back to article Marshall wants to turn your phone UP TO ELEVEN

Fans of the Marshall look and sound can now carry it around in a smartphone. The iconic guitar amplifier outfit''s headphones division managed something that Apple hasn't: it's developed a smartphone without having it leaked to a fan-site. So the launch of the London smartphone managed to catch the world somewhat by surprise …

  1. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. N13L5

      The recordings from that Microphone, can they be saved to FLAC?

      Is the Microphone half decent? 1" Diaphragm crammed into the rear where normally the camera is, phantom power and all?

      I'd also expect a guitar input and an effects chain.

  2. ChaoticMike

    Disenfranchising its target market?

    >>Instead of a rocker switch

    So the Mods will be happy, then!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So it's not really a phone ?

    But more like a music player you can also make a phone call with ? 600+ USD sounds like a lot of money for an Android music player...especially one with 16GB of memory, which seems decidedly poor for a player meant to carry FLAC.

    It was probably a good idea in the pub after the fourth pint.

    1. WonkoTheSane
      Headmaster

      Re: So it's not really a phone ?

      "especially one with 16GB of memory, which seems decidedly poor for a player meant to carry FLAC"

      Which is why it also (unlike many other phones these days) also has a MicroSD slot.

      1. SkippyBing

        Re: So it's not really a phone ?

        And a removable battery, I'll wait for the reviews but it looks like it ticks a lot of boxes.

  4. dan1980

    FLAC. Cool. That'll be, what - 50 albums?

    1. Lionel Baden

      I was under the impression that Android will support SD cards over 250GB

      1. phil dude
        Linux

        verify 128GB...

        I am running android 5.1 (Moto-E 4G) and inserted 128GB Sandisk and let android format it and it works fine.

        The reformat was necessary though.

        P.

  5. Elmer Phud
    WTF?

    Knobs

    Nice to see the return of something that is designed to collect all the fluff from yer pocket and stop working after a while.

    Who the fuck wants a mobe that is sold on the reputation of a guitar amp?

    Especially as the amp's main benefit to humans is distortion - not fekking clarity!

    1. BongoJoe

      Re: Knobs

      Will it have valves?

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. Sir Sham Cad

      Re: Especially as the amp's main benefit to humans is distortion

      Then I humbly suggest you're doing it wrong.

      Distortion, among other effects should be done away from the amp, in an effects board or pedals, and that sound fed into the amp which if it's any good, will replicate faithfully with clarity, presence and loudness. Much, much loudness. If the amp is clipping at high gain either it's a poo amp or you're poo at using it.

      1. Ba55me15ter

        Re: Especially as the amp's main benefit to humans is distortion

        The whole point of a valve guitar amplifier is that it can add a certain flavour of pleasing distortion that outboard units are rarely able to mimic.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. King Jack

        Re: Especially as the amp's main benefit to humans is distortion

        @ Sir Sham Cad you obviously don't play electric guitar. Marshall has built its empire on building amps that distort. A guitar amp that acts like a hi-fi amp and dosen't distort will sound shite. Tube screamer pedals and the like overdrive the amp to produce even more distortion. If you have a good valve amp you don't need any distortion pedals.

        1. BongoJoe

          Re: Especially as the amp's main benefit to humans is distortion

          @King Jack.

          Not even electric guitar. Listen to the sound that Jon Lord used to get pushing his Hammond through a Marshall stack.

          Mr Lord said that it took his techie many attempts to get the two to work together and blew himself up a few times in the process but the sound that Lord got out of that Marshall just tore the fabric of time and space apart.

          Oh, sorry. Got all Hawkwind there for a moment...

        2. werdsmith Silver badge

          Re: Especially as the amp's main benefit to humans is distortion

          @king jack

          A guitar amp that doesn't distort will not necessarily sound shite. It depends on what tone you are looking for and there is a solid place in music for what we call clean tones. Fortunes have been paid for boutique amps to get loads of headroom.

          But indeed, the reputation of a Marshall is the overdriven valve tone we associate with rock .

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'll wait for the EMS branded phone

    The one with the patch matrix for dialling phone numbers

  7. David Austin

    The most Important Question:

    Does it go up to 11?

    1. TitterYeNot

      Re: The most Important Question:

      "Does it go up to 11?"

      Yes. But don't touch it. Or point at it. No, no, don't even look at it...

    2. Kane
      Trollface

      Re: The most Important Question:

      Can it play back in Dubly?

  8. Phuq Witt
    Thumb Up

    Product Placement

    Clever move by Marshall.

    Given the propensity for 'da yoof' of today to hold their phones like a slice of pizza, while making calls, I wonder when the Dominoes branded one is due out?

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: Product Placement

      "hold their phones like a slice of pizza, while making calls,"

      I used to (and still do) find that strange. Then I realised what they are doing. They are copying what they see on TV where an actor/presenter/reporter/whatever is using a phone in speaker-phone mode so the camera/microphone can pick up both sides of the conversation. A very weird thing to copy IMO. I often feel like joining in with these "public" conversations, but I've managed not to do it so far. It's no wonder kids have no sense of privacy when on the net anymore.

      1. D@v3

        Re: strange phone holding

        I saw someone the other day holding their phone in normal, up against the side of their head style. Nothing strange there I hear you say. Thing was, as I walked past them it was clear that the phone was in speaker-phone mode.

        What seems really strange to me is the number of people I see, walking (on their own) down the street, having a conversation with a phone held in front of their face, in speaker-phone mode, so the whole world can hear both sides of their conversation. My only conclusion is that they somehow accidentally turned it on once, and haven't been able to switch it off.

        1. Roo
          Windows

          Re: strange phone holding

          "What seems really strange to me is the number of people I see, walking (on their own) down the street, having a conversation with a phone held in front of their face, in speaker-phone mode, so the whole world can hear both sides of their conversation. My only conclusion is that they somehow accidentally turned it on once, and haven't been able to switch it off."

          Certainly possible, although I came to another conclusion: They are self-centered muppets who see the Dom Joly shouting at a giant phone as something to emulate rather than laugh at.

          1. Z80

            Re: strange phone holding

            I'm also curious about the phone infront of the face thing.

            Recently I did a bit of searching around online for answers and found one suggestion that it's to prevent transfer of make-up from face to phone. This seems reasonably plausible given that I only recall observing females doing this. They could all have been Chinese from what I remember - is it something that originated there?

            Given that when you see them they're in the middle of a conversation it's not the kind of thing you can stop and ask someone about. Maybe I could follow people and wait until they get off the phone then ask them. Too weird? OK, I'll stick to speculating about it on the Internet.

          2. David Roberts

            Re: strange phone holding

            Could they be using that video call thingummy which lets you see the person at the other end?

            1. Z80

              Re: strange phone holding

              I thought about that but sometimes the angle the phone is held, where any front camera would be looking at the sky, precludes that possibility.

    2. werdsmith Silver badge

      Re: Product Placement

      I dunno about clever move. Marshall's merchandising marketers have gone nuts with headphones, phones, beer coolers and whatever next bearing the Marshall logo. I can see 50 years of brand cachet earned by Jim just being leaked away to crass brand abuse.

  9. Stephen Wilkinson

    Disappointed

    I would have hoped that it would have it's own version of iRig enabling the phone to be used with a guitar rather than just for playing music

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Disappointed

      Looking at the pics on their website, there appears to be a de-branded iRig and guitar plugged into one:

      https://www.marshallheadphones.com/media/wysiwyg/Marshall/phonepages/product/960x490-loopstack.jpg

  10. msknight

    Eurocrats...

    The reason for the quiet launch is that this will probably be jumped on by eurocrats who mandated a maximum of so much db for earphone related devices.

    Medium size, salted please, and a small coke. Have I missed the trailers?

  11. jzl

    Volume lock

    I hope it has one otherwise having a volume wheel will get annoying very quickly when the phone's in your pocket.

    It's really nice to see something genuinely different in more than just marketing.

  12. Graham Marsden
    Joke

    Why did I think...

    ... of someone walking around with one of these phones whilst towing a bloody big amp and battery pack on a trolley behind them...?

  13. 080

    Quiet Please

    I hope this thing does not have a loudspeaker for anti social arseholes.

  14. Frederick Tennant

    Same old marketing scam

    So what we have here is another phone meant for music lovers, but as usual they replace the basic parts for Marketing Snake Oil, what this thing needed was either a BurBrown D to A Converter and or Digital Optical output, then it could be used as a transport for your music.

    Apple had been putting these in their laptops and Ethernet Express docks for years, I have no idea why they did not put them into their phones, YET!. So far, everyone had calmed that bit-rate is the answer but its all about Mastering of the records and nothing to do with bit rates at all. NEXT! ps it dose look good though.

  15. nilfs2
    Thumb Down

    No extention cabinet option

    Would not.

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