Marshall garbage

67plexi

67plexi

Ambassador of Amps
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I love this guy's videos I've been through all of it.
I stock at least $100k in parts
No hate please most all brand name guitar and bass amps are pure trash now day's
I look at the parts used the last 20 years and want to puke.
Their are a few exceptions the hand-wired series
In the past a manufacture had to stock replacement parts for 10 years not anymore.
And it's getting worse the new amps out of the box fried before you plug them in the first time
I'm not kidding. Quality control what's that ?????

 
Is there any brand that produces a decent tube amp for around $1,000? If not, would you suggest solid state as a better alternative?

You know, in addition to the QC issues most, people do not know how to care for or perform basic maintenance on their own tube amp.
 
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I realize the info guys have put out there on tube amps holds some merit, But solid state has come along ways. With less things to go wrong , the cost is lower, I have owned both and now my main amp is solid state. I play mostly clean with some reverb, and when I need some distortion I just flip a switch. I am impressed with my Orange 35RT it packs a punch and can produce some very good tones.
 
I played recently through a guy's old 1970's master volume (something) Marshall head (45 watt IIRC) and vintage Marshall (Greenback loaded) cabinet. He mentioned something like spending nearly "four grand" to obtain it.

It was loud as hell, but there was no culture to it...it was not a tone you would want to hear on a recording.

After he added an entire pedal board of effects, it sounded about as good as my Line 6 head and Jackson 4X12 cabinet, of which I have less than $200.00 invested.

This is why I sold off my vintage Marshall full stack...
 
I 'am just looking at this from a service perspective. My local music store the last shipment of guitar amps 50% were DOA culprit China parts.
I do service vintage amp collections real famous guitarist the good parts are getting scarce.
I turn down Mesa repairs now I'm not a servicing dealer my friend Reese Martin was he just closed his doors one day last year he won't answer his home phone we were friends since 1970
I can't get schematics on the Mesa amps now. I'm finished building guitar amps I don't want to sound like a snob but I have the guitar sound I have been chasing my whole life and do I need
151 amps I have built and 100 vintage amps. I owned over 2500 vintage amps sold most of them from 1995 to 2005. It was fun great learning experience.
 
I know a guy up in Alaska who has some nice Dumble type amps. If I remember right, they don't have junk in the trunk either. :D

Hey Plexi, what do you think about Marstran Transformers? I had to use one for my 1972 50 watt JMP a few years back. I wish I had known you before I had that one serviced by a supposed good tech here locally. I might have saved the OEM power trans that I suspected my repairman kept for himself. I watched the tech test for power on my amp and when he told me the trans was indeed bad, I sought out Bryan at Marstran to get one of his. Sadly I wasn't able to retrieve the original Marshall trans from the repair guy when I picked up the amp. He said he just pitches the old stuff that he removes and deems failed. I really called that BS and told him I specifically requested my old part back when dropping off the amp. I would have had it rewound if it was indeed bad and sadly he robbed me of this chance. Not sure you remember, but DonP and IvanH helped me fix my head with a few service items as well as teaching my the theory of the circuit's design. So after learning the basics and how to test things, it turned out my intermittent loss of sound issue that I took it in to that tech for, reoccurred. Even though he supposedly fixed everything with the new trans, new tubes and new caps, and with Don and Ivan's help, I had everything seeming within spec and was testing as good. However. I went to play it again and the issue resurfaced. It was bad electrical contacts in the female sides of the ohms selectors that got loose. After probing the inside with chopstick and trying to get it to act normal or act up, I found the issue when I simply wiggled the cap knob on the ohms selector and there it was, signal or loss thereof. So, I disassembled the socket and gently squeezed the brass ends a little tighter. No more loss of signal. I decided to do the Voltage one too so I can avoid any loss of power.

Now that I know the Tech who worked on my amp last, (ME) I trust that 46 year old amp to serve me well and keep sounding good for another good number of years.
 
67plexi said:
I 'am just looking at this from a service perspective. My local music store the last shipment of guitar amps 50% were DOA culprit China parts.
I do service vintage amp collections real famous guitarist the good parts are getting scarce.
I turn down Mesa repairs now I'm not a servicing dealer my friend Reese Martin was he just closed his doors one day last year he won't answer his home phone we were friends since 1970
I can't get schematics on the Mesa amps now. I'm finished building guitar amps I don't want to sound like a snob but I have the guitar sound I have been chasing my whole life and do I need
151 amps I have built and 100 vintage amps. I owned over 2500 vintage amps sold most of them from 1995 to 2005. It was fun great learning experience.
Click to expand...

I have no doubt in what you are saying. I only offered my perspective as a user that doesn't work on amps.
 
One thing I know about Mesa amps use the Mesa branded tubes they are matched for Mesa amps.
Two company's that are the best to deal with on replacement parts #1 Peavey #2 Ampeg
Early Marshall's were just a copy of the Fender Tweed Bassman's. I had a 1963/64 Marshall JTM-45 4 x 10" type 1 combo silver back speakers just killer.
The last amp Leo Fender designed was the 1960 Concert amp Marshall killer. Then Bob Risson was hired in 1961 no more Triad transformers Bob designed the Black Face Fenders.
One more downfall 1961/62 Fenders was the change from Astron signal capacitors to the blue molded capacitors. And the harmonic vibrato to the roach vibrato.
 
I ordered a set of the MESA power tubes last week-- :)

going to replace the others next month -- damn things cost to much to do all at once!


I had read MESA doesnt make their tubes-- and that ......JJ's made them ....any truth to that you know of?????
 
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IMG_7354.JPG FI have that old Fender Pro 1000 hybrid that 100 watts. It is loud enough for any situation. It has one tube that it can run without. It is really heavy and has no soul.
 
eSGEe said:
I ordered a set of the MESA power tubes last week-- :)

going to replace the others next month -- damn things cost to much to do all at once!


I had read MESA doesnt make their tubes-- and that ......JJ's made them ....any truth to that you know of?????
Click to expand...

Mesa “selects” their tubes. Then matches them to their needs, and labels them appropriately for use in their amps. Much like groove tubes used to do.
A lot of Mesa 12ax7 tubes were sovtek at one point. I hoarded a bunch for my Dual Rec, and haven’t had to pay much attention to what they’re using right now. Soon though, I’ll have to jump back in and restock.
 
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