FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Marshal Guitar Amps

Question:
What is the best half-stack choice for a studio in terms of Marshall? JCM900s are seemingly to buzzy, a lot of the old ones don't have master volume (and I do not have the soundproofing to always be able to run a stack at full-tilt to get the sound), and I'm not sure if some of the others have enough gain, it sounds like they are better suited to the classic rock sound.

Answer:
The only way you're going to get the 'dimed marshal plexi' sound is with a dimed marshall plexi. It's gotta be non-master, though, and you have to put all the knobs on 10. Tone for days. The neighbors may not like it, but it's the only way. Since that's probably not an option, the Fender Tonemaster has a great warm distortion, but it's more of a bluesbreaker kind of sound than what you may be calling heavy rhythm work. If you pull 2 tubes out of it you can run it at usable volumes. Maybe too classic rock sounding, though. If you want heavy metal kind of sound, do a Mesa Triple Rectumfrier. You have to buy the cabinet, though, it's large enough to put a marshall cab inside it, and it sounds bad ass. Nice thick wood construction, heavy as hell, but with 4 casters to make up for it. Just remember, nothing sounds like a 100 watt tube amp at full volume except a 100 watt tube amp at full volume, so if you can't do that in your situation, you'd better find a good close enough and learn to work with it. Rivera makes some nice 22-30 watt combos that sound pretty damn good when you crank them up. Dr. Z has a couple that sound good. There are a lot of little amps that sound good, but none of them will ever sound like a cranked up non-master plexi, and that's just how it goes. I would suggest playing through a few and finding out which one you are able to get the tone you are looking for on. And keep in mind that a lot of the tone is in the player's hands. SRV on a squier bullet through a pignose has more tone that I would ever have through a goltop on an original plexi full stack. Sometimes it just be's that way.