Marshall Code 50: 50W 1 x 12 Combo

The verdict

The CODE50 is for the player who wants a lot of different sounds out of one box at home: fourteen Marshall preamp models, a hundred presets you can store, and Bluetooth and USB so your phone and your computer are part of the setup. It suits practice, songwriting and recording into a DAW.

It is the wrong amp if you want a valve circuit, an effects loop, an extension cabinet output, or something you can run off batteries. It is mains-only and 13 kg.

How it compares

Three amps in our range worth weighing against the CODE50. Prices are ours, as at 9 August 2026.

Buy the Marshall Origin 50C instead if you want valves rather than models: three ECC83s and a pair of EL34s driving a Celestion G12N-60, a series effects loop, three speaker outputs (16 ohm, 8 ohm and 2x16 ohm), a DI out carrying loudspeaker emulation, and the 2-way PEDL-90016 footswitch in the box. The Powerstem switch gives you HIGH, MID and LOW settings — HIGH is 50 W, MID is around 10 W. What you give up is everything digital: no presets, no onboard effects, no USB, no Bluetooth, no aux in and no headphone socket. It costs more and weighs 18.2 kg, and it isn't held on our Footscray floor — it comes in from our supplier, so you can't try one here on the day.

Buy the Orange Crush 12 instead if you want one good sound and no menus. Twelve watts through a custom 6-inch Voice of the World speaker, a three-band EQ, a single channel with an Overdrive control, and a headphone output with Orange's CabSim circuit in it — an analogue emulation of a 4x12 loaded with Voice of the World speakers. At 4.7 kg against the CODE50's 13 kg it's a different proposition to carry.

Buy the Vox Pathfinder 10 instead if the budget is the deciding factor. Ten watts RMS into a 6.5-inch Vox Bulldog, five controls — Volume, Gain, Bass, Treble and a Clean/Overdrive switch — and a single combined headphone / line out jack. That is the whole amp. It's substantially less than the CODE50, and it's on the Footscray floor too.

The detail

What the modelling actually gives you

Marshall calls the technology MST — Marshall-Softube modelling — and the amp is organised as a chain of blocks you can switch in and out from the front panel: PRE FX, AMP, MOD, DEL, REV, POWER and CAB, plus EXIT/STORE to save what you've done.

The AMP block holds 14 MST preamp models in three families. Clean: JTM45, CL DSL, CL American, CL JVM and an Acoustic Simulator. Crunch: Bluesbreaker, Plexi, CR American, JCM800 and 50s British. Overdrive: OD JVM, OD DSL, OD American and OD Silver Jubilee. Marshall lists a NATURAL preamp and a Gate separately — NATURAL is described as being without the tonal colour of an MST modelled preamp, and neither is part of the 14.

The POWER block adds four power-amp models, each with its published valve reference: Classic Marshall 100W (Class A/B, EL34), Vintage Marshall 30W (Class A/B, 5881), British Class A (Class A 30 W, EL84) and American Class A/B (Class A/B 100 W, 6L6). The CAB block carries eight cabinets: the 4x12s 1960, 1960V, 1960AX and 1960HW, the 2x12s 1936 and 1936V, and the 1x12s 1912 and 1974CX.

That's the practical point of a modelling amp — the preamp, the power amp and the cabinet are three separate choices, so a JCM800 preamp through a Class A power stage and a 1x12 handwired cabinet is a combination you can build without owning any of it.

Presets, the app and the tuner

There are 100 presets and all of them are user-editable. The PRESET and EDIT selectors on the front panel do the work; the Gateway app for iOS and Android does the same job over Bluetooth from your phone, with preset sharing as well.

There's a tuner built in. It isn't marked on the panel — press the PRE FX and AMP section switches together.

Effects

24 built-in effects, up to 5 at once, with the Gate counted inside that 5 — the full published list is in the FAQ below.

What isn't there is an effects loop. If you have a pedalboard you want sitting between the preamp and the power amp, this is not the amp for it: the pedals go in front, or you use what's onboard.

Connections, and what's missing

The USB 2.0 port is the busiest socket on the amp: Marshall publishes it as a DAW interface, an audio path for streaming from a computer, the route for firmware updates, and a MIDI connection for the front-panel controls. For anyone recording at home, that's the whole computer side of the setup on one cable.

Bluetooth 4.0 covers the Gateway app and audio streaming. Worth knowing before you set it up: streamed audio bypasses the panel controls except MASTER volume, so the backing-track level is set at the phone, not on the amp. If you'd rather use a cable, the 3.5 mm aux input is there — Marshall's handbook calls it the MP3 player input.

The headphone output is a 3.5 mm socket, and the handbook adds it can also be used as a line out.

Two absences, both published by Marshall rather than assumed: no effects loop, and no extension cabinet outputs. The 1x12 in the box is the speaker you get.

Size, weight and power

13 kg, 530 mm wide, 440 mm tall and 280 mm deep. It's mains-only — the power cord is supplied and there's no battery option — so wherever it goes needs a power point.

What you'll also need

Marshall supplies the amp and the power cord. The usual additions:

• An instrument cable. Not included. → Guitar cables & leads
• The PEDL-91009 footcontroller if you want to change presets with your foot. Marshall publishes it as a 4-way programmable footcontroller, sold separately — it is not part of this SKU. → Footswitches & foot controllers
• Headphones, or an adapter. The socket is 3.5 mm, so a 1/4-inch pair needs an adapter. → Headphones
• A 3.5 mm aux lead if you'd rather feed backing tracks in by cable than over Bluetooth. → Instrument cables & adaptors
• A USB lead to connect to a computer for recording, MIDI or firmware updates. → Instrument cables & adaptors
• A cover if it lives somewhere dusty. Marshall doesn't include one. → Amp covers & cases

Australian availability and delivery

Stock: In stock. We hold the CODE50 on the floor at our Footscray showroom, 284–288 Ballarat Rd, Footscray VIC, and we carry supplier stock behind it. Floor stock moves, so if you're making a special trip to play one, ring ahead and we'll check it's still standing there.

Click & Collect: Free from Footscray.

Delivery: Standard shipping is $7 and free on orders over $150, except where a regional freight charge applies to this item. Only ABS Outer Regional, Remote or Very Remote postcodes can attract that charge. Items under $500 pay the full freight cost to these areas. On items $500 and over, freight costs of $100 or less per item are covered; above $100, the full freight cost applies. All charges are rounded up to the next $10. Check the delivery calculator above. The checkout delivery charge is the amount you pay. Express is available at checkout for orders of bulky items only: the standard freight shown at checkout plus $15. See the stock panel above for dispatch timing. Estimated standard delivery is 4–9 business days after dispatch, depending on location. Orders over $30 are tracked and insured.

Scarlett Music is an independent Australian retailer at 284–288 Ballarat Rd, Footscray VIC, trading since 1997, with a physical showroom and in-house technicians.

Related reading

• How to Choose a Guitar Amp: Watts, Valves & Modelling
• How to Choose a Guitar Amp: Watts, Valves & Modelling
• How to Choose a Guitar Amp: Watts, Valves & Modelling
• Guitar amp combos
• Marshall Origin 50C
• Orange Crush 12
• Vox Pathfinder 10