Making noise with a Vintage Marshall

[UdoXP]

FINALLY someone demoing a killer Marshall that actually lets the thing breathe!! No attenuators to kill the tone (they suck, I had one). And is brave enough to stand right in front of it too, yeah!

[J3ipolarGod]

Are you running straight into your amp or are do you have anything in front of it?

[J3ipolarGod]

Must have!



[jimihendrix19999]

cool :-)

[vzsozs]

BUT DOES IT GO TO 1.......????

[stebonar]

great tone dude

[1971SuperLead]

I hate my neighbors too.

[Thelis]

What a great tone very bluesy good job ;)

[adam10603]

Did you use an attenuator of some kind, or just straight 200 tube watts ? Wow man, you must be deaf by now, if you played this beast with no attenuation. I only have a 50 watt 4 holer, but I'm afraid to play it without an attenuator in my small room. I'm sure I would sh*t my pants then. And it's only a 50 watter, not a 200 watter like this beast.

But it sounds good :)

[hirskdubbi]

rock on bro...

[wipers86]

you are one lucky guy I wish I had one of them amps and wish I could blast my amp like that

[noteman48]

I like the messed up riffin at the beginning....

[purquebecois999]

Cliff? I thought you were a bassist!!

Awesome playing dude!!!

[jammer70s]

That was kick-ass. Great tone and great playing! Your master volume mod sounds like Joel O'Keefe's in Airbourne. Heard of 'em?

[ProblemChild809]

hmm...i am guessing that you love AC/Dc wright? i mean this is not their song but the simularity....

[HBK1337]

awesome fuckin tone

[a2wtommy]

Gibson and Marshall, a marriage made in heaven!!!

[HOGOUT]

Incredible !! You really know how to play.. Thanks for sharing !!

[bubbah12345]

HECK YEA!!! turn it up to 11 :D

[riffguy]

@GuitarCrazyStanley I like the look of the JMP better, but internally they are basically the same as the JCM 800's so there really isn't any significant difference in tone.

[zzmook]

My spider senses tell me this guy is a solid hookup for some serious chronic.

[qklsjdv]

What do you think of this setting? would it effect your tubes?

Master at 10, Presents at 6

Preamp Volume at 2, Gain at 10

Treble at 6, Mid at 6, Bass at 6

when I put the master at 2 and the pre amp at 10 it sounds a little thin?

everyone else does the opposit.?

I just wonder if it will do something to bad my amp

I have a 84 JCM 800 100 watt 2 channel, I turn all the clean channel knobs all the way down to 0. Seams like it nails the Judas Preist sound. And I really get the Marshall roar

[Carthsgtr]

.....And then he went deaf and never played again.

[StephenAnthonyMusic]

Dude you can PLAY! wow.

[sludgefingers]

I know it's a vintage amp but also you look just like I did in 1976 - I don't want to worry you but I am one ugly dude now. Nice playing. Just one thing though, I think Marshalls with master volumes came in in about 76-77, are you sure yours is '71?.

[riffguy]

@sludgefingers Only time will tell how ugly I'm gonna get. This amp is not stock, I did several mods to it, including the master volume.

[sludgefingers]

@riffguy OK - great playing anyway.

[mikestrat56]

My first big amp was the1971 50W w/ the 4x12. I thought there were no master volumes at that time. At least I never saw one. You just turned it up past 5 to get the sound and hoped God would have pity on your ears.

[EJStratMan1]

Hey riffguy, love the sound of the majors. unfortunately i never got to play through one. I've got a 1959 Handwired head with the matching cabinets and an old orange OR120. Id love to see what its worth. the serial number on the head is 1001.

[NIBBass]

I never thought a major could get pushed so f*cking hard, the master volume makes it possible right?

[drburns73]

That's a great sounding Marshall. Did you put the master volume in yourself, or do you recall who did it? Nice playing.

[6557andrewg]

SG's have balls.

[d33ferer]

God does not want me to play guitar today. SG standard popped the b string. Tried the Les Paul popped that b string.. Tried the SG junior .. bye bye b string.. Blah time to hit the gym.. Thanks for the info on your settings Paul

[d33ferer]

thanks for the follow up. My volumes usually at 10 and gains at 3 or 4.. ill experiement with raiising the gain and lowering the volume. Kewl playing in this video as always !!! :D

[d33ferer]

what are you settings on your amp ? Hope you dont mind me asking.

you have everything at 11 ?

volume at 10

presence 1

treble 4

mid 8

bass 6

[riffguy]

@d33ferer Here are my settings as far as I can remember...

Preamp volume: 6

Master volume: 2

Treble:10

Mid:10

Bass:10

Presence:10

[bladerunner12]

I have no idea why rock ever moved away from this kind of tone. It screams.

[charles1967]

It doesn't get a whole lot better than that, tone-wise.

[Coonetta]

you ever use g12 65's? how do they compare in your opinion to greenbacks... would you suggest mixing the two in a 4x12 cab?

[riffguy]

@Coonetta I've never used 65's before. I don't know if there would be an advantage to mixing the two in a cab since you normally only mic one speaker.

[kimsterjimi]

@riffguy Hey man great playing!  Just wondering what you're opinion is between the Marshall Major vs 1968 Marshall super lead 100w in tone which do you prefer and why?

[TimBatan]

is there a benefit to having the three amp heads or just for looks?

[outerloop]

3 full stacks lol!!!! SWEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!

[lavalamp360]

200 tube watts!?!?!?!?!?!?!? you gotta be kidding me!!!! wouldnt that amp like......blow ur house down?

[navdave]

Do you find that the tone stack controls are not that responsive with your Marshall Mojor?

[riffguy]

@navdave The controls have a lot of sweep to them but the presence control really doesn't do much on this amp.

[frazerstockton]

Loving those celestions in there, just tops it off nicely.

[linkszwo]

WOW !MAN YOU ROCK ! 

[bmwm3cs]

I hope you weren't playing through some vintage greenbacks cause that major is going to eat them for breakfast.

SOUNDS awesome though!!! Great playing too!

[yoyoe123]

heya :) can u get this kind of sound on a JCM 800 (like the same one you have) if so, what setting would i use ? cheers pal :)

[yoyoe123]

heya :) Could you get this kind of tone on a Marshall JCM 800 (like the same one you have) if you can what setting would you put on it ? cheers pal :)

[jhep1]

hiya riffguy, hope all is well. Im curious about how you are getting your overdrive tone with your major. I have one too, which i have mentioned to you before and have found it very picky when it comes to pedals. I wouldnt even attempt to drive it by turning it all the way up!! Have you done any mods like cascading input channels, like Blackmore was said to have done. Have you added a master volume or an extra valve? cheers, jon

[riffguy]

@jhep1 I've cascaded the channels and added a master volume.

[jhep1]

@riffguy sounds amazing. I have just done the same mods on my 1977 super lead which pretty cool too.

[jhep1]

@riffguy sounds amazing. I have just done the same mods on my 1977 super lead which pretty cool too.

[htuyie]

riffguy do you have all 3 of those stacks running at the same time ??

[riffguy]

@htuyie No, I'm just using one in this video.

[xx55AC55xx]

@riffguy what amp heads do you have also have u ever herad a jcm 2000 dsl do you know if there any good and can be run though any kind of cab?

[DB73093]

is this your best sounding amp in your opinion?

[riffguy]

@DB73093 I like them all, but this is my best sounding amp for recording at low volumes. My JCM 800 & 900 sound best once they are pushed a bit.

[1952Telecaster]

Is that all you got? Come on man, turn it up! ha ha J/K

[riffguy]

@1952Telecaster The volume was only at 2.

[mouloudo]

sry to ask but what's the difference between a pelxi like the 59 and the major a part from the higher wattage?

[riffguy]

@mouloudo The Major is a very clean amp and has a lot of headroom, whereas a plexi gets dirty as you turn it up. Another difference is that the Major weighs a lot more and is not easy to carry and still look cool.

[mouloudo]

@riffguy lol thx for the reply ^^ and what abotu a hiwatt :s I know Im talking about another brand but I wodner if you ever tested one

[riffguy]

@mouloudo I tried some of the old Hiwatts when I was a teenager....they're very loud and clear with a growl that's a bit different than a Marshall. If you listen to "The Who" you'll hear the classic Hiwatt sound.

[sdenny]

great tone ! Marshall rocks , used them for 35 years !!

[nomenanook]

i love those marshall stacks

[WhiteLightnin3]

The neighbors cant complain, because thats an amazing tone. Who gives a fuck if its loud, that tone is brutal.

[Lakase2]

he looks a bit like malcolm young with angus guitar :D

[stonewilliam]

@Lakase2 he loocks like jack black xD

[FlickOfTheSwitch83]

@Lakase2 he looks like Cliff Williams, with Malcolm Young's presence and Angus Young's guitar

[TheOzzk]

pure goodness... I've watched this video many times... pure rock n' roll... Cheers brother!

[kossoff1]

anything made after the jcm 800 sound like shit

[ButchieT]

@kossoff1

Except the MKIII 2100!

[DrHeathenScum]

Marshall Law

[B3ASTLYxxEL1TExx]

Got enough amps?

[riffguy]

Never.

[martmit]

LMFAO

[Croketo]

wow man, very nice sound, i love it

[42YYY]

Hey Riffguy how do the Marshall Haze series sound?

[riffguy]

I've never tried one.

[42YYY]

@riffguy what about the VOX AC30?

[riffguy]

Never tried one of those either.

[ferdikowisk]

GOT MY MAJOR YESTERDAY!

Sounds just as amazing as yours do!

Now I need to retube it, 'cause it came with the original G&C 1972 tubes. I think I'll get the new Gold Lions.

[andrascome]

I'm a jazz guitarist, also a Berklee Grad.

Even though this is not my kind of music, talent is still talent.

Anyone that says derogatory remarks about this musician is just plain jealous.

He is a great musician, period

[moseseseseses]

NOXIOUS NOISE. BOBWIRE SCRATCH.

[StratTone]

Very nice REAL rock tone.

[akaboo69]

love your playing man shred wounds way better on a Gibson then it does on a strat

[dwg116]

sweet tone man! love that ballsy sound only a great vintage marshall can deliver.

[EaFoTre21]

Hey riffguy, um 2 things have you ever giged with this? And have you ever just totally cranked this amp?

[riffguy]

I gigged with it back when I was a teenager. I've cranked the amp a couple of times and it was physically painful to stand in front of it.

[EaFoTre21]

about how much would it cost for me to get someone to put a master volume in one of these? and whats the whole deal with not being able to boost these amps?

[bluestingray67]

@EaFoTre21 Thats not what you want, you want all the tube distortion so use an attenuator. I used to go see this guy play a 100 watt plexi stack in a bar the size of an avearge basement, but he used one of those marshall attenuators and got the perfect tone at any volume he wanted.

[Acidrain1993]

Actually no thats not true, bluestingray67. In this case an attenuator wouldnt do much. these majors can be cranked and still be like 95% clean. This amp is not nearly cranked. Riffguy modded the preamp. I would guess its a RR mod but then again i cant really tell. :)

[akaboo69]

@riffguy is it all power tube saturation no pedals

[brandontylerkaiser]

HAHAHA!!!!! i love it

[iadeftones]

sweetness

[ShredWithMe]

can you tell me how to set up my stack !?! i have a crate flexwave half stack with another crate 4x12 cab and it's confusing as hell...it has an tuner built in the head and every time i plug it up it makes poping sounds and the tuner either blinks or it stuck on E...nice playing btw

[WhiteLightnin3]

the Gods have shined down upon you sir. That is one hell of a rock tone. This amp demo makes me put thought into trying to get my hands on a Marshall stack. I personally love the Fender Blackface amps cuz Im more of a blues guy, but this demo may convert me. Amazing tone, keep on rocking.

[3score10]

Quick ?, are you using a power brake, or direct into the cab-(100watt cab)-? What Ohms are you coming out of the head into the cab? Reason for asking is that I have a 200watt West Fillmore, and love to play through a 100watt greenback cab. But I afraid of damaging the cab. Your Rig sounds Awesome by the way!

[riffguy]

I'm running the amp straight into 2 100 watt cabs. The cabs are each 16 ohms and the head's output impedance was set to 8 ohms.

[goingwithzed]

just dont crank it to max... :)

remember that speakers are rated at 'thermal' maximums for extended periods... if you dont crank your amp past 5 for longer than a minute or 2 of continuous playing, i wouldnt sweat it (and with 200w into a 4x12 I highly doubt you need to)

rock on.

[posiden125]

Well DONE!

[TNkenny]

cool!

[Tomgrandelf]

Rock in its purest form

[Erroiak]

Hey Riffguy I want to buy a Marshall but I don´t have sure which one so could you tell me which one would be the best?

I want a Marshall with two (or more) footswitchable channels, with cleans like John Frusciante on last years and drive like Angus Young on The Razors Edge Album.

Which Marshall could be great for this?

[riffguy]

You'd have to try a few of them to know which one sounds the closest to what you want.

[Erroiak]

OK... I have tried a 1959slp, a JCM800 2203 and a Valvestate.

Have you tried the vintage modern or the DSL100?

If you did how do they sound like?

[ravenrage07]

go to the proguitarshop demo channel for the Vintage Modern. It sounds fuckin awesome! Just type in marshall vintage modern.

[samworthington123]

@Erroiak maybe a jvm 205?

[JTstratman13]

Try out a JCM 900 or a DSL. They have have all the gain you'd ever need, get great cleans, and are rather inexpensive for English tube Marshalls.

Both also have two channels.

[rockfreak611]

@Erroiak I know this is question is from a while ago, but if you want Angus Young's tone on The Razor's Edge, you're going to have to buy a Mesa Boogie rack system, as that is what he used on that album (shocker!).

[ferdikowisk]

Hey Riffguy,

I'm a long time fan of this video, and thanks to it - I bought a Marshall Major 1972 and now I'm having it shipped to Brazil (where I live).

Check my Fender Tonemaster video, maybe you'll like it, it's also an all-tube PTP amp.

[lk4790]

With all the money you got for the gear, you should buy a better recording video system :).

Great videos man!

[koshiaru]

um...maybe someone here can help me.I recently bought a peavey windsor 100w half-stack, and it sounds just like this except for two things. it has a tinny and fizzy high end, and a dry sounding distortion,and not in a marshall dry kind of way. what could i do to the amp to make these problems magically go away?it sounds better with humbuckers, the fizz goes but the dry stays.Any ideas?

[RomanSidorov]

@koshiaru

look up fja mods.

you can send your amp away to get those problems corrected.

[koshiaru]

O.K...but I don't necessarily like the FJA demos here. They dial it in too dark. Will the mod brighten up with more mids and highs?Or do you know?

[dbikeguy]

crank the distortion down, and then boost it back up but use a tubescreamer. or for a real dirty tone just toss in the tubescreamer with high gain. outta flood it pretty much. look into new tubes if nothing else works.

[tedmen1123]

bbe sonic maximizer and maybe a good compressor

[koshiaru]

ok i'll try that.thanks.What's so weird about the EQ?

[SoloDallasFan]

hey bro.

:)

great amp

and sgs are the best

i want buy a plexi too

but which...

i couldnt decide between the 1987x and the jtm45

which one would you prefer for AC/DC sounds and Classic/Hard/Blues Rock?

Cheers

[riffguy]

I think a JCM800 would give you the best AC/DC tone.

[stratmaniac]

angus has used JTM45:s so i'd go for one of 'em

[j2112c]

Monster sound mate... is this the amp cranked up on its own or are you putting a booster or overdrive infront.

If it is the amp I may have another look at a 1973 Marshall, beaten up in the local music exchange!

[Dreamscapevirus]

sounds cranked to me. thats alot of power tube saturation

[kingjoemom]

Thats a lot of volume.

[longlivepantera]

Do you do weddings?

[barroombrawler72]

OH HELL YEAH! \m/

ROCKS!!!!!!

[Monkeyman8888888]

Nice Vintage Sound man...

Guess this amp was pretty expensive

[Dreamscapevirus]

if he bought it in the 70's it was prob only bout $200

[paperbea]

you gotta think how much $200 was worth back then.. alot more than it is now

[markensen2003]

one dollar per watt

NICE

[Dreamscapevirus]

lol ya 200 watt marshall major lol $200 bucks boom!

[knoodle90]

Wanna trade your guitar for mine ???

I think it's a good trade (for me)

[robandjaime]

what head you running on this clip /

[BreakItDown5150]

Marshall Major 1971.... 200 watts!!! jeesh lol.

[DannyLanders01]

dude thats eddies tone through and through kick ass what setting did you put it on i know theres no effects thats just kick ass marshall tone let me know rock on man great playing

[BlackrootBand]

Nice Tones man.... what is the guitar? Newer reissue or the real thing from 61/62? The pickups seem to respond real nice to back off and roll up.... very cool stuff. -Joe

[riffguy]

It's a 2005 SG Standard with the original pickups, but I rewound them to PAF specs.

[SteveShivik]

Gibson or epipone?

[cherry8605]

gibson, its got the open book headstock

[MrWails]

Scary Marshall tone!!!!

[davidstoklosa]

Im shure the neighbours hate you...awsome amps

[kay4x4]

@davidstoklosa Well, then the neighbours have no taste of music at all..

[JBirdDrmmr]

Killer sound man! I love it....ROCK 'N' ROLL!!!

[JoeJackSmith]

seeing as you have three and only using one, i guess i could take one of those old dust collectors off your hands...no...oh it was worth a try

[kellytsai0506]

Man this is darn awesome!! What a valuable vintage sound!!

[mikebecker330]

What kind of master volume volume is in this amp? Is it the PPI or is it like a Jose Master w/ diodes? I'm assuming the rest of this 200 watter is stock, correct? I've got a JMP lead 100 watt I'd like to put a master volume into.

[riffguy]

The master volume circuit that I installed in this amp is similar to a JCM800 design. You could easily do it to a JMP. I've also done some other preamp mods to this amp although the power amp section is stock.

[mikebecker330]

Basically cascading the preamp like the JCM800? Got it! I don't suppose you'd tell me what was done the preamp section? Great tone anyways and awesome playing. Have you ever tried a one-wire mod? I'm thinking about it.

[riffguy]

Most mods are a varation of the one wire mod, so is mine. It's easy to make an amp distort, but the trick is making the distortion sound good.

[mikebecker330]

Words of wisdom...it's all in voicing, filtering, tubes, speakers, pickups, etc, etc, etc...

[gudgelboy]

Riffguy Rules!

[JonnyRake]

i think thats the amp joe perry from aerosmith used, sounds fuckin killer

[karlprades]

SG sounds bright !

[NITROXBURNERS]

probly as much money as u probley have u couldnt have a better camera

[fortress66]

lolll

[JimmyJinxBlau]

Great jam and skills,love that Marshall

tone.Nice axe too.

[vanhalen2626]

very nice crunch you get out of those with your sg :)

[Sunsnoel]

Totally awesome,,,love it...peace...

[spanky8473]

sounds great dude keep on rockin

[mexrilla]

fuck dude look at all those amps ! most people would probably hate to be your neighbor but i wish i was your neighbor man! free concert everyday....!

[RitusG]

Ah, if I would have done a little research I would have seen you wind your own. Nice.

[RitusG]

May I ask what pickups your using?

[riffguy]

RIFFBUCKERS.

[RJROCKR]

How much do you think I can get an amp like that for on Ebay or CL? Currently using a DSL with a Silver Jubilee Cab

[TheMylesky]

Very good tone and feel !

[Jarahh]

Too much distortion for that...