Marshall vs Marshall: JCM800 4010 vs MA50C

S

SlowerHand

New member
I'm in need of a new amp. I know I want 'that Marshall sound', unoriginal as it may be. Every riff I come up with just sounds that much cooler with the typical Marshall crunch.

Anyway, in hopefully not too long a while my band and I are going to start playing shows. Currently I have an AVT20 which has always served me right and sounds surprisingly kick-ass. It's not very loud though, and it's still not the real deal tube sound. Here are some alternatives I'm thinking of:

An old JCM800 4010 for 400 EUR (according to google that equals 526 USD)
A new MA50C for 500 EUR (703 USD)
Or perhaps a new AVT50 for 350 EUR (492 USD)

I wonder what's the best option for me. I don't exactly have all the money in the world. I can save up but I don't know if it's worth the money buying an and loud JCM that has only one channel, or if a new 2 channel MA50 with warranty is worth the extra cash, or if it's nonsense for me to buy an all tube amp at the stage I'm at and maybe an AVT50 (which does have 2 channels) will do...

I've been reading that the AVT50 isn't that much better than an MG, and that the MA50 sounds like a slightly half-assed attempt at sounding like a more classic Marshall.

What do you think?
 
Out of those options....JCM 800 all the way. The most important thing is that it is going to retain some value. Once you save some more cash....have it modded by Voodoo Amps in NY and enjoy pure rock bliss.
 
Peavey 5150 :p

Nono.....+1 on the JCM 800.

I can't speak directly for the AVT50, but I have an AVT 150h and I barely use it because I've never been happy with the unresponsive distorted tone it yields.
 
I've, over the years, owned a TSL100 and a JTM30 (my first real tube amp), and I've played a whole slew of valvestates, AVTs, DSLs, 6100s, and MGs. The JTM was cool (that on the clean channel plus a strat, turned way up, gave a phenomenal bluesy lead tone) but the gain was a bit weak and fizzy, and the TSL was fun (and had the best speaker emulation I've ever played) but was ultimately the amp that convinced me try as I might I was really a Mesa guy at heart (I sold a Mesa combo for it after borrowing a DSL401 for a gig and being surprised just how well it cut and how good it sounded with a band - to this day, I still kind of dig that combo, and it sounded REALLY good through my Recto 2x12).

That said, I played a JCM800 for the first time maybe a year or two ago (I know, I know...). That was the first time I ever thought, "Oh, suddenly I get the whole Marshall thing." It's ungodly loud, but goddamn did it sound phenomenal for leads, with just my Ibanez UV7PWH straight in, gain maybe 2/3 up, and the poweramp on 3-ish, loud enough to hurt but also compress the tubes somewhat.
 
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