I really like the bit at the start with Lee talking about his selections in the store. You should always do that! (One of my favourite bits of “Sound like...” too!)
Contrary to common belief in both the Hi-Fi and the guitar communities, then there is no such thing as copyright when it comes to electronic circuits. Electronic schematics are considered to be 'technical configurations' and as such are covered by patents, which - if granted - have a maximum validity of 20 years. Additionally, as Lee correctly speculates, then there is such a huge body of electronics knowledge out there, that it is nearly impossible to create a truly new and unique amplifier schematic these days. Practically none of the major guitar amp manufacturers have ever held patents on amp technology itself, not even back in the day. That is because even by the standards of the early 1950'ties a guitar amp is a very simple schematic, which has way too many commonalities with even regular broadcast radio receivers of the day to be patentable. There were 'side patents' though, for instance relating to tremolo circuits (eg. Leo Fender), and - IIRC - the technology behind string reverb. TL;DR: Yes, you are allowed to make and sell a 1:1 electric copy of a Marshall amp. Any relevant patent will have expired decades ago. You just cannot call it a Marshall due to trademark law, which is a completely different kettle of fish.
There is nothing to debate here, nor anything to disagree on. We are not setting any standards here, regardless of oratory arguments. You _can not_ - under any circumstances- use copyright claims to achieve a monopoly on making a piece of machinery or technology. We have patents for this with a fixed, maximum duration of 20 years. For instance exact PCB layouts are essential to the workings of many electronics circuits, in particular high frequency radio and radar. Thus PCB layouts are not covered by copyright, because if they were, you could achieve a de facto patent on a given functionality by claiming copyright on one. I posted more on the PCB layout issue in a different subthread of this video. The schematic files themselves are protected by copyright but not what they depict, the actual, physical circuit. Photographing or drawing a working, physical machine is not equivalent to achieving a monopoly on making it, even if you do have automatic copyright of your photo/drawing. Software, in the form of firmware, is covered by copyright, as this copyright does not prevent somebody else from programming a similar or identical functionality, given that there are many -possibly infinite - ways to program a given functionality. The end.
Copyrights are for creative works, like songs. Patents are for sciencey things like circuits or medicines. There are requirements for the newness and originality to receive protections. Trademarks are for brand names like Marshall and Fender.
Maybe Fender also thought about that. A Bassman provided the "inspiration" for the Marshall plexis. What did Mesa boogie do actually in their early years? Basically, there's a couple of "original" amp designs, all the rest are "updates", most of them for the worst...
Thx for this, makes all the sense. Of course, if you made (for example) a plexi again (precisely, exactly), you'd probably be unable to make ti cheaply enough, or sell enough without the logo anyway, so there's little need for legal protection anyway.
That's too true. A group of guitar nerds who are a lot less charming, would be really tedious to watch. The interplay between the presenters (and the banter/singing behind the camera), the endlessly loaded Antertons store and let's face it, a nice studio that looks kinda cozy. And holy hell, does Roberto know how to play the guitar blindfolded!
More proof that Chappers is a genius. Hearing him describe the sounds from each amp was similar to hearing a seasoned wine connoisseur describe the individual flavors of different wines. Love it.
OMG!.. Rob just nails it every time. For this challenge, I thought.. He's not going to hear the difference... And he still did. He has really trained ears. Well done once again, Rob 👍😁
I particularly liked the way Rob played through the amps, especially the Egnater, with the clear intention to be able to notice those details which can let you understand what you're playing: decay of the notes, behavior with double stops (intermodulation), response to strong attack, palm muting to define the low end character, etc. The descriptions he gave were also spot on! Those are aspects which an inexperienced player probably cannot catch/doesn't know, so if it wasn't Rob playing, we would all probably have had even less possibilities to guess what amp was playing! Very nice job!
about the copyright thing, amps and pedals are alike. You can patent a part (like a printed circuit board) but you can not copyricht a schematic. So if you take a schematic and make an own designed pcb you are good to go (even if the pcb has exactly the same parts and function, as long as it is not a copy)
Arne Seys unless your not a copy reads on a claim of a patented circuit. I suspect the Marshall patents on these original amps expired years ago though, so that’s all public domain at this point.
@@JLchevz a schematic is the electrical concept. The layout of is the fysical place the components take on the pcb. You can easily change the layout and the thraces on the pcb. This means the pcb is not the same as the original and so you outrun copyrights
of all the blindfold challenges (which, as we all know, is officially the best thing on the internet), ampifier shootouts are my favourites! That's just me, tho...
@@numberfive3323 Same. Really great tone from that. Part of what makes those older marshalls is the lack of refinement and how raw and unforgiving they are but Dave made the right improvements without taking away too much of that old school mojo.
If this video existed 300 years ago it would end with Rob being burned as a witch. There is something metaphysical and slightly evil about his ability to do things I can't do :) Another absolutely awesome video. Thanks for sharing it with us!!
You should've had at least two other Marshalls there... if only for the lols. Origin 20 and DSL something vs the Silver Jubilee. Maybe also a few "Marshalls-in-a-box" in front of a HRD. And of course a Guv'nor pedal too. =D
It's interesting, those Jubilee amps are 30 years old and still sound good. With all the technological advancements we've made in the last 30 years it's kind of crazy that the old tube amp is still the king of guitar sound. You'd think instead of all the modeling stuff trying to replicate tube amps that we could have found an even better sounding something - maybe completely different but better. Computers, speakers, stereos, televisions, etc., etc., have all benefited from technological advancements, but the guitar amp really has not. Interesting.
@@maks-hg2yq honestly Gibson SGs are great and all, but if I was to buy an SG right now, I'd buy a Jaydee (though I still wouldn't buy one, since I'm kind of broke right now)
I thought the Friedman was smoother sounding, but honestly I would be happy with any of these amps. Something for any budget and no need to compromise sonicly if you can't afford the Friedman. Even the Katana was great, although none of these digital amps seem to be able to get rid of the solid state edginess to the tone, which I believe is down to the power amps used, I would love to hear a Katana DSP feeding a good tube power amp.
The silver jubilee reissue 2555x is one beast of an amp! I have this amp running through a Marshall jcm 800 4x12 I believe loaded with G12-75s and its phenomenal! This amp kicks ass no matter if its on 3 or if its on 10!
Damn!! Nailed it on the solid state! Nailed it on the Friedman being expensive, nailed the EVH begging to be pushed but was dialed back! Guy is just flat out legit!
They should've also included a Marshall MG or AVT. IMO, Marshall's solid state & hybrid amps sound more like an all tube Marshall than most other brands all tube amps. I myself own a DSL40, a Valvestate 100 head and a Mosfet 100 head and all three kick ass! Bottom line, as long as you use quality pickups and quality speakers with a Marshall Valvestate or even an MG, you will get that great "Marshall" sound. It's THE sound of Rock.
If this video proves anything, it's that a digital amp can't replicate tube warmth. The Boss Katana sounded okay, but it had that sterile, fuzzy transistor distortion instead of the analog overdrive of a tube amp.
The Victory fooled me! The first one did sound like the Marshall and 2-5 were pretty close to varying degrees but had a bit more high end than I thought would be a Marshall. I also figured you would try to trick Rob by putting it either first or last. I have less than an hour playtime on a real 2525C but otherwise most of my Jubilee experience is with the Code 50's model and for the last month-ish I've been preferring an Alexander Jubilee through the JTM45 model. The Victory's sustain sounded a lot like the Alexander Jubilee's which is what threw me off. Also, I think these challenges are harder trying to just listen, even through better quality headphones. There are probably in-room elements which would help make distinguishing them easier. It would be interesting to do a blindfold challenge comparing different Marshalls (Silver Jubilee, JCM800, Bluesbreaker, Plexi, etc) and randomly replace one or two with a Code. Then Rob (or Pete or whoever) has to identify both what amp it is and whether it is a Code or the real deal. :)
Rob is correct. The original Marshall indeed was just a Fender Bassman. But to go back even farther, the original Fender Bassman was simply an improvement of the RCA tube amplifier circuit. As for this challenge, I would also have added: 1: Bugera, because their entire existence is in copying everyone. And why would you ever want a Bugera copy of something, when you can buy the real thing? 2: Kemper, because it is always going to be a digital imitation. And why would you want a digital imitation when you can just get the real thing? Of course, if you do use a Kemper in a blindfold challenge, make sure to turn off the noise gate, then you have a curveball and a half.
Captain, the original Marshall WAS a copy of a Fender design, pretty sure it was the Bassman (didn't check, but the story is in Groove Tubes 'Tube Amp Handbook'). But then all the early Fender (and other) amps were developed from basic generic circuits that could be found in the RCA handbook, so even the IP for the early amps from the '40s and '50s is pretty tenuous and pretty much everything else since has been developed from there.
Why not do a "Spot the PLEXI" and then ONLY use all Marshalls.... use JTM,JMP,JCM,JVM all dialed in to sound like a plexi... and then don't tell him they're all Marshalls but see if he can spot the real plexi ???
Ok. That seals it. This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt how much better the Katana sounds through a third party 4x12. And once more, Rob's ears are amazing! Especially the way he nailed the EVH amp. And the Victory...wow! Oh...and I LOVED the sound of the Victory. Great sounding amp.
Man.....a blackstar would have been nice. Another cool blindfold challenge would be "which amp best does early van halen?". The blackstar might actually fool chappers.....if that's even possible.
Orange definitely have a little bit of unique sound going on, especially the distortion. For Rob it would take roughly two seconds to recognise that it would be an Orange amp, and knowing Rob he could also probably say what exact model it was.
Should have thrown rob for 2 real loops, 1 being a good molding amp, modeled for a marshall... And a Blackstar... Let him listen to the amp setup with the ISF knob from 1 extreme to another.
I think it’s funny how axe fx seems to have to put out completely new devices every so often. Axe fx. Axe ultra, axe fx 2, axe fx 2 XL now axe fx 3. Lol and Kemper has been the exact same unit since the beginning and still sounds the most authentic. I understand there are software and profiler updates along the way, but they keep the same physical unit instead of baiting you to spend another 3k like fractal does.
I'm so glad Rob instantly spotted the Katana. A while back, I took a lot of flack on RU-vid for saying under a Katana video that I'd tried one and didn't like it. I mean people didn't just tell me I'm wrong. They stalked my channel to downvote everything I'd posted and even subscribed so they could downvote me in the future. All because I (politely but firmly) said I didn't like an amp. I had pointed out in that conversation that maybe the Katana did what these other people wanted better but didn't suite my own needs and tastes. Well, I tend to play medium gain Marshalls! Rob just showed that the Katana can't nail the medium gain Marshall sound. So that makes me feel a little better that I'm not nuts. I'm sure there are some things the Katana is great at, because a lot of people like them. For what and how I play in the bands I'm in, I just need an amp that can do medium gain Marshall. Boss' Katana doesn't do that style well. Therefore, for me, it's not a good amp.
That Sebastian guy nailed a jtm45 tone with a katana, so it can be done. But the feel of SS amps is just not the same. I'm sure the noise gate didn't do it any favors either
Really like the start with The Captain picking out the selections for the video, and why he chose them. It's one of my favourite bits of other Anderton's videos too!
That was fun to watch. I'm 57 years old and started playing when I was 15. I play rock using a stock 70's era Strat and Marshall. The Marsh, 5150, and Boogie were gimmes. The digital stuff is getting pretty good these days but I totally agree with there being 'tactile' differences. I couldn't brand them but I know they are digital. Marshall has that fierce presence and cleans up nicely when you lighten up or roll off...nothing quite like it.
