Marshall Major tone with bottom in a pedal?

Jim C

Jim C

I believe in the trilogy; Fender, Stingray, + G&L
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Nov 29, 2008
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#1
There has been a recent post about British amps that I find to be really interesting.
It appears that the tone Ron Wood got with a Tele bass in the Jeff Beck days, in the studio, might have been with a Marshall Major.
As I recall, these amps did not have much bottom for bass use and assume that studio EQ was used to fatten up the uniquely distorted tone.
It could also be that Ronnie is a monster bass player and can make any amp/bass sound great.

Any thoughts as to what pedal might get close to the distorted bass tone on Truth or Beckola or is this just a dream?
 
#2
Stating the obvious: I'd start checking out pedals that ape the Marshall tone.

If you don't find one in the market that suits you, there's plenty in the DIY arena that could be tweaked to have better bass response.

The vids are of guitar, but both use a pedal designed to sim the Major...



"Since Marshall PIg 1967 Majors are nearly impossible to find....
Conversations began with Brian Mena a pedal maker who is famous for getting great amp sounds out of a pedal) and Brian took up the challenge to get the flavour of a Marshall pig in a pedal. We got hold of various schems (mostly inaccurate) as well as photos of the innards of Marshall Pigs. Brian also had a friend who actually owns a pig too. Hence the pedal was born!
Brian hasn't made this pedal commercially available, so those of you who want one-you'll have to email him.

My signal went -Les Paul -DAM Holly Roller Fuzz- Jen 68 wah was then to Revalver speaker emulation and though an original Trident A range preamp to protools. Filmed (very unproffesionaly) in my studio underneath Revolver nightclub.
I tried to capture Ronnos early warm sound and then his later JBL brighter sound.
Much thanks too to Jason Quick for his amazing youtube Pig clip. Also much love to the memmory of the amazing Mick Ronson - JJ"





M-200 pedal by www.manlaysound.com

Catalinbread's Dirty Little Secret is based on the Super Lead/Super Bass
 
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#3
Awesome tone indeed. I guess any pedal aimed at reproducing vintage tones should do the trick as long as it's dynamic and "amp-like". I know the SFT by Catalinbread could get you there. Mid-rangy, not too agressive... They have the Dirty Little Secret which is modelled after a Marshall but I don't know if it's going to nail that kind of sound.
Edit: I wouldn't be too concerned about the pedal retaining bottom end, there's not much need for sub bass in that sound, just a strong and focused tone with a bit of hair.
 
#5
Unbelievable tone!
Thanks for this.
The M200 and the player are stunning!
Dirty Little Secret also amazing as well as the player.
I think I prefer the M200 for guitar.
It would be great if there were bass clips but understood that they were really designed for guitar.
The SFT makes me no longer feel bad about getting rid of my old VT40 (which needed a cap job).

Joyo didn’t thrill me but could very well be the settings / player.
Need a break before I dive into the Tech 21’s.
 
#6
For what it's worth, the Zvex Distortron is meant to ape a Marshall JTM45. It's been a pedal that's consistently stayed on my board above all others. It's got a 3 position sub switch on it that helps retain low end in the lower gain settings. High Gain setting loses a little bit of low end, but to me the pedal shines at low-medium gain (and that's kind of a misnomer because even the low gain is still pretty gain-y). It's got a nice snarl with a pick, and a nice bit of woolliness when played with fingers. Very musical overtones.

Here's a clip Valerus did a long time ago that made me decide I wanted to try the pedal:
distortron by willtodd-samples

Here's a video of me playing the pedal live - I kick it on at 2:10 for the bridge section. Back up the video if you want to hear the difference in regular tone vs. Distortron.
 
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#9
Jim C said:
Thought I’d bump this around one more time for comments
Click to expand...

Hi Jim. Just get yourself a Menatone Pig and be done. I freaking love mine with passive bass guitar. :thumbsup:

1.jpg
 
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#10
Snaxster said:
Hi Jim. Just get yourself a Menatone Pig and be done. I freaking love mine with passive bass guitar. :thumbsup:

View attachment 871633
Click to expand...

A few words about Menatone's amp-in-a-box pedals. In my brief experience with them:

For best results, play them as you would an actual tube amp; better still, as you would when playing into the particular model of amp each one is emulating.

Of any make/model of amp-in-a-box type pedal that I happened to play (not nearly all of them, I admit), far and away Menatone's behave most like an actual amp. It's as much about how it feels to play into them as how they sound when you do.

Several months ago I opined this to a guitarist friend, who collected Menatone pedals long before I did. A week or so ago from now, he wrote to say that he finally tried playing one (his Pig, I believe) like an amp, and he found it to be true. It was like an epiphany for him.

Here is my current Menatone amp-in-a-box pedal collection, with the amp(s) I believe each emulates:
  • Fargen VOS MkII 4-knob (Fargen Olde 800 MKII)
  • Kar Krash 7-knob with toggle (Trainwreck Express/Komet Songwriter)
  • Ms. Foxy Brown (Marshall model 1974)
  • Pig (Marshall Major)
  • Workingman's Blue 8-knob (Marshall JTM-45)
  • Wreck'T 4-knob (Trainwreck Express)
  • Wreck'T Mk3 5-knob (Trainwreck Rocket)
I have heard each played with guitar (mostly by my eclectic shredder friend and a bit by me) and with bass (by me). None of them sounds quite like any other of them, though there is serious overlap between the Kar Krash and the Wreck'T 4-knob as expected. My first impressions reviews of the Workingman's Blue and the Wreck'T 4-knob are in this forum.

Among the Marshall model emulators, the Pig's voice is distinctive. The Pig sounds raw, simple, and elemental like the Ms. Foxy Brown, but with no real low end loss. Also it sounds like a big beast vs. a little 18 watter.

The Workingman's Blue 8-knob is the more obvious Marshall emulator suitable to typical bass guitar sounds, but the Pig is far more rock and roll; more down and dirty.

But there is a catch. The bass control is pre-drive. The Workingman's Blue and the Wreck'T 4-knob are like this, too. As you increase the bass knob value, you drive the "power tubes" harder. So for bass guitar there is an inherent trade-off, and you have to find your sweet spot. It will depend on your playing style, taste, etc.

Since I could go on about this ad nauseam, I'll stop there. ;) I will only add that these are like no other drive pedals I own; and that for guitar or bass they are real gems.
 
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#12
P-oddz said:
For what it's worth, the Zvex Distortron is meant to ape a Marshall JTM45. It's been a pedal that's consistently stayed on my board above all others. It's got a 3 position sub switch on it that helps retain low end in the lower gain settings. High Gain setting loses a little bit of low end, but to me the pedal shines at low-medium gain (and that's kind of a misnomer because even the low gain is still pretty gain-y). It's got a nice snarl with a pick, and a nice bit of woolliness when played with fingers. Very musical overtones.

Here's a clip Valerus did a long time ago that made me decide I wanted to try the pedal:
distortron by willtodd-samples

Here's a video of me playing the pedal live - I kick it on at 2:10 for the bridge section. Back up the video if you want to hear the difference in regular tone vs. Distortron.
Click to expand...


BUMP!!!!
I watched your video and loved the tone when you step on the distortron. Is it blended with a clean signal or just it? Is it still on your board? Massive tone, yeah.
 
#14
Fuzzbass said:
FEA is coming out with a dual-band distortion pedal - clean lows, dirty highs - and someone here said that the dirt circuit is based on Marshall. Of course it might not be the Major - and maybe you don't want clean lows. Throwing it in here anyway.
Click to expand...

I think the lows will be able to saturate on that pedal as well. One of the top ones on my radar, even though I'm pretty happy with my Peavey pedals.
 
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#15
Fuzzbass said:
FEA is coming out with a dual-band distortion pedal - clean lows, dirty highs - and someone here said that the dirt circuit is based on Marshall. Of course it might not be the Major - and maybe you don't want clean lows. Throwing it in here anyway.
Click to expand...

Actually, I don't really know if I'm looking for a Marshall sound or not. I don't even know if I want clean lows or not. Everything comes because this weekend I have been listening to RATM, and, as always, I have freaked out with the bass tone. I really like the type of distortion Tim uses, a very grainy and fat distortion, which I would say is neither fuzz nor tubescreamer type. I remembered that he used a Marshall Guv'nor (among many other secret pedals, I know), so looking for opinions on pedals that might sound the same as the Guv'nor but suitable for bass, just for curiosity, I ended up on this thread.

The tone on the video P-oddz uploaded, although not exactly the same, is very similar to what I was looking for. I like it because it is deep, fat, grainy and articulate, and it seems to me that it doesn't cut thelow-end, that's why I asked about the blend.

I have the MBD-2, the Xotic BB, a Rat clone, etc, but I can't get this type of grind with any of these (blended or not). Maybe the rat would be the closest one. So I'm intrigued with this one.
 
#16
Sergi said:
BUMP!!!!
I watched your video and loved the tone when you step on the distortron. Is it blended with a clean signal or just it? Is it still on your board? Massive tone, yeah.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Sergi! The tone in the video is the pedal straight up, no blend.
The pedal is not still on my board, however. Sometime in 2018 I started playing Ampeg amps and my tone preferences just changed a bit. I still own it though, and play it at home when I want to get loud and gnarly.
 
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#17
Nice, I'm an ampeg guy too. What pedal has replaced the Distortron on your pedalboard for you to get a fat overdrive with the ampeg? Or are you no longer interested in this kind of tones?
 
#18
Sergi said:
Nice, I'm an ampeg guy too. What pedal has replaced the Distortron on your pedalboard for you to get a fat overdrive with the ampeg? Or are you no longer interested in this kind of tones?
Click to expand...

Very much still into overdriven tones. In fact, I pretty much only play bass with dirt on it. I use a few pedals to get flavors of that type of overdriven tone. The EQD Westwood, and two clones I built (one is the Catalinbread SFT V1 and the other is the Mad Professor Blueberry Bass OD).

The most versatile (and easily accessible) would probably be the EQD Westwood, it has more eq control and it can get pretty gnarly. Downside is that at higher gains it sounds a little less organic than what I really dig these days.

The Catalinbread V1 clone does a great grind that is a little more in the low mid and midrange territory. It's very organic sounding, IMO, but really only has one "sweet spot" on the pedal. This one is a tough one to share experience on (same as the BBOD) because I built it and my electronics expertise is very amateur. So is it the pedal specifically? Or is it just "my version" that I got to work? It's a rad little nugget of a pedal though, and IMO sounds better than the V2 SFT that I purchased prior to building the clone.

The MP BBOD clone, is the darkest sounding pedal of them all. It's straight up sludge metal tones and sounds like a giant 70's amp at low, to medium low gains, paired with Ampeg tubes. That one makes me want to play chunky metal riffs. Also a little less usable at higher gains.
 
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#19
Cool! A few years ago I was able to try the Westwood for a few days. I liked it a lot, but i found it a little too much "opened", not tight, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for at the moment. I have midscooped pickups too, so I think it was part of the problem. Now I want to swap them for the Dimarzio model P, so it would be interesting to try the Westwood again.

My "problem" (not a problem at all) is that I use Sansamp BDDI at the end of my chain, so, although it certainly improves the sound of any pedal you put in front of it, at the same time it makes them sound similar, removing many of their sonic characteristics. I still like the BDDI and don't want to ged rid of it, but I recognize it's a handicap when it comes to enjoying each pedal fully. My main tone is the BDDI (with some grit) plus a subtle distortion (sometimes the Fulltone Bass Drive, sometimes the Xotic BB). And then, I have another low gain drive stacked for when I want more gain (a rat -excesive-, or the MBD-2). But this means that there are already 3 pedals in play in when using the high gain, so there is little left of the original pedal sound...I don't know, I'm still mulling over how to use my overdrives. I'll wait to swap my pickups in two weeks, and then I'll start experimenting again.

Oh, and I have a Fuzzrocious Demon coming, I think I'll like it, as it seems to have a great grind in the low mids, that used for low gain overdrive will be very nice.

The MP BBBOD and the SFT sound interesting too, and I have never tried them, I'll give them a look. :thumbsup:
 
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