My best ever 'ACDC' type tone rig

[deeaa]

I've spoken of this before, but honestly...I've had nigh every Marshall ever made, at least the classic ones, and lots of copies and whatnot, from plexi to JCMs and JVMs, in different versions...like a dozen different ones. And the one thing I've always wanted out of them mostly has been a kind of really true, honest, direct-to-amp no pedals ACDC type roaring, screaming, rather cleanish driven crunch. And I've gotten it with pretty much all of them nicely.

BUT the best EVER literally have been the Origin series with some added pedals. But with a little mod especially, like this Headfirst mod I've done for an Origin 20 as well as this 50 - that takes the cake. The 20w version with it (mind you I made it a little less hot than the original HF mod suggests) is superbly round sounding, very bluesy, but the same timbre and drive (think the Powerage album remastered), and the 50 is clearly tighter and more like a classic JCM (more like Highway To Hell)...but both just awesome.

I have used 4x12" and those are good but too big and loud, and 2x12" 1936 cabs for which I've swapped speakers like T75's, 65's, Greenbacks, Graybacks, whatever, and I've liked those a lot.

But this 4x10"...that's a handy cab. Very portable and light and has a really nice bite ACDC needs. Only, they're a bit boxy and very projecting, and lack the thump of the 4x12"...so what I did is I separated the lower part into a closed portion and gave it two beefy, bassy Eminences (Texas Heat and Cannabis Rex if I remember right) to give it a huge thump in the lower register. And the top half I opened up a little, so the original G35's can radiate a bit which really opens up the sound and makes it less piercingly projecting.

Now...I hate it how hard these amps are to record so that you'd really get the idea of how it sounds when played, and honestly...I think it's best conveyed with just a normal cell phone or video cam. It's no HiFi and not super in your face and punchy, but everyone's heard camcorder/phone recordings a lot, and can compare.

I just thínk this is the best damn ACDC rig I ever had, and also works at volumes usable at home (if not a condo) to even a really loud band. It's a one trick pony but ACDC only use one sound basically

I love cranking this up now and then and just wailing out some Angus type bends or Malcom type rhythms, but still gonna sell it. It's like the last moments to sell off amps it seems, everyone's just using modelers. Whenever I try to sell a guitar, people are offering their tube amps in exchange at real dirt cheap too, but nobody wants to buy real amps any more.

I've had this amp for sale for 400€ for weeks and not even a single enquiry. Well I'll keep it if just for home noodling now and then, rather than sell stupid cheap. Cab separate, but I put in the ad I'll give the whole rig including the SG for an even grand We'll see...maybe sooner or later someone grabs it. It's not like I have to sell it anyway.

Here's a quick demo.

[Tonray's Ghost]

Sounds great man.
I've often found that cell phone placed close miced to the speaker is often a great way to record stuff at least for youtube/Facebook etc. Simple and effective.

You are right about tube amps. I had my Blackstar CV10 up for 2 weeks and nearly no interest. Finally some guy was interested but he had so many questions and requests for videos/sound clips I started to ignore him. I took the ad down and 2 days later put it back up at a slightly higher price...I guess this triggered some competiive switch in him and he wanted to come over and test it out. He played for 2 minutes and bought it. I am happy it went to a good home...very nice amp just not sonically right for my available space.

[golem]

@andrewsrea has a 4X10 Marshall that he no longer has the original speakers in that's one of my favorite cabs ever. How loud do you have to crank an Origin 50 to get it to sound like that? James, who doesn't post on here hardly ever, told me it was really hard to get crunch out of the one he owned.

[glasshand]

How loud do you have to crank an Origin 50 to get it to sound like that? James, who doesn't post on here hardly ever, told me it was really hard to get crunch out of the one he owned.

That was certainly my experience with the Origin 20. It would do a good AC/DC tone if you absolutely dimed it, at which point it was really really loud.

[andrewsrea]

That is a great tone, especially via a mobile phone recording! Nice crunch.

As @golem said, I have a 4x10 which I loaded with (2) Weber 10A125's and (2) Weber Alnico Blue Pups, which after 20 years are well broken in. I do not have as much 'thump' as my 4x12, but that is due to more efficient speakers in the 4x10. However, I do have more overall bottom end with the 4x10, so much that I typically roll the bass off the amp to get it to fit into a mix.

I have a Marshall JTM 45 Offset amplifier with KT66 output tubes which needs to be on '7' of the bright channel to crunch like that and it comes in at an ear-blistering 122dB doing so.

[deeaa]

@andrewsrea has a 4X10 Marshall that he no longer has the original speakers in that's one of my favorite cabs ever. How loud do you have to crank an Origin 50 to get it to sound like that? James, who doesn't post on here hardly ever, told me it was really hard to get crunch out of the one he owned.

That's where the HF mod comes to play. It takes the loop tube and turns it to another preamp tube, making the preamp config basically similar to 2203/4 and JCM series. The drive doesn't get fizzy any more but it really sounds a lot like a 2203.

[deeaa]

How loud do you have to crank an Origin 50 to get it to sound like that? James, who doesn't post on here hardly ever, told me it was really hard to get crunch out of the one he owned.

That was certainly my experience with the Origin 20. It would do a good AC/DC tone if you absolutely dimed it, at which point it was really really loud.

Yeah, I modded a 20 in the same way as well. That also was great, more mellow a tone. I think I have a video of that too...yeah

[tlarson58]

Great tone. I once saw a YouTube vid where the guy suggested a somewhat cleaner tone rather than dirtier. It sounded great. Your setup sounds the same way. Gritty but not overly so.

[tonebender]

That lead volume demo at 2:36 or so sounded a lot like Joe Walsh tone in Funk #49

[toomanycats]

[jhull54]

Sounds fantastic. I have come to the realization that AC/DC's guitar tone is pretty much what I consider my ideal personal crunch tone.

[deeaa]

Yeah...I love the guitar sounds on Powerage remastered especially. But I need more drive for what we play these days. Still, my rhythm sounds are and always will be relatively low gain JCM800 Marshall type. Kinda like ACDC but a little more towards Stained Class era Priest and with a dash of Maiden as well.

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