What kind of tone.../ is it worth the $?

Kilman

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/sid=040321215237024171005030250453/g=guitar/s=amps/search/detail/base_pid/482716/
Marshall 1987XL Vintage Series 50 watt tube head
For some reason I bought a 180 watt Fender combo.(I guess i was thinking bigger means better) I have a Marshall 1960's cabinet and i play a Fender Strat with Texas Special pickups. I'm just curious as to what i should expect from this amp. Will it be loud enough to be heard in my band? Good sustain? ect. Thanks

Pacomc79

The 87XL is a fairly faithful copy (Reissue if you will) of the Marshall JMP Plexi's of the middle to late 60's. It is more than likely more than you need to be heard with the band, Tube amps are rated at the RMS power pre clipping meaning cranked up to where most people use them (Townsend, Hendrix levels) they are really cranking out around 99 watts peak.

It's a great amp, considering the originals are now between 4 and 5 grand if you are lucky enough to find one.

The amp is decidedly british with a warm middle, sounds amazing with strats (duh hendrix) and excepts pedals very well. Tubescreamers, volume boosts (treble boosters etc) and Fuzzes sound amazing cranked in the amp and they can help it clip at lower volume. It's a wonderful amp but you'll definately need to have at least one overdrive/distortion/fuzz pedal because it gets loud and the amp is not channel switching, however one channel means there is no bullshit in the way of the signal giving you a loud clean clear tone that Marshall became famous for. You know the sound already it's on thousands of recordings.


You might also check out the 1959SLPX and the JTM 45 Reissues Also if you are looking for a slightly more modern distortion check out the JCM 800 Reissues.

50 watts is more than enough 100 watts is way overkill you'll piss the soundman and the rest of the band off and end up spending a ton on a nice attenuator. Plexi's sound best when cranked anyway especially with a fuzz face.