Rhoads' Marshall - I gotta know

[roodyrocker]

On the subjective subject of Rhoads' tone, no I can't imagine those riffs with any other tone would make them sound the same. However, since we've never heard Rhoads play those riffs with any other tone before the recordings were made, we'll never know.

It's like the "Turn The Page" argument: most people who have heard the Bob Seger version first don't like Metallica's version. I, on the other hand, had never heard the song until Metallica did it. I perfer Metallica's version because it has more dynamics. Others see it as butchery/blasphemy.


Absolutely no one is beyond reproach/suspicion. I'm sure Delores is a sweet lady who loved Randy llike a mother should love her son. I'm also sure the residuals from the Sharon Osbourne Holding Company aren't what they used to be, so if she takes a bag o money from Marshall for the amp, that's her prerogative.

However, none of that gets to the heart of the matter: why does this amp exist?


As for giving a handful of fans the chance to play through the same amp Randy used, I don't buy it simply because of the differences, most notably the speakers. Yes, Altec-Lansing stopped making those models. Marshall also stopped making the JMP this one's based on, didn't they?

Aren't there other components that are no longer available? Certain types of caps and transistors? Anyone compare the guts of the new head to the guts of an original?

As far as the tone goes, its Rhoads we're talking about here and he is the man, therefore whatever tone he wants is best But seriously on to the other points, first I heard both versions of Turn The Page, the Bob Seger one first of course. My opinion is the song bores the heck out of me whether its Seger or Metallica doing it, can't stand that song. Might have sounded better had either one of them used a Marshall JMP with cascaded gain mod on it
Delores Rhoads has not exploited Randy's name as far as we know in the past. I don't see any reason to start doubting her now. You guys are my JCF bros but come on now, no one has any proof of such a thing and to be hinting that this is her motive now doesn't seem right to me.
Why does the amp exist? I say why does any signature amp exist. Marshall alone has a Hendrix, a Lemmy, a Slash, a Zakk Wylde, a Kerry King. Rhoads is just as good a as any of the others if not better to have his own signature amp. It was done as a tribute to him, and in the low numbers they are making it in I can't see it as being simply a big money maker for Marshall. The volume is too small.
Yes, the JMP was discontinued as the JCM 800 came in. Are all the components still available exactly as they were then? I don't know. But as I said before, I did own a mid 70's Marshall Super Lead 100 non-master volume amp and this amp sounds very similar so if the original components aren't still available they sure did a nice job getting the next best thing. The JMP itself was on display at NAMM at the Marshall booth this year along with the JTM so it looks like these will be re-issued again.
The main point is this is a great sounding Marshall amp and up until this past year was not available to most people unless you wanted to pay vintage/collector prices then mod that. What is the reason this amp exists? I think simply to lure back ex-Marshall guys like myself who gave up on Marshall many years ago. This Rhoads amp was the best thing they could have done as I haven't bought a Marshall in over 20 years till now. It worked