So what is considered the ULTIMATE MARSHALL??

[mightywarlock]

I've always known that the current crop of Marshall amps is supposed to be crap compared to the vintage Holy Grails of Marshall from years ago.

I know Plexi's are cool.
We've all heard that the JCM800's were great.
JCM900's considered mostly negative.
and so on.
Current Marshall's come out, and quickly have their prices plummet to scary low numbers.

But...

When people are talking about the holy grail of Marshall tones...

just what is it they are talking about?
Is there a specific model that exemplifies all that is MARSHALL tone?

or is it the culmination of years of amplifier history?

If I was looking for the perfect amp, say, to take to Dave Friedman and have it modded to make it even better...which should it be?

Be Specific...

 

[JakeAC5253]

The same people who don't like the JCM900 because of an opamp clipping stage are the same people who love the Jose Modded JCM800's with diode clipping. They just don't know it yet.

 

[232cap]

The same people who don't like the JCM900 because of an opamp clipping stage are the same people who love the Jose Modded JCM800's with diode clipping. They just don't know it yet.

So true.

 

[Ayrton]

1968-1973 is the "golden era" to me.

Marshall was hit or miss back then, but hold on to your hat if you got a good one.

Remember Aspen Pittman's purple '71, or Warren DiMartini's '68?

If we are talking modded Marshalls, then it would have to be Dave Friedman.

 

[Dave L]

I´d also have to go with the late 60s or early 70s Superleads. And the 2203/2204.

 

[Greazygeo]

If I was looking for the perfect amp, say, to take to Dave Friedman and have it modded to make it even better...which should it be?

Be Specific...

The holy grail of Marshalls would not need any mods (other than more filtering)....there is a reason the 68-72 Superleads are sought after.

If you were going to have one modded I'd go after the 73-74 Superleads.....never had much luck with those sounding that good. I have a 69 plexi that is killer!

 

[Ventura]

So what is considered the ULTIMATE MARSHALL??

The one with the most skilled player attached to it

V.

 

[mightywarlock]

Post some pictures of the amps you are talking about too...so we can see what they look like.

 

[thiswaythatway]

A couple years ago half this forum was saying it was the JVM.

 

[Greazygeo]

Post some pictures of the amps you are talking about too...so we can see what they look like.

Kind of a dark picture....under the 1959RR is the '69 plexi 100 (my holy grail) then the '68 plexi Super Tremolo
which is #2 and then a metal panel '69 Superlead which was my first 100 watt Marshall (bought it in 1987). There are some vids of the 69 on my YT channel.

 

[RoidRage]

Anything Prior To Circut Boards... aka Point To Point Would be the Ultimate (Anything 67' to 72') Some 73's are point to point But you have to check.

I do have a Modded Mint 79' JMP Master Volume that sounds INSANE though...

Roid

 

[Ayrton]

Early 70's Marshalls are selling for cheap now...

There is a mint '73 ptp on ebay now that I would love to bid on, but I have blown this months gear budget.

 

[Gsxrbusa]

Post some pictures of the amps you are talking about too...so we can see what they look like.

Kind of a dark picture....under the 1959RR is the '69 plexi 100 (my holy grail) then the '68 plexi Super Tremolo
which is #2 and then a metal panel '69 Superlead which was my first 100 watt Marshall (bought it in 1987). There are some vids of the 69 on my YT channel.

 

[Greazygeo]

If you were going to have one modded I'd go after the 73-74 Superleads.....never had much luck with those sounding that good. I have a 69 plexi that is killer!

I have a 74 SL that would make your jaw drop. It flat out rips...tone and gain. I did do a few simple mods... added a .68uf mustard to V2A and NFB wire to the 8ohm tap and changed over to EL34's like the earlier Marshalls and added a PPIV master. I got it from the original owner who never played it since it was too loud.

Early 70's Marshalls are selling for cheap now...

You probably have one of the few good ones! There are some good ones in each era for sure. Have you tried hooking the nfb up to the speaker jacks instead of the imp selector taps (like in the early amps)?

I had a modded '73 with 6550's that sounded pretty good (its the one in the Crying in the Rain video). once the '69 showed up, it was all over.

 

[MississippiMetal]

The same people who don't like the JCM900 because of an opamp clipping stage are the same people who love the Jose Modded JCM800's with diode clipping. They just don't know it yet.

This. Some people have no idea what they're hearing. Can you imagine the corksniffer scoffs at the idea of LED's in place of resistors from the cathode to ground?

 

[Ayrton]

If I was looking for the perfect amp, say, to take to Dave Friedman and have it modded to make it even better...which should it be?

Be Specific...

I missed this part...

Dave will tell you that an early superlead is most desirable, but I know Dave can make any 1959 model sound fantastic

My '73

Hanging with his friends.

 

[The Hoff]

Anything Friedman in my opinion

 

[ericsabbath]

The same people who don't like the JCM900 because of an opamp clipping stage are the same people who love the Jose Modded JCM800's with diode clipping. They just don't know it yet.

the 900 dual reverbs have diode gain stages, not just clippers
all the distortion is solid state
pretty close to a marshall valvestate, by the way, but with a tube power amp
that's why you can't get the usual mods done on the 800's
the mk3 and SL-X have real tube stages, though

the jose mod involves adding two diodes to the master volume control, and that adds some saturation and fizz, but that's not an actual gain stage
the gain circuit is still 100% tube driven

 

[glpg80]

the one i havent built yet.

 

[RoidRage]

Those Are Bitchin!

Roid

If I was looking for the perfect amp, say, to take to Dave Friedman and have it modded to make it even better...which should it be?

Be Specific...

I missed this part...

Dave will tell you that an early superlead is most desirable, but I know Dave can make any 1959 model sound fantastic

My '73

Hanging with his friends.