I recently sold my JTM45 Marshall Stack in favor of more portable gear...miss the tone....
More Controversy....
- Thread starter Sp8ctre
- Start date
I recently sold my JTM45 Marshall Stack in favor of more portable gear...miss the tone....
jjudas
Ambassador of Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler
I don't have a big amp anymore. Years ago I had huge cabinets and heads. Now I just have a small Fender Frontman PR241 38 watt solid state amp. I don't have the space for big amps. I also a Marshall cabinet with 1 - 10" Celestion. I use the external speaker jack and play through it. Its more than my house can handle. I'm getting a new 20 watt SS Fender Champion from my woman for Christmas. I wanted a new amp to play around with, it was only $99.
Boogie
Member
You don't need to spend big money, just smart $$ on quality. I agree with the tried-n-true Belden/Switchcraft combo, but I graduated to Canare GS-6 and Neutrik a long time ago. It's reasonably flexible, resilient to bass players in work boots, and, to my ears, sounds excellent. The nerd-specs (capacitance, resistance, etc.) look good, too. Just fire up your soldering iron, Amazon the cable and connectors, and don't look back.
RVA
Ambassador
If I were to spend the extra $$, that is exactly what I would do. At least you can repair it when it gets faulty. I have tried the "solderless" systems and I found them lacking - no more reliable than an inexpensive cable.
Boogie
Member
I only like the solderless for the pedalboard. Even then, there are exceptions. I have 100% George L's cable but their compression-termination connectors can need reseating if you swap pedals a lot. They just aren't that impervious to stress and strain. Every time I terminate them, I put a VOM on 'em to confirm low resistance, otherwise I didn't seat them right. It doesn't sound like it would make much difference, but multiply that by 10 pedals and it adds up. There are several soldered connections on my board now.
Tip: spend the money on quality cable, not fancy whiz-bang connectors. George L's are nice and high quality, but I can buy Neutrik for less $ and solder a joint more reliably than George L's can squish.
RVA
Ambassador
High quality cables means good shielding, the key to low noise, right?
jjudas
Ambassador of Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler
I'm solid state all the way. I've had tube amps. They are costly and require maintenance. I was gonna get a 40 watt but honestly most of the time (98%), I play with head phones on. I like the Marshall 50 and 100 watt combos.
Marshall & Moonshine
Active Member
I often forget that I own an old Fender Champion 110, made in the 90s. It's a 25w SS 1x10 combo. It's got a drive channel, but that's not where the fun is. It's got a great clean, spring reverb tank (not the best, but pretty good!) and a cool SS amp OD sound when you crank it up. I bought it in the uscg (mid 90s) and I'll never sell it. Beyond that, I've got my 2204 and the amp I built (tweed Princeton as a 2x10 combo, with a few tweaks) to round out the stable....for now.
I'll build a few more, some to keep, some to sell to fund the keepers. 
RVA
Ambassador
Nice! This calls for pics!!!I often forget that I own an old Fender Champion 110, made in the 90s. It's a 25w SS 1x10 combo. It's got a drive channel, but that's not where the fun is. It's got a great clean, spring reverb tank (not the best, but pretty good!) and a cool SS amp OD sound when you crank it up. I bought it in the uscg (mid 90s) and I'll never sell it. Beyond that, I've got my 2204 and the amp I built (tweed Princeton as a 2x10 combo, with a few tweaks) to round out the stable....for now.
jjudas
Ambassador of Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler
Okay... I'm no expert when it comes to amps compared to some but my brain can be picked.
jjudas
Ambassador of Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler
It sounds like you have some really cool stuff!I often forget that I own an old Fender Champion 110, made in the 90s. It's a 25w SS 1x10 combo. It's got a drive channel, but that's not where the fun is. It's got a great clean, spring reverb tank (not the best, but pretty good!) and a cool SS amp OD sound when you crank it up. I bought it in the uscg (mid 90s) and I'll never sell it. Beyond that, I've got my 2204 and the amp I built (tweed Princeton as a 2x10 combo, with a few tweaks) to round out the stable....for now.
Sérgio
Ambassador of CaliZilian Affairs
Thing with tube amps is that in my experience you can't really have what they can give unless you crank them up big time.
So most of the time we can't really enjoy their organic drive or a great clean crunch in our home playing and rehearsals, 'cause we don't want to disturb the family, have police officers at our door or get deaf in a hermetic studio room...
That's where solid state amps are like a Swiss Army Knife.
So most of the time we can't really enjoy their organic drive or a great clean crunch in our home playing and rehearsals, 'cause we don't want to disturb the family, have police officers at our door or get deaf in a hermetic studio room...
That's where solid state amps are like a Swiss Army Knife.
I get really good tone from my twin Marshall DSL40C's at about half gain and moderate volume.
I've experimented with SS amps, but they don't sound the same to me, especially evident on recordings....and yes, they do come on more vibrantly at eelevated volumes....
The closest I ever got too SS was this 1997 Marshall Valvestate VS265 2X12 stereo chorus combo. I bought it new, just to minimize moving my JTM45 Full Stack around to the smaller venues....still doesn't match the all tube DSL40C for richness...
Marshall & Moonshine
Active Member
Attenuate!
gball
Ambassador of Boogie
I found my solution:
I've been gushing about this thing since I bought it, but I still find something more to love about it every time I switch it on.
Yes, as expected, it sounds utterly amazing at band-volume levels. But what's so great about it is the versatility: at bedroom/home volume it retains virtually all of the character that it has at high volume and is just as touch-sensitive and dynamic. All you lose is a bit of power tube grind, which of course sucks, but can be compensated for with a pedal easily. Add in the CabClone, that gives you the ability to go direct or just plug in a set of 'phones and start wailing without anyone else hearing it, and it's a package that has already displaced 3 other amps in my house and has my SS Orange collecting dust. It's simply better as a practice solution than the Orange is, and another level of the versatility is that all 6 modes sound great and are actually usable. I got it all from glassy Blackface clean to full Mesa facemelt and everything in between. The Crunch mode even out-Marshalls most Marshalls I have played through.
This thing would be worth the money at twice the price. For $1400 it's an absolute steal.
I've been gushing about this thing since I bought it, but I still find something more to love about it every time I switch it on.
Yes, as expected, it sounds utterly amazing at band-volume levels. But what's so great about it is the versatility: at bedroom/home volume it retains virtually all of the character that it has at high volume and is just as touch-sensitive and dynamic. All you lose is a bit of power tube grind, which of course sucks, but can be compensated for with a pedal easily. Add in the CabClone, that gives you the ability to go direct or just plug in a set of 'phones and start wailing without anyone else hearing it, and it's a package that has already displaced 3 other amps in my house and has my SS Orange collecting dust. It's simply better as a practice solution than the Orange is, and another level of the versatility is that all 6 modes sound great and are actually usable. I got it all from glassy Blackface clean to full Mesa facemelt and everything in between. The Crunch mode even out-Marshalls most Marshalls I have played through.
This thing would be worth the money at twice the price. For $1400 it's an absolute steal.