Marshall VS Fender - CLEAN Tone Shootout! 

75% of the reason I watch these vids for content. The other 25% is just to hear Johan say “lets go!”

Marshall cleans are really underrated, they have that glassiness in the highs that is distinctive. Great video!

My observation is a Strat thru a Marshall is a beautiful balance for clean, scooped meets mid bump. Likewise a Gibson through a Fender but in the opposite way. Single coils already are scooped in nature so the mid bump of a Marshall amp or Fender Tweed for that matter provides the offset. In turn, the natural mid bump of humbuckers is offset when played through the naturally scooped BF or SF Fender circuits resulting in a balanced tone full of air. Nice work Johan!

Both great! Mids scooped vs. Mid hump- a matter of personal taste. With a JTM you get best of both! (My 5ct)

To me, the Marshall outshines the Fender when there’s a little bit of grit on top...like Jimi’s cleans. For pure cleans with no trace of dirt, Fender is tough to beat.

Both are clear and beautiful, but I prefer Marshall cleans. I really need both in my life, but if I had to choose one, it would be the Marshall.

Dude! Who knew your clean chops were so great! Sounds awesome. Both amps sound fantastic..!

Great demo Johan. Two great amps with sweet clean tones. Love them both. Your demo brings out the characteristics of Fender and Marshall clean tones perfectly.

Run them both at the same time in stereo! Johan, you mad scientist genius you, make it so!

I would do bad things for either of these amps! Great playing as always! Thanks for being an awesome human being!

I love the sweet compression on the Marshal. Some bottom end boominess you could easily eq out on the amp, post, or pedal board. Your comment about the Marshal requiring more work in the hands to get the dynamics flowing is so spot on. I can play my AC15 at reasonable volume and bit feels good, but my 18w amp needs to be all out and controlled with tje guitar and volume pot to get into the zone.

That's a really nice comparison of 2 iconic amps!

Excellent demo Johan, you've really captured the tone of a classic Marshall vs Fender clean! I grew up playing Fender black panel amps, mostly a '65 Twin. To my ears, that or a similar era Vibrolux was the greatest clean sound ever.....until I found and restored an early 60's Blonde Bassman. The Bassman combines my favorite aspects of the two amps you've played. Like the Marshall, it's a little fatter sounding and less scooped than a typical black panel Fender, but still has all that shimmering high end detail. For clean to slight breakup, the Bassman is my favorite - along with my '63 Vox AC-30 which is a whole different beast. Of course then we can get into the difference in speakers and cabinet types, which as you know are every bit as important as the amp circuit itself. An open backed cabinet with Celestion Alnico speakers is a major part of the classic Vox clean "chime", just as the 10" Oxfords in an open cab are to a Vibrolux. Run an AC30 or Vibrolux head through a closed 4x10 Marshall cab with Greenbacks and you'll lose most of the top end magic and overtones of a Fender or Vox. Another one of my all time favorite clean tones is from my Matchless C-30. It's voiced quite a bit brighter than the vintage Vox circuits it was based on. I've read that is because at the time, Alnico speakers weren't being made due to certain mineral shortages (cobalt maybe?), so Mark Sampson (Matchless designer) had to increase the high frequency output to compensate for the characteristics of the ceramic Celestion speakers he had to work with. Thanks again for all the effort you put into your videos. They are some of the most accurate and thoughtful amp comparisons online. It's a fun rabbit hole to go down while quarantined at home!

Nice video as always!thank you making video for comparison between them

I always look forward to your video’s Johan!

The extra mids in the Marshall fill out the tone quite nicely. Thanks Johan!

Years ago, when i was way nore ignorant of amp sounds I harshñy cruticized your channel in the comments section. I now regret my words. I've grown in knowledge and come to appreciate your videos. Keep up the work good man!

They are both great tones for different songs and styles. Nice demo!

Solid comparison, thanks!

They both sound soooo good.

Lovely tones/tunes! Congrats!

No mistaking the chime of the Fender, and the depth of the Marshall. I like both. Another great review Johan. Keep em coming.

Great change of direction! I think both amps have their own purpose in different genres.

They both sound incredible Johan, greetings from Perú.

Just discovered your channel. It’s a goldmine!

Wow just beautiful tones !!

Well I was interested to thear this. I've always been a Fender fan, but this showed the Marshall can do a great, full, clean sound. Thanks again for all of these comparisons that you do, Johan.

Thanks for this.I actually preferred the Marshall a teeny bit, but would be happy with either. As you pointed out, in a band/recording context the scooped mids of a Fender actually gets in the way - of the bass at the bottom end and the vocal at the top end. It is widely accepted that a clean Fender is a great pedal platform, also a Fender on the edge of breakup with an OD pedal. I’d be interested to hear a comparison of the two amps in that context - unless you’ve already done it!

As always, they sound sooooo good.. nice playing :) It would be better if there were cleam tone comparison vid with those amps and a Vox AC30 :D

you have the Munch's Madonna there I see. One of my favourite paintings ever, great!

nicely played to demonstrate both amp's merits

Love my 4 input Marshall for cleans. It's pretty damn loud at 2 in the 2x12 combo cabinet, and is already getting into pushed cleans by 3 and 4. Just love it with my Tele and Les Paul. Thanks Johan!

Great video! Marshall plexi ( 100 watt ) is in my opinion the greatest amp ever made. Does high gain all the way down to super clean. I preferred the Marshall in this clip.

Best clean tone I've ever heard in person was the dude in a band called Child. Just a Strat through a 100w Plexi.

LOVE the sound of your Vibrolux combo--the star of so many of your demos & shootouts! But the higher watt (more clean headroom) amp is gonna deliver the goods by comparison. The Vibrolux is great, but lighter/airier, esp w/ the Strat (it kills with your R9 LP!); the Marshall's closed-back cab just brings out the throaty meatiness in those amps--so warm at clean levels. Thank you Johan!

The Marshall did some good things so did the Fender. Kinda loving what my Bandit did today also. Looks like a comfy place today. It's cool to hear you play a strat. That's the tone demo I got here.

I love them both! Marshall is fuller, but Fender is clearer....depends on what you are looking for. Either way, this was an amazing representation of two great amps. Great playing as well! Thank you for this comparison!

That combo of strat and Marshall is a marriage made in heaven. It’s much easier to play and hear the broad range of tones from the fender but if you work harder to get your tones out of the Marshall you will get your rich rewards . Interested to hear when tubes were replaced in the Marshall there though . It did sound a little cold on some of the play throughs. Both wonderful amps and what I’d give to have both . Could you switch tubes in the amps then do another video ?

Another great video Johan. I'll take the Marshall any day or a Hiwatt if given a choice. Cheers from Canada

That's Really Great! Well done and thanks for sharing brother! Be Well Johan and have a great weekend!

You and your classic tones!!! I just can't take it anymore!!! 😂 j/k, rock on man.

Both, panned left and right, doubling the parts would be very interesting.

Finally a comparison of amps whose sound I can distinguish with my eyes closed. Some comparisons using high gain is very difficult for me to know the difference. Even though they both make a very good clean sound, but I know now that I like Marshall's clean

Thanks for another great vid dude. Roy Buchanan would turn his Vibrolux round to take the edge off, which kind of gets it closer to a creamy Marshall tone in my ear

that's an amazing video my friend

I love the clean tone of a jtm45, especially with kt66 tubes. I’m planning to build a jtm45 from a kit in the near future and I think I’ll put a 3 way switch on the NFB. Lower for early breakup/standard/more NFB for a cleaner, more “refined” sound. It’s a easy thing to add and seems like it could come in handy.

I’ve used Marshall’s for cleans pretty often. Imo they are just as satisfying. Everything from a super lead to even a 2203 jcm 800 into the low input; dialed like a silverface. They do it well. I guess in an a/b situation, fender will win. Still never had any issues with Marshall.

Hi Johan! It would be useful, in addition, to compare the two amplifiers with the same speakers. You are the best! Cheers

The Marshall has a beautiful (dynamic) clean tone, there is more to it. I had a Fender Twin (silverface) that brought that, but at a higher volume. I had a JCM 800 (50 watt) that didn't do clean as well as your Marshall. I think with these 2 amps the Marshall wins. So many variables with when amps were made. They used different components and the signal path changed. Awesome idea for a demo Johan, I enjoyed it!

Great video

Hi Johan. I love the way you play. You just always sound great. It's not what you play, but how you play it. Ever since I first heard "The Wind Cries Mary ", I've loved the Marshall clean sound. The Twin sounds great also. But the Marshall is the king I.M.H.O.

They both sound great. The Marshall brought back times in 1980, when the lead guitarist of my first band found a 50 Watt Marshall head used that was played by another local band before, plus two cabs. This was the tone the second guitarist was chasing from then on, but never found a Marshall head with a tone like this.

IMO, Best Clean tone Fender Super Reverb followed by Twin.. PS- I saw Jimi Hendrix live 3 times in Florida. Love your channel!

I love the 1987x a lot. I tried mine through some 20 different speakers and 3 different cabs, and as always, the major difference always seems to come from speaker size, type and size/material of the cab! For example a Birch 4x12 closed back vs a 2x12 semi open pine one, the sound opens up in the pine, the mids get scooped, and the highs seem more open and bright immediately by comparison. The low mids get less intense and compressed. Same exact speaker, guitar, amp, ohms and room and mic placement. Totally different EQ curve. One markedly "fender" and one markedly "marshall". I find that Plexi's through semi open 2x12 are just fantastic and best of both worlds. Only thing missing is that sweet verb/vibrato section! The dream is defitnitely a patchbay with 6 different cabs, with 10s, 12s, 15s, open and close, and a few heads, all interconnected, and being able to switch all of them with each other, and create infinite different recipes. 1987x through a semi open 15 Fulltone is definitely super sweet! And not muddy at all!

Man, Strats and JTMs... unbelievable sound.

Marshall all the way. Just a warmer, richer tone. Plus when you consider the Marshall sounds wonderful cranked, it again trumps the Fender. That being said, the Fender is a great amp.

The Marshall has a more direct voice, the Fender more plaintiff. You must have both of course! I love the Munch hanging on the wall behind you. One of my favourite paintings.

marshall cleans are so underrated

Fender Cleans are my Favorite. I play about 80% Clean for Funk, R&B, Pop & Reggae. Suhr Strat / Lollar Pickups thru Fender = Gorgeous Tone. Nice comparison.

Let us all be honest do we really buy or in my case build a Marshall for clean NO it's for it overdrive Thanks Johan for your time and effort you are always finding interesting topics 🤘👍

I have a marshall 2203X and a 2555X and I use them both as a pedal platform. I love the clean sound of both amps! If you want both a nice clean tone and overdrive/ distorted tone this is the way to go. I'm not really a fan of dialing back the bridge pickup for clean tones...

Yes I have always preferred the clean tone of a Fender over a Marshall. The Marshall surprised me it sounded better than I expected. The chimey bell tone of a Fender is hard to beat. I could use that Marshall though and it would be fine to gig with. Thanks Johan for the video it was eye opening or should I say ear opening.

There seems to be a darker, richer clean tone emitting from the Marshall with your strat, the timbre is more pleasing to my ear canals... 🙂👍🏻 However- In reverse if you will... My favorite clean sound I think was Peter Green going through his showman... There's just something about his tone from the world keep on turning video- although there's some slight dirt going on of course... So maybe I'll just scratch that from the comparison! Here here Johan! 👏🏻

Two great sounding amps, for sure. I loved the almost VOX-like chime and body of the Fender in this case, where the Marshall seemed a little more strident and sometimes harsh in the upper mids. The Fender presented a more balanced tone in some ways, but the Marshall has the cut. Neither of them is lacking treble, for sure. It would be interesting to know your control settings on each amp, and assuming you bridged the inputs on the Marshall, how you had the two volumes set. Another great video, Johan. You never seem to run out of ideas!

Just got a 73 orange or120 and that clean tone is something else

The Marshall has what I call a 'scratchy' sound that makes it sounds more interesting to me. Both great amps though! Love this channel. Long time viewer - but first time commenting. Please keep it up!

I remember Robin Trower in the 80s used to run a fender and Marshall head together . He said he used the Marshall for the gritty edge and Fender for the sweetness .

I have Fender, Marshall, Peavy and Vox amps. I find I reach for my Marshall and Vox amps more often than the Fender and Peavy. I like Vox’s chime through celestion Blues way more than Fender chime through the Jensen speakers. I find a lot of use for Marshall clean as well. Marshall is my go to for dirt through V30s. Vox with a treble booster is amazing too. Don’t care much for Fender dirty at all.

Marshall for me, I love mids, the sound is rounder, thicker and less flat! 😁

Great shootout! Both amps beautiful - Vibrolux was a little bit more 'pretty' and compressed to my ears here (but a chimey Vox is usually my own choice ;) ) Marshall sounds more Hendrix-y - and more versatile, bearing in mind all of the Marshall grind just waiting to be unleashed. A skilled player couldn't go wrong with either of these really - as we see here!

Nice Vid!! I prefer Fender. It has higher frequency. And I need it

I think that the Marshall ran into some Jensen's would provide a good compromise. The Eminence EM12N or WGS G12CS speakers would be great options. Alternatively 2 Jensen Blackbirds in a 2x12 semi open back pine cab would be stellar.

THANKS, from Madrid 👍

Even though you're tuned a half step down (and either a hair out of tune or maybe the B & G strings aren't as fresh as they could be...) to me it's 'apples and oranges'... They both are best when used with the right song... luv your playin' so I think I'll go back and listen AGAIN! Cheers, matey

I'm a huge fan of Marshall cleans. fenders are great as well. they both make me smile

I like the Marshall tone ❤

I’m a Marshall guy through and through. Love the hi mids emphasis and the tiny bit of grit when playing hard. Marshall’s responds to playing dynamics like no other. However, the low end and warmth of a Fender is legendary in its own way. Definitely a situation where it’d be good to have both in the studio, but the Marshall on tour, since I feel it could cover the whole gamut of tones in-the-box better.

The Marshall has more definition to my ears. That surprises me, and it would be my choice if I had to chose.

Marshall was made before high gain was popular so it was intended to be a clean amp, it was later on that they found out the plexi sounded really good when you turn the volume up and it starts to distort.

I use both my 1970 50W Plexi and Fender HRD for clean parts recording. I can’t say one over another as they are both so satisfying. I guess if I could only have one amp, it would be the Marshall.

It's always going to be the Fender style rather than the Marshall style, for me. I just don't like the Marshall EQ stack. The only Marshall I could see myself playing is a JTM45, with the tone stack components reverted to Fender values, but keeping the KT66 tubes. Marshalls sound great, but they aren't my sound.

For this demonstration, I would say the Marshall sounded better and I do prefer the fuller mid sound esp. for the style of playing on show here. For more cut through presence and sparkle, naturally the fender vibrolux is very pretty sounding here - I am a fender amp man myself, blues deville 4×10 combo player ~ which may explain my ears leaning more to the Marshall tone, the original Marshall heads being based on a Fender Bassman design (the Blues Deville is a tweed 60 watt 4×10 combo). This is a fine AB comparison you have carried out. My only request being I would have liked to have heard a guitar pick used on both amps as well as finger picking but if you don't like guitar picks I perfectly understand!

j mascis runs a group of amps, including 2 Marshall's super loud, but clean. his tone is overdriven but the amps aren't breaking up. its pedal stuff and it sounds epic.

Gotta run them parallel! Keep the fender clean, but just before breaking up, so it's nice and compressed, turn down the mids and turn up the treble. Then run the Marshall at edge of break up, crank the mids and enjoy the best clean sound out there!

It’s been on my mind about Stevie using famously a Marshall major or Marshall PA But you see none of his tone disciples using Marshall His second Austin City Limits show has the Marshall and sounds wonderful

I'd love a Black/Silverface Fender with a Marshall tone stack.

I’ve always preferred Marshall tones to Fender, but I play with a fair amount of gain. I used to have a 1987X and the clean tones were really surprising. The Fender sounds beautiful though.

As usual great demo Johan! For me Marshall was the winner, so I have to try a bass cab 1982A from my friend with my JCM800 1959 and Strat definitely! Cheers Johan!

Spot on commentary if you ask me, atleast I found the same thing playing either marshalls or fenders. And yes Marshalls do 'sound' like Jimi, and as much as I love Marshalls (I don't really mind them being more 'honest' or harder to play) the Fender sound just has some kind of magic that must have imprinted on my brain more than the Marshalls. But maybe I'll go back someday :)

I love the Marshall cleans. It has fuller and that Fender scooped sound wasn’t really my thing. Though I do love the 1954 Fender Bassman. I would say that’s probably the best sounding clean amp I have ever heard.

May be interesting to try both with the same speaker.

They both sound great .the fender is a bit brighter the Marshall sounds fuller. I have both. I love the cleans with a Marshall . I'm a lp guy so I like just a bit of breakup.

Supposedly the Hendrix “Fender” tone was a JTM Superbass in the studio. I know my Germino SB clone makes gorgeous clean tones.

I'm totally a Fender guy, but I have to admit I love the tone of a clean to crunchy Marshall. I had to have a Marshall vintage 20 head when they came out, simple one of the best amps I have played through. Then I play my Marshall and my Vibrolux at the same time, dang it sounds really big and amazing.

For balance, and as a Gibson player it would have been great to get your take on the Gibson with Fender, and Fender with Marshall conundrum. Personally, I play Marshalls amps with loads of treble and presence and Fender amps with more mud and less treble... It's all about balance I guess. Super interesting video.

I always felt Marshall cleans didn’t get enough credit. But I also like the sound of strats into Marshall’s for cleans, and Gibson’s into Fenders or Vox for cleans.

Fender for me. But both sound great. Cheers from Dalarna!

Very little difference but discernable in the mids Both lovely tones

Do a clean shootout with all the Vintage Fenders like you did with them cranked!

I want both.