Variation between different Marshall heads

I think the DSL would probably be a more palatable TSL (that is, a little more pleasing to play), but if you like the TSL I don't think it'd make you want to spend the extra money. Guys would probably fight me for this but your 900 on the lower gain channel or about 2/3 up on the higher gain channel is pretty close to an 800. The 800 might sound drier or barkier or whatever, but if you like the 900 I also don't think an 800 will blow you away unless you play at Earth-shattering volume.

The JTM45 is the most different of the ones you listed. I have one (and have had several of the others). It's like a fatter tweed Fender. Gorgeous cleans but kind of squishes and falls apart when cranked. Some guys like that, but you have to know what you want. When distorted (no master volume!), it won't have the immediate response or whomp of the others. It's a specialist kind of sound nowadays whereas the JCMs are more like what you'd expect from a Marshall.

You didn't ask but a Plexi (1987 or 1959) is in the middle somewhere. The SS rectifier means it'll respond at volume and not sag like a JTM45, but they're more ragged sounding IME than a JCM which is a little more polished.

This is all just my experience.

 

Which JCM 900? If it is the Hi Gain Dual Reverb, it is a very different Marshall amp than anything that came before, and imho does not do true Marshall tones....it is full of solid state signal processing. I don’t really care for the other two amps you mention either. OMMV...I am sure.
On the other hand, I have never heard a Marshall from 1979 on back that I could not like. I worked on a 1973 Md. 1987 that was a great amp, and the Md. 100 watt MV 2003 I had that sat on top of an early ‘70’s 8x10 full of Eminence ALK 1028s was a monster..both in size and sound.

 

The DSLs got a bad name because early ones got a batch of bad PCB boards that turned conductive with heat.....result is predictable and involved horrible sounds and/or flames.

They should all have been warrantied by now.

Also, the speakers shipped in many late JCM800, JCM900-on them were rated poorly. You can find GT75s everywhere for pennies. You can get around that with EQ, IMO.

The 9101 50 watt reverb combo is cool IMO and can be had for way less than the 4101 vertical input JCM800.

Some people don't like the op amp in front of the preamp tubes in JCM900s.

 

To me, a Marshall is a Marshall is a Marshall.

Steve Lukather used a 4120 split channel 50 watt combo to record much of Toto's first album. Not a big Toto fan but righteous tones.

First real dual channel amp with usable dirt tones with no fiddling.

Old skool guys hate anything newer than Plexis. Even older skool guys hate anything past JTMs. Fair enough. But to me they are difficult to access unless you have a hangar to play in.

JCM900s and DSLs made good music.

I really love my Mini Jubilee and my 4120. I can make them sound Bluesbreaker or Accadacca. Or each other.

 

And, this part is everything.


Your base capacity on the instrument, your level of ear training beyond "tone-ey-ness," your knowledge of their use in history and your versatility in the world of music open these doors.


What does not open these doors is videos that make every amp sound the same (not that I dislike johan but let's be real) and sitting around thinking about the weekly flavor of crunch.

I gig a Super Reverb and an early "Bluesbreaker" reissue all the time. I've used both in R&B, Country, and Rock settings. Both amps, with "appropriate" speakers start breaking up with some crunch around 4. With that said, they also have well rounded punchy clean/fat tones at lower volumes which many Marshall amps don't. Cranked? I don't crank them, period, that's not THE sound unless your objective is EVH or GnR child of the 80's super saturation etc.

The bottom line here is if you listen to old records and the amps that made Marshall what it is today you find your initial observation grounded in realty: CLEAN. A 100w or 50w Plexi, or a JTM45, plugged into two 4x12 Cabs is headroom city as all that wattage/punch is dispersed into 8 speakers and if you listen closely to anyone live from the Allman Brothers to early AC/DC to Led Zeppelin to Jimi Hendrix (before he hits the fuzz) you'll find they have a little bit of hair on their sound back in the day and that's about it. They weren't all jumping the channels then diming every knob which the youtube guitarists do today.

When people cover these bands they usually play with way more gain/hair than the original musicians did and that's considered "The Marshall Sound" I guess. At that point, all the new stuff gets the job done and I would know as I had a TSL for years starting in High School.

So, for me, the original Marshall sound is a punchy cab with old school speakers, clean tone to a bit of rasp when you need it and most importantly a "feel" that is very different from the modern cabs loaded with stronger speakers which react more like a PA setup. They might get a crunchy/gainy tone but they sure don't feel the same in person. And, you only need to get your crunch based on the cabs/speakers you use.

As for the inverse elitism of "price justification" nonsense I can also watch a dog chase it's tail all day just like everyone else. Buy what you want.

 

One of my studio tricks with guitarists who were using too much gain was to ask them this-

"You know the Sabbath song 'Paranoid,' right? Try and hear it in your mind, ok? Now listen to this-"

And I'd play them the album track.

Generally, they'd get a shocked look on their face realizing how little gain Iommi was actually using.

 

I keep on setting out to buy another Marshall but for some reason get diverted into picking up something else instead (mainly because it is there) but apart from the latest AC 30, all have had the same generic bassman circuit - a Hiwatt, a Sound City, a Supersonic, a Sovtek even. All the different takes when lined up side by side sound completely different and do different things with different guitars.

I am of an age that I stopped looking at Marshalls when the front panel went full width of the head cabinet and extra knobs like master volumes started appearing and on the later ones I find the knob array confusing so I am currently torn between a Bluesbreaker and an Artist combo both of which I have owned in the past - help me I will probably buy both - its that rectifier choice that is difficult

and then there is that Superlead.............

 

It was actually a Laney - made in Birmingham and undoubtedly tape compression of needles in the red

 

Tony Iommi was using a Dallas Rangemaster (germanium treble booster, more like a fuzz than an EQ) into a Laney Supergroup. Even though it was one of the cornerstones of heavy metal, the tone on Paranoid is still a lot more open than the typical modern high gain tone.

 

It was a very different time - 4 guys fresh out of a van having driven from Birmingham to London that morning - stuck in a 20x20 foot studio (the pop groups were never allowed in the main room that was reserved for Mantovani or Joe Loss and his Orchestra and they had both of the studio compressors AND the EMT plate) given 3 hrs to record an album and on top of that playing at stage volumes with a first time producer - was bound to turn up something novel and it did

 

the High Gain Dual Reverb is full of TL072 IC’s that process signal....it is way beyond..considering solid state processing....having one diode clipping circuit, which was first used in some of the JCM 800 series amps.

 

What- WHAT?

-I'm- "Old School". I likes me a good JCM800, yes I do!

Way less expensive than a Soldano.

I've been restoring old Marshalls. And pointy guitars. And my hair is growing back!

On my knuckles...



A JCM800 2204 covers a lot of classic rock tones.

My old Traynor YBA-1 covers the JTM45 / metal panel tones. It's a JTM45 with a solid state rectifier. Very early versions got a tube rectifier. Either way they're genuine vintage and dirt cheap compared to any kind of Marshall.

I've had my YBA-1 for almost fifty years now. Had two of 'em. Hocked one. Dan Torres got it.