reverbbb
09-18-2004, 02:01 AM
I walked in to my local independent store today to get some speaker cables. I noticed that the Marshall rep had made good on his promise to get some new stuff into that store. There was more than twice as many Marshall products in the store than last week.
Then I walked into the amp room (with sliding glass door :wink: ). There it was. The new hand-wired 20W Marshall head in a classic small chassis (model 2061). It was sitting on top of a 1987X that I had been playing for a while. They were both on top of the 1960AX cabinet (4x12 greenbacks) and the 20W was already plugged in. So, I grabbed a 1958 RI and pulled up a seat.
There is no Standby switch, so I just turned her on and let her rip. There are two channels with two inputs for each channel. The input 1 is the hot jack and the input 2 is the buffered jack (probably -3db). The second channel was much more lighter and less gainy. Sort of a clean sound, but not the best clean that I have ever heard. It was nothing like a Fender clean. But is was very musical and usable. There is only one tone knob on each channel and a volume knob on each channel for a total of four knobs and four input jacks. Nice look and symmetry.
Now, the real review. I got a royal taste of tone bliss when I plugged into the left channel (hot side). This was a nice tasty overdrive that provided very true Marshall tone. There was no edginess or artifacts. Just pure driving tone at a decent volume. Definately loud, but managble. This amp could grind away at any power chord I through at it. It was slightly mushy on the neck pup of the R8, but not too bad. This amp never seemed to go out of control, even when I had the volume up to 9 at one point. It was very tasty at the 6 setting and right on around 7.5 setting. The leads were not as screaming as a high gain amp. My high bending licks are not the best around, so I can not give much assessment to that spectrum. But from watching the video that someone posted a link to, I would say this amp is very capable of getting right in the thick of things just like the video showed.
I was unable to get a price. I have heard these will be selling for around $1600~$1800. But I think my store would like to keep it in stock for a little while longer. It is definately an attention getter.
This amp was so nice, it has me contemplating selling my Maz 18 Jr for the cash towards this little jewel. It is one of those amps that people would love to use at home and in small venues and not have to haul 125 lbs of tone around. This amp will hold its own in most venues. And since most venues are not allowing the 100W open scene any more, this amp really fits the needs of the 60's~70's Marshall tone masters. When you want to think of what tone will this amp get, think "All Right Now" by Paul Rodgers and Free. If that is the sond you want, this is the amp for you.
Then I walked into the amp room (with sliding glass door :wink: ). There it was. The new hand-wired 20W Marshall head in a classic small chassis (model 2061). It was sitting on top of a 1987X that I had been playing for a while. They were both on top of the 1960AX cabinet (4x12 greenbacks) and the 20W was already plugged in. So, I grabbed a 1958 RI and pulled up a seat.
There is no Standby switch, so I just turned her on and let her rip. There are two channels with two inputs for each channel. The input 1 is the hot jack and the input 2 is the buffered jack (probably -3db). The second channel was much more lighter and less gainy. Sort of a clean sound, but not the best clean that I have ever heard. It was nothing like a Fender clean. But is was very musical and usable. There is only one tone knob on each channel and a volume knob on each channel for a total of four knobs and four input jacks. Nice look and symmetry.
Now, the real review. I got a royal taste of tone bliss when I plugged into the left channel (hot side). This was a nice tasty overdrive that provided very true Marshall tone. There was no edginess or artifacts. Just pure driving tone at a decent volume. Definately loud, but managble. This amp could grind away at any power chord I through at it. It was slightly mushy on the neck pup of the R8, but not too bad. This amp never seemed to go out of control, even when I had the volume up to 9 at one point. It was very tasty at the 6 setting and right on around 7.5 setting. The leads were not as screaming as a high gain amp. My high bending licks are not the best around, so I can not give much assessment to that spectrum. But from watching the video that someone posted a link to, I would say this amp is very capable of getting right in the thick of things just like the video showed.
I was unable to get a price. I have heard these will be selling for around $1600~$1800. But I think my store would like to keep it in stock for a little while longer. It is definately an attention getter.
This amp was so nice, it has me contemplating selling my Maz 18 Jr for the cash towards this little jewel. It is one of those amps that people would love to use at home and in small venues and not have to haul 125 lbs of tone around. This amp will hold its own in most venues. And since most venues are not allowing the 100W open scene any more, this amp really fits the needs of the 60's~70's Marshall tone masters. When you want to think of what tone will this amp get, think "All Right Now" by Paul Rodgers and Free. If that is the sond you want, this is the amp for you.