Soultone Marshall 2061X Lead and Bass SOUNDCLIPS

[Mark Olson]

This is not a low volume practice amp, this is my gigging amp! 20 Watts all tube, loud, clean, tubey bass. This thing pushes low end bigger than my V4 did at 1/5th of the wattage, compared through the same cab. And it is LOUD! My apartment starts shaking at 9 o'clock. The upstairs neighbors start banging on their floor at nine o'clock because I'm vibrating their place too. Beyond that it's just an earthquake.

Clips are done with a Fender Mustang Bass modified with a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder Precision pickup. Mustang -> Cable -> 2061X -> Ashdown ABM115 -> Shure SM57.

This first clip is some uncharacteristically for me lightly played pickstyle:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9017985

The second clip is palm muted pickstyle:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9017996

For the last clip I bridged the two channels (Lead and Bass) and turned up the Lead Channel just a tad for just a bit of grind. This clip sounds anemic in comparison to the others because I didn't take the time to dial in a good balance between the two channels. Oh well:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9017999

I've owned a lot of pedals geared towards copping the light grind you get from a tube amp like this, but in person none of them have come close. Seriously, the kit for this amp is somewhere around $850, and you can get the Ceriatone clone, prebuilt I believe, for $500. Marshall still makes these in their handwired series for $1850 as well. More clips to come.

[Mark Olson]

Oh and this thing is crazy light too. It's not much more of a bother to carry than a Tiny Terror, it's just that it doesn't come with the nifty purse thing to carry it in.

[JimmyM]

hey, i use a b-15 and i'm often too loud why not, dude?

[Mark Olson]

Yeah. I do a lot of loud rock gigs, but I don't see myself needing anything more than this. I used to gig a lot with an SVT-3 Pro, you're probably familiar with that, right? And I swear this thing is as loud as that run into the same 8 ohm cab; it's a lot heavier sounding.

I did a late night, as low as possible clip. That is I turned the volume on the amp (it only has a volume and tone per channel and I'm only using the bass channel) as low as it would go and still make sound, and I even rolled the volume on the bass as low as it would go while still producing sound. Of course an amp like this doesn't sound it's best that way, but the acoustic sound of me playing in the background will give you some idea as to the volume so you can judge based on that. Also the amp doesn't have all it's booty like that, and furthermore I'm playing through a Vintage 30 instead of the Ashdown:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9019024

Bridge pickup SG Bass, rounds. Smooth and buttery on the cleans, just like the actual late 60's Marshalls I've played.

[D.M.N.]

Oh man, these are awesome. I love that tone from the marshall, especially with the SG bass. I can see that getting into Jack Bruce territory. Didn't you do the clip for the Beano Boost on the analogman site? I absolutely love that clip and tone. Could you do a clip of the Sg-->Beano Boost--->Marshall? I bet it would be really amazing.

[JimmyM]

yep, sounds a lot like my british pedal

love love love the grind tone.

[Mark Olson]

Originally Posted by D.M.N.

Oh man, these are awesome. I love that tone from the marshall, especially with the SG bass. I can see that getting into Jack Bruce territory. Didn't you do the clip for the Beano Boost on the analogman site? I absolutely love that clip and tone. Could you do a clip of the Sg-->Beano Boost--->Marshall? I bet it would be really amazing.

Yup, that was me, and there's more recent clips by me of the Bass Beano Boost if you look a few pages back on the effects forum.

I'd be glad to do some clips of that for you because I'm sure it'll be awesome! The Marshall has too much headroom for it to make good use of the Beano Boost in my apartment without blowing the building up, but I'm going into the studio on saturday and they've got an isolation room of course so I'll see if I can bang out a clip for you then.

What I've been doing lately is setting the amp relatively clean but boosting it to hell with the Bass Beano Boost for a really cool fuzz tone. I think it sounds great!

[D.M.N.]

Cool, that'll be greatly appreciated! I want to get a beano at some point, they seem to be a really cool boost pedal. But even so, that amp on its own sounds really great. Are you using the ceriatone or is it an actual Marshall? Sounds like it would be a great amp to record with.

[Mark Olson]

It's a great gigging amp, it's too loud for me to crank it at a gig. In fact it has too much headroom for the Beano Boost to do it's thing. What happens when you have too much headroom for the Beano is you just get pretty much a volume boost. I did get to crank the amp up today at my house which is the only place I can get that loud. This thing could cause some serious hearing damage.

What I'm using is a Soultone clone of the 2061X. It's much more high end than the Ceriatone, and arguably more high end than the Marshall version as well (Mercury Magnetics Transformers, etc.) The Soultone comes in a kit, I had my tech build it for me. He did a great job!

[KramerBassFan]

Wonderful!

Lets see some more pictures?

Love these little Marshall Builds... I have one of my own. Except with 5x the Power.

[Mark Olson]

I'll see what I can do for more pictures. I love the look of old Marshalls so I certainly think it's pretty!

Here's a clip using my Fender Fuzz Wah with the 2061X (Fuzz only). The amp needs to be broken in a bit more yet to sound it's best with this, few more gigs, but here you go:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9021256

And I thought I may as well do a Cream song since I had my dirt on, but it doesn't sound too much like Jack Bruce using the Fender Fuzz, it's really it's own thing, a little bit more aggressive cause I'm playing rounds (and SS rectification, etc.):

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9021272

Had the tone too high for that clip so it fizzes a bit. Sue me. A two knob amp and I still can't just set it right, hahaha!

[D.M.N.]

So it really is quite loud? I just cannot imagine a 20 watter being nearly enough power for anything outside of home use. I'd dig using just a Super lead/Bass 100w, something like a JTM45/100 model, but I always figured they wouldn't be loud enough to compete with a loud band. Suppose it kind of depends on what cabs you're playing it through.

BTW, loved both of those clips.

[Mark Olson]

You have to figure on two things, one is that Marshall amps are super, super loud for their wattages. The other is that, through the same cab a 20 watt Marshall amp is going to give you the lion's share of the volume of a 100 watt Marshall, a 100 watt Marshall through the right cabs being able to basically drown out a drummer (just ask Ginger Baker).

Also this amp seems to put out more beef than the Ampegs I'm used to playing, as in it'll get you heard down low quickly, compared through the same cab with the Ampegs (Ashdown ABM115C, which I used for the first few clips). And I get deafeningly loud through that cab, though Ashdown gave me some kind of "special" speaker for it and I don't know what the specs are (might be a lot louder than the stock speaker you'd get in that cab now).

I always say watts for headroom, speakers for volume.

[KramerBassFan]

Yep - i'll agree with that.

My 100w Superbass is more volume and headroom than i could ever use.

And i only have the knobs 1/10th of the way up. Yes, that is irrelevant to actual WATTAGE - i know.

[Mark Olson]

Yup. I'm sorry I haven't gotten more pictures yet, the amp is with my brother for the night and we're heading into the studio tomorrow. But in the meantime the layout for the front and back of the Soultone are exactly the same as this:

http://www.marshallamps.com/product....pageType=SEEIT

[Honk'n_down-low]

Originally Posted by Mark Olson

It's a great gigging amp, it's too loud for me to crank it at a gig. In fact it has too much headroom for the Beano Boost to do it's thing. What happens when you have too much headroom for the Beano is you just get pretty much a volume boost. I did get to crank the amp up today at my house which is the only place I can get that loud. This thing could cause some serious hearing damage.

What I'm using is a Soultone clone of the 2061X. It's much more high end than the Ceriatone, and arguably more high end than the Marshall version as well (Mercury Magnetics Transformers, etc.) The Soultone comes in a kit, I had my tech build it for me. He did a great job!

Clips sound great - great sounding Amp!

[Mark Olson]

Thanks! I'm very, very pleased with it! The only thing I don't like about it is that I didn't have it sooner!

[Mark Olson]

Picture of the back of the 2061X

[savinggrace]

Originally Posted by Mark Olson

Thanks! I'm very, very pleased with it! The only thing I don't like about it is that I didn't have it sooner!

Well you have it now! Congratulations as I know it has been a long quest honing in on the tastiest tone that you dream of.

I am sure it is a shockingly pleasant surprise that it is light too. How much do you think it weighs?

I am curious as to the OD from this compared to an Ampeg V2...

[Mark Olson]

It's about 20 pounds I figure. It's a very easy heft. With my SG Bass in a gig bag with shoulder straps, all my pedals and cables in a bag I hang over my shoulder, and the Marshall in one hand and one of my Orange cabs in the other I can haul this rig into a gig in one trip!

The 2061X is really not a very dirty amp, at all. It's extremely high headroom, and kind of comparable to certain solid state heads in sound, though it has that nice, slightly glassy, three dimensional tube quality, of course. The V2 is more dirty and friendlier with treble boosters and things of that nature. Whereas with the Orange I can get these tones very easily with my Analogman Bass Beano Boost:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=8989621

It basically acts like a clean boost with the 2061X.