You Need to Hear My New Amp...The Perfect Marshall Tone?

[@HeadfirstAmps]

Cool to see the brand on your channel John. This looks like early DIY build completed before I spun the DIY PCB supply brand off into EvolveDIY. For a few years now, Headfirst is only a brand for our own production amp designs and mods.

[@ksharpe10]

Will this become the John Cordy Signature amp. for Headfirst?? Sure sounds Great!!!

[@MRxr400]

Jason, this video shows off the glassy, classy tones i was hoping to hear come out your amps. Absolutely gorgeous, stoked to see you getting noticed, worldwide.

[@rumy6871]

See his next video, already complaining and crying about the amp. LMAO!

[@ksharpe10]

This REALLY is a REALLY SWEET AMP!!!!

[@kenphillips3282]

Oh man, your playing is always awesome but on this video it is another level. It is amazing how a piece of gear can inspire new playing elements. Thanks for your work.. a very grateful Patreon.

[@batpigguitar]

These are some of the best tones I've heard on the channel. Between this and the pro reverb you've got some stellar tones.

[@tonedowne]

Love when you play through Marshalls . The sound is so much more articulate. But the big deal with Headfirst is that he will give you a parts list and instructions on how to turn a Marshall Origin into a top shelf amp

[@jerryhorton5708]

What a terrific tone on the opening bit! Incredibly articulate and harmonically rich. JNC is a genius at dialing out the digital fizz and harshness but this amp beats the best modeler patches for pure tone. Well done and thanks for sharing!

[@GazMoz78]

For me Marshall is the benchmark driven tone. You can hear this is a little less smooth, more gritty, than the Mesa stuff. Im a fan 😎

[@yarbzag]

Nice playing. Great to see your amp inspiring you :) Sounds lovely. Specifically to dynamic touch

[@brianpeddie1708]

Jason builds one hell of an amp!!! Nice!

[@jimmcdougall9973]

I am glad to hear I’m not the only one that has an issue with the mids, woofie sound of Mesa Boogies and Dumbles. I got attacked when I mentioned this on another video.

[@GraniteSoundtrack]

Yeah me too. I’m not a Dumble fan either.

[@jerryhorton5708]

I’m with you. I’ve never bonded with any MB I’ve ever tried. Can’t say about Dumblesque amps as I’ve never had an opportunity to try them.

[@dejct]

Thats why people like to use tubescreamers with them or something to tighten it up a bit right?

[@jimmcdougall9973]

@@dejct in my opinion, a Tube Screamer is just going to add more mids to an amp that already has way too much.

[@hakarl_]

@@jimmcdougall9973 Might not work on all Mesas, but Dual Rectifiers can sound great with a boost like TS because you can dial it in the boost for high mids in a band that the Recto doesn't have as much of, whilst cutting some of the excess low mids and bass

[@GraniteSoundtrack]

John your reason for liking this Marshall style amp are the same as why I like them. Also, though I’ve never played a Dumble, I agree on why I don’t care for the thick honk of the Dumbles and Dumble clones heard recorded and demoed. I used to play Boogies too and I feel the same as you about them as well.

[@tomostinato2918]

Very nice. 'Real amps' definitely have something that digital sim's (thus far) just don't replicate.

[@aladolfsenjustanoldguy2045]

I would have liked to hear the Les Paul played through the Headfirst. Les Pauls and Marshalls are magic.

[@jimmcdougall9973]

I’ll second that.

[@holtrain81]

Sounds like perfection to my ears ❤...it has that percussive touch under the fingers that I love like the response nuno gets with his ratt pedal

[@christopheranderson2158]

Sooner or later, most players get around to finding Marshall (and modded versions) is the tone they’ve been after. As a young player, I avoided them because it seemed like everyone and their brother played Marshall’s and I sought to be “different”. Once I could afford to really experiment with new gear, I discovered Marshall was the tone I was trying to achieve and surrendered to the fact that I’m a “Marshall guy”. Once I got the meat and potatoes of my tone with the Marshall, I was able to fine tune it with certain pedals/fx to get my own sound. The VintageModern is my favorite Marshall and the JVM is almost the perfect gigging amp, but most of the Made in England Marshalls are going to scratch the itch......🤘🤘

[@KozmykJ]

Yes it suits you. 👍

[@Johnny-oy9fh]

My first Marshall was a 74 mk2 super lead 50 head back in 78. Sounded great on 3 up on the volume. Owned many. They are one trick rock amps...

[@tonystartup3817]

I've got this amp at my house at the moment John

[@yarbzag]

Tone King Imperial mkii head gives me my Fender Cleans (unattenuated rhythm channel) and my Marshall JTM45 tones (Lead channel with mid bite turned to 1 o’clock and attenuated a few clicks) Nice playing. Great to see your valve amps inspiring you :) Sounds lovely. Specifically to dynamic touch . Reverb was lovely too. Was it from the amp!

[@BillyTheKidsGhost]

Dave Simpson got me on Marshall, but I'm just using a Jojo Uzi pedal as a preamp...

[@hailmaryrecordings8255]

What’s the Uzi a copy of?

[@DRAKENKUNGAMING]

Those cleans are warm and beautiful.

[@lyricbread]

Man, I’ve heard a lot of tones on this channel, but I think the Marshall tones suite your playing the best. I know you normally lean more towards that EJ tone that’s more blanketed, but the mids really suit you.

[@ksharpe10]

Always coming Back to this VIDEO, that is one SWEET AMP. I bet if the Volume 2 is turned down to 0, it might help Volume 1 to Clean up even Better sometimes the way they build these Amps, stuff Bleeds over kind of like a Jumper Cable between channels. But this is JUST a GUESS, I notice you had volume 2 on 10.

[@scozz6139]

Lovely playing as usual. The amp sounds very much like my Marshall Jcm800 20 watt Studio Classic, (Sc20).

[@Jay-og7ld]

I like the tone 100% Back in the day we used to call it - playing glitch free when using digital delay. 45+ years ago top of the line 16 bit processing was $$$$$$ and it sounded really good. I think 12+years ago and all in one pedal boards ie BOSS GT-100 BOSS with COSM Amp Effects Processor hit something that sounds like a real amp that have stood up threw time. I think when they hit 32 bit they all took on a signature sound that sounds good but lacking all the "raw" goodness. If you could beam your body like Star Trek would you still be the same person when digitally taken apart and then digitally put back together? lol I think Spock jammed on a Marshal. I find myself playing with less pre- amping, distortion and compressing as the years go by. There's nothing like just playing threw a amp. I love it! I've got my eyes focused on the Carr Bel-Ray combo amp. $$$$$.. New to your channel John and I really like it!!!

[@Crabfather]

More to the point, if you don't really hear the difference what's the big deal whether it's an overpriced, fragile, one trick pony tube amp or not.

[@TheActressAndBishop]

With Marshalls, my experience is that you end up balancing the treble and presence controls .. if you push one, you need to back the other off .. exactly which one is where changes subtly where the treble "centre" is. Personally, I've always run the treble about 2 and the presence somewhere between 6 and 8 whcih I prefer to the treble being higher. Personally, I've had a Friedman Smallbox for about 8 yearts now and it's simple the best amp I've ever plugged into .. by a country mile ..

[@ksharpe10]

Fabulous Video, Great Amp. Great Sounds love it!!! The HEADFIRST JNC signature Amp!!!!

[@WDShorty]

Run a blues driver type into that with just the tiniest amount of grit and volume boosted til you get a chug and you'll have the MCR tone(I prefer with a middle position SS guitar)

[@illgottengains1314]

450 quid, eh? Amazing. So hard to sell amps without the brand.

[@johnnathancordy]

Yeh - it seems pretty good for that kind of money to me?

[@illgottengains1314]

@@johnnathancordy absolutely. Your 150 quid amp ain’t too shabby either 😊

[@neilbrewer]

That sounds excellent. Great tones

[@QuickSticks8771]

HEADFIRST !! My crass immature brain is having so much fun designing a logo for the cab🤣

[@truthfactreality6814]

I have afd100. Silver jubilee and jvm joe satriani if you want to borrow them for the channel

[@MRxr400]

That is one hell of a tone monster. love it, maybe a little biased as I'm an Ozzie too.

[@Nako6009]

Sounds great, would love to hear the LP or 335 through it!

[@AtelierEphraim]

Sir what brand/model is your guitar?

[@christopherjbutler]

A K-Line Springfield. Made by an independent builder in the US.

[@AtelierEphraim]

@@christopherjbutler it looks so gorgeous!! but, are they as good as Fenders?

[@christopherjbutler]

@@AtelierEphraim That is, of course, a somewhat subjective question, but John owns two Springfields, the first of which (his number 1 blue one) he bought second hand from ebay or reverb.. After that he got to know Chris from K-Line and he purchased the yellow one, possibly at a discount, from K-Line. He has the offset looking guitar from them as well.. I have not seen him play a fender on any regular basis in years.. So that should probably tell you something.. I think, for the specific vintage style strat he likes, but with a 9.5" radius, the Springfield ticks all the boxes, fit and finish, playability and weight.. I have never tried one.. But in looking for a more straightforward sounding and playing strat, I HAVE played all the Fender 2022 models off the rack a few christmases ago, and after playing the Strat Ultra and Player II etc models, with their noiseless pickups and such and the MIM models, I settled on a Pelham blue Squier Classic Vibe 60's strat as the one that ticked the most boxes, and did the SRV Lenny thing the best when I plugged it into the Deluxe Reverb reissue they had on the floor. I really was not 100 percent in love with any of the Fenders, but the Squier ticked the right boxes for me.. The neck felt great, but I later found it had some issues with being flatter on the bass side than the treble side, and as such, could not be set up as well as I would have liked. I always wanted a warmoth neck, And for the maybe 320 bucks I spent on the Squier, it seemed like the right guitar to take that plunge with. so I got a modern/vintage construction warmoth with 22 stainless frets, 10" to 16" standard warmoth compound radius, and a simple dark rosewood fingerboard and quartersawn maple neck, with vintage tint gloss finish.. That guitar, after a proper level and polish and setup by a great luthier friend of mine, is the best playing traditional sounding strat I have ever held.. I love Fender, but sometimes you want exactly what it is you want, and I think the K-Line is probably like that for John

[@dutelatte2154]

when you play with an amp instead of the digital modelers it sounds so much better to my ears.

[@olzzonscorner]

I sounds SO good :)

[@thibaultabrial]

This amp sounds amazing,headfirst heads are excellent amplifiers,cool ;-)

[@alexpapadimitriou6242]

Is the bones a mini plexi or origin Marshall ?

[@brianmiller3287]

Is it just me? Or is your playing just a little bit extra fantastic on this video? Would you rate yourself a little higher on this one? Please respond!!! Thanks from one of your biggest fans!

[@Tanax13]

7:32 Headrush PCB?

[@stevelamm2366]

Are we hearing the direct out on the amp head?

[@stevelamm2366]

Never mind. You explained it later in the video.

[@Docksidestudio1]

That run at 2:20 was killer!

[@StormLightArchitect]

Wait... What? 450 pounds!? Did someone build this as a kit and put it on ebay? Ill take 2 at that price please.

[@therileyobrien]

Heck of a deal for sure. I built one using the headfirst pcb and the parts(I used the same components and transformers as the Friedman) cost almost double that without a head cabinet.

[@geusefrava960]

This is a good amp for you

[@MilesReedMusic]

This amp sounds gorgeous! I also felt the same way about your pro reverb. Hearing the sounds today on this video brought to mind, why modelers try to sound like tube amps but I haven’t seen any tube amps trying to sound like modelers.

[@ryanpaulretouch]

Don't you get bored of the clickbait title crap? You're such an incredible player with so much information to share, it seems unusual.

[@therileyobrien]

Gotta pay the bills

[@chinchillax1483]

Yeah, it can be pretty lame, but it gets clicks from susceptible people. I don’t blame em

[@christopherjbutler]

​@@therileyobrien100 percent. He's got a mortgage and bills and a new baby ( well not newBORN but still ) and it keeps him in the algorithm which keeps him playing for me to enjoy every morning :-)

[@johnnylayton1672]

Marshall clean to distorted is so ubiquitous in rock & blues that you really can't go wrong with it for rock or blues or even fringe music a la Frank Zappa or Scott Henderson.

[@leoolivero963]

So much gear & the awesome elevator music hardly varies.

[@rumy6871]

Is this channel about gear or neurosis? It is like a car accident. You shouldn't look but cannot turn away from it.

[@christopherjbutler]

I like the conversational topical musings about gear and players and such, the monday lick lessons, and I love seeing that there are people just as awkward and or neurotic as anyone else can be who also can play so inspiringly and not be a self satisfied prick or the like. :-) And his playing is always so good that the "20 percent of the sound that is not in the fingers of the player" is the only difference you need to listen for to really hear how gear differs, and yes I can hear the differences though his usual effects chains when he plays this headfirst amp or his pro reverb or his former two rock or his modeled dumble type tones.

[@Andreas_Straub]

I believed you got tired of buying new amps all the time?

[@angrybuzzy]

He plays guitar for a living. The chase is always on.

[@Andreas_Straub]

@@angrybuzzy 80% of the sound comes from the fingers. So better keep practicing instead of hunting for hardware ... this only drives you nuts ...

[@jimmcdougall9973]

@@Andreas_Straubyeah, but it’s great to see reviews of what’s available. And John gets his practice in while making the videos.

[@zachallard7010]

​@@Andreas_StraubI don't even practice! I just read the KZbin comments 😘😘

[@vonbleak101]

If you want the perfect Marshall sound - Get a Silver Jubilee lol... Everyone is looking for that hot-rodded Marshall sound - well guess what the Silver Jubilee is haha...

[@therileyobrien]

Wizard amps are hot rodded silver jubilees so you could do one better and get one of those. The pursuit never ends.😂

[@vonbleak101]

@@therileyobrien Or people could stop chasing dragons and just use a Marshall...? (gee where am i going to get that Marshall sound from...? haha)

[@ryanpullin]

Ehh the Jubilee is kinda there but not really. There’s better modded Marshall tones and form factors imo

[@vonbleak101]

@@ryanpullin Not really - As for form factor i have the smaller 20w head and 2x12 vertical cab and its perfect - Put a echoplex preamp boost in front and you are in universal bliss... I find it funny that people chase the Marshall dragon when they can just um... Get a Marshall... If you need more gain just get an overdrive pedal... :)

[@Guitarman66]

No matter what you play, it always sounds the same. Whether it's an amp or simulation. There's always the same delay and reverb. The audience can't hear a difference at all

[@Crabfather]

Don't speak for me, thanks :-)

[@therileyobrien]

Naw

[@uncleted3961]

The subtleties are lost on you

[@confusedscreaming9727]

You mean *you* can't hear a difference at all

[@mattc1176]

I would agree that the tones John uses on here a) tend towards a little more reverb and delay than I personally like and b) have a fairly common sonic signature. I disagree that this makes everything sound the same however. And the playing is great.

[@basiltiffani8850]

Sounds just like your modelers, at least on KZbin.