The problem is that no company is satisfied anymore with just making good products for a fair price and employing great people at a competitive wage. Every company now must always be growing, which is why we have the shittification of everything.

Best memory of my life: telephoning the Bletchley factory in the 1980s and asking if I could come and see the factory. Expected a polite refusal, of course. But no, and they gave me a date! I drove down and Jim's son Terry gave me a two hour detailed tour of the whole factory, and at the end he took me to Jim's office where Jim chatted away to me (even though he was obviously busy working at the time). Then he told Terry to fetch a load of items for me to take home, including a signed copy of the Marshall book, which I still cherish. A gentleman through and through and a great man.

Imagine if these highly paid business people were good at business.

I'm seeing this disturbing trend in companies being bought by private equity firms which then drive the company into the dirt and make some kind of short-sell profit. These private equity firms, of course, have NOTHING to do with the companies they acquire and aren't serious about the company succeeding because of what they intend to do. This almost sounds like what you're describing.

I might be biased on this, and even if I'm not it's probably already too late for them - but if Marshall can't immediately get connecting with online influencers in the guitar space, work towards building community interest and repairing the poor reputation they now have with guitarists, then anything else they do is a nonstarter. They need to very swiftly get a strategy together that will bring them in line with their competition, not just on modernising their product line, but on how they promote and build interest around it. Paying the magazines to gush about legacy is only reaching the old and nostalgia blinded at this stage. They NEED to be courting the people who are actively influencing the purchase of equipment that young bands use.

Ironically, the piece of Marshall gear that could do well today is the JMP-1. The Friedman IR-X is more or less a modern version of it. The JMP-1, updated a bit soundwise, with Two Notes technology and an editor would still sell, I think. The state of Marshall is sad. I remember the Musikmesses, when Jim Marshall surrounded himself with the greatest players.

And… Like ToneKing, build an attenuator into your 50w or 100w amps… work with ToneKing or Fryette…. And go back to sourcing English parts! It’s why we still have Marshall amps from the 60’s that work ( with a capacitor change … ) but the big stuff ( output transformer!) in those were 100% quality.

The crow perching on the balcony railing is listening very attentively.

Marshall Amplification died with Jim...

"Control the prices in the US" first thing I thought when I heard that was "Yeah, and control the prices in the EU, Mesa/Boogie"

As a guitar teacher to teenagers (or I was, pre-long covid, ugh) I can tell you most of them initially don't know Marshall is an amplifier brand rather than headphones. "Oh they make amplifiers too?" And yes, I agree, Marshall competing against established modeling companies seems crazy.

Marshall already cooperates with Softube, their Marshall suite is exellent, probably one of the best VST I've tried. However, in my opinion, Marshall needs to make a line of UK made, modern two channels high gain amp with scaleable power, something in between SC20 and JVM, kind of modified plexi/jcm800 tone but with decent clean channel. DSL20 is a cool amp, especialy for the money, but lacks in many regards. And really, Marshall should call their former empoyees from Blackstar and ask for advice :)

Now everyone wants a Marshall fridge, but not everyone wants a Marshall amp. And nobody wants a Marshall modeller, because there are modellers, and they are good modellers, and they are not Marshall.

My dear Henning, indeed, I am an old fart, love my Studio Series Heads (Plexi and JCM800) more than any other amp I ever played. Unfortunately, I totally agree ... I wish this new CEO would see your vid .... he should listen carefully, because your thoughts are the thoughts of the Marshall players, no Marshall modeler needed - thank you ❤ And, btw: you understand JUST A LOT about business, about developing business 👌

"Friedman is a good Marshall". 100% Spot on!

Something like this happened before with Marshall, only Jim Marshall was still alive to sort the problem out by putting new Amp's out under the Park brand until he could get the name back, We can only hope that someone will take notice and do the same again.

They need to concentrate on small home valve amps, heads for cabs, and pedals. The days of the big multi speaker cab/combo are almost done.

I really appreciate these industry insight vlogs. Keep em coming!

I always liked the Marshall practicing amps because they're NOT modeling amps. I'm a guitar teacher and i think a beginner should not get a modeling amp. Modeling amps are not for beginners! They're for players that are intermediate and better. A beginner should get a 2 channel amp with a little bit of reverb, and focus on playing! My first amp was one of these battery driven Marshall pocket amps. It was broken all the time, so i practiced a lot on my unplugged Strat. I got huge benefits from that in my playing technique.

As a software product manager & business person that plays guitar, this video really tickles my fancy. Great insights!

I agree with every word (not the hoodie) As a Marshall lover and a rock guitar lover, the new company should stay away from modelling amps entirely. If you want the Vox sound, get a Vox, if you want the Fender sound, get a Fender. There is a huge, huge difference between the sound of a modelling amp and the actual real amp when played in the room. I have a great Roland Cube which has a Marshall setting and I love it. But there is no comparison to the sound of a real Marshall with EL34 valves. Why sell an amp to sound like another brand of amp when you are already the World leader in amp sound and design? OK, they started with an RCA designed circuit and built from there, but they had the best R&D team imaginable, Eric Clapton, Pete Townsend etc. Every other amp and speaker cabinet company from Ampeg to Zilla copied the Marshall Head and Cab design, and tried to copy the sound performance, but not successfully. In some cases like Freidman, they copied the colours scheme and finish and look also. Its a bit like Rolex selling a watch, which comes with Tag, Timex and Seiko faces, so it can look like any other brand. Why would you want to sound like anyone else, when everyone else is trying to sound like you? Long Live Marshall .... 🙂

You know... there was a reason Marshall artists taped over and removed their logos in the 70's and 80's. It's because Marshall is, and always has been reluctant to have anyone sponsor them. So musician who loved the sound would just mask the product name and go ahead with the great tone that they built anyway. I met and I had a conversation with Jim Marshall in 1999 where I had asked him a plethora of questions that was eating at me at the time. One of which was why was Slash the first and only artist sponsoring for Marshall. His answer was brief and simple. When you have artists like Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore, Pete Townsend, Angus Young, Judas Priest, etc... all promoting your product without endorsement, who needs to pay anyone. The reason Slash was brought on board was because, first of all he was huge with GnR at the time and Marshall's JCM900 line was starting to drop. He knew he had to do something he had never done before and do it fast. Anyway, all this to say, Marshall was never a big advocate of the people but at least was controlling the market at the time so there was no worry back then. Now that there are a thousand and one competitors that all do the same thing and more, and better, they are scrambling. I fully agree with you that they need to change their strategy to save the name. I do want a Marshall fridge though!! 🤗

Always love your videos and yes, I do think you’re one of the most honest people on KZfaq… Keep telling it like it is

Best videos lately. I can’t really pin down anything but your passion is absolutely resonating through the screen.

Marshall needs to build a FRFR cab for all the modelers like Laney did. How many people have Fractal, Helix, QC, etc? I think they’d clean up with a quality FRFR cab that looks like their classic 2x12’s and 4x12’s…

Well sir, I use old Marshall and Vox tube amps from the 60's that I bought new in that age. They worked then, and they work now.

I stand by your side. It’s time for companies to make a slight change and roll in the right direction. Standing still isn’t moving.

Henning, cool rant, spot on in so many ways. Putting people first works every time. Customer service, connections in the same industry and good PR are the make it or break it points.

I love this chat Henning, I drank my coffee with you and nodded to everything you said. Hopefully someone at the new-&-improved Marshall considers your logic.

This was a good rant that made me sad. I'm old, in my 60s, and buying my first Marshall was a thing I waited to do for many years. A backline of Marshalls was about as rock'n'roll as it got for my imagination. I have a tiny DSL here in my bedroom that happily makes my neighbours angry when I turn it up to its sweet spot. I was unaware of the changes at the company and what you've detailed here really makes me worried for the future.

Henning, I really enjoyed this chill talk about your knowledge of the MI product industry. Hope you have more vids like this. Cheers!

You make a lot of sense! Hope Marshall listens to this!!

I've just had a great experience with Marshall support... A friend's AS50D (acoustic/mic solo performer amp) had died.. lights on, nobody home. A bit of prodding around with a multimeter and some google-fu led me to conclude the transformer had died. A bit of searching and, assuming an OEM part would be horrifically expensive, I found on Australian product that's not available and about £70 GBP (not that you can buy an out of production item). Emailed Marshall support, £24 delivered a week later. What??? That's a company that gets at least one part of the equation right. It'd be nice to see Marshall get their core business right. As a Brit I'm probably biased!

Spot-on, Henning. They need to do the classics with variable power output, and direct outs.

Agree with you mostly. But, they need to also focus on the Home player/recorder/hobbyist as well. And they can do it much like the Firedman IR-X and IR-D. Plexi and JCM versions of those, would sell like hotcakes, become standard use in studios everywhere.

you're absulutely right. If I'd want to have a good modeller, I'd buy a Boss Katana or the Line6 equivalent of that. Marshall should do low wattage lunchbox heads with proper attenuation options, and even hey, I'd be already happy if they would have a 40 watt head in their current DSL lineup (the 40 W version available only in combo).

Remember the first Valvestate series? Sturdy, lightweighted amps with a flexible range of sounds. Of course these amps could not compete with the big tube amps, but they were affordable and a great value for the money. For many kids (at that time) the Valvestates opened the gate to the Marshall world. I mean... my 8100 is 30 years old, reliable and i'm still using that amp. So I totally agree with you, adding the point that they also have to keep an eye on the middle price segment. You need something to bait the people and make them stick to the brand.

Marshall lost its own train.it’s by far my favorite “sound” but if I’m looking to get a new Marshall I’d buy a Friedman.

Your spot on brother!! I just bought a new amp and after looking at the market place, went with a Friedman Little Sister. Build quality, tone, design, features and a fair price, so it was an easy choice. We appreciate you and your channel!!

Marshall needs to up their quality on their pcb boards, switches and amp components. It's run by accountants. It super worrying. This isn't rocket science. Their channel development is crap as is their artist management. It's fine being a bean counter - cost control is super important - but at street level they need to get the right people in. They need to hire George Metropolous. I did my MBA and the key learning was: it's all about the people. You hit the nail on the head!!!!

How the f**k did they let Slash move to Magnatone? That's just insane. I mean, it's not like the dude is one of the biggest names in rock & shifts tens of thousands of guitars bearing his logo or anything.... oh wait! lol. In an age where brand ambassadors are everything, them not making the most of all those artists who are famous for playing in front of a wall of Marshalls will come back to bite them in the rear big time.

I will say this, sweetwater did reduce the price of a lot of Marshall products recently. Very acceptable prices. But I would love to see a Vietnam made marshall that's kind of like a revamped version of the jcm 900 4100 amp. 2 simple channels, a plexi based clean channel and a jubilee based gain channel), no funky pre-eq on the od channel like the 4100 has, digital reverb to free up a tube to use as a v1 tube, solid state fx loop to free up a tube for the od channel, built in torpedo XLR out, and a small head shell.

I love the fact we're in 2024 and you're still having to discuss the benefits of open innovation for a company as big as Marshall. I'm with you 100% about working with people like Neural/Softube, Two Notes etc. Marshall has that great image of walls of amps and cabs and need to keep working on bringing that sense of rockstardom to the home environment, ie. the small JTM/JCMs etc. Bringing back the 50th anniversary 1 watt amps at a lower price point would be a quick win given they've already done the R&D 🤷‍♂

Probably an obscure reference here, but this is the polite version of a Sodapoppin rage-quit style video I've wanted to record since that interview came out. All correct points. Great video Henning.

To MARSHALL If You are reading these comments: As a long time and aging Marshall amp fan I have a few ideas. 1) Do what PRS does. Have a Pro line (made in England or have B.A.D. from the US make these) and a Vietnam made (VM line?) 2) The Small 20 watt series is great....keep it but maybe add a "VM" line to that to initiate the younger players to Marshall. 3) Bring back the 1 watt series. 4) unlike this youtuber says, I think a Marshall "Tone Master Pro" type amp modeler would be a great idea. Just do it differently: 97% Marshall amps and cabs and only 3% others. Make a Dynamic IR section, where as you turn up the volume on the amp model the captured IR is recorded at that volume. This could be the "JMP-2 Pro". This can/should be used with #5 below. 5) make tube power amps at 5-20-50-100 watts to use with modeling gear...all EL34 based with a switchable "Vintage/Modern" voicing that is Midi switchable. Price should be cheaper than just buying a head with an FX loop. Make these in a Head format, so we still have that awesome Marshall stack look. #6) ditch the ugly goofy looking vertical 2x12 cabs and make 2x12 cabs the size and dimensions of the older 2061CX. Maybe even add a Bottom straight cab to fit under this cab as well.

I agree. Marshall should just start making some solid tube amps. Maybe make some smaller watt tube amps with attenuators for bedroom players that sound amazing. Back to the roots. The two-notes idea is very cool.

Really good to hear your thoughts, thanks.

Love the new format! Important brand people should more often watch your videos, they could learn something ;)

FYI, a few months ago Marshall prices did drop here in the US. A 2203 is now $2,199.00 (was $3,549.99) @ sweetwater. So now the 2nd hand market is f*cked...

I bought an Origin 50W and even with low it's impossible to play without bothering the neighbors, that thing is SO LOUD AND FUN! got an attenuator from HB and it works nice. The amp is FANTASTIC! I would say one of the best marshall releases on last 10 or 15 years! So clean and powerfull!

These chat videos are really great !

When one of our bunnies escaped my wife was talking to the neighbors one property down and behind our house. The older lady knew I played guitar because she can hear me all the way over there, although my cabs are in a small ISO booth. She requested House of the Rising Sun, btw. She can hear my Marshall, I’m sure. That 50w amp is loud when you get up to 6, and above. The other Marshall amps have a preamp gain and I can get distortion at lower volumes. Using a few different preamps I can change the flavor dramatically, so I like the variety. It’s not Marshall all the time, can pull a few tricks with them. The Marshall power amp is dual mono block, versatile, running different Greenbacks. I think that’s a great feature. My favorite amp because the sound is distinctly Marshall, and can accept the variety of preamps. I like the Mesa too, it’s different. Nice to have those few core sounds at my disposal. I’m not sure what to say, I’m getting old and will probably die from various organ failures. Before I do, I just want to make some noise. I… will fail. That’s all I know.

Great talk Henning! Loads of great advice.

"Let's jump into over Saturated markets! "

It's amazing to me how some of the problems that you mention in this video actually do trickle down to the consumer level. I used to lust after both Gibson guitars and Marshall amps, but over the last few years I couldn't seem to get anybody at any local shop or retailer to help me figure out which to buy. Once I pivoted to other smaller brands who make their own versions of these classic products I have not struggled to find salespeople passionate about helping me buy, maintain, service, and enjoy my purchases. I can't help but think it has to do with some of what you talk about in this video.

Repair point you raised; In my mid 30s and my dream amp was always a Marshall. Finally bought a JVM210 brand new (or so I thought). Did a couple of gigs with it and started having problems. I took it myself to the Marshall factory to get it fixed 10 days after purchase. The Marshall tech spent about 30 mins with it and told me it was fixed. Next gig it failed again (sound cut out completely mid song). I then moved due to work and carried on doing gigs. Lots of hissing and weird noise from the amp, took it back to Marshall again - all fine apparently but the issues continued. Eventually took it to a local amp tech who found several bits of damage and a set of miss-matched valves. Explained how I bought it brand new and took it back to marshal for repair etc. Local tech thinks the shop sold the amp and then took it back a few days later as the customer 'changed their mind' - but they have just swapped the valves and nobody caught it. Rang marshal who said they couldn't do anything about because a 3rd party had taken it apart (despite being a Marshall approved tech). They lost me as a customer at that point (I use a Victory amp now). If the Marshall tech had just asked 'why are the valves all random' - would have sorted it out then and there 10 days after purchase. Instead I gig'd for nearly 2 years with a dodgy amp as I couldn't justify buying another and all the younger bands would notice it hissing like crazy and state that's why they stick with modelers. Dream amp growing up to an amp company I avoid.

I agree with a lot of the other comments here. They need to follow Fender's lead and start catering to the mid market. An FRFR cab and a "tonemaster" type series would get a lot of people on board. Perhaps a floor amp like the Victory V4 series would interest a lot of people since the Friedman IR-X has had a lot of praise recently. Also, they should reimagine the MS2 and make it an updated practice amp since other companies are miles ahead of them in that regard.

Marshall will be just fine. Guitarist will always love them and probably not give a shit about the company’s headphone and Bluetooth products. The lover of those products don’t know Marshall makes amps anyway. It’s the same company but it’s two different companies. Different staff, different budgets, different marketing.

Lots of good points here, mate. Thanks for the video. Rocky road ahead for the whole music industry, unfortunately.

Oh my god Henning! I was saying this very thing years ago! On my old Twitter account, I actually tweeted to Marshall to connect with a few of the companies you've mentioned! I did this more than once. You NAILED it! You also expanded on this better than I could have with my few tweets some years back. I think that if a good 400-500 people who follow you and a few other KZfaqrs were to flood Marshall with demands to go this route, they'd have to take real notice! Then pick you up along with a few other people, like Steve Sterlacci and a couple of others, Ola, and different artists from different genres & so on...get with a couple of those companies and release REALLY bad ass, killer hybrid amps with IR packages and amps! Connecting with a couple of various companies & bringing one of the biggest and most recognizable amp brands to the table would be a game changer for all of them.

When the CEO´s of major companies just think about "profits" and neglect their loyal customers, then that business is doomed to fail. High prices (some ridiculous high) can also be a "turn off" to many people who cannot afford such music gear , or guitar. I agree 100% with Henning´s point of view. Great ideas ! You should be the CEO .

Back in the days when Ir was not so popular. The 50th anniversary 1W / 0.1 W Amps from Marshall are killer amps for Home use. I have bought the JTM-1C and now the price are double today. Cause they are very popular. They are light, sound good in low volume and with a Mic you can play easy in FOH mixer with a band.

Tone Master Pro sounds and feels great to me. The new update brought some great new quality of life features and some great content. No regrets selling my Helix.

Great points you brought up about the industry, their employees and products. I’m just a simple man and enjoy my Marshall DSL40CR amp and plan to change the speaker to a Neo Creamback soon too. All the best Henning…

I think some people sleep on the DSL40CR. For me it’s perfect. Great clean and crunch channel. Master volumes lets you get good tone at “bedroom” volume. And for 729 here in the states can’t go wrong.

Marshall is a culture based business not a hedge fund or gas station. The business is inherently eccentric and requires a balance between artists vision vs accounting needs.

Really enjoying the opinion pieces. 🤘🏻👍🎸

Hi Henning! As usual a great video. You are spot on. I remember meeting Jim Marshall in 1989 at a Marshall promotion in a small venue. He was so approachable, to talk too and happy to sign posters (still treasured on my wall). I met him again, approx a year before he passed away, again he was happy to talk. Last year I emailed Cornell Amplification to enquire about the Romany 12, and you what? Denis Cornell himsrlf replied the same day! A lot of companies could learn a lot from the original amp builder greats, by talking and listening to its customers face to face and via email; to find out their concerns to get meet their specific needs and aftersales care/maintenance. These meetings and email have been more enspiring to my memory for 'that tone' search than anything else in my 40 years of playing. 😊

I only had one blackstar amp - it was a core ID from the first series and I immediately sent it back because it was the worst sounding practice-amp I've played so far.

if i was to buy another amp it would be a Friedman plex or be50 ,, it’s what’s under the hood that counts

Never commented on one of your videos before but you make some very interesting and valid points. I hope the new Marshall CEO views it.

Great well reasoned points, that I agree with. Not looking for a Marshall modeling amp at this time. And I like the mellow contemplative Henning over morning coffee for a change … every once in a while. 🤣

Marshall is so iconic that I really wanted their amp. Bought brand new broken DSL40, which got replaced with a noisy one. Sold it, bought UAFX Lion and I love it. Recently replaced my Gibson with FGN Sagmeister Special and now not only my setup is well made, it is also asshole-free.

If Marshall released a JMP-1 modeler in a one rack space format, they would sell like hotcakes.

I agree with everything said in this video. 100% spot on review of Marshall's dismal place in the industry. As a company that has a VAST majority of their business in the lifestyle segment of the market, it will be a hard message to get across to the board to invest more in the amplifier segment of their business. Marshall needs a top down refresh of their amp product line, while maintaining the small fraction of the market with their core models. But how many people are buying "new" legacy amps like the JCM900, or Bluesbreaker? Maybe it's my American viewpoint but those amps are only bought/sold in the used market especially since the quality of the products are no where near what they once used to be.

Ever since I got a Tube Amp Expander, I have longed for a low wattage tube amp with similar tech (load box, digital reverb, power amp with Fletcher Munson curve correction) built-in. I love using that thing with my JCM 800 combo and THD Univalve

Nice take Colonel Klink. I'll reserve my judgement and hope my favorite amp brand survives the future! If not, who cares... they won't top their past amps that I already own anyways 🤘

Funny thing, did you know JC was previously an adidas leader too (TaylorMade and Salomon VP/CEO) before Gibson? On a positive note, I am also an adidas employee and suddenly working for a music brand seems like a possible next career step 😀 100% agreed with your rant, I was thinking all of these thoughts too when I read the article.

Beautiful words said from the heart, all us old farts feel the same.. yes we know Friedman etc all make great amps but in our hearts we want to play Marshall..

first thing I noticed when I went to see slash in amsterdam was the lack of marshall amps on stage. Same thing with zz top. They now use Magnatone amps. And why wouldn't they, those amps sounds amazing and look great.

Only thing I wish for is Marshall Super Crush 100. Or Marshall Valvestate Crush 100. Or whetever it would be called.

I mean I hope they don't fail. But seeing what has happened at Gibson with James Curleigh really concernes me. Best regards from "the neighbors" in Austria

I agree %100 Do what you are good at.

Absolutely spot on analysis. This business is like most others, it's about people and relationships first and foremost. Great people who maintain great working relationships with their major artists and distributors have more to do with success than having the very best product. Taking care of customers and standing behind your products always brings good karma and people take notice that you are honest and care about their satisfaction.

I have been a Stagehand for 35 years. The last dozen "Marshall" amps I have touched on a stage were either never on or hollow props. There are no big amps anywhere on the stages I work, local bands to Def Leppard (Fractal). Modellers have thoroughly dominated the scene for many years. The days of big amps is loooong gone. Marshall doesn't need to make a Modeller, they are part of all Modellers already.

The thing with Marshall trying to enter or compete in the modeller market is they are about 10-15 years (or almost 30 years in the case of Line 6) too late. They arent going to be able to compete with these brands whose whole existence as a business is built of amp sims, effects and modellers. Both BOSS and Line 6 have managed to expand their businesses beyond just guitar effects but for Marshall to try and get in now where there are brands and manufacturers that do it extremely extremely well and some of them for a very very competitive price in the case of Moer, NUX, Hotone etc etc. Its going to be an up hill struggle unless they have a product or can have a product that is absolutely innovative or revolutionary that will shake up or redefine the amp sim/modelling market.

Glad i got my Marshall when I did and used too because if I were to buy a new amp right now, Im looking at Friedman here in the US the way the prices are. I totally agree, if Marshall came out with these Amps in a Pedal format, that would be a nice touch. I am absolutely loving my Friedman IR-D that I just picked up recently. Makes me want to go ahead and buy the real full tube amp version of what the IR-D is based off of.

This is some seriously hardcore business sense laid out in plain terms. Nicely stated!

Put your quality tube amps in the hands of everyone. Price them accordingly and lower the wattage. We want the Plexi JCM's in the U.S. at a attainable price.

I had my electricity shut down on me this week due to a mix-up during contract change, and nothing digital worked, which was a bit of a revelation. I'll stick to analogue as much as is reasonable. Something is missing here with software, phones, iPads, modellers, emulations, approximations, virtual digital girlfriends. A tube, a wooden instrument, you can touch. It will be there 20 years from now. It can die because it lives. It can be loved because it can die. I work in technology, I'm not against it, and maybe I'm becoming an old fart or a hopeless romantic, but something's missing. Money's not real anymore. Even a lot of jobs are not real anymore. You are buying virtual products with virtual money. The matrix is wearing thin. A discussion on who owns Marshall, what products are they making, and are those real products or virtual product launches, sounds very much like an old world vs new world story and a sign of the times.

One day my screen is gonna break from all the times I see a HP video and tap the link TOO hard and TOO fast. Every single one is a BANGER, but this is one of the absolute best ones

The thing is that modeling has taken over a large part of the guitarist market and honestly, right now at Marshall, the most useful thing is its 20w amplifiers. It is very difficult to assume that you buy an amplifier for 2,000 euros and then your friend arrives with his Quad Cortex, clones it for you and it sounds practically the same. In the 80s and 90s, people were very analog, now everyone has gone digital and in the world of guitar, modelers have given a huge boost, you can sound without problems at the biggest concert in the biggest football stadium with a Fractal or a Quad Cortex and no one will know the difference.

Henning-I’ve never heard a more precise evaluation of an “entire” situation than yours here. In fact, it’s quite obvious that if Marshall followed your suggestions/evaluations, they would no doubt succeed. If only more companies would listen to the people immersed in (all aspects of) the subject matter as yourself --their chance of success would skyrocket. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Well said! I hope they watch this video and heed the warnings to make the right directions

Hey, really nice video format! I've found it quite insightful. Could you do a similar one about Fender? I'm not sure your thoughts on the whole Tonemaster amps and pedal thing is. My feeling is that, even if they are great, they should still just make a workhorse deluxe reverb tube amp that doesn't cost 1.8kEUR. Even the Mexican version (68 Custom Deluxe Reverb) goes for 1.5kEUR here in Germany. In this sense, I think both Vox and Marshall are killing in terms of offering their classic sounds (AC-series and Studio Series) in a reasonably priced and gig-worthy amp format.

T R U E ! All you said, i agree with all it. You nailed it Sir. Back in the 90ies, everyone around me played/ used Marshalls. So i went Laney and Fender Stuff 😅. So far, no reason to get a Marshall Amp/ Head, even i would love to.

Thank you for the video and your insight Henning. I agree with you 100%. I truthfully believe the company has been in a severe decline since Jim Marshall passed. From what I've been told, there is also no distributor here in the us as well. Alot of websites have dropped prices but they are still quite expensive and there is a waiting list for products and everything is on back order. When you talked about marshall modelling, the first thing I thought about was the JMP1 preamp. I owned one for many years, It was a preamp with all of Marshalls preamps built in. It was analog and sounded fantastic. They need to do something like that again, not become the "new line6". When you discussed your friend as the amp maker I immediately thought of Thomas Blug. If thats not who you were referring to, he would also be a great choice. Truly passionate and a genius in his own way.

Great analysis!

Marshall, if they do plan on staying in the modelling amp business, also needs to make sure their amp models on their amps don't just give a "Marshall like" sound, but actually deliver the Marshall sound. Their modelling for their own brand needs to be bang on. Marshall needs to get back to basics if it wants to live. It needs to develop long term plans and goals to this effect instead of trying to get the most money it can in the shortest amount of time. Marshall needs solid products that sound good in their solid-state (valvestate) and valve/tube amp lineups especially in products designed for on-stage use. When holding companies get involved, they're interests are basically, make as much money as they can, as fast as they can. They never have any long term goals that don't center around that. There's been many great brands of specific products in the past, that have gone under because of not being able to compete any longer, have cut the price points in production to such levels that too many corners have been cut and the product suffered, or have forgotten their core market and customers. In some cases, their name lives on because someone seen the name had a good reputation and are trying to cash in on those who forgot, or didn't see how the original company ended itself. Part of the American market pricing issues, outside of shipping and tariffs is the distributors here know the reputation of Marshall. So, just like Apple products have a premium attached, (you're paying more because of the brand,,,, you're paying for the name,) Marshall, and I think Gibson too, certainly Rickenbacker, all suffer from this, Sadly, if a few people blindly pay these exorbitant prices, they will keep them raised.

Line 6 actually had a couple tube mosels. The Spider Valve was their first one, no great by anybody's standards, but they worked. Then they came out with the DT series, which are phenomenal. Probably the most versatile Tube amp on the market, and the fact that they were designed to work seamlessly with the POD gear, which likewise worked seamlessly with the Variax guitrs make them far more versatile than they already were.