You would absolutely make it through the gig and the audience would barely notice. But any guitar players at the show would spend the next two weeks complaining about your tone.
@@tommilitello198 oh it would lmao. you really think anybody other than musicians/guitarists care about guitar tone? if they hear a catchy riff thats enough
As a teenager I often connected the Marshall MS2 to an amp through the headphones output, using it as a distortion box. I remember it as sounding great, but I’m not certain how critical I was back then.
same. plugged into some noname 12" combo that was really old... I am convinced it was the best distortion sound I ever had, but that was many many years ago and I was likely very wrong lol
I remember when I loved the "insane" amp model in a spider. Its funny going back to your first equipment, if you have the possibility get your rig back and compare it to the new you, fun experience.
@@AGTR98I think it’s interesting how much simpler my tones have become as I’ve become a more skilled producer and musician. When I first started my tones were so maximalist and taking up as much of the space as possible, to the point my band only really worked as a two piece. Nowadays my guitar tones are usually od>amp, the difference being I take a ton of time with eq, as well as selecting the od, amp, and mic sims in my modeler for the space in the mix it needs to fit.
@@iutchube your laughing. There’s someone out their in their bedroom rn playing this amp and recording through their phone speakers and are going to immediately upload it Bandcamp, and your laughing.
You're forgetting two other elements a dirty, echoey gas station bathroom and an answering machine. Any who dispute these three facts about black metal have never heard black metal! 🙃👍👍
I REALLY want to hear this hooked up to a real speaker, like a 6 or 8 inch, and use an overdrive. I think we would all be shocked. But hey, what would I know lol
there's video on YT of people modding it into a mini-head. its a bit loose and flubby IMO, pretty decent for more doomy/sludgy stuff, but sounds way way better than this.
That piece at 3:23 IMHO sounds haunting on the mini Marshall. I prefer it to the tube amp. I have one of the early Peavy Bandit 112's and it is the destroyer of drywall. I had the top handle break and it took a run down 20 steps and into the drywall at the bottom of our stairs. Amp worked like a charm whereas I had to work like a mofo repairing the damage to the house.
You know, an eq pedal could go a long way to shaping the sound of that little amp. I have a couple full Marshall stacks, and have become accustomed to their sound. But the first time I encountered one of those little battery powered jobs, was in a pawn shop. I jokingly plugged into it just for the laugh, and was blown away. The thing sounded pretty damn good, considering.
that tiny speaker can't produce anymore low end than what you're hearing. an eq bass boost would be like putting 10 gallons of water in a 5 gallon bucket. for anymore bottom you need a larger speaker.
Yes. If you put even a 7 band EQ pedal in front of a $30 combo it can make it way better. As a kid I traded bass rig for a stereo PA and often used a DI box into it and stage monitor. The mix an audience gets is more important than my tone at home...
To be honest, that actually works if you put that mini marshall in the “emergency gig” situation. I like the clean tone tho, like you said its pretty cool that it kinda breaks up the clean signal. Nice experiment!
I had a Peavey Bandit yonks ago (like late 80s early 90's)... and yup -- little buggers were damned near indestructible. Was a super-solid backup for the Crate half-stack and a lovely amp all its own.
Funny story. My amp blew, and I was due for some Misfits covers with my friends on a Halloween night. I stacked a Roland Cube, and this cheap 10w beginner Dean amp. lol. I was surprised. It did the job. I needed to sound like trash, and that was that.
If you mod that marshall amp and change the headphone output to cab output (only with cutting one resistor) and connect it to any 12" can you can get a pretty useable sound out of it
Seconding this. Wire a jack into the raw speaker lines and toggle out the internal speaker. It'll run a cabinet unexpectedly loud. And, the breakup is spot on.
I actually used this at a Jazz Band festival once - there was no power source on the street, so my director had me bring the tiny Marshall. Nobody could hear me, but it was fun :)
The orange crush 3 also sounds pretty good, especially if you hit it with some pedals first. (Also fun to stick it behind your guitar while cranked and let every note immediately decay into feedback tbh) I did once have a guy bring a blackstar fly3 into the studio and we recorded a scratch solo on it. The amp we used for the take sounded much better imo but under the right conditions, with a dark enough mic, it probably couldve worked?
I carried an Orange Micro Terror amp in my road case. My main rig was a Hughes & Kettner GM36 that Had in a rack along with a H&K 1x12 cab. I had the power supply for the Orange amp mounted and ready to go in the back of the rack. If the H&K ever crapped out on me, it was going to be a 5 minute fix at most to dig the Orange out, plug it in & be ready to fly. no where near the versatility of my normal rig. But it's 20 watts. It's tube & would have absolutely gotten me through the night. I think I paid $120 for the Orange. Had it in my rig for almost 5 years and fortunately never had to dig it out. But the other guitars in one of the bands I was in, had his amp crap out and used it for a night. Sounded great. I've recently bought one of the Bogner Mini Extacy head. 30 Watts. Solid state and can actually push enough air to be played loudly through my Marshall 4x12. Cool little amp. Again. Not ideal to use as a regular amp for gigging. But plenty good in a pinch. The Orange is much smaller though, so it took up less space in my road case. So many good options out there to carry along as a backup. If you're a gigging musician and you don't carry some sort of backup rig? You're asking for trouble.
I’ve had an Orange Micro Dark Terror for about the same amount of time, and I can tell you that the pre amp is tube, but the power is solid state. They still work great. I hook mine up to a 2x12 cab all the time. I’ve seen videos of guys in Nordic metal bands gigging with them before. I also have a tiny little Vox “Clean” amp that’s 50 watts that basically resembles a stomp box. I have it on my pedal board, and it sounds great. Unless I need a specific Fender or Marshall sound, I use it all the time. Wonderful pedal platform.
As a live sound guy, this is why its important to think about these things. I've had this happen a few occasions with some musicians. Personally i would consider getting anything that has a built in IR cab emulation like a Orange Terror Stamp pedal, Vox MV50, etc. Or a mini head like the Orange Micro Terror, Friedman BE-30, Diezel VH Micro, etc. Those don't have IR Cab built in but they'll definitely power a 4x12 cab and will sound much better than putting a mic on one of those tiny amps.
I heard stories about Dave Grohl dropping one of these in a coffee can and putting a mic over the top. I literally bought one of these to try it and it wasn’t horrible. It could definitely be something you could play around with. But even if you never do that walking around with that little Marshall clipped on your belt or pocket is fun.
So that amp miced into the board with eq and maybe even a little delay and reverb and you’d do fine even several nights in a row. It actually got the job done. That’s really great to know. Personally I don’t even use amps anymore. I run from a pedal board into the mixer for live or just DI into my MacBook for recording. Haven’t used a amp in years
I had a micro terror with me for a backup when we gigged more. Takes almost no space and works pretty well. I use mostly solid state amps nowdays, cause normally they go through a pa which is solid state also, so it sounds good enough for me. You can also do a easy modification and put a jack in your practice amp and use it as a head. Sounds good, no joking. I like the warmth of tube amps, but easy maintenance of solid states (plus they are cheap.) I recorded our last ep with Randall rh150 and it cost me only 150€!
I was surprised it sounded that good. Yeah, it's not a 2k rig, but you could run with something like a 20 watts Amp, and still rock. Over time though you might burn it out.
I've got the MS-4 version with two speakers. If you turn the gain about half way up it's actually a surprisingly acceptable sound in a small room! Don't know about gigging with it though!😂 Enjoyed this, you do come up with some interesting ideas!
The difference is that the Peavey Bandit is a very good gigging amp. It's quite loud, has plenty of headroom, takes pedals well, etc. For a classic solid-state, I can't think of any better.
I've heard that Steve Albini is notorious for using these (or amps that resemble these) when people want a huge guitar sound. Jawbreaker used one on their song "Ache." Blake (their singer/guitarist) told Steve that the song had a descending chorus melody that he wanted to sound huge, like a stadium/arena type of sound. Steve whipped out the mini Marshall and that's what has been immortalized on the record.
The Blackstar Fly 3 has a headphone jack that also works as an emulated output. If you wanted to you could plug it into to a PA mixer and also an interface. It doesn't sound bad either.
Thankfully these days, affordable amp modellers and multifx have reached the point where - while not as outright awesome as having a stack - they're absolutely good enough to gig with, plugged straight into the soundboard, can have a smaller footprint than your pedalboard and only weigh a few lbs.
I spent an afternoon playing around with miking one of these in the studio once, and the one thing that worked surprisingly well was a ribbon mic pointing at the logo from a 45 degree angle - somehow it seemed to kill a lot of the more obnoxious boxy frequencies. Not the most useful afternoon ever, but it was kind of fun!
I have a Fender Mini Twin that is ten watts of power. I've never had to use it in the sort of emergency you describe, but it's pretty loud and powerful for it's size and wattage. I basically use it as a travel amp for practices and such, but I'm sure if I was in a pinch, I could put a microphone up to the speaker and have it carry me through live gig. Thanks for sharing this helpful hint with people, and let's hope it never has to come down to this, unless it's a dire emergency.
The MS-2 was my first amp, so I've got a lot of love for it (I still have mine from 30 years ago). This was a really cool experiment, and thank you for sharing!
I think the answer is ultimately "no". In the mix with the band you might get away with it and it's better than canceling. I would be heartbroken though.
As a kid i made a speaker cabinet of a cardboard box and two speakers i salvaged from old radios, and plugged that into the headphone jack of my Peavey Audition Chorus. With the amp dimed through those little speakers i get a gnarly but quiet tone. But, put an SM57 right up on one of the cones and it turns into a giant metal guitar tone, great for recording. Hooray, proximity effect!
This one was so much fun! I own one of those mini Marshalls, and I think you ran the volume up high enough to get less than optimal tones out of it. Perhaps doing a video of how to make the mini sound good is necessary?
With a precision drive and post EQ the little Marshall can surprise you. Btw the Marshall also has a headphone out jack that could be plugged into the PA
I played a show with a blackstar fly 3 once being miced because I couldn’t fix my 4x12 in my car at the time. Gotta love race cars💀. Blackstar actually sounded amazing with a microphone in front going through a PA
Excellent review dude! Sounds great, not bad at all. Definitely not as good as the half-stack, but still tasty! Hell can you imagine recording with it? I thought it sounded better distorted, over clean... IMO!
🎸CHALLENGE🎸 - now after you mic the small Marshall turn the bass/lows on the board (like you’d have at a gig) up and record the adjusted for more bottom end sound thru the mains like you would at a gig and close the tone gap a little better with creative mixing like the sound man would do! You obviously would not use the same settings on that channel with that little amp as you would with a deeper sounding large amp. I would expect a difference but I would definitely be deepening the bottom end on that little speaker at a gig through the board!
I've got that marshall mini amp and what I've found is that it sounds better with a pretty loud pedal in front of it and just keep the volume below the clipping on the marshall. Doesn't sound as good as a real full sized half stack or anything but I feel it's using it to the best of its ability
Interesting reminds me of ZZ Top Tejas... During one of the drum takes a mic basically fell into the kickdrum, and they assumed playback would be ruined... In the end they listened to it and liked it so much they left it in. I believe they still used that mic'ing technique on some things going forward. It's unique and could work pretty slick on a lowfi, distorted track.
That's why you bring something like a Tech21 fly rig or a Kemper/Axe FX and use that as a 1 pedal backup. Ritchie Kotzen can bring the roof down using a flyrig.
I did this in a recording studio over 20 years ago. It was the full stack mini Marshall. We put it in a cardboard box and micd it up. Ran the mic through the board and added reverb and delay and some compression etc. It sounded good enough to record with. The guys were making an album for a local Blink 182 style band's first album and I was doing some light leads on it. I ended up buying one. Still use it. That mini Marshall in this vid sounded more like Mick live than the Engel. Lol! Sounded great. Too bad it was breaking up a little.
You can mod the headphone output on these mini Marshall's by bridging the resistors, giving you enough output to power a large speaker cab, the amp actually sounds decent enough then
When my last band gigged. my wife's gtr sounded exactly like "My Favorite Mistake"...its a tele into a Vox AC30 Amplug into a Palmer Direct PDI09. That signal is split to wireless in-ears & FOH. Out front is sounds like a $2000 AC30
there are lots of mini lunchbox amps out there now that sound pretty good - get one with a line out and you're covered. The 20W ones will still run a 4x12 too!
This is pretty neat. The idea of a backup rig is pretty nifty too. I have a Boss Katana head that I'll be plugging into a Marshall 4x12 and I plan on getting a POD Go at some point too. They can be used together or separately if one goes down.
I think the 'clean' sound at 3:24 sounds waaay better than the Engl. The clean channel on the Engl sounds so lifeless, but it could also be the pickups or recording chain coloring the sound.
For starters great original tone and playing. The mini Marshall was a fizzy flabby flop for my ears . I would suggest an alternative that I actually have on stand by .......Mooer Micro Preamp 002 UK Gold which is a 99%mock up of a 2 channel Marshall JCM900 ......That little pedal saved the gig for me on more than 1 occasion when backlines either sucked or didn't even exist . It's smaller than your little Marshall mini amp but packs a much bigger punch. Give it a try !
You could separate the speaker lead from the terminals along with a male and female jack so theres the option of using the standard speaker or connecting it to a proper cab, 4X12 for example.
Folks who play resort hotel clubs and casinos etc have neen doin' this for 40 years+. Big amps are for big egos. ( Perhaps also HUGE stages) I love using a tiny 15 watt bass amp with an 8" speaker, close mic'd in a club for guitar. They take pedals well and can be as bassy as a half stack. And a big fake 4x12 cab in front of it makes the stage look great and no one will ever know. You can put hinges on those fake cabs so they fold up for touring. Les Paul said it best: " people hear with their eyes". I have used a Blackstar ' fly' at a gig, close mic'd. Sounded pretty good.
You would absolutely make it through the gig and the audience would barely notice. But any guitar players at the show would spend the next two weeks complaining about your tone.
Or...spend the next two weeks trying to find out how he did it.
It wouldn’t take a guitarist to notice how bad that sounds lmao
Good point lol
@@tommilitello198 oh it would lmao. you really think anybody other than musicians/guitarists care about guitar tone? if they hear a catchy riff thats enough
@@tommilitello198 I've heard worse.
As a teenager I often connected the Marshall MS2 to an amp through the headphones output, using it as a distortion box. I remember it as sounding great, but I’m not certain how critical I was back then.
I remember an article about Michael Schenker using a Pignose to record a UFO album.
same. plugged into some noname 12" combo that was really old... I am convinced it was the best distortion sound I ever had, but that was many many years ago and I was likely very wrong lol
@@kai223noa6 Yes. He did.
I remember when I loved the "insane" amp model in a spider. Its funny going back to your first equipment, if you have the possibility get your rig back and compare it to the new you, fun experience.
@@AGTR98I think it’s interesting how much simpler my tones have become as I’ve become a more skilled producer and musician. When I first started my tones were so maximalist and taking up as much of the space as possible, to the point my band only really worked as a two piece. Nowadays my guitar tones are usually od>amp, the difference being I take a ton of time with eq, as well as selecting the od, amp, and mic sims in my modeler for the space in the mix it needs to fit.
This is how most black metal is recorded
🤣
@@iutchube your laughing. There’s someone out their in their bedroom rn playing this amp and recording through their phone speakers and are going to immediately upload it Bandcamp, and your laughing.
Whoa whoa; easy there money bags; a little too hi-tech for black metal.
You're forgetting two other elements a dirty, echoey gas station bathroom and an answering machine. Any who dispute these three facts about black metal have never heard black metal! 🙃👍👍
I was right about to say little amp would work for a burzum cover band lol
I REALLY want to hear this hooked up to a real speaker, like a 6 or 8 inch, and use an overdrive. I think we would all be shocked. But hey, what would I know lol
We would. I've used mine just as an amp, no drive, along with my multi effect. Quite surprising👍
You can do that with an Orange mini 3 watt amp.
one of the uk retailers on youtube connected a whole bunch of these together (maybe 50 or so). it sounded horrible.
there's video on YT of people modding it into a mini-head. its a bit loose and flubby IMO, pretty decent for more doomy/sludgy stuff, but sounds way way better than this.
YES!
That mini Marshall sounds bad ass. I have one, and it rocks AC/DC perfectly.
That piece at 3:23 IMHO sounds haunting on the mini Marshall. I prefer it to the tube amp. I have one of the early Peavy Bandit 112's and it is the destroyer of drywall. I had the top handle break and it took a run down 20 steps and into the drywall at the bottom of our stairs. Amp worked like a charm whereas I had to work like a mofo repairing the damage to the house.
that clean riff on the mini sounded like it would be right at home for an intro to a atmospheric black metal song lmao
God Bless the Children of The Beast from Shout at the Devil
@@mhaikal173 it sounds more Depressive Black Metal to me
You know, an eq pedal could go a long way to shaping the sound of that little amp. I have a couple full Marshall stacks, and have become accustomed to their sound. But the first time I encountered one of those little battery powered jobs, was in a pawn shop. I jokingly plugged into it just for the laugh, and was blown away. The thing sounded pretty damn good, considering.
same, I was actually expecting him to experiment with EQ and other layers to see if it could offset its shortcomings, maybe in a followup video
that tiny speaker can't produce anymore low end than what you're hearing. an eq bass boost would be like putting 10 gallons of water in a 5 gallon bucket. for anymore bottom you need a larger speaker.
the pedal would be bigger than the amp
You don't necessarily need a bass boost, but to reshape the mids.
Yes. If you put even a 7 band EQ pedal in front of a $30 combo it can make it way better. As a kid I traded bass rig for a stereo PA and often used a DI box into it and stage monitor. The mix an audience gets is more important than my tone at home...
Not even you could make that mini amp sound good
Greggo maaate!
I went to your channel to respond with something snarky but now I’m just hungry. 🤣
Dimebag could
OOOHH HI GREEG!!
It’s not about sounding good it’s about if it’s passable as a last resort
To be honest, that actually works if you put that mini marshall in the “emergency gig” situation. I like the clean tone tho, like you said its pretty cool that it kinda breaks up the clean signal. Nice experiment!
Is it weird that I wanted to hear them both combined?
I had a Peavey Bandit yonks ago (like late 80s early 90's)... and yup -- little buggers were damned near indestructible. Was a super-solid backup for the Crate half-stack and a lovely amp all its own.
Funny story. My amp blew, and I was due for some Misfits covers with my friends on a Halloween night. I stacked a Roland Cube, and this cheap 10w beginner Dean amp. lol. I was surprised. It did the job. I needed to sound like trash, and that was that.
With enough foldback in your ears or monitors and an FOH guy willing to put quite a bit of EQ on, this is absolutely do-able!
The Mini Marshall gave me instant black metal vibes (like Burzum or smth), but it is possible to go thru the gig w/ the mini amp (for sure).
If you mod that marshall amp and change the headphone output to cab output (only with cutting one resistor) and connect it to any 12" can you can get a pretty useable sound out of it
Seconding this. Wire a jack into the raw speaker lines and toggle out the internal speaker. It'll run a cabinet unexpectedly loud. And, the breakup is spot on.
I actually used this at a Jazz Band festival once - there was no power source on the street, so my director had me bring the tiny Marshall. Nobody could hear me, but it was fun :)
Cool little experiment. If i had to rely on any mini amp, I would go with the Blackstar Fly, sounds surprisingly good for it’s size.
I actually played a small gig with that amp when the headlining act refused to have us play the venue amps. Much prefer a amp sim in a laptop thou.
The orange crush 3 also sounds pretty good, especially if you hit it with some pedals first. (Also fun to stick it behind your guitar while cranked and let every note immediately decay into feedback tbh)
I did once have a guy bring a blackstar fly3 into the studio and we recorded a scratch solo on it. The amp we used for the take sounded much better imo but under the right conditions, with a dark enough mic, it probably couldve worked?
Agree. For its size, it has absolutely zero equal.
I carried an Orange Micro Terror amp in my road case. My main rig was a Hughes & Kettner GM36 that Had in a rack along with a H&K 1x12 cab. I had the power supply for the Orange amp mounted and ready to go in the back of the rack. If the H&K ever crapped out on me, it was going to be a 5 minute fix at most to dig the Orange out, plug it in & be ready to fly. no where near the versatility of my normal rig. But it's 20 watts. It's tube & would have absolutely gotten me through the night. I think I paid $120 for the Orange. Had it in my rig for almost 5 years and fortunately never had to dig it out. But the other guitars in one of the bands I was in, had his amp crap out and used it for a night. Sounded great. I've recently bought one of the Bogner Mini Extacy head. 30 Watts. Solid state and can actually push enough air to be played loudly through my Marshall 4x12. Cool little amp. Again. Not ideal to use as a regular amp for gigging. But plenty good in a pinch. The Orange is much smaller though, so it took up less space in my road case. So many good options out there to carry along as a backup. If you're a gigging musician and you don't carry some sort of backup rig? You're asking for trouble.
I’ve had an Orange Micro Dark Terror for about the same amount of time, and I can tell you that the pre amp is tube, but the power is solid state. They still work great. I hook mine up to a 2x12 cab all the time.
I’ve seen videos of guys in Nordic metal bands gigging with them before.
I also have a tiny little Vox “Clean” amp that’s 50 watts that basically resembles a stomp box. I have it on my pedal board, and it sounds great. Unless I need a specific Fender or Marshall sound, I use it all the time. Wonderful pedal platform.
As a live sound guy, this is why its important to think about these things. I've had this happen a few occasions with some musicians. Personally i would consider getting anything that has a built in IR cab emulation like a Orange Terror Stamp pedal, Vox MV50, etc. Or a mini head like the Orange Micro Terror, Friedman BE-30, Diezel VH Micro, etc. Those don't have IR Cab built in but they'll definitely power a 4x12 cab and will sound much better than putting a mic on one of those tiny amps.
That mini Marshall was my first amp for about 6 months because it was all I could afford. I don't know what happened to it, but I miss that thing!
I heard stories about Dave Grohl dropping one of these in a coffee can and putting a mic over the top. I literally bought one of these to try it and it wasn’t horrible. It could definitely be something you could play around with. But even if you never do that walking around with that little Marshall clipped on your belt or pocket is fun.
Great to play along with someone on an acoustic at a campfire !
The sound man would probably have cut a bunch of 300 hz and boosted the highs a bit. Would have been fun to try some minor mixing on it.
So that amp miced into the board with eq and maybe even a little delay and reverb and you’d do fine even several nights in a row. It actually got the job done. That’s really great to know. Personally I don’t even use amps anymore. I run from a pedal board into the mixer for live or just DI into my MacBook for recording. Haven’t used a amp in years
I had a micro terror with me for a backup when we gigged more. Takes almost no space and works pretty well. I use mostly solid state amps nowdays, cause normally they go through a pa which is solid state also, so it sounds good enough for me. You can also do a easy modification and put a jack in your practice amp and use it as a head. Sounds good, no joking. I like the warmth of tube amps, but easy maintenance of solid states (plus they are cheap.) I recorded our last ep with Randall rh150 and it cost me only 150€!
I love my micro terror as well.
I have a Micro Dark. Can't believe how loud it is
If you had to do that, that would be the night when a bunch of fans would say, "Your tone tonight was excellent. The best I've ever heard."
I was surprised it sounded that good. Yeah, it's not a 2k rig, but you could run with something like a 20 watts Amp, and still rock. Over time though you might burn it out.
I feel 100% that a Microcube would be able to pull this off. Would love to see that comparison.
I was thinking the same thing. That cube has some nasty tone for its size
That thing gets unusually loud for its size.
Love the micro cube
I've got the MS-4 version with two speakers. If you turn the gain about half way up it's actually a surprisingly acceptable sound in a small room! Don't know about gigging with it though!😂 Enjoyed this, you do come up with some interesting ideas!
The difference is that the Peavey Bandit is a very good gigging amp. It's quite loud, has plenty of headroom, takes pedals well, etc. For a classic solid-state, I can't think of any better.
That engl into the marshal cab sounds great
I've heard that Steve Albini is notorious for using these (or amps that resemble these) when people want a huge guitar sound. Jawbreaker used one on their song "Ache." Blake (their singer/guitarist) told Steve that the song had a descending chorus melody that he wanted to sound huge, like a stadium/arena type of sound. Steve whipped out the mini Marshall and that's what has been immortalized on the record.
The Blackstar Fly 3 has a headphone jack that also works as an emulated output. If you wanted to you could plug it into to a PA mixer and also an interface. It doesn't sound bad either.
Thankfully these days, affordable amp modellers and multifx have reached the point where - while not as outright awesome as having a stack - they're absolutely good enough to gig with, plugged straight into the soundboard, can have a smaller footprint than your pedalboard and only weigh a few lbs.
I spent an afternoon playing around with miking one of these in the studio once, and the one thing that worked surprisingly well was a ribbon mic pointing at the logo from a 45 degree angle - somehow it seemed to kill a lot of the more obnoxious boxy frequencies.
Not the most useful afternoon ever, but it was kind of fun!
I have a Fender Mini Twin that is ten watts of power. I've never had to use it in the sort of emergency you describe, but it's pretty loud and powerful for it's size and wattage. I basically use it as a travel amp for practices and such, but I'm sure if I was in a pinch, I could put a microphone up to the speaker and have it carry me through live gig. Thanks for sharing this helpful hint with people, and let's hope it never has to come down to this, unless it's a dire emergency.
If you short out the resistor on the headphone out it'll let the full power through it, so you can plug the MS2 in a 4x12. It's really incredible!
the clean tone on the mini did sound kinda cool, not good but like not good in a cool way lol
The MS-2 was my first amp, so I've got a lot of love for it (I still have mine from 30 years ago). This was a really cool experiment, and thank you for sharing!
I think the answer is ultimately "no". In the mix with the band you might get away with it and it's better than canceling. I would be heartbroken though.
I've never gigged with one but rehearsed with my group for about 6 months with one of these with a mic to the PA. Worked great. Love your channel
I did this at home a LONG time ago...i ran the amp through a compressor and midi verb 3...it sounded pretty damn good
2 of those mini amps running as a full stack would be a killer rig.
As a kid i made a speaker cabinet of a cardboard box and two speakers i salvaged from old radios, and plugged that into the headphone jack of my Peavey Audition Chorus. With the amp dimed through those little speakers i get a gnarly but quiet tone. But, put an SM57 right up on one of the cones and it turns into a giant metal guitar tone, great for recording. Hooray, proximity effect!
Theres a video of Dimebag Darrell practicing backstage with a marshall ms-2 and the sound coming from that little unit and his fingers is incredible
Amazed to see that mini Amp with a mic and no whistling
The mini certainly has a vibe
I have an old RP50 I plug into my mini Marshall. Makes all the difference in the world! Gets rid of that flabby sound when you turn it up.
That was pretty cool. Actually loved you used Mick Mars' work.
I used to put the speaker side against a pillow in my bedroom. Cuts all the harsh tones. I recommend trying that.
This one was so much fun! I own one of those mini Marshalls, and I think you ran the volume up high enough to get less than optimal tones out of it. Perhaps doing a video of how to make the mini sound good is necessary?
Most my playing nowadays is straight on the Marshall MS-4. I just roll volume and tone back on the guitar a little bit, it sound surprisingly decent.
Do you need an attenuator for the larger rig?
There's this Blackstar mini amp that sounds amazing for the size! Fun riff btw
Dumb question but can someone enlighten me as to what riff this is?
@@Zx_10RJoker Mötley Crüe - Too Young To Fall In Love
With a precision drive and post EQ the little Marshall can surprise you. Btw the Marshall also has a headphone out jack that could be plugged into the PA
Gotta love those mini amps tho
Pretty great.
Happy i have a first gen Micro Cube.
good little amp.
I played a show with a blackstar fly 3 once being miced because I couldn’t fix my 4x12 in my car at the time. Gotta love race cars💀. Blackstar actually sounded amazing with a microphone in front going through a PA
Excellent review dude! Sounds great, not bad at all.
Definitely not as good as the half-stack, but still tasty!
Hell can you imagine recording with it? I thought it
sounded better distorted, over clean... IMO!
For a practice amp, i usually use the blackstar amplug into the mini Marshall. It's actually a really great little rig that you can wear on your hip
Ready to record a black metal album ideal tone!!
Edit: the mic is too good for proper tone record through an Xbox headset
Why mic it? It sounds waaay better direct into the board
I once saw with my own two eyes.
A Peavey basic 60 bass amp fall off a truck bed while on the road.
And at the gig.
Worked perfectly.
The mini Marshall with a dedicated distorsion pedal sounds better than with the built-in OD, I was really impressed when I heard it !
Roland cube x amp , hard to find now but bang , done job !! Love mine with the metal stack button on , little compressor and delay pedal
I like how the mic in the picture is not centered but is on the left like it made any difference.
🎸CHALLENGE🎸 - now after you mic the small Marshall turn the bass/lows on the board (like you’d have at a gig) up and record the adjusted for more bottom end sound thru the mains like you would at a gig and close the tone gap a little better with creative mixing like the sound man would do!
You obviously would not use the same settings on that channel with that little amp as you would with a deeper sounding large amp.
I would expect a difference but I would definitely be deepening the bottom end on that little speaker at a gig through the board!
I've got that marshall mini amp and what I've found is that it sounds better with a pretty loud pedal in front of it and just keep the volume below the clipping on the marshall. Doesn't sound as good as a real full sized half stack or anything but I feel it's using it to the best of its ability
MusicMan 112 RD is my main amp and I carry a Crate Powerblock for gig emergencies.
"This pic for size reference. " Haha, that was classic!
Very nice 😂 I actually do like the breakup sound on the clean channel is kinda unique!
Interesting reminds me of ZZ Top Tejas... During one of the drum takes a mic basically fell into the kickdrum, and they assumed playback would be ruined... In the end they listened to it and liked it so much they left it in. I believe they still used that mic'ing technique on some things going forward. It's unique and could work pretty slick on a lowfi, distorted track.
idea for a new video - try a shootout of mini-amps and see which one sounds best, all of them under 10w. :)
That's why you bring something like a Tech21 fly rig or a Kemper/Axe FX and use that as a 1 pedal backup. Ritchie Kotzen can bring the roof down using a flyrig.
I carry a Vox MV50 clean and a Boss ST-2 pedal for a backup rig, into the cab I already use… 50w, tiny footprint, and sounds great.
As always, love the video, especially Motley Crue! Too Young to Fall in Love and God Bless the Children of the Beast … great songs!
I did this in a recording studio over 20 years ago. It was the full stack mini Marshall. We put it in a cardboard box and micd it up. Ran the mic through the board and added reverb and delay and some compression etc. It sounded good enough to record with. The guys were making an album for a local Blink 182 style band's first album and I was doing some light leads on it. I ended up buying one. Still use it. That mini Marshall in this vid sounded more like Mick live than the Engel. Lol! Sounded great. Too bad it was breaking up a little.
with a relatively simple mod to the MS-2 it can be used with an external cab. Into a 4x12, it ain't bad at all, even volume wise it is pretty loud.
what motley cru song is that lol sounds familiar but i cant remember the name?
You can mod the headphone output on these mini Marshall's by bridging the resistors, giving you enough output to power a large speaker cab, the amp actually sounds decent enough then
The Peavey bandit 212 red stripe was my first amp :), and nowadays its my backup for my boogie
I have a Vox AC30 Amplug and the tones you get out of it crushes that Marshall mini.
When my last band gigged. my wife's gtr sounded exactly like "My Favorite Mistake"...its a tele into a Vox AC30 Amplug into a Palmer Direct PDI09. That signal is split to wireless in-ears & FOH. Out front is sounds like a $2000 AC30
there are lots of mini lunchbox amps out there now that sound pretty good - get one with a line out and you're covered. The 20W ones will still run a 4x12 too!
3:21 My Mouth Fucking Dropped after hearing that tone, Im probably buying one now. Godamn
Sounds like it'd be a good lo-fi intro
This is pretty neat. The idea of a backup rig is pretty nifty too. I have a Boss Katana head that I'll be plugging into a Marshall 4x12 and I plan on getting a POD Go at some point too. They can be used together or separately if one goes down.
What song is he playing at 2:00 ?
Too young to fall in love
I think the 'clean' sound at 3:24 sounds waaay better than the Engl. The clean channel on the Engl sounds so lifeless, but it could also be the pickups or recording chain coloring the sound.
The Engl can sound like that too. It’s just had a wider range.
I bet blending the two would sound glorious. The mini set up almost has that room mic sound!
Mike can you do the same video idea but with the Boss Mini Katana please?
For starters great original tone and playing. The mini Marshall was a fizzy flabby flop for my ears . I would suggest an alternative that I actually have on stand by .......Mooer Micro Preamp 002 UK Gold which is a 99%mock up of a 2 channel Marshall JCM900 ......That little pedal saved the gig for me on more than 1 occasion when backlines either sucked or didn't even exist . It's smaller than your little Marshall mini amp but packs a much bigger punch. Give it a try !
Great Crue cover!
When our guitarist rig crashed, I plugged him into the low input on my bass amp and I used the high. Worked out pretty good
Would’ve been interesting to hear both amps together with the band
One good way to go in similar situation is Tech21 sansamp gt2 as a backup and you can plug in direct into pa and you can plug your pedalboard in✌🏻
You could separate the speaker lead from the terminals along with a male and female jack so theres the option of using the standard speaker or connecting it to a proper cab, 4X12 for example.
You could use it for something like the intro for Wish You Were Here, that old radio effect
Pretty awesome seeing that tiny rig rock so hard 😂 awesome video !
Folks who play resort hotel clubs and casinos etc have neen doin' this for 40 years+.
Big amps are for big egos. ( Perhaps also HUGE stages)
I love using a tiny 15 watt bass amp with an 8" speaker, close mic'd in a club for guitar. They take pedals well and can be as bassy as a half stack.
And a big fake 4x12 cab in front of it makes the stage look great and no one will ever know.
You can put hinges on those fake cabs so they fold up for touring.
Les Paul said it best: " people hear with their eyes".
I have used a Blackstar ' fly' at a gig, close mic'd. Sounded pretty good.
Wow Is that a Charvel 375 ? just that mine has dots on the fretboard, really rare guitar. Had mine since 1991!
Didn’t Varg use one of those to record a Burzum album? I want to say be also used the left speaker of a set of headphones as a microphone too. 😂