Marshall Amplification - their greatest year
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- Squier
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Marshall Amplification - their greatest year
Having played many Marshalls over many years from vintage to the latest, I can now confirm their greatest year of production.
I currently own a '77 JMP 2204 and while sounding glorious, their best year is not 1977 even though for a while I thought it was (birth year amp, hard not to be biased).
Had the fortunate duty of being caretaker of a '73 1987 (pcb I think) for three loud months. Superb amp, however 1973 is not their best year either.
Put about four hours on a '71 1959 while house-sitting for a friend. Very responsive and toneful but once again, not their best year.
There has been numerous plug ins to various JCM900 models. I owned a 100w dual reverb briefly, the SL-X models at Valhalla in Wellington and a mates 50w master volume model. Probably others. I rule out the decade of 90's from being the best
My '07 (I think) Vintage Modern was surprisingly good, heaps of useable tones and I even liked the plate reverb. But no, 2007 was not their finest hour.
JCM2000's and JVM's were not for me, really versatile but no, so that rules out the last twenty years as being their best.
There has been others, which including the aforementioned amps have had fantastic, very useable tones among them.
This brings me to my conclusion. Marshall hit their absolute peak in..... 1984 I say this because my '84 2203 and 1987 models are untouchable in the world of Marshall. True story, thirty years of research went into this. So come at me!! How say you?
I currently own a '77 JMP 2204 and while sounding glorious, their best year is not 1977 even though for a while I thought it was (birth year amp, hard not to be biased).
Had the fortunate duty of being caretaker of a '73 1987 (pcb I think) for three loud months. Superb amp, however 1973 is not their best year either.
Put about four hours on a '71 1959 while house-sitting for a friend. Very responsive and toneful but once again, not their best year.
There has been numerous plug ins to various JCM900 models. I owned a 100w dual reverb briefly, the SL-X models at Valhalla in Wellington and a mates 50w master volume model. Probably others. I rule out the decade of 90's from being the best
My '07 (I think) Vintage Modern was surprisingly good, heaps of useable tones and I even liked the plate reverb. But no, 2007 was not their finest hour.
JCM2000's and JVM's were not for me, really versatile but no, so that rules out the last twenty years as being their best.
There has been others, which including the aforementioned amps have had fantastic, very useable tones among them.
This brings me to my conclusion. Marshall hit their absolute peak in..... 1984 I say this because my '84 2203 and 1987 models are untouchable in the world of Marshall. True story, thirty years of research went into this. So come at me!! How say you?
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Re: Marshall Amplification - their greatest year
Friedman Small Box 50 was Marshall's greatest amp....
- Slowy
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Re: Marshall Amplification - their greatest year
Never played one but I know the 800 receives much love and respect from those in the know.
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Re: Marshall Amplification - their greatest year
I really miss my JCM800, but not as much as my Bogner Ecstasy.
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.
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Re: Marshall Amplification - their greatest year
A JCM800 is one of those bucket list amps, the sound of so many records I love. Its no surprise that Marshall did their best work in the 80s, it was the best decade for music.
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Re: Marshall Amplification - their greatest year
I like this post
I got a 1987 JCM800 2203 about 10 years ago, and while not the favoured vertical input era, its still awesome (well, was last time I powered it on). It seems to take any boost or drive in front also, so more versatile than the single channel would lead many to believe. I prefer it to my mid 70's JMP, which is more fussy with what goes in front to my tin ears. Would be nice with an effects loop, but I don't want to mod them too much.
Nowadays they are however mostly man cave features as I just use modellers or a Katana for the limited playing I do, but I'll probably never part with either unless I fall on hard times.
I got a 1987 JCM800 2203 about 10 years ago, and while not the favoured vertical input era, its still awesome (well, was last time I powered it on). It seems to take any boost or drive in front also, so more versatile than the single channel would lead many to believe. I prefer it to my mid 70's JMP, which is more fussy with what goes in front to my tin ears. Would be nice with an effects loop, but I don't want to mod them too much.
Nowadays they are however mostly man cave features as I just use modellers or a Katana for the limited playing I do, but I'll probably never part with either unless I fall on hard times.
No one ever died of hard work.. but why take the risk..
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Re: Marshall Amplification - their greatest year
Marshall's line of amps these days is a joke imo. Unless you want to pay 3k for an 800 reissue, which still wont have the mojo of an older one.
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Re: Marshall Amplification - their greatest year
I noticed after having a couple of 800s and a late jmp ( 87 I think which was an early 800) they all sounded a little different to each other but all hard to get over 1 in volume.
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Re: Marshall Amplification - their greatest year
err yes... my JMP is non MV, so got a PPIMV installed as it was insane otherwise and only really useful as a clean platform. Even the JCM800 really needed an attenuator at band practice or everyone whined..
No one ever died of hard work.. but why take the risk..
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Re: Marshall Amplification - their greatest year
If you liked that, you should check out a brand called Splawn. Their Competition model is absolutely stunning....
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Re: Marshall Amplification - their greatest year
May I ask why you haven't played one? Even if the high input is not your thing, my personal opinion is that the low input on them is criminally underated. If you get the chance, please don't be shy!
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Re: Marshall Amplification - their greatest year
I solved the volume issue by buying a house in the middle of an olive grove in an isolated community. My new jam room is a tad over 100 square meters also which helps. Easy fix!
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Re: Marshall Amplification - their greatest year
I had a period of time where i was farming and had the same noise solution, problem was getting others out there to jam! But then also having three full stacks in a 6x3 garage isnt ideal either-such is the tortuous life of the struggling musoMr Davison wrote: ↑Wed Jul 20, 2022 10:06 am
I solved the volume issue by buying a house in the middle of an olive grove in an isolated community. My new jam room is a tad over 100 square meters also which helps. Easy fix!
Re: Marshall Amplification - their greatest year
My solution was getting the DSL-1 head, I think from you if I'm not mistaken....Mr Davison wrote: ↑Wed Jul 20, 2022 10:06 amI solved the volume issue by buying a house in the middle of an olive grove in an isolated community. My new jam room is a tad over 100 square meters also which helps. Easy fix!
"Have tone issues with all the options available today? practice more...." -John Suhr