Marshall combo amps? Opinions wanted.

[peedenmark7]

my suggestion would be find yourself a '76-78 marshall master volume combo
there is no better marshall combo.
easily found on ebay anywhere from $800 low side to $1200-1400 average... unless its a guitar center item which will of course be $2500 or more [idiots].

if you're lucky enough you'll find one with g12H 30s 55hz NOT 75HZ which have a better bass response than the normal g12M 25 watt 75HZ celestions...

all of these combos are open backs.... they are f'n loud bright and tight with the correct 6550 tubes in them... [nice quick break up with el-34s though I dont run those tubes].
theyre also noisy if you run a preamp such as a boss fa-1 in front of the amp.
but you have to sacrifice a little noise for great tone.

chances are your sound man will hate you becuse the amps bright qualities
so find yourself a period correct marshall 2x12 cab for around $1200
and mic that.
you'll also wont to consider an attenuator of some kind cause these amps dont hit the sweet spot till around 6-7 on the master... at that point youre blowing the stage away..

if you dont wanna get spendy on a period correct cab pick up a mid 80s pre stereo marshall #1936 2x12 cab... in my opinion a bit more bass from them beinf a deeper cab, but grill cloths arent the same.. so if you can get over the ismatche dlook, y'll have an excellant rig.... been running this very rig since '83 and have 4 complete '76-78 stacked combos with period correct cabs.
and also 2 that I gig with the mismatched 1936 cabs.
aside from a plexi or a jub , you really dont need any other marshall.

I'll add by saying dont waste your time with a 2558 jub 2x12 .
they sound nothing like the jub head cab counterparts.
the gain isnt there ...its suited more for blues than metal/rock.
different transformer than the heads from what I understand.

[siggy14]

This is so true.

Alone practicing people tend to add more bass to there guitar sound, why because they are missing the low end from the bass player so they want that fuller sound. Not to mention you are not competing with anyone else, so you can cut those mid's all you want and not have to worry about being buried.

Recording, well the right engineer could make a crate amp sound great, all is done by EQ'ing, mic's etc..

Live, is a different, you dont want to add super amounts of bass or you bury the bass player, you dont want to cut the mids or you get buried, so you have to find a nice middle between the two.

Now to answer your question, assuming you are using this for live work and just soloing for a combo I would say go for a JCM800 single channel with a tube screamer in front and you will be happy as a pig in shit! This of course assuming you will be using another amp for rythem.

Now if you are just tinkering around, practice or recording type thing, do your self a favor and just got a line 6 Pod 2.0 and a good set of computer speakers with sub and it will go beyond your expectations and blow any combo out of the water!

Honestly, in a live situation if you are looking for a great solo, get a pod Pro Rack mount for solo's, you can also use it for crystal cleans!

But if you want to stay away from the line 6 stuff, my other suggestion is get a head with a 2x12 cabinet or a closed back cabinet combo.

"BTW.. am I alone in this opinion..anyone esle experience this at all..I don't want to come as sounding like a dick, and pissing on any parades..but this is just must honest view on combos in general.."

You just answerred this in your post... there is a tone for recording, there is one for practice, there is one for live work. These seldom come together in one package, at least the ones that sound best in studio more than likely suck on stage and vice versa. It is a question of what one is looking for. Here you go man... Nuances and fine shades tend to disappear when playing live, and 'feel' and ability to project one's tone come forward as more important thing on-stage. Go figure

When I played live, I had entirely different requirements than I have now. I bet it is not only me.

[Twisteramps]

How about a sealed 2x12 cab and a head? not a lot bigger than a 2x12 combo, and a hell of a lot better tone IMHO. I'd prefer a head and a sealed 1x12 over any open back combo... open backs are great for clean tone, crappy (in my opinion) for rock and metal rhythms and solos.

Pete

[hamerguy]

I have the Marshall 6101 (30th Anniversary), the latter version w/5881 tubes and Celestion speaker, it delivers nice hi gain sounds. Weak points are the FX loop doesn't seem to work well with stompboxes (weak FX signal), missing reverb and that it's a heavy one (eventually it's even heavier with an EVM-12L that originally came with the blue edition). I also have this amp as top version (w/EL34 tubes though) with a 4x12" cab, the combo sounds equally good.

[Bryan]

All right. I broke down today and sprung for the TSL 2000 combo with 1 12. I wen through everything there and it really has that Marshall tone, just at a more manageable volume for me. I got it out to the parking lot only to discover that the entire side of tolex was scratched all to crap. Apparently when they got it in or out of the little "amp cubby" it rubbed against something real bad. The manager asked if I wanted to take it and call me when they got another one but I refused. Just my luck something would happen to it while I had it and I'd really be screwed. But luckily the guy offered to have one shipped directly to me at work instead of me having to make the hour + drive to go back and get another one.

But I am very happy with it. I think I will hold on to my Fender Deluxe Reverb reissue for cleans, and use the Marshall for distortion.

[Rsmacker]

Let us know how you get on with it live!

I'm with Horns here, I collect Marshalls, and won't make the mistake of trying to use a JCM800 combo with a band again, no matter how wonderful it sounds on it's own! I'd drag a JCM800 head and cab (or 2) out, far more presence. (Erm, not "presence" as in the control pot, but "presence" as in being able to hear the fooking thing!)


Oh, and I looooooooove the Jubilee combos, set on 25 watts they sound wonderful, though as said, not as tasty as the heads in any way. Anyone selling any Jubilee stuff in the UK, gimme gimme gimme.

[Daywalker]

I jammed for a while with a band with a Valvestate 8080 1 x 12" that ripped. It was loud and sounded great.

I have this amp.

To be honest it's far too loud for practising on your own in a room.

The pre-amp valve sound is *ok* but i personally am looking to invest in a Laney / Peavy all-valve amp next year because i find it hard to get a decent metallica/metal sound* out of it at low volumes...it is VERY loud.

*my guitar being a Jackson Dinky with a JB at the bridge.