Marshall Vintage Modern, share experiences Options

[Ivan Milenkovic]

Guys, I'm seriously considering replacing my current TSL combo with Vintage Modern 50W head. Can someone who had this amp please share some experiences?

[Jesse]

Ivan, what the , are you stealing my amp?

[Ivan Milenkovic]

Ivan, what the , are you stealing my amp?

Goodness no! I just wanna see what people think of it. Currently I'm in the process of scanning the web about the amp before I try it out in the store. They are unavailable atm in my country, but in a month they will get it, so wanna prepare before I go to try it out.

[Ivan Mihaljevic]

I don't own that amp, but I tried it on a few occasions and it's awesome!
It's very well defined and balanced in tone. Lacks just a little bit more gain for leads for my taste, but a simple tubescreamer stomp pedal takes care of that! But for your style of music, I think it should work without any OD pedal.

This post has been edited by Ivan Mihaljevic: Apr 7 2009, 08:38 PM

[Ivan Milenkovic]

Thanks a lot for the info Ivan, cheers mate!

EDIT: one question - this amp has 2 "dynamic ranges" that are footswitchable. How does the 2nd dynamic range relate to the first one in terms of volume? Can it be used as a boost or 2nd channel?

This post has been edited by Ivan Milenkovic: Apr 7 2009, 08:53 PM

[Ivan Mihaljevic]

Thanks a lot for the info Ivan, cheers mate!

EDIT: one question - this amp has 2 "dynamic ranges" that are footswitchable. How does the 2nd dynamic range relate to the first one in terms of volume? Can it be used as a boost or 2nd channel?

It's more like a second channel!

[MickeM]

hope audiopaal shows up, he has one.... if he hasn't switched again.

[audiopaal]

Guys, I'm seriously considering replacing my current TSL combo with Vintage Modern 50W head. Can someone who had this amp please share some experiences?

DO IT!
It's an awesome amp.
I owned that exact head a little while ago..
It got awesome clean, blues, crunch and hard rock tones

For metal you'd need a pedal though..

It's a mean tone machine

[Ivan Milenkovic]

DO IT!
It's an awesome amp.
I owned that exact head a little while ago..
It got awesome clean, blues, crunch and hard rock tones

For metal you'd need a pedal though..

It's a mean tone machine

Awesome mate, thanks!

Can you answer me on that question about dynamic ranges. What I fear is that, for example, during a gig, I want to switch to higher dynamic range. Is it possible to do that? Will the amp just add more drive or will it increase the volume so much that it practically cannot function as a 2nd channel? I hope this makes sense

[ZakkWylde]

The Vintage modern is a true marshall amp, not too much gain but a true and pure sounding marshall. Combine it with a vintage 30 cab or in this case a greenback cab and you're in tone heaven!

[iamblackmo]

Guys, I'm seriously considering replacing my current TSL combo with Vintage Modern 50W head. Can someone who had this amp please share some experiences?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjs14AEk12c

Ivan, how can anything compare that tone, given your style.

[Gilmore]

I didn´t know you had a TSL combo Ivan. I also have this combo and I don´t like it so much, it´s too harsh and too powerful, I usually don´t dial the volume past 3 or 4. I´ve been thinking of swiching to VM 50w head too. What do you think of the TSL?

I saw a video of Malmsteen visiting the Marshall factory and he tried out bunch of amps, and in the end he liked the Vintage Modern most.

[kaznie_NL]

Well... You're a very experienced musician so you probably want, but maybe try something different from Marshall! I mean, half of the price is for the "Marshall" logo!

[sted]

Well... You're a very experienced musician so you probably want, but maybe try something different from Marshall! I mean, half of the price is for the "Marshall" logo!

Yeah the Blackstar Artisan 100w hand wired heads are meant to be dynamite, they are all ex-Marshall guys as well so you can bet the trademark grind of Marshall will be in there, dont know about availability where you are though mate.
That VM sounded damn fine though i have to admit!! and my old Marshall sounded better with my strat than Les Paul so I can see why youre looking at this baby!

[29a]

Well... You're a very experienced musician so you probably want, but maybe try something different from Marshall! I mean, half of the price is for the "Marshall" logo!

To me the all tube Marshall amps, especially the JVM's seem to be quite cheap. Or at very least comparable to others. I think this is more the case with their cheaper amps.

Jonas

This post has been edited by 29a: Apr 8 2009, 02:23 PM

[MickeM]

Yeah the Blackstar Artisan 100w hand wired heads are meant to be dynamite, they are all ex-Marshall guys as well so you can bet the trademark grind of Marshall will be in there, dont know about availability where you are though mate.
That VM sounded damn fine though i have to admit!! and my old Marshall sounded better with my strat than Les Paul so I can see why youre looking at this baby!

My local musicstore guy has one on display, he told me concidering all the amps he gets to demo in his line of work the Blackstar Artisan 100W was truly the best of the best he hadn't even words to express how good it was.
Sounds promising. But it's 100w and unusable for most of us. There's a 15- and a 30W in the same series.

There's a guy here handwiring amps, Lehners amps is the brand, he's got a 50W head for about twice the price of a VM - a 2 channel amp. For the same money a VM would cost he's making a 25 W amp. It's rahter good a price for a handbuild amp. That one is a one channel amp, not for everyone but Ivan, I suspect it could be the right thing for you in your genre of music.

[Ivan Milenkovic]

Well... You're a very experienced musician so you probably want, but maybe try something different from Marshall! I mean, half of the price is for the "Marshall" logo!

I know what you're saying Kaz, and you are right. It's just that the choice is very limited where I live, and I can't just order something from abroad. Currently what I can find in stores are ENGL Fireball, some Peaveys Randalls and Marshalls (limited choice). I like Marshall the most of all those amps, and Vintage Modern seems like a good choice. I know Marshalls are pricey, cause they include the brand, perhaps not half of the price is logo, but some 20% is probably. Also they are not so great in built and sound can vary a lot, but I like the sound. I'm aiming for a good cab beside the amp cause that's where most of the sound is as well. Probably something like 2x12 Vintage 30s will do the trick for my current needs.

[sted]

Spotted a review for these vintage handwired boutique amps the other day EVA (English Valve Amps) made in er......England!! Really trying to capture that Marshall vibe with these I think. They look like works of art inside, but i dont fancy your chances of getting one where you Ivan!

[Ivan Milenkovic]

Spotted a review for these vintage handwired boutique amps the other day EVA (English Valve Amps) made in er......England!! Really trying to capture that Marshall vibe with these I think. They look like works of art inside, but i dont fancy your chances of getting one where you Ivan!

Looks good from inside and outside!

This looks very similar to Marshall 20W had wired head, except this one has a tremolo added - very strange! My guess the sound is awesome, too bad I can't at least try it out.

I didn´t know you had a TSL combo Ivan. I also have this combo and I don´t like it so much, it´s too harsh and too powerful, I usually don´t dial the volume past 3 or 4. I´ve been thinking of swiching to VM 50w head too. What do you think of the TSL?

I saw a video of Malmsteen visiting the Marshall factory and he tried out bunch of amps, and in the end he liked the Vintage Modern most.

I use it only for gigs atm, don't use it at home, except for gig practicing (foot switching). I like the tones that I can dial in from this combo, but I it got some flaws that I don't like. For example channel switching from clean to drive has a tiny delay. It's not much, and I got used to it, but it really tends to annoy if you are not careful. I always have to switch to drive channel a split second before the drive actually kicks in, so this is the first reason I guess. Second reason - it is heavy, i don't like carrying it around. I wanna head that weighs 18Kg so I can carry the head in one hand and possibly cab in the other one. This is (somehow) easier for me then carrying this 26kg combo in one hand with nothing on the other side to balance it out. Third reason, the FX Loop is parallel - this is a major mistake. Even at max settings it will still put effects way in the background. I understand the concept of parallel loop, the original amp sound is supposed to be unchanged and the looped part should go in parallel with that, but they could at least make the parallel sound as loud as the real sound so the effects do their job properly. I still manage to use the effects cause I put them to wet, and crank everything so they are audible, but subtle nuances from the effects are lost this way.
Good luck with your purchase mate.