5 Marshall Drives With the Sound of Company Amplifiers
At this year's NAMM music trade show in Anaheim, California, Marshall unveiled a new edition of its Overdrive Pedal Series distortion pedals, bringing the iconic sound of the traditional British brand's famous amplifiers in a compact pedal format. The names of a total of five models make it clear what types of amps inspired the new products – guitarists can choose from the "amp-in-a-box" 1959, DSL, JCM 800, JCM 900 and JVM versions with full analogue signal path.
All versions have the typical gold and black chassis finish, a footswitch wired in true bypass mode with a diode ring and potentiometers with basic gain, volume and tone pot parameters, along with a fourth control whose function depends on the particular version of the effect. The dimensions are 101 x 131 x 52 mm, the weight is about 750 g and the power supply is provided by a 9V battery or adapter.
Marshall 1959 Super Lead Overdrive – a wide crunch in the style of vintage Plexi 1959 amps with rich harmonic components, sensitive dynamic response and good response to working with the guitar volume potentiometer. As with the prototype, the gain circuit is split into High Treble and Normal branches.
Marshall JCM 800 Lead Series Overdrive – the distortion that helped define the sound of guitars across almost every genre in the 1980s. A clear, flexible tone with ample assertiveness, clear highs, musical mids and transparent bass. This time the gain potentiometer is seconded by the Sensitivity parameter.
Marshall JCM 900 Hi Gain Distortion – a more aggressive sound of the "900" that has been the choice of many guitarists in various versions. Similarly to the amplifiers of this edition, there is a Contour pot used to adjust the midrange on the main pedal panel, which can be appreciated not only by metal players.
Marshall DSL Dual Super Lead Distortion – a more modern sound offering a fairly solid range of sounds starting with a more subtle crunch and ending with high-gain registers. The resulting tone can be increased in volume with the Deep control affecting the prominence of the lowest frequency bands.
Marshall JVM Distortion & Noise Gate – inspired by the Crunch and Overdrive channel modes of JVM amps (which corresponds to the pedal's sonic versatility), produces everything from warm drive to compressed high-gain with long sustain. An integrated noise gate with an associated potentiometer can be used at higher distortion levels.
The official price of the Marshall 1959, DSL, JCM 800, JCM 900 and JVM pedals is consistently around 140 Euro for the European part of the market, which is not an exorbitant amount considering the capabilities of this product series.
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