Once, when I was younger (not that I'm old, but ok), I had the urge to play GUITARRRRRR. Hell, I had no idea what kind of guitar or even amplifier, but I wanted to play guitar. So, I listened to rock, and I knew: the les paul is my guitar. I learned soon enough, that a les paul 'had' to be paired with a marshall. So, I went to my local guitar store, and I bought a les paul, and some months later, my first 'stack', an ashdown. it was a bloody awefull amp, but it was all tube, and cheaper than the singlechannel marshall 1959 SLP stack that was there too. But, I wanted MARSHALL, so I traded that amp for a jcm800 2204 combo, which was later modified to be a 2203. that was the best amp I've EVER heard.
In my time of reconnaisance, I learned about the Darkness: only les pauls, marshalls and a mesa multichannel amp. I never cared much for the rectifier, but I did like the mark 4, so, I got that one.
The mark 4 was the first to go, though. I was too unexperienced to really appreciate that amp, and because I needed money, the marshall left the nest 2 years ago.
Time flew, and after having played through a line6 spider, I had the urge to buy a nice head. It became the Engl Special Edition.
It is a great amp, sounds great, many tones, but, it is not a JCM800, vox ac30, twin or mesa mark4, but it just sounds great!!
Nevertheless, I wanted a marshall again!
For playing at lower volumes, I had a blackstar HT5. It was okay. not great, but ok.
Until....
A friend of mine had a JMP combo for sale, a 100w, modified by one of THE best amp builders in the Netherlands, CMW amps. It was modded to have more gain, bit more headroom clean, bit more power, and a PPIMV. He wanted the blackstar, I wanted the marshall, so, we traded. He also had a headcase for the combo, and a plate to make the open back combo, an extra large 212 cab.
So...this is what I got!
In my opinion, its one of the prettiest amplifiers EVER concieved. in tone and looks
But then I saw on the Dutch version of Craigslist an engl sovereign combo for dirt cheap. OH NICE! I have a special edition, and the sovy is a poor mans version of the SE. It was cheap enough to be used for other deals which would be even more expensive, so I bought it.
As i said, I wanted to use it to trade it for something, but what...?
3 weeks ago, I went to a store, and it had the mesa mark V. I tried it, loved it. I wanted it! The shop owner said: it will be your sovereign+1400 euro's. Unfortunately, the mk5 didn't sound as good on the second run as it did the first time. but the urge to have a mesa mark, was born again. I wanted the mark 4. I was positive about it. I tried one out, and searched for a cheap mk4.
Last saturday, I bought one, for the 1400 the shop owner wanted.
But I still had that engl sovereign! It didn't really make any sense, because for the 'engl-tones' , I had my Special Edition!
Then I figured: I want something for clean, which can be pushed for warm crunch, and also something which resembles my marshall, but with a more vintage vibe... Oh, rivera! I always wanted to try it out, and I did! The knucklehead reverb at first. Oh no, thanks.... the low end was flabby, the mids too shrill and the highs, well...to shreeky! But what about that lovely, small chubster 55?
I started at the clean channel: smooth, warm, precise, with a lovely amount of reverb. I think that 'lush' is the only word good enough to describe it! The crunch channel: its like a 1959 SLP marshall! crunchy, kinda tight, but not too much, and its 'organic'! I liked that amp so much, I traded it with my engl sovereign
so, this is what my rig became:
The only amps I really wish to have, are a vox ac30 and a fender twin. one day I bet I'll have them, but for the sparkly clean tones, I'll use my engl, for warm clean, the rivera or the mark 4.
That blue amp you see on the last pics, is a small custombuild, boutique amp. Its like Matchless, but only Dutch its a combination of Marshall and Vox. the dynamics and harmonics of vox, with the agression and tightness of marshall.
In my time of reconnaisance, I learned about the Darkness: only les pauls, marshalls and a mesa multichannel amp. I never cared much for the rectifier, but I did like the mark 4, so, I got that one.
The mark 4 was the first to go, though. I was too unexperienced to really appreciate that amp, and because I needed money, the marshall left the nest 2 years ago.
Time flew, and after having played through a line6 spider, I had the urge to buy a nice head. It became the Engl Special Edition.
It is a great amp, sounds great, many tones, but, it is not a JCM800, vox ac30, twin or mesa mark4, but it just sounds great!!
Nevertheless, I wanted a marshall again!
For playing at lower volumes, I had a blackstar HT5. It was okay. not great, but ok.
Until....
A friend of mine had a JMP combo for sale, a 100w, modified by one of THE best amp builders in the Netherlands, CMW amps. It was modded to have more gain, bit more headroom clean, bit more power, and a PPIMV. He wanted the blackstar, I wanted the marshall, so, we traded. He also had a headcase for the combo, and a plate to make the open back combo, an extra large 212 cab.
So...this is what I got!
In my opinion, its one of the prettiest amplifiers EVER concieved. in tone and looks
But then I saw on the Dutch version of Craigslist an engl sovereign combo for dirt cheap. OH NICE! I have a special edition, and the sovy is a poor mans version of the SE. It was cheap enough to be used for other deals which would be even more expensive, so I bought it.
As i said, I wanted to use it to trade it for something, but what...?
3 weeks ago, I went to a store, and it had the mesa mark V. I tried it, loved it. I wanted it! The shop owner said: it will be your sovereign+1400 euro's. Unfortunately, the mk5 didn't sound as good on the second run as it did the first time. but the urge to have a mesa mark, was born again. I wanted the mark 4. I was positive about it. I tried one out, and searched for a cheap mk4.
Last saturday, I bought one, for the 1400 the shop owner wanted.
But I still had that engl sovereign! It didn't really make any sense, because for the 'engl-tones' , I had my Special Edition!
Then I figured: I want something for clean, which can be pushed for warm crunch, and also something which resembles my marshall, but with a more vintage vibe... Oh, rivera! I always wanted to try it out, and I did! The knucklehead reverb at first. Oh no, thanks.... the low end was flabby, the mids too shrill and the highs, well...to shreeky! But what about that lovely, small chubster 55?
I started at the clean channel: smooth, warm, precise, with a lovely amount of reverb. I think that 'lush' is the only word good enough to describe it! The crunch channel: its like a 1959 SLP marshall! crunchy, kinda tight, but not too much, and its 'organic'! I liked that amp so much, I traded it with my engl sovereign
so, this is what my rig became:
The only amps I really wish to have, are a vox ac30 and a fender twin. one day I bet I'll have them, but for the sparkly clean tones, I'll use my engl, for warm clean, the rivera or the mark 4.
That blue amp you see on the last pics, is a small custombuild, boutique amp. Its like Matchless, but only Dutch
its a combination of Marshall and Vox. the dynamics and harmonics of vox, with the agression and tightness of marshall. 
I've always liked the smurfs, but apparently I'm not the only one. The biggest supermarket-chain-store here had a deal a couple of years ago: for each 10 euro's you spend, you'd get one tiny small smurf, and for 15 euro's, you could get the pluche versions. They sold out in notime! thank god my sister worked there, and that she managed to get these 2. 
and it was, apparently still turned on the macro-mode, and I didn't notice the low quality until I uploaded the photos on my computer 
