Marshall Makeover

Hackmaster

Hackmaster

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If you recall, the Marshall 5010 Master Lead Combo that I acquired last week in a gear swap, had a tattered faded grille cloth and was in need of some spiffing up to be at it's best.
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I received the grille cloth today and set about doing what needed to be done.
While it was all apart I cleaned all the pots on the chassis.
The original Celestion G 12 E - 50 speaker was mildly anemic as well.
As it was already out of the box, I swapped it out with a well broken in English made Celestion Vintage 30.
A huge tonal improvement.
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From what I understand a lot of these mid 80's Marshalls suffered from bad die jobs on the grille cloths.
They started fading right away.
The cat I got the amp from thought it was an optional "tan" grille cloth.
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Uh, wrong there bucko... The fading is clearly visable around the lettering and the cabinet edges.
Needless to say the new cloth really made this 32 year old Marshall pop and look brand new again.
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Now please excuse me while I go play the poop out of this thing...
 
Thanks JG, sounds heaps better now too.
No scratchiness on the pots and the Vintage 30 really boosted the bottom & midrange.
It's a whole new amp now.
 
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Wow, that does look great, good job. Speakers have the final say in our tone, glad you got it more to your liking. Cheers
 
Very nice! Only one thing left to do - flip the switch, turn the knob, and play!!!
 
Thanks guys.
Enjoying this thing very much.
Speaker & pot cleaning really helped.
It really delivers the goods.
Nothing negatively solid stately about it.
The Marshall crunch is there without the fizziness of most SS amps.
Back to noise making now...
 
From Ugly Duckling to an Elegant Swan; Cinderalla with a new Silk Purse.
Getting all hot, dirty, and nasty.
 
I found the secret spot on this sucker.
The preamp volume (should just be marked gain) needs to be dimed and then just roll in the volume from the master as needed.
Presence at about 3/4 of the way up, or 9 oclock, bass & treble dimed, mids 3/4...
Holy Mother of God!:blink:
This little 30 watt SS beast will keep up with the most obnoxious ham fisted drummer on this planet.
Singing sustained single note lines.
Authoritative chunk on the chords. Palm muting shines like a halo.
And all the while, idles as quiet as a church mouse.
I'm stoked.
 
Last edited:
Owegi said:
wow - that new grill cloth is like a night and day difference on that amp. looks nice.
Click to expand...
Thanks Kevin, the grille cloth looks good, but that Vintage 30 is rocking my world.
What a noticeable and drastic difference.
 
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