Marshall MG15R

[Rusty Strings]

https://marshall.com/marshall-amps/products/amps/mg-gold/mg15r

Heya there !

I am looking for a small practice Marshall with analogue circuit and spring reverb.

It has to sound and feel like a Marshall.

It should not produce primarily boxy sound.

Preferably it should have a real spring reverb with springs, not just digital emulation.

It can be solid state.

It can be a combo or a head.

It should be cheap or relatively cheap.

I am selling my vox valvetronics 20+ , even though it has great sounds, plethora of impressive presets and effects and preamp valve, I just dont need so many choices. I cannot put my finger on it, the sounds are too polished and cannot dial in raw power balsiness, if there is such a word, and I used it for few years. Maybe my last summer DSL20hr purchase spoiled me.

I looked for any thread with the Marshall MG15R but I found none here. So here it is.

Fire away chaps !

Cheers !

 

[miyaru]

I just bought a DSL 1 CR. It is all tube, two channel but no spring reverb - it is digital. It is a fine amp sound bigger than it really is.

I can recommend it to you!

 

[scozz]

I doubt there is such an animal,.....a cheap practice amp with spring reverb. I think the best you can do is what @miyaru suggested, a Dsl1c. They’re small, sound good and have that Marshall tone.

 

[JohnH]

I've always liked the small Mg's, they are rude and loud, for not much money! don't expect subtlety, But they are nice and solid and look and play like real Marshalls. This particular one looks appealing. I think in a small box, Id rather have a digital reverb emulation than a spring, which could only be a rather mean short one.

The current Mg circuits have been around for quite a few years now, but I think they were designed by Santial, famous designer of the JVM's. Id put one on my desk for sure.

 

[Listogast]

I had an MG30 that I bought back in 2017. The overall tone was decent for what I used it for, but there were a couple shortcomings with it. The first is that there wasn't really an easy transition from clean tones to crunch tones. If you're like me and want to get a edge of breakup clean tone, it's going to be kind of hard with that amp unless you use a separate pedal. The crunch tones where a bit buzzy for my liking. Another shortcoming was with it's EQ structure. I had to set the treble dial to 0, and anything above that would just make it sound really thin and harsh instead of punchy and clear. Just recently I bought a DSL40 and was able to get the type of tone I wanted immediately. No harshness, extra controls for presence and resonance. It's a nice step up personally. Although I do miss having the MP3 line in. It was nice being able to play with music and have a consistent volume with the track.

 

[Mitchell Pearrow]

I had the MG 30, and it sounds like a Marshall, and a subtle delay on the amp was better than a reverb in my opinion,YMMV.
Cheers

 

[Gunner64]

I think the AVT 20 combo has a spring reverb in it.

 

[SkyMonkey]

What he said.
Your best bet is a 2nd hand Valvestate. They have genuine spring reverbs.
Mk I 8020 and above.
Mk II VS15R and above.
Mk III AVT20 and above.

 

[Northwinds]

I have had only two SS Marshalls, that was a MG250DFX??? I remember I kind of liked the delay on it but I don't remember if it had a spring reverb. It sounded ok but I quickly went back to all tubes. I think they can be had cheap. Another Marshall I had that was SS/hybrid with a single preamp tube but I could never bond with it, it was sold within 2 days. I think it was a model 8080???

 

[JohnH]

a low-gain overdrive pedal can fill in those gaps, like a Bad Monkey or a Od3

 

[Rusty Strings]

I like the distortion to be not too gritty and not too smooth. If it is too gritty/buzzy, it interferes with my picking which I aim to be super fast. But I would choose smooth over gritty(drive) distortion but not hifi polished sound. I was also looking into Peavey transtube amps but the lowest priced ones with reverb is the envoy and for that price I could have Marshall Dsl1. Spring reverb would be a bonus, but plain good digital reverb without modern modulated sound to it would be ok. If no reverb at all, fx loop would make up for it. I use reverb on cleans but on dirt which I palmute, very rarely. I want something new than used as I got a bit lazy to fix and learn amp electronics, though I do all my guitars' simple electronics myself. I dont care for effects, I dont use them, nor delay. I pick fast and delay just gets in the way and other effects just thin the tone too much for my liking, but I would like nice fat chorus on cleans but failed to find such. I may have to go with the Marshall Dsl 1, but have to sell my Vox Valvetronic 20+ first.

 

[Marcell]

Cheap? Bugera g5 or g20.. I would go for the g20. Has everything and new 290 euro. Reverb should be cheaper.

 

[Northwinds]

Too bad you can't bolt a spring reverb into a Class 5. That would be bitchin'

 

[JohnH]

It sounds like you have clear ideas about the tones that you need. Those mg's are what they are and they do what they do, so don't expect too much!

 

[Gunner64]

I have an mg100hdfx, and an avt50h, And I think the mg eats the avt...buffer tube, spring reverb and all. Many more tones, effects. It has a digital reverb, but who cares if it sounds decent. They are cheap, and alot of amp for the $100 or so they can be had in the states for.