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Hatsubai « Slash's signature Marshall »
Published on 05/13/11 at 17:25This amplifier is the amp that Marshall designed in conjunction with the famous Guns n Roses guitarist Slash. It was modeled after his other Marshall amplifiers he used, and I find it bears a lot of similarities to the JCM800. It is a single channel amplifier with four EL34 tubes and three 12AX7 tubes. Everything is fairly straight forward on it just like the old school JCM800s, but this amplifier has a footswitchable volume pot, an effects loop, a DI out and a low/high output switch.
UTILIZATION
The amp is extremely easy to dial in, and you can get tons of great tones immediately. The additional features that this amp has over the JCM800 makes it a bit more desirable, and there are some interesting things going in underneath. During the JCM900 years, Marshall started using diodes for clipping. These diodes were given a bad rap because the JCM900s didn't sound too great. However, people went gaga over this amp for its extra gain and awesome tone. In reality, this amp has diodes being used in the clipping section just like the JCM900 did. Amazing what a famous guitarist's name will do for an amplifier. Now, I'm not saying it's the same as the JCM900 because it's not. However, it does have some similarities at times.
SOUNDS
The amp sounds great, and I find it sounds even better once you throw a boost in front of it. Once you do, it gets this awesome pissed off Marshall sound that absolutely roars. The footswitchable master volumes make it great for when you need to boost the volume for those lead boosts, but since it has an effects loop, you could always just throw an EQ or something in the loop to increase the volume. Therefore, the feature isn't quite necessary, in my opinion. I actually always used this on the high output setting, so I can't really commend on the lower output setting.
OVERALL OPINION
These amps can get pretty pricey thanks to their rarity and Slash's signature name. They sound great, and while they're kinda worth it, I find that there are better Marshalls out there today, especially thanks to the JVM and VM that recently came out. If you're a Slash fan, you'll probably want to look into the new AFD amplifier anyway.
UTILIZATION
The amp is extremely easy to dial in, and you can get tons of great tones immediately. The additional features that this amp has over the JCM800 makes it a bit more desirable, and there are some interesting things going in underneath. During the JCM900 years, Marshall started using diodes for clipping. These diodes were given a bad rap because the JCM900s didn't sound too great. However, people went gaga over this amp for its extra gain and awesome tone. In reality, this amp has diodes being used in the clipping section just like the JCM900 did. Amazing what a famous guitarist's name will do for an amplifier. Now, I'm not saying it's the same as the JCM900 because it's not. However, it does have some similarities at times.
SOUNDS
The amp sounds great, and I find it sounds even better once you throw a boost in front of it. Once you do, it gets this awesome pissed off Marshall sound that absolutely roars. The footswitchable master volumes make it great for when you need to boost the volume for those lead boosts, but since it has an effects loop, you could always just throw an EQ or something in the loop to increase the volume. Therefore, the feature isn't quite necessary, in my opinion. I actually always used this on the high output setting, so I can't really commend on the lower output setting.
OVERALL OPINION
These amps can get pretty pricey thanks to their rarity and Slash's signature name. They sound great, and while they're kinda worth it, I find that there are better Marshalls out there today, especially thanks to the JVM and VM that recently came out. If you're a Slash fan, you'll probably want to look into the new AFD amplifier anyway.