After watching this I was blown away! I have a Mark III Blue Stripe & this makes me love the amp even more! I thought it sounded better than the IIC+ and I wasn’t expecting that.
Man, you got me singing anti social in my head. Gotta got get my 'thrax on! Killer amps! I use an original run of the Mark IV. Thanks for demo! Sounded great! Love the Bkue Stripe.
You can clearly hear the difference on the E power chord with the 2c+ at 2:10 vs the mark 3 at 2:33. The 2c has that unbelievably defined tone vs the mark 3 which is more aggressive but less defined
I've never cared if I sound exactly like the album or not. In fact, I have always tried to have my own sound. But regardless, those both sound pretty darn good. I bet they sound [and feel] epic in the room!
I love Mark II C+ amps generally, but that Mark III has a grind to it that takes the win for me here. That's like choosing between a Ferrari and a Lambo though, I'd be plenty happy with either.
I have a MKIII and the thing is a wrecker. Just as heavy as the MKIIC+. Maybe even a bit more girth. Basically, collectors drive up the value of the IIC+. Thats it. The most discerning ear would be surprised. If you can grab a MKIII now, its undervalued. An awesome line of amps, right out of the box they sound on par with a lot of modded Marshalls and boutique amps.
To me , it’s all a mental thing. I’m glad this dude made this video because I got to choose which one I liked better for metal without knowing which one was which. The Blue Stripe has way more balls and am happy I didn’t spend 10k on an amp just because Metallica & John Petrucci used them. To me , the c+ has more of the Puppets tone & the Blue Stripe had more of a Black Album chug to it which is my favorite metal tone of all time. I get pretty close with the Mark III.
@@TheTravisBeck I saw that podcast! Even though James & Kirk said it was a C+ and a modded Marshall I’m starting to believe Bob that it was a Mark III because when you chug with a Mark III it has that Sad But True Chug character to it. I’m hanging onto my Blue Stripe. I have no interest in a C+ or the Reissue.
@ would not doubt it was a III. Im sure many amps were used, and a III was in the arsenal. If someone has the money for a C+, more power to them. But, the tone can be captured in other ways. Especially the red and blue stripes.
I love your guitar playing, I sent a link to your video to the forum, showed it to two friends, if you got a microphone and recorded a good close mic'd playing the quality of your content would rise 10 times. Your chug is very punchy, articulate, powerful, you do the harmonic thing on Sad But True very easily.
@MarshallSLX Would be great, your palm muting surpassed 80% of Metallica tone attempts and C+ metal playing on YT. You play the way it should be, just right.
Disconnect the reverb in the mark iii. But, turn up the reverb dial on the amp to like 7-9. Something special happens. You’ll have to hear n person . Maybe b/c the reverb is tube driven? Anyways. Give it a go. That was my secret sauce to my mark iii red DRG for a long time
Your camera was really groovin to your riffing! 😅 I thought Amp 1 was MKIIC+. Both amps were at 60 watts right? And which amp do you like better overall? I actually liked the MK III sound better.
Nice Edwards! I have one as well and love it (bought used; someone replaced the original p'ups with a covered JB/59, which I rather like). As to the amps, I'd enjoy either as they both sound great.
as the owner of a blue stripe drg,who was stoked to hear about the reissue 2c+ since i could never get one ,are u trying to make me not want to buy the new reissue?cause this blue shits on the 2c
C+ for me... mkiii has a bit more gank/thud but the C+ crunches harder and has greater clarity... also this is a 60 watt c+ vs a simulclass mkiii with the el34/6l6 mix so that adds to it
It's funny because I thought the IIC+ sounded like White snake 87 (recorded with a Mark 3) and Mark III sounded like Master of Puppets (y'know the story) I prefer the 3 btw
Your IIC+ would sound better through a cabinet loaded with G12-65's if you are going for the old Metallica sound as they were used exclusively on those early records (unsure about Kill Em All, however.) The 75's were never used, other than Kirk Hammett having two of them in his signature Randall cabinet many years later. A mix of G12-65's with V30's would sound killer as well, but, preferably, not strictly V30's.
@shaneclemens "The 12" Celestion speakers are, of course, a mainstay since the first Marshall 4x12 cabinet. The speaker that's been used in the 1960A from 1986 to the present day is the 75-watt Celestion G12T-75. Prior to 1986, the 65-watt G12-65 (1979-85) and the 70-watt G12M-70 (identical response to G12-65 with a modified magnet) (1983-1986) were used." - Jim Marshall ** Note: the reason for substituting the 70's for the stock 65's was first due to being Jim's solution for replacing blown 65's still under warranty** Flemming has stated many times his memory and notes may be slightly off on certain aspects that he was not directly looking at when writing them. It is important to note that Marshall had issues back in the day with inconsistencies in their stickers used for wattage labelling across ALL of their instrument amplifier lines. Also, Kirk Hammett actually DID possess a cabinet that had a 300W label on it and can be seen in the back in a few pictures, I am unsure what it was, but it certainly was not a standard 1960A cabinet that James always used for typical tracking of rhythms. Another thing, an interesting & relatively forgotten-about fact regarding the 75's - the ones manufactured before the early 90's had an odd anomaly (or not being THE odd, rather) to them- their response graphs originally were almost identical to the 65's (though not literally identical like the G12M-70's) but then changed quite drastically in a production change in the early 1990's and nobody seems to really know why. It really makes no sense as to why or what was changed to the production method or specs that resulted in them changing so drastically in their sound, especially once you consider that the original stated goal for them was to directly mimic a 65 with a more powerful robust magnet to enable more headroom and power handling. Whatever the reason, I personally have never been a fan of any Marshall 1960A cab I have heard in recent times. They are oddly harsh, just not in a sizzly way like V30's tend to be, + they sound rather undefined. Hope that helps. I'd love to hear your results if you end up sourcing a few of those 65's. I think your sound would be killer + like I said, an even mix with V30's typically gives good results that, to me, sits better in a mix without having to resort to a little added eq like with only using 65's (or in the case of only V30's, a little bit of subtracted eq 😉 haha)
@@HiFiWright I actually have some 65's from 1980 and have owned 75's from every era: 84,85,88, 90's, 2000's. Naturally the early vented ones are my fav of the 75's. Im not really a fan of mixing speakers, the v30s tend to overpower the other speakers. Personally I do think Puppets was 65's, just based on my own testing. My Fav speakers tho are actually my Greenbacks from 1967!!
@shaneclemens greenbacks are great and underrated for high gain so good on you for thinking outside the box! Cheers. I am surprisingly impressed by what I am hearing of the IIC+ reissued - thoughts?
its a shame everybody does nothing but scoop the mids and play chugging like this, these amps are so much more than this sound, it's sad no one knows that. But Prince did, he played the solo in purple rain on a mark 2c+. Many other bands also played the mark III's on so much more music than this sound.
Yeah but no other amp does these sounds quite like these 👌🏻 unless you listen to metal , you won’t understand and all the chugs sound the same to you but I can hear the difference. It’s just some people’s personal preference man.
@@MarshallSLXwho buys a C+ and says “Let me rip some Prince on this bad boy”? 😂 We want it for the chugs!!!! I have a Blue Stripe and actually preferred that over the II honestly
No offence brother but why would you invest so much coin on so much awesome amps and cabs if you scoop out the mids like that as mids are where the guitar breathes and while this might sound good in the room solo it will never get heatd on a gig or on a recording & I assume with that much money invested in your rigs you play live and hope you don't scoop your mids live & I am not being a troll as I think you are probably a better guitarist than I am but so confused by your lack of mids as you want to be heard in a live setting i presume & mids is what achieves that, but I am not here to try to tell you how to do your guitar as you seem fully capable at that but I am just confused as mids are pretty important to have in my opinion but whatever makes you happy, i was just hoping to help you get heard better in a band mix but i assume this is your home settings and you use alot more mids live
@FastRedPonyCar ok thank you as I was confused because my knowledge is limited but I knew EVH boosted his mids & I always loved his tone & I liked Metallica's Master of Puppets tone probably the best of their albums but never realized that they scooped their mids that much to achieve that as like I said I have limited knowledge and thank you for sharing & very nice amps👍
These amps have a 5 band EQ vs the typical 3 band in most other amps. Note that 2.2khz is actually slightly boosted. Only 750hz is scooped, that's closer to lower midrange, whereas 2.2 is high mid region. I've never tried physical Mark amps, but going by UA-cam videos and Helix model of Mark IV, Mark amps are very mid-heavy. For metal tones you'd want to scoop that 750hz range either way, maybe not as drastic, but at least by a few db, otherwise it'll sound too mid heavy and kind of boxy/nasal. This whole don't scoop the mids thing is more of a beginner advice. New metal players buy a Metal Zone pedal, plug it into their cheap solid state practice amp, scoop the mids on both of them (Metal Zone's EQ is ridiculously sensitive and you can dial very bad tones with ease), and think it sounds good. But that's a completely different problem and topic really.
The MkIII Blue Stripe must be the most underrated amp in the world!! Sounds awesome. Those chops Michael! You’ve been holding out on us :)
Ohh yea im gr8 at random thoughtless chugging
As a iic+ owner myself i agree. MARK III is a beast on its own!
What do mean underrated🙃, blue stripe the most popular of mark 3’s
@@DenBoogieden No that would be the red stripe.
@@SHREDTILLDEAD Red stripes are my favorite Mark IIIs. My old roommate had one and we A/B'd them for years. Sounded pretty damn close to my C+.
Nobody has ever replicated the 'Ride The Lightning' sound, which is the greatest Metal sound ever
Marshalls
Ts8 in front of a marshall 2203. Ta-daaa! 🤘
Even though they used Marshalls on that album, the tone always reminded me of the Puppets tone with a hint of chorus & reverb added.
We still don't know what cabs they used, that could help a not
@@burtosu86guitar Marshalls with g1265
After watching this I was blown away! I have a Mark III Blue Stripe & this makes me love the amp even more! I thought it sounded better than the IIC+ and I wasn’t expecting that.
Man, you got me singing anti social in my head. Gotta got get my 'thrax on! Killer amps! I use an original run of the Mark IV. Thanks for demo! Sounded great! Love the Bkue Stripe.
You can clearly hear the difference on the E power chord with the 2c+ at 2:10 vs the mark 3 at 2:33.
The 2c has that unbelievably defined tone vs the mark 3 which is more aggressive but less defined
I've never cared if I sound exactly like the album or not. In fact, I have always tried to have my own sound. But regardless, those both sound pretty darn good. I bet they sound [and feel] epic in the room!
I also own a Mark III Blue Stripe and a 1960B cab- thanks for sharing your settings, great tone!
I love Mark II C+ amps generally, but that Mark III has a grind to it that takes the win for me here. That's like choosing between a Ferrari and a Lambo though, I'd be plenty happy with either.
Wow. The Mark III is sooo heavy! That grunt. Great video.
Cheers
I have a MKIII and the thing is a wrecker. Just as heavy as the MKIIC+. Maybe even a bit more girth.
Basically, collectors drive up the value of the IIC+. Thats it.
The most discerning ear would be surprised. If you can grab a MKIII now, its undervalued.
An awesome line of amps, right out of the box they sound on par with a lot of modded Marshalls and boutique amps.
To me , it’s all a mental thing. I’m glad this dude made this video because I got to choose which one I liked better for metal without knowing which one was which. The Blue Stripe has way more balls and am happy I didn’t spend 10k on an amp just because Metallica & John Petrucci used them. To me , the c+ has more of the Puppets tone & the Blue Stripe had more of a Black Album chug to it which is my favorite metal tone of all time. I get pretty close with the Mark III.
@ Bob Rock even said himself that they did indeed use an MKIII on the Black album. The tones on that album are phenomenal.
@@TheTravisBeck I saw that podcast! Even though James & Kirk said it was a C+ and a modded Marshall I’m starting to believe Bob that it was a Mark III because when you chug with a Mark III it has that Sad But True Chug character to it. I’m hanging onto my Blue Stripe. I have no interest in a C+ or the Reissue.
@ would not doubt it was a III. Im sure many amps were used, and a III was in the arsenal.
If someone has the money for a C+, more power to them. But, the tone can be captured in other ways. Especially the red and blue stripes.
I love your guitar playing, I sent a link to your video to the forum, showed it to two friends, if you got a microphone and recorded a good close mic'd playing the quality of your content would rise 10 times. Your chug is very punchy, articulate, powerful, you do the harmonic thing on Sad But True very easily.
@@fedrek01 cheers mate... would u believe ive got all that... just lazy... will at some point tho defs
@MarshallSLX Would be great, your palm muting surpassed 80% of Metallica tone attempts and C+ metal playing on YT. You play the way it should be, just right.
@@fedrek01 well im not sure about that ha! But im glad you're getting something out of it mate
@@MarshallSLX And I'm sure because I watched every single one. Good luck, man!
I actually liked the MK III better, at least for chuggin like this. For leads I could see the IIC+ be more inspiring to play on.
Mark III for me in this one
2:55 3:15
Disconnect the reverb in the mark iii. But, turn up the reverb dial on the amp to like 7-9. Something special happens. You’ll have to hear n person . Maybe b/c the reverb is tube driven? Anyways. Give it a go. That was my secret sauce to my mark iii red DRG for a long time
Your camera was really groovin to your riffing! 😅 I thought Amp 1 was MKIIC+. Both amps were at 60 watts right? And which amp do you like better overall? I actually liked the MK III sound better.
@@UncleYoshi mkiii was set simul so 75 watts
Where in Australia are you mate?
Nice Edwards! I have one as well and love it (bought used; someone replaced the original p'ups with a covered JB/59, which I rather like). As to the amps, I'd enjoy either as they both sound great.
as the owner of a blue stripe drg,who was stoked to hear about the reissue 2c+ since i could never get one ,are u trying to make me not want to buy the new reissue?cause this blue shits on the 2c
I agree man! I have one too & wasn’t expecting it to sound better than the C+! Fuck that reissue hahaha
Very nice Edwards explorer
for me was amp 2 all the time and hoped/believed it was the mk3...sounded scooped and more evil. Unluckily it was the 2c+
Which one do you prefer ?
C+ for me... mkiii has a bit more gank/thud but the C+ crunches harder and has greater clarity... also this is a 60 watt c+ vs a simulclass mkiii with the el34/6l6 mix so that adds to it
@ yeah I had both the srgx was really crunchy
Ever tried a green stripe?
@@guitarwilly81 yes multiple times love em
Can anybody tell me how to find out if i have a blue stripe drg vs a drgx?
@@zacinnc78 X just means it has the multi voltage export transformer
@@MarshallSLX would there be acertain knob or switch ont he back panel to know if i have that?
Mark 3
It's funny because I thought the IIC+ sounded like White snake 87 (recorded with a Mark 3) and Mark III sounded like Master of Puppets (y'know the story)
I prefer the 3 btw
Your IIC+ would sound better through a cabinet loaded with G12-65's if you are going for the old Metallica sound as they were used exclusively on those early records (unsure about Kill Em All, however.)
The 75's were never used, other than Kirk Hammett having two of them in his signature Randall cabinet many years later. A mix of G12-65's with V30's would sound killer as well, but, preferably, not strictly V30's.
Where did you get that info? Its been said by Flemming the Puppets cabs were 300w.
@shaneclemens "The 12" Celestion speakers are, of course, a mainstay since the first Marshall 4x12 cabinet. The speaker that's been used in the 1960A from 1986 to the present day is the 75-watt Celestion G12T-75. Prior to 1986, the 65-watt G12-65 (1979-85) and the 70-watt G12M-70 (identical response to G12-65 with a modified magnet) (1983-1986) were used." - Jim Marshall
** Note: the reason for substituting the 70's for the stock 65's was first due to being Jim's solution for replacing blown 65's still under warranty**
Flemming has stated many times his memory and notes may be slightly off on certain aspects that he was not directly looking at when writing them.
It is important to note that Marshall had issues back in the day with inconsistencies in their stickers used for wattage labelling across ALL of their instrument amplifier lines. Also, Kirk Hammett actually DID possess a cabinet that had a 300W label on it and can be seen in the back in a few pictures, I am unsure what it was, but it certainly was not a standard 1960A cabinet that James always used for typical tracking of rhythms.
Another thing, an interesting & relatively forgotten-about fact regarding the 75's - the ones manufactured before the early 90's had an odd anomaly (or not being THE odd, rather) to them- their response graphs originally were almost identical to the 65's (though not literally identical like the G12M-70's) but then changed quite drastically in a production change in the early 1990's and nobody seems to really know why. It really makes no sense as to why or what was changed to the production method or specs that resulted in them changing so drastically in their sound, especially once you consider that the original stated goal for them was to directly mimic a 65 with a more powerful robust magnet to enable more headroom and power handling. Whatever the reason, I personally have never been a fan of any Marshall 1960A cab I have heard in recent times. They are oddly harsh, just not in a sizzly way like V30's tend to be, + they sound rather undefined.
Hope that helps.
I'd love to hear your results if you end up sourcing a few of those 65's.
I think your sound would be killer + like I said, an even mix with V30's typically gives good results that, to me, sits better in a mix without having to resort to a little added eq like with only using 65's (or in the case of only V30's, a little bit of subtracted eq 😉 haha)
@@HiFiWright I actually have some 65's from 1980 and have owned 75's from every era: 84,85,88, 90's, 2000's. Naturally the early vented ones are my fav of the 75's. Im not really a fan of mixing speakers, the v30s tend to overpower the other speakers.
Personally I do think Puppets was 65's, just based on my own testing. My Fav speakers tho are actually my Greenbacks from 1967!!
@shaneclemens greenbacks are great and underrated for high gain so good on you for thinking outside the box! Cheers. I am surprisingly impressed by what I am hearing of the IIC+ reissued - thoughts?
Why are your bass and mid’s set to 0? Huh? WTH?
Thats how you get tight sound on a Mesa...Too much Bass >2 Muddys things up.. High Mid setting's will also flub things up
its a shame everybody does nothing but scoop the mids and play chugging like this, these amps are so much more than this sound, it's sad no one knows that. But Prince did, he played the solo in purple rain on a mark 2c+. Many other bands also played the mark III's on so much more music than this sound.
Yeah but no other amp does these sounds quite like these 👌🏻 unless you listen to metal , you won’t understand and all the chugs sound the same to you but I can hear the difference. It’s just some people’s personal preference man.
Love Prince's playing exceptional but i cant play that... i like chugging and nothing chugs quite like a mark
@@MarshallSLXwho buys a C+ and says “Let me rip some Prince on this bad boy”? 😂
We want it for the chugs!!!! I have a Blue Stripe and actually preferred that over the II honestly
No offence brother but why would you invest so much coin on so much awesome amps and cabs if you scoop out the mids like that as mids are where the guitar breathes and while this might sound good in the room solo it will never get heatd on a gig or on a recording & I assume with that much money invested in your rigs you play live and hope you don't scoop your mids live & I am not being a troll as I think you are probably a better guitarist than I am but so confused by your lack of mids as you want to be heard in a live setting i presume & mids is what achieves that, but I am not here to try to tell you how to do your guitar as you seem fully capable at that but I am just confused as mids are pretty important to have in my opinion but whatever makes you happy, i was just hoping to help you get heard better in a band mix but i assume this is your home settings and you use alot more mids live
Metallica did the same thing on several records and on world tours. It's just one of many ways to run these amazing amps.
@FastRedPonyCar ok thank you as I was confused because my knowledge is limited but I knew EVH boosted his mids & I always loved his tone & I liked Metallica's Master of Puppets tone probably the best of their albums but never realized that they scooped their mids that much to achieve that as like I said I have limited knowledge and thank you for sharing & very nice amps👍
These amps have a 5 band EQ vs the typical 3 band in most other amps. Note that 2.2khz is actually slightly boosted. Only 750hz is scooped, that's closer to lower midrange, whereas 2.2 is high mid region.
I've never tried physical Mark amps, but going by UA-cam videos and Helix model of Mark IV, Mark amps are very mid-heavy. For metal tones you'd want to scoop that 750hz range either way, maybe not as drastic, but at least by a few db, otherwise it'll sound too mid heavy and kind of boxy/nasal.
This whole don't scoop the mids thing is more of a beginner advice. New metal players buy a Metal Zone pedal, plug it into their cheap solid state practice amp, scoop the mids on both of them (Metal Zone's EQ is ridiculously sensitive and you can dial very bad tones with ease), and think it sounds good. But that's a completely different problem and topic really.
The III sounds good but a bit hollow, maybe the graphic eq responds differently so increasing a bit morebthe 750 fader could make the even closer.
What pulling does?
There is various bright and deep options on the pull pots
@MarshallSLX sorry can you be more specific?
Why are your bass and mid’s set to 0? Huh? WTH?
Thats how u set these amps for heavy thrash tones... theyre not like marshalls, rectos or modern KSR or ENGL amps