Chasing a Particular Tone-Marshall

surfsteve

surfsteve

Pendejo
So, years ago I posted this, a scooped "hollow" Marshally tone that I associate with Mick Ronson and John Frusciante (on BSSM). Think Queen Bitch when the electric kicks in or the outro to Apache Rose Peacock.

After a bit of sleuthing, I discovered they both used 200W Marshall Majors. I hear similar stuff from Animals and the Wall era Gilmour, but he uses Hiwatts.

Is it mostly just a scooped Marshall sound with massive amounts of headroom?
 
surfsteve said:
So, years ago I posted this, a scooped "hollow" Marshally tone that I associate with Mick Ronson and John Frusciante (on BSSM). Think Queen Bitch when the electric kicks in or the outro to Apache Rose Peacock.

After a bit of sleuthing, I discovered they both used 200W Marshall Majors. I hear similar stuff from Animals and the Wall era Gilmour, but he uses Hiwatts.

Is it mostly just a scooped Marshall sound with massive amounts of headroom?
Click to expand...

They'd be known as a plexi. Yes? No? I'm asking because I don't know for sure.

Psychotronic said:
It may have something to do with how you jumper the inputs on them, as well as boosting the input.
Click to expand...

This new PCB takes the idea of a plexi with the channels jumpers and puts it in a pedal.

I have some boards on order.

This is a rough and dirty demo from the creator. He was in a bit of a hurry to get it put together.

 
dodgechargerfan said:
They'd be known as a plexi. Yes? No? I'm asking because I don't know for sure.



This new PCB takes the idea of a plexi with the channels jumpers and puts it in a pedal.

I have some boards on order.

This is a rough and dirty demo from the creator. He was in a bit of a hurry to get it put together.

Click to expand...





Must check this later.
 
Scott Powell said:
The thing with Majors is they are SO damned loud that to get that tone you are referring to ( i love it too!!) it will flatten nearby walls
Click to expand...

This is pretty much what I was hoping to hear, now, how to get that at bedroom levels. Probably unobtainium.
 
If you want to get close to that tone at bedroom levels, I suggest either the JMP-1 rack mountable preamp or the JMP-1 combo amp. (Although they have the same name, the two are very different. )

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Try a Marshall Plexi type amp with EH 6CA7s. They're basically 6L6GCs made electrically compatible with EL34 circuits. They sound different than the original Sylvania 6CA7s and the current JJ 6CA7s, which are more of a blend between the 6L6GC and EL34 sound.
 
There were a few Major's...

The first model the "Marshall 200", known as The Pig, used an active Bass/Treble tone stack. This is the model the Ronson used. I haven't really researched these but I wonder if their tone stack wasn't borrowed from Ampeg, who had become the industry standard in bass amps by the late '60's.

Shortly afterwards, they switched to a more straight-forward Marshall passive tone stack and it became little more than a 200W Superbass (this is when the put the name Marshall Major on). I believe this is what Frusciante and Blackmore used.

surfsteve said:
This is pretty much what I was hoping to hear, now, how to get that at bedroom levels. Probably unobtainium.
Click to expand...

Menatone makes a Pig-n-a-Pedal for Ronson tones.
maxresdefault.jpg


https://www.google.com/search?q=meantone+pig&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=menatone+pig&tbm=vid
 
Last edited:
This video is pretty good, and the one by bugopera.



There is a YT video using a Manley M-200 pedal which is quite good. I wonder if the Skreddy P19 is similar? (Haven't checked yet, in a squabble with the Mrs. at the moment)

I think this is the way I'm going. Don't need a 200W Marshall. I watched a video with Mick Ronson discussing his playing, and he was playing a Tele through a small combo and getting quite close to what I'm talking about. A "cocked" wah (Cry-Baby) enters the equation.
 
jaxn slim said:
If you want to get close to that tone at bedroom levels, I suggest either the JMP-1 rack mountable preamp or the JMP-1 combo amp. (Although they have the same name, the two are very different. )

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

The JMP-1 combo amp is the 1-watter that came out a few years ago? Is it that good? Must admit, never took theose seriously. If I'm going that way, I'm thinking the Fargen Mini-Plex II. # uno on my GAS list.
 
surfsteve said:
The JMP-1 combo amp is the 1-watter that came out a few years ago? Is it that good? Must admit, never took theose seriously. If I'm going that way, I'm thinking the Fargen Mini-Plex II. # uno on my GAS list.
Click to expand...
Yes, that's the one. I don't know anything about the Fargen, but the JMP-1 is a great little amp.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
surfsteve said:
I think this is the way I'm going. Don't need a 200W Marshall. I watched a video with Mick Ronson discussing his playing, and he was playing a Tele through a small combo and getting quite close to what I'm talking about. A "cocked" wah (Cry-Baby) enters the equation.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I hear a lot of that on the Ziggy Stardust live album...as well as a lot of Echoplex.
 
GilmourD said:
Try a Marshall Plexi type amp with EH 6CA7s. They're basically 6L6GCs made electrically compatible with EL34 circuits. They sound different than the original Sylvania 6CA7s and the current JJ 6CA7s, which are more of a blend between the 6L6GC and EL34 sound.
Click to expand...

I hear what you are saying, and I'm a total neophyte at tube nuances, but from a few listens to soundclips of the tubes (6CA7s and EL34s and 6L6s), I'm almost curious if it's not a higher powered tube like KT-66 or KT-77s which had more of the character I'm referencing. Thoughts?
 
surfsteve said:
Yeah, now I'm wondering if the Echoplex pre-amp isn't the biggest piece of the equation.
Click to expand...
Psychotronic said:
A piece? Sure. The BIGGEST piece? Nah,the Echoplex was too subtle for that. Also, don't discount the studio/producer as part of the equation.
Click to expand...

I agree. The EP preamp isn't big on tone shaping. It just adds a little "umph" the signal. It's not something you would really notice outside of a A-B comparison.
 
surfsteve said:
I hear what you are saying, and I'm a total neophyte at tube nuances, but from a few listens to soundclips of the tubes (6CA7s and EL34s and 6L6s), I'm almost curious if it's not a higher powered tube like KT-66 or KT-77s which had more of the character I'm referencing. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
KT66s are basically a different flavor of 6L6GCs, but KT77s are closer to the 6CA7 (but not quite). A KT88 would be a higher power tube, like a 6550.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top