Marshall in a Box

[Ecadad]

What pedal can get that marshall tone? I'm looking for the Red Hot Chili Peppers/Zeppelin/Hendric tone. I'm not looking for a pedal that sounds good with a marshall, I want a pedal that sounds like a Marshall.

I was going for a Brownie, but they have vanished
And hopefully around $100

[imsilly]

The Catalinbread DLS is always popular for that role and there is also a Wampler Plexi-Drive.

[telefunken]

CmatMods "Brownie"

[Sparklecaster]

I tried a bunch out the other day and didn't care much for the DLS mk II. I liked the wampler plextortion and the Pinnacle II Ltd alot. I also liked the xotic custom shop BB preamp with mid boost quite a bit. The JHS Charlie Brown sounds nice on you tube vids. That being said everything I tried I was looking at cause I thought it sounded nice on you tube. Only the wamplers I tried and the xotic didn't disappoint.

[AJBaker]

This:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VOEc00ZzzM

I don't have the british myself, but I'm very happy with the Liverpool (Vox sounds) and the Leeds (Hiwatt).

[PrimeA71]

Wamplers Plexi-drive sounded mondo authentic to me, all of Wampler's pedals sound good to me but the AC/DC demo for the plexi-drive was off the hook! I've heard some say the Catalinbread DLS can get a bit muddy sounding with gain up high. There's quite a few out there now.....Xotic BB preamp,Lovepedal Purple Plexi,
Marshall blues breaker,Marshall Guv'ner,Carl Martin plexitone,Zvex Box of rock. Some other pedals that supposedly do the "marshall thing" well are OCD,MI Audio Crunch Box,Barber direct drive,MXR custom 78,joyo ultimate drive(ocd clone),joyo crunch distortion. Some of them do a better JCM800 and some are better at the JTM45, depends what your aiming for. For me it would be a tossup between the "plexi-drive and the BB preamp. Good-luck on the quest

[Mad Kiwi]

As an alternative perspective I would add that a Marshal Class 5 has a good Marshal tone.....a used one is probably not a hell of a lot more than some of those pedals mentioned above.....(well down here that is the case anyway...)

[Brandon mac]

for the marshall plexi sound (if thats what your after),nothing beats the rockett animal overdrive!!!

[Ed.D.R]

Lovepedal Purple Plexi 100

[Dr. Pants]

I have the Joyo British Sound and am FLOORED.
I've tried the Brownie and a few others. The JBS
is every bit as good as many others that cost more,
and yet I paid about 55.00 shipped.

It really is killer. It gets a variety of Mashall
sounds from Hendrix to AC\DC. Hands down, the best
55.00 I've ever spent, gear wise anyway.

[hotrodkid]

Originally Posted by imsilly

The Catalinbread DLS is always popular for that role and there is also a Wampler Plexi-Drive.

DLS does not do the "Marshall in a box" thing. Trust me. I lost money on that attempt.

Originally Posted by Sparklecaster

I tried a bunch out the other day and didn't care much for the DLS mk II. I liked the wampler plextortion and the Pinnacle II Ltd alot.

I would highly recommend the Pinnacle and second the Plextortion through a clean amp.

MP Sweet Honey through a slightly overdriven amp for that early Van Halen Marshall brown sound.

On the same note I tried with negative results:

MI Audio Crunch Box

Rockett Flex Drive

[AJBaker]

Originally Posted by Dr. Pants

I have the Joyo British Sound and am FLOORED.
I've tried the Brownie and a few others. The JBS
is every bit as good as many others that cost more,
and yet I paid about 55.00 shipped.

It really is killer. It gets a variety of Mashall
sounds from Hendrix to AC\DC. Hands down, the best
55.00 I've ever spent, gear wise anyway.

I've been curious about them, since they're pretty much 1:1 copies of the tech21 stuff.

[telepath]

'Marshall in a Box'?

Sir! , you are positively spoiled for choice!

Many great suggestions above already.

There are a few 'flavours' of Marshall to cop of course, but hey :)

If you dont want to throw many bills around, then the Danelectro Cool Cat Distortion (CD-1) is an absolute steal. Howling Marshall stuff going on, but really, heres the bonus .. hot-rodded 'Angus' - right out the box. Niiiice Stomp!

Best Marshall-y bang for the money IMO.

Marshall Guv'nor GV-2, is ironically, not nearly so good.

[MonkeyKing]

Dr Pants is onto something -check it out on youtube - that zvex box of rock is dead on to Me - but I think we have to narrow the `marshall` field - marshall like the bluesbreakers, like the ramones, like slash . . . it`s a golden age, your tone is out there someplace, or you can build it yourself!

[dog fart]

We all hear differently, but to my old leathery ears if you're looking for The Song Remains The Same you should look at the Liquid Lead http://www.lumpystoneshop.com/. It's very close, of course the only way to get the Plexi tone is to buy a Plexi. I would love to run this one into a 1987 head and 4x12 Cab

[gitold]

Originally Posted by Sparklecaster

I tried a bunch out the other day and didn't care much for the DLS mk II. I liked the wampler plextortion and the Pinnacle II Ltd alot. I also liked the xotic custom shop BB preamp with mid boost quite a bit. The JHS Charlie Brown sounds nice on you tube vids. That being said everything I tried I was looking at cause I thought it sounded nice on you tube. Only the wamplers I tried and the xotic didn't disappoint.

+1 on the Wampler Pinacle. It will do a lot of Marshall sounds very well.

[Dr. Pants]

I've been curious about them, since they're pretty much 1:1 copies of the tech21 stuff.

I've heard that too, but as mine does not have a speaker sim
output, I'd have to question that. But it does have a voice control
that in tandem with the three eq controls allows me to dial in
everything from Hendrix, Malmsteen to AC\DC and Zep.

I'm really quite blown away on how many different Marshall tones
this one box can produce. For smoother Allaman Brothers and Alex Lifeson
type Marshall sounds, I have the Barber Direct Drive. If someone has to have a name brand or label recognition, Barber produces several different Marshall in a box flavors. Oddly, he doesn't advertise them as such.

[Bignemo]

Sorry,the only way to get the marshall sound is to get a marshall. I've tried plenty of box's in the past and got plenty of sustaining overdrive, But Marshall is Marshall and thats why every other manufacturer is trying to duplicate their sound. It's kinda like all the other car brands comparing themselves to the 3 series BMW,when you have an industry standard all try to copy ,some come close but only the real thing can give you what you want. Look for a used solid state lower wattage model,one from the mid 90's would be perfect and use it as your effect. I run a 30W valvestate into a Hotrod deluxe power amp in. and get room shakin marsall tone,cheap set up too. In fact I just bought a MG series 100w and the 4-12 cab for less than $450.00 from M.F. lookin to eliminate some of the cableage on the floor,(I am a little dissapointed,I think the 30w has better drive). Good luck. (if you must get a stomp box ,try a vintage tube screamer,That's the closest I've found to what I believe your after).

[Biz Prof]

Originally Posted by Bignemo

Sorry,the only way to get the marshall sound is to get a marshall. I've tried plenty of box's in the past and got plenty of sustaining overdrive, But Marshall is Marshall and thats why every other manufacturer is trying to duplicate their sound. I

I run a 30W valvestate into a Hotrod deluxe power amp in. and get room shakin marsall tone,cheap set up too. In fact I just bought a MG series 100w and the 4-12 cab for less than $450.00 from M.F. lookin to eliminate some of the cableage on the floor,(I am a little dissapointed,I think the 30w has better drive). Good luck. (if you must get a stomp box ,try a vintage tube screamer,That's the closest I've found to what I believe your after).

Nemo: I totally agree that only an amp (a actual Marshall or a clone) will give you the dead-on sound, however I (and perhaps some other Marshall owners here) disagree that a Valvestate series amp is more effective at getting THE tone than perhaps some of the better stomps through a clean tube amp. I've owned a Valvestate amp (early '90s) and I still own a JCM 800 Model 1987 and while the oft-overlooked Valvestate did have a nice sound, IMHO, it does not capture the power-tube-driven character unique to the Marshall (and perhaps, tweed Bassman) design. YMMV, as you mentioned that you use the preamp section into a Fender tube amp.

Of course, the 1987/1959 sound a tad different from their 2203/2204 cousins, but both pairs share the same basic tonal characteristics. The 1987/1959--in stock form--have quite of bit of clean headroom...more than many folks would ever believe.

[Dr. Pants]

No thanks, I'm not going tote around multiple amps because
someone on the internet tells us that's the only way. I do gigs
where I'm expected to have all the right sounds, and no one is going
to pay cartage. So I use boxes that get me frighteningly close
to those sounds, and everyone is happy.

But thanks for the discouragement!