Lets talk Marshalls

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cragginshred

cragginshred

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I'm an 80's rocker and need a really good hard rock crunch tone to classic 80's Ratt Dokken VH ect tones. I have the Wizard MC II Mk II which I love and will keep as well as a Freidman smallbox -selling

The only Marshall I've owned was a Joe Satch signature head. It had a ch that was supposed be a JCM 800 which the JVM do as well right? What is the scoop with the new re issue Marshalls JCM ect? I'm always chasing 'that' tone in my DNA from the late 70's and 80's so why shouldn't I have a Marshall?
 
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Have you checked out the official Marshall Forum ?

They go into great detail on the new Marshalls and talk a lot about getting early VH sounds.
 
Marshall has a long history with a lot of different models. I don’t have experience with the JVM but have experience with the 2203, 2204, 1959, 1959X, 1987 etc. there have been many reissues over the years. A lot of people sing the praises of the early 90s reissues of the 1959x. They sound great. But newer ones can sound awesome too. If you like 80s rock a modded Marshall on either the JCM 800 or 1959 voicing can get you there. I’m always an advocate from the moab from redplated here or if you want another good option for that tone I like the Landry g3 ls100. Those can be found for cheap used when they pop up. Ultimately the golden circuits in my mind are the 1959 and 2203. Once you mod them the platform really makes less of a difference.

Most of the 80s shred tones you hear are Jose modded Marshalls and there are a lot of people that can do that or variations. A bone stock one won’t get you there but a stock one with an SD-1 does wonders and is a great pairing
 
itsgoodnow said:
Marshall has a long history with a lot of different models. I don’t have experience with the JVM but have experience with the 2203, 2204, 1959, 1959X, 1987 etc. there have been many reissues over the years. A lot of people sing the praises of the early 90s reissues of the 1959x. They sound great. But newer ones can sound awesome too. If you like 80s rock a modded Marshall on either the JCM 800 or 1959 voicing can get you there. I’m always an advocate from the moab from redplated here or if you want another good option for that tone I like the Landry g3 ls100. Those can be found for cheap used when they pop up. Ultimately the golden circuits in my mind are the 1959 and 2203. Once you mod them the platform really makes less of a difference.

Most of the 80s shred tones you hear are Jose modded Marshalls and there are a lot of people that can do that or variations. A bone stock one won’t get you there but a stock one with an SD-1 does wonders and is a great pairing
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Yeah I always use a boost of some flavor. Landry keeps coming up for sure, but its really odd that the only demos on YT are his and he dials them in a little bright for my tastes. I know 2 guys with a 100w Lexi and they love em. Bill Landry is really pushing the 30w (G30?) that is Lexified. I think he has an 'all sales are final' deal and they don't move on Reverb so I'm really hesitant.
 
cragginshred77 said:
Yeah I always use a boost of some flavor. Landry keeps coming up for sure, but its really odd that the only demos on YT are his and he dials them in a little bright for my tastes. I know 2 guys with a 100w Lexi and they love em. Bill Landry is really pushing the 30w (G30?) that is Lexified. I think he has an 'all sales are final' deal and they don't move on Reverb so I'm really hesitant.
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I have a 100 watt g3 and it punches far above its weight. They go for 1800 used about and they will crush the 80s sound. I use it for more thrash tones but my friend is in an 80s hair metal cover band and uses one and will never give it up for what it’s worth. Can’t say enough good things about how good of a fit it would be.
 
JMP 2203 Mk2 or JCM 800 2203

The new Marshall SC20?

I have a JVM410H and it gets all the Marshall sounds I want and more; close enough for me. Still want a 1959SLP Super Lead, but not as much now.

If it doesn't have to be a Marshall, my Engl Artist Edition E561 is a great Marshall that isn't a Marshall IMO
 
I'd look for a pre 1990 2203/1959/1987/2205/2210 and combo variations of. The older Iron sounds best to me; if you're looking for that 10-15% better tone. If that doesn't matter, a Jubilee reissue is a great sounding amp and has a very usable clean, great loop, and you can run any octal quad of tubes you want..or, any 2 different pairs of octal tubes. 2 6550s, 2 EL34s....2 6L6, 2 KT88...and so on. And the bias points are on top of the back chassis...very easy to bias. I'd go for the 2555x over the 2203x all day; plus they're cheaper. By like 1k.

I have a 1972 Supertremolo that I double boost in a few different ways, that gets me 70s hard rock up to 90s metal when I use the Uzi distortion pedal(BE OD clone). But like George said, they are stupid expensive these days. I grabbed mine right before the Covid price jump.
 
I was not super fused over the JVMs I played over the years but I'm not a Marshall expert. You will get tons of good advice here :yes:

This is a decent guide I believe :D

Edit: I was going to say - listen to Racerxrated - he knows his Marshalls


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Edit 2: ^as you can see that was made pre JVM :lol:
 
If you want bang for your buck, get an Origin 20 or 50 depending on what power you need and they can be easily modded to just rip. Even stock, if you crank up the master, you will get a great classic hard rock sound. I stumbles upon a used 20 that had been modded and had to take it home. Just a fantastic plug and play hard rock tone and ridiculously cheap. After using it, the thought of paying a few thousand for the classic Marshall sound is obscene to me.
 
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Reissues are definitely cool, and reasonably priced. You just need a power station to get the most out of them stock. They’re kinda like legos, want the zakk sound? Plug in some 6550’s. Want the evh thing? Change out the first tube wiring. You see the point.
 
Hermanson Marshall’s are so good . He’s making them again now too . My Marshall . I even like it more then my 1978 2203
 
JCM800 2203 - find an older one or just get the reissue...it's fantastic.

Pre amp gain high and throw your favorite boost in front for modded Marshall tones. Click off the boost for general rock tones. Back off the volume on your guitar for lighter crunch or clean sounds. Everything you would need in a dead simple, single channel amp. You can even use boosts with more gain/voicings for a pretty modern metal sound (especially with an active pickup guitar).

I've tried tons of takes on the modded Marshall sound and while there is some killer stuff out there I always come back to the 2203 with a couple of boosts for different flavors. Can't be beaten for me.
 
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Torgo2003 said:
JCM800 2203 - find an older one or just get the reissue...it's fantastic.

Pre amp gain high and throw on your favorite boost in front for modded Marshall tones. Click off the boost for general rock tones. Back off the volume on your guitar for lighter crunch or clean sounds. Everything you would need in a dead simple, single channel amp. You can even use boosts with more gain/voicings for a pretty modern metal sound (especially with an active pickup guitar).

I've tried tons of takes on the modded Marshall sound and while there is some killer stuff out there I always come back to the 2203 with a couple of boosts for different flavors. Can't be beaten for me.
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Agreed. All those supposedly “killer” recent made modded Marshall type amps I’ve been through haven’t really sounded killer to me when AB’ed with a good vintage Marshall boosted. I’ve always liked more the late ‘70’s 2203/4’s myself. I find they have more growl, warmth and richness to the sound, while the ‘80’s JCM800’s tend to sound more bold, punchy, brighter and tighter, which is great, but the growl and juicy midrange warmth of the ‘70’s ones tends to inspire me more. Either option though should expose where the recent Marshall style amps tend to be lacking in direct comparison

I find JVM’s (including the Satch one) to sound very synthetic/not convincing. It’s like hearing a recording of a good Marshall and then you have a 2203/4 next to it and it’s like hearing a live version of the JVM sounding and feeling like a compressed modeler in comparison
 
braintheory said:
I find JVM’s (including the Satch one) to sound very synthetic/not convincing. It’s like hearing a recording of a good Marshall and then you have a 2203/4 next to it and it’s like hearing a live version of the JVM sounding and feeling like a compressed modeler in comparison
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That was my impression too. I've played maybe 5 or 6 different variants of the JVM at different volumes. I did prefer the 2 channel better - like Greazygeo is saying. But they always had this fake sound to the distortion, synthetic as you are saying. It's the preamp. I'm by far the expert here so I'm just blabbering. There are mods for them and you do have to crank them up to get the goods, similar to other amps like a *cough*Splawn*cough* :D

But there are plenty of dudes that love them, @rsm included I'm sure, so the great news is there are lots of choices. If I were to get a true Marshall, which I may some day, I would go for an old school OG'r. 4 holer or 2004. I'm just not real good at identifying a good one vs a not so good one which is why I got a Splawn lol.
 
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I went thru a bunch of Marshall inspired boutique amps before picking up a used 1987x.

Jumpered the channels, added an Ironman II attenuator and BAM- that’s the tone I’ve been chasing for years.

Simple and effective.
 
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