Seems to me that the two brands and styles of tube amps that dominate conversation among GreTscH slingers are Fender and Vox, roughly in that order. Some love for Valco circuits and Standels as well. But rarely is there any detailed discussion of Marshall. In fact, without any real reason beyond the image of stacks of Marshalls behind some of the bands and styles I rejected in my teens (Rock God Guitar Hero stuff), I pay little if any attention to Marshalls. But I've never plugged a GreTscH into one? Is it a particularly bad match? Are there quality concerns? Or is a style/vibe thing? And if you love Marshalls, I'm interested to know what attracts players to them.

Good point. Love 'em but never (knowingly) heard a Gretsch through one!

Yeah, I've plugged my Gretsches into Marshalls - lotsa nice grind with the combination. You just have to know how to control the feedback. I think much of the lack of Marshall usage, is due to the typical Gretsch player - he or she has a tendency to shy away from high gain tones. Marshalls are basically high gain amps. They can do clean tones, but not the glassy, twangy cleans that most Gretsch players prefer.

I disagree on the 'clean' thing Ellen. I've got a Marshall Haze that's at's clean as any Fender I've played. I've had a Twin, DRRI, and still have a 64' Princeton. The Marshall, on the clean channel is quite sparkly clean. I do prefer Marshall amps for both my Gretsch and Rickenbackers (toasters included).

I agree to an extent, but IMO, it's warm cleans (my favorite kind of cleans), not the glassy Fender Twin cleans so many Gretsch players seem to gravitate towards, or the muddy/dirty sort of crunching cleans that the rockabilly cats seem to like.

So...why the apparent preference for VOX over Marshall? VOX cleans always have a bit of bristle to them. So it doesn't seem to be about clean vs. dirty, or at least not simply so. Even if, contrary to BD's experience, most people can't get both loud and clean through a Marshall, the same holds true to a large degree with VOX.

Love em. That raw, raunchy bite seems tailorfit for filtertrons. JTM45's, JMP's all have it. There's plenty of good clips on youtube on Malcom Young's tone that really capture the essence of Gretsch+ Marshall. It's a great base sound, which you can spice up with a few pedals to taste. With the right settings and a little slapback, there's a great, punchy, thick rockabilly tone to be had. A friend of mine has one of those Haze combo's, 1x12 combo. Does a great Setzer tone, brilliant little combo.

I had a Marshall JCM 900 SL-X, 2 master volume, high gain amp. While it was kinda limited in what it could do, it had a great sound as well, but only at high gain settings and LOUD. Sold it to get me a Reverberocket, which now I am thinking about selling to get a JTM45 clone head. (Never thought I'd ever consider it). Not all guitars work on marshalls though, I think. The darker (LP) or wimpy (strat) sounding guitars don't really do it for me, well strats on any amp but that's my opinion. SG's, Gretsch, tele's do open it up, and it sounds incredible.

I got my VOX because it was such a great deal -THEN I fell in love with it afterwards. I have a mate who has 2 Marshalls exact same model everything. One sounds great, the other, just....not...

D'oH I forgot about Malcom!! How could I do THAT??

Voxes have some hair, but they also have chime to them. While you can make Marshalls chime, it's not quite the same, due to Marshalls having a lot of midrange in their tone (at least the classic ones). BTW, Bone, you're right about Marshalls and Rics being a good combination. There's nothing quite like a Ric running through a Marshall at full roar - it's one of my favorite guitar tones!

While I've heard Marshalls sound good in other's hands, I've played through a fair number of them, and they all sounded terrible. I've tried every guitar I've owned, and a variety of styles and sounds. All bad. You honestly couldn't give me a Marshall amp. Way too mid heavy, and every one I've played either didn't have enough drive, or had WAY too much.

When I do shows with rental amps I always ask for Fender but many times when they show up they are unusable and I end up using a Marshal running clean . Marshal seem to be a more consistant brand and despite not being even in the top five of my favorite amps I have to admit this is because of the image and not the actual sound . I met Jim Marshal in the 80s he was a fantastic guy and he told me " a Marshal is basically a Fender in a bigger box with more speakers "

Marshall JTM45s started out as a Bassman 4X10 copy. I think most of us associate "that great Gretsch sound" with Fender and Vox, tho, there are always exceptions. It doesn't matter what I play thru, I still sound like me.

My experience to date:

The Class 5 was actually a pretty good amp, even with HiLoTrons. Not sure if that was just because out of the lower watt amps it was the only one that had three tone controls that let me dial in what I wanted though...

Overall, I have been unimpressed with Marshall amps, at least with my HT Annie. I have tried a few with FilterTron guitars and found, like tidalwave, that they seemed to go pretty well together.

That said, I've only ever played reissue Marshalls so far, no vintage units. On that note, there have only been a couple of reissue amps that I really considered buying, a Bassman 59 RI and another similar size/shape Fender unit, though I forget which exactly. It was also tweed-covered, might have been a twin. Slightly heaver and larger than my amp again.

Lots of different vintage ones I've liked - some oddball units, a couple of Vox's (though I did find them a bit too warm/muddy in the treble end compared to the Fenders/Victoria amps I like, one bizzare old valve amp that wasn't even a guitar amp someone was using as one... just happened to have serious mojo.

I don't even know what it is about Marshalls. I love the look of them. For looks, I put them around a tie with Fender, with Vox shortly behind depending on the model. I've just rarely plugged in and instantly thought "sweet... I love it" like I definitely did with the Bassman.

Malcolm Young of course! Just go and check the intros to It's A long Way To The Top or Jailbreak Plexi Marshall + Gretsch is the best rock'n roll tone, but then I've never been a fan of glassy clean Twin Reverb sound, so I'm not in a majority in here. Oh, and I'm talking about Filtetron Gretsches, have no idea how Dyna Gretsch would sound through a Marshall.

I tried to like Vox but it just wouldn't work for me. Closest to liking the Vox was with a Telecaster with Lollar wound pickups in it. I didn't care for my Rickenbackers or Gretsches through the Vox as much as through the Fender or Marshall offerings. There's a wooliness to the cleans with a Vox. It's never completely squeaky clean.

Never been a huge Marshal fan, though I'll admit my first experiences with the brand was an unfortunate introduction to a MG series stack.

If we are just talking Gretsch and gain, Mesa's are real nice.

I play Fender amps which to me sound great with my Gretsch's. However I had to do a 'plug and play' festival show where there was a Marshall amp. I plugged an played and sounded great! (Filtertrons) It came very close to the sound I usually TRY to get out of my Fender Amps. A few years later on the same festival, again a Marshall amp and plug and play, and again a good sound! (Dynasonics).

Hmm, I think I need a Marshall amp now...

One of the things (well 3) that I like about the Vox AD30VT that I have is that it emulates a UK ’70s - 1971 Marshall 50w Plexi Head (high treble channel) and a UK ’80s - 1983 100w Marshall JCM800 head and a UK MODERN - Marshall JCM2000 DSL100 head (High gain channel).

It also emulates a NUMETAL - 100w Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier head(modern high gain channel) (also referred to as RECTO)

...btw... my Corvette with GHS Eric Johnson Nickel Rockers (11s) just loves the Vox AD30VT!!!

oooh, I don't think you can include modeling amps in this discussion, Vox or otherwise. You're not really playing with the "Vox" sound, it's a computer approximation. Not that it's a bad thing, I've got a little Vox AD15 that is great fun. But, the AC15 model really doesn't sound anything like my AC15

The higher gain models are pretty great though. Thus far, the best modeller I've used to date is the Digitech GSP 2101 Artist. It's more processor than modeller but HOLY SMOKES.

The modeling amps, like the Voxs or the Fender Mustangs are the 'Gateway' drugs to plant the seed of 'GAS'.....

I've been running my Gretsches through Marshall half stacks almost since day one of gigging. I did use my Twin primarily in the very early days but as our sound grew heavier, I was adding more and more grind in front. I eventually just jumped to a JCM 900 4100 Dual Reverb and gigged them for many years. I'm presently gigging a TSL100.

As for cleans, it really depends on the Marshall. Opinions vary but I've found the cleans of the TSL to be fatter and punchier than the 4100. Yes, Fender cleans are in a whole different world but I've found the clean of my TSL to be as pleasing to me as my Twin. My JCM 900s, no dice.

It really depends on the model though. Some do cleans well and some do only grind well. I've found that a TSL can do clean as well as a Twin, slight pre-amp break-up as well as my Twin with a Brain in front, and balls to the wall grind is no comparison. That's for gigging though and one half stack is already enough to haul. It sure is fun to play with all of it in the studio though.

Hilos sound awesome through JCM 900s

Yes they do. I tried a 60s Corvette and a 60s Tenny through a JCM900, and the sound is what made me change my opinion about HiLos - nice, warm sounding grind.

My lead guitar player has a Marshall 1974. My Gretsches don't sound bad through it, but then again the 1974 isn't the Marshall you think of when you think "Marshall". I liken it to being Marshall's version of a Deluxe (18 watts w/a 12" speaker), though obvious not the same circuit.