The ULTIMATE Marshall Tone!

[Robert]

Marshall Lovers - listen up!

Since there are many Marshall lovers out there, I thought it might be interesting to hear what members think is the ULTIMATE Marshall tone.

Post your example, preferably your own recording if you have one, but linking to an existing recording is fine too. I don't even care if it actually is a Marshall or not. The goal is to get an idea of what tone people associate with the ultimate Marshall tone. I understand there's a vast difference in an old school Plexi tone, compared to a modern high gain Marshall tone, but let's ignore that. Post the one tone that oozes that signature, Uber-Marshall tone YOU think is the best. Post all details about the gear too - guitar used, any effects, microphone, cabinet, etc.

This is of course All Subjective... so there are no rights or wrongs. Just different strokes for different folks.

I would love to hear your favorite Marshall tone!

Sad to say though, I don't even have a good Marshall tone recorded...
:thwap I'll have to rectify that some day.

But I found this, which I think sounds pretty awesome (1987x modded by David Bray. Hellatone 30 and 60 speakers, not sure what guitar used here):

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[R_of_G]

Shouldn't come as much of a surprise to those who know my musical tastes that I nominate Johnny Ramone who used a pair of Marshall 100 watt heads and two Marshall 4x12 cabs with a Mosrite Ventures model guitar to generate this tone...

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[Tig]

Les Pauls and a cranked Marshall create the ultimate rock tone together.

Like him or not, Slash does a Marshall justice.
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[Jimi75]

I love my JTM45, but there's one more Marshall out there that makes me wanna buy it immediately!

1974x handwired.

Check out this demo. It mails my tone flavour for a Marshall pretty exactly. The guy starts playing at 5:28, so you know where you have to skip to :-)

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[sunvalleylaw]

I like strats with Marshalls. Here is one favorite such tone:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cGjCkns3m0&feature=related

here is another:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_DTdFppN9c&feature=related

I always liked this tone too:

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This guy also has a good Strat into Marshall tone.

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So yeah, strat into Marshall. One of my favorite tones!

[oldguy]

"This guy also has a good Strat into Marshall tone.":hungry

(Ya beat me to it.)
Lots of others I enjoy, but here's a couple that came to mind....
I'd venture a guess that Fender Bender might agree with me.:poke

I'll always like these. Gary Moore has used different Marshalls through the years, but they always sound like Gary Moore.

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[marnold]

This will require some research :) While I like the clip Robert posted, the beginning part showed one of my complaints with certain flavors of Marshall. The distortion ends up more fuzz-like than clear and distinct. I liked the bit of playing that I heard in Jimi's clip too. Too bad they did the typical Gearwire thing and talk for 80% of the time.

Obviously, I prefer things on the heavier end of the spectrum, although most of my guitar heroes used less distortion than you would think, especially relative to modern metal.

[Katastrophe]

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A beat up partscaster, and a Marshall with a Variac. Brought new meaning to the term "hot rodded," way back in the 70s.

[ZMAN]

I would say this is it.
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[Jx2]

To me any time Im in a discussion about tone. It comes down to the mood Im in or what Im playing or listening to. I mean just look at the diffrence between say Joe Perry, Slash, Johnny Ramone, Zakk Wylde and Kerry King. No 2 are the same, even though some have similar similaritys. If I had to choose 1, Id go with Slash's just because of his influence on me.

I could be wrong and honestly am to lazy right now to google it. But didnt Jimmy Page also play through a Marshall? If Im right Im personaly suprised no one has mentioned him. Is because of how Wolfmother was slammed for sounding to much like them?

[Eric]

I find this very interesting. I've always wondered the difference between, say, a Jubilee, JTM45, JCM800, JMP whatever, JVM, etc. There are demos out there, but those are quite different and less useful than the amp being used in a song context, both rhythm and solo.

Anyone have any good comparisons?

[sunvalleylaw]

I would say this is it.
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That is definitely a good tone, but I have to say, I find his strat into Marshall tones more interesting. Same with Robert's vids, I like the Suhr into the Marshall (or Mack) better. Interesting. I wonder why that is.

[Katastrophe]

I dunno, SVL, maybe it's because single coil Strat players tend to play cleaner, with less gain.

It just could be that the Strat pickup / wood arrangement through a Marshall just sounds more pleasing to your ear.

Or, it just may be that LPs with humbuckers have more midrange and less high end on their tone (generally speaking), than a Strat, which tends to emphasize the high end a little more, with less emphasis on the mids.

Back on topic, here is one of the coolest Strat/Marshall lead tones around. You can see 'em in the background to the left. I saw Eric Johnson during the "Ah Via Musicom" tour and his tone live was impeccable, and about as close to his studio tones as you can get. He had to mess around with that old Echoplex after about every song, but it was awesome!

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[deeaa]

I dunno, I still haven't heard a better sound than my Ceriatone anywhere. This is a crappy recording, crank up the speakers...the thing just screams, and not much drive anyway.

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[Tone2TheBone]

Silver Anniversary Jubilee up close and personal. Still love it after 23 years so it's still my personal fav although I loves me a good plexi.

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[deeaa]

Those Jubilees do sound great. The blue-tolex anniversary model 6100's I also always liked a lot. I've never really played either with active pups, I think they might work wonderfully.

[deeaa]

I saw Eric Johnson during the "Ah Via Musicom" tour and his tone live was impeccable, and about as close to his studio tones as you can get.WtRk1YSpcKU

Hm, I find this a strange remark, as I've hardly _ever_ heard as good tones on records/made in the studio, as they can sound live.

Of course there are some superb recorded tones out there, which I've never heard live so they might of course sound inferior live...but...

At least I myself have never been able to capture but maybe like 40% of my sound on 'tape' much anywhere. Probably only once, on our 'Brutaali Magneetti' EP sessions the engineer managed to get a better tone on tape than I was accustomed to hearing when playing 'live'....maybe that was because I never loved my Fender amp back then live but I guess it recorded better than it sounded live.

That'd be this tone (not a Marshall; Gibson LP to a Fender DeVille):
http://www.saunalahti.fi/~juho/bm/BM_Tahdon_olla_se_mies.MP3

[Jimi75]

[QUOTE=Tone2TheBone]Silver Anniversary Jubilee up close and personal. Still love it after 23 years so it's still my personal fav although I loves me a good plexi.

The Jubilee is some seriously great sounding amph!
Great clip, thanks for waking up the G.A.S. monster in me :-)

[sunvalleylaw]

Yah Tone, that is a seriously good tone. I forgot about your Jubi!

[duhvoodooman]

I would say this is it.
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This kind of question is obviously supremely subjective, but Joe B has the best Les Paul tone in the world to my ear. It's only "half-Marshall", though, because he uses a bank of four 100W amp heads, one of which is a Marshall Jubilee (See that, Tone? JB loves him some Jube tone, too!). He only uses two heads at a time, but the Jubilee is always one of them, and he uses the 2nd amp to tailor his tone to whatever he's looking for. Last time I saw him, the other three were a Carol Ann, a Van Weelden Twinkleland (Dumble OD Special clone), and a Category 5, and he was running them through two Category 5 4x12 cabs. He changes the cabs and some of those other three heads from time to time (I've seen shots of his past set-ups with a Two-Rock and a Budda head), but that Jubilee head is always there. So I guess you could say that his "foundational" tone is Marshall.

BTW, I'm seeing him in Springfield, MA next Thurs. Nov.11. :rockya He just finished a European leg of his tour, and this will be the first show back here in the US.

EDIT: Here's a rundown on his rig from the man himself. Just about a year old now. In this case, he's using a Bogner head instead of the Category 5.

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[Tig]

So you threw in a ringer like Joe B to trump us all, eh? The guy is a prodigy, which is just plain cheating on your part... You should be ashamed!
:poke

Lucky you to see him again next week. We'll expect a full report, si?

[marnold]

That is definitely a good tone, but I have to say, I find his strat into Marshall tones more interesting. Same with Robert's vids, I like the Suhr into the Marshall (or Mack) better. Interesting. I wonder why that is.
I'm the opposite end of the spectrum. I feel that traditional single coils with a lot of gain just seem to be missing a lot in the balls department. That's where I thought those old Area 61 pups I used to have really shined. They probably didn't sound "vintagey" to most people when played clean, but they sure sounded great with any level of distortion.

Good thing we don't think the same on these things. The music world would be an awfully boring place then.

[sunvalleylaw]

Yah, I agree Marnold. Good thing we don't have to agree on it. Don't get me wrong, I do like the LP into Marshall tone. Tig, I also put Joe B. up as a ringer, but with his strat. With equipment improvements, he beats Mr. Hendrix's strat tone at this point. And if I had to pick one, Joe's LP or his Strat tone, i would pick the strat. I wish he would switch it up once in a while, as you only seem to see his LP now. Probably some contract requirement, but still. Mayer has his contract with Fender, but you seem him pulling out all sorts of guitars.

[Jimi75]

Everybody seems to be talkin' Joe B plus Marshall plus Strat. Well, check this out and you know what a Marshall and a Strat should sound like. By the way, Joe is not mixing amps in this clip, as it seems he uses just two Jubilee tops.

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[sunvalleylaw]

Nice Jimi! Thanks! I had found that one, but lost track of it and posted the other one instead. You'll note that I remembered, looked for, and posted your JTM45 with your JV strat and OCD plus Wah. I always was impressed by that tone too!

[Jimi75]

Nice Jimi! Thanks! I had found that one, but lost track of it and posted the other one instead. You'll note that I remembered, looked for, and posted your JTM45 with your JV strat and OCD plus Wah. I always was impressed by that tone too!

I saw it of course and I was happy for being mentioned with my JTM45 by you. THANK YOU that was very kind of you!

[ZMAN]

Ok Sunvalley. I know I just love the Humbucker Marshall tone, but if you are looking for a Strat/Marshall tone with balls, nothing beats this.
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[Spudman]

Speaking of Strats and Marshalls...anything by this guy qualifies as good in my book.

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For humbuckers I'll go with Michael Schenker

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[Katastrophe]

Silver Anniversary Jubilee up close and personal. Still love it after 23 years so it's still my personal fav although I loves me a good plexi.



No doubt about it, Tone, that Jubilee sounds amazing!

[TradAmpGuy]

Although I have many "favorite" Marshall tones... this is one of my favorite favorites:

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My $0.02 on the subject. Perfect blend of OD while still allowing the chords to sound out :rockon

[NWBasser]

From Tradamp guy:

"Perfect blend of OD while still allowing the chords to sound out "

I agree 100%.

I used to be enamoured of the super-saturated high gain sound, but found that tone to lack a lot of chord definition. I'm certainly in the Marshall camp now. My H&K Edition Tube seems to nail it pretty good.

[deeaa]

Ayuh, that's important...must be able to play 6-string chords no messying up.

[Retro Hound]

Please forgive my ignorance, I've been following this thread to try and get a handle on the "Marshall sound." A few songs I've heard on the radio in the last few days and I'm wondering if they are Marshall: Van Halen "Panama" and Boston "More than a Feeling."

[msteeln]

With ripping speaker cones and everything!

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Marshall amplification, the amp humper's choice.

[marnold]

Please forgive my ignorance, I've been following this thread to try and get a handle on the "Marshall sound." A few songs I've heard on the radio in the last few days and I'm wondering if they are Marshall: Van Halen "Panama" and Boston "More than a Feeling."
My $.02: I'd say yes to "Panama" and no to "More than a Feeling." Maybe I'm all wet.

[Spudman]

My $.02: I'd say yes to "Panama" and no to "More than a Feeling." Maybe I'm all wet.

More than a Feeling was probably a combination of Marshall and Scholz Rockman


What about your amplification?

Our live stuff is all Rockman gear. I have added some tweaks, which make my amps sound a little bit more like a tube stack. The Rockman sound is a smooth distortion so I added a couple of boxes that allow me to dial in the amount of buzz-saw roughness that I want. I’ve been using those distortion boxes in the studio and just started using it in the live gear.

In the studio I use my live rig in combination with some tube amps. I use Marshalls. I’ve used Mesa-Boogies over the last few years that I really like. And sometimes I’ll try an old Fender. I have a couple of old Rockman prototype amps and speakers that I like to use. It’s a collection of junk.

[marnold]

When I hear that song, I hear Rockman. It sounds, well, like Tom Scholz. He's got an easily identifiable tone to me.