Marshall adds another amp to its popular Studio collection, alongside compact recreations of classic designs such as the 25/50 Silver Jubilee, JCM800 and 1959SLP
While there will always be a place for the traditional 100-watt head and 4x12 stack, those places have become more scarce in recent years. At the professional end of the market, advances in digital modelling, PA systems and in-ear monitoring have made it possible for guitarists to leave their treasured valve amps at home and take advantage of the reliability and convenience of digital solutions – although for many players the sound and feel of valves remains an essential part of their rig. For those who want the proper valve Marshall experience in a more compact and neighbour-friendly package, the company’s Studio amplifiers have proved to be a popular choice. Now there’s a new and long-anticipated addition to the range: the Studio JTM.
Like Marshall’s other Studio amplifiers, the Studio JTM is a lower-powered and more portable version of a full-sized classic Marshall head, in this case the original Hanwell-manufactured JTM45 MkII, which was largely responsible for shaping the sounds of the mid-60s British blues-rock movement and everything that followed.
The cosmetics are spot on, featuring a silver control panel, non-offset black and fawn vinyl-covered plywood sleeve, thin dark gold piping and a reproduction of the ‘coffin badge’ nameplate (so-called because it was sourced from a funeral casket hardware supplier), used on early products made prior to 1965.
Inside the steel chassis, most of the JTM’s electronics sit on a large highquality printed circuit board, including the bases for its three 12AX7s and two 5881 power valves. Smaller boards support the front- and rear-panel components, with neat wiring and Molex connectors joining everything together. Most of the weight saving comes from smaller transformers, which are around half the size of the higher-powered originals.
The JTM’s front panel features include two pairs of high-and low-gain input jack sockets feeding separate Normal and High Treble Loudness controls, and a shared EQ with knobs for Presence, Bass, Middle and Treble. The preamp channels are permanently on and can’t be footswitched, but they can be jumpered using a short patch lead to connect the jack sockets. In this mode, both volume knobs are active and act as the amp’s primary tone controls, besides adding a little more gain. The Standby switch is now a three-way affair, delivering a full 20 watts of power in the High position and a more manageable five watts in the Low position, with standby in the centre.
Those classic blues/rock tones of the late 60s are reproduced with unerring accu
