Volume 10, really had to try it!

[MKB]

It is surprising how so few Marshall owners ever dime the thing. It is great to do so as only then will you understand what conditions Marshall designs their amps for. Let's just say, in every case I'm aware of, the optimum operating condition is NOT quiet.

That being said, I don't think I have ever dimed my 2466 VM into the 4X12 Greenback cab. Shame on me. However I should be getting a new Les Paul Traditional Plus this week, probably that will present a good opportunity...

I did dime my old mid seventies 1959 into a 4X12 cab with Celestion G12-30's (not G12H's, these are cheap seventies Celestions with very low efficiency). Even then it sounded sublime, and was shaking the entire house hard. My wife was walking to the mailbox about 1/4 mile away, and said she could hear it as clear as a bell. I shudder to think what it would have been like with G12H's.... If you ever think your NMV head does not have enough gain, just crank it to 10. It will then.

 

[ironlung40]

Nothing like a Marshall running in the proper zone. It's a religious experience. Try it next time with the gain down, I bet it keeeeerangs like no other.

Agreed, and Frankie, who is the amazingly hot girl in your signature? Man, she is smoking.

 

[Moose Coghill]

My little studio is just too small to dime anything over 20watts... but yesterday, at American Viking's place (after he biased some new power tubes in for me) we got a chance to dime the Haze 40 through a 4x12 cab (I never use the internal speaker).

It was big fun (and surprised the other guys there). There were even some appreciative folks hooting & hollering from down the road, across the highway (I only noticed because I was standing outside having a smoke and saw them waving in the distance).

 

[Ken]

Okay, yesterday I had the house to myself so I dimed the red channel on the DSL through the full stack. It really doesn't get louder after about 7, just fuller. Forget using the lead 2 button though! I still say when the vol is on 10, the gain need only be around 6-7; on 10 it was actually too much. I reset the EQ too: no bass boost of course, presence on about 5, treble 3, mids 6, bass 5. Sounded like GOD HERSELF!

I wish I could play that loud with the band.

Ken

 

[DSL100 Dude]

NOW THIS IS A GREAT THREAD!!!!!!

I love diming me Marshall's. There are just so very few things that are quite like that. One of my favorite things to do when the family is out is to crank the ole DSL and pound that big open E and let it just decay into that sweet feedback we all love. Then it's into the next jam...

Frankie, the SVT is just flat out crushing. The SVT going up against a VBA400 is about as bad as sitting on the causeway when the shuttle takes off. Two bassists I used to play with thought it would be fun to have a "Bass-Off" I have no doubt that all of us that were there have serious hearing loss and brain damage from the experience.

 

[Nebulozny]

Wow, I am quite surprised that so many guys never did that full volume thing on their Marshalls.
When I bought MA100C that was the first thing to do, I mean I heard JCM800 cranked before but this one was mine and it was totally normal that first thing to do is crank it to the moon.
I called my friend,and we went to our rehearsal room, no living creature in 50m radius, plug in and volume on 10.....holy shit, it just rips trough your body, we just looked at each other, and it was that "what the fuck" look on our faces.
And I thought, holy shit, this is only 2 speakers now, if there was 4 we would be dead.
We lasted about 10 minutes, and it was too much after that,lol, but I cranked it many times after that, just because I can.

 

[Frankie]

Agreed, and Frankie, who is the amazingly hot girl in your signature? Man, she is smoking.

This broad I used to run around with back in the day.

Frankie, the SVT is just flat out crushing. The SVT going up against a VBA400 is about as bad as sitting on the causeway when the shuttle takes off. Two bassists I used to play with thought it would be fun to have a "Bass-Off" I have no doubt that all of us that were there have serious hearing loss and brain damage from the experience.

Man, I'd love to hear a VBA400, but they're pretty scarce in the states. I just patched that SVT up last night, it blew out a ton of screen resistors and it was only running 1 pair of output tubes, so more or less a busted 100 watts. We got to experience the full 300 watt glory (with all GE 6550's in the output section) last night, and I gotta say, I never heard anything like it. The SVT on half was still surprisingly clean, loud, and beyond punchy. I could feel every attack from his right hand dead center in my chest. He had to bring it down to like 1.5 on the volume dial because he was overpowering everything, even my DSL 100 on 5-6 in the red channel!

 

[MKB]

Man, I'd love to hear a VBA400, but they're pretty scarce in the states. I just patched that SVT up last night, it blew out a ton of screen resistors and it was only running 1 pair of output tubes, so more or less a busted 100 watts. We got to experience the full 300 watt glory (with all GE 6550's in the output section) last night, and I gotta say, I never heard anything like it. The SVT on half was still surprisingly clean, loud, and beyond punchy. I could feel every attack from his right hand dead center in my chest. He had to bring it down to like 1.5 on the volume dial because he was overpowering everything, even my DSL 100 on 5-6 in the red channel!

Gordie Johnson, who used to be with Big Sugar, used to run a Garnet Hertzog preamp into a bank of SVT's, and that into Marshall cabs. What did it sound like you ask??

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ0GEbCTEyY[/ame]

 

[Frankie]

Good old SVT tone!!

Here's Forge last night goofing off with his newly fixed SVT since I just got it off the bench at my house an hour before. He's slamming it with a Swollen Pickle (HEYYYYYY OH!).

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D6bI51-UO4]YouTube - Endless Sustain[/ame]

 

[blues_n_cues]

i dime(or 11) mine once a week. my bassist has an ampeg w/ 4x10's & 1x15-it's fun to do volume wars w/ him.

 

[Murmel]

It´s funny, I am cranking my JCM 800 Marshalls to 10 from time to time and it´s loud but still ok. I have never fully cranked my triple recto for more than a few seconds, because it´s totally insane. It has so much bottom end everything in the room is shaking as hell it feels worse than a 7.3 earthquake (never experienced a stronger quake, so I have no idea how that feels).
Normally the 50 extra Watts in the recto shouldn't make a big difference in volume, but it´s really the difference between doable and insane.

 

[MKB]

Good old SVT tone!!

Here's Forge last night goofing off with his newly fixed SVT since I just got it off the bench at my house an hour before. He's slamming it with a Swollen Pickle (HEYYYYYY OH!).

Your poor drummer...

Repairing an SVT; not for the faint of heart. Those things will kill you if you don't watch out!! Do NOT let that be your first repair!!

 

[Frankie]

ANY amp can kill you, not just an SVT. Surprisingly, fixing that SVT wasn't really that big of a deal at all, it just ate up some screen resistors.

 

[MKB]

I finally dimed the VM last night into the 2X12 cab (one V30, one Wizard), with the new LP Trad Plus. As usual, I wasn't too thrilled with how loose it sounded. But backing the master to 9, WOW... All the stuff I like about it at 5, only more so. You get all the warm tone, but the punch on the notes goes through the roof! Boom!! It was so smooth it didn't seem like 80 watts, but the punch in the chest said otherwise. My daughters complained that the volume scared the dog outside though.

Plug in a good LP, crank the Marshall stupid loud with the preamp gain low, that has to be the tone that inspired a million guitarists.

 

[Frankie]

Plug in a good LP, crank the Marshall stupid loud with the preamp gain low, that has to be the tone that inspired a million guitarists.

One day we'll get through to these kids with their preamp diming, low MV setups. One day...

 

[DirtySteve]

I only read this thread and my ears are ringing!

 

[nedcronin]

I was just noodling in the basement, it isn't professionally soundproofed, but I can play pretty loud down there and the wife and kids don't freak out. Plus the G12M65's are not super efficient speakers so I can crank it pretty often. Anyway I dimed the crunch channel with the gain on 5, just fantastic! When I play with my band I usually have the gain at 7 and the master at 7, and that sounds FAT. But the extra saturation with the master on 10 is just heaven. I was messing around with the bias on my amp today, I always run it at 82mv, (TSL 60)I turned it down to 75 mv just to hear the difference and it sounded LAME. Cold, harsh, and uncool. So back up to 82 and all is well. I can't believe what a difference it makes.
Anyway, marshalls sound so good cranked.

 

[llujan1968]

I have yet to do this. Closest I've been is 6 1/2.

Forgive me, MarshallForum, for I have not Dimed.

Dudes...I can't stop laughing!!! i love this forum!

 

[blues_n_cues]

fikkin' to dime again right now & mic it in stereo x 4oo wts through the p.a...

 

[safc78]

It´s funny, I am cranking my JCM 800 Marshalls to 10 from time to time and it´s loud but still ok. I have never fully cranked my triple recto for more than a few seconds, because it´s totally insane. It has so much bottom end everything in the room is shaking as hell it feels worse than a 7.3 earthquake (never experienced a stronger quake, so I have no idea how that feels).
Normally the 50 extra Watts in the recto shouldn't make a big difference in volume, but it´s really the difference between doable and insane.

I have a 50 watt Or*ange Head that I swear down is louder and has more thump to it just through a 4x12 than my AFD100 or the JCM800 2210 I used to own through a full stack when they are dimed. The Orange is stupid, painful loud