Origin 50 Head - Wow, Nice

[EL34Norge]

Picked up an Origin 50 head for a good price to use for smaller shows with a 1x12 cab.
Damn, didn't expect it to sound as good and complex as it does. Some reviews have this amp as the biggest turd Marshall ever created. It's not the case for what I need from this amp, it's absolutely killer.
Will it replace my JMP 2204 or JCM 2000 DSL 50?, not a chance. With an SD-1 or TS9 in front of it, it becomes a great live set up for any size room. Full power setting most of the time. The 1/2 power setting is pretty damn loud and still has great tone.
The term pedal platform is weird, but this amp inhales drive pedals as well as any amp.
It has the Marshall grind with the EL34's but leans JTM 45 to me.
And it does sound like a Marshall, which makes it fun to play thru..

 

[fitz]

HNAD!

It has the Marshall grind with the EL34's but leans JTM 45 to me.

Daswhadimtahkinabaht!
Or, "Thats' what I'm talking about", if your don't speak Pittsburgheeze

 

[hill hippie]

ive heard those had a decent vintage plexish sound,and the videos ive seen confirms this. i wish when i began guitar in the 80s they had these because i was always more classic rock and blues guy than a metal guy but i could never get the right sound. its probably a big reason i got more into bass as a kid! it seems marshall is kicking butt these days with lower wattage plexi style amps,its about time!

 

[speyfly]

Yeah, they're a great amp and welcome to the club!

 

[vivanchenko]

To me, the fact that the amp doesn't sound exactly like a Plexi is a good thing. It sounds just as good, but with its own vintage Marshall flavour. That's very refreshing. One of the key reasons why the Plexi stopped selling back in the day was that most people were bored with it. One could term it as a "modding platform", because that's what everyone was doing with it back then. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing.

 

[Cal Nevari]

Picked up an Origin 50 head for a good price to use for smaller shows with a 1x12 cab.
Damn, didn't expect it to sound as good and complex as it does. Some reviews have this amp as the biggest turd Marshall ever created. It's not the case for what I need from this amp, it's absolutely killer.
Will it replace my JMP 2204 or JCM 2000 DSL 50?, not a chance. With an SD-1 or TS9 in front of it, it becomes a great live set up for any size room. Full power setting most of the time. The 1/2 power setting is pretty damn loud and still has great tone.
The term pedal platform is weird, but this amp inhales drive pedals as well as any amp.
It has the Marshall grind with the EL34's but leans JTM 45 to me.
And it does sound like a Marshall, which makes it fun to play thru..

All of the Origin options (20W, 50W, head, combo) are excellent amps. Whoever it was who didn’t like them might have been looking for a different sound because their tone is perfect for a lot of us. Ironically, because they take pedals well, some see that as detrimental, which makes no sense. Sort of like saying a girl who is not pretty has a good personality. Well, some girls are pretty and have good personalities! That’s the Origin amp line.

 

[Cal Nevari]

Picked up an Origin 50 head for a good price to use for smaller shows with a 1x12 cab.
Damn, didn't expect it to sound as good and complex as it does. Some reviews have this amp as the biggest turd Marshall ever created. It's not the case for what I need from this amp, it's absolutely killer.
Will it replace my JMP 2204 or JCM 2000 DSL 50?, not a chance. With an SD-1 or TS9 in front of it, it becomes a great live set up for any size room. Full power setting most of the time. The 1/2 power setting is pretty damn loud and still has great tone.
The term pedal platform is weird, but this amp inhales drive pedals as well as any amp.
It has the Marshall grind with the EL34's but leans JTM 45 to me.
And it does sound like a Marshall, which makes it fun to play thru..

Just out of curiosity, how much did you pay for it? If y willing to say, that is.

 

[speyfly]

Just out of curiosity, how much did you pay for it? If y willing to say, that is.

There's a 20H in my area for $325, very tempted but I really don't need two.

 

[Cal Nevari]

There's a 20H in my area for $325, very tempted but I really don't need two.

You'll always need a backup…

 

[EL34Norge]

Just out of curiosity, how much did you pay for it? If y willing to say, that is.

$400 US dollars

 

[Mitchell Pearrow]

@EL34Norge
Congratulations on your Origin .
They are great amps

 

[Mark Maye]

I bought my first 50 watt Marshall amp head for $75 in 1973 and it was a very early head in a small sized case. It was brought over from England by a serviceman. It had problems and the tubes would turn red and the amp would get to hot to touch and then blow the fuse. While it was working, the sound was crazy awesome. I kept buying tubes and finally replaced the transformer but the problem never was solved so I sold it off and began using a 50 Watt made in 1973 after that. The early heads had 2 pull out switches on the back to change the voltage between 110 or 220 and the other for changing the ohms. The newer 50 watt never quite matched that sound of the early 50 Watt head.

 

[Cal Nevari]

$400 US dollars

Excellent deal.
The least I’ve ever seen one for is $525.

 

[Mitchell Pearrow]

Excellent deal.
The least I’ve ever seen one for is $525.

That is a great price.. I had sold one of mine for $500.00 just over a year ago.

 

[speyfly]

I'm sure I've said this before, somewhere, the Origin line of amps is unlike any other Marshall I'm familiar with. I've found that some amps respond better to pedals than others. For example my SV20H hates gain pedals in the front but does well with non-gain effects in the fx loop, the OR20H on the other hand loves gains and boosts in the front and a eq in the loop to juice the mid's and roll off the lows and highs, well that's the ticket for me. Head room is surprisingly better than expected and the cleans are all Marshall without much tweaking from outboard devices.

Anyone that say's the Origin amps are bad or the worst probably have never owned one and don't know $HIT imho...

 

[Leonard Neemoil]

Congratulations on the great amp.

Crank it!

 

[Andytones74]

Congrats, hnad!

 

[Neptical]

Congrats OP! The Origin 50s are phenomenal. I love how much they offer/differ on the other side of owning my other Marshalls. Wooly like a JTM and creamy but glassiness of a Plexi, it's all there in spades. I use mine boosted with an SD-1 ( always on) with either a Boss OD-3, FatRat or Wampler Tumnus. A great addition to my DSL50,DSL100, SL-X and even my 50w Plexi clone. I still think they're very underappreciated ( mostly outside this forum) for the price and what they offer.

 

[MW110]

Picked up an Origin 50 head for a good price to use for smaller shows with a 1x12 cab.
Damn, didn't expect it to sound as good and complex as it does. Some reviews have this amp as the biggest turd Marshall ever created. It's not the case for what I need from this amp, it's absolutely killer.
Will it replace my JMP 2204 or JCM 2000 DSL 50?, not a chance. With an SD-1 or TS9 in front of it, it becomes a great live set up for any size room. Full power setting most of the time. The 1/2 power setting is pretty damn loud and still has great tone.
The term pedal platform is weird, but this amp inhales drive pedals as well as any amp.
It has the Marshall grind with the EL34's but leans JTM 45 to me.
And it does sound like a Marshall, which makes it fun to play thru..

OK, a Marshall tubeamp that sounds like a Marshall….what else should you expect?

 

[rando]

Congrats. Great price. I never got to enjoy the OR50 because it arrived broken from GC Used Gear (not replaceable). But I then got the OR5 and it sounds good with an external speaker.