Watch Zach Wish run the range of Rush riffage with this 30-watt, 6L6 combo built with Alex Lifeson's guiding hand.
Chi takes the growl and tone of the Omega and places it within a more compact form factor. The 30-watt amplifier is built around 6L6 tubes for excellent headroom and a clear, articulate sound and is available as both a smallbox head and a 1x12 combo amplifier. In keeping with its lineage, Chi also includes footswitchable clean and lead channels and a serial effects loop, making it equally versatile on stage or in the studio.
“I’ve used more amps than Dr. Frankenstein did when breathing life into his creature, but the Lerxst Chi is an awesome monster in its own right and one of the sweetest sounding amps I’ve ever heard,” said Lifeson. “All the great character of the Omega in a cool, compact package that you don’t have to be a seven-foot monster to carry around.”
Both amplifiers are also accompanied by a range of guitar cabinets in multiple speaker configurations, including 1x12, 2x12, and 4x12, ideal for any stage configuration or studio application. All amplifiers and cabinets are handcrafted to the highest standards with top quality components in Mojotone’s Burgaw, NC-based factory. The cabinets, head shells, and combo speaker cabinets are made of voidless baltic birch and finished with a striking race gray and red garnet levant Tolex finish for a lifetime of gigging and playing.
Learn more here.
Marshall Amplification is being acquired by Zound Industries, a Swedish company that owns adidas and previously licensed Marshall brand speakers.
From the Zound Industries website:
Under the terms of the deal, Zound Industries will acquire Marshall Amplification and the Marshall family will become the largest shareholder of the newly formed Marshall Group. The deal includes all of Marshall Amplification brands and subsidiaries, including Natal Drums, Marshall Records, and Marshall Live Agency.
The deal creates a group with double-digit profitability. Currently, Marshall Amplification employs 200 people at its Milton Keynes HQ and a further 300 at a Vietnamese manufacturing facility. Meanwhile, Zound has around 280 employees working at its Stockholm HQ.
The Marshall Family will own 24% of the newly formed Marshall Group. Victoria and Terry Marshall – heirs of legendary “Father of Loud” Jim Marshall (d. 2012), who founded the company with his son Terry in 1962 – together with Jim’s granddaughter Joanne Marshall-Price, Paul Marshall and the Marshall Charitable Trust will play key roles within the new entity to ensure the legacy of the famous Marshall sound and brand. Terry and Victoria Marshall will join the board of Marshall Group.
Terry Marshall comments: “Since my father and I created the original Marshall amp back in 1962, we have always looked for ways to deliver the pioneering Marshall sound to music lovers of all backgrounds and music tastes across the world – and I’m confident that the Marshall Group will elevate this mission and spur the love for the Marshall brand.” Victoria Marshall continues: “With Marshall Group, the potential to further impact an ever-modernising music industry is a highly genuine one. Together, we will preserve the Marshall legacy and shape the future of ‘Live Loud’. Having worked alongside my father during his later years, I know he would be excited at this direction and the potential to reach a larger worldwide audience with innovation and passion which he always had in spades.”
A fly rig that gets freaking huge.
Convincing Marshall tones in a very tiny package. Rich high gain, and detailed low-gain sounds. Cool fuzz.
Channels lack independent EQ.
$279
Tech 21 Character Plus Fuzzy Brit
tech21nyc.com
As adjectives go, “cute” and “raging” are usually an odd fit. But apart from, perhaps, a rabid pug with vampire fangs, few things are as deserving of both descriptors as Tech 21’s Fuzzy Brit. This light, solidly built, and miniscule menace machine is an all-analog, 2-channel approximation of Marshall amps from the Bluesbreaker to ’60s plexi and ’70s JMP models—all paired with a cool take on a Fuzz Face. And it’s a satisfying substitute when you can’t lug a massive Marshall head and 4x12 along to the show.
At just 7.75" x 2.75" x 1", the Fuzzy Brit is smaller than it looks. It’s slender enough to stuff in your back pocket, which makes its capabilities impressive. Channel A is the cleaner of the two channels. It’s lively, clear, and present, sounds particularly pretty and chimey with a Telecaster, and readily lends sass and energy to mid-scooped tube amps that get flat and characterless at lower-club volumes. Channel B is dirtier. It responds exceptionally well to advanced-gain levels that generate a plexi’s signature punky, fat, and growling distortion, but also excels at recreating the creaky nuances of a loud, unadorned Marshall at lower-gain settings. Speaking of adornments, the Fuzz Face rips and is a superb pairing, particularly in Channel B. The Fuzzy Brit’s one obvious limitation is a lack of independent EQ for each channel. Still, it’s a very convenient and satisfying way to get Marshall might from a backline amp that’s easy on the back and the bank.