I really dont know what people have against this amp. I get good vintagy tones out of it and have fun with it. Of course you won't turn it on and magically right away have THE plexi sound. It's not the same amp. And it's also just like a quarter of the price a plexi costs. (Even tho I dont even find that price gap justified at all). There are too many snobs out there, letting their opinion get guided by price tags. After all it's just not a bad amp.
What is the Plexi sound? These amps can get the Clapton Beano tone without any pedals if used with a Les Paul Standard and most likely any humbucking equipped guitar. Remember Clapton used a JTM45 cranked flatout to get his tone.
Lyle, how very true, it is the way of the world for these amps which once had such a high reputation. I'm nearly seventy now and remember the just stunning ( choose whichever verb you want to) when I played through my early sixties Vox ac 30 through an old strat. That sound still lives with me even though I changed to higher wattage fenders as was the fashion at the time. Settled down now with original Soldano and I don't think I'll need anything else.
I needed a little amp for some gigs a few years ago and picked up one of these for a good price. It worked fine and never gave me any problems, but I always felt like a I was struggling to get a sound I liked from it. Maybe a bigger and better speaker would have helped (only 10” in the 20 combo), but in the end I was happy to move it on to somebody else and get most of my money back on it. Hope the next guy had a better time with it.
Speaker upgrades do make them sound better at least that was my experienc with the 50 watt coming. I never actually owned one but played through plenty of them both in stores and while jamming with friends who own the origin 50 I got the compare a stock origin 50 with a creamback M65 loaded OR 50 as well as one loaded with a creamback H75 and in both cases the OR 50 sounded much better especially the creambaack 65 loaded OR 50 . With the M65 it Sounded far more vintage as well as being smoother and less Birght/ Harsh . A very usable classic tone . Did it sound like a Plexi even after the speaker swaps? Absolutely not but it was a very usable and nice sounding vintage like tone . I owned an origin 20 combo and absolutely hated it . Returned it to the store after about 3 weeks .very brittle highs and and farty lows . I don't know if it was the 10 inch speaker but even in stock forrm I thought the origin 50 was a far better sounding amp despite not being great either so Maybe it was the 10 inch speakers but i have never had much much luck with 20 watt El34 based amps . I didn't like the 20 watt DSL despite being a big fan of the both the DSl 5 and DSl 40. I also didn't not like the mini jubilee with I tried to learn to love for a year and half but Eventually traded for an original collection explorer. It was disappointing because I love the larger silver Jubilees and to my ears the mini did not sound much like those. I think the greenback might have been the culprit as the originals were designed specifically with the V30 mind. The mini was far top honky and nasal for my taste . So maybe I just dorn like 20 watt EL34 amps .
Man that 150 ohm resistor is definitely cooked hard. The color bands are all super dark brown and the overall tone of the gray is darker than all of the other resistors too... amazing that it still measures correct. But its definitely crying out to die.
Lyle, thank you! I just watched one of your PRS videos to see if buying one of their 20 watt amps would be a good choice based on the brand name. Nope, it definitely wouldn't be. Then I thought about the Origin 20, and thought it would be best to consult your videos before pulling the trigger. Again, nope. I think I'll just sit back and be happy with my old Bassman and Quilter amps for now. Cheers!!!
Having just spent $220 having a ton of cold solder joints repaired on a DSL 401c, I believe you. But the amp was $100, and who can complain about having a British made Marshall for under $350?
Great video as always ... One question for the origin20: Is it normal for these Amps to produce a 50/60Hz hum when switched on, even with master volume completely off?
That white flaky powdery stuff is actually from the cathode/heaters. This usually happens when the tube hard shorts and pops the cathode. Definitely bad tubes whenever you see this.
Another year starts ... folks are going to judge the sound of a guitar based on the color of the finish and amplifier tones by the cosmetics of the enclosure ... here we go! All the best for the months to come Lyle!
I feel very fortunate to be one of those people who have never cages about cosmetics or finishes/colors at all . Ad long as the finish is not of poor quality or is just some butt ugly color unless a guitar with a butt ugly color happened to have incredible tone but as for the rest I don't care about burst patterns colors Fades flame tops aging or any of that . If the finish is not poor quality and the sound and playability is there I'm all good . I have even kept guitars with some finish flaws because they felt and sounded right.
One to add to the list of amps that I've been put off of after seeing Lyle's videos...lol Keep up the great work...the videos are always really interesting.
I have the Origin 50 to which I did the headfirst amplification mod. It's an awesome amp. They're basically free on the used market. Sure they're cheaply made, but at least they're easy to work on.
As someone who owns a marshall class 5 and who performed some of your mods on it ( plus a master volume), I am interested in what you have to say about the origin series! I don't necessarily need any amp to sound just like a Plexi. Since if that's what I wanted I could get a bugera 1960. But maybe you think the DSL line is a better alternative because you could get a nice (?) clean sound and a well-known DSL distorted sound? The class 5 is not a bad pedal platform.
Question: if it was the cathode resistor that was intermittent, wouldn't that kill the current though the tube? As far as bias, I'd think it would cause the tube to go into cutoff. Bad connections need to be fixed, but I'm not not understanding how that led to the damaged tubes.
My theory is the rapid vibrations of playing would cause constant arcing as the bypass cap would retain the voltage long enough for it to be a problem. Or maybe it was just a bad pair of JJs. The amp will get further testing before I call it done.
Without the cathode resistor, you will probably exceed max 100V cathode to heater voltage, which may cause some arcing. It can also potentially cook the bypass cap if they used a low voltage one.
I like mine. I want a bright amp that takes pedals well. I feel my other 2 amps are too bassy and flubby. I never owned another Marshall. I might have gotten something different if money were no object. I do enjoy the occasional cat 🐈 video no agenda nothing to sell me just amusement
For the record, I like funny cat videos. There, it's out there; I own it. Here's to the rulers of the Internet, the totally not humble domestic cat, felis silvestris catus! 🤣🤣
Modern Marshall amps are just marketing Crap kinda like Fender, just a subscription. Do you think installing a choke would be a better option ? Great work, Lyle.
I have one of these amps. Got it at a good price. Tried it first. Liked the cleans, not so much the gain, and have pedals that compensate for that. Having lived and gigged with it, I found myself increasingly dissatisfied with the overall tone and thought I would ‘upgrade’ the speaker and shoved a celestion gold in it. Slightly darker but still a small improvement. Got a lovely semi clean growl with a Gretsch hollow body but I have to admit the amp is kinda characterless. Over xmas got given an oldish Laney 15w combo and tried a nye gig with it riding shotgun with an acoustic player. Actually quite impressed and it blended well, behaved itself and is almost totally silent hum/buzz wise. Not sure it would cope with a loudish band or hang with a drummer but for what I used it for is a great little amp that is small footprint and light to carry. I will likely sell the origin after removing the gold and putting the stock back in and maybe try the gold in the Laney.
Now I know why mine was doing that. I'll bring mine next time and we can do a "Letterman" where we throw it off the top of a tall building. I bet we'd get some views! :)
Here in the UK I'm seeing no end of Origin amps for sale second hand at less than half the new price just months after they were purchased. I think people are realising there's a lot of marketing in this amp.
Tbh I am seeing the same thing with DSL's as with the Origin. Maybe because they are affordable and sold quitte well. The Origin wain the top of Thomanns best selling items list for like a year. That said here's my personal experience. My first Marshall was a DSL1HR, and it sounded very good for the money. I missed the crunch and mids some other Marshall's have and since it had no headroom I had to upgrade. I bought the Origin 20 with the intent to mod it. Got it second hand and had a very reputable tech perform the Headfirst mod to it. The Origin with mod were less than the new price. So it now was more like a jcm800 with a SS FXloop. In the end I still did not get along with the amp and sold it. Afterwards I bought the 20W Silver Jubilee and 20W Studio Vintage and have not looked back. The SV20 is what you want the origin to be. Both can sound similar at times but the origin's gain structure is just not my thing. Even with High end Drive pedals the Origin did not perform like I wanted it to.
You could say the same about most amps, there are loads of Fenders for sale at anyone time. Also a constant flow of used PG Spark 40 combos even though its a great amp.
It seem like most “budget” equipment is designed and built very poorly. Low cost gear is made to look like vintage quality gear…but sounds and is built like low cost gear in reality. It is true that you still get what you pay for.
Well, for those that dont know, the made in the UK 🇬🇧 Marshall Studio series Amplifiers, ( Studio Vintage (plexi) , and the Studio Classic (JCM800) , those amps are 3 times the price of a Marshall Origin and the board, transformers, caps, resistors, speakers, etc etc look exactly the same as the Origin, you can look it up on RU-vid, a guy who do mods on Marshall Origins shows the made in the Uk 🇬🇧 and the made in Vietnam 🇻🇳 and they look exactly the same components on both lines just one made in the Uk and the other one made in Vietnam, so what is going people ????
“My Origin 20 is making weird noises!” Well of course it is. Even if nothing is wrong, It’s still an Origin 20. Okay okay. Settle down people. It was just a little joke. 😂
Since when was Vietnam in China. Very few amps are actually made in the UK anymore. Also you buy a UK made amp and its fitted with Chinese made tubes plus most of the other components.
It's kind of sad how otherwise sensible people are taken in by marketing. I've seen the beautifully shot photos in guitar mags which imply you're just so close to sonic nirvana. Maybe I'm just old and grumpy, but it's time to figure out that the large mainstream amp producers left quality behind a considerable time ago because it costs too much and people don't want to pay for it (in general). Which is why there are boutique builders - some of them good - to take up the baton. Thanks again for your wisdom Lyle.
Lyle I shames me to say I bought one its still in the box because I had been rehabbing for sometime . Now that I know what I know about them I will go bury my head in the sand. On second thought it will make a good door stop. Sad thing is I don't know any suckers to sell it to I mean I'm jerk but not that big of one.
Shame cause marshall use to make great amps.anything after 1987 is just marketing to make money.last great marshall was the silver jubilee from 1987.after that .hhhmmmm .money.
@@PsionicAudio I was gonna say the MV was the major problem, just as you say, neuters it! I shall convince him to upgrade to a DSL40, he is not at the big boy amps stage just yet ;)
I played one of these in a music store this week and it is the most uninspiring piece of crap Marshall has ever designed. I can get the same sound out of an 80’s solid state Gorilla amp and that’s the truth!
