Ongoing appeal perhaps lies a little more through novelty as an actual 'Marshall In A Box' for the collector than as a stand-in for a JCM800 2203

Drawing upon the design team of Marshall's JCM900, Anniversary and Valvestate ranges, the Direct Recording Pre-Amp DRP-1 aims to recreate the tone and feel of a JCM800 2203 through micro-electronic techniques, with a contemporary power amp/loudspeaker emulation (relying upon a special filter).

A selection of outputs supports a range of applications. A buffered pre-amp output is designed to feed into a separate power amp and cabinet. Line Out and the separate headphone output add the power amp/speaker emulation for direct recording, plugging in a PA or use as a headphone amp. A two-mono jack Y lead allows an external effects processor between the headphone amp and output.

The controls could not be any more master volume Marshall In A Box.  A switch selects between 'Normal' ('classic') and 'Boost' ('contemporary', for higher gain) modes. Place yourself back amongst Marshall range in 1995 for anticipating gain and tone. There is a 'Preamp Volume', 'Master Volume', three-band EQ and a Line Level.

The three-band EQ has passive Treble and Middle controls but with a wider sweep for more flexibility than would be typically found on a Marshall. The Bass control is active and designed to provide "resonant low end ‘Thump’ associated with a Marshall 4x12 cabinet"

An important consideration when comparing older analogue amp emulators with speaker emulation to digital models using Impulse Response (IR) is just how dry analogue emulation sounds in isolation without reverb or other ambience. That applies as much to the long-running Tech21 NYC SansAmp GT2 and other analogue emulators as it does to the DRP-1. This is quite prominent with headphones or other direct use.

Whether connecting Pre-amp Out to the effects loop return of Marshall Origin 20C,  Line Out to a Yamaha HS8, or using with Sennheiser HD 201 headphones, distinctly Marshall tones can be dialled in which are distinctly analogue in warmth and character, but also distinctly solid state as opposed to valves.

It should not come as a surprise given the technology, it feels and sounds like a Marshall In A Box pedal running through a speaker emulator circuit rather than a valve-powered Marshall stack. The voicing and tone controls seem more Marshall amp-like than The Guv'nor or DriveMaster. The speaker emulator circuit is not any less convincing than the Marshall JMP-1 Valve MIDI Pre-Amp.

There is plenty of classic gain through to early '90s Marshalls between the Normal and Boost modes.

Heavier strumming and picking is tailed by the gritty crackly decay familiar and frustrating to users of many overdrive pedals (of all prices). Even the high-end Marshall In A Box Tskalis AudioWorks Room #40 has a distinct decay which betrays it as not being valves.

In the absence of other headphones to compare to, it is unclear as to how other headphones react, but harder strumming from the edge of breakup causes clipping through Sennheiser HD 201 headphones, even with the Line Level low.

If expectations are for something distinctly Marshall but not exactly valve-like and not exactly JCM800 2203 then this box delivers. There are many alternatives now, such as other Pre-Amps, Marshall In A Box voiced pedals or modellers, this is the only one in a box styled like a JCM and wearing the Marshall name. Perhaps that is the main magic and novelty of this three-decade-old technology. The DRP-1 will be enjoyed more by the Marshall enthusiast as a collection piece rather than those seeking the most convincing Marshall stack tone emulations available today.

It is a blast of history that will keep a Marshall enthusiast entertained.

From Gear Setup