The first time I saw Zakk’s ‘Iron Curtain’ was at the Cambridge Corn Exchange in February 2011, and what a sight it was! There were no fewer than 24 Marshall amp heads, and 28 4×12 cabs all arranged in full stacks with double amp tops, and another 4 cabs centre stage…. Or was there? I can assume you that I wore ear plugs and it was LOUD, and some friends I went with who didn’t wear plugs had cotton wool ears for a couple of days! It certainly seemed like a very loud gig!
In reality Zakk and Black Label Society’s 2nd guitarist, Nick Catanese, both use three Marshall 2203ZW amps (Zakk’s original signature, from 10 years ago, released in 2002), and some of the cabs that are on stage (probably 6 each). Some more cabs (as you can see at the bottom of the stacks in the photo above) are bass cabs, and the rest are dummy cabs. The Iron Curtain heads (2203BLS it seems they may be called) are just front panels and tubes that light up to look like they’re real amps (see the link below for photos of these dummy amps/cabs)
The interesting question is when will Marshall release the new Zakk Wylde signature head, and will it look like the Iron Curtain head? If it does, I’m sure Marshall will sell a lot of these amps, as many Zakk fans have shown interest in these new amps being used on tour (even though they were dummies). I know I’d love to own one when they’re released (a man can dream!). Zakk’s also been interviewed in various guitar magazines recently stating that a new signature Marshall will be released in 2012, and will be a copy of one of his currently owned heads. Whether he means an existing 2203ZW or another amp he uses, we don’t know. But he’s famous for using JCM800 heads, so I can’t believe it would be anything other than a JCM800 2003 clone, with perhaps a couple of little extra features (FX loop and built in OD pedal perhaps (like the YJM100), and maybe even power scaling like the AFD100 and YJM100).
The cutting edge Line 6 DT50 is where it all started just over a year ago, but Line 6 certainly didn’t finish what they wanted to achieve in a single product. The DT25 is the new kid on the block, and while you could initially be mistaken for thinking of it as the DT50′s little brother, it is in fact very capable tube amplifier in its own right, with a couple of extra features that the DT50 itself doesn’t have to boot!
If you’ve been reading all the rumours about the Satch Marshall signature amp that looks like it’s on its way soon, you may have also heard the information from Santiago Alvarez about the mods he made to the stock JVM410H, and one of them being the introduction of a choke.
Well it looks like someone is either guessing, or do they know some inside info?
The rumour is that there may be a September 2012 release of the Marshall Golden Jubilee 100 watter (although as yet we have no idea what that amp will be). Realistically anyone could have a guess that at some point near the end of this year Marshall will release their Golden Jubilee amp…
Anywy, the hint comes from the Marshall Forum, and the poster actually links to a video where a Marshall demonstrator also suggests (as Chris George has hinted at in the past) that the 1 watt amps are just the start of other things to come in this 50th year of LOUD!
As previously mentioned, the ‘word on the street’ is that Marshall will release a standard production model of the Satriani JVM signature head, and also a limited edition model in blue.
The rumour at the moment is that the standard production model will be around £1400, but final pricing details have yet to be announced. The pricing for the limited edition model are to follow… So remember to subscribe to this blog, or bookmark and keep checking back to the Satriani Signature Marshall category on this blog here: http://rowbinet.co.uk/category/news/amp-news/marshall-amplification/joe-satriani-signature-jvm410js/
Recently he has prepared a very interesting and in-depth guide covering the wide-ranging and all-encompassing topic of guitar tone. But if you’re pushed for time the contents page at the beginning will help you narrow down to the section you are after to get some good general advice on what parts of you and your rig make up your guitar tone or what part of your POD HD setup needs some more work to improve your tone.
Here’s Slash’s own custom Marshall AFD5, 5 watt combo. I wonder if it will ever get produced into a production model… According to this video, it sounds like it will some time in 2012:
Well Winter NAMM 2012 is over, and we still have very little information about the Marshall Satriani Signature amp.
Chris George from Marshall hinted that it would be released in a few months on Twitter and also in the 2nd video below he mentions that more gear will be released at Musicmesse in March. Satch himself (When interviewed by The Tone King) only commented on the existence of a prototype and a few of the changes from the stock JVM410H, with no specific info about the release date. Check the videos further down this blog post.
Perhaps we will see the Satch amp released at Musikmesse at the end of March then, and I also assume some more gear will be released at Summer NAMM in July
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