I just purchased this amp last weekend. Your tips have proven to be invaluable. They take a thin sounding amp and transform it into that classic Marshall crunch. Thanks so much!
No problem at all, but I usually run the lowest power setting through my Tone King attentuator to get bedroom like volumes. My little experience at 20 watts showed no problems either. I usually play through my Laney CB 2x12 with Greenback speakers, but the amp also sounds great through my Bogner CB 2x12 with a Vintage 30 and GM-65 Creamback.
Hello! I'm writing to thank you for the tips on equalizing Origin. I've had a 20W combo for several months and I've always been chasing a Bluesbreaker type sound, with the difficulty of fighting against too high-pitched and ice pick sound. Today I have set the Treble to zero and I have equalized my Les Paul in the Origin with the presence (around 4) and tilt (also around 4-5), with the Master at 8 and the Gain at 6-6.5... what a glorious sound! I have enjoyed a classic Marshall sound with a timbre very similar to that of the Beano album and with a lot of dynamics. When I left the rehearsal room I looked at my Origin with different eyes... Thank you!!!
A great tip with a Les Paul into a Marshall is to select both pickups and roll on both guitar volumes knobs as you play. A complete game changer for me.
I use my origin 50c with the wampler pantheon deluxe. It is a bluesbreaker type pedal and gets be there and more because it has different voicing so as well.
Excellent tips. I've just started using mine again after not using for about a year and this video has really helped me connect with it again. It is a very versatile and great sounding amp. PS. You can also record silently just using the DI out (but has built in spkr emulation) and unplug the speaker connection safely. Just in case people didn't realise this is possible.
I have the Origin 50 head and I have also discovered the necessity of not using the treble control to mitigate the ice pick biting tonality of traditional settings. I love the versatility of the Origin! With a 7 band EQ in the effects loop you can really sculpt the sound and push the power tubes into the sweet break-up that can't be achieved through preamp gain. I use a Soul Food into a Friedman BE-OD Deluxe on the front end for achieving multiple layers of cascading gain stages to obtain the high octane overdrives that are not available otherwise. Great demo and very useful tips for dialing in great tone!! Cheers.
@@SRguitarThe Friedman BE-OD is very good.. However, the Friedman Small-Box OD Pedal is even better ! If you get a chance, try out the Friedman pedals,..They are astonishing with any of the Marshall "plexi" offerings 😲 !
About the first tip, don't forget that the treble settings is very dependable of the speaker(s) you are using. About the second tip, if you have too much bass with the gain boost, just remove the bass! I never use the bass or very little on my Marshall(s), even the solid state ones.
Well old Marshall amps were pretty bright too. First time playing an SLP amazed me at how bright it was. There's one more trick people forget about just roll back the tone pot. old Marshall plus Les Paul is pretty great. You dial in on the neck then switch to bridge and roll off tone to get an acceptable tone. If you roll back the volume on the neck and keep the bridge on ten you can use this as an almost channel switch. Neck for clean and bridge for lead. If you look at it might get loud the ramble on part shows this exactly.
Why doesn't anyone use a Plexi as a two channel amp with an AB? You can use bright channel for distortion, volume high and then with an AB plug into the low sensitivity of the normal channel, maybe add an EQ for a bit more brightness and then you have a foot switchable 2 channel Plexi with a clean channel. Can also add the reverb in the clean loop after the AB. I wish the Origin qas 4 input so I could do this, since I can't afford a Plexi right now but I will still do it, just have the AB to select overdrive pedals and the other loop through a reverb and an EQ or volume pedal to have it be clean. And stuff like chorus before the AB box and then an EQ in the FX loop for a volume and mids boost for leads. And voila "3 channel" amp, with clean, overdriven and lead. Most modern Plexis have an FX loop too so you can do the lead boost thing. Or use A+B for rythm, Bright volume max, Normal volume below breakup. So now you can select normal for clean, both foe overdriven and bright channel only on max volume and extra brightness brings out the solo. I never see people do it but to me that's how to use a 4 input Marshall. Unless you must have bith channels jumped for your lead sound but I don't think that's needed. You can always have EQ before the channels after the AB switch to dial in the tone since you have the shared EQ.
@@FelipMartiV But you can set tone to 6 or 7, then dial in the amp for your main sound and now you can go brighter, so the amp is basically set a bit too bright with tone on 10 on the bridge.
@@cliffords2315 cool. I've had a SD-1 for 30 years. I do have a new favorite pedal though. The Friedman Small Box. It gets exactly the sound of my old '79 50w JMP. My favorite amp ever. Sounds redundant but really takes the Origin into old school high dollar Marshall territory. I like it because it does the late 70s JMP thing instead of just another plexi pedal, etc.
Also, I was more curious about your amp settings for pedals. The Origin has so many different sounds in it. Doesn't react like a typical Marshall as far as settings.
I run a Friedman BE OD pedal in the effects loop (with the internal gain pretty low), this almost gibes me a meatier “3”, Freadmany gain stage. Made this Origin 20 a LOT more usable!
Your settings work really well on the Origin 20 Combo, too. I run a little more treble and less bass, but your settings were a great starting point. Thanks!
I have the 50, and I think most people that are unhappy with aren’t using to it’s fullest because it’s damn loud, it lives near max, same as most tube amps…. Once it’s dialed in the thing sings… it’s also got some great cleans and you can work magic with the effects loop… is it the same as the 3000 dollar big brothers nope… but it’s definitely classic Marshall and fantastic for the cash… it’s great with a mic’d 4/12 in an actual mix that bright sound cuts smoothly in the mix right where it should be…
Thank you so much! I just got this amp. I work on a budget and was hoping that I could coax some Plexi tones out of this less expensive Marshall. Wow, your tips are spot on with my experience! Thanks the most for the first tip. I've been trying different settings in order to control the high end, but I just wasn't nailing it. I had the treble turned down, but not off, or below 2. I hear it the way that you do... the presence and tilt have an amazing impact on the high end!!! Thanks! Also, I agree on the built-in boost. It's very low end; doesn't sound anything like pre-amp tube gain. Thanks for sharing!!!
I've owned tons of Marshall's and the Origin 20 is IMO a Marshall with finesse and I luv it! But then I've always luv'd amps that luv pedals cuz then I can change flavors when ever I want!, and so never get bored with its tone!
A simple mod to cut the excessive brightness of the Origin 20 is to add plate resistor bypass capacitor, which basically dumps high frequencies to ground. I soldered a 680 pF 500 volt mica cap to the legs of R64, which is the V1b 100k plate resistor. You could use alligator clips to try different cap values somewhere between 220 pF and 1000 pF to taste. Higher values cuts more treble by lowering the frequencies being attenuated. Super easy to do. No parts are removed from the amp. Also easy to undo, but you won't want to. With this simple mod, your treble control defaults at around 12:00 and has a more useful range. I found the high voltage automatically drains from the caps on this amp after a minute or so, however you should verify this yourself with a DC volt meter before sticking your hands in there. If any of this does not make sense to you, have a tech perform the service. If you bring a tech just the chassis removed from head/cab, it should only cost about $25 to get this done. $2 cap and 5 minutes of work. While the amp is open, you may also want to replace R7, 3 watt 150 ohm metal oxide resistor, with a larger 5 watt 150 ohm metal oxide resistor. Been reported that this resistor can burn up because it sees more watts than it is rated for. Only about $1 for the 5 watt metal oxide resistor.
This is one of the most useful vids on this amp on yt. I own this amp and initially had same issues incl. too much trebble and how to dial this amp for a bedroom level playing. I can also add that while the boost knob may not sound too good by itself it works fine with a tube screamer-like pedal. I own a boss SD-1 that pushes mids but cuts low end so pulling the boost knob compensates that loss pretty well. Also it seems to like greenbacks and not so much seventy 80s that have a sort of piercy and trebbly sound in my opinion. Generally everything that has high frequencies is not really a friend with this amp ;)
Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed the video 😊 I never really tried much pedals with the gain boost, but I definitely will do that. And yeah, the Origin loves Greenbacks, I mostly use them too :)
You don’t have to have an attenuater just get any volume pedal or eq and activate the loop it works great. Although the cab emulation is cool on the two note.
Nice demo. I purchased a 50 watt version, found a used one at a great price. But I returned it after a week. It was just too bright, and when I turned down the treble and presence controls it became lifeless. I tried it on my 212 and 412 Marshall cabinets, yet my cheaper Bugera 20 watt head sounded much better!
Origin 50C works great for me. Using HX Effects in 4CM. Now I want the Origin 50H full stack! If you can't get vintage Marshall tones (JTM45/100) out of this, that's on you. That's why I got it, why I want the full stack, and it does it well IMO.
@@cliffords2315 I also did get the Origin 50H and pair of Origin 4x12 cabs (1 slanted, 1 straight) to make the full stack. The Origin 4x12 cabs sound good with my JVM410H, and 1959HW too!
@@cliffords2315There's nary a gig you couldn't handle with 20 Watts, given modern venue PA systems and it would most likely sound better and keep the house sound guy(s) from plotting your imminent demise if you don't put 50W plus of cranked and screaming guitar amp into one or more 4x12s to have to deal with on the backline.
Big misconception people have about this amp is that it’s a small Plexi. It’s not and Marshall has never advertised it as one. They have always advertised it as a pedal platform. This is why they “wasted” one preamp tube for fx loop buffer. But this was the purpose since the very beginning. Once you get it this amp can be your best friend :)
@@gae7081why the sad face? This is the amp concept. If you want a more typical Plexi topology just look elsewhere. Just because Origin topology is different doesn't mean it's worse
@@marekgitarzysta5193 yes, ok, that's not what I meant... I meant that everywhere in the descriptions they talk about three preamp tubes and instead in the end I put one here, another there and... the descriptions are not correct.
@@gae7081 this way or another it's one tube less vs plexi to do actual "preamping". The rest is just semantics. Some consider a phase inverter as a part of a preamp, some as a part of a power section. Some just use the name "preamp tube" for all 12ax7 or similar tubes. So yeah, you have 3 of them here, but one is fully dedicated to fx loop buffering. There are still 2 gain stages in the preamp, phase inverter that can also be driven with master "open" far enough, and el34 power section with its lower than usual voltages. This leads to more compression and easier breakup, too. All in all Origin will distort nicely provided it will be cranked loud enough (master volume)
Great video! Almost exactly the same settings and experience I had with the Origin 20. I sold mine for an SV20, since sold that, and now waiting for my 2nd Origin 20 head. I think they are amazing value and more versatile than the SV20 which sounds amazing but is incredibly loud, not to mention expensive!
I picked up the Ori20 head and 2x12 cab. I tried all these tips, ut just couldn't get a good tone I liked unless it was at max volume, with the gain/boost at full. I found the master volume was basically pointless, and the 2 low settings were identical in output. I'd say that unless you want to use a few pedals, or have the space to play it at full volume, there are better options. I switched it for a Supro 1605 and absolutely love it.
20 tube watts is loud that’s why he’s using attenuation. If you want cranked sound at lower levels I suggest less wattage. I’ve also noticed some of these amps have issues maybe your is one of them. They are not for everyone very no frills kind of amp. That’s what I like though. I prefer analog pedals instead of a digital amp that does everything.
@@allenwhite1978Thats what i said. It needs to be cranked to sound half decent, and 20watts cranked is loud AF, and even than it doesnt sound very good. For Marshall tone, I have a JCM 1 watt mini stack thats absolutely awesome. 1w into two 10" cabs is more than enough for home, and i usually have it on the 0.1w setting.
@@RByrne I’ve heard people with the 20 watt version complain a lot. But my 50 sounds great. Maybe it’s a design flaw or something. I get great cleans and it sounds awesome cranked. I think the circuit does differ a bit. There’s a video showing a electronic problem with sound bleeding to different parts in the 20 where the 50 don’t. It may be the tone killer. The amp does prefer the master higher than the gain to great effect. I seriously think there’s a issue on the 20 because everyone I hear a problem it’s a 20.
On the 50C, I find having the eqs at noon and the tilt at 0-1 does the trick. Then a slight balance of lessening treble and increasing tilt for fine tuning. The Presence brings in air at the top Guitar: early 60s strat
Use the gain boost when you use it a t low volume. At the lowest power mode, and cutting the bass knob a lot. It fattens the tone. I think it not a great advice for all situations. My other adivce would be using a Volume Box (with filter) in the FX Loop. Very usefull. My last advice? The Marshall bluesbreaker MK1 pedal! A gem with the Origin !
This is a great amp with very nice cleans also using a reverb pedal. Its dynamic, if you hit the strings harder it wil break up. Steal for the money and nice quality build.
I use my DSL-1 with the treble on zero because it fattens everything up. You literally can hit a chord while you turn that knob and it interacts in a way that I never encountered on any other amp. Like the EQ is interactive. My DSL-20 reacts like any normal amp. The Origin can be had on the used market {they came out in 2018 so they are not even that old yet} for cheap and they are made well even though not in England but neither is the DSL series. I did a side by side and bought the DSL-20 because it had a more pristine clean channel than a normal Marshall that could also crunch while the gain channel can get into JCM 800 and 900 territory. But the DSL-20h does cost about $80.00 US dollars more for that 2nd channel plus reverb. The Origin is foot switchable for the gain boost for lead or power chords. It's all subjective to one's personal taste in the end though, isn't it.
It's kind of neat how this amp has too much treble and the class 5 had too much bass but I've heard they're very similar amps as far as architecture. Which then makes me wonder if someone overcompensated.
The Origin is definitely a "dialer" you really need to dial things in and it's usually best with the volume high enough to push the power tubes a bit. I really do feel like they crammed way to much high frequency into this amp. Had they pretty much just forgone the treble knob in favour of the tilt control I reckon the amps would have been a lot better received.
Like every amp ever made. I personally never had an amp that wasn’t a “dialer”. Even when switching guitars the settings will far differ on everything.
Good video with excellent tone tips...Of course if your sound is too bright, you can simply use the tone controls on your guitar.....they are there for a reason
I have the the Marshall Origin Head 20 watts, and I really love the sound, I play it into a 210 cab. THe one thing that suprised me is that it is not very loud, even on full power, there is no way I can play with a drummer. THis suprised me as , I have have 10 and 15 watt amps that are blisteringly loud. I live in the suburbs and always play the Marshall with Volume on max on highest power setting, gain on 12. I am sure my neighbours can here it, but I am not disturbing them in anyway. Interesting.
@@thejusticeization Thanks and good to know! I am still working out the gremlins in this amp, I changed all the tubes, and now building a new cab. It seems a bad speaker may have been an issue also.
Hello, can you explain what you used for sound output when using the captorx? For example, did you use monitors and mic them or did you just record this directly through the captorx into a DAW?
Thank you sir i will try this on my spiky pva 18 i put the presence at zero then just hooked it to my main board with an eq. Never thought to do the opposite idk why. Maybe cause i have an eq but this is not my main amp
Great video!!! Gotta say I LOVED the tone you got with the gain boost engaged, set at around noon....but I agree that pushed past 2 o'clock it did get too muddy.
Thanks a lot! Yeah it might sound not too bad, but compared to the normal channel it's always too muddy. And you have no option to change the eq setting on the gain boost channel only. That's why pedals work better in my opinion :)
I have this same amp and could not agree more on turning the treble down. I set mine on 1 and use the treble on my J Rocket Archer if I want more. I find with gain at 7 and the master at 7, this amp rocks.
I played the 50c in the store and really liked it. While I was waiting for a new one to get here, I found a used Vox ac15 in a pawn shop for $400 and bought it up! When the Origin arrived i had a vox to compare it with. I like the vox quite a bit more honestly. Which makes me sad 😢. It's the mids that are out of control on this amp. I can tame the trebles with tge knobs like you're discussing here, but I cannot get the mids under control. Alone, the amp sounds pretty good! Sitting next to my vox and swapping back and forth between the two, the vox outshines it. I really want to like this amp as i got a great deal on it, but given money the way it is, im probably going to return it for something that's easier to dial in. I just don't know what? An ac30? I really want a marshall though!
I tried your tip on turning the treble all the way down last night at a gig. What I found was that the treble doesn't do a heck of a lot moving counterclockwise from noon. This echoes my experience with late 60s plexi, where the treble knob, as well as the other eq knobs, were next to useless. I crank the mids on my Origin every time I gig with it in an attempt to thicken the sound from my tele, and it doesn't make much of a difference either, at least not at full volume on the master, which is where I live with this amp. However I'd agree that the Tilt and Presence functions have far more influence on the overall eq than any of classic three bass-middle-treble knobs on this amp. When I need more highs during a performance I reach down and twist Tilt clockwise and vice versa when it's too bright. I lean on Presence for sparkle but find anything past one o'clock is too much for my tastes. All in all I really like this amp for its gain structure and beautifully wide string to string frequency response.
Like all my JMP vintage amps, the Origin doesn't shine alone nor at home volumes. But, within a band gig format with drums, bass, etc, they are glorious sitting right in the mix where they need to be.
This amp is clearly a struggle. I have several Marshall amps starting with a JTM45 to a 100w 1959 hand wired Plexi. I get the purpose of this amp and appreciate the points regarding backing the treble out. This seems to work, in part. The result is adequate on a Les Paul bridge pickup, but the lack of voicing in the upper frequencies renders the neck pickup useless. The old school principal has always been to dial in the neck pickup and then use the bridge pickup tone knob to properly balance between the two pickups. The result should be a clear distinct voice for each pickup, yet switching between them feels natural and balanced in terms of sonic contrast. I tried with considerable effort to work through this, agreeing completely that the treble eq thinned the overall sound to total garbage. Could not get a pleasing tone on the neck pickup no matter what I did. Perhaps the Plexi mods suggested for this amp might be useful, I don’t know, but it’s value as a low wattage, small footprint amp is loosing my interest quickly. I have one with a 12” speaker as well which also helps but this amp appears limited to a major degree
I was thinking about buying one of these, or a solid state amp. There are several 200-30 watt amps like the Friedman etc I can use as power and buy a GX 100 to do all my fine tuning, with out the tube "Burn out" maintenance.. If I were to buy one and found to much treble. I think this is a fairly easy fix. I would not want to break the bank. Mesa Boogie makes a Flux Drive with an EQ on it. I saw them on Reberb, as they are no longer in production. When it comes ro "Reverb" forget it. Just run a nice delay through the FX loop. My understand inf is that the footswitch changes channels as well as a MOJOR footswitch feature. If I am not mistaken the is a FX loop button on the footswitch. This is a big deal for me. I have a Mesa TC 50 watt head with the FX loop button on the foorswitch. Huge deal for me. Great video. Thank you. I just saw these on Amazon (i am surprised for about 450.00) !!!
Hello, I am a new user of the Marshall ORIGIN 20H, I would like to know what is the correct way to turn it on and off since I see that it does not have Stand By but it is still a tube amplifier, so how should it be used correctly to avoid damaging it? How long should you wait or what should you do? Thank you
Most people don’t keep these long enough to even break in the speaker. So there’s a lot of happy used amp people. I never had an amp I didn’t have to dial in so no problem to me. I prefer the 50 watt version because it seems to have less problems or complaints.
You can also use the Two Notes Captor 8 or 16 for playing with headphones and recording with impulse responses. These are half the price of the Two Notes Captor X. First thing you would miss out on is a variable attenuator. Captor X has Low, Mid and High whilst the Captor 8 or has only has a fixed -20db attenuation which is not a lot. Second thing is you can upload a few impulse responses or virtual cabinets to the Captor X, whilst the Captor 8 or 16 only has one pre-installed cabinet you cannot change.
@@nicolasmaurin182 I connect my captor to my audio interface which has a headphones out. Otherwise you might need to also put a CabM+ or Opus before the captor which does have a headphone jack.
@@florisvanlingenthanks for your reply. I am not familiar with audio interface. Is it always a device that needs to be connected to a pc? Ps: you are right with the cabM. I had one in the past but not anymore.
To me it sounds not Plexi at all, but JCM800 (without the gain boost) and 900ish (with the gain boost). Thus spoken at least for me it would be a good alternative to an Studio Classic 20H that goes around 800 Euro, the Origin 20H being almost half price.
I came back to your vid to say. Ive seen techs say the brite/thin sound is a result of "underusing" the el 34s (or running very little piwer) i wonder has anyone addapted 1 for el 84s
My origin 50c is dead clean even with gain at 10. I only get any kind of overdrive if I engage the gain boost. I always thought it was a second channel actually. Would there be something wrong with my amp?
@@SRguitar thanks for the reply. I imagined that would be necessary, but on my current situation, wife and two kids at home, one of them a 6 months old baby, I can’t go more than 2 on the master volume and Low output level… Also, I bought the amp two days ago so I didn’t have much time to play with it yet. I also imagined there should have been at least a few pre amp distortion though. I know these aren’t high gain amps, but even still… Have you changed your stock white labeled Chinese made preamp tubes?
Hi, I have had this amp for a while now. But I can't seem to keep up with the other guitarist in my band. He is using a fender 65 deluxe Reverb reissue. I'm running to Mesa boogie 112 cabs with celestion vintage 30s. Since they are both 20 watts I figured I should be able to keep up with him but I just can't. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Hello! First of all, congratulations for your videos!! I'm going to buy an Origin 20h together with a Palmer 2x12 with some Greenback. I'm looking for a Joe Bonamassa type tone. I wanted to ask you if you have ever tried how to do that sound and if so, could you give me some advice. Thanks!!
That would be useless unless you have the same guitar and pickups and hands fingers and picks. Only you know what sounds good to you. Put everything on zero and gradually bring stuff up to your liking with your gear. Then play and practice like there’s no tomorrow.
Put everything at noon, not zero. The only control that should not be at noon, is your volume. Start the eq settings and presence at noon, with a volume you like, then adjust the eq.
Great video. I just got my Origin and noticed that it gets really hot- like the front panel and on/odd and power level switches are hot to the touch. Is this normal? My only other tube amp comparison is my Orange Rocker 15 and it doesn’t seem to get hot like this.
So, I was getting quite interested in this amp, having just sold a 79 Marshall valve amp master volume 2x12 combo that I have gigged with for decades and have never had a hiccup with it, it's just gotten too heavy for me these days, all I seem to read and hear about the origin has definitely put me off of purchasing one, far too many moans and pissed off with distortion distortion distortion !
totally different opinion: presence on 4-5 , master at 8, gain at 8 with boost, tilt anywhere between 8-10 (depending on guitar), bass 3, mid 3, treble 3. Then control the amp with guitar vol and tone The boost makes for the amount of high end. Only drawback of that setting is the need of a load box (sounds good in 3w or 20w, not so much in 1/2w)
Nice video. There's more than one way skin a cat, so I would recommend the other way to kill the brightness. You see, the people who wrote the manual for this amp are either idiots or liars - TILT knob does not mimic channels/channel jumpering on PLexis. I had suspected that it might be the case, just by using my ears, but - on a marshall forum (the proper one, not the company's), some dudes tore apart Origin 20 head and checked the values of the components which the Tilt knob controlled - and WOW, a surprise!! TILT is a BRIGHT CAPACITOR which, when on 0 has the same value of pF as the Superbass plexi, and when TILT is on 10 it has the same pF value as a bright cap on Super Lead. Now, here's the fun part: When you use Superlead PLexi and you put your Volume on 10, that bright cap gets completely disengaged from the circuit, which means that if you're after the PLexi sound - you should always keep your Tilt on 0. In other words, having Tilt control to 10 (if you follow the manual and want Hi Input 1 of the Plexi) and then puting the Gain and Master on 10 = gives you something that a PLexi would never produce because that bright cap (tilt on 10) would automatically be off in this scenario. So now, you can use Treble control. Presence is pretty useless anyway. It controls the negative feedback which means 2 things (it actively boosts upper mids and treble frequencies in the power amp) and it also makes those high frequencies "unstable" with their interaction to the speaker.
Hi, so i'm trying to use this amp live, and want a clean, crunch, and hi gain tone. I have the ironman 2 attenuator so i can crank it to get good tones. My problem is really the clean tones, how do i keep the same volume as the high gain tones when i turn down the gain to get the cleans?😅 or really with anything, like pedals and such, how do i ensure the volume stays around the same, for when playing in a band with another guitarist😅 my kemper does an okay job with that, but i really want to use the tubes 😅 do i need a compressor pedal, would that help?
Hey! You can try a compressor pedal to clean up your overdriven sound and keep the volume at a similar level. I saw Paul Gilbert doing that in a rig rundown video, he also played a cranked Marshall and used the compressor to reduce the input signal and get a clean sound
@@SRguitar ooh cool thanks alot! Will try that and see what happens. I think maybe i will have to buy a 2 channel amp someday to play live, it would solve alot of hurdles^^
@@stevie_772 problem with that is then i can't use the pedals LEVEL controll to increase gain and get a natural overdrive. Then i would just get the distortion from the pedal itself. Ofc alot of people do this, but there are 2 ways of creating overdrive which sound very different. I like cranking the amp to getting overdrive instead of getting clipping from pedals. And doing it like i am doing, the volume gets veeeery loud. Ergo i use an expensive attenuator to get natural distortion on managable volume levels, but then the question is.. how do i get clean tones😁 i have had alot on my plate so havent tried a compressor yet, and will see if that works
Hi Sascha, I have the Origin 20 Head too and like it very much. The only thing i don’t like is the hum that comes through the speaker when the head is turned on. It’s not dependent on volume, gain, or any setting. It’s always the same low hum. Does yours have that too?
I think it's caused by the transformer. I stuck a pedal on top to run through the effects loop and it picked up the hum big time. I don't run any pedals in the effects loop and the hum doesn't really bother me as it's not too loud.
Anyone notice that when you crank the master and increase the gain to around 8 that using a reverb in the effects loop sounds terrible? Almost like the reverb is on the front of the amp and not in the loop?
Nice video an d good advices. Do you use the 8 ohm speaker out from the origin20h (since you have a 8 ohm captorX) ? Did you try to connect a speaker to the captor for attenuation? I own an origin20h with a 16ohm marshall SV112 cabinet and a captorX 8 ohm, and i was wondering if it was safe to run the amp under 8ohm -> 8ohm captor (set on attenuarion " halfway" or "low") -> 16ohm 12" cabinet ?
Thank you! I would not do it, I am not sure if this is safe. I would go with a Captor 16 Ohm or an 8 Ohm cabinet to be sure. And yes I am using the 8 Ohm output into the 8 Ohm captor x. I have tried it with a cab & and attenuation but at the moment I have no cab here and I am only using IR‘s.
Had one for a while and could never get along. For me, an amp that requires treble to be on 0 is a badly designed amp. Moved to a Laney and I'm much happier.
Completely agree. I returned my 50 watt one after trying to get good sounds out of it for a week. My Bugera 20 watt head sounds so much better, and has 2 channels.
I don't know how much hot did your amp got, but on mine it really depends on how hard you push the master volume and the gain. Hope this is useful for you😁.
Ha, i think it sounds better with tone knob. Also, it sounds like shite (brittle and ear-piercing highs) unless u crank volume past 6 or more, then it really shines. An attenuator is a must! (I own the 50 which will blow out your windows when cranked)
Seit ich angefangen habe Musik zu machen waren 4 Amps bzw Sounds wegweisend für mich ... Marshall 62 Bluesbreaker / JTM 45 , Fender Tweed Deluxe & 59 Bassman, Vox AC 30 und Fender Deluxe Reverb... Und ja die Marshall Töne kann er zimlich gut!!! Ok zugegeben die Dynamik und die auch brutale Lautstärke eines Bluesbreakers erreicht der kleine Origin nicht, soll er auch gar nicht, aber trotzdem könnt ihr vergessen das der auf Schlafzimmerlevel nach JTM oder ähnlichem Klingt, der will schon bisschen angefahren werden, aber außer einem 3000 Euro Reissue Modell oder dem heiligen Orginal habe ich noch keine bessere Alternative gefunden die zudem so nah und zugleich so vielseitig im Sound ist... ne 212er Box mit Greenback oder alten 70er Jahre G12H 30 Watt made in England und das J Rockett 45 und die Welt ist in Ordnung... den o.g Vox Sound kriegt man zimlich genau mit einem AC15 HW oder dem alten AC30 Valve Reactor hin... bei letzerem wäre aber ein wechsel der Speaker auf Alnico Blue oder wer es sich leisten kann alte Blue Bulldogs zu empfehlen... den Fender Sound so wie ich Ihn will kriegen bisher nur sehr alte und teure Orginale hin, einzig der Tone Kind Imperial Mk II kommt annähernd an den Sound ran wobei der eher ne Anlehnung an den Tweed Deluxe und den Deluxe Reverb is aber mit Pedalen z.B dem Boss 59 Bassman klappt es schon ganz gut! Trotzdem sind die alten Fender Amps was besonderes und wer die Chance hat sollte mal einen Spielen!!!
Get the Origin20H
(EU) redir.love/thoprod/431630?offid=1&affid=398
(US) sweetwater.sjv.io/baYeK6
I just purchased this amp last weekend. Your tips have proven to be invaluable. They take a thin sounding amp and transform it into that classic Marshall crunch. Thanks so much!
Hey, have you had any issues with the amp getting hot? Also what cab or you using. Thanks in advance for your response
No problem at all, but I usually run the lowest power setting through my Tone King attentuator to get bedroom like volumes. My little experience at 20 watts showed no problems either. I usually play through my Laney CB 2x12 with Greenback speakers, but the amp also sounds great through my Bogner CB 2x12 with a Vintage 30 and GM-65 Creamback.
@@michelewade5415 Completely nornmal man, valvular amps get hot
Hello! I'm writing to thank you for the tips on equalizing Origin. I've had a 20W combo for several months and I've always been chasing a Bluesbreaker type sound, with the difficulty of fighting against too high-pitched and ice pick sound. Today I have set the Treble to zero and I have equalized my Les Paul in the Origin with the presence (around 4) and tilt (also around 4-5), with the Master at 8 and the Gain at 6-6.5... what a glorious sound! I have enjoyed a classic Marshall sound with a timbre very similar to that of the Beano album and with a lot of dynamics. When I left the rehearsal room I looked at my Origin with different eyes... Thank you!!!
A great tip with a Les Paul into a Marshall is to select both pickups and roll on both guitar volumes knobs as you play. A complete game changer for me.
I use my origin 50c with the wampler pantheon deluxe. It is a bluesbreaker type pedal and gets be there and more because it has different voicing so as well.
Excellent tips. I've just started using mine again after not using for about a year and this video has really helped me connect with it again. It is a very versatile and great sounding amp.
PS. You can also record silently just using the DI out (but has built in spkr emulation) and unplug the speaker connection safely. Just in case people didn't realise this is possible.
I have the Origin 50 head and I have also discovered the necessity of not using the treble control to mitigate the ice pick biting tonality of traditional settings. I love the versatility of the Origin! With a 7 band EQ in the effects loop you can really sculpt the sound and push the power tubes into the sweet break-up that can't be achieved through preamp gain. I use a Soul Food into a Friedman BE-OD Deluxe on the front end for achieving multiple layers of cascading gain stages to obtain the high octane overdrives that are not available otherwise. Great demo and very useful tips for dialing in great tone!! Cheers.
Thank you! I am glad you enjoyed the video :)
An EQ in the effects loop seems to be very interesting and useful, thanks for the tip :)
It seems that you have to find a solution for a problem. Just modify or sell that amp.
@@SRguitarThe Friedman BE-OD is very good..
However, the Friedman Small-Box OD Pedal is even better !
If you get a chance, try out the Friedman pedals,..They are astonishing with any of the Marshall "plexi" offerings 😲 !
@@stricknine8623My friend runs a BE OD deluxe into a mojotone JTM clone and it sounds real good
About the first tip, don't forget that the treble settings is very dependable of the speaker(s) you are using. About the second tip, if you have too much bass with the gain boost, just remove the bass! I never use the bass or very little on my Marshall(s), even the solid state ones.
Me too. I like the gain boost on, back the gain itself off a bit and run the bass at around 9'oclock or under.
En a tu un?
T'en penses quoi?
Fait 3 ans que j'y pense...😊
Well old Marshall amps were pretty bright too. First time playing an SLP amazed me at how bright it was. There's one more trick people forget about just roll back the tone pot. old Marshall plus Les Paul is pretty great. You dial in on the neck then switch to bridge and roll off tone to get an acceptable tone. If you roll back the volume on the neck and keep the bridge on ten you can use this as an almost channel switch. Neck for clean and bridge for lead. If you look at it might get loud the ramble on part shows this exactly.
Yes, I think you are right. With the guitar pots we always can go darker and quieter, never brigther and louder than the amp setting.
Why doesn't anyone use a Plexi as a two channel amp with an AB? You can use bright channel for distortion, volume high and then with an AB plug into the low sensitivity of the normal channel, maybe add an EQ for a bit more brightness and then you have a foot switchable 2 channel Plexi with a clean channel. Can also add the reverb in the clean loop after the AB. I wish the Origin qas 4 input so I could do this, since I can't afford a Plexi right now but I will still do it, just have the AB to select overdrive pedals and the other loop through a reverb and an EQ or volume pedal to have it be clean. And stuff like chorus before the AB box and then an EQ in the FX loop for a volume and mids boost for leads. And voila "3 channel" amp, with clean, overdriven and lead. Most modern Plexis have an FX loop too so you can do the lead boost thing. Or use A+B for rythm, Bright volume max, Normal volume below breakup. So now you can select normal for clean, both foe overdriven and bright channel only on max volume and extra brightness brings out the solo. I never see people do it but to me that's how to use a 4 input Marshall. Unless you must have bith channels jumped for your lead sound but I don't think that's needed. You can always have EQ before the channels after the AB switch to dial in the tone since you have the shared EQ.
@@FelipMartiV But you can set tone to 6 or 7, then dial in the amp for your main sound and now you can go brighter, so the amp is basically set a bit too bright with tone on 10 on the bridge.
I absolutely love mine. The built in attenuator is a game changer. And it takes pedals so well.
What are your settings for a good pedal sound?
@@captainkirk70Boss SD-1 All controls on noon, perfect
@@cliffords2315 cool. I've had a SD-1 for 30 years. I do have a new favorite pedal though. The Friedman Small Box. It gets exactly the sound of my old '79 50w JMP. My favorite amp ever. Sounds redundant but really takes the Origin into old school high dollar Marshall territory. I like it because it does the late 70s JMP thing instead of just another plexi pedal, etc.
Also, I was more curious about your amp settings for pedals. The Origin has so many different sounds in it. Doesn't react like a typical Marshall as far as settings.
I run a Friedman BE OD pedal in the effects loop (with the internal gain pretty low), this almost gibes me a meatier “3”, Freadmany gain stage. Made this Origin 20 a LOT more usable!
Your settings work really well on the Origin 20 Combo, too. I run a little more treble and less bass, but your settings were a great starting point. Thanks!
I have the 50, and I think most people that are unhappy with aren’t using to it’s fullest because it’s damn loud, it lives near max, same as most tube amps…. Once it’s dialed in the thing sings… it’s also got some great cleans and you can work magic with the effects loop… is it the same as the 3000 dollar big brothers nope… but it’s definitely classic Marshall and fantastic for the cash… it’s great with a mic’d 4/12 in an actual mix that bright sound cuts smoothly in the mix right where it should be…
This helps so much. All my guitar recordings sound so bright and have like no beef to them. Thank you!
Happy to hear that 😊
Such a huge difference in the sound cutting the highs out. I do this with the JVM205H to make it thicker. Great demo and tip!
Thank you so much! I just got this amp. I work on a budget and was hoping that I could coax some Plexi tones out of this less expensive Marshall. Wow, your tips are spot on with my experience!
Thanks the most for the first tip. I've been trying different settings in order to control the high end, but I just wasn't nailing it. I had the treble turned down, but not off, or below 2. I hear it the way that you do... the presence and tilt have an amazing impact on the high end!!! Thanks!
Also, I agree on the built-in boost. It's very low end; doesn't sound anything like pre-amp tube gain.
Thanks for sharing!!!
I've owned tons of Marshall's and the Origin 20 is IMO a Marshall with finesse and I luv it! But then I've always luv'd amps that luv pedals cuz then I can change flavors when ever I want!, and so never get bored with its tone!
A simple mod to cut the excessive brightness of the Origin 20 is to add plate resistor bypass capacitor, which basically dumps high frequencies to ground. I soldered a 680 pF 500 volt mica cap to the legs of R64, which is the V1b 100k plate resistor. You could use alligator clips to try different cap values somewhere between 220 pF and 1000 pF to taste. Higher values cuts more treble by lowering the frequencies being attenuated. Super easy to do. No parts are removed from the amp. Also easy to undo, but you won't want to. With this simple mod, your treble control defaults at around 12:00 and has a more useful range. I found the high voltage automatically drains from the caps on this amp after a minute or so, however you should verify this yourself with a DC volt meter before sticking your hands in there. If any of this does not make sense to you, have a tech perform the service. If you bring a tech just the chassis removed from head/cab, it should only cost about $25 to get this done. $2 cap and 5 minutes of work. While the amp is open, you may also want to replace R7, 3 watt 150 ohm metal oxide resistor, with a larger 5 watt 150 ohm metal oxide resistor. Been reported that this resistor can burn up because it sees more watts than it is rated for. Only about $1 for the 5 watt metal oxide resistor.
Awesome comment thanks for sharing your knowledge !!
This is one of the most useful vids on this amp on yt. I own this amp and initially had same issues incl. too much trebble and how to dial this amp for a bedroom level playing. I can also add that while the boost knob may not sound too good by itself it works fine with a tube screamer-like pedal. I own a boss SD-1 that pushes mids but cuts low end so pulling the boost knob compensates that loss pretty well. Also it seems to like greenbacks and not so much seventy 80s that have a sort of piercy and trebbly sound in my opinion. Generally everything that has high frequencies is not really a friend with this amp ;)
Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed the video 😊
I never really tried much pedals with the gain boost, but I definitely will do that.
And yeah, the Origin loves Greenbacks, I mostly use them too :)
You don’t have to have an attenuater just get any volume pedal or eq and activate the loop it works great. Although the cab emulation is cool on the two note.
Nice demo. I purchased a 50 watt version, found a used one at a great price. But I returned it after a week. It was just too bright, and when I turned down the treble and presence controls it became lifeless. I tried it on my 212 and 412 Marshall cabinets, yet my cheaper Bugera 20 watt head sounded much better!
Origin 50C works great for me. Using HX Effects in 4CM.
Now I want the Origin 50H full stack!
If you can't get vintage Marshall tones (JTM45/100) out of this, that's on you. That's why I got it, why I want the full stack, and it does it well IMO.
Yep for $100 more and you got gigging volume for Origin50
@@cliffords2315 I also did get the Origin 50H and pair of Origin 4x12 cabs (1 slanted, 1 straight) to make the full stack.
The Origin 4x12 cabs sound good with my JVM410H, and 1959HW too!
@@cliffords2315There's nary a gig you couldn't handle with 20 Watts, given modern venue PA systems and it would most likely sound better and keep the house sound guy(s) from plotting your imminent demise if you don't put 50W plus of cranked and screaming guitar amp into one or more 4x12s to have to deal with on the backline.
Big misconception people have about this amp is that it’s a small Plexi. It’s not and Marshall has never advertised it as one. They have always advertised it as a pedal platform. This is why they “wasted” one preamp tube for fx loop buffer. But this was the purpose since the very beginning.
Once you get it this amp can be your best friend :)
One preamp tube for fx loop, one preamp tube for phase inverter...one tube for preamp???😢
@@gae7081why the sad face? This is the amp concept. If you want a more typical Plexi topology just look elsewhere. Just because Origin topology is different doesn't mean it's worse
@@marekgitarzysta5193 yes, ok, that's not what I meant... I meant that everywhere in the descriptions they talk about three preamp tubes and instead in the end I put one here, another there and... the descriptions are not correct.
@@gae7081 this way or another it's one tube less vs plexi to do actual "preamping". The rest is just semantics. Some consider a phase inverter as a part of a preamp, some as a part of a power section. Some just use the name "preamp tube" for all 12ax7 or similar tubes. So yeah, you have 3 of them here, but one is fully dedicated to fx loop buffering. There are still 2 gain stages in the preamp, phase inverter that can also be driven with master "open" far enough, and el34 power section with its lower than usual voltages. This leads to more compression and easier breakup, too. All in all Origin will distort nicely provided it will be cranked loud enough (master volume)
Ok. I’m trying this out later today. I have mine dialed in pretty good but getting rid of that lingering ice pick would be great.
Great tips! I was actually turning off the presence control to deal with the 'thin' sound issue. But I'm gonna go give this a shot now...
Great video! Almost exactly the same settings and experience I had with the Origin 20. I sold mine for an SV20, since sold that, and now waiting for my 2nd Origin 20 head. I think they are amazing value and more versatile than the SV20 which sounds amazing but is incredibly loud, not to mention expensive!
This amp also takes distortion and overdrive pedals very well.
I picked up the Ori20 head and 2x12 cab. I tried all these tips, ut just couldn't get a good tone I liked unless it was at max volume, with the gain/boost at full. I found the master volume was basically pointless, and the 2 low settings were identical in output. I'd say that unless you want to use a few pedals, or have the space to play it at full volume, there are better options. I switched it for a Supro 1605 and absolutely love it.
That's it!
20 tube watts is loud that’s why he’s using attenuation. If you want cranked sound at lower levels I suggest less wattage. I’ve also noticed some of these amps have issues maybe your is one of them. They are not for everyone very no frills kind of amp. That’s what I like though. I prefer analog pedals instead of a digital amp that does everything.
@@allenwhite1978Thats what i said. It needs to be cranked to sound half decent, and 20watts cranked is loud AF, and even than it doesnt sound very good. For Marshall tone, I have a JCM 1 watt mini stack thats absolutely awesome. 1w into two 10" cabs is more than enough for home, and i usually have it on the 0.1w setting.
@@RByrne I’ve heard people with the 20 watt version complain a lot. But my 50 sounds great. Maybe it’s a design flaw or something. I get great cleans and it sounds awesome cranked. I think the circuit does differ a bit. There’s a video showing a electronic problem with sound bleeding to different parts in the 20 where the 50 don’t. It may be the tone killer. The amp does prefer the master higher than the gain to great effect. I seriously think there’s a issue on the 20 because everyone I hear a problem it’s a 20.
@@RByrne there are so many reviews on RUclips with the thing sounding wonderful. If yours don’t sound similar I think there’s an issue with it. Imho.
The most Marshall JCM800ish pedal by the way is the Boss Power Stack.
On the 50C, I find having the eqs at noon and the tilt at 0-1 does the trick. Then a slight balance of lessening treble and increasing tilt for fine tuning. The Presence brings in air at the top
Guitar: early 60s strat
Use the gain boost when you use it a t low volume. At the lowest power mode, and cutting the bass knob a lot. It fattens the tone. I think it not a great advice for all situations. My other adivce would be using a Volume Box (with filter) in the FX Loop. Very usefull. My last advice? The Marshall bluesbreaker MK1 pedal! A gem with the Origin !
This is a great amp with very nice cleans also using a reverb pedal. Its dynamic, if you hit the strings harder it wil break up. Steal for the money and nice quality build.
Very useful
Tip 4 : put an EQ pedal just before the amp 🤩👌👍
I use my DSL-1 with the treble on zero because it fattens everything up. You literally can hit a chord while you turn that knob and it interacts in a way that I never encountered on any other amp. Like the EQ is interactive. My DSL-20 reacts like any normal amp. The Origin can be had on the used market {they came out in 2018 so they are not even that old yet} for cheap and they are made well even though not in England but neither is the DSL series. I did a side by side and bought the DSL-20 because it had a more pristine clean channel than a normal Marshall that could also crunch while the gain channel can get into JCM 800 and 900 territory. But the DSL-20h does cost about $80.00 US dollars more for that 2nd channel plus reverb. The Origin is foot switchable for the gain boost for lead or power chords. It's all subjective to one's personal taste in the end though, isn't it.
It's kind of neat how this amp has too much treble and the class 5 had too much bass but I've heard they're very similar amps as far as architecture. Which then makes me wonder if someone overcompensated.
So you when you rolled off all the treble the gain boost adds too much low end?
I wonder why that might be happening.
If i would turn the treble up then the normal channel wouldn’t work for me :) that’s why I like to use pedals as boost instead
Very good tips, I really enjoy your video because you gave a clear and direct explanation on how to use the amp in the best way. Thank you.
The Origin is definitely a "dialer" you really need to dial things in and it's usually best with the volume high enough to push the power tubes a bit. I really do feel like they crammed way to much high frequency into this amp. Had they pretty much just forgone the treble knob in favour of the tilt control I reckon the amps would have been a lot better received.
Like every amp ever made. I personally never had an amp that wasn’t a “dialer”. Even when switching guitars the settings will far differ on everything.
Good video with excellent tone tips...Of course if your sound is too bright, you can simply use the tone controls on your guitar.....they are there for a reason
You can use your tone knob on your guitar too.
I have the the Marshall Origin Head 20 watts, and I really love the sound, I play it into a 210 cab. THe one thing that suprised me is that it is not very loud, even on full power, there is no way I can play with a drummer. THis suprised me as , I have have 10 and 15 watt amps that are blisteringly loud. I live in the suburbs and always play the Marshall with Volume on max on highest power setting, gain on 12. I am sure my neighbours can here it, but I am not disturbing them in anyway. Interesting.
There is something wrong with it... " not loud enough" is definitely not a common complaint, in fact that's the first time I have heard that.
@@rowdyjohnson6026 Further investigation, is leading me to believe it is a wiring problem in the cab.
@@Margarinethebutterlover probably because i just got mine today and had it on the low setting and it was loud!!
@@thejusticeization Thanks and good to know! I am still working out the gremlins in this amp, I changed all the tubes, and now building a new cab. It seems a bad speaker may have been an issue also.
You definitely have a problem somewhere because mine is loud. Easily loud enough to compete with a drummer. ✌️
Hello, can you explain what you used for sound output when using the captorx? For example, did you use monitors and mic them or did you just record this directly through the captorx into a DAW?
If anyone out there is into modding your amp, check out Headfirst Amplification. He's got some interesting mods for the origin 20h. ✌️🇦🇺
Thank you sir i will try this on my spiky pva 18 i put the presence at zero then just hooked it to my main board with an eq. Never thought to do the opposite idk why. Maybe cause i have an eq but this is not my main amp
Great video!!! Gotta say I LOVED the tone you got with the gain boost engaged, set at around noon....but I agree that pushed past 2 o'clock it did get too muddy.
Thanks a lot!
Yeah it might sound not too bad, but compared to the normal channel it's always too muddy. And you have no option to change the eq setting on the gain boost channel only. That's why pedals work better in my opinion :)
Why an attenuator insteads of putting the output on low?
I have this same amp and could not agree more on turning the treble down. I set mine on 1 and use the treble on my J Rocket Archer if I want more. I find with gain at 7 and the master at 7, this amp rocks.
thank you, very usefull tips... i play Prs and the thing is very similar responding
I played the 50c in the store and really liked it. While I was waiting for a new one to get here, I found a used Vox ac15 in a pawn shop for $400 and bought it up! When the Origin arrived i had a vox to compare it with. I like the vox quite a bit more honestly. Which makes me sad 😢. It's the mids that are out of control on this amp. I can tame the trebles with tge knobs like you're discussing here, but I cannot get the mids under control. Alone, the amp sounds pretty good! Sitting next to my vox and swapping back and forth between the two, the vox outshines it. I really want to like this amp as i got a great deal on it, but given money the way it is, im probably going to return it for something that's easier to dial in. I just don't know what? An ac30? I really want a marshall though!
Have you tried running the Origin into the Vox speaker? I think the AC30 has a nicer speaker.
It has kind of a weird speaker. I found a 50C for 275€ and I'll be putting in my Creamback.
I tried your tip on turning the treble all the way down last night at a gig. What I found was that the treble doesn't do a heck of a lot moving counterclockwise from noon. This echoes my experience with late 60s plexi, where the treble knob, as well as the other eq knobs, were next to useless. I crank the mids on my Origin every time I gig with it in an attempt to thicken the sound from my tele, and it doesn't make much of a difference either, at least not at full volume on the master, which is where I live with this amp.
However I'd agree that the Tilt and Presence functions have far more influence on the overall eq than any of classic three bass-middle-treble knobs on this amp. When I need more highs during a performance I reach down and twist Tilt clockwise and vice versa when it's too bright. I lean on Presence for sparkle but find anything past one o'clock is too much for my tastes.
All in all I really like this amp for its gain structure and beautifully wide string to string frequency response.
Like all my JMP vintage amps, the Origin doesn't shine alone nor at home volumes.
But, within a band gig format with drums, bass, etc, they are glorious sitting right in the mix where they need to be.
@@NELZ007 My experience as well.
This amp is clearly a struggle. I have several Marshall amps starting with a JTM45 to a 100w 1959 hand wired Plexi. I get the purpose of this amp and appreciate the points regarding backing the treble out. This seems to work, in part. The result is adequate on a Les Paul bridge pickup, but the lack of voicing in the upper frequencies renders the neck pickup useless. The old school principal has always been to dial in the neck pickup and then use the bridge pickup tone knob to properly balance between the two pickups. The result should be a clear distinct voice for each pickup, yet switching between them feels natural and balanced in terms of sonic contrast. I tried with considerable effort to work through this, agreeing completely that the treble eq thinned the overall sound to total garbage. Could not get a pleasing tone on the neck pickup no matter what I did. Perhaps the Plexi mods suggested for this amp might be useful, I don’t know, but it’s value as a low wattage, small footprint amp is loosing my interest quickly. I have one with a 12” speaker as well which also helps but this amp appears limited to a major degree
I was thinking about buying one of these, or a solid state amp. There are several 200-30 watt amps like the Friedman etc I can use as power and buy a GX 100 to do all my fine tuning, with out the tube "Burn out" maintenance.. If I were to buy one and found to much treble. I think this is a fairly easy fix. I would not want to break the bank. Mesa Boogie makes a Flux Drive with an EQ on it. I saw them on Reberb, as they are no longer in production. When it comes ro "Reverb" forget it. Just run a nice delay through the FX loop. My understand inf is that the footswitch changes channels as well as a MOJOR footswitch feature. If I am not mistaken the is a FX loop button on the footswitch. This is a big deal for me. I have a Mesa TC 50 watt head with the FX loop button on the foorswitch. Huge deal for me. Great video. Thank you. I just saw these on Amazon (i am surprised for about 450.00) !!!
Its a great amp. I run into 2x12 gb's in a closed back cab.
Hello, I am a new user of the Marshall ORIGIN 20H, I would like to know what is the correct way to turn it on and off since I see that it does not have Stand By but it is still a tube amplifier, so how should it be used correctly to avoid damaging it? How long should you wait or what should you do? Thank you
Most people don’t keep these long enough to even break in the speaker. So there’s a lot of happy used amp people. I never had an amp I didn’t have to dial in so no problem to me. I prefer the 50 watt version because it seems to have less problems or complaints.
You can also use the Two Notes Captor 8 or 16 for playing with headphones and recording with impulse responses. These are half the price of the Two Notes Captor X. First thing you would miss out on is a variable attenuator. Captor X has Low, Mid and High whilst the Captor 8 or has only has a fixed -20db attenuation which is not a lot. Second thing is you can upload a few impulse responses or virtual cabinets to the Captor X, whilst the Captor 8 or 16 only has one pre-installed cabinet you cannot change.
Yeah right that also works for sure!
@@SRguitar I thought this already has DI with two notes software standard? In fact I thought dsl and this have it both no captor needed
Captor8 has no headphones output. Any solution to use headphones without connecting to a pc ?
@@nicolasmaurin182 I connect my captor to my audio interface which has a headphones out. Otherwise you might need to also put a CabM+ or Opus before the captor which does have a headphone jack.
@@florisvanlingenthanks for your reply. I am not familiar with audio interface. Is it always a device that needs to be connected to a pc? Ps: you are right with the cabM. I had one in the past but not anymore.
This amp is wise beyond its years. Classic marshall jcm/plexi sound. You don't need the 4x122 though..just one or a 2x12.
@rocknroll1973 Yeah I caught that. But a name is a name..some people scoff at this head and it's baffles me. That's all I meant. It drips plexi though
That’s perfect for me. I don’t know if many places where I live that I could get away with bringing a 4-12 cab.
To me it sounds not Plexi at all, but JCM800 (without the gain boost) and 900ish (with the gain boost). Thus spoken at least for me it would be a good alternative to an Studio Classic 20H that goes around 800 Euro, the Origin 20H being almost half price.
Great demo
Great tips for this amp! Thank you!
Great video and thanks !!
Great tips!!! About to buy one can’t wait to try it out :)
Glad I could help :)
I came back to your vid to say.
Ive seen techs say the brite/thin sound is a result of "underusing" the el 34s (or running very little piwer) i wonder has anyone addapted 1 for el 84s
My origin 50c is dead clean even with gain at 10. I only get any kind of overdrive if I engage the gain boost. I always thought it was a second channel actually. Would there be something wrong with my amp?
On which level is your Master? You also have to turn up your Master to get an overdriven tone :)
@@SRguitar thanks for the reply. I imagined that would be necessary, but on my current situation, wife and two kids at home, one of them a 6 months old baby, I can’t go more than 2 on the master volume and Low output level… Also, I bought the amp two days ago so I didn’t have much time to play with it yet.
I also imagined there should have been at least a few pre amp distortion though. I know these aren’t high gain amps, but even still…
Have you changed your stock white labeled Chinese made preamp tubes?
@@SRguitar I put my attenuator between the amp and the speaker and was able to raise the master to around noon. Now I have distortion! Cheers!
Oh great that you already have a solution. Yes you have to turn up the master to get an overdriven tone without the gain boost. Have fun with it 😊
Hi,
I have had this amp for a while now. But I can't seem to keep up with the other guitarist in my band. He is using a fender 65 deluxe Reverb reissue. I'm running to Mesa boogie 112 cabs with celestion vintage 30s. Since they are both 20 watts I figured I should be able to keep up with him but I just can't. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Are cranking there volume or maybe add a boost
Hey bro... If We tooking about the nature of this amp. . .. the 5150mxr Overdrive could come very good the convination?
Hello! First of all, congratulations for your videos!! I'm going to buy an Origin 20h together with a Palmer 2x12 with some Greenback. I'm looking for a Joe Bonamassa type tone. I wanted to ask you if you have ever tried how to do that sound and if so, could you give me some advice. Thanks!!
Thanks for your tips. My Teles and Strats sound great thru this amp. My Gibsons sound great thru my Fender amps.
I decided to order one of these...✝️👍🤙✌️
Hey, let me know how you’re liking the amp. I just ordered one and very interested your opinion/thoughts. Thanks
I purchased one of these pre owned and mint for $255. I do like it, but it’s a bit of work to get the best out of it.
Anyone that uses the origin 50 as pedal platform and want to share settings for optimal stomps friendly use?
That would be useless unless you have the same guitar and pickups and hands fingers and picks. Only you know what sounds good to you. Put everything on zero and gradually bring stuff up to your liking with your gear. Then play and practice like there’s no tomorrow.
Put everything at noon, not zero. The only control that should not be at noon, is your volume. Start the eq settings and presence at noon, with a volume you like, then adjust the eq.
Great tips but the amp gain boost sounds great
Hi. Whats the brand of your Pickups? Thanks
Great video. I just got my Origin and noticed that it gets really hot- like the front panel and on/odd and power level switches are hot to the touch. Is this normal? My only other tube amp comparison is my Orange Rocker 15 and it doesn’t seem to get hot like this.
Does your origin still get hot? Did anyone answer your question?
So, I was getting quite interested in this amp, having just sold a 79 Marshall valve amp master volume 2x12 combo that I have gigged with for decades and have never had a hiccup with it, it's just gotten too heavy for me these days, all I seem to read and hear about the origin has definitely put me off of purchasing one, far too many moans and pissed off with distortion distortion distortion !
totally different opinion: presence on 4-5 , master at 8, gain at 8 with boost, tilt anywhere between 8-10 (depending on guitar), bass 3, mid 3, treble 3. Then control the amp with guitar vol and tone
The boost makes for the amount of high end. Only drawback of that setting is the need of a load box (sounds good in 3w or 20w, not so much in 1/2w)
Sounds like a good way as well! Have to try it :) thanks!
How do you connect the amp to the torpedo captor
In my opinion, the low was too much. Even more so if you're going to play AC/DC. What's model that SG ?? By the way excellent tips!!!! XD
every amp has a sweet spot, some have many
Nice video. There's more than one way skin a cat, so I would recommend the other way to kill the brightness. You see, the people who wrote the manual for this amp are either idiots or liars - TILT knob does not mimic channels/channel jumpering on PLexis. I had suspected that it might be the case, just by using my ears, but - on a marshall forum (the proper one, not the company's), some dudes tore apart Origin 20 head and checked the values of the components which the Tilt knob controlled - and WOW, a surprise!! TILT is a BRIGHT CAPACITOR which, when on 0 has the same value of pF as the Superbass plexi, and when TILT is on 10 it has the same pF value as a bright cap on Super Lead.
Now, here's the fun part: When you use Superlead PLexi and you put your Volume on 10, that bright cap gets completely disengaged from the circuit, which means that if you're after the PLexi sound - you should always keep your Tilt on 0. In other words, having Tilt control to 10 (if you follow the manual and want Hi Input 1 of the Plexi) and then puting the Gain and Master on 10 = gives you something that a PLexi would never produce because that bright cap (tilt on 10) would automatically be off in this scenario.
So now, you can use Treble control. Presence is pretty useless anyway. It controls the negative feedback which means 2 things (it actively boosts upper mids and treble frequencies in the power amp) and it also makes those high frequencies "unstable" with their interaction to the speaker.
I would have preferred a volume and a tone knob. That would have been classic.
Hi, so i'm trying to use this amp live, and want a clean, crunch, and hi gain tone. I have the ironman 2 attenuator so i can crank it to get good tones. My problem is really the clean tones, how do i keep the same volume as the high gain tones when i turn down the gain to get the cleans?😅 or really with anything, like pedals and such, how do i ensure the volume stays around the same, for when playing in a band with another guitarist😅 my kemper does an okay job with that, but i really want to use the tubes 😅 do i need a compressor pedal, would that help?
Hey!
You can try a compressor pedal to clean up your overdriven sound and keep the volume at a similar level. I saw Paul Gilbert doing that in a rig rundown video, he also played a cranked Marshall and used the compressor to reduce the input signal and get a clean sound
@@SRguitar ooh cool thanks alot! Will try that and see what happens. I think maybe i will have to buy a 2 channel amp someday to play live, it would solve alot of hurdles^^
Don’t use an attenuator your clean should be the amp it’s self then have pedals for the rest
@@stevie_772 problem with that is then i can't use the pedals LEVEL controll to increase gain and get a natural overdrive. Then i would just get the distortion from the pedal itself. Ofc alot of people do this, but there are 2 ways of creating overdrive which sound very different. I like cranking the amp to getting overdrive instead of getting clipping from pedals. And doing it like i am doing, the volume gets veeeery loud. Ergo i use an expensive attenuator to get natural distortion on managable volume levels, but then the question is.. how do i get clean tones😁 i have had alot on my plate so havent tried a compressor yet, and will see if that works
Also you can try to clean the tubes overdrive with your guitar's volume knob...
Awesome ! I will try that Thnx !
With Boost ...i like that
Great tips, thanks, my Origin 50H sounds much better now
Hi Sascha, I have the Origin 20 Head too and like it very much. The only thing i don’t like is the hum that comes through the speaker when the head is turned on. It’s not dependent on volume, gain, or any setting. It’s always the same low hum. Does yours have that too?
Hey!
I don't have that kind of problems with hum. But I also don't use physical guitar speakers, only Impulse Responses.
@@SRguitar Thanks for your reply! Do you have a cab? Would you mind connecting it once? 🙂 The hum should be there instantly.
At the moment I have no cab here, sorry
I think it's caused by the transformer. I stuck a pedal on top to run through the effects loop and it picked up the hum big time. I don't run any pedals in the effects loop and the hum doesn't really bother me as it's not too loud.
Buy another speaker cable and your problem will disappear. The speaker cable supplied with the head is crappy.
Anyone notice that when you crank the master and increase the gain to around 8 that using a reverb in the effects loop sounds terrible? Almost like the reverb is on the front of the amp and not in the loop?
I have it’s awful
Great video !!
Nice video an d good advices. Do you use the 8 ohm speaker out from the origin20h (since you have a 8 ohm captorX) ? Did you try to connect a speaker to the captor for attenuation? I own an origin20h with a 16ohm marshall SV112 cabinet and a captorX 8 ohm, and i was wondering if it was safe to run the amp under 8ohm -> 8ohm captor (set on attenuarion " halfway" or "low") -> 16ohm 12" cabinet ?
Thank you!
I would not do it, I am not sure if this is safe. I would go with a Captor 16 Ohm or an 8 Ohm cabinet to be sure.
And yes I am using the 8 Ohm output into the 8 Ohm captor x. I have tried it with a cab & and attenuation but at the moment I have no cab here and I am only using IR‘s.
Can’t you just dial out some bass when using the gain boost? Just wondering.
Sure, but when I switch back to the normal channel, the sound would be too bright. That’s why I like to use a boost/od pedal :)
This amp or a DSL 15H?
I just played this head today. Nice clean tones. No bass whatsoever. Like every other marshall
Had one for a while and could never get along. For me, an amp that requires treble to be on 0 is a badly designed amp. Moved to a Laney and I'm much happier.
Completely agree. I returned my 50 watt one after trying to get good sounds out of it for a week. My Bugera 20 watt head sounds so much better, and has 2 channels.
Dude thank you I’ve been waiting on this kind of demo forever
Glad I could help!😊
Amazing vídeo!!!!!
Has anyone had issues with the amp getting hot ?
I don't know how much hot did your amp got, but on mine it really depends on how hard you push the master volume and the gain. Hope this is useful for you😁.
I love high end, so it works for me.
Ha, i think it sounds better with tone knob. Also, it sounds like shite (brittle and ear-piercing highs) unless u crank volume past 6 or more, then it really shines. An attenuator is a must! (I own the 50 which will blow out your windows when cranked)
Classic super leads could be Very bright.
Seit ich angefangen habe Musik zu machen waren 4 Amps bzw Sounds wegweisend für mich ... Marshall 62 Bluesbreaker / JTM 45 , Fender Tweed Deluxe & 59 Bassman, Vox AC 30 und Fender Deluxe Reverb...
Und ja die Marshall Töne kann er zimlich gut!!! Ok zugegeben die Dynamik und die auch brutale Lautstärke eines Bluesbreakers erreicht der kleine Origin nicht, soll er auch gar nicht, aber trotzdem könnt ihr vergessen das der auf Schlafzimmerlevel nach JTM oder ähnlichem Klingt, der will schon bisschen angefahren werden, aber außer einem 3000 Euro Reissue Modell oder dem heiligen Orginal habe ich noch keine bessere Alternative gefunden die zudem so nah und zugleich so vielseitig im Sound ist... ne 212er Box mit Greenback oder alten 70er Jahre G12H 30 Watt made in England und das J Rockett 45 und die Welt ist in Ordnung...
den o.g Vox Sound kriegt man zimlich genau mit einem AC15 HW oder dem alten AC30 Valve Reactor hin... bei letzerem wäre aber ein wechsel der Speaker auf Alnico Blue oder wer es sich leisten kann alte Blue Bulldogs zu empfehlen...
den Fender Sound so wie ich Ihn will kriegen bisher nur sehr alte und teure Orginale hin, einzig der Tone Kind Imperial Mk II kommt annähernd an den Sound ran wobei der eher ne Anlehnung an den Tweed Deluxe und den Deluxe Reverb is aber mit Pedalen z.B dem Boss 59 Bassman klappt es schon ganz gut! Trotzdem sind die alten Fender Amps was besonderes und wer die Chance hat sollte mal einen Spielen!!!
well der...but hey, y did manage to flog some pedals, in the end its a solid base for a sound one wants ,just add or minus , thats what an eq IS...💋
Isn't the gain boost really the amps sound, and the push in position is attenuated? Pull it out, fix treble problem. It's not really a "boost"
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Very usefull !! Thanks great video !!!