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Marshall Origin Amps

Started by Mick, March 08, 2018, 08:46:19 PM

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Mick

Marshall Origin Amps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hft3B6D1Gj4

Chappers & The Captain check out the all-new for 2018 Marshall Origin Series! These amplifiers bring back some of the nostalgic vintage Marshall tones of yesteryear without the massive price tag!
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Hinfrance

More than Ã,£700 for a 50w combo doesn't strike me as not having a massive price tag - still jolly expensive to my way of thinking  ;)

Mick

Quote from: Hinfrance on March 09, 2018, 03:04:19 PM
More than Ã,£700 for a 50w combo doesn't strike me as not having a massive price tag - still jolly expensive to my way of thinking  ;)

But, it's got Marshall on the front of it Howard.  ;) 

I kind of agree with you, it does seem a fair bit of cash for the combo.  The 50w head would be more attractive to me, providing I had some spare cash, and a spare 4x12 cab kicking around.   But I think they sound pretty nice and authentic.
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Hinfrance

Mmmm, even the head is nearly Ã,£600. I have to be honest here, I did once use Marshall valve bass heads (a band I was in was briefly sponsored by a now defunct music shop), and they were what I was given. Luckily I also had my old 100w tranny head which I always carted around as a spare - and I frequently did need it. The 100w Marshalls just kept on stopping, and a 300w one actually exploded during a gig, taking out all the power on my side of the stage at the same time. Frankly if anyone were to give me a valve amp I would get rid of it ASAP - not to put too fine a point on it I consider them to be overpriced overrated unreliable pieces of sh*t. Not to mention they weigh a ton too.

The only failure I have ever had with a solid state amp is the triacs on the power amp mixer stage of my venerable Trace AH500 getting a bit twitchy. Being a belt an braces chap I also have my AH200 as a spare. I also had a Peavey 400 for years, and that was utterly reliable too. I am thinking about getting a an Ampeg Portaflex 500, but my cheap as chips Behringer is working more than adequately, so it would be a selfish and unnecessary purchase.

Mick

Fair point H, I can see why you're put off using valve under those circumstances.   ;)

I've always thought there's a sound and feel from a valve amp that can't be replicated by solid state.  But it's like everything else in life, when something new comes out, you're never convinced it's as good as the original.  A lot of it in the mind I guess, plus all those web posts that tell you, valve is the right way.

At the end of the day, if you're happy with the sound coming out of the front, then you're happy.  I'm yet to experience a Marshall amp, the only valve amp in my kit is a Blackstar  HT5R which I do like if I'm honest.  The rest of my amps are solid state, which I also like.

I've seen on other forums where people have gone from valve to solid state, and then to a helix or similar saying how great they sound.  Only to be followed a year or so later by the immortal words, "I'm going back to valve".   
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Hinfrance

It's different for guitar and bass to be fair. That said the guitarist in my band also went solid state in the 1990s, for similar reasons. Still all Marshall mind you :) Now he has a Line 6 Vetta ll and when he comes to mine for our infrequent gigs he either uses the Mustang 3 v2* running in stereo through FOH or his preference the Katana 2x12. He's never going back to valve.

I agree that there is definitely a 'vibe' to a tube amp, but they do tend to be one trick ponies. Throw one in and out of the back of a Transit a few times or bounce one down a flight of stairs (happened to my Trace) and check the difference in reliability.

*I'm thinking of replacing the speaker in the Mustang - I reckon the OEM driver is not really up to the job - I say this because the sound quality from it through a PA is something to behold, and nothing like the often thin and fizzy sound from the cab.

Anyway, have you managed to test a Katana yet? If not I recommend that you do. Just sounds so good and so simple to use.

Mick

Thanks Howard.  In answer to your question, no I haven't had a chance to try a Katana yet, been (and still am) really busy with the Tinyportal project.  I haven't even picked a guitar up for what seems like weeks.  I really should chill out a bit more if I'm honest.

Let us know how the speaker swap goes on the Mustang, it's interesting you say the sound is so different through PA, Have to tried pumping it through an external cab to see what that sounds like?  that might be a better or should I say easier option providing you don't have to lug it around too much.

Foound this re: speaker swap,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-bIy0V2M14

And this might be of interest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5UoI2rsIZQ
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Mick

Quote from: Mick on March 11, 2018, 11:23:45 AM

Let us know how the speaker swap goes on the Mustang, it's interesting you say the sound is so different through PA, Have to tried pumping it through an external cab to see what that sounds like?  that might be a better or should I say easier option providing you don't have to lug it around too much.


Actually, thinking about this again, I really should have checked before mentioning the external speaker thing, the Mustang 3 doesn't have a external speaker out socket.  :-[  So this would need a slight modification to the amp.  Either wire a speaker jack and fit it to the back of the amp.  Connect it so you can either plug in the built in speaker, or the external, not both at the same time.  Or use a switched jack, so it disconnects the internal speaker when you plug in the external cab.
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Hinfrance

Having seen that second vid and having a both the house to myself and a looper I'm going to try giving the speakers a bit more running in time. Both the Mustangs have been used a fair bit, but only at high volume for a couple of gigs. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm going to use my Zoom H1 to record the sounds before and after and use a spectrum analyser to see what difference if any it makes. I'll keep you posted.

Hinfrance

#9
OK, 8 hours running at '5' on the volume control, mix of guitar loops and random music and the results are in.

I recorded the amp with the H1 before and after playing the same tunes, one on setting 22 (65 twin with reverb), and one on a JCM800 type of sound I set up myself. I loaded the audio into Reaper and used the SPAN spectrum analyser to see what was going on.

In short, yes, the frequency range did become a little more evenly distributed and even slightly extended at the low end - but, and it is a big but, the peaks remained unchanged in the 800hz and 2-4khz ranges, which means that the sound is still painfully toppy.

I also tried the amp by disconnecting the speaker and running through a 100w passive wedge monitor loaded with a Fane full range 12" driver. Still uncomfortably shrill. This monitor has been used at hundreds of gigs, often flat out, so it's definitely run in.

Conclusion: the power stage of the Mustang 3 is seriously biased to higher frequencies, slightly disguised by the Q around the 800hz which adds some high middle, but lacking in low end response. Unforgivable really  >:(

So I won't bother replacing the driver, but will use the amp with a pre-amp/multi FX pedal set to deaden the nasty spikiness in the sound (I use the 'empty' preset available from Fuse when running pedals through it), and reset all the amp models to take out as much of the overbearing high end as possible without losing the brightness on the Fender models.

Work for another day!

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