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” Is your amp still for sale?”

I got this text on Sunday morning, I was bleary eyed as CJ my girlfriend made me a delicious breakfast, we had croissants, cereals, fruit, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, sausages…..oooooh and wine gums.

Having left Heroes of Switzerland in Dec 2008, I’ve found myself in the position of not gigging and quite frankly not missing gigging. The experiences of the last 4 years had made me think that a 2 x 12 combo might well be a better proposition as despite the TSL60 being the quietist amp Marshall make, all sound engineers just see its gleaming logo and imagine Motorhead and then treat it like a plexi and try to turn you down before you’ve even played a note.

In addition I figured that with modern drumming styles using a lot of ride cymbals, I’d be better off with a crisper midrange to cut through rather than turn up. So on my watch list among others such as Vox and Orange was a used Boogie Lonestar. As they seem to go for around a grand and have the parrallel FX loop like the TSL. But as I’ve been really getting into photography recently. I was in no real hurry to try these theories out. If a band or project appears in the future I’ll make my choices then and not before.

So the Marshall JCM2000 TSL60 and its 1960A 4 x 12 have been sitting in my room for the last 18 months not really doing much. I’ve not fired up the amp for at least 3 months and with the possibility of relocating down to the smoke still a long term goal, as well as CJ’s flat having limited storage (after her Imelda Marcos style shoe collection is in place), I’d put the amp up for sale rather tentitavely on Guitarmarts website. I wasn’t desperate for a buyer, but if one came around I’d be happy to sell, maybe buy a mac laptop or something.

“Err Yes”

“Great” came the reply. “I’ll give you £500″

H’mm

I didn’t advertise my rig at that price

The going rate for a used Marshall TSL60 (and as I write the worlds 107th best guitarblog according to what some website recently said, I ought to fucking know) is around £380-£425 depending on condition, mines had a service from Hotrox and new JJ Tesla tubes, and has a newish footswitch, the 1960A 4 x 12 is clean apart from a small tear in the levant on the back, they go for around £200-250 used depending on cosmetic condition.

Bearing these factors in mind, I’d advertised the whole rig for £625 and figured I’d drop to £600 if I could smell the money. Mine is not immaculate, but y’know its not trashed either and has been on the whole looked after well.

After explaining that wasn’t really an acceptable price and I found the texters manner quite rude another text arrived

“I’m sorry Im only 16 and don’t have any more money”

“Well, start saving then”

“I’ve seen them elsewhere for £500″

“Really so go buy that one then” I replied

“they are too far away, the head is in Belfast and the cab is in Plymouth”

So after explaining the going rate of said items, this whippersnapper informs me of the fact he’s seen a TSL60 head on ebay for £300. He’s right there is one, but its a brochure photo and the seller has a rating of Zero, all the other TSL 60 heads for sale are £400 upwards as they are on Gumtree……….Hmmmm. If its too good to be true, it usually is as my mother used to say. I’d say its a scam, but my young friend is having none of it and chooses to look elsewhere.

I don’t know whether its the decline of educational standards or to blame the parents, but i’ve found that a lot of potential buyers and sellers on the used guitarkit market to not only be abrasive, but profoundly stupid to boot.

Accordsing to GAK and Coda (2 of the biggest dealers in the UK)

A new Marshall TSL60 is £741
A new Marshall 1960A 4 x 12 is £469

Thats £1210! so even though mines a decade old, Im not likely to let it go for nearly a third of its retail am I. Well not unless I need to buy crack rocks urgently…..and I don’t.

Add to this that VAT is rising to 20% in January, that ‘ll bump it up another £30, plus Marshall usually have a January price rise and I reckon you could see the new retail of said kit go to £1300.

So I’m staying put. I don’t need the cash, and to be frank I’d rather it sits there and rots away than be used by some ill mannered imbecile with no concept of politeness or even decency. If your gonna hagggle don’t take the piss. If this lad had gone up a bit, maybe we could have done a deal, but no he wanted to dictate terms and nothing could have fucked me off more.

I’ve been buying a lot of camera kit recently, most of it at a very reduced price, but when dealing with potential sellers, I’m always polite and never try to dictate terms. I’ve gotten some great bargains, but I’ve never taken the piss and considering i’ve paid about £900 less for my complete EOS system (2 lenses, DSLR Body, Speedlight & Transmitter) than the systems current retail prices. Manners do go a long way.

We guitarists are weird creatures, some of us are all gadgets an gizmo’s, with racks like the Starship Enterprise and pedalboards and multi fx units all blinking lights (The Edge for example), others are the opposite Beaten up old guitar into beaten up old amp via curly lead (Bernie Marsden/BB King et al).

Now Im not knocking either approach as to me both are valid ways to go if the end result is excellent. But Ive been thinking recently about the idea of choice and choices in the modern world. I guess this started with me looking to upgrade my Digital SLR camera amnd realising there were only 2 or 3 serious choices at best Nikon, Canon, used or new etc.

We guitarists are very lucky though, there are literally hundereds of gear options available from a plethora of manafacturers and quite frankly in this age of cheap foreign labour and CNC manafacturing (nearly) all of these options are affordable to the average player.

However at a social event the other week I was introduced to another guitarist and of course (as usual) the talk turned to our guitars, gear, our own experiences and stuff we liked or disliked. Then this chap threw a great question in the mix….. to name my dream amplifier in an ideal world.

Now this got me thinking, as a long time Marshall user (JCM2000/JCM800/Jubilee & Artiste combos, plus my brief sojurn with a JMP-1 rack based system) I realised that what I’d really want isnt actually made by Marshall, well not in the form I’d want it.

I find this strange as Marshall have launched loads of products in the last 3 years and currently their offering is bigger than its ever been. But my ideal amp is strangely not there.

So here goes from Fantasy amp land the Marshall Jez Sullivan JS50+ 2 x 12 combo.

The specs are all stuff Marshall currently make, so if anyone from Marshall is reading this I suggest you knock one up now.

Cabinet: Bluesbreaker style birch ply cab (this has a bigger physical Mass than Marshalls current 2 x 12 cab and so will deliver a lot more low end, so a 4 x 12 cab player like me will find it less of a compromise and also with the open back, will get a bigger spread onstage at a smaller gig.)

Chassis: Essentially a DSL 50 50 watt 2 x 12 EL34 based amp, but with a couple of tweeks to my taste…..such as

1: Switchable gain stage on the dirty channel like the DSL401 combo

2: A Parrallel FX loop, serial loops are rubbish and offer less tonal control over the effected signal. Why people even try to use them is absolutely beyond me

3: 1 Clelestion Vintage 30 Speaker and 1 Celestion G75 (for a great combination of vintage and modern tones)

4: A seperate midrange switch on the extra gain stage as this will likely be the only EQ stage choice you need between channels

I’d retail these for around £1000GBP and you know what…..

I think they’d sell…. and not just to me….fucking loads.

The idea of having a vintage style Marshall that looks not only classic, but with more features and juice under the hood would be an absolute winner, think about it. All guitarists (guys in Function/Covers bands who need versatility in a smaller format. Guys on the toilet circuit who want the tone to come from the amp rather than additional pedals. Indie Schmindie guys who want the reliability and tone, but don’t want the “Metal ” image….etc etc. Baby Boomer guitarists who can spend a grand or two on a Mesa Boogie and go on about the good old days with their JTM 45 and how they once had a fight with Clapton down the Dog & Duck in Peckham in 1967 or whatever). Hell I even thought of a name for it

The “Hot-Breaker”, Son of Bluesbreaker, all the heritage, all the tone, all the Marshall….

Now I really really dont understand why Marshall dont make something like this as it would be a great competitor to all the boutique combos out there, but then I had a quick scan of the marshall range and really what there doing now is reacting to trends rather than setting them.

Take the last few big Marshall amps to have come out

Vintage Modern – Single channel front end with gain stage you can back off (Not unlike a Cornford Richie Kotzen me thinks)

JVM410 – 4 channel, Hi gain multi modes, midi switching (Did anyone say er Diezel VH4….er….. cough)

Class 5 Combo – Its one thing to have your employees leave and start their own company (Blackstar), but really making a competitor to their best selling amp the Blackstar HT-5 just reeks of pettyness.

Thing is to me Marshall should really not worry about the competition and just build amps that people want. Its a tough market now and with the likes of Bogner deciding to go mass Market with their chinese made Alchemist series. Perhaps the boys and girls of Bletchley should start to once again set some trends rather than following them.

Lots of OMG shock horror on various guitar forums at the moment. Joe Satriani has apparently decided to dump his longstanding endorsement of Peavey amps and use Marshall JVM410’s on the upcoming tour of the new “Supergroup” Chickenfoot. Despite having the Peavey JSX signature series heads made to his exacting specifications, Satriani has decided to go for the new(ish) 4 channel head from marshall.

Now lots of people are pointing out quite correctly that Satch doesnt actually use the 2 distortion channels on his own amps & instead uses his own signature distortion pedal, made by Vox…. The Satchurator through his Peaveys clean channel and that its unlikely that there will be much difference in tone through the clean channel of a JVM.

Whatever the reason its good news for Marshall, who, thanks to the exchange rate and a much revamped product line, seem to be regaining ground lost in recent years. But all this news has done to my mind is point out the absolute nonsense surrounding Endorsement deals and the “signature” product industry as a whole.

Its quite common knowledge that a guitarist may be endorsing one brand of amplifier or guitar, while actually using another. The biggest culprits for this racket must surely be Laney & Crate, who whenever I see the artists in their adverts onstage its usually with another brand of amplifier. When Oceansize mentioned how good Laney were in a recent issue of Guitarist, it was embarrissing to see in the accompanying pictures of their backline a Marshall JCM2000 head perched atop a Laney 4 x12 in the background. Crate are also comical in the way most of their endorsers either endorse cabinets only and use another brand of amp ( Marcos Curiel from POD with a Mesa dual rectifier) or just practise amps (Lita Ford/Yngwie Malmsteen). In the early 90’s Bon Jovi’s Ritchie Sambora had a wall of Fender Tonemaster heads onstage and hidden behind them 5 rackmounted Marshall JCM800’s . Even Status Quo allegedly have Vox AC30 chassis built into Marshall JCM cabinets.

The biggest pisstakers in all this though are a tie between

1: Metallica – Kirk Hammetts new signature Randall Head isn’t all he uses, he still confesses to using Boogies live, with the bulk of his tone being created by Triaxis preamps and Dual Rectifiers again, and while James Hetfield talked to Guitarist mag about using a Diezel VH4 as the main amp in the woeful “St. Anger “sessions. His producer Bob Rock told Guitar world it was all done with a Marshall DSL100. Not that I imagine they’d be queuing up to admit to that one…..Ahem.

2: Eddie Van Halen – THe 5150 brand is now ubiquitous, with products made by Fender, Dunlop, Peavey, Musicman & Kramer. The big problem here is while Eddie is a legend, do you really want to buy equipment from a man who hasn’t written anything decent for 17+ years & made all his greatest work on a “parts” guitar costing $50 & an old Marshall plexi?

As with guitars it gets even weirder. Despite having longstanding endorsements with PRS & Gibson. The one guitar Rush’s Alex Lifeson has used as his main recording guitar for the last 2 decades is a decidedly non collectable 52 reissue telecaster. Lifeson bought it in 83 and its on pretty much every Rush record since then.

Obviously a musician has the right to use whatever he or she feels does the job best. But in this world of massive advertising campaigns and marketing hyperbole. It’d be nice to see some honesty rather than PR for a change.

Buy the Marshall JVM410 Head at zZounds.com – click here

Well I’ve finally tried a JVM410 head so here goes….

Overall the construction is the usual Marshall….birch ply cab, steel chassis, black tolex. Marshall have abandoned the slimline plastic vents and gone back to the JCM800/900 style top vent.

The back panel has both a serial & parrallel FX loops, the parrallel has a level control and the speaker connectors actually have a guide to how to connect regarding ohm..age and the like, so the chances of blowing up the head through misconnection are pretty much nil.

The controls are remisniscent of a TSL100, however the mode buttons do look a bit plasticy & naff, other than that minor point, it looks like it means business.

The big plus of this 4 channel multi mode head, is its user interface. Someone at Marshall has clearly realised that although theres a generation who’ve grown up on multi FX and line 6 pods, many guitarists will be intimidated by an amp head with 28 controls on its front panel.So everything is very simple to use. The fact its programmable means it can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be

By pressing the 1st button on the 6 function footswitch you can access channel ones clean sound, tap it again and it goes to amber mode, which provides a nice tight clean which was almost Fender twinish, tap again and in red mode theirs a nice almost breaking up type clean. Kinda country ish. Its possible to go through the first four buttons this way and access each channel and each mode, as well as solo boost and reverb.
The test guitar, a burstbucker equipped Les Paul gave all the right noises on the Crunch channel. The usual ‘Classic’ Rock type sounds are all there, But if anything I thought they were a bit subdued.

OD1 is probably the best channel as far as distortion goes, using the modes I was able to get some pretty good sounds, it was like a TSL only slightly more refined as regarding the articulation of individual notes, especially at the lower end. Big riffs sounded big and well defined. Amber mode on OD1 was superb. A big modern hi gain crunch with plenty of low end definition. All the Tool/Deftones type sounds are here.

OD2 Would be good for soloing, personally I found it way over gained for riffing, but I imagine if Metal’s your thing then you’d spend all day on this channel. But tonally it was more kinda Randall-ish, more transistorised sounding. I guess if your into Hatebreed/Pantera et al this channel is for you.

The footswitch interacts with all the front panel controls, so its possible to set them up anyway you wish, in addition the dual master volumes are a godsend, beside solo boosts I think the ability to raise your channel volume mid song at a gig a realistic benefit for sure. The footswitch’s functionality means you could have the whole gig programmed up on it. Or if you’ve rack mounted FX or a midi compatible multi effect. You could really go to town, it would be like having a JMP-1 in a power amp. The other big plus is by using a 1/4″ jack cable to link the footswitch to the amp, if it does fail its quickly replaceable. As someone who’s had a few failiures with the TSL’s 5 way switch, this feature is long overdue.

Instead of the JCM2000’s scoop and deep switches we get the mosfet powered resonance control from the Mode 4, using this and the prescence controls along with each channels 3 band EQ, I was able to get a fairly wide range of tones. No it doesn’t sound like a Boogie, but the whole point is that it sounds like a Marshall.

The accutronics reverb of earlier Marshalls has been replaced by a digital plate. This is actually sensible as it reduced weight and does not make a rattling noise when the amp is in the back of a car/van. I also imagine it assists in keeping the retail price down as well.

My overall impression is of a good solid working mans valve head, essentially this is a refined TSL. My only criticism is the front panel, its too busy, I think if Marshall had gone for one set of global programmable gain-bass-mid-treble-channel volume controls like the H & K Switchblade, then this amp would only have around half the control knobs and retain all of the functions. Somehow too many buttons don’t go with a Marshall in my humble opinion.

However the price is the real Killer, the RRP of £899 translates to £750-879 in the real world. The only amp that comes anywhere close in specification at this price is the H&K switchblade although thats not as good for ‘Classic rock’ type tones and won’t hold its residual value quite as well.

Overall this is an impressive package, the tones alone are good, but the way the JVM interacts with the user is worth the price of admission alone.

Buy the Marshall JVM410 Head at zZounds.com - click here

Edit: Marshall JVM 410 Head Review now available!

Marshall have finally announced the TSL100’s successor. The Marshall JVM (named after Jim & Victoria Marshall, his daughter & current MD) comes as either a 100watt head or 100watt 2 x 12 combo. The features look mighty impressive for the money.

Basically  its all valve (4 x EL34s, 5x ECC83 preamp tubes)

4 channels, Clean, Crunch, OD1, OD2

3 modes on each channel, these are all switchable, so thats 12 sounds in all or 128 if you’ve got a midi switcher.

Digital Reverb

1 Parallel FX loop (maybe my emails bitching to them all these years about the 2 effects loops on the TSL100 worked after all)

Dual Master volume, so you can up the volume at the touch of a button, handy for solo’s or even if the soundman is of the usual cretinous standard.

12 function assignable footswitch. Thats right so you can assign one button for reverb, one for FX loop punch in etc. or just have your basic sounds, then louder versions on the second button functon.

Whats cool is that the footswitch uses a 1/4″ mono jack, so you can use any length lead & have none of this fucking around with 7 pin dins etc. The TSL100 was a great amp, but was let down by the footswitch cable and that rather iffy FX loop, that added a weird film to the tone. Weirdly enough the TSL60 has a brilliant loop, but lacks the clean headroom.

While I don’t expect Marshall to be denting Dual Rectifier sales anytime soon. Anyone looking at a Peavey JSX, Hughes & Kettner or Engl head may reconsider.

The UK rrp of £899.99 is pretty damn good. An ENGL of similar spec is nearer £1400 and from what I’ve heard on the grapevine, reliability is an issue……. A  H & K Switchblade is a grand, A Tri-amp is nearer two.

As a long time TSL100 user, I’ll be interested to see how these do.

But what I suspect will happen is that Marshall we discontinue the ModeFour series. This mid decade attempt to cash in on Nu Metal has not worked well. The only time I’ve heard a ModeFour up Close it sounded rather characterless, although that could of been the guitarist playing it. But someone who wants a Boogie will buy a Boogie, an American on a budget looking for a Hybrid head will buy a Randall

Most dealers are pre ordering now. Expect to be able to touch one in March.

After looking on the internet Many people have commented that the amp doesn’t sound all that hot on the video footage currently on YouTube. I’d wager that was down to getting a rather boring staid Classic Rock guitarist to demo a modern amp. To put it bluntly I could have done a better job myself;) I’ll wait to try one out and post on here as soon as.

Buy the Marshall JVM410 at zZounds.com – click here

Edit: Marshall JVM 410 Head Review now up!