Marshall relaunches 18Wer (and others)

[Plexi]

I did read, the amps would be a normal stock production item that would be offered. And not that they would be just making a few of them.
So that is weird..Maybe they are running into the trem build problems and are having second thoughts..lol

Richie

[zaphod_phil]

".. here they made the white Jaguar leather covered amp,with gold plated everything.. and end up sticking Sovtek tubes in a 20,000 dollar amp..

That amp was basically just their regular JTM45/BB RI, built with the Jaguar style cab, gold plated chassis and a pair of real nice Celestion Alnico speakers. The RI BB amp of course uses those Sovtek 5881s - which I agree does look pretty stupid. To me it appears that Marshall got their fingers somewhat burnt with the JTM45/BB RI, and if you look at their JCM800 RIs, you can see they went to a lot of trouble to get it right. They even collected lots of old JCM800s from around the world to measure the actual component values of the ones that appeared to sound best, and used those values for the RI version. So I tend to think that their 18W RI will turn out pretty good, although if produced in high volumes, it may not quite come up to the extremely high standards of some of the 18watters produced by the more experienced members of 18watt.com...

[mark0614]

Dear Phil

I think most of the JCM-800 amps sound pretty good to me. I would go so far as to say that the jcm800's sound better than the JTM-45ri amps. Mind you I have heard MP-3's of original amps and modded ri amps that sound pretty good.

I think the amp that Marshall won't be making a reissue of is the horrible JCM-900's. Perhaps it me, but are those an ugly sounding amp or what?

The fact that their marketing life was so short as compared to the JCM-800's is testimony to that.

Yours Sincerely

Mark Abbott

[dboul]

. . .Maybe they are running into the trem build problems and are having second thoughts..lol

Richie

Great one!!

Don't tell them your fix! Or maybe . . . Mitch needs to offer you a job . . .

[zaphod_phil]

I think the amp that Marshall won't be making a reissue of is the horrible JCM-900's. Perhaps it me, but are those an ugly sounding amp or what?

Hmmm, I don't remember saying anything about JCM900s, and like you I also tend to think (or hope) that it's very unlikely that Marshall would want to resurrect them either! Yes, their JCM800 re-issue amps do sound pretty good, and the gist of my previous point was that this bodes well for the 18W RIs.

[Plexi]

Dan:


HAHAHA..that is funny

Mitch needs to offer you a job . . .

As for the 900s, you know,alot of those amps came with 5881s, and you can swap them over to E34Ls,and a couple other tweaks,they are a much better sounding amp,more Marshally.
When these came out,i changed a few of them,and one guy ordered a brand new one,the UPS man brought it off the truck [brand new still in the box] And the guy who bought it said, whatever i did to this other 900s he heard,he wanted his done that way. Even after i told him it would void his warranty,he said he didn't care,just do it..LOL So some people must like them. I think it matters what music your playing with it.
As the 800s go, or 2203s and 2204s.. I like the 2203,with only a few small changes,,bad thing is,they are super loud, When they first came out,everyone said they were buzzy,and got a bad name, But i believe it was where they tried to keep them turned down,and only heard the preamp,using the MV..

Richie

[Plexi]

woops, i'll get this quote thing down one day.

[zaphod_phil]

If you take all the SS diodes out of the JCM900s' preamps they can sound pretty good. I once helped a guy do that to his JCM900 and he was very pleased. It became much more touch responsive and louder too, with a much more Plexi-like tone. I still wouldn't really want to see Marshall RI them, though...

[tranceboy]

Sounds great ill have to get me one!

[mark0614]

Dear Phil

I tend to agree with you, the more research that Marshall do the better off the 18 watter will sound.

Regarding the JCM900's I've worked on one for a friend of mine, we were replacing the output tubes. It was for a shop, it was a warranty job so the shop owner specified the cheapest tubes possible, which was Sovtek 5881's.

I took one look inside the amp and thought what the hell are Marshall thinking!

When the tubes were biased up the owner heard the amp and thought it sounded okay. I thought it sounded quiet for a 100watter, and the distorted tones sucked.

I also was given a 100watt X 2 Marshall power amp to fix. The amp had blown an output tube. It also used Sovtek 5881's, the guy who owned the amp had told me the amp had alway run really hot. He told me you could sit a cold pie on top of the power amp and when the gig was finished he had hot food for the trip home.

This amp does have height problem which didn't allow me to use EL34's without pulling the amps whole amp apart. I did try and use some NOS 6L6's but the bias supply of the amp wouldn't allow the tubes to be biased at 70% plate disapation. I had to use the Sovtek 5881's and set the bias to the maximum negative voltage to get the tubes biased correctly. The bias supply couldn't deliver anymore than -50VDC!

When I first put the new output tubes in, the amp was very quiet when set to full volume. To cut to the chase when the tube blew it destroyed a transistor in the cathode circuit of phase invertors in both channels.

Yours Sincerely

Mark Abbott.

[zaphod_phil]

I thought it sounded quiet for a 100watter, and the distorted tones sucked.

Removing the SS diodes from the preamp fixes that one!

I had to use the Sovtek 5881's and set the bias to the maximum negative voltage to get the tubes biased correctly. The bias supply couldn't deliver anymore than -50VDC!

Actually, a little known fact about Sovtek 5881s is that they can handle over 35W anode dissipation, as they're not actually 5881s at all. And they sound much better when biased accordingly. They redplate at above 40W.

[Plexi]

Maybe getting way off track from the post, but i had a 50 white marshall head JCM800,and a 900 100watter. I got to play them both side by side. I wanted to see/hear the difference. The 50 watt JCM800[like a 2204] was almost as loud as the 100 watter,very little difference. But the tone of each,there was no contest,the JCM had much better tone. The band that uses it,the other guitar player has one of the new marshalls.And i've sit out front at there gigs, and heard the white JCM against the new marshall 100watt dsl whatever..,and
the White JCM again has the better tone.{much better} This is all just my opinion.. We'll just have to see how the new 18s sound when they come on the market,or some people start getting them. At least marshall is seeing alot of people want the hand wired amps,and some already suggesting other amps for them to re-issiue Hard Wired and built more like the old amps..

Richie

[nipsey_russel]

I'm sure I've just overlooked something, but I've been utterly unable to find any official information about Marshall reissuing their 18 watter.

At the Marshall web site there's nothing about it, nor could I find any links from the forum at Plexi Palace, or from here.

Is this just kind of a 'press leak' situation?

Cheers,
Timmeh

[Plexi]

Mitch Colby posted on plexi palace,and showed the pics of the new amps.
We had posts here from Mitch,and a long running thread,but something happened on the weekend,and they had to reset the page to an earlier date,which we lost alot of those posts.
I know Mitch has worked for marshall for quite a while. There were also some UK links,that the amps would be in some of the stores there in about a month i believe, but not over in the USA till august.
I'll try to find the links,and info with the pics. If anyone has been keeping up with the plexi palace posts,seems alot of the posters now,are saying they will still want to buy the botique amps. As Mitch,Graydon Danny and other have said, theres room for both. Some will buy A marshall, Some will buy A GDS,Balls,Blockhead etc.. haha some may buy both..
There should be some new news on the marshall site..i can see where someone might think its all a joke,since it was posted on april fools day.
But i'm sure some news of the new amps will be in the mags and Marshall site soon.

Richie

[Graydon]

...Some will buy A marshall, Some will buy A GDS,Balls,Blockhead etc.. haha some may buy both...

And you might even find GDS or Balls buying a Marshall...

[dboul]

...Some will buy A marshall, Some will buy A GDS,Balls,Blockhead etc.. haha some may buy both...

And you might even find GDS or Balls buying a Marshall...

I'll be getting one. It's good research for all of us. You can always resell right away and probably not lose any money. I'm way too curious to pass it by . . . I just have to do a side-by-side comparison . . .

way too addicted . . .

[dboul]

In return for a few photos, measurements, part numbers and soundfiles, I was built this beautiful red clone which, as I've said several times already, is a distinctly superior amp to the original. It's quieter, more versatile, has a harmonically richer, more complex sound (clean or dirty) without actually crossing that border into Mesa Boogieland; and it sounds 'smoother', having none of the harshness that the trem channel on the original occasionally demonstrated...

This was the quote from Colin Macfarlane on another thread about his original 18 watt. If Marshall is "cloning" the old ones, maybe this is what we should expect.

[zaphod_phil]

Still no mention on Marshall's web site. However, Guitarist magazine in the UK (an excellent mag BTW) has published an announcement, complete with pictures, under the headline, "Marshall goes boutique". The 1947X is a 1X12 18W combo replica. The 1974CX is a 20W 1X12 extension cab with an "aged" Celestion speaker. The 2061X is a 20W "Lead & Bass 20" re-issue which comes with a 2X12 cab loaded with G12H-30s. And the 1959HW head whic replicates the classic 100W Plexi, with EL34s, which in Marshall's words "defined the sound of rock". Straight and slant front 4X12s with G12H-30s are available for it. All the models are handwired, and the small photo of the 18W chassis looks very much like any would find in this site's gallery section. Marshall said, "Our primary objective has been to achieve maximum authenticity in in terms of components, circuitry, constructional methods, materials, specifications, aesthetics, signal path, perfromance, tonal characteristics and feels". I guess that pretty much covers everything! So we we should expect to see close match with Ian's amp, complete with 47k PI tail resistor, and maybe it will be possible to get hold of pinstripe grill fabric from Marshall too....

[Plexi]

"""So we we should expect to see close match with Ian's amp, complete with 47k PI tail resistor, """

Phil I doubt it will be like Ians values.. the amp they are copying is a later version with the long grill,and those used the 56k..tail resistor..
As one person posted, marshall pretty much made the same statements when they put out the re-issiues.

"""Marshall said, "Our primary objective has been to achieve maximum authenticity in in terms of components, circuitry, constructional methods, materials, specifications, aesthetics, signal path, perfromance, tonal characteristics and feels". I guess that pretty much covers everything!"""

Well they came close..but they changed some things that were different than the originals,but most of those were the same things we changed,like the trem footswitch jack..and others like blockhead changed or moved things.. All this won't matter as long as the amps don't have problems,and they sound like they should...


You know, after i think about it, there probably aren't any 18s out there made as close to the originals,as what is built on here..lol
Richie

[zaphod_phil]

Could well be! I also noticed that the 18W RI used the RS matrix board with all the holes in it, just like the original 18W. That's a nice touch. Apart from that, the pictures weren't big enough to see other details, like the type of grill. Have you seen one of these RIs in real life, then?