Marshall Astoria....am I lost or what...?

[Greg Rogers]

http://www.marshallforum.com/threads/the-official-marshall-astoria-information-thread.96632/


Ya missed it! No longer in production (I believe). Marshall's answer to the "boutique" people. People love them...just expensive. Some turned off by the color scheme.

I’m more turned off by the font they use for “Astoria”. Kinda like the font choice on the Origins. Just doesn’t work in my opinion.

 

[Jethro Rocker]

Valve rolling plug and play? It is not really the case. The cathode resistors in the stock amp are calculated to cause a voltage increase at the cathodes such that the ground referenced grid voltage is more negative by just the right range to control the current flow through the valve. EL34, KT66 are different and need a different voltage differential between cathode and grid to maintain current in the right range. Run with the wrong valves and you get output valves running too cold or too hot. Next issue is load. A pair of KT66 ideally need an 8K load though around 6k is often used. A pair of EL34s need 3.4Kish at the voltages the Astoria must run at. I assume the stock transformer is in the 6 to 8k range and so too high a load for safe use with EL34s.

Are the Astorias different from the Studios in this regard? Because the Studios can absolutley plug and play any octal tube.

 

[mallcorn]

I somehow while hacking around on my computer I stumbled across a new hand wired Marshall called the Astoria. I watched a couple of videos and it seems 3 models were made,or planned to be made. This appears to have been in 2015. What's up ? What did I miss ? I worked many years in music stores and was able to really stay on top of who was releasing what. However,this model does not show on Marshall's site (or if it does I missed it). Did it get made ? Is it being made ? If so what's up with it ? I can't imagine there not being a thread somewhere on this,but I have not been able to find one and when I put Astoria into the site search nothing comes up.
Anyone know what the deal is with this elusive amp ? Thanks and forgive me if I am really stupid and just don''t realize it.

All three are well built amps just not an exact Marshall tone. Each type sounds different but after owning a couple I much prefer the typical Marshall. The big selling point for these is they are smaller, 30watt amps, hand-wired, and well just different.

I had a Classic which was most similar to a JTM45ish vibe and a Custom which was a JCM800ish vibe. I believe Greta van Fleet played a black/white special edition of this one. The Dual just had a cleaner and a more over-driven channel but for some reason just didn't seem like a Marshall to me. Of these three I liked the green one, Classic, but as I said it just wasn't Marshall enough for me to keep it long term. I still have a 1959HW and a SV20 which for me covers all the Marshall I know and and love.

Here is the link for these:

Astoria

marshall.com

 

[Georgiatec]

Are the Astorias different from the Studios in this regard? Because the Studios can absolutley plug and play any octal tube.

EL34's are plug and play, been using them in my Astoria Dual for the last 3 years. No overheating or other issues, just great tone. 6L6's and 5881's are the same deal.
This was on the recommendation from Steve Dawson, the amps designer. He said the amp was actually designed to run on EL34's, but most octal tubes are good.

 

[MW110]

They don't come up very often here in the US. For good reason. GC has a head listed at $2500. I think that is a bit high but it only takes one buyer. I figure $2500-$3000 for a private sale for the set, unless you want to move it quickly or get top dollar.

Thank you for your help.
I just listed it here in the Forum for 2250$.

 

[Ufoscorpion]

I had an Astoria custom combo for a short while , moved it on fairly quickly as it just wasn’t doing it for me . I much prefer my current Marshall , an Ori50h , which is much better sounding imo .

 

[sri]

Are the Astorias different from the Studios in this regard? Because the Studios can absolutley plug and play any octal tube.

What you can get away with if you accept overly hot/cold biasing and the impact that has on tone, and the risks having load matching issues bring (premature output valve failure, arcing in output valves damaging sockets and heater circuits or damage to output transformers) then roll away!. However valves were developed by companies that knew what they were doing (GE, Mullard, Philips, etc) and they published technical specs we should follow for best performance and reliability. These stste by model what voltages, currents, bias voltages, loads etc are recommended/vital. Break those rules and you are skiing off piste and it may well end early and badly. This is true of any valve amp as though tricky cathode bias adjustment circuitry could be used to reset bias voltages dependent on valve type/transconductance, transformer primaries cant reconfigure this way.

 

[Chicken Wing]

There is a real nice one for sale at Rumbleseat Music. The Astoria Custom. Very cool!