Rhoads' Marshall - I gotta know

[Newc]

Did Rhoads' Marshall have any special mods done to it? AFAIK he used an MXR 10-band EQ pedal and I think a Distortion+ or some other gain/boost pedal, but is there some valid reason for Marshall to have a "Rhoads Sig Model"?

[ejpii]

Money













EJ

[Hellbat]

Well, it's got white tolex and it has a cascade gain mod that was originally performed at the factory. They reverse engineered Randy's head when they decided to produce the amp because apparently they just did the original mod off the cuff without any documentation. It looks badass (when new at least hehe) but you are going to have to play it LOUD to get it to do what its made to do.

[roodyrocker]

Its also a JMP and sounds absolutely killer! Not really different from other JMP's of that era other than the cascaded gain mod but don't forget they haven't made JMP's for nearly three decades now. It looks good, it sounds good, it will at least retain its value in the long run if not escalate due to its rarity therefore its a winner no matter how you look at it.
If you don't want to pay for the Rhoads name/association and don't care if its white or not, I noticed at NAMM this year they re-issued the small logo Marshall JMP. I didn't ask what the price was but its got to be substantially less than the Rhoads Marshall I would think.

[Shibs]

I play through one and one of my clients plays through one and they are both great. by the way, Paul Gilbert was playing through one at NAMM too!

[roodyrocker]

I play through one and one of my clients plays through one and they are both great. by the way, Paul Gilbert was playing through one at NAMM too!

Paul Gilbert was playing through one at NAMM and had a spare next to it. Here are the pix

[Newc]

So basically it's just the white tolex, a cascaded gain mod, and it's designed after the late 70's JMP rather than the later JCM series?

Did RR have the gain mod done and still use the boost pedals?

[roodyrocker]

So basically it's just the white tolex, a cascaded gain mod, and it's designed after the late 70's JMP rather than the later JCM series?

Did RR have the gain mod done and still use the boost pedals?

Yes, from what I've read he used an MXR Distortion+ and MXR 10 band eq with it.

[Larz]

The Rhoads amp was discussed twice in the August 2008 Guitar World issue, in the Randy article with photos of the original head and Randy's pedal board and then the actual gear review of the new amp.

Aside from the mods mentioned above, Randy's cabs also had 100W Altec Lansing 417-8H speakers (apparently no longer made/hard to find)

[Newc]

Yes, from what I've read he used an MXR Distortion+ and MXR 10 band eq with it.

So then why the cascading gain mod?


What I'm trying to figure out is why this amp was even made. So far it's just looking like "Dimebag Syndrome" - whatever he used, someone's trying to make a buck off the name of a dead man.

[khabibissell]

So then why the cascading gain mod?


What I'm trying to figure out is why this amp was even made. So far it's just looking like "Dimebag Syndrome" - whatever he used, someone's trying to make a buck off the name of a dead man.

I think comparing the Rhoads Marshall (which was a very limited edition piece) to the 1000000+ Dime "signature" products that are constantly coming out (Rita has to eat right? I think she's the reason you keep seeing stuff, not the companies that are producing it) is a bit of a stretch. The Rhoads Marshall is supposedly an exact duplicate of the amp Randy was using on tour.

To me, the Randy amp comes across as a heartfelt tribute, not a money grab. The Rhoads family appears to be very protective of his legacy, so I doubt they would authorize products just to make some extra $$ off his name.

[Cygnus X1]

Because cascading gain gives...more gain.
If someone wants to rely on just the pedal for the tone, that's one thing. But nothing "speaks" quite like the amp itself.
...Or more than the player in question!

I don't see any exploitation in this.
Unless they start popping out MIC budget models.

[Newc]

Agreed on the Dime "flood" vs Rhoads' legacy - so far only Jackson and Marshall have anything with his name on it.

However, that leaves the cascading gain + gain pedals. I know that cascading gain gives more gain than non-cascading gain (smartypants), but did the amp still not have enough gain even after the mod that he required the Distortion+ as well?

Granted Rhoads' recorded tone has always seemed oversaturated to me - no chord definition, especially on Major chords, which would happen with any amp/player if you doubled-up on the gain - but again we end up right back at the "why?" of this model.

Obviously if it's to capture Rhoads' tone, you're still going to need the pedal to go with the signature amp, correct? Not to mention the 10 band EQ pedal. Is MXR doing a Rhoads sig pedal set? What about his Crybaby? Will we see a Dunlop Rhoads model?

Why not simply re-release the JMP series without a particular artist's name attached to it, particularly one whose contribution was more to the advancement of technique rather than tone? Though the tone does go along with the playing style, the playing style in this instance was at the forefront.

Was the JMP series a fixture of anyone else's backline at the time? Blackmore? Schenker? Montrose? Uli Roth? Gary Ritchrath? Surely it had to be associated with other players besides Rhoads? If it's been a sought-after model series for years based on its own merits, why not simply reissue the line with whatever fixes plagued it at the time of it's demise, if any, without a particular "name" attached to it?

[SEEGERMANY]

A white Tolex covered amp is about as practical as a turd in a Baby Ruth factory!

[Cygnus X1]

I build with cascading gain to give more option in the tone of the drive.
Sure, there is plenty of ways to achieve it, but twiddling the gain knobs between the two preamp tubes give different phasing/voicings depending on those tubes.
I'd still throw a distortion pedal in front to get a variation on the overall drive. Less complicated=less chance of failure.