Marshall Merger (thoughts?)

[taunton-hobbit]

UK music brand Marshall Amplification sold to Sweden's Zound Industries -

another British brand om the move (yes I know they had Chinese product in there, but they were British owned)

 

😎

[TheGreek]

It's the way of the world. 

 

In 100 years time everything will be own by either Coca Cola or McDonald's. 

[bartelby]

2 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

It's the way of the world. 

 

In 100 years time everything will be own by either Coca Cola or McDonald's. 

 

Or *hiss*

Nestlé 

[thodrik]

Honestly, I think that this is the logical development since Zound were already producing the Marshall branded headphones, bluetooth speakers and other 'lifestyle' products. Marshall is as much a lifestyle brand as it is musical instrument amplification company these days. In fact the lifestyle products are probably more profitable than selling reissues of old valve amps like the JCM 800/900 etc. 

I really don't have much complaints since the Marshall family remains the biggest shareholder. 

 

 

[LeftyJ]

13 minutes ago, thodrik said:

In fact the lifestyle products are probably more profitable than selling reissues of old valve amps like the JCM 800/900 etc. 

Exactly! Who takes a loud and unwieldy 100 watt tube stack on the road anymore, when you can get an eerily close emulation (or hyperrealistic IR profile) from your Kemper, Quad Cortex or Helix? Marshall has long been out-marshalled by both the modelling and IR guys AND the tube amp guys. Have you heard the PRS HDRX amps yet? They're an incredible Marshall Plexi inspired amp that's both practical, loud and affordable and offers blend controls for internally linking (and blending to taste) of the two channels that you'd normally patch with a short cable at the front of an old Marshall. They're absolutely brilliant. 

 

I think for guitar amp manufacturers these days, it's important to have on offer:

- good (home) studio tools, i.e. something compact and quiet that can emulate the tones of your classic and modern amps;

- loud but compact gear for small club or pub shows;

- maybe small batches of your big heads and cabs for the few rocking dinosaurs still out there (guilty!).

 

Marshall were very late to the modelling game, with their Code series, and chose to have these emulate their own amps only (OK, and an American clean, American OD and American high gain model) instead of offering a wide range of models to cater to a wider audience so these are incredibly limited for what they are. 

 

I think Marshall may have also misjudged what taking over Eden Bass Amplification would bring them. They made a loss, and had to sell Eden to Gear4music.

[PaulThePlug]

Marshall have just reissued a few pedals, Blues, G'uvner, Metal etc. at £170 https://marshall.com/amps/products/pedals but, NO BASS VERSION! not even a 'SUPER' with a Lead/Bass switch to sort the EQ... Missed a Trick... would be too expensive for me anyway... hence my Harley Benton badged Joyo British @ £20

Now if a Marshall Analogue Pre with Cab Sim Switch, XLR DI and Headphone Socket, Built in Tuner and Single Knob Compressor... All the sound 'doings' to feed a mixer... See enough similar such as Donner Alpha Bass and the like... for £200?.. Black box, White Marshall logo, Gold Control Face, Marshall Knobs.

The new FX pedals don't even have Gold Panels, and the Marshall Knobs... Holy Brand Recognition failure! Plus single stock item(s).

Edited March 30, 2023 by PaulThePlug

[Cato]

I'm sure there will always be a market for the classic Marshall guitar amp stack, but, personally I think there are better modern options.

 

Modern modeling amps give you near as dammit the same high gain valve tones in a more practical package and without having to max out the volume, meaning you can use the same rig for home and live without the neighbours calling the noise police.

 

Maybe the new owners will do a better job with keeping up with  modern tech developments.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Cato

[acidbass]

Marshall amps are still a right of passage for young guitarists but the days of needing 100w+ amps are diminishing exponentially.  The same can be said for backline in general I guess.

[Lozz196]

I get a pretty much identical Marshall sound from my Bluguitar Amp1 which is a tad smaller and lighter than a regular sized lap-top. It makes Class D bass amps look large, cumbersome and heavy.

 

In my old band the guitarist had one of these as a backup and A/B`d against his JCM900 the only difference we could hear was in the controlled feedback, the JCM performing more nicely on this aspect.

 

I love the Marshall sound, but I`m at a point where I can`t even lift a Marshall valve amp head, let alone carry one. Thankfully other brands can give the sound I want, just a shame that Marshall themselves haven`t developed something similar.

[police squad]

Good luck to Marshall. That's what I think.

I have a late 70s 50 watt master volume head, signed by Jim. It cost me 250 quid 20 years ago. 

I no longer use it because my former bandmate designed and built me some amps that sounded similar but had more modern features. 

Marshall stacks still look cool to me

[BassAdder60]

Sad really as I was a long time user of Marshall back in the 90’s 

 

As mentioned it’s a sign of the times and perhaps Jim’s family decided to sell up and retire 

 

This may be a good opportunity for Blackstar to gain ground perhaps ?