No Marshall Major...so, let's build our own...

My first Marshall was a Major that I had converted over to KT77's as KT88's were no where to be found. I was never into the Blackmore sound, so that's not what attracted me to the amp. I actually used it as a slave amp for my block logo 5150. I still miss the sound of that setup, but not the hauling of it around. I've been waiting for a Marshall Major to be added, so that I can go reminisce with my AxeFX II.
 
I used Xarkon's hints to make a Marshall Major in the AF2, but then I had to tweak it a little as I thought it needed a little extra hot-rodding.

It's got some clarity, some dirt, and it pushes some air.

This patch uses all eight scenes, some EQ prior to the amp, plus the X/Y to give you a wide tonal palette to play with. There's a little Richie Blackmore, a little Tom Scholz, a little, country, a little rock all rolled into one.

The cabinets you will need for this preset all came with FW14 as a set of UR cabs.

Cab 1 X = OH_412_MAR-CB_v30-CH_Studio-Mod
Cab 1 Y= TAF_MarsBW_MIX_ROOM
Cab 2 X= 1X12 AC-20 DLX M160 Off-Axis
Cab 2 Y= TAF_Shadow_MIX


I built this preset switching back & forth between a 1992 Fender American Standard Strat with stock pickups and an Electra Vulcan LP copy MPC-x940 with vintage Dimarzio humbuckers. They both seemed to move the preset differently, but still some great tones.

Please enjoy & let me know what you think!

Axe-Change - Download Preset - Jumpered Major Bonkers - by dr bonkers

This below preset has xarkon's settings regarding using a tape drive to push it. but I played with the diode a bit for fun.

Axe-Change - Download Preset - Jumpered Taped Major Bonkers - by dr bonkers
 
dr bonkers said:
I used Xarkon's hints to make a Marshall Major in the AF2, but then I had to tweak it a little as I thought it needed a little extra hot-rodding.

It's got some clarity, some dirt, and it pushes some air.

This patch uses all eight scenes, some EQ prior to the amp, plus the X/Y to give you a wide tonal palette to play with. There's a little Richie Blackmore, a little Tom Scholz, a little, country, a little rock all rolled into one.

The cabinets you will need for this preset all came with FW14 as a set of UR cabs.

Cab 1 X = OH_412_MAR-CB_v30-CH_Studio-Mod
Cab 1 Y= TAF_MarsBW_MIX_ROOM
Cab 2 X= 1X12 AC-20 DLX M160 Off-Axis
Cab 2 Y= TAF_Shadow_MIX


I built this preset switching back & forth between a 1992 Fender American Standard Strat with stock pickups and an Electra Vulcan LP copy MPC-x940 with vintage Dimarzio humbuckers. They both seemed to move the preset differently, but still some great tones.

Please enjoy & let me know what you think!

Axe-Change - Download Preset - Jumpered Major Bonkers - by dr bonkers

This below preset has xarkon's settings regarding using a tape drive to push it. but I played with the diode a bit for fun.

Axe-Change - Download Preset - Jumpered Taped Major Bonkers - by dr bonkers
Click to expand...

Thanks for going to all the trouble for this!!! This is what I love when members are prepared to share there efforts. And thanks to Simeon as well, cheers guys
 
Thank you to all for continuing to extend and work on this.

I have only had one experience playing through a Major, in the guitar shop where I worked in 78/79. The shop was small - 300 square feet - but we had 300+ guitars and probably a dozen or more amps.

In that space, the Major on 4 was horrendously loud. And I was used to gigging with a 50w Marshall and 4 x 12 - on 10.

But it was much cleaner, too. Lots of thump, but in a small space with that much power and 8 x 12, what else would you expect?

Neat amp.


Dave
 
dr bonkers said:
I used Xarkon's hints to make a Marshall Major in the AF2, but then I had to tweak it a little as I thought it needed a little extra hot-rodding.

It's got some clarity, some dirt, and it pushes some air.

This patch uses all eight scenes, some EQ prior to the amp, plus the X/Y to give you a wide tonal palette to play with. There's a little Richie Blackmore, a little Tom Scholz, a little, country, a little rock all rolled into one.

The cabinets you will need for this preset all came with FW14 as a set of UR cabs.

Cab 1 X = OH_412_MAR-CB_v30-CH_Studio-Mod
Cab 1 Y= TAF_MarsBW_MIX_ROOM
Cab 2 X= 1X12 AC-20 DLX M160 Off-Axis
Cab 2 Y= TAF_Shadow_MIX


I built this preset switching back & forth between a 1992 Fender American Standard Strat with stock pickups and an Electra Vulcan LP copy MPC-x940 with vintage Dimarzio humbuckers. They both seemed to move the preset differently, but still some great tones.

Please enjoy & let me know what you think!

Axe-Change - Download Preset - Jumpered Major Bonkers - by dr bonkers

This below preset has xarkon's settings regarding using a tape drive to push it. but I played with the diode a bit for fun.

Axe-Change - Download Preset - Jumpered Taped Major Bonkers - by dr bonkers
Click to expand...

They sound excellent!!!! Especially with my Les Paul. I'm a Boston fan from wayback..... Showing my age.
 
Would be interested to see whether anyone who posted in this thread thought any of the firmware developments since would get as any closer to a Blackmoereque Major tone. I owned a Major for a while and thing most noticeable with it was how thick and full it sounded because of the extra bandwidth. Also it has an amazing natural compression that made it feel easy to play. However I came to realise from someone who has first hand information that the critical part of Blackmore tone was the mods to the amp which could have easily been done on a plexi and I have heard a modded plexi do this. I ended up selling my Major as it was not practical and ate modern KT88s for breakfast, not to mention it weighed a ton!
If anyone has any ideas of how to get closer to this supremely awesome tone, it would great to hear!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04O-B5aAcqE
 
jonhep said:
Would be interested to see whether anyone who posted in this thread thought any of the firmware developments since would get as any closer to a Blackmoereque Major tone. I owned a Major for a while and thing most noticeable with it was how thick and full it sounded because of the extra bandwidth. Also it has an amazing natural compression that made it feel easy to play. However I came to realise from someone who has first hand information that the critical part of Blackmore tone was the mods to the amp which could have easily been done on a plexi and I have heard a modded plexi do this. I ended up selling my Major as it was not practical and ate modern KT88s for breakfast, not to mention it weighed a ton!
If anyone has any ideas of how to get closer to this supremely awesome tone, it would great to hear!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04O-B5aAcqE
Click to expand...

They just don't make bands or music like that anymore...truly. That is a tight band and some awesome tone and playing from everyone.
 
electronpirate said:
Interesting idea.

Not sure what was special about the Major...outside of it being a bass amp, and a REALLY loud pedal platform. Sure, it was 'thick', but damn...200 watts of guitar amp is going to do that to you.

And as an intellectual exercise, couldn't you put 2 amps in parallel? One 100 watt Normal, one Treble, (yes, both KT88..), tweak to taste (sag, etc) , and it might replicate that 'ultralinear' feel you're looking for?
Click to expand...

I have a Marshall Major two 4x15 Marshall cabinets I've had over 40 years. Even when plugged into a 4x12 Marshall stack it sounds very different from my 100 watt plexis. Way thicker! The tonestack sounds different than my 100 watt plexis. It is a cleaner, full sounding amp, and very loud and punchy.
 
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mtmartin71 said:
They just don't make bands or music like that anymore...truly. That is a tight band and some awesome tone and playing from everyone.
Click to expand...

Agreed. They're essentially jamming...you can see them nodding to each other 'okay, off you go for a solo'

But I am interested in getting close to this tone. Agree on compression, and maybe that Tape drive has something to do with it.
 
I love his tone with the ES on this BBC performance...



Not sure if they were using the Major there or not.
 
There needs to be more of these kinds of posts.
Cliff once cryptically mentioned that the Laney VH100 was just a modded JCM800... but never told us rabid Opeth fans how to construct it in the Axe Fx.

If someone has the amp-modding knowledge to go in depth with something like this, I'm sure a large crowd of Axe Fx users would appreciate it.
 
BBN said:
Sounds excellent, care you post the patch?
Click to expand...

I'll Have a look at it. It was quite a while ago now. Several firmwares back........ might have changed somewhat. The 100w jumped and the 1959 SLP sound really great in FW 17 I think, seems to cover that territory really well. Anyway, I'll let you know. Cheers
 
I uploaded it to Axe Exchange ID 3010 Marshall Major. Tweak it to suit your guitar, best with single coils, good luck.
P.S I tried the patch using Clark's cab pack 7 IR Alloy 06, and I think it sound great with that cabinet.... more open sounding.
 
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simeon said:
here's a patch. no idea how this will sound with a bridge single coil. may be massively bright, but just tweak to taste, i guess.

5 scenes - 1 is rhythm, 2 is lead and the rest are just for fx
Click to expand...
Thanks, Simon. Is this a regular preset or XL? (...and is there a way to tell in general, maybe by looking at the files?)
 
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