Marshall Guitar world Ad

[Alfonse]

Anyone see the let handed swipe Marshall took at Blackstar (indirectly) in their two page ad in GW this month. They go on and on about their hand made constructed in UK quality. Clearly a swipe at the Blackstar being made in Korea. And they go on about the Marshall Proven Road Reliability you can be assured of because of years of use and experience by hundreds of artist, etc. They Seem to be saying don't take a chance with these new upstarts. Stay with tried and true.

Extrapolating upon this, they seem to be inferring that blackstar and other new companies are an unknown quantity, unproven as of yet, to be able to withstand the rigors of the road.

They never mention Blackstar, but one certainly gets the impression that is who they are talking about.

Time will certainly tell the story. I thought Blackstar made a huge splash entering the market as an alternative innovative amp. But lately, they seem to losing steam. I was in a Guitar Center the other day, and when I asked about Blackstars, they said they could order them but don't stock them because they weren't moving. I was really disappointed.

Al

[pinknshreddy]

i saw it as a furious back peddling over the relaunch of the Class 5, after the first one was so badly done it needed a relaunch??

[auburnshredder]

i saw it as a furious back peddling over the relaunch of the Class 5, after the first one was so badly done it needed a relaunch??

Interesting, I really know nothing regarding the demographics and "sweet spots" of either companies sales. Probably not JVMs ,or Series One, or Artisians.

Given the "Guitar Center" consumer market out there...probably more like the Ht-5, Venue, Class 5, Haze, MA etc...heaven forbid that Marshall MG crap...please!!!

Say what you want aobut the Korean Blackstars...but Marshall has totally sold out. The Haze is an abortion (ever played one?) and although the Class 5 has its merits.... the new HT5 crushes it.

I have owned Marshalls, Mesas, Peaveys, Line 6 etc and I love my HT-20 (although I would never give up my Soldano Astroverb )

[Jono]

Last Marshall I owned was a reliability disaster and it was a much vaunted long awaited flagship model. I went to try a different model in the shop as a replacement - they took it out of the box and it didn't work.

Don't get me wrong I have had several Marshalls (still have one) and let's not forget they invented the whole thing. I have a poster signed by Jim on my wall. To me Marshall's problem is that they have to be Marshall - tradition demands it.

Blackstar have no such worries - they can go in any direction. The S1 is the most toneful and versatile thing I have ever owned - it does a to my mind better version of Marshall than an awful lot of Marshalls and it does heaps more besides.

To me made in Korea is a plus - someone makes a mistake on an amp they voluntarily go outside and commit ritual suicide. Well, not exactly but having been there they are a humourless but extremely highly motivated race. I'm afraid to say (as a Brit) the days of that level of perfectionism and commitment in the UK are behind us.

If there had been a Marshall that sounded as good as the S1 I'd have bought it. There wasn't. The End.

[auburnshredder]

Last Marshall I owned was a reliability disaster and it was a much vaunted long awaited flagship model. I went to try a different model in the shop as a replacement - they took it out of the box and it didn't work.

Don't get me wrong I have had several Marshalls (still have one) and let's not forget they invented the whole thing. I have a poster signed by Jim on my wall. To me Marshall's problem is that they have to be Marshall - tradition demands it.

Blackstar have no such worries - they can go in any direction. The S1 is the most toneful and versatile thing I have ever owned - it does a to my mind better version of Marshall than an awful lot of Marshalls and it does heaps more besides.

To me made in Korea is a plus - someone makes a mistake on an amp they voluntarily go outside and commit ritual suicide. Well, not exactly but having been there they are a humourless but extremely highly motivated race. I'm afraid to say (as a Brit) the days of that level of perfectionism and commitment in the UK are behind us.

If there had been a Marshall that sounded as good as the S1 I'd have bought it. There wasn't. The End.

Interesting perspective....I still am always on the lookout for a clean JCM 8)

[Saartan]

Everything here seems to be so excited about their new Blackstar heads, that they don't see the obvious:

if it's a Marshall advertisement, they might as well advertise with what marshall is (still ?) known for:
- Quality
- reliability
- the well known typical Marshall sound

that's marketing, and to me it seems legitimate to say this.

It's up to the actual user to decide wether they
- like that marshall sound (Which I don't)
- think any of the other brands have quality close to marshall (since basically, we can not know that for sure until later)

In my case, I'm taking the chance with blackstar based on the sound (which is much better than anything I ever played)
as well as my trust that the people involved (Which a lot of them ensured that Marshall Quality for a long time when working
there) will keep the standard they promised as well as my personal feeling when laying my hands on their Products.

So basically, although I think it's legitimate for Marshall to point out the obvious, it is legitimate to the Blackstar staff
to point out the fact that many of them were responsible for that quality in the past and will be able to keep that work up
with blackstar...

[majikmojo]

i kinda agree with Saartan - say what you will ...there is a reason Marshall has dominated the professional arena for decades

quality,tone,reliability - do they make some crappy amps ? yep
but overall they are the top shelf amp for a lot of professionals

i grew up with them and have owned several - i still like them and own one

[ronnie robinson]

Marshall do still make some good quality Amps but only at the higher end of the market - say over the £800 mark

The cheaper Amps such as the Haze are built poorly, have cheapo plastc parts and sound very average - there is no comparison even with a cheaper BS Ht5 which looks better, is made of better quality parts, knobs and switches and sounds much better

Its sad really that such a legendery (English) producer of Amps has let the QC go down so much

[majikmojo]

yea - when they jumped in the solid state arena it went to hell in a handbasket

stick to what you do best - big,powerful tube amps

[auburnshredder]

Have to say, I am sure enjoying my Class 5 Head...maybe the best $350 I have spent.