Marshall: SV20H. The Cleans. How To get Some Good One.s

marshall.com/marshall-amps/pr...
The 1959SLP and its little brother, the SV20H, are renowned for their honky, unrelenting, filthy, whiskey laden dirt. Which, funnily enough, is why I love it. But these amps can do a lovely tea party as well - if you'd just let them. I've been using the SV20H thus and this is how I do it.
Today's tools:
Guitar: 2018 Kinman Accolade Series with Kinman Imp. E69's.
Amp: Marshall SV20H Plexi and LV212 cabinet
Extra Effects: GFI System Specular Tempus Reverb/Delay
Cables: Montreaux and Free The Tone
Power Supply: Strymon Zuma
Mic: Samson Airline77 (me), Shure SM57 (amp)
Camera: Canon 60D (me) and Nikon D5100 (pedals)
Soundcard: PreSonus Quantum & Fractal Audio Systems Axe-FX III (guitar, mixing and bouncing).
Monitors: Blue Sky Media Desk 2.1
Computer: Apple iMac 27" i7 3.4 GHz 16 GB RAM
Software: Logic Pro X, Waves Plugins, Apple Final Cut Pro X (video editing and KZbin compression).

[@shinjial]

It's common that people associate Marshalls to drive and Fenders to clean, but I've always had a soft spot for Marshall cleans. And being able to push it with a booster and get the drives makes it a great set up for a small rig.

[@BreakerBeat]

True, honestly I prefer to play Marshall for cleans most of the time. Similarly, Fender does have some really great distorted tones as well.

[@markhalen1410]

Andre Ribeiro i couldn’t agree with you more!

[@ibnsina9486]

Mostly because Marshalls could not be clean with humbuckers and any decent amount of volume

[@scottwilliams1577]

@@ibnsina9486 that's not true in my experience.

[@trampley]

Strongly agree

[@macgrory]

All the old Marshall's do lovely warm cleans. With tons of headroom.

[@MarkPritchardGuitar]

The clean side of these amps are always overlooked, great demo Brett.

[@RevNeilDDavies]

Wow thanks Brett, I really appreciate your demonstration on getting a beautiful clean sound on this amp. You have just convinced me to get this amp.

[@LeonTodd]

Some of the finest clean tones I've heard in a while

[@texanfournow]

The flame on that neck and head stock is awesome!

[@fueradeljuego]

truly sounds amazing, and the guy playing through it is one of the reasons why

[@jorgemartinpellegrino6940]

Superb job explaining in detail the channels of a marshall.

[@allenemerick]

I’ve been waiting to see a good demo of clean tones from this amp. Thanks!

[@modestoney1577]

i have always loved (old school) Marshall cleans - dynamic and blooming like a tweed Bassman, but more tight and crisp

[@donharrold1375]

It’s a great clean amp. I mean really great. Personally I think mine is at its best set up clean. People forget that Jim Marshall was trying to clone a Fender Bassman with the early amps like the Plexi on which the SV20 is based. The differences were mainly due to availability of parts (tubes and transformers for example). Obviously the use of KT66 and ultimately the EL34 power tubes brought the famous Marshall crunch tone and character, but that may have been more by accident than by design. It should be remembered that in 1965, when the first Plexi amps were built, guitar players weren’t looking for distortion. People wanted very loud cleans with lots of headroom. The first 100W amps were designed precisely to deliver that. Distortion was a by product of turning them up to the max to be heard in large venues.

[@cliffords2315]

The EL34 is a great Tube

[@TalleyWacker1000]

Great video! I really think the Normal Channel, Hi input is just about perfect clean tones for my usage. Also HUGE fan of the GFI stuff, excellent tones!

[@chrisway7113]

Sounds gorgeous! Great video!

[@I_0..0_I]

I love marshall clean especially with the el34 valves

[@blackie5566]

Thank you Brett, that cleans conviced me, just bought one 🙂, great demo !!!

[@malcolmhardwick4258]

Didnt realise Kinman made guitars ! The neck looks beaut ! Sounds heavenly through that Marshall !

[@jips123]

Good test! Nice cleans without reverb or delay!

[@SeanZetterlund]

hell yeah man, those are some great clean tones! the tempus sounds great with this amp too! 😀👍

[@tonytrotter2708]

Brett you superstar! I have this awesome amp and I had no idea the upper and lower inputs were different! I thought it was just left and right where the difference was!!! Thank you

[@Tubedriver42]

Mate, I want that guitar. So nice. Great video Brett

[@jsl7735]

Really appreciate this Brett. Great advice delivered well......this video brought my SV20 fully to life ( added a Thorpy FX camo and some Strymon delay and reverb and straight up beautiful tone to build on ). I think setting up good tone on clean and gradually sprinkling magic dirt is the way to go for me to find a pathway to good tone. Anyway if you get to read this, any chance you could do the same again with Humbuckers IE - Les Paul. That for me is an unruly beast that is much harder to tame than a strat so your thinking here would be invaluable. I’m sure I’m not the only guy going, man if I could get some help with clean Marshal with humbuckers my wife may talk to me again. 🤣

[@stratofig]

Great video as always Brett! Can you please put a volume control or a pedal with a volume control in the effects loop and do a video showing how it can be used as a master volume? I think you will be able to crank the channel volumes and keep the amp’s volume at lower levels. Thank you!

[@MrTaroo1]

Ha!!! You’ve got one. I picked one up today in Warrnambool. So sweet.

[@masteryoda498]

Great demo Brett, I think you have sold me on this amp.

[@tjnugent62]

Very nice Burg's!

[@darkcide1959]

Sounds incredible Brett..i want the Combo version!..can you demo one please!..your demos are by far the best on youtube.

[@charleslivingston803]

Best demo I’ve yet seen of the SV20. Some of the early demos out there are not great, I wondered if these amps sounded bad.

[@lancecass8997]

Brett always does great demos. I've had the same issue, and then found Brett's demo makes me want whatever it was. One of the best resources on KZbin for sure, and he uses things like most of us would like to at home,.

[@donharrold1375]

I’ve just got one of these. It’s known as one of the classic dirty rock amplifiers. It might be easy to think it’s one dimensional. However, don’t be fooled it’s actually quite versatile - one of it’s exceptional capabilities is it’s clean tone. I hooked up a 50th anniversary Strat and tweaked the tone knobs and it sounded warm, fat, very articulate and responsive. The beautiful bell tones were just magical. It’s really quite loud, even on 5 watts, with lots of headroom. I play fusion and am looking for tones like Larry Carlton or Robben Ford and I’d say its perfect for that.

[@ollieguitarman89]

Thinking of getting one. Can you get loud enough cleans for gigging on the 20 watt mode? 🤔 I don't need pure clean, just clean enough to get the job done.

[@donharrold1375]

@@ollieguitarman89 It’s very loud. You have no need to worry!

[@massimos6863]

Awesome playing Brett, great Sounding amp

[@barters8124]

These amps sound killer with a nice transparent overdrive in front with just a fraction of hair.

[@victorfideliss]

Great review 👏👏👏

[@Mangoplak]

Very good and cool tutorial. Thank you so much!

[@stilllifewithguitar184]

Freakin hell that sounds amazing.

[@p_1210]

I have a Marshall 1987x and it has an amazing effects loop. So much so I can’t tell the difference when it’s bypassed or not! I’m guessing these new studio models have a similar loop. Great demo Brett.

[@absinha6209]

Pretty versatile when presented this way.

[@richardalexanderescobarrod9867]

I need one... very nice demo...

[@nathanleonardmusic]

Nice to spot a Kinman out in the wild. Looks to be one of the later ones by the headstock logo? Love mine. Sounds spectacular here. Thanks for the demo!

[@joeysgear1419]

I have a fender supersonic 22. The clean channel is supposed to be similar to the 65 deluxe reverb. I also have this sv20h rig ... And the clean Channel blows the fender out of the water hands down every day. Addictive. I use it with a passive volume in the loop though...gives me more bass.

[@mikebledsoe2315]

*Vurrryy nice demo Brett*

[@MarcCoteMusic]

That sounded much better than I expected. In my mind it's usually Fender = clean, Marshall = dirt.

[@KelsterVonShredster]

Amazing! I am dying for you to do a demo of this with medium to high gain !!!!!

[@greenmanmusic1259]

Yours are the best demos of this amp Brett. Just bought one - fantastic!

[@MRxr400]

sounds amazing for a marshall.

[@kunstwerkfusion5455]

Sweet! Thanks for sharing the video mate! I also subscribed to your channel

[@jaustin753]

Well done video sir👍👍

[@napalmhardcore]

These things need to have a warning (maybe in the amp's name so people don't miss it) that they have a bright cap that is more effective at lower levels. Because of this, they can sound very brittle and bright IF you don't compensate for it. I've seen so many people say "Marshalls are one trick ponies" or "Marshalls sound like crap unless you crank them" because they don't understand how the bright cap works. As demonstrated here, older Marshall designs have beautiful cleans.

[@johnhudak3829]

napalmhardcore Yep. And if you look at the gear being used back then you can see why...long curly cables and pedals that shaved off your top end. Those caps come in real handy when you use the volume knobs on your guitars too!

[@lolobuggah2670]

So how do you compensate?

[@Raff654]

Great video - thank you 👍🏻

[@ddl508]

Marshall forever !

[@robertshamansky1912]

Awesome!

[@audiodemon]

Killer clean tone Brett. Marshall amps are underrated for their clean tones. I played a 1980s JCM-800 for years and could get great clean sounds from it too. Of course the power was insane and mostly unusable in everyday situations. I’d often only be able to have the volume around 1.5 to 2, which just ruins the fullness in the tone. I think I need to check out these new 20 watt Plexis and the JCM-800. I feel they’re amps that Marshall should have been making for years.

[@pip5528]

I would call the SV20H more of the son or grandson rather than little brother but this is awesome.

[@jammergreg]

My Friedman Runt & this in stereo! Okay I'm in!

[@darwinsaye]

The only Marshall tones I’ve ever liked are edge of breakup on a Plexi. The tone you have at 6:25 is the ideal Marshall sound for my taste. In fact the only amps I really like the sound of when driven hard are Fender Tweeds and Brownfaces.

[@mr.j1400]

If Robin Trower plays it I want it, Good demonstration thank you

[@kirillprilepko394]

SV20H?

[@jpallen3673]

Great demo ! Thanks ! Love to hear the same demo showcasing Les Paul/Marshall cleans ala Allman Brothers clean tone.

[@andystephenson5407]

jp Allen alot of those cleans from the albums were actually fenders. The live sound was very different from the studio sound

[@S_Bellew]

If you want good cleans get the 50 W Origin. It has some of the best cleans I ever heard and plenty of headroom.

[@josephliptak]

Nothing like the sound of a Strat being played thru a plexi

[@Dcba964]

Nice demo Sir. I came for the amp... But sticked with your playing....👍

[@jonkomatsu8192]

After a lifetime of playing Fender-style amps, i have been seeking out a clean, non-Vox, British-style amp that are not as imposing and impossibly loud and expensive as Hiwatts. And I do believe I have just found it. Great tutorial, thanks!

[@anthroknight]

I'm in the same situation. Started on a Marshall stack in the mid-70s, Fender ever since. Bought a BassBreaker 15 head a few years ago hoping it would give me more of the Marshall difference but am very disappointed. Now I'm back to thinking about adding a Marshall to my amps. Did you actually pick one up? Would love to know and if so how you found it!

[@jonkomatsu8192]

@@anthroknight No, sadly have not managed to get one, financial practicalities and all. But still hoping for eventually.

[@anthroknight]

@@jonkomatsu8192 I an absolutely relate to that. I'll have to see some gear first. Let's both stay positive!

[@cheesefrogsnail]

These amps have something hard to find on any other amp: whatever the guitar you play there is always enough trebble...that you can dial out with he guitar knobs if need be

[@EdwinNewcomb]

One of the great sounds is to jump into normal channel 2 low, and you could get a wonderful clean sound. Check it out

[@josephbianco7056]

Love your videos Brett, thinking you may have messed up with the inputs there though 😬

[@jimmyjams1974]

Hi there! Love the videos. I have a vintage modern and am thinking of getting the studio vintage combo for a grab and go. What’s your opinion on the main difference between the vintage and the classic? I know they are both loud but I’m thinking I would like the vintage better. I am a huge Allman brothers sound and love that tone. Will the 800 do that also or should I stick with the plexi?

[@HammerFang]

Great video, again :) I wonder what would you say about egnater rebel 30mk2 head especially comparing to this SV20H

[@pastorkev777]

For me it seems Marshalls other than the JTM45, seem stiff when clean. So they can sounds good, but the feel is subjective. I am almost considering getting a 1974x style amp and running a Variac down to get a looser compressed sound, while keeping clean.

[@Fugettaboutit]

A Plexi has always had nice cleans, but so few players want to use it....understandable since it sia Marshall with no master volume. But once they started including EFX loops on their Plexi 'reissues', but really have you a lot of options there.

[@sgmarshall3]

That's amazing tone! How do you like the tones overall compared to your bluesbreaker?

[@findingredcloud]

Hey Brett, love your tutorials (and playing)...Looking for that Hendrix 'Hey Joe' clean, yet full, deep and big. Where oh where can I come up with that via Fractal??? :)

[@slickdusud]

OK i want one !!!!

[@jaquesels581]

Lovely guitar and playing. Thank you. What is the patch cable? Just normal patch cable or stereo please?

[@DarthEcoli]

Marshalls and Plexis aren't known for clean tones. I was surprised when I plugged into one of these and the cleans were pretty good.

[@elynnshiflett]

As youtube channel Wranglestar said "sometimes my vocabulary outruns my education." Happens to me so often I need that on a T-shirt.

[@daw162]

His whole channel does. My opinion, he's just looking to sell stuff to his viewers. Constant amazon links and a bunch of supposed moral high-grounding. He's a perfect example of why youtube has gone downhill. Too many people starting channels just to see what they can get out of their subscribers.

[@gprz843]

Hey man thanks for the video, can you get loud enough cleans for a club or venue?

[@girolamo5637]

Sounds Fantastic! May I ask where you placed the Microphone on the cab???

[@shughy1]

I've heard on other channels that the Jubilee version is pretty good for cleans

[@mule800]

Hi Brett, love the videos! Would this be loud enough to gig? Thanks man

[@lancecass8997]

It is. It's about the most ideal gigging amp, level wise, that marshall has yet produced

[@bluewallinc7878]

My whole life I’ve searched for a specific kind of clean tone. I’ve tried Fender tweed/brown/black faceVox Orange JC120 Mesa Boogie but today I just figured it out. Thank you sir

[@stuartwhite7514]

Great demo. Look and sound great. Are these loud enough to gig with, small to medium venues?

[@lancecass8997]

Yes, that is their forte for sure

[@seventwistsclockwise]

great video, Is it true that the channels will bleed slightly without the jumper cable? I heard Noel Gallagher watches your videos btw

[@user-lb8xf4bm7o]

Please, help . Where, to which connector do you need to connect the audio cable in the rear panel of the Marshall SV20H when connecting one Marshall SV212? When we connect two Marshall SV212s to a Marshall SV20H, which connectors on the back panel of the SV20H do you need to connect the audio cables to?

[@adhaskym.a9536]

I have to listen to SV20H to set my SC20H clean and boost with a clean boost for overdrive

[@RichusRkr]

I use pretty much the same settings BUT I go into the top input on the Normal, or channel 2, side and jump the two bottom inputs. This gives less ice pick when you turn up the bright channel.

[@2tallB]

Agreed, it’s very worthwhile to try every configuration depending on the guitar and volume you’re at.

[@harveycan5820]

That was my question - - does it matter which plug you start in and then jumper. I guess it does!

[@truthfactreality6814]

Marshalls do the best cleans

[@vexguine]

My favourite time of rock history is 1966-1974. Its the era that this amp really shinned. An amp that you can go from clean to distortion with a turn of the guitar volume knob. I dont get these modern guitarrists needing a pedal for each part of the song. Verse dirt, bridge crunch, solo lead, booster, pre amp volume, post loop boost.... geez... Their tone is shit, inconsistent and compressed.... Just plug on these, set to 11 on 5 watt indoor or 20 watt in big stages. 20 watt with good speakers is plenty. Then control with the guitar. Worked for Page, Angus, Beck, Clapton... Why people deviate from that route? Old time simplicity is the best.

[@elvis_chen]

BUY!

[@ryanstark9326]

Hey! great demo, do you think it would sound good for jazz as well with a semi hollowbody?

[@Pitamar1]

Having tried this amp, I think the attack is too fast and the character too bright and present in the high mids for jazz. Sounds great though.

[@jordigeli386]

Much brighter?

[@BoyAditya]

didn't knew plexi could get geat clean... well ... I never have a chance hearing it on clean LOL

[@flatsix666]

I can play Apache on my 1959HW as plexi's can really do clean, like proper sparkly clean, :)

[@lancecass8997]

You have, many times, but just didn't know it was a Plexi you were hearing on all those old recordings. It's a great sound.

[@nomadicexplorers]

Any thoughts on how to reduce noise from a strat into the sv20? So much hum. I obviously roll back volume. They are vintage pickups so maybe my only option is noiseless pickups

[@BrettKingman]

Yeah, that's a tough one. A hot Marshall and Strat are challenging bedfellows, for sure. Noise is one of the unfortunate byproducts unfortunately.

[@michaelmattson3515]

How about an ABY switch A in the bright low gain & B in the high normal?

[@RichusRkr]

gonna have to try that..

[@guitardave]

It’s hard to tell actual volume on KZbin videos, so my question is... When you turn down the gain to get the clean tones, is it hugely lowering the volume in the room? Or could you play a song with a distorted tone, then dial in a clean tone for the next song and the volume’s about the same, or you’d have to use one setting for a whole gig?

[@lancecass8997]

What the other guy said, and to answer your question, yes there is a difference, but it depends on what volume level you're playing at. At gigging volume, with an acoustic Drum set to play over, your cleans and crunches will be at a comparable volume, where your guitars volume pot will do the work for you. If your playing quieter, by yourself, in the bedroom, the volume difference between clean and crunch will be greater. To compensate for this, I use am Xotic sp compressor. Mild compression, noon, and the volume level up, 1-2oclock. This brings the volume levels that you'll get from your volume pot a little closer, when you have to play with the amp turned down. Also, Brett's demo of the walrus audio eb-10. An eq pedal like that, or the new boss 200 series eq. They have save settings, and can be extremely useful to keep things level for you with single channel amps like this. Good luck

[@RsqSqr]

The 5 w version can b played in apartments without attenuators

[@kurcob]

Could you please share your "Burg Ambient" preset settings?

[@BrettKingman]

You'll have to give me a reference if you can. Once I make these vids and presets I sometimes save them, but always I move on immediately to the next project and inevitably forget what I've just done. Find the video or the part in one and I'll try to help you. Cheers.

[@jokerjoker3967]

This amp is good for playing pink floyd and srv ?

[@Eddieguitarloebs]

these look and sound beautiful, but why don't they put reverb on them?

[@eternalism8274]

because marshall is for distortion, and reverb before (tube power amp) dist sounds unclear, due to intermodulation dist'n

[@rrrrdavid1]

turn the treble and bass off and crank the mid full up

[@KYCDK]

the marshall sound to me is jumping the 2 channels, otherwise the normal sounds to dark and bland and the bright sounds too thin with nothing backing it

[@javiceres]

The Normal input sounds muscular.

[@javiceres]

I wonder why Marshall wouldn’t release this 20 watt line at least 10 years before.

[@antonioalbares]

they didnt have too. These days, so many great tube amps in the market you have to stay competitive. Besides, it was only in the last decade that we realized we can't play 100 watt amps on paper thin wall lol

[@javiceres]

@@antonioalbares Precisely because we have realised in this decade, a leading company should have foreseen what was a movement growing massively in the Internet forum talks. They released the Class5 for that reason in, when was that, 2012? Or some 8 years ago. But they were timid yet. The 50nth anniversary 1 waters were a massive success in spite of their high-ish prices. They’d sell like cakes if they were being still produced.

[@killnoni5032]

How to get a good clean tone on this amp: 1. Plug in 2. Switch on 3. Play Done! U’re welcome.