Looking for a combo amp that comes close to Marshall tone

petewhatshisname · Oct 11, 2016

Hope you guys can help. Hopefully, this isn't too tall of an order.

Here's what I'm looking for: a two-channel, 1x12 or 2x12 combo amp that gives me a good Marshall-esque tone on the drive channel, that costs anywhere from 750 to a thousand bucks.

I've tried a Marshall DSL40C, but their clean channel is useless. I've tried the Orange TH30 combo, but I don't have enough control over bass tones in the dirty channel. All the lower strings have had kind of a fuzz tone which I could not dial away. It had a 12 inch Celestion G12H.

I tried the Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 18, which I like, but I'm waiting to see if anyone has any maintenance horror stories about it.

I used to own a Mesa Boogie Mark 5. I couldn't dial in a bass tone that I liked. It sounds very blubby after a certain point.

I also tried a Blackstar HT Club 40 for one gig. Horrible.

I play a Les Paul with a Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB model pickup in the bridge position.

I hope someone can offer a suggestion. Thx.

guitplayer · Oct 11, 2016

If you can stand the weight/cost, the 112 Bogner Shiva has a good
tone like a Marshall out of the box. Ch 1 has a nice clean tone.
On the affordable side, a modded Carvin VT 50(bel air or Nomad) is a nice choice for
that Marshall tone. But the clean side(ch1) suffers after the mod.
Maybe a Fender amp, with a pedal in front. My amp quest stopped when I played
through the Bel-air. Light ,powerful

Big Al · Oct 12, 2016

What he said. My pal Bob has some nice Marshalls and Fenders and he uses a Tech 21 Hot Plexi pedal in his Twin Reverb and it sounds just like a Marshall should. We compared them and it was true. Nothing beats that Twin for clean tones and it roars with a mighty growl when angry, but that pedal gives it that undeniable Marshall flavorr and he doesn't have to whack up the twin to Def Con levels!!

He even uses it on his Marshalls.

There are quite a few pedals that nail the Marshall sound so that really would be your best bet. Pedal into a good amp that you like.

TM1 · Oct 12, 2016

Don't know what area of the country you're in, but there's always some Marshall combo's at shops around L.A. that are older JCM800 & 900 era You may want to check your local shops or even Reverb.com

petewhatshisname · Oct 13, 2016

Wow - LOVE the suggestions!

Totally forgot about Carvins. I need to revisit them.

The Bogner combo sounds nice, but it might be a bit steep for me at this time.

I'm gonna check out that Tech 21 Hot Plexi pedal. I like that you did a comparison test.

I live in Kentucky. I saw once that a Guitar Center near Cincinnati had a JCM800 combo, but it sold between when I saw it and called about it.

Thanks again for your replies.

petewhatshisname · Oct 13, 2016

Someone else made a comparison. I'm a believer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taJ1itQF1Cw

turk · Oct 19, 2016

Check out a Boogie Mark 3 red stripe or green stripe. Use the graphic with the classic V shape to boost the bottom and top, post preamp, to give you a "bigger" sound.

petewhatshisname said:
Hope you guys can help. Hopefully, this isn't too tall of an order.

Here's what I'm looking for: a two-channel, 1x12 or 2x12 combo amp that gives me a good Marshall-esque tone on the drive channel, that costs anywhere from 750 to a thousand bucks.

I've tried a Marshall DSL40C, but their clean channel is useless. I've tried the Orange TH30 combo, but I don't have enough control over bass tones in the dirty channel. All the lower strings have had kind of a fuzz tone which I could not dial away. It had a 12 inch Celestion G12H.

I tried the Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 18, which I like, but I'm waiting to see if anyone has any maintenance horror stories about it.

I used to own a Mesa Boogie Mark 5. I couldn't dial in a bass tone that I liked. It sounds very blubby after a certain point.

I also tried a Blackstar HT Club 40 for one gig. Horrible.

I play a Les Paul with a Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB model pickup in the bridge position.

I hope someone can offer a suggestion. Thx.

Big Al · Oct 21, 2016

TM1 said:
Don't know what area of the country you're in, but there's always some Marshall combo's at shops around L.A. that are older JCM800 & 900 era You may want to check your local shops or even Reverb.com

Don, it always blows my mind how these cool combos slip in under the radar. My favorites from this era are the early issue early 90's JCM 900 4502 Dual Reverb 50 watt 2 12 with the 65 Celestions and stock EL34 tubes. They sound so good. They started messing with the circuits and just got progressively flat and flabby. Tone Turds that are stanky ass rotten.

Still original EL 34 early 90's are inexpensive and, IMO, have all the classic Marshall tone.

petewhatshisname · Oct 23, 2016

So I bought a Tech21 Hod Rod Plexi - and I am loving it. I'll try it at rehearsal later today. But so far, it sounds really great with my Orange TH30 combo. Thanks for the tip, Big Al!

zacknorton · Oct 23, 2016

I'll second big al's take on those no frills Marshall combos. A friend has a jcm800 50 watt combo that I'm very familiar with. It's so aggressive that it frightens me. Seriously...it roars!

Their other combos with more features etc can still be cool but maybe not AS cool.

Fornax · Nov 11, 2016

Get a Marshall. I use a 2 x 12 Vintage Modern and have not looked back for almost ten years. Out of production for a few years now, but they are out there.

FretsAlot · Nov 11, 2016

I had a mid 80's 4104 JCM 50w 2x12 combo in my college years that I chose to sell off (needed money). Couple years ago I looked and found an '82 JCM 800 4010 50w 1x12 combo (EL34's & g12-65 speaker). I love that little beast! The few times I've played it outside the house, I usually get 1 or 2 guitar geeks who come up and ask me about it afterwards.

LHakim · Nov 12, 2016

OP, if you haven't already made your purchase, check out the Budda Superdrives. They have a great clean channel, and a beautifully-voiced marshallesque/voxish drive channel. They are ridiculously cheap on the used market and sound as good as anything out costing much more.

TM1 · Nov 12, 2016

You know there were some nice JCM800 combo's made that are fairly in-expensive. Look at some of the 50 watt versions and they can be modded for a more classic sound fairly easy.

DavidClark · Nov 14, 2016

On Craigslist here in NY there's JTM 30 combo and often JCM 800 & 900 combos for under 500, OR, you can get yourself any number of used clones.

Steinberger Hack · Nov 20, 2016

Look around for a Marshall 4203 - it's the 1x12 combo version of the 3203 Artist head. IMO, the best way to sound like you're playing with a Marshall is to play with a Marshall.

DavidClark · Dec 6, 2016

This Randall RM 50 is a steal at this price. Salvation Mods makes the best Marshall preamp modules for it. I own two of these modular rigs. this setup would cost very little in the end and you could have any flavors of Marshall and another slot for any other flavor...Orange, Hiwatt, Fender, Mesa, Vampower, Soldano, Bogner, etc......?

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/msg/5900106016.html

http://salvationaudio.com/index.php?page=modifications

This post was posted at the MTS forum that I frequent. good folks over there

Elmore · Dec 6, 2016

Get a used fender twin reverb. This is what I did. You can do the rest with pedals. My Marshall Super Lead is now my backup.

FrankE2Yoo · Apr 19, 2020

You can't go wrong with the 18 watt Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister. It's my favorite amp. I own a Hughes and Kettner ML II Tri Amp, a Marshall DSL 50 and 6 small tube and solid state amps. I prefer the 18 watt Tubemeister over all the amps I own. The 18 w att H&K is a beast for its size. It doesn't have the volume of the big boys, but its enough. if you run it through a PA it doesn't matter. You can crank it up, get the tubes hot, and get that sweet breakup sound without making your ears bleed. Many artist are using the 15-20 watt amps in big arenas now. I seen several Orange 15 watt and Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister 18 watt setting on a big 4 x 12 cabinet at festivals. Most clubs have their own PA systems so Bands are moving away from large amps. They are too heavy, too expensive, and take up a lot of room in the Van.

El Gringo · Apr 21, 2020

I am a big fan of the Marshall 2555X and have 2 half stacks with the matching 2551Av cab loaded with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers . In regards to the OP I would humbly suggest the Marshall 2525 as it is a smaller size and I think would cover what the OP was looking for .

Looking for a combo amp that comes close to Marshall tone

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