Brutal tones/stock superleads?

Racerxrated said:
Not if you set the Marshall to be clean. Once the crunch starts happening, it gets wooly and uncontrollable. But my 72 with Griff's TR pedal is saturated, thick and clear gain with absolutely NO mud. Just have to keep the Marshall clean.
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That’s what I said isn’t it? Meant either amp way down or pedal way down. I could have been more specific.
 
I have a stock '70 Super Trem and a stock '72 Super Lead and Metropoulos 12000 series 68 plexi clone and also a Marshall SV20. They are all mean enough to do heavy rock and classic metal tones with a Boss SD-1 or a Graphic EQ in front of them. Mean, tight and crunchy as hell with enough sustain and this punchy, articulate, in your face sound that IMO starts going away the more gain you add.

Do they do modern metal tones? How would I know? lol I'm not interested in that. I have owned 5 or 6 modded Marshalls over the years and had a Morin preamp and for the sound I am looking for, stock Super Leads with a little boost and low end tightening from those pedals just does it.

I don't set my Marshalls for clean. I set them to where they sound like the meanest classic rock sounds bordering on reaching hard rock sounds. Then I give them a little push with the pedal and it is killer.
 
Exo-metal said:
Can anyone provide enough evidence to make us remove all the mods of the past and return these amps to stock?
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Chubtone said:
Mean, tight and crunchy as hell with enough sustain and this punchy, articulate, in your face sound that IMO starts going away the more gain you add.
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The cranked Super Lead just has the sound and feel for me. I don’t even boost it or anything, just the 50k mid pot and variac’d to 90vac. I have the fat cap on a switch and leave it off much of the time.

But I would not go so far to say it’s a brutal chuggy tone. I prefer a boosted 2203 for that and even then it’s not tons of gain like many more modern amps. The cranked SL is merely VH levels of gain which is all I usually want.
 
I think what alot of you are missing is the playing and the impact it has…once again, great riffs/playing trick our brains into thinking something is good because of this or that. Our brains confuse tone and playing all the time.


On that note, I think it’s completely a reality. I don’t have a real plexi but I’ll be happy to pull up a “real” signal chain someone might use on my axe to demonstrate for something like this. I guarantee you a plexi, the right cabinet ( mess 4x12 for instance) a killer boost, and a 7 string with a killer player will sound more brutal than just about anything out there, Atleast in what I consider brutal. The plexi’s extemely hyper percussive response and openness And growl to the tone along with a boost and a low tuned guitar with a great right hand is gonna sound insane. I’ll find some proper DI’s with killer playing just to demonstrate this with a plexi.
 
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VESmedic said:
I think what alot of you are missing is the playing and the impact it has…once again, great riffs/playing trick our brains into thinking something is good because of this or that. Our brains confuse tone and playing all the time.


On that note, I think it’s completely a reality. I don’t have a real plexi but I’ll be happy to pull up a “real” signal chain someone might use on my axe to demonstrate for something like this. I guarantee you a plexi, the right cabinet ( mess 4x12 for instance) a killer boost, and a 7 string with a killer player will sound more brutal than just about anything out there, Atleast in what I consider brutal. The plexi’s extemely hyper percussive response and openness And growl to the tone along with a boost and a low tuned guitar with a great right hand is gonna sound insane. I’ll find some proper DI’s with killer playing just to demonstrate this with a plexi.
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Yeah I've had plenty of loud amps but a cranked up 1959 physically assaults you in the room. I had a '68 and '71. I thought it was a pretty violent experience.
 
Techdeth said:
I was hoping for clips
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I’ll try to make one when I get back in town but it always sounds thinner than in the room. The distortion should come thru but getting that Marshall punch with a class D SS power amp at low volume doesn’t really happen. Even the amp straight into a cab (very, very loud), the low end isn’t captured well.
 
VESmedic said:
I think what alot of you are missing is the playing and the impact it has…once again, great riffs/playing trick our brains into thinking something is good because of this or that. Our brains confuse tone and playing all the time.


On that note, I think it’s completely a reality. I don’t have a real plexi but I’ll be happy to pull up a “real” signal chain someone might use on my axe to demonstrate for something like this. I guarantee you a plexi, the right cabinet ( mess 4x12 for instance) a killer boost, and a 7 string with a killer player will sound more brutal than just about anything out there, Atleast in what I consider brutal. The plexi’s extemely hyper percussive response and openness And growl to the tone along with a boost and a low tuned guitar with a great right hand is gonna sound insane. I’ll find some proper DI’s with killer playing just to demonstrate this with a plexi.
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Mine doesn’t like the 7 string. The output section goes to mush. But mine gets pushed hard. With 6550 /kt88 helped, but still mushy. Not turned up with a distortion pedal might work, but I never use it that way.
 
Basically, we're talking about running a BE OD or a clone into the front of a clean-ish Plexi, and getting easily into metal type gain while taking advantage of the monster power sections of these early 70s SLs. Or, taking a preamp and running in into the front in the same manner. The vol on the Distortion pedal acts like a master vol, as does the output on a Langner preamp for example. I love to boost/double boost it as well; but there's a limit as to how saturated the amp gets...and, no control over the vol as it's heart attack city. Great sound too...but, if you want to NOT mod your vintage Marshall AND want thick/saturated gain like a modern amp, this is the way you can get there.
 
Exo-metal said:
Lotta talk these days about old Marshall's that compete with cascaded levels of gain but where are the crushing brutal clips?

Can anyone provide enough evidence to make us remove all the mods of the past and return these amps to stock?

How many of you use a stock 1959/86 100/50w plexi era amp with a distortion pedal in front and prefer that to a high gain mod? This thread excludes PaulyC and RacerXrated lol
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I used a Marshall 1959 SLP (first Reissue) and a Boss DS1 in the early 90ies. I just checked if i can find one used without success. I've been thinking about getting one again.
 
Chubtone said:
I have a stock '70 Super Trem and a stock '72 Super Lead and Metropoulos 12000 series 68 plexi clone and also a Marshall SV20. They are all mean enough to do heavy rock and classic metal tones with a Boss SD-1 or a Graphic EQ in front of them. Mean, tight and crunchy as hell with enough sustain and this punchy, articulate, in your face sound that IMO starts going away the more gain you add.

Do they do modern metal tones? How would I know? lol I'm not interested in that. I have owned 5 or 6 modded Marshalls over the years and had a Morin preamp and for the sound I am looking for, stock Super Leads with a little boost and low end tightening from those pedals just does it.

I don't set my Marshalls for clean. I set them to where they sound like the meanest classic rock sounds bordering on reaching hard rock sounds. Then I give them a little push with the pedal and it is killer.
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That's why I find the 800 is better suited ever so slightly than a plexi for boosted duties. It's tighter with the preamp down but with the master UP gets loose and crazy similar ( not exact but very close) to a 1950/plexi. I find the 800's take pedals better and the plexi can be pickier and compress too much with certain pedals. But the usual suspects always slay: TS. SD-1, OD-1, EQ etc. I have some modded stuff but it is very hard to beat a boosted plexi/2204
 
I don't know if you can get a pedal or preamp pedal can get the amp like a 1959 plexi suprlead tight enough like a modern metal amp as in a EVH 5153 or 5150 that are designed in the preamp and power section to be tighter. I'm sure with the right pedal a superlead could have enough gain but you have to be using active pickups, and some kind of preamp pedal or OD/Disortion box like Wolf Hoffman did with his Superleads but he was still not approaching what modern high gain amps have achieved regarding available gain IMHO.

It also depends on what modern metal tones you are talking about.......DUal Recto, Uberschall metal tones or traditional Marshall tones, that why most guys mod the Marshall with some tighter gain stages and depth mods for more low end response that you can dial in or out.
 
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Exo-metal said:
I'm gonna need more Marshall's
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You just need to find THE Marshall for you. Then you won’t need any more Marshalls.

I was just rewatching some videos of JD Simo and his (old, he sold it) ‘68 plexi, because it is for sale for $10k BTW. That amp was perfect for him but not me. Too fat even with bass on 0. But that was perfect for his style.
 
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SpiderWars said:
You just to find THE Marshall for you. Then you won’t need any more Marshalls.

I was just rewatching some videos of JD Simo and his (old, he sold it) ‘68 plexi, because it is for sale for $10k BTW. That amp was perfect for him but not me. Too fat even with bass on 0. But that was perfect for his style.
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I saw that clip and made a comment and the thought police of the weak warned me for saying that dude in the clip was a weirdo. That amp sold for 10k, sad. That's what an amp like that in dead mint could possibly see. That headshell wasn't original for one. It wasn't pristine...

You are right and I agree completely when you say I need the right one tho.
 
The Marshall Plexi is the greatest sounding classic rock amp ever....... Why try making it something it's not?
 
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