Metropoulos Forum

It needed a little time to get everything right. But now I'm a big fan of this OT. It is warm, open and punchy like the best originals I'd listen to. My biggest compliments to Brian Wallace and thanks to Larry who ordered it for me. I think I will never use something else for my JTM45 clones.
I also have a german boutique version of a fine JTM45 at home which is called Gladius. It is built by a german forum member and has Wallace iron as well. One great amp.
Now I nail the sound of the original 65 JTM which is featured on my videofiles. This amp belongs to a good friend. I built several amps from scratch and it seems that now I've found the missing link
I'm very happy!

Good to hear, Udo. Have you tried Metro

Yeah Ive been using Brian for anything Marshall I build for a while now. Nothing against Metro, Im sure Id love them too, but I get everything Metro and I like to spread around the love.

I used marstrans for a jtm50 and it turned out very well

It'd be cool to have a shootout with some of the big-guns in the JTM45 OT market. I've recently got a Mercury Mags O45RS-L for an AC30 CC so I'm looking forward to hearing how that sounds - the build quality is very nice indeed.

Brian's trannies are killers, no doubt about it!! Not to mention that he's a very helpful source of old Marshall information.

I tried some MM trannies for Marshall and Fender. I think they are great. But I like them more for Fender amps. Very clean and chunky. Paul is a great guy. He did some custom wounds for me perfectly.
In some cases the MM trannies are too "fenderish" in a JTM. I was missing the typical grind. What I love about a JTM45 is that you can have clean and crunch at the same time. If you play for your own the sound is never clean like a Fender amp, but in a band context you have a certain funky texture which is unique. That's what Brian Wallace captured perfectly. I can hardly hear a difference between his RS Deluxe OT and an original one. Very, very close.
I have no experiences with Metro trannies. But I will surely try them sometime. A shootout would be great. It all belongs to personal taste. I have customers who love the new Drake OTs or even Hammonds for some reason. But my favorit is the Marstran RS Deluxe. It gets me close to the old ones, but with slightly better dynamics and clearness. BTW I prefer the 6,6k primary winding. 8k is warmer and slightly darker but lacks some grind on the topend.

wow, is this mr. udo pipper here? awesome, just wanted to say thanks for the great coloums in G&B, i almost copied them and put them together in a seperate folder so i don't have to search all the magazines if i have to look for something specific.

thumbs up for udo! this guy REALLY rocks!

PepperN wrote:It needed a little time to get everything right. But now I'm a big fan of this OT. It is warm, open and punchy like the best originals I'd listen to. My biggest compliments to Brian Wallace and thanks to Larry who ordered it for me. I think I will never use something else for my JTM45 clones.
I also have a german boutique version of a fine JTM45 at home which is called Gladius. It is built by a german forum member and has Wallace iron as well. One great amp.
Now I nail the sound of the original 65 JTM which is featured on my videofiles. This amp belongs to a good friend. I built several amps from scratch and it seems that now I've found the missing link
I'm very happy!

I also have built a 45 with the Marstran RS,its my favorite amp,like you said its so close to the orig, sound of the old 45 amps,the amp sounds huge, and thanks for the great clips you have done, very inspiring, bluze81

Have anybody compared the two by swapping from one, 784-103, to the other, RS, in the same build ?

i haven't tried marstran RS OT but i have a marstran 103 OT (in a jtm45 ri i rebuilt to original specs) that i compared to my original 66' park 45 with original Drake 784 103 OT and i have to say the Mercury magnatics comes closer to my original 784 103 than the marstran does.
both MM and marstran are brighter but the marstran 103 OT is the brightest of all and doesn't sound as close as the MM does ,to the original drake 784 103.
i'd be curious to try a marstran and ****** audio RS clones, to compare them to my original RS deluxe i bought recently.
i will compare it to the MM RS OT clone i bought.

also,i noticed the MM has less low end than the original 784 103 that has much low end and gives a very warm tone (not bright at all , at least my park45 but it seems to have the usual circuit).
the Marstran 103 has more low end than the MM but i really have to lower the treble and presence knobs, even more with a strat.

after i made some more tests with the MM O45JT and the Marstran 103 OT, with several WCR pu's and classic 57' in some 59' les paul ri and SG61 ri, i have changed my thinking about the transformers.

the Marstran beeing quiet bright with a standard setup ( all amp pots on 5 excepts vol on 7 to and some classic 57 pu's (what i had originaly in all my gibson guitars) , at first, i prefered the MM when i first heard it but after i tried several setups and especialy after i put some WCR pu's in my guitars, i now prefer the Marstran 103.
i think i will make a topic for that.