Marshall take on Tone Master - likely?

TimmyO · January 2022

I keep thinking that someone (presumably Marshall) should make a take on the Tone Master but a JTM45 or JCM800

EricTheWeary · January 2022

Not exactly the same thing but there was the Matrix VB800 which was a lightweight hybrid equivalent of a JCM800 (ish). That was the best thing since sliced bread for a while but they don’t make them anymore so presumably didn’t sell by the shedload.

Babones · January 2022

A 'Studio' range JTM20 head would be nice.

noisepolluter · January 2022

I read that a 20W Satriani JVM head was mooted at some point, I assume that was shelved to make way for the studio series.

monquixote · January 2022

If you aren't bothered about the looks an Iridium and a Power Stage will do you.

ICBM · January 2022

If everyone and their dog posts ‘want’ threads about ‘Marshall Tonemasters’ on every internet forum including the official Marshall one, we should see them in about 2029…

polotska · January 2022

The JMD was something like that. (EDIT: oops—forgot they had valve power amps. Never mind!)

PhilW1 · January 2022

Ain’t they called ‘MG’s

ICBM · January 2022

polotska said:

The JMD was something like that. (EDIT: oops—forgot they had valve power amps. Never mind!)

The JMD is actually very good-sounding. If they just took the preamp from that and a Class D/SMPS power amp they'd probably be in the right ballpark.

PhilW1 said:

Ain’t they called ‘MG’s

The Code is probably closer... although they're more of a full-on modeller.

The MGs aren't bad-sounding if you run them through decent cabinets though.

chris45 · January 2022

ICBM said:

If everyone and their dog posts ‘want’ threads about ‘Marshall Tonemasters’ on every internet forum including the official Marshall one, we should see them in about 2029…

In 1 x 8" combo format only

dindude · January 2022

I wouldn’t count on it, they sit by and watch every man and his dog do a boutique Bluesbreaker pedal, and the likes of Friedman take the high end Marshall type market. I do hear they are close to finally releasing the long awaited Marshall microwave to go with their fridge.

ICBM · January 2022

dindude said:

I wouldn’t count on it, they sit by and watch every man and his dog do a boutique Bluesbreaker pedal, and the likes of Friedman take the high end Marshall type market. I do hear they are close to finally releasing the long awaited Marshall microwave to go with their fridge.

If they want to make a super lightweight Marshall stack, I've done some of the R&D already...

Winny_Pooh · January 2022

TimmyO said:

I keep thinking that someone (presumably Marshall) should make a take on the Tone Master but a JTM45 or JCM800

So: a bit cheaper, a lot lighter, but doesnt sound quite as good?

A JTM45 is still physically huge so unless Fender sell bucketloads of the tonemaster super reverb (doubt it) the studio range seem to do well enough to cover what people want.

TimmyO · January 2022

Winny_Pooh said:

TimmyO said:

I keep thinking that someone (presumably Marshall) should make a take on the Tone Master but a JTM45 or JCM800

So: a bit cheaper, a lot lighter, but doesnt sound quite as good?

Exactly that - yes

Fiddlesticks_ · January 2022

dindude said:

I wouldn’t count on it, they sit by and watch every man and his dog do a boutique Bluesbreaker pedal, and the likes of Friedman take the high end Marshall type market. I do hear they are close to finally releasing the long awaited Marshall microwave to go with their fridge.

I’m still waiting for them to extend their eyewear range into monocles

jellybelly · January 2022

dindude said:

I wouldn’t count on it, they sit by and watch every man and his dog do a boutique Bluesbreaker pedal, and the likes of Friedman take the high end Marshall type market. I do hear they are close to finally releasing the long awaited Marshall microwave to go with their fridge.

You know, it never even occurred to me that Marshall would pull their finger out and get a blues breaker/shredmaster/guvnor line reissued. Is it too obvious a move? Am I not seeing the bigger picture??

To their credit the studio series seems to have been well received. Took a good decade of people saying 'do you know what would be cool...' though!

ICBM · January 2022

jellybelly said:

You know, it never even occurred to me that Marshall would pull their finger out and get a blues breaker/shredmaster/guvnor line reissued. Is it too obvious a move? Am I not seeing the bigger picture??

It would be easy for them to reissue the pedals, but the question is whether it would be worth it for them - the originals aren't worth *that* much that a reissue could be priced high enough… the cost of tooling for a custom enclosure isn’t insignificant compared to the relatively small number they would actually sell.

A lot of these things look like an opportunity being missed, but how much demand there actually is beyond a few thousand people on internet forums, I’m not sure.

Although it has to be said that they also seem to make quite a few series which must cost a reasonable amount in R&D but then get discontinued fairly quickly because they weren’t what people actually wanted…

stickyfiddle · January 2022

They could do a Boss tie up and it'd be the newest Next Big Thing. Let Boss do all the work and then sell most of them on the grey market for $800 each...

I'm actually surprised no-one has ever mocked these up

dindude · January 2022

I don’t think people are precious about having the original enclosures redone, just something from the original makers that competes with the usual £150-£200 alternatives, all they have at the moment is the budget stuff that looks like a toy.

ICBM · January 2022

dindude said:

I don’t think people are precious about having the original enclosures redone, just something from the original makers that competes with the usual £150-£200 alternatives, all they have at the moment is the budget stuff that looks like a toy.

Even if it wasn’t the original design - and there are good reasons not to - any enclosure will cost money to tool for… I can’t see them wanting to use a generic flat box.

TimmyO · January 2022

ICBM said:

dindude said:

I don’t think people are precious about having the original enclosures redone, just something from the original makers that competes with the usual £150-£200 alternatives, all they have at the moment is the budget stuff that looks like a toy.

Even if it wasn’t the original design - and there are good reasons not to - any enclosure will cost money to tool for… I can’t see them wanting to use a generic flat box.

Indeed - look at the Mk2 Guv, Ed the comp etc - the pot shaft and knobs they chose were nigh on bespoke as far as a user trying to get a replacement

fretmeister · October 2023

I just searched for this very topic and then was disappointed that there is no news.

I'd love a Marshall version for the house. I much prefer Marshall cleans to Fender ones.

They could do a lovely Bluesbreaker combo design type as a 1x12.

stickyfiddle · October 2023

fretmeister said:

I just searched for this very topic and then was disappointed that there is no news.

I'd love a Marshall version for the house. I much prefer Marshall cleans to Fender ones.

They could do a lovely Bluesbreaker combo design type as a 1x12.

Yep. I'm not a big Marshall guy but I'd buy that very happily.

fretmeister · October 2023

They really don’t seem to be able to react to market demand. At least not without a lot of procrastination.

Bolters · October 2023

Before the prices went up dramatically the Bluguitar Amp1 Mercury could cop 90% of Marshall tones out there for a really decent price.

I think they are still great at current pricing, but a lot less accessible than before.

They also have the added bonus of being able to drive a cabinet speaker.

Reverend · October 2023

EricTheWeary said:

Not exactly the same thing but there was the Matrix VB800 which was a lightweight hybrid equivalent of a JCM800 (ish). That was the best thing since sliced bread for a while but they don’t make them anymore so presumably didn’t sell by the shedload.

I have one. It's a great little amp. As far as i can tell it is an 800 preamp with 2 12ax7s and a mosfet power amp.it sound pretty close to an 800, although doesn't have quite the heft of the real thing. I gig with mine a lot

fretmeister · October 2023

Reverend said:

EricTheWeary said:

Not exactly the same thing but there was the Matrix VB800 which was a lightweight hybrid equivalent of a JCM800 (ish). That was the best thing since sliced bread for a while but they don’t make them anymore so presumably didn’t sell by the shedload.

I have one. It's a great little amp. As far as i can tell it is an 800 preamp with 2 12ax7s and a mosfet power amp.it sound pretty close to an 800, although doesn't have quite the heft of the real thing. I gig with mine a lot

That sounds like an excellent bit of kit.

I'll have to keep an eye out for one.

Reverend · October 2023

fretmeister said:

Reverend said:

EricTheWeary said:

Not exactly the same thing but there was the Matrix VB800 which was a lightweight hybrid equivalent of a JCM800 (ish). That was the best thing since sliced bread for a while but they don’t make them anymore so presumably didn’t sell by the shedload.

I have one. It's a great little amp. As far as i can tell it is an 800 preamp with 2 12ax7s and a mosfet power amp.it sound pretty close to an 800, although doesn't have quite the heft of the real thing. I gig with mine a lot

That sounds like an excellent bit of kit.

I'll have to keep an eye out for one.

I can hold it with a finger and thumb.

Nerine · October 2023

fretmeister said:

They really don’t seem to be able to react to market demand. At least not without a lot of procrastination.

For years, they could have made a proper Plexi + JCM 800 in the same box and given it power scaling and an FX Loop or something. Y'know, classic tones, flexibility, not too much junk in there.

Instead we get boxes that sound like circuitry rather than being particularly visceral or open sounding like the aforementioned ones.

The JVM isn't terrible, but it's far too overdone and some of the modes sound plasticky, IMO. And then I'm not sure if they've released anything new in that format since. Perhaps they are happy to keep selling JVMs and not aren't too bothered by releasing any new heads that aren't 20 watt rehashes or reissues of older amps.

The main issue I have with Marshall is they seem a little tacky nowadays. Some of the 20 watt stuff they're doing is cool, but it just looks a bit cheap, even though it isn't necessarily.

noisepolluter · October 2023

Nerine said:
The JVM isn't terrible, but it's far too overdone and some of the modes sound plasticky, IMO. And then I'm not sure if they've released anything new in that format since. Perhaps they are happy to keep selling JVMs and not aren't too bothered by releasing any new heads that aren't 20 watt rehashes or reissues of older amps.

One of the reasons I didn’t hang onto my JVM was the fact that, amongst all the features, channel modes, dozens of knobs, multiple FX loops, etc etc, they bizarrely didn’t see fit to include an external bias point, so when the time inevitably came to replace the EL34’s, if you weren’t keen on getting in amongst all the lethal gubbins you had to lug it to a tech - something I resolved never to repeat considering mine was a 2x12 combo!

The other reason was, as you alluded to, the voicing. I just preferred the JCM800-based crunch and lead voicings in the latest model DSL40, once it was on an equal footing speaker-wise by chucking a Creamback in there, plus it does actually have external bias adjustment!

GavRichList · October 2023

for all the "they'll never do what people want", it is kinda funny to read page 1 of this thread with hindsight. 20w JTM and Classic pedals reissues will never be done I tell thee!

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Marshall take on Tone Master - likely?

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