It was roundabout but I got my Origin 20 to sound great!

[Goober23]

I have been constantly underwhelmed by the tone of this amp until:
I ran the speaker out into a Two Notes Capture, that's line out into the input of my Eleven Rack.
The outs of the Eleven Rack into my 24 track Soundcraft Ghost II. The main outs of the Ghost into my 1970's Pioneer 1010
Stereo receiver into a pair of Polk Monitor 10's. The eleven was bypassing the amp sim but I used the speaker cab emulator (using the V-30 4x12 and the MD 421 mic). I used a touch of the Eleven's stereo reverb. THIS SOUNDED PERFECT TO MY EARS finally. It was to my ears no excuses no apologies GREAT Marshall sweet tone. Good as ANY Marshall tone I've heard on the radio or otherwise no doubt.

I'ts weird that of all the cabinets I own the actual physical cab of and my huge collection of cab impulses that I always find those old outdated Eleven Rack
cabs (probably not even impulses but response curves) are my favorite ones as is the Elevens Reverbs, Choruses Flangers and phase Shifters not to mention the amazing delays.
But the takeaway is how GREAT that little Origin can be made to sound!

 

[RCM 800]

nice troll. You must be really bored.

 

[faerdi]

That sounds pretty complicated for such a simple amplifier. I never had problems to make my Origin 20C sound pretty good. All you got to do is turn Volume and Gain way up.

 

[Mitchell Pearrow]

I am but a simple man,, SD1 volume up on the amp boost off. And bam it sounds great..
Thanks

 

[steveb63]

Definitely not a "complex" amp.

Turn on, turn up, boost as desired. The higher the volume, it seems the more forgiving the tmb settings.

 

[scozz]

Sounds simple enough to me!

 

[fitz]

... into a Two Notes Capture,
... into the input of my Eleven Rack.
... into my 24 track Soundcraft Ghost II
... into my 1970's Pioneer 1010 Stereo receiver
... into a pair of Polk Monitor 10's.
... but I used the speaker cab emulator (using the V-30 4x12 and the MD 421 mic).
... I used a touch of the Eleven's stereo reverb.
GREAT Marshall sweet tone. Good as ANY Marshall tone I've heard on the radio or otherwise no doubt

Um, did you just say...?

Good as ANY Marshall tone I've heard on the radio

Are you sure that was a Marshall you heard on the radio?

 

[Goober23]

Actually many great tones and recordings are very strange in their routing and chain in the studio.
I don't find the above mentioned setup different or "over thought" at all. and no it is certainly NOT a troll gosh I love Marshall amps and use them nearly exclusively. TBH they almost always seem harsh and nasaly to me in the room. The magic comes in for me when you hear it in the setting of a mix. The few times I smiled and was satisfied in the room was believe it or not was either my JTM-60 combo with a Heritage 12 on top of a Greenback loaded 2x12 or my DSL 40C with a well broken in V-30 in it. Very few amps sound good to me in the room. Peace

 

[fitz]

If it's working for you, it's working for you.
I don't record, and I don't have any of that gear you mentioned (other than the Origin20H).
Had mine chassis out today for some tube rolling and some speaker comparisons with the cabs from my G215.

Wound up back where I started with tubes.
I guess I've found the magic combination for this amp and my ears.
I'm always mystified by statements that the Origin amps are unsatisfying.
Straight in, volume & gain cranked, through the 212 of greenbacks in my living room sounds incredible to me.
(pedals are hooked up for speaker comparisons with different settings, but I was running straight in for the tube swaps)

 

[Goober23]

If it's working for you, it's working for you.
I don't record, and I don't have any of that gear you mentioned (other than the Origin20H).
Had mine chassis out today for some tube rolling and some speaker comparisons with the cabs from my G215.
View attachment 109623
Wound up back where I started with tubes.
I guess I've found the magic combination for this amp and my ears.
I'm always mystified by statements that the Origin amps are unsatisfying.
Straight in, volume & gain cranked, through the 212 of greenbacks in my living room sounds incredible to me.
(pedals are hooked up for speaker comparisons with different settings, but I was running straight in for the tube swaps)

Looks like a sweet rig!

 

[JazzBrandee]

That sounds pretty complicated for such a simple amplifier. I never had problems to make my Origin 20C sound pretty good. All you got to do is turn Volume and Gain way up.

That's how you do it - crank it then spank it! Works every time 😁

 

[jeffb]

I'm always mystified by statements that the Origin amps are unsatisfying.
Straight in, volume & gain cranked, tube swaps)

The answer to your mystification is in your own statement

"VOLUME & gain cranked...." emphasis mine. Most people do not have the luxury of diming it (or even getting it up to 2 or 3 oclock which is minimum for best sound, IME) at full power. Many, like myself also find it very unsatisfying at the lower power settings.

I'm at a crossroads myself with it- I'm moving into a new home but it's in a far more populated neighborhood than where I used to live: no way I can get the volume up on it., maybe not even in mid power. The house is a rental and we are shopping for a new home that will be a bit more private in the meantime, but I may be getting rid of the Origin precisely because I've not a found a satisfying lower volume solution- pedals, attenuator, lower power settings, etc.

 

[fitz]

The answer to your mystification is in your own statement

"VOLUME & gain cranked...." emphasis mine. Most people do not have the luxury of diming it (or even getting it up to 2 or 3 oclock which is minimum for best sound, IME) at full power. Many, like myself also find it very unsatisfying at the lower power settings.

I'm at a crossroads myself with it- I'm moving into a new home but it's in a far more populated neighborhood than where I used to live: no way I can get the volume up on it., maybe not even in mid power. The house is a rental and we are shopping for a new home that will be a bit more private in the meantime, but I may be getting rid of the Origin precisely because I've not a found a satisfying lower volume solution- pedals, attenuator, lower power settings, etc.

 

[jeffb]

View attachment 109647

Not for me, but I understand that works for some.

 

[RCM 800]

The answer to your mystification is in your own statement

"VOLUME & gain cranked...." emphasis mine. Most people do not have the luxury of diming it (or even getting it up to 2 or 3 oclock which is minimum for best sound, IME) at full power. Many, like myself also find it very unsatisfying at the lower power settings.

I'm at a crossroads myself with it- I'm moving into a new home but it's in a far more populated neighborhood than where I used to live: no way I can get the volume up on it., maybe not even in mid power. The house is a rental and we are shopping for a new home that will be a bit more private in the meantime, but I may be getting rid of the Origin precisely because I've not a found a satisfying lower volume solution- pedals, attenuator, lower power settings, etc.

As an experiment I put mine on low power and turned it up to the sweet spot and it still hit 90db at 8ft. Pedals and/or an attenuator is the only way I can get lower and have it sound good to me and its still a compromise. For low volume practice Im liking the Soldano mini. Not quite the same flavor but can be close if you play with the guitar volume on the crunch channel. Can get decent (IMO) tone at lower levels plugged straight in.

 

[Goober23]

View attachment 109647

My studio setup is such that I can even play my 100 watt Marshalls at flat out volume even un attenuated and have no complaints about noise level. I also have a massive iso box I built that can fit a 4x12 cab in and it is so tight if I have my '78 2203 dimed all you get is a little bit of vibration of the floor what you hear is what comes out of your studio monitors. I routinely play the Origin with the master and gain full out.
And in reality I've NEVER been able to use pedals to compensate for "hot tubes".

 

[fitz]

My studio setup is such that I can even play my 100 watt Marshalls at flat out volume even un attenuated and have no complaints about noise level. I also have a massive iso box I built that can fit a 4x12 cab in and it is so tight if I have my '78 2203 dimed all you get is a little bit of vibration of the floor what you hear is what comes out of your studio monitors. I routinely play the Origin with the master and gain full out.
And in reality I've NEVER been able to use pedals to compensate for "hot tubes".

Yep.
There's no replacement for displacement.
The feel of moving air, speakers being pushed, and the tone of glowing tubes is impossible to replicate at low volume.

I tend to assume that a lot of Origin20 users are home players like myself - not chasing tone through a mic in an ISO for recording, just jamming in the living room.
I can crank a 20w without bothering anyone. (the cats run for cover, but the fish have to just endure...)
A decent OD, and an EQ with a little TBE in the loop, can go a long way to getting some tone that's acceptable at TV volumes.

 

[Dogs of Doom]

As an experiment I put mine on low power and turned it up to the sweet spot and it still hit 90db at 8ft. Pedals and/or an attenuator is the only way I can get lower and have it sound good to me and its still a compromise.

&... the OP re-amps & gets that same effect, but at a lot lower volume than 90db...

That's his point. (not trolling)

As complicated as it may sound, once set-up, all you have to do is fire everything up & plug in...

 

[RCM 800]

&... the OP re-amps & gets that same effect, but at a lot lower volume than 90db...

That's his point. (not trolling)

As complicated as it may sound, once set-up, all you have to do is fire everything up & plug in...

yea I guess theres more than one way to skin a cat. I tend to think of it more as a portable light jamming and gigging rig than a studio tool maybe thats why it seems way over complicated to me. Turn it up to match the drums and go.

 

[C-Grin]

Also try to remember a 70’s pioneer stereo will make a sears silvertone sound like the best Marshall ever. Secret sauce indeed.