Marshall's answer to the Badlander

[Buzzard]

Yeah i think the badlander is a little too marshallesque.I'd go dual rec multi watt .

 

[Carlos G]

Sometimes plugging in and romping is more than options that add up to piss?

I don't buy into polishing tones that a studio or IR stroke and take advantage of players that may not play live. And they haven't a clue why their shit doesn't sound the same. YT? Pffffuck.
Plug in. Romp. Marshall.

Haven't found a Mesa that changed my ears. Specially dem pro built ones.

JMP 2203 into a phone. Unpedaled. Rolling volume pot on guitar.

Great energy, great playing and great sound man! I like some features on the Mesa like having the 2 same exact channels for tweaking and the 100, 50 and 20 watt option. I think you can get a great sound from a Mesa Boogie but........ It's also hard to beat a good Marshall! Rock on

 

[Matthews Guitars]

If you think Mesa amps can't be worked on, then your technician is not very good.

They're just not that hard to work on. But if you're ONLY used to amps made at the very dawn of the age of the PC board,
and earlier point to point wired amps, then PC board based amps may be a bit above your experience level.

But for a technician like myself that has worked on literally every type of electronics from point to point wired Marshalls and Fenders
to cell phone and laptop computer repair where EVERYTHING is surface mount components, some so tiny that you could heap up 500 of them in a thimble, and every kind of electronics in between, I look inside the amp that scares you and to me it's "Meh. So I've got to remove a few more screw and jack and pot nuts. Big deal. That'll add, what, three minutes to the repair time estimate?"

There's nothing difficult about Mesa amp repair....if you're a technician and your technician's mindset isn't stuck in the 60s.

 

[Buzzard]

where are you located?

 

[Matthews Guitars]

Florida. What's your amp's issue and what kind is it?

 

[Buzzard]

No major issues.Just have alot of amps that need minor maintenance.

 

[NoelH]

Honestly, Don't know that Marshall has to have an 'answer' to the Badlander. I played one last week. It is somewhat "Marshall-esque" but it wasn't particularly magical per se. It is significantly less compressed than a Recto. And as a result, it is brighter. It kinda reminded me of a JCM800 2205. Gain structure was a little different, but similar. I had to keep the treble around 11 o'clock or lower. Whenever I've played through a 2205 or 2210, I have to turn the treble almost off. And honestly, as I turned it up, the less "Marshall-esque" it became.
I liked the Badlander, but I'm certainly not GAS'ing for one at all.

 

[jericbrazier]

lol, did the marshall forum suddenly get invaded by TGP? To the OP, I am not sure what I would want from Marshall right now. The built in IR for recording is interesting, but I would prefer something like Fryette powerstation or UA OX, so it can be switched around. I think the issue may be that there are only so many ways to take a guitar signal and make it louder. Almost like a home trash compactor, there are only so many ways to do it, and you can only add so many features that may or may not be usefull. (For example my dishwasher will announce that it is done via wifi. Or, I could just LOOK at it, is wifi notification TRULY useful in this case?). I have a LOT of marshall heads and also own or have owned most modelers. Since all my modelers spend most of their lives modeling some sort of Marshall, I thought the code series was a brilliant first start (Well at least the "brains", I would have like to see them put it in a pedal form like fractal, helix, and atomicamps.) I can't imagine how much R&D they spent to get that rolling, and now its like a red-headed stepchild. If they put in some serious effort they could have easily taken on fractal, helix, etc.

As far as boutique like Friedman, Diezel, Soldano, etc "blowing away" marshall I have to laugh. I have owned most boutique amps and then sold most of them. I love the artist like wiring, but if I use my ears and not my eyes, I preferred my marshalls. Additionally, those heads are big $$$ and they really don't "blow away" a marshall. (I am a mostly high gain guy, focusing on death metal (7 string detuned), Thrash metal (7 and 6 stings), 80s hair band, and have also gigged a ton of classic rock gigs). That is not to say that those amps were not awesome amps in their own right. But I would use the term different, not better.

I think another issue is that amps (unless truly doing heavy gigging) don't really wear out. So as a builder your competing against stuff you made 20, 30, 40 years ago.

Edit, I thought of something. With all these heads and a set of guitars to match, I have realized what above all else seems to be the difference in a good tone vs a great tone. A guitar that matches the mojo of the amp. I can take ONE guitar and run it through 20 different heads and they all may sound good, but only a couple or a few will sound magical. Take that same model guitar, but a different color, (yes I have some of those), and it very well may sound magical in different amps than the first one, even though same make, model, wood, pickups, etc. I have a pretty good idea now as to which guitars sound best through which heads I own. Yes I can take a great sounding head, switch guitars, and now it is good, but not great. Take that same guitar and put it through a different head and the magic is back. It really is crazy. I would even bet that the majority of people being dissapointed in the tone they get from an amp are getting bad tone as the guitar and the amps "mojo" don't match. Not that the guitar or amp is not good.
So, an amp that can adjust its "mojo" to match the guitar plugged into it would be my wish BTW, I kind have found something that helps in this regard. The Horizon Devices precision drive. It has an "attack" knob that is essentially a 6 way high pass filter. It is the only knob I use. By adjusting this, I can usually get a "mojo" mismatch to improve about 50% towards that magical tone.

The reissue 100 waters are $2600ish. Friedman’s are $3000ish. Not very far apart when you consider one’s hand wired and built with top of the line components. Obviously, you should play what you want, but to say that the Marshall reissues are a lot less expensive is false. In fact, Marshall’s hand wired amps are more expensive than the Friedman’s.

 

[tallcoolone]

Mesa makes some great amps and some shitty ones. Last one I had was a TRiple Crown and I hated it. Flipped it pretty quick tho, no harm done. Mark V is awesome I’ll have another of those

 

[bigbadorange]

The reissue 100 waters are $2600ish. Friedman’s are $3000ish. Not very far apart when you consider one’s hand wired and built with top of the line components. Obviously, you should play what you want, but to say that the Marshall reissues are a lot less expensive is false. In fact, Marshall’s hand wired amps are more expensive than the Friedman’s.

I missed the part where I said Marshall reissues are a lot less expensive, actually, I don't see where I mentioned reissues at all.