Bluetooth and EQ Not Working

All Questions

So I just got my CODE50 two days ago and yesterday was the first day I had to play around on it, and that being at a live rehearsal of all places. I didn't get to do much tweaking, but I noticed a problem with the EQ. If you have all buttons deactivated then the Bass Mid and Treble knobs do absolutely nothing, NOTHING... I tried using the Natural preamp thinking that maybe the EQ knobs are strictly digital and an amp or preamp needed to be activated to enable the EQ to function. When the Natural preamp was selected, however, the overall volume (master knob all the way up and the volume knob at 12 o'clock) was so low hardly anything could be heard. Am I missing a menu option to set the volume or something?

Also, I've saw a lot of people having trouble getting the Marshall Gateway app to connect to their CODE amps, myself being one of these people unfortunately, but I haven't saw anyone come up with a definitive solution other than 1. Updating the Firmware 2. Turn the amp and phone off then restart both of them and try again. 3. Delete the amps Bluetooth profile from your phone and repeat step 2. 4. Call Marshall support. I can get my Samsung Note 5 itself to connect to the amp (getting a weird message on my phone that says verify such and such number is the correct PIN for the Marshall amp but not having any further prompts on my phone or on the amp after tapping OK, but still connecting regardsless), but when I bring up the Marshall Gateway app and go into the menu to connect to the amp I can hit the scan button all day and it will NEVER find my CODE50. What the huh?!!! With all the other people I've saw on this forum having the same problem with the Bluetooth connectivity, you would think there would be a end-all-fix-all solution to such a massive problem. Has anyone heard anything or should I send this amp back for a refund while I still can?

asked 26 Jan 2017 at 02:42 PM

So upon further time to tinker with this amp I found the following. In order for the EQ to work an amp or preamp must be enabled. That kinda sucks because that means there is no way to simply deactivate all the buttons and EQ the raw sound of the amp. In order to do that you would have to use an external EQ between your guitar and the amp. That's really dumb in my opinion because they way the amp works now you basically have to use some sort of effect. Now don't get me wrong, one of the main selling points of this amp for me was the wide range of effects, but I don't like being forced to use effects when I do not want to ("If you like your doctor"... anyone?).

Also, simply enabling an amp or preamp is not sufficient to get any type of volume out of the amp. I've found that, not matter the setting, the gain absolutely has to be set no lower than 1.0 for the volume to be of a usable level. This is also a bummer because I like my cleans CLEAN. With this amp you are always going to have some grit and dirt in your sound no matter what. That is disappointing.

So the above two revelations kinda fix (not really) the EQ problem I first noticed. HOWEVER, even after uninstalling the Marshall Gateway app, deleting the Bluetooth profile of the amp from my phone, restarting the amp and my phone, pairing my phone with the amp, & reinstalling the Gateway app, the app still cannot see the amp! I paid more attention to the message that pops up on the phone after I pair with the amp and the message will give a 6 digit passkey and basically states that the amp needs to have this passkey. Well the only option on the phone is to tap OK & there is no prompt on the amp or anywhere to enter the passkey the phone provided, but the blue light on the exit/store button stays continuously blue and the phone shows the amp as being paired.

I tried my Nexus Android tablet and after popping up with two or three passkey messages in a row it finally paired and stayed paired with the amp, but when I went to download and install the Gateway app from the Google Play store I couldn't do so because a message saying the app wasn't compatible with my device was shown.

So basically from what I can tell happened at Marshall when they were making this amp was that they only had shredders and metal heads test this rig & they went ahead with the roll-out of the amp prior to their flagship Marshall Gateway app being "goodnuff" instead of consistently working and they knowingly sold these amps as such. I guess my next step will be to update the firmware on the amp and hope that works. Even if it does though, that's still a pretty crappy deal. That's like if I were to sell someone a car, knowing the engine may or may not work, and then when the customer calls me and says "Hey my engine doesn't work" I tell them to turn this nut and tighten this bolt and upgrade this piece and it will work & it's left up to the customer to perform the repairs. That's completely unacceptable in my book & WOW!... is all I can say. I really did expect more from the Marshall brand. The Marshall brand and reputation was also one of the main selling points to me of this amp. Well congratulations Marshall, you're now in the same category as Ford to me, and that's the brown category. I'll let you infer what the color means.

Signed, A Pissed Customer
~Joe - 27 Jan 2017 at 03:35 PM

I'm having the same issue with Gateway not finding my amp. Just for the amp yesterday and already asked the shop how I return it to them. - 03 Feb 2017 at 02:52 PM

I would have returned mine, but I live out in the sticks and the return shipping fee made it not worth it. I'm still waiting on my Marshall Stompware foot switch that I ordered with my amp. It's been back ordered twice now. I have no idea what is going on over at Marshall. Seems like they've got a bunch of untrained monkeys running the show from development to logistics on down. - 07 Feb 2017 at 05:36 PM

Answers: 2

Hi Joe,

I'm sorry to hear that you're having issues with your amplifier. The Marshall CODE is a modelling amplifier which replicates famous Marshall preamps and power amps, therefore having these enabled is essential. If you would like to achieve completely 'flat' clean signal I would suggest looking at our solid-vstate amplifiers such as the MGCFX series. Due to the technological nature of the product Firmware updates will be necessary over time and not updating these can result in functionality issues.

Regarding the Bluetooth, I have never come across the amp asking for a passkey, although older models of phones and tablets did have them for Bluetooth connection, and if you have an older device, then it will not be compatible with the Gateway app.

It would be worth contacting Google play regarding the app not being compatible to download, if you tablet has the right set up and correct versions of Android it should be fine to download.

Regards

Team Marshall

edited 30 Jan 2017 at 09:42 AM

answered 30 Jan 2017 at 09:40 AM

It's funny you say that I need a newer device to connect via Bluetooth because my phone (Samsung Galaxy Note 5) and my Nexus tablet are less than a year old. However, my old Kyocera Brigadier phone paired right up to the amp and the Marshall Gateway app was able to then detect the amp as well.

When that happened I thought I was all good. I tested changing settings from the app and the amp reflected those settings. I tried changing settings on the amp and those changes also happened in the app. When I went to save the settings via the controls on the amp OR utilizing the save button (and yes I had the checkbox checked to save to the amp as well as my Marshall account) on the Gateway app the only change that would actually save was the name change of the preset. The actual settings I had modified were reverted back to their original values. Also, when saving a preset to a different preset number no changes would save. I then closed the Marshall app and disconnected my Bluetooth connection to the amp and I was finally able to save my modified presets to the same and to a different preset number.

It's not a deal breaker to me because I was wondering how I would manager to practically make changes to my presets if need be on my phone while on stage. The only thing that sucks about the situation is without the Gateway app working properly I don't know of a way to save my preset mods to my Marshall account as a backup in case anything were to happen to my amp.

If I were you guys I'd get my money back from the people who wrote this garbage app for your company though. - 30 Jan 2017 at 07:28 PM

P.S. In a future version of this amp series it would be really cool if you guys could make the EQ knobs digital and analog as well, instead of only the Volume knob being analog.

The reason being is that you customers could then have the best of both worlds as far as a modeling amp and a plain solid state amp. A toggle switch changing the EQ knobs from analog to digital would work nicely to let the on-board computer know which mode it was in and all that would be required to do that is a slightly modified circuit board and a few extra wires. If you guys could do that and keep it at the same price I don't think you'd be able to keep these amps in stock because they would be selling so fast.

Just my two cents on the subject. - 30 Jan 2017 at 07:35 PM

Its also interesting that they say the pairing code is a function on older phones I'm not convinced since I thought it a security function.

I've never played in a band but I know some people are doing this and I just wondered what might happen if a code was connected to a phone on stage and someone else in audience had gateway and connected to the code. I'm guessing its only one connection at once but who knows. I know my kids play havoc with the telly sometimes when we are trying to watch stuff all from their phones. Just a thought.

On the analogue knobs front, if you ignore the presets and just move the knobs they seem to be analogue, least ways on my code 25 if I set the eq knobs to 12 oc clock they are all at midrange 5. Is that not correct. Or do you mean that analogue knobs are normally logorithmic and these are linear - I think!. - 09 Feb 2017 at 11:22 AM

Hey Alan,

What I mean by the EQ knobs only being digital is that if you push all the buttons (pre-amp, amp, etc.) to turn all the lights off so that you're then running the pure sound of the amp with no effects whatsoever, then the EQ knobs do absolutely nothing. You can turn the bass all the way up or all the way down and it will not affect the sound of the amp at all and it's the same for all other knobs on the amp except for the volume knob. The volume knob is the only knob on the entire amp that is analog and requires no digital effects to be enabled. - 13 Feb 2017 at 05:45 PM

Hi Alan,

If you are connected via Bluetooth and playing on stage, no one else can connect to your Code unless you unpair from the amp. If you're not connect to your amp the only way someone would be able to do this from the audience is if they come on the stage and press you Bluetooth connection buttons on your amp to activate the Bluetooth on the amp.

Kind Regards

Team Marshall

answered 09 Feb 2017 at 11:54 AM

Thats encouraging thanks - 11 Feb 2017 at 12:35 AM