2006 Marshall Vintage Modern 2466

Overview

This amp came out in 2006, around the same time as the JVM series, and was Marshall’s attempt at offering a JTM-like amp with modern features, and it’s one of the most unique amps in Marshall’s history. It’s a single channel amp, but it does have a footswitchable "Dynamic Range", which feels a bit like separate low gain and high gain channels, but they do share the same master volume and EQ controls so it’s not quite like that in practice. This amp also has a mid boost as well as a digital plate-style reverb, along with a cool purple tolex covering a blue pilot light. Additionally, a quad of KT66 power tubes give it a unique voice especially at higher volume levels.

The key feature of this amp is the “Detail” and “Body” controls. This is the only instance I can think of where this was done right - just like a real JTM, or 1987/1959 Super Lead, these control two separate parallel signal paths and mix them together. Essentially, this is the same as using a jumpered “plexi” and manipulating the High Treble and Normal channel volumes. This makes a huge range of tones available, and stays true to that classic jumpered Marshall DNA with all of its great sounds (as well as its faults).

The Dynamic Range “low” mode is the classic Marshall design for this type of amp - 2 gain stages per path (detail and body), then merged together. The “high” mode introduces an additional gain stage which affects both signal paths, bringing the available gain up to JCM800 territory, or a little further. It’s no modern metal machine by any means, but sounds great especially boosted. There is also a mid boost control, which maybe should’ve been worded in reverse - mid “boost” is the standard Marshall sound, and when this is disengaged it’s similar to a “notch” or “mid cut” such as on a DSL/TSL, a lot of mids are scooped out. This sounds great for cleans but I found it uninspiring in the “high” dynamic range or for anything approaching high gain sounds.

The plate reverb sounds great, and the digital natural is barely noticeable. It’s also footswitchable which is a great feature, to go along with the footswtichable low/high dynamic ranges.

Overall a really underappreciated amp that didn’t sell that well. I think with the JVM coming out around the same time and offering the same type of retro tones on its crunch channel, people gravitated towards that amp instead, or stuck with the cheaper DSL. The Vintage Modern was priced in between but more on the high end, so I don’t think the appeal of it was really explained well enough in marketing material - and that appeal is that it’s basically a jumpered JTM50 with some extra features.