Why Marshall won’t/doesn’t… the cautionary parallel of the D.O.D./Digitech acquisition.

[El Gringo]

Yet I don’t believe one of those examples are currently being manufactured. And those 1w amps were overpriced, underbuilt and IMO utterly useless.

The Studio series IMO is the best thing Marshall has done since the release of the original DSL. Great—except it is essentially their answer to the Tiny Terror, which spawned the lunchbox amp craze over 15 years earlier. Just looked at the prices of Orange’s comparable lunchbox amps and they are half the price (or less) than the Studio heads. No one cares where these things are assembled anymore, people just want great products/tone at a great price.

The 1959hw is currently almost $4k—good amp, i’ve owned one—but it’s not a $4k amp. Marshall should expand on the 2555x—semi-reasonable price for classic form factor/tone at the expense of cost prohibitive construction. If a guitar player nowadays takes his amp to play live a half dozen times he is rarer than a golfer that breaks 90, no need to build these things to heirloom quality standards, just make them solid and reliable

The 2203x hasn’t been $3k in years, it’s now closer to $4k. Again, great amp but overpriced for what it is

Peavey doesn’t own Boss, I love Boss/Roland and can’t stand Peavey. The TAE is the most innovative and useful pieces of gear I’ve ever bought. Only Peavey amp I’ve had I could stand was the OG 5150 and even that I sold without regret in a month or two. A much better comparison would be another family owned relatively small amp company in England…

Well the point for me is how willing I am to spend $$ on someone’s products. I’m much more wary of the large corps out there actively trying to kill us than I am of a large company mismanaging Marshall worse than the Marshall family has over the last 25yrs.

We don’t have a clue how any of this is going to work out, it’s much too early to tell. I’m just optimistic that at some point I won’t scowl aggressively every time I see the price on a new Marshall product. And hey, how about firing up some GAS over a product release or two?

I own 2 -2555X half stacks with the matching 2551AV cabs with V30's . I recently checked out Sweetwater to find out what the price tag was for the matching 2551BV bottom cabs - $1899- ouch big time . That was the price I paid when I purchased the amp heads . $1899 for a bottom silver jub cab with V30's -wow , I forgot to mention that was on pre order at Sweetwater .

 

[V-man]

Interestingly enough, I bumped into an employee at a show last night who informed us Fender bought Presonus. May not be news to many, but it was quite a surprise to us.

Then he explained how Fender cannibalized this head and that, so Presonus is without this department or that for this time. Sparse details to convey second-hand, but it goes right to my point (or at least part of it) that such conglomerates are not acquiring a project to invest and grow to profitability… they are using its assets to see how it can aid the parent company with its big picture aims.

If the acquisition can survive and feeding it down the line is not too much a diversion, maybe so…. Depending on ROI. But clearly under the Fender-Presonus model suggested, chapter 1 was not to add workforce and grow the brand, but cannibalize “wet assets” for Fender’s larger aims and (perhaps) figure out where to take Presonus if it can stand on its own as is for chapters 1 & 2… or not.

 

[circusinthesky]

If I was Zounds and I didn’t give a damn about history,….I’d purge all Marshall amp staff and physical properties.
I’d engage a competent company like Friedman to manage tightly controlled production of the classic line out of China or Mexico.
I’d also let them develop new models, custom models, etc. Or not. I’d make the assumption that a company like Friedman would manage the Marshall amp name to their benefit.
Zounds can keep ownership of the name and 10% of the profits, and Friedman could manage the Marshall legacy.

 

[SonVolt]

I’d engage a competent company like Friedman to manage tightly controlled production of the classic line out of China or Mexico.

 

[Dean Swindell]

From what I can tell, Jim’s kids wanted to cash out. They have multiple manufacturing facilities that do not make headphones and bt speakers. Jims been dead for 12 years and they haven’t really put anything innovative out in decades, I see this as a possible good thing for fans of Marshall amps.

Possibly. I always hoped they'd make better use of their Vietnamese plant. There are the great DSL amps and and then basically a bunch of junk. Maybe with new ownership they'll finally get the "great vintage amp with added modern features" thing right.

 

[niazmet]

SV, SC, JTM, jubilee the small 20 heads can cost lot less if they move to Vietnam. There would be no reduction in quality only in the loss of jobs in UK
Their 100 heads can also be made in Vietnam and cost lot less. I'd say there is no reason to doubt the SC20H would cost the exact same as a DSL20H, or 100 dollar difference. The sad part of this is taking jobs from UK. The happy part is giving more jobs to vietnamese people. I mean unfortunately there is no way they can drop the price without firing people. If they keep the way it is to me it's fine having the big lineup of products made in UK. People are more accepting of guitars made in Indonesia by big grands (like Ibanez and PRS) than amplifiers made in China or Vietnam, don't know if they could market "same quality but made overseas at the cost of UK jobs but for a lower price." I don't know perhaps my point is sooner or later all hardware will be assembled and made in asia 100%, Fender, Friedman and some other companies will still have their custom shops though. As of today Friedman USA receive most of their parts from China anyway, they have american workers soldering and assembling the amps, packaging and etc. Same with Marshall.

I know it's unfair and not on topic to compare guitars to amps but some 300 dollar guitars made in China have the same quality as 800 dollar guitars made in USA. The western transition to "green energy" will also play a big role in the remaining companies moving all their hardware assembly and manufacturing to asia, I'm afraid.