It supplements the Marshall sound but it's definitely not the Marshall sound. Only a Marshall is!
loads of things sound marshally, not just marshalls. that being said, i agree with your general sentiment, that a ts only really sounds marshally when used to boost an already overdriven marshall. used into a clean amp as a standalone od it doesn't sound marshally at all, IMO.
The main problem here is that a great amp costs a great amount of money!
However for a nice cheap option get any of the small heads. I think the micro terror is £89?
and one of these
http://www.roadkillcabs.co.uk/product/rkb112-the-badger/
i really like my roadkill cabs, but i don't think that's the best way round to maximise his tone from a value point of view- i'd cheap out on the cab and put more towards the amp.
for example, the valvepower 18 watter has VVR built in and is around £350. Combine that with a vht 1x12 cab (£80- it's ply and all and sounds good) on thomann and an eminence gb128 (~£50) and maybe a couple of cheap pedals (joyo or something like that) and that's probably the cheapest way to get convincing vintage marshall tones at low volumes. Those 18 watters also don't sound a million miles off voxy tones, either (especially through suitable speakers), which might be an added bonus for those noel gallagher tones.
for sake of full disclosure- my valvepower head has been acting up a little for a while (haven't got round to getting anything done to it :o ), but assuming i just got unlucky and it's not an inherent quality/workmanship fault, it's hard to beat at the price.
that still might be more than you want to pay, of course, and that's fair enough. in that case, those laney cubs might be worth a look, which i mentioned earlier. as i said, i haven't tried them, though.
