MA, VM, Haze

[StratMatt]

Maybe I'm missing something here? The last time I bought a brand new amp, prior to the MA, was over 20 years ago. It was standard practice that amps were fitted with decent valves by the manufacturers. In the interveneing period, it seems that companies, such as Marshall, now find it acceptable to sell, well, let's be frank, shit! Would you buy a car, knowing that the engine was unfit for purpose & required replacement? People work themselves into a frenzy for NOS or vintage valves, the ones that were standard issue with the amps as they came. Why can't Marshalls come equipped valves of similar quality now? I'm amazed people are prepared to accept this contemptuous approach by, what used to be, a reputable business.

 

[Vince]

Yes... I think you are missing something. Current production tubes just are not up to snuff in quantity! Marshall does not make the tubes.... so to blame them for crappy tubes is asinine. Anyone who is looking for true tone uses NOS tubes.... and they aren't cheap.

Marshall's sound OK with SED Winged C's but sound stellar with NOS RFT's. The difference in price.... 3 to 4 times.

Misinformed and pissed off does not help the reputation of great amplifier companies like Marshall. I say go inside, lock your door and wait another few decades before you buy another amp and slam it because you don't know what your talking about.

 

[StratMatt]

Yes... I think you are missing something. Current production tubes just are not up to snuff in quantity! Marshall does not make the tubes.... so to blame them for crappy tubes is asinine. Anyone who is looking for true tone uses NOS tubes.... and they aren't cheap.

Marshall's sound OK with SED Winged C's but sound stellar with NOS RFT's. The difference in price.... 3 to 4 times.

Misinformed and pissed off does not help the reputation of great amplifier companies like Marshall. I say go inside, lock your door and wait another few decades before you buy another amp and slam it because you don't know what your talking about.

Have fun with your toy Marshall. Isn't it funny how my HiWatt Custom 100 sounded great with stock valves, how my ancient WEM Clubman didn't need several £££'s thrown at it, how any valve Fender I've bought/used sounded great, straight out the box? I think you need to lay off the hyperbole spouted by those who have a vested interest in separating you from your salary. I let my heart rule my head when I bought that piece of shit, I should have remembered that Marshall don't do good clean sounds, & that's why I stopped using them in the first place!

 

[Vince]

Why in the hell are you even on a Marshall forum? A Troll perhaps?

Those amps you speak of came with good tubes because they were actually in production at the time in Germany, Holland and the USA. A little education would take you far......

Who in the hell buys a Marshall for cleans anyway....

 

[Ken]

Fender amps suck. I keep trying to get mine to sound like a DSL and it doesn't even come close. It's WAY too clean to play heavy metal.

Ken

 

[crossroadsnyc]

Wow, this thread is a really good example of the insanity and foolishness of using internet forum chatter in helping form your amp purchasing decisions.

Hey StratMatt, it's cool that you don't like the MA, but what gives w/all of the negativity over it? I took a look at your posting history, and nearly 100% of your posts are nothing more than voicing your displeasure over the MA. I mean, are you really that outraged that your sole purpose in coming here was to complain? I mean, if it's not for you, then it's not for you, right?

I can only speak for myself, of course, but as a counter-example, I've purchased a couple of Orange amps over the years (most recently the Tiny Terror & the Rockerverb ... both returned w/in days) ... and while I didn't particularly care for any of them, I didn't bother going over to the Orange forum to create a profile and rant about my negative experience in not liking it as much as my Marshall amps. My guess is most of the guys over there at the Orange forum dig their amps ... so why try to rain on their parade just because I have different tastes?

You clearly have a good history w/Fender amps, so maybe Marshall just isn't for you.

 

[MKB]

I let my heart rule my head when I bought that piece of shit, I should have remembered that Marshall don't do good clean sounds, & that's why I stopped using them in the first place!

Spend some time with a Haze 40 and it will change your mind on the Marshall clean tones. They went from mediocre clean tones to one of the best clean amps tones out there now.

 

[strathaze]

Spend some time with a Haze 40 and it will change your mind on the Marshall clean tones. They went from mediocre clean tones to one of the best clean amps tones out there now.

Absolutely. They have nailed a decent clean channel at last. The Haze may or may not have some other issues, judging by what I've read here but I cant knock the clean tones, and yes I have owned twin reverbs and juniors and a JC120 and also what I consider to be the best clean sound ever, an M80 twin
chorus solid state.

 

[crossroadsnyc]

I think Marshall gets a bad rap on their clean tones.

 

[HOT TUBES 70]

THe clean channel on my 6100 is pretty good IMO !!

 

[ufguy73]

Have fun with your toy Marshall. Isn't it funny how my HiWatt Custom 100 sounded great with stock valves, how my ancient WEM Clubman didn't need several £££'s thrown at it, how any valve Fender I've bought/used sounded great, straight out the box? I think you need to lay off the hyperbole spouted by those who have a vested interest in separating you from your salary. I let my heart rule my head when I bought that piece of shit, I should have remembered that Marshall don't do good clean sounds, & that's why I stopped using them in the first place!

hahaa, yeah...god knows there isnt a whole freaking cottage industry for mods specific to the out of the box Blues Junior - ever see the thousands of posts on the fender forums about such?

though it does kind of suck if one feels compelled to trade out stock tubes, etc...there is an argument to be made that the companies are providing flexibility to the consumer. face it, many of the players that walk into their local GC and buy an amp would be very willing to save a hundred bucks and get their 'inferior' stock tubes.

for those that are more particular, the tube aftermarket has plenty of options

 

[StratMatt]

I'm putting this to bed, as, the MA has put Marshall way down the list of amps worth considering. I'm really sorry that my reaction to this toy has got so many of you pissed off, but, please learn to accept that Marshall, like most other amp manufacturers, are capable of making crap gear. I was considering revisiting an old friend in the shape of a JCM900, sadly, the MA, apart from being very disappointing, has put me right off Marshalls again.

I'll leave you all to your love-in.

 

[Vince]

What a tool. Yeah... that JCM900 should get you those clean tones your after.

 

[crossroadsnyc]

I'm putting this to bed, as, the MA has put Marshall way down the list of amps worth considering. I'm really sorry that my reaction to this toy has got so many of you pissed off, but, please learn to accept that Marshall, like most other amp manufacturers, are capable of making crap gear. I was considering revisiting an old friend in the shape of a JCM900, sadly, the MA, apart from being very disappointing, has put me right off Marshalls again.

I'll leave you all to your love-in.

Dude, I don't think anyone is mad, so much as a little bewildered at your coming on so strong in your critique. I mean, you're casting judgment over an entire company based on, to be perfectly honest, a Vietnamese made, moderately priced, beginner to intermediate level amp (meaning if you're in your first few years of playing, it could be a nice amp to get started with). It's the equivalent of purchasing a Fender Blues Junior and then complaining that it doesn't sound like a Bassman or Tweed Deluxe ... different amps targeting different markets.

If you want the Marshall sound you have in your head, then you're going to have to pay for it ... that sound is found in England, not Vietnam.

My guess is that you wouldn't like the cleans on a Plexi/JCM800, but you might find what are looking for if you try out a JTM45 (very nice Fender-ish clean tones) / JCM900 (very underrated clean tones) / DSL or TSL (very nice clean tones) / Vintage Modern (wonderful clean tones in the same area as the JTM45) / JVM (again, another amp with just great clean tones available).

No reason to get upset or give up on the whole host of options out there for you ... you might surprise yourself and find something you really dig from the above suggestions.

Good luck!

 

[coldsteal2]

The Vintage Modern is the best sounding Marshall since
the 800, the only way it will sound bad is if you dont set it
up corectly, it has an old school growl you just cant get
from the other marshalls. Its a tone monster, and seems to love
the strat the best

with strat
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf__O09_OYU"]Vintage Modern and Strat [/ame]

with Les Paul
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5DenzzvNz4"]Vintage Modern Tie Your Mother down[/ame]

 

[Vince]

What it really comes down to is 90% of your tone is in your hands. If you get something that sounds good to you out of the gate and is in your price range and also has enough volume for what you do..... your pretty much golden.

Don't look for an amplifer to pull you through.... because it will not in the end.

 

[jorlitta]

The MA100C is my first Marshall amp. I bought it because I wanted great Marshall sound without breaking the bank. I got it through Sam Ash online last December for under $1000.00 on sale (It was only available online and not in Sam Ash stores). I had tried and considered the Haze while I was in the store and wasn't too crazy about the sound.

The only issues that I had with my MA was when I had an electric space heater plugged into the same outlet as my amp, the result was screeching instant feedback whenever I engaged the O/D and Boost, even at zero volume. The only thing that I could reason would be that the heater was pulling more current than the amp, and interfered with the performance of the amp somehow. The other thing is when you engage and disengage the O/D or Boost when using reverb, there is a noticeable loud click and spring reverb sound, which too me really isn't an issue and is actually pretty cool. I can appreciate some people really not liking thier experiences with this amp, but my experience so far has been positive. And if you really don't like it that much, send it back where you got it from and post your experience, but once is enough, don't bash it.

 

[Large_Filter_Cap]

out of the three...
choose VM,hands down

 

[Large_Filter_Cap]

The Vintage Modern is the best sounding Marshall since
the 800, the only way it will sound bad is if you dont set it
up corectly, it has an old school growl you just cant get
from the other marshalls. Its a tone monster, and seems to love
the strat the best

with strat
Vintage Modern and Strat

with Les Paul
Vintage Modern Tie Your Mother down

you have some great hendrix tone going on there. sick

 

[Ken]

The Vintage Modern is the best sounding Marshall since
the 800, the only way it will sound bad is if you dont set it
up corectly, it has an old school growl you just cant get
from the other marshalls. Its a tone monster, and seems to love
the strat the best

with strat
Vintage Modern and Strat

with Les Paul
Vintage Modern Tie Your Mother down

Wow..and the mic and amp settings were the same? It's like two different universes!!! Amazing. I like both tones equally for what they are. The Les Paul/Queen thing is more my style so I liked it better as a fan, but if I was doing the Fender thing in a Fender band I can see how one would like the first better.

Ken