin 50 all day. IDK about the 20W version, I'd go for the 50W
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If I wanted cheap .... that's what I would do ..... find one of those dirt cheap and mod it following the Headfirst Vids

he sells replacement boards to turn it into a screaming 800 ......

 
For budget purposes I'd go for the Ceriatone.......It's gonna be Handwired thus serviceable by any tech worth his salt.
Ceriatone has been around a good while and has a decent reputation, it's gonna sound good out of the box, every part in it is fairly easily upgradable-
Likely new holes would need to be drilled for transformer replacement, not the end of the world.......
Down the road you could do upgrades with your caps and transformers if you so choose. TSL's and DSL's (I prefer the latter) are PCB amps pretty poorly constructed IMO/ like most popular modern amps. They sound good but don't pay too much for one. Metro Amp is great, but not cheap. If your in the market for that money a lot of other options are out there.... Lotta things can go wrong easily doing DIY 2204 or even the non MV's...best for experienced builders..... I've built 6 amps including three 18 watt Marshall variants......not kits.......bent my own chassis, sourced all my parts..
Even with a kit I'd be very apprehensive building a 50 watt Marshall.........not afraid of servicing them though....... I recommend starting with a Champ and then going onto an 18 watt Marshall.

I have a lot of time on a THD Univalve, I've met Andy Marshall several times, had him work on my 2204 in his shop after he'd gotten away from servicing amps, but I had a simple repair. He recommended to me another tech who is a longtime friend now. I much respect Andy, I like all his products but respectfully disagree with the guy who said the Univalve sounds like a Marshall.......Though it does sound more like one than modern high gain Amps do.
I'm an owner of a 73 and 74 1987...... also a 77 2204
 
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griff10672 said:
I've got all the parts in my shop to build a ( 2204 ) 800/JEL running 6550's ..... turret board's already soldered up ..... just got to put her together

all SOZO caps and Vishay Resistors ...... going in a small box headshell tolexed with Plum Gator so it will look like this 2X12 cab I did a few years ago

View attachment 410848
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Is that 1922 Regrilled and recovered? Looks Awesome! I have a regular 1922 with upgraded speakers.....
 
The cheapest real Marshall you'll find that's worth having is a Vintage Modern with a boost, or a DSL50/100, not the Vietnamese made DSL 50/100H, or a 900 MkIII or SL-X, avoid the Dual Reverb. Otherwise, keep shopping for one of those modded Marshall'esque Ceriatones or something a builder makes that's a hotrodded Marshall clone, or just a 1987x or 800 clone and boost it.

Or, be one of the cool kids and get a Mesa Stiletto.
 
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DSL40C, NOT the R version. Install creambck 65. Done for $500. Creambacks turn DSLs into amazing amps. Not sure why, but they just kill together. Hated both until I tried them together. They just match perfectly for some weird reason. All the shitty frequencies of both are cured when they are paired.
 
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Bloodrock said:
DSL40C, NOT the R version. Install creambck 65. Done for $500. Creambacks turn DSLs into amazing amps. Not sure why, but they just kill together. Hated both until I tried them together. They just match perfectly for some weird reason. All the shitty frequencies of both are cured when they are paired.
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I like dsl’s…hell I like the tsl’s also. They work for hatebreed…
 
Origin 50 for the win on price, tone, versatility, pedals and mods. For JTM-45, to SLP and with boost/OD 800.

Haterz gonna hate.


I think the Origin 50 is the most underrated Marshall ever made because of where it's made.

But it's your money, if you want to spend it on an amp because it's built in the UK (Studio series) with the same Chinese parts as an amp built in Vietnam (Origin, DSL40CR, DSL100CR), with less power; that's up to you.

just sayin'


 
BDC said:
Is that 1922 Regrilled and recovered? Looks Awesome! I have a regular 1922 with upgraded speakers.....
Click to expand...
yes ..........
1754528662893.jpeg
 
rsm said:
Origin 50 for the win on price, tone, versatility, pedals and mods. For JTM-45, to SLP and with boost/OD 800.

Haterz gonna hate.


I think the Origin 50 is the most underrated Marshall ever made because of where it's made.

But it's your money, if you want to spend it on an amp because it's built in the UK (Studio series) with the same Chinese parts as an amp built in Vietnam (Origin, DSL40CR, DSL100CR), with less power; that's up to you.

just sayin'


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I’m seriously considering one of those Marshalls built in Rhode Island… I know a guy..
 
I don't know what you consider cheap but there's a new loaded Splawn Quick Rod on the gear page for 1350. Good deal and better than anything Marshall has built in decades
 
Chris6870 said:
I don't know what you consider cheap but there's a new loaded Splawn Quick Rod on the gear page for 1350. Good deal and better than anything Marshall has built in decades
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Yeah I would have mentioned Spalwn but the OP specifically mentioned Marshall but just about any Splawn is cheaper than most Reissue or used Marshall 2203 or 2204's.

JBT if you want some versatility ie: channel switching/clean channel in the Marshall line then he is going to have to look at the DSL or the JVM and then the Splawn, which arguably are built better and bit more servicable. My Splawn modded Marshall is still working fine after 22 years if that is a testament to Scott's work.
 
Lots of cool recommendations so far. I’d say if you’re interested in a plexi and want to get the most out of it then hopefully you have an attenuator or a load box into a daw… unless volume is a non issue in which case I envy you!

-Marshall Origin series 20/50: is really cool and price wise hard to argue with. If you go this route I’d explore the mods Headfirst has done - they sound amazing!

- Marshall SV20:I love these! Tube swaps are really fun with this one since it’s cathode biased (think the same is true of the origin) and there are lots of tones to be found. If you can find one ~800 it’s a great deal. Started my plexi love affair. I moved on to a SL67 MKI then now to a Helios 100W.

Good luck and let us know whatcha land on!
 
I might be working on something for Rigtalk. If it works out I will let you know. But it will be epic.
 
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