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Marshall vs. Fender vs. Vox


danuniversal

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That's a hell of a question, and not many people here will spend the time required answering that. If you're in the market for an amp, tell us what style of music you play and what's your budget, and we will recommend an amp, that's how it usually works.

 

Or are you looking for general knowledge on these amps?

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That's a hell of a question, and not many people here will spend the time required answering that. If you're in the market for an amp, tell us what style of music you play and what's your budget, and we will recommend an amp, that's how it usually works.


Or are you looking for general knowledge on these amps?

 

 

I`ve changed my "hell of question" to this....

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I guess this calls for a rundown

 

Marshall

 

In my honest opinion, all of the new Marshall stuff are pretty mediocre. I'm talking about all the DSL/TSL stuff, off course you'll be able to find a lot of fans of these amps here, I'd stay away. They are pretty versatile, but I think they sound mediocre, not worth the money.

 

I didn't hear all the rather new Vintage Modern stuff, supposedly they can do both vintage and modern sounds (pretty obvious naming huh), but I can't tell you much about this.

 

The MG line is {censored}.

 

The AVTX line is pretty nice for what it is if you're on a strict budget, otherwise buy tube amps.

 

 

In my opinion the best of the Marshalls are vintage reissues, especially the Plexis and all the different combos they have. The Marshall Plexis are my personal favorite amps, they can do vintage 70's rock sounds, and with some pushing, 80's metal, they generally don't do teh brutalzz well.

 

The JCM800 is also a big favorite of mine, it's ganier than the Plexis. Pretty damn brilliant amp.

 

The JCM900 in my opinion is {censored}, as is the JCM2000. Your millage may vary.

 

Users:

Plexis: Hendrix, Clapton in Cream, Blackmore, Jimmy Page live, Angus Young, KISS, pretty much everyone who played hard rock in the 70's, EVH (On Van Halen 1, heavily modded though), Eric Johnson(it's hard to hear a Marshall in there, but supposedly it is there)

 

JCM800: Gary Moore, plenty of 80's hair metal guys, Satriani used 'em before he had the sig Peaveys.

 

 

 

 

 

Vox

 

Don't know much about them, someone else, please elaborate.

Nice amps, but supposedly the quality has decreased since they moved production to the east. Still, pretty nice amps, they do lots of stuff, you gotta hear them yourself.

 

AC30's: Great tube amps, capable of a lot. Brian May from Queen uses them.

 

ADVT series: Great emulator stuff for the money. Again, buy tube if you can afford it rather than this. Can't be beat for versatility though.

 

 

Fender

Again, I'm not much of an expert.

Renown for great cleans and light overdrive. Used generally by blues folks, ala SRV, John Mayer, Clapton (not sure about it). Great tube stuff, stay away from the solid-state stuff though.

 

 

 

 

As to which is best, there's no such thing. Everyone has different tastes, it's up to you to choose.

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The AC30's have fantastic, chimey, sparkley cleans and break up into a great shimmier three dimensional overdrive when cranked. They are my favorite amplifier period. However, they are not the most versatile things out there. They do a fantastic clean, and a fantastic overdrive, but they always sound like a Vox. With the right guitar and boost you can get some metal tones out of them such as the ones heard on Refused's "the shape of punk to come". It will not get br0000talllzzzzzzzzzzzz, in a modern sense, however.

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Marshall JVM......will do the jcm 800 and plexi sound. It has great cleans. And it also does the brootalz. I have a TSL and I agree that though it is a nice amp it was not quite what I wanted in a Marshall. The JVM is another story.....very nice amp and it is versatile almost too a fault......by which I mean you have so many tones to play with that it's hard to figure out which one to use.

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However, they are not the most versatile things out there.

 

 

Lol I think they're THE most versatile amps, period. So what if other amps have cleans all the way through modern high gain? They usually sound like {censored} for all but one of those (the modern high gain), and sometimes even for ALL of them. Meanwhile, an AC15/30 will do every single sound in its entire range as if that's all it was built for.

 

And I don't think you need a boost for Shape of Punk To Come. You can go beyond that without one. As far as the higher gain aspects of that go, it's just power chords, pretty much. You can do trem picking and palm mute stuff if you just turn them up. It may not respond and sound like a 5150, but that's a hell of a good thing in my humble opinion, as that's what allows it to excel at the full range of its sounds to begin with, instead of being stuck on one of them.

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Fender

Again, I'm not much of an expert.

Renown for great cleans and light overdrive. Used generally by blues folks, ala SRV, John Mayer, Clapton (not sure about it). Great tube stuff, stay away from the solid-state stuff though.





As to which is best, there's no such thing. Everyone has different tastes, it's up to you to choose.

 

 

I beg to differ about staying away from Fender's solid state line. I have an Eighty-Five from Fender, which is a pure solid-state amp.. and it sounds really good.

 

Granted, you should invest in a tube amp, but the solid states are good for the price.

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Gain specturm (stereotypes)

 

More Gain Less Gain

Marshal --- Vox --- Fender

 

I'm a huge fan of Vox mainly because I really dig the beatles, tom petty, u2, and others that used vox amps. I've never had the $$ to actually own one, though... someday... People tend to say Vox's have the most "musical" sound, and can be used on just about anything (not just guitars).

 

----------------------------------

 

For all three companies the treasured sounds are in vintage amps (or I guess reissues too). Not that their new amps sound bad... but more than likely all of your favorite bands played on their old school amps.

 

Research these to get an idea of their trademark sounds:

Marshall JCM800 (100w head, with 4x12 cab or stack)

Marshall 1959 'Plexi' Superlead (100w head, with 4x12 cab or full stack)

Vox AC30 (30w combo, 2x12 cab)

Fender 'Tweed' Bassman (50w combo, 4x10)

Fender 'Blackface' Deluxe Reverb (20w combo, 1x12)

 

Keep in mind that all of the above are LOUD as hell so make sure you know what you're getting into.

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Lol I think they're THE most versatile amps, period. So what if other amps have cleans all the way through modern high gain? They usually sound like {censored} for all but one of those (the modern high gain), and sometimes even for ALL of them. Meanwhile, an AC15/30 will do every single sound in its entire range as if that's all it was built for.


And I don't think you need a boost for Shape of Punk To Come. You can go beyond that without one. As far as the higher gain aspects of that go, it's just power chords, pretty much. You can do trem picking and palm mute stuff if you just turn them up. It may not respond and sound like a 5150, but that's a hell of a good thing in my humble opinion, as that's what allows it to excel at the full range of its sounds to begin with, instead of being stuck on one of them.

 

 

Oh come on! I personally think it is the greatest amplifier ever made, and it's usable throughout it's range, but there are sounds that other amplifiers get that I cannot. I cannot get a 5150 tone, nor a JVM tone, nor a Fender type clean. Do I want those? No, I dig the Vox sound and it's one i'm completely happy with. As much as I love it, I can garauntee that it isn't going to be the amplifier for the OP as he's wanting to cover too much ground.

 

A JVM, in my opinion, would be more up his alley. A Vox isn't a channel switcher do-it-all behemoth and it isn't meant to be. We're in agreement about that, and also the fact that those particular amplifiers usually lose somethign in the translation. In fact, it would appear we're in complete agreement, unless of course you're going to say that the Vox excels at a more modern sound and can get you any tone you're looking for, which I will completely argue against.

 

It is a Vox AC30 and can get the sounds associated with that, and ONLY those sounds. They are fantastic ones, and probably the greatest guitar tones ever created, but they're not going to rattle your balls with modern hi-gain low-end either.

 

as far as "the shape of punk to come" through my alnico's and with my single coil guitars, I CANNOT get that tone. However when playing through my friends humbucker equipped Stingray and through a marshall cabinet I can see that it would be possible without a boost as I messed around with it a bit, though not with the intention of copping those sorts of tones.

 

No need to jump to the defense of the AC30 as i'm in its corner all the way, but I have to disagree that it's the most versatile amplifier ever made. A fender Bassman also is usable all the way up it's dial, if that is going to be your definition of "versatile" as are many old tweed amplifiers. It sounds great no matter where you put it, yes, but it's not a multiple amp in box sort of affair like the JVM or modelers, which is what it seems like would be the only thing that would do what the OP expects from a single amp.

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I own a vox AC30CC2x... My answer to your question is Hughes and Kettner. If you've got the money don't hesitate. Don't get me wrong, my AC30 is okay, and i'm sure that if I studio-ed it a bit it would sound great, but I've played 4 of their amps, 2 of which (triology and switchblade) sounded as good as professionnally done tracks... when being played at low levels!

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Oh come on! I personally think it is the greatest amplifier ever made, and it's usable throughout it's range, but there are sounds that other amplifiers get that I cannot. I cannot get a 5150 tone, nor a JVM tone, nor a Fender type clean. Do I want those? No, I dig the Vox sound and it's one i'm completely happy with. As much as I love it, I can garauntee that it isn't going to be the amplifier for the OP as he's wanting to cover too much ground.

 

 

You have missed the point. I never said it did every sound on the face of the planet. In fact, I specifically stated what you just did beforehand, so I'm not sure why you bothered going in to all of that.

 

You said "However, they are not the most versatile things out there." If it can't sound like a 5150, that doesn't automatically make the 5150 more versatile. I don't even see what your argument is. Amps ALWAYS sound like the amp. No amp sounds like itself, and another amp, too. That doesn't make sense.

 

What it will do is the widest range of effective sounds I've heard in an amp. Name a more versatile amp. I couldn't.

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You have missed the point. I never said it did every sound on the face of the planet. In fact, I specifically stated what you just did beforehand, so I'm not sure why you bothered going in to all of that.


You said "However, they are not the most versatile things out there." If it can't sound like a 5150, that doesn't automatically make the 5150 more versatile. I don't even see what your argument is. Amps ALWAYS sound like the amp. No amp sounds like itself, and another amp, too. That doesn't make sense.


What it will do is the widest range of effective sounds I've heard in an amp. Name a more versatile amp. I couldn't.

 

 

Please stop using the strawman tactic and making my argument something it isn't. Nowhere do I indicate that a 5150 is more versatile than an AC30, I was simply pointing out a sound that it is incapable of getting. It isn't a do-it-all amplifier, that is my point. While i can cover a lot of styles of music, there are territory that it just cannot reach, and those are mainly really cholesterol fat cleans like a fender and super brutal gain like a 5150.

 

The OP is wanting a broad range of tones that I personally think no amplifier is going to do everyone of them well, and the Vox definitely isn't going to cover the stuff in the gainier low-end broootalllz spectrum.

 

and of course I agree with you on that {censored}, which is why I don't know why you felt the need to dispute anything I stated. I think he'd be more capable of covering more ground with something like a JVM, or a digital modeler, though i'm not a fan of either solutions. I also don't expect all that {censored} from a single amplifier, however, like the OP seems to want.

 

and like I said, if your definition of versatile is simply an amplifier sounding good through its entire range of volume/eq/settings I'd have to say the same thing is true of Bassman's, JTM45's, and Super Reverbs,etc. Bassman's have excellent cleans, awesome break up when cranked and almost marshall overdrive when turned all the way up. To me, however, that's not the same thing as versatility. I couldn't just go into a bar and have someone suggest I play a Pantera song and get Dime's tone unless i was packing some sort of pedal.

 

Just because an amplifier sounds good no matter where you set it, it doesn't mean you can get out there and play any style of music with a convincing tone associated with it.

 

If that is, indeed, the point you're defending, I don't think you're going to find too many people who agree with you. If the OP wants to get all over the place he's going to need something other than a single channel deal. He's going to need something that was meant to do-it-all(and I agree, most of the time they sacrifice something). What we are mainly arguing on is the definition of versatility, and I'm not going to bother with that anymore. As a person working towards my Phd. in english rhetoric, i'm quite comfortable with my handle on that sort of stuff.

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Best amp for what you want is a 70's Jmp marshall 50 watter, been using once since 1983. right set of speakers and it does amazing clean, hit it with a Ts and ya gott great od...or just crank it and use the volume knob for clean n crunch. used them to play from elvis ,U2 to sabbath

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Neither. Get an Egnater module amp with each respective preamp module for those amps, and run it through a Greenback loaded 4x12 with a half open, half closed back.


:)

Can someone say "versatile"?

 

See, now if I was in a cover band and needed to cover a lot of ground, this is the kind of stuff I am talking about. Would I do this in a band where I play original music? No, I'll stick to my Vox, and that's basically what it comes down to.

 

If I were playing in a bar cover band and needed authentic tones to play just about everything someone could request, I'd have to go with something like that.

 

If I were playing original music and all that mattered was I had a responsive amplifier that would get tons of in between tones and have excellent dynamics, I'd have to go with the Vox.

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Well shit if I had to choose Ill take beer.
:lol:

 

I figured the comparison was about equal to what the original poster was asking. :idk:

 

I'd say fugg it and take all 3 because I'm a greedy bastard. Of course about a year ago I also had a Marshall, Fender(s), and an AC30 (with blues of course ;) )

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My quick answer is a Marshall. You do know how many recordings are made with one. They are truly a versatile, recognizable, and USABLE machine. My long answer is a Fender with some pedals. Well...because lots of reocrdings are made with that too. Now that I think about it...Vox has great amps as well. If you are looking fpr Britsh chime and Edge, Vox is the ticket.

 

Hah....it's hard to tell you what amp will work for you . Your guitar, your ears...there are just too many factors. There are some things that some people do not consider; portability is a huge concern of mine. I will sacrifice tone if it means I do not lug a stereo 4x12 system around.

 

It's really hard to dismiss a Marshall amp for tone that people recognize as authentic. Covers a LOT of ground. But you may have to go through some pain to find what suits YOU. I have utmost respect for guys that find THE tone that is PERFECT for what they are doing.

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