Marshall Question

[jacksmar]

Sometime ago, Marshall issued a desktop preamp or something of that order. I need to know the model number of this little piece. It was only on the market for a short time, and now that I'm traveling....

Any help is always appreciated.

[Hardrock69]

Desktop preamp?

You mean like a software amp model?

If so this is the first I have heard of it.

[jacksmar]

It may have been a floor unit. It had a master, high, bass, presence, and vol set of knobs. It was only out for like a year.

[BrownSound1]

Are you talking about a rackmount tube preamp? That is the JMP-1, but they still make that, as far as I know. I don't know of any amp modellers that Marshall makes. They do make some overdrive pedals, but that's about it.

[Hardrock69]

Yeah that is pretty much all I have ever seen...the rackmount preamp and the stomp boxes...

Try eBay...

[jhale667]

The JMP-1 is the only one I know of as well (this from a once guitar sales geek)...Marshall and 'amp modelling' seem like mutually exclusive terms...

[ELVIS]

The JMP-1 sounds like shit...

I don't think that's what this einstein is talking about though...

[jhale667]

Originally posted by ELVIS
The JMP-1 sounds like shit...

I don't think that's what this einstein is talking about though...

Yeah, they sound like ass. :D Ah, but perhaps he's referring the the Vox (Korg, Marshall, same company) Valvestate desktop doo-hickey? My friend had one of THOSE for a minute, and he promptly re-christened it the "Valve-SUCK"...LOL

[BrownSound1]

Well Korg is the distributor..but they don't own Marshall.

[jhale667]

Originally posted by BrownSound1
Well Korg is the distributor..but they don't own Marshall.

OK, I should have said 'Distributor' or 'Parent -company'....oopsie. LOL :D

[jacksmar]

INE-STEEEN found it!!!!

Marshall DRP-1

Anyone used this thing? Tone?

[Hardrock69]

I see ...direct recording preamp....

you too can put an end to mic placement...just plug right in ladies and germs!!

I'll be dangded.

I didn't know those existed.

I would be curious as to how it sounded as well.

But is it a solid-state preamp? Or does it have, say, a single 12AX7 in it or something?

[Hardrock69]

Here is a review from http://www.amptone.com/marshalldrp1.htm



Price Paid: US $129.00

The non-boost channel is reminiscent of the old "no master-volume" marshalls and sounds best with the master maxed-out. Crank the gain all the way up...and stick an overdrive in front, too. Boost channel is more like modern marshalls, and will roar with authority. Speaker emulation is pretty darn good, and if you get the bass tone knob up to about 3 oclock you actually get some of that good ol' marshall "thud." It's hard to get the thing to sound really good through headphones, as the line out(headphone out) volume has to be up a bit for the beast to develop full tonality...and then it can be a little too loud for comfort.

Very "tube-y" sounding for a solid state device. Direct to tape it sounds like a Marshall. Much more authentic "marshall" sound than sansamp, etc. It won't replace a JMP-1, but it costs less than 25% of the JMP-1's price. It does a good job of "marshallizing" the front end of an amp, as well. And awhile back I ran an fx send from the console to a 50DB pad and thence to a transformer and into the DRP-1. Cranked up all gains to max and used it as a snare drum effect...with the right balance it nicely livened and "trashed up" a pretty boring snare drum sound. No reason it has to just be a guitar preamp, eh?

There is a pamphlet with you that shows you how to set it up as just a preamp, or for direct recording. No indications of good settings for specific sounds, which is a shame, but it is fairly easy to use and experiment - just tweak the knobs. Have yet to work out if it can be used as just as speaker emulator (might be handy for gigs, putting guitar into the PA without troublesome mics - guitar amp DI->DRP1->PA?).

There is some hum if you crank things up to maximum, and there are sources of eletrical noise about, such as computer monitors.

The basic sound goes from clean to quite crunchy. You can get a great early Neil Young sound out of it.

Turn on the boost as it is more traditional sounding Marshall territory, up to really quite high gain with some additional sustain. Definitely has a tube sound to it (a friend commented on this), and goes right up to fuzzy sounds with a hint of speaker break up. You can get some good early Led Zep sounds.

The speaker emulation seems to work. Not as good as actually miking up a 4x12 (it claims to be a 4x12 emulation). Slightly fizzier, although Marshalls can sound a bit fizzy (I'm more of a Fender man really, but Fender don't make anything comparable, and it is nice to have a Marshall sound for when you need it).

My criticism is that it can sometimes sound a little thinner than I'd like when playing solo, but that having been said, it sits well in a mix. Great for early rock sounds like Young and Led Zep, both of whom used fairly thin guitar sounds at the time.

I have used it on its own, used it during recording a CD demo, but I mainly use it in the first effect loop of my Zoom 9150 to give better speaker emulation, and an expanded range of tones (and if needed completely over the top square wave distortion). It emulates speakers better than the Zoom does.

I have it for direct recording so I don't annoy the neighbours, so I wouldn't gig with it (I'm a bassist anyway), but a friend used it to warm up his amp live, and it worked. Used it for recording when two guitar amps blew up, and did basically all the electric guitar with it, and it sounded fine. Mine has worked perfectly.

Has gain to set the drive level, a boost channel selector micro-switch (not footswitchable), a master volume, bass middle and treble and a line out volume. The back panel consists of input, line out, pre-amp/FX out, stereo FX return and phones.

The unit works better with the line-level set low, and the master volume cranked to about 75%. The tone section then gets a much better signal to work with. These DO need to be set very carefuly to get the best out of it...don't walk in, set it all to 80% and expect it to sound good...it won't. On the clean side, things are very usable with some great sounds from country through to jazz/fusion. Switch the channel onto boost and things just get better! The gain covers everything from Fender twins to full-blown stacks! I found the gain on about 60-70% is about right...anything more and the Duncan's in my Eggle just overloaded the thing! Be careful when you try this in a shop...I used a Epiphone SG and was very near to not buying it. The assistant suggested I try an Explorer Custom Shop with DiMarzio's, and that sold me. As with most Marshall stuff, you DO need good pickups to get nice rich harmonics and a chunky distortion. The DRP1 is supposed to be used as a direct recording preamp...no waking up the street with your 4x12 when you put down a killer solo at 3:00am!!! All I can say is that it works! No fizz, and using the Line Out puts in the 4x12 emulator (not switchable) and there's very little hum and buzz except on monster gain settings, and then what do you expect!

I think I've got a steal. Brilliant for home recording, no cabs to set up and although the emulator is basic, it's about right. Plug your rack FX into it and use it as a practice amp, or on it's own anywhere (it's battery powered!) or even carry it as a spare pre-amp in case your rack goes down (it's 6" x 4" and weighs about 12 oz!) Every guitarist should try one. I'll certainly be taking it out as a back-up pre-amp in case my JMP-1 ever fails and would have no qualms about using it in a home/small studio environment where it's just impossible to use a miked cab.



Whole buncha reviews at Harmony Central:

http://www.harmony-central.com/Effects/Data/Marshall/DRP_1_Direct_Recording_Preamp-1.html

[ELVIS]

Junk!

[Hardrock69]

Says in the specs it is solid state.

I hate solid state.

Goddamnable transistors.

Though I have to admit, sometimes you can get decent solid state amps that sound good on tape.

I have a Crate 65-watt 1 X 12 combo amp that sounds kickass as a recording amp, but live it sounds like a pussy compared to my Marshall.