Orange AND Marshall

[shibbdude89]

Hello all!

I have looked and looked for an answer to this question and find it difficult to find: We all know that Marshall and Orange fans have a friendly "feud" (for a lack of a better term) going on between them, but I find myself in the neutral zone. Currently, I am playing through an Orange TH30 (LOVE it) and have been playing with the idea of adding a Marshall DSL100H to my setup. The most likely scenario would be using both heads and a single cab (via the Tonebone Headbone) and switching between the two when desired. Simply put, how would these compliment each other tone wise? Has anyone played with both and noticed an advantage (or disadvantage) to anything similar to this? It sounds like a fun idea, but seeing as it would be a nice little blow to the wallet, I'm weary about trying something just because it sounds like a nifty idea.

Thanks in advance.

[Jondog]

I like Marshall's, but personally the DSL line doesn't do Marshall justice. I had a DSL 50 for a while and it was just an amp, lacked character. Do the job, it's a working mans amp for sure but there are much better Marshalls to be had. I'd look into a Vintage Modern or re-issue or JVM. Or find a nice used JCM.

[Gridlock]

I am a Marshall guy from way back. I don't know your price range, but I would look for an early 80's JCM800 or if you want to go for more recent model, look for a Marshall Vintage Modern. I've owned both amps and they both are great.

For lesser money the JCM900's are good Marshalls, which I prefer over the DSL's and TSL's.

And welcome from another Orange Newbe.

[shibbdude89]

Thanks. Unfortunately, the JCM/JVM models are a bit out of my price range at the moment. I am looking at the DSL's because they are closer to my price range without getting into solid state (yuck haha).

[Jondog]

I think Blackstar HT series would be a better way to go. Former Marshall techs. and they make really good amps.

[sidvicious]

you'll notice some difference. a lot of it will depend on the room you're playing. the marshall will cut better at equal volumes. if you're not playing at high enough volume to get the bottom end of an orange, you may end up using the marshall more.

a dsl will do you fine, as will the others mentioned. also consider an afd and yjm [not sure if mentioned]. on the marshall forum there's a lot of dsl love. i have two right now. i'd recommend against a tsl. some like them but most marshall heads don't really go for them.

if you're going for a more old school thing, go for a jcm45 or plexi.

if you toss this in the marshall forum you'll come away with every amp made.

fwiw, i have both, and would use one or the other on any given night.

[msmith4432]

Just an idea that you could look into, the mesa boogie stiletto is an amp that several JCM 800 guys have said is very similar in tone. It's a great amp and would compliment the orange

[OR73]

Problem between orange and marshall???????








IMO, Sovtek made the best Marshall sounding amps since the old JCM 800's. and you can pick them up for under $500 all day long.

[Sergeantsnowball]

I own several Orange heads and a Marshall, and my wife owns several Marshalls and likes to steal my Oranges from time to time. They're all absolutely excellent amps, but they're different animals. It depends on the sound you're looking for.

I agree that the new DSL line doesn't do Marshall justice. We tried one out the other day and it just didn't live up to any expectations. They look nice, but they're a bit dry and even ice-picky, with a lackluster midrange. But they do the job, and if you just want one to have a Marshall around it'll suit the job nicely. The older JCMs (800, 900, 2000DSL) are the way to go if you don't want to deal with something knob-laden like the JVM. Some of the older models of marshalls are non-master volume (JTM45, anything up until the 1980s), so that's also something to keep into consideration if you're looking into purchasing a higher-wattage head and are into higher-gain territory.

As far as contrasting to Oranges, they suit eachother well, especially with different amounts of gain. As much as I hate to use Chappers as a reference, this video actually does the topic a bit of justice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJVH32eNwlk#t=678" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[shibbdude89]

Thanks everyone! I stumbled across the JVM205 and noticed it had a "power amp insert." Now, this may be a ludicrous question, but is that a slave loop? It's a little more than I was originally intending on paying, but if so, it might be worth the cost to avoid all the ABY and "buying an extra cab" stuff. (sorry for taking a tangent here, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to slave two heads together. Hell, I didn't even know it was an option until today)

[Gridlock]

You can pick up a nice used JCM900 for $450-$600. Check our GC used online.

[snickerpuss]

Me? I'm just a sucker for brit el34 amps it seems. I don't seek them out, but I just really enjoy an eq balanced and not overly chimy amp. I don't think anything sounds better for dumb rock than a thick orange on rhythm and a marshall for those cutting leads.

DSLs are fine. They catch a lot of flack, but they sound much better than the TSLs to me. If you sound good through the TH30, you should be able to do the same through the DSL. Having said that, I think the JCM800 is the manliest amp ever made. When you crank them, it just feels like there's a burly biker in the corner of the room silently nodding at your playing. Haha. I'm shocked at how much the JCM800s are these days. What happened? You used to be able to find hundreds of used ones for 5 to 7 hundred USD no problem...

You might be able to find a Marshall 6100 for cheap, though! I really enjoyed those veersatile models as they do the vintage marshall sound a lot better than the current models, though I have yet to play a vintage modern.

[a.hun]

Thanks everyone! I stumbled across the JVM205 and noticed it had a "power amp insert." Now, this may be a ludicrous question, but is that a slave loop? It's a little more than I was originally intending on paying, but if so, it might be worth the cost to avoid all the ABY and "buying an extra cab" stuff. (sorry for taking a tangent here, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to slave two heads together. Hell, I didn't even know it was an option until today)

Just tried answering your 'slaving' question here:
http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=52280" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you want to keep the character of both amps I'd suggest simply using each with its own cab. You certainly can't connect both into the same cab at the same time (unless it is a 'stereo' cab with inputs which are separately wired to different speakers in the cab).
There are amp switchers which will let you do this - still running just one at a time but switching between them, but frankly I don't really trust them. And they are different from A/B/Y switchers anyway. Like I said on the other thread I'm not exactly sure what you are wanting / trying to do.

The 'power amp insert' will allow old fashioned slaving. Basically an amp has a preamp and a power amp. The preamp is where all the tone controls are, the power amp just beefs the small preamp signals up enough to run your loudspeakers.
Running from some sort of preamp stage output of one amp into the power amp stage of a second will bypass the tone controls of the second amp. That is called slaving largely because the sounds from the second amp will be totally controlled by the first amp. All you'll have with the second amp is a volume control. Is that what you want?


Andy.

[a.hun]

On the 'Orange versus Marshall' thing, I find that if you have different sounds you tend to play in different ways. The sound you get really affects how you play. When I play through Marshalls I find myself getting sucked into playing in ways I don't really want to. That is why I don't really like them myself - IMO the sound largely dictates how you play them. I love what many other people do with Marshalls, (thankfully, otherwise I'd hate most classic rock music), but don't like using them so much myself.

Though if someone gifted me a classic 'Plexi' era Marshall I'd love it and use it - they sounded very different from more recent ones, much warmer, fatter, less shrieky. Orange and Marshalls do contrast very well though. Bands where one guitarist is using each can work a treat. Or yes, use one or another for different songs. I'd still say it was much better to use separate cabs though frankly. Radial gear is very good quality but I don't trust having more connections on speaker outputs than needed, if the switch did failed it could be expensive.

If talking about combining other amps with Oranges (running them together as opposed to one or the other) I vastly prefer Vox amps. They actually work really well together with Oranges in a way that Marshalls don't - IMO anyway. Then an A/B/Y box would be really useful, letting you use either amp or both combined. (FWIW I do have a Radial A/B/Y.)


Andy.

[Les Paul Lover]

Not sure where you are in the world, but here in the UK you can get a JCM800, Vintage modern or DSL for pretty much the same price.

They all seem to have terrible resale value.
I would be confident to score any of those for around £350, or perhaps less with some haggling / waiting for the right deal.