Brutal tones/stock superleads?

Current mustard on the board:

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tallcoolone said:
Thanks man. You responded to a question about a ‘devastating’ power section, not sure what I’m missing? I strongly believe a pedal in front of an old Marshall—meaning anything before 1990—is just as (insert manly adjective here) as any ‘modded’ Marshall. I’ve had too many of them…dozens…and in the end the real deal plus a little ‘mustard’ always does the trick
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The power sections of amps pre 90's as you point out are more similar than not. The point is getting brutal tones from the plexi superlead, superbass, or PA for that matter...STOCK amps without the assist from a preamp IN the models prior to '76. All the amps after are excluded. No amount of mustard can get you into this discussion with that list of pedals. None of them are new to us. Sorry but brutal gain/stock superleads was the topic, does this help?

 
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Braciola said:
Using a plexi (or any clean amp) with a distortion pedal in front will never sound the same as a good high gain amp
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the biggest advantages i’ve experienced in a well designed high gain amp are the shape of the attack, sustain, bloom, and low noise.

considering how many players use high gain these days for fast staccato riff/chug and quantity over quality solos,
a good tube amp and quality pedal will get the average player i see in the world more than enough of a modded marshall gain vibe and tone for there needs without spending an additional $2-4k.

or i’d encourage a newbie to grab a katana 3 or tonex for a ton of return on a very practical investment.
 
Exo-metal said:
The power sections of amps pre 90's as you point out are more similar than not. The point is getting brutal tones from the plexi superlead, superbass, or PA for that matter...STOCK amps without the assist from a preamp IN the models prior to '76. All the amps after are excluded. No amount of mustard can get you into this discussion with that list of pedals. None of them are new to us. Sorry but brutal gain/stock superleads was the topic, does this help?

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that's the first time I've laughed listening to that song in 23 years, lol. Thank you!

Was listening to that song on the way into work on Wall St on 9/11. Kept replaying in my head that whole day.
 
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Greazygeo said:
That big ass bright cap is long gone on my #1. 100pf is my preference. I put the 5k stock one back in my Metalface 69 recently. It is coming back out, freakin’ hate em. 😎
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Yeah lots of people hate them but for me it is essential. I have it on a switch but I never use the switch. That range between about 6-8 on the volume with that cap is where the magic is for me. The upper crunch doesn’t change much, it’s pretty much max upper mid crunch on 6 but the lows fill in more from 6-8. You can dial it in perfectly for bright/dark and low/high output pickups.

These amps were never designed to be low volume or clean, Marshall knew exactly what that cap did. They were ‘super lead’ rock amps, distorted and brutally loud.
 
Exo-metal said:
The power sections of amps pre 90's as you point out are more similar than not. The point is getting brutal tones from the plexi superlead, superbass, or PA for that matter...STOCK amps without the assist from a preamp IN the models prior to '76. All the amps after are excluded. No amount of mustard can get you into this discussion with that list of pedals. None of them are new to us. Sorry but brutal gain/stock superleads was the topic, does this help?
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Not at all, but that’s ok. Nailing down the exact TGP meaning of ‘brutal’ and ‘devastating’ is not something I’m prob going to accomplish today. It’s all subjective—an SD-1 in front of a 2203 is way too much gain for me and I’ve also never seen a depth or bass knob I didn’t want turned down to zero. But I do own a 100W superlead and 2 2204’s along with 2 dozen dirt boxes so I do feel as though my opinion is relevant to the topic
 
SpiderWars said:
Yeah lots of people hate them but for me it is essential. I have it on a switch but I never use the switch. That range between about 6-8 on the volume with that cap is where the magic is for me. The upper crunch doesn’t change much, it’s pretty much max upper mid crunch on 6 but the lows fill in more from 6-8. You can dial it in perfectly for bright/dark and low/high output pickups.

These amps were never designed to be low volume or clean, Marshall knew exactly what that cap did. They were ‘super lead’ rock amps, distorted and brutally loud.
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For those who have Tinnitus, or hate any version of bright, I understand removing the bright cap. But, for me it absolutely and every time NEUTERS the shit out of the amp...whether we are talking 2203 or 1959.
Tried it, hated it, immediately put the cap back in. In both MV and NMV Marshalls.
 
SpiderWars said:
The TGP meaning of brutal and devastating is a Princeton Reverb on 3 with a slight Klon boost. The entire church was devastated at the brutality.
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Princeton you say? 😄 I have been using one alot lately instead of lugging my big stuff to rehearse. I still can’t believe how good this thing sounds and it actually keeps up just fine with a loud drummer. Never would have thought…..
 
SpiderWars said:
Yeah lots of people hate them but for me it is essential. I have it on a switch but I never use the switch. That range between about 6-8 on the volume with that cap is where the magic is for me. The upper crunch doesn’t change much, it’s pretty much max upper mid crunch on 6 but the lows fill in more from 6-8. You can dial it in perfectly for bright/dark and low/high output pickups.

These amps were never designed to be low volume or clean, Marshall knew exactly what that cap did. They were ‘super lead’ rock amps, distorted and brutally loud.
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100pf for me. That upper mid thing, not a fan.
 
Exo-metal said:
That's all true, not relevant to the discussion on how to attain the goods but you always make sense.
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sorry for my tangential brain!
my baseline driven marshall plexi tones are very low gain by many modern players standards.

if you poke around on this marshall shootout soundcloud clip i made to find the description notes you’ll see what amp (peacemaker, superbass, 12000 series superlead) and gtr (tyler, suhr, prs) is being used at different time stamps:



getting from that starting point to “convincing” boutique levels of crushing modern gain with a pedal is challenging.

tangent warning😂:
i played a tom anderson ssh strat into a soldano astroverb 20 head/marshall basketweave 4x12 today and it was pretty darn enjoyable! clean and blues dirty were very musical and high gain was soldano massive—all quick and easy to dial in, at non heart stopping volumes!
 
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