Marshall overrated. Tone comes from speakers.

[crossroadsnyc]

Which amp? Marshall has had a lot of amps through the years. You mention GB's, but is that even the most popular speaker? If not, then which one? No, I say that the sound comes from the amp, and the flavor of that amp is in large part determined on what speaker(s) it's going through. The speaker is how you season your food.

 

[PelliX]

I agree.

Exaggerations like rolling tubes - it's like some players expect tubes to be like a magic tone knob or something. But unless your current tubes are crap, it's hardly worth the effort in my opinion. Plus, that might have been fun to experiment with up until a while ago, but if you're paying close to $30 a pop for Tung-Sol's or something now, you'd be better off with an EQ pedal and toy around with that right before the amp's input or early in the FX loop.

Tone is in teh temperature, humidity, and speaker screws.

To a degree, yes. Good speaker screws go a long way, but you haven't heard the full potential of your stack until you've chromed the screw heads. That and the amp's handle.

 

[ibmorjamn]

Tone comes from the wall , everyone knows that . Let me see you make that speaker move without edison

 

[Vinsanitizer]

To a degree, yes. Good speaker screws go a long way, but you haven't heard the full potential of your stack until you've chromed the screw heads. That and the amp's handle.

Interesting, as I thought the handle thing was just me. Seems like the ones with the silver caps sound better than the gold ones.

To me, these sound better:

Than these:

But they both sound better than these. Whenever I see a player continually trying to modify their Marshall's tone, usually I find they're using a cheap plastic-cap handle:

I have no experience with models that have leather handles.
.

 

[Vinsanitizer]

Keep changing the rules till you win.

Sounds like a government-style approach to me.

 

[Vinsanitizer]

Tone comes from the wall , everyone knows that . Let me see you make that speaker move without edison

I used to believe that a lot. Maybe I still do. It was about voltages and stuff. I know I've played at venues (usually hotel gigs for some reason) where the power would cause my maps to hum really loud, and a noise gate was even tough to use. Buzz-words for that were always "dirty power" or "brown-outs", etc., and the solution was a rack power conditioner. Seems like every gig you play, your map sounds different: sometimes awesome, sometimes you're fighting with it all night. My only problem with the theory is that I never found myself going, "we're doing the Starlight again? Awesome - my Marshalls always sound great there".

 

[paul-e-mann]

For decades, I've given unconditional credit to Marshall for it's historic tone.

However, after buying a quad of Greenbacks, I'm discovering how much magic originates from the speakers.

How much credit does Marshall get for this??

I had a small collection of amps consisting of different brands and found through my greenback cab I could dial each amp somewhat close tonally but not quite. It was then that I realized I was trying to dial my amps to sound like my Marshall, the Marshall is what I liked best so I sold all those amps and have since added 2 more Marshalls!

 

[PelliX]

Interesting, as I thought the handle thing was just me. Seems like the ones with the silver caps sound better than the gold ones.

To me, these sound better:

Than these:

But they both sound better than these. Whever I see a player continually trying to modify their Marshall's tone, usually I find they're using a cheap plastic-cap handle:

I have no experience with models that have leather handles.
.

Chrome over gold for me - really brings out the high end. Problem is, most people have no clue how to intonate the handle...

 

[Vinsanitizer]

Chrome over gold for me - really brings out the high end. Problem is, most people have no clue how to intonate the handle...

 

[Vinsanitizer]

Here. Read this run-on sentence:

If we're going to exclude other (realistic) variables like guitars, effects, and whatever else is a legit part of the audio chain, and just focus on amps and speakers, then the majority of your sound undeniably comes from the amp, and the type of speaker and cabinet you use effects the voicing or accentuation of mostly the mids, highs, and the point of breakup.

I'll try and put it another way: if you take a particular amp and plug it into various types of cabinets and speakers, you're always going to get the sound of that amp, it'll just be voiced a little differently depending. And, if you take various amps and run them each through one particular cabinet, you're still always going to get the sound of whichever amp you're using.

 

[SkyMonkey]

Good speaker screws go a long way

Wrong.
Long speaker screws go a long way.

 

[dro]

Yes. It is the sound of Slash.

Give me a break.

Raise your hand if you never learned a Slash lick.

 

[Vinsanitizer]

Give me a break.

Raise your hand if you never learned a Slash lick.

Not one.
.

 

[Eric'45]

Raise your hand if you never learned a Slash lick.

I never did, for I can't stand Runs n' Gooses

 

[TXOldRedRocker]

My hand has never Slashed. No GNR to be played around me.

 

[Vinsanitizer]

My hand has never Slashed. No GNR to be played around me.

View attachment 99451

Or, you could just use this:

 

[Trumpet Rider]

Go ahead and run a solid state 10w Crate through those greenbacks, and then get back to me on that Marshall thing...

You'd be surprised. I once had a shitty SS 30w Crate. The clean was ok but the od channel had the brown sound that DoD alluded to. I put a 70/80 in it and it actually sounded a lot less shitty. I wonder what a GB would have done.

 

[fitz]

You'd be surprised. I once had a shitty SS 30w Crate. The clean was ok but the od channel had the brown sound that dod alluded to. I put a 70/80 in it and it actually sounded a lot less shitty. I wonder what a GB would have done.

I actually HAVE a 10w Crate.
It was a 6.5" combo I made a mini stack out of with a pair of Ten-30's in some 110 cabs.
It's not that bad, has a loop that I run chorus & reverb through, and the overdrive channel has some grind.
But I like to make fun of it, kind of my adopted stepchild with the Marshalls.

 

[carnada]

Spectresoundstudios did many videos about this. The reason why people bitch about Solid State amps is because they are always trying like 10 watt practice amp with a 4 inch speakers. If people tried proper solid-state amps with amazing speakers then everything would be a different story. Now I play with amp sims and a hotone ampero one pedalboard and it sounds amazing.

 

[PelliX]

So wait, isn't the intro to Sweet Child O' Mine as ubiquitous as Stairway To Heaven? It's about the only GnR song that I can play, bar maybe You Ain't The First (which hardly counts) and a bad rendition of Paradise City, but ...