the great MARSHALL shootout!!!

[big dooley]

well, ok..... it is not THAT great...
ok, here's the deal... i've made some recordings of certain marshall amps... all trough the same cabinet, with the same guitar, knowing as my trusty old lester, that has just been recovered from a snapped off headstock

we have 4 contenders here... i won't say what the amplifiers exactly are, just that they are marshalls...
the EQ's are all set to 1 o'clock, the gainsettings are a bit variable, as some models have more on tap then others, so i had to even out a bit...

i've played for each amp the same riff (more or less... i'm not that steady )

so which one of those 4 amp do you prefer... after 3 weeks i'm gonna post, which amps were actually used
if you can't make a decision, you can choose multiple answers...

here's the link:
marshall shootout

 

[matt3310]

This will be very intresting!!!

 

[big dooley]

yes i know...
i'm very curious how this thing turns out...

 

[eljeffebrown]

Very devious sir!

 

[jcmjmp]

The 3rd one sounded pretty good to me. The 2nd one was harsh sounding and didn't have much meat to it. I'd say #1 was a close 2nd but IMO, it could have benefited from a little more low end. #4 wasn't too bad either.

 

[Codyjohns]

The third amp sounds the best.

 

[DSL100 Dude]

Very cool riff and great playing.

I like that you did this, imo this actually settles the tone is in the hands thing for sure. All four runs have a great Marshall bark to them. Maybe it is because I am streaming them over computer speakers but they sounded similar to me. Yes, one was a little bassier and one was more "70's trebley" and this, that and the other but it all had that gritty tone that maybe some guys call organic(?) I don't know, I liked em all. Could be four different amps or four different modes on a JVM.

Thanks for doing this. What a fun discussion this will be. This would be so much easier blindfolded and sitting in your living room.

 

[ZePot]

3rd one was the best although a bit messy, 1st was good also, 2nd was way too agressive but still sounded like an amp, 4th one was just plain awful (Vintage Modern maybe?)

I'm really curious to what amps have been used here!

 

[big dooley]

Very cool riff and great playing.

I like that you did this, imo this actually settles the tone is in the hands thing for sure. All four runs have a great Marshall bark to them. Maybe it is because I am streaming them over computer speakers but they sounded similar to me. Yes, one was a little bassier and one was more "70's trebley" and this, that and the other but it all had that gritty tone that maybe some guys call organic(?) I don't know, I liked em all. Could be four different amps or four different modes on a JVM.

Thanks for doing this. What a fun discussion this will be. This would be so much easier blindfolded and sitting in your living room.

at first i was dialing in all the amps EQ's how i liked it... but that made it very hard to tell the differences between each one of them... so i set all the EQ's to 1 o' clock, so each amp would have it's own distinctive sound...

i've listenened to all the tracks trough our PA-system and even that made it hard to tell the difference between each amp... it's there all right, but as said.. they are all marshalls and have that awesome bark i like so much about them...

when i came home i listened to the track on my computerspeakers, and i changed the EQ a bit, using nero wave editor... the non EQ'd version was way too middy for computerspeakers

the cabinet by the way was a 1936 with a G12H30 anniversary on the left and a vintage 30 on the right... each speaker was miked with a SM58, 4 inches from the cloth and a bit offside from the center... i also used a mic which normally is being used for a kick drum, which is placed 4 inches from the cloth in the middle between the 2 speakers

 

[big dooley]

3rd one was the best although a bit messy, 1st was good also, 2nd was way too agressive but still sounded like an amp, 4th one was just plain awful (Vintage Modern maybe?)

I'm really curious to what amps have been used here!

everything was messy... after 3 hours trying things out, your playing gets sloppy...

 

[Gtarzan81]

I'm glad someone finally did this...and right. There was big talk a while back about doing one...and nada. Cheers to you sir!

 

[Jasper.]

I liked the 1st most. The 3rd was a good 2nd.

But isn't it better to have all amps set with the equalizer at the point where the amp does its job best? For example: maybe one amp needs more bass than an other amp. If you do this there is always one amp who is the closest to the sweet spot of the amp.

 

[indeedido]

2 was way too compressed and thin for me. A bit scooped.

1 and 3 were close, but I dug 3 overall. Had a nice bite to it and nice mid presence.

 

[Rick O'Shea]

I'm on pins and needles, waiting for the truth. Thanx BD.

 

[madmmx]

1 and 2 sounded buzzy on the distortion. 3 sounded the best and 4 was next but was too bassy.

 

[big dooley]

I liked the 1st most. The 3rd was a good 2nd.

But isn't it better to have all amps set with the equalizer at the point where the amp does its job best? For example: maybe one amp needs more bass than an other amp. If you do this there is always one amp who is the closest to the sweet spot of the amp.

i did that at first, but it was very hard to tell the difference between amps... if i had spended more time i could easily make those amps so close to eachother, people wouldn't hear the difference anymore.. except for the playing getting sloppier after time
for myself i would have never set up the second amp like that... when i recorded that bit, the highs were really piercing... especially with the V30 in that cab...
the presence was turned to zero on all amps by the way

overall i'm not really satisfied with the recordings, but i think it is acceptable for hearing the differences... it's mainly the playing itself i'm not happy about...

 

[JCarno]

I voted 1.

 

[coldsteal2]

Number 3 all around but also 1 and 4 had great rythm sound
but didnt sound as good lead wise as 3

 

[eljeffebrown]

I voted 3. 1 and 2 were very thin and brittle. 4 was almost unchanged from 3 but there was some sort of weird breakup in 4 which is why I chose 3. It just has a nice clean warmth to it. The break up was in the right spot and it didn't sound "forced", very cool and natural sounding amp.

 

[TwinACStacks]

I liked the Brightness of 2 but the OD of 3. I'm guessing the first two were Modern Marshalls and the second two, 800s or earlier.

TWIN