So Marshall moved their transformer production in-house in Vietnam. Let the youtube storm begin
The issue is people outside the EU consider Marshall a high-end / boutique brand because the distributors have marketed them that way and marked up the prices to a ridiculous extent. The 1959HW amps are $1800 or less in their home market (I've bought 2 new 1959HWs from Germany for that this year) and the 2203X are even cheaper.
I also don't think this had anything to do with the buyout. I got one of my 59s in March and it already had the new transformers. This had clearlly been in the works for a while. I'd guess Dagnall was shutting down and Marshall was already winding the transformers for other amps there and just moved everything in house.
It's going to make a great topic for youtube rants for a while and drive up used Marshall prices though. Congrats to Jason for snagging the traffic first lol
As for the ringing issue he talks about, Friedman and Tramble both told him on his amp chat stream that they've gotten Heyboers and Mercuries like that in the past and Jason himself has admitted in comments that the amps sound fine.