1971Marshall Super Bass head on Ebay

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 11:53 am

It is 100 watts and looks in excellent condition, the starting price is about $800.00. It's from England. The seller states that is makes a Ric really sound like a Ric. Is all original.

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 2:13 pm

Very nice!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2558651921&category=1288

Other than an SVT, a Marshall Super Bass 100W is a nice match for Rick basses, IMHO. I love the combination of my Super Bass and my Rick basses.

philco · Post by **philco** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 4:53 pm

I also use a Marshall bass amp, but it's one-of-a-kind modified. I took an AVT20 and threw in an Eminence B102 10" bass driver, Scan-Speak aperiodic vent, Acousta-Stuf damping fiber, and gave the barely painted particle board back a good thick coat of flat black paint. I couldn't better the Ei ECC83 tube that Marshall installed, which is a Telefunken flat plate copy and fairly high gain. I call it an AVT20B now. It gets compliments.

My little AVT20B sounds good enough that I don't have to sweeten the sound with my SansAmp RBI like I do clean amps. The AVT20 is generally regarded as one of the two best sounding ValveState amps, the other being the AVT50 (combo or head) which I also own. They really do have a Marshall tube amp tone and feel, and go into tube type clipping when overdriven so that 20 watts is louder than you think (110 dB at 1 meter). Mine sounds the same as the speaker when you listen to headphones or use the emulated DI, so it can double as a DI box at a big gig or a bass headphone amp for late night practice. It also sounds very good with my RIC 4004L bass, so I will concur that Marshall tube amps are a good match with RIC basses. You should hear that little AVT20B roar with a RIC 650D and an effects pedal. It's a world class heavy metal/hard rock practice/studio amp. You can get Marshall tube preamp distortion at any volume level, but it really roars when the volume is up and the FDD circuit kicks in and acts like a big tube amp in overdrive with a saturated output tranny.......but at a manageable 110 dB @ 1 meter.

Also, $350 is a lot cheaper than $800+, and that expensive 100W head still can't play without at least one 4x12 cab and you probably would get your head taken off by the volume it produced at output tranny saturation level. Your wallet will also suffer at retube time, which some people say is quite often with a lot of the vintage Marshall heads........and may explain why it's in such mint looking condition.

BUT, if you were doing outdoor gigs without a big PA system..........

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 5:40 pm

At home, I can't even turn up the volume of my JCM800 Super Bass (+4X12 cab) past 2.5...the house rattles already. Man, tube watts are much bigger than solid state watts. I can crank it up to 5 or 6 in the studio and easily hear the heavenly output tube overdrive from the 4 Svetlana EL 34"s. Preamp tubes are RCA 12X7A's which are decent sounding to my ears though I'm looking forward to replacing them with Electro-Harmaonix 12AX7EH tubes and see/hear what happens.

Philco, any opinions or comments regarding RCA and EH 12AX7 tubes? The EH ones get pretty nice reviews at www.thetubestore.com...

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 11:58 am

What year is yours Paul? I would love to get one, or another Marshall Major.

philco · Post by **philco** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 6:19 pm

I have tried E-H 12AX7, JJ ECC83S, and Ei ECC83 tubes in my Marshall, Traynor, and Kustom amps. They all sounded good, and the differences were subtle to my ear. The nice thing is that they actually outperformed some of my old NOS tubes I had stashed away. I have some NOS matched pair RCA 12AU7 tubes that I use in my audiophile preamp, and they sound heavenly. My RCA 12AX7 tubes are pullouts and used, and I will save them for some old fixer-up amp. I also have a pair of Amperex 12AX7A tubes made in Holland that are worth about $200 for the pair if new, and they test as new and look it. They will probably end up in my Conrad-Johnson EV-1 phono amp (this amp can make you drool while listening to LP's). The E-H 12AX7 ended up in my Kustom Tube 12. It has the most "hard rock" attitude and is a bit midrange forward with a punchier sound and fairly high gain. The Ei ECC83 gray plate has high gain also, but sounds brighter in the top end with richer upper harmonics. It went in my other Tube 12 amp (I bought two Tube 12's and a switchbox to run in tandem as a practice rig). The Ei ECC83 comes in shiny plate and gray plate versions. The gray plate is considered better ($8 each at Angela), but I bought 10 of the shiny plates for $45 from Angela Instruments, and I'll be damned if I can spot a difference in tone. The JJ ECC83S went in the Traynor because it is the most balanced all the way around and had the lowest noise. The JJ can be used in everything you have and makes an excellent audiophile preamp tube as well. I also tried a 12AY7 in the Kustom Tube 12. If you use the gain boost on the Tube 12, and use mild to moderate levels of distortion, and have a guitar with hot pickups, the 12AY7 gives a much smoother distortion than the E-H 12AX7 and would work for blues players. With a Chinese 12AX7, the Tube 12 gave a very rough, raspy, buzzing, heavy metal type of distortion. For the price, the Ei ECC83 is the best deal, and Don Butler likes them also. They would be my pick for something like a Fender amp played clean if you value the upper harmonics. Marshall put an Ei ECC83 in my AVT20, and it sure sounds nice. It's a copy of the flat plate Telefunken ECC83. You can't beat Angela Instruments' price on the Ei ECC83. The E-H 12AX7 is probably more rugged and more free of microphonics.

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 2:46 am

Thank you for the in-depth comments, Philco.
Yeah, that "attitude" in the EH 12AX7 really make me want to try them out. Got cool logo too!
Since my Ampeg B100R is clean sounding, I'm looking to add more grind to my Marshall Super Bass. I can get the EH 12AX7's for $7.14 USD each here in Taiwan. The RCA's are decent sounding ones but leave something ("attitude") to be desired.

If I remember correctly, the Tube-Tech CL-1B tube compressors in my studio have the JJ's in them. I love the sound so much that I refuse to mix vocals without them!

Conrad-Johnson EV-1 phono amp? Man, gotta be sweet as honey!
For listening to LP's, I just use the Phono Inputs (MM only) of my B+K ST-140 Preamp. (Power amp is B+K Pro-5.) Hmm, maybe a good tube phono amp with MC cartridge is the way to go for upgrading my LP sounds...

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 2:58 am

Bob,
My JCM 800 Super Bass was made in 1983. It's the "long front panel" type that Marshall has been using since the early '80s. Jim Marshall's printed signature is on the right end of the panel. That head and cab (Lead-1982 4X12) survived several major tours in China during '85-'95. That rig's got history in it.

Yes it'd be a cool addition to your Ampeg collection if you get an early '70s "classic type" Super Bass similar to that ebay item. I definitely would get one if I come across one at a very resonable price.

philco · Post by **philco** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 3:01 pm

Paul, my brother had a B&K Pro-5 preamp that he used to drive his Counterpoint SA-100 amp. He sold both and didn't give me a chance to make an offer on the Counterpoint amp.........bummer, because the SA-100 is a great amp. Not to worry though, I ended up with a C-J MF-2250 and it still impresses me over a year after I bought it. For the money, nothing ever beat my B&K Pro-10MC. It has a really good MM/MC phono stage and not one breakdown since I bought it in 1991 with almost constant use until it was replaced by my C-J PV-14L & C-J EV-1 last year. I keep the Pro-10MC as a spare with no intent on selling it. The phono stage is worth what the entire preamp cost, and it's useable down to about 1mV, or what a medium output MC cartridge puts out. The MM phono stage mates well with a Grado cartridge. There's an internal switch for choosing between MC and MM gain settings, and jacks for inserting the appropriate MC loading resistors for any MC cartridge. For the $300 they sell for on eBay, the Pro-10MC is practically a gift. The old B&K ST-202+ amp (all-black with rack handles) that I also have makes a good bass amp when hooked up to a SansAmp RBI. It shoves my Polk speakers into overload very easily. I'm thinking about buying a couple of Acme Low B2 cabs to hook up to it. Then again, I'm partial to the punchy little Eminence B102 bass driver and might get a couple of empty 2x10 cabs to load with them. The B102 is not exactly cheap at $100 each, steeply discounted. I decided that if I ever get a big bass amp, it will be separates so that I can carry and transport the beast in manageable pieces. I don't want to lug more than 50# up a flight of stairs.

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 5:47 am

Separate cabs sound like a good idea, though I'm still quite attached to the traditional stack or combo, visually.

My Pro-5 and ST-140 are both black and have rack handles too. They are still sounding decent and working alright after 12 years of use. As the Pro-5 has 2 pairs of pre-amp outputs which work simultaneously, I had it modified so that a mini toggle switch is added to the front panel which selects between the 2 pre-amp outs. When toggled to the right, it's the ST-140 with Yamaha NS-10S studio monitors. Toggled to the left, it's the self-powered Yamaha (again!) MSP-5 studio monitors. Ha! I'm a studio cat who listens to studio near-field monitors at home, very sick indeed...

philco · Post by **philco** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 5:13 am

Paul, if you get a SansAmp RBI and hook it up to your B&K ST-140 you will have enough gain to drive the ST-140 to full output without any further gain stages, as long as you have a bass with strong pickups like a 4004. I have two RBI's, one for each channel of my ST-202+. That allows me to have a different emulation in each channel. Besides the tubelike tonality in a solid state design, ST-series amps were also noted for their extremely good bass reproduction. The bottom line is that if you have one, you have one of the finest solid state bass guitar power amps available at that price point, and almost nobody knows it. If I were a gigging bass player, I would consider using mine in a live situation. The ST-202+ has a big toroidal transformer and 6 pairs of output transistors. The ST-140 has more than enough juice to blow you out of the studio or do small club gigs, and each channel could power a 2x10 cab with no problem.

Now let's look at the cost: $600 for two new SansAmp RBI's and about $300 for a used ST-202+ on eBay. For $900 I get a much more powerful rig than an old used Marshall tube head that probably needs some work done.......at least a capacitor changeout and maybe output tubes replaced. The Marshall tube head is a blast from the past, and certainly nice if you want that particular sound. I get all the Marshall sounds I want from my Marshall AVT20B bass combo amp, and I get tubelike output stage overdrive distortion at a level that preserves my hearing due to the 20 watts and FDD output stage circuitry.

What impressed me about the RBI was the fact that I really could get a sound that was very close to my Marshall combo amp. If you gotta get a lot of different sounds, the RBI is a cool way to go without toting tons of amps. I'm not against owning lots of different bass amps if you have the space and money (I don't), but you can cop a close tone with an RBI setup, remember the settings, and only use one amp and be well covered. It is better than modeling amps that use a limited number of presets. That means your collection of cool vintage bass amps don't get the hell beat out of them doing live gigs and touring, and they will be worth far more in later years due to their immaculate condition. If somebody will let you play their amp rig, you can play your RBI setup beside it and cop a sound that is close, log it into your setup charts, and basically have their rig with you where ever you go at no additional weight and cost. I realize there are purists out there who are basically satisfied with one particular amp, such as an SVT, and this does not apply to them. When you consider the huge number of RBI's that have been sold, and the limited number that show up on eBay with a selling price close to a new one, that says it all. I can't afford to buy a Marshall head at close to $1000 (not including cabs) and be stuck with only Marshall tone. I think owning a Marshall impresses other musicians more than it does the average listener, and they are rather expensive for the quality you get. Most people don't know diddly squat about what gear you are using. My Traynor YCV40 impresses me more than my Marshall AVT50. They sell for close to the same MSRP, but the YCV40 is clearly the best, and almost everybody else who has heard them both will tell you the same thing. I would prefer an SVT over a Marshall anyway.

I can now spend my rather limited music funds on guitars and basses as I have enough different amps locked away inside my RBI's. I would rather convince other musician's to buy all those cool tube amps, copy their sound the best I could with my RBI at no additional cost to me, and just play on. But that's just me.

admin · Post by **admin** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 3:19 pm

Philco: I can't say enough good things about the Traynor YCV40. A great clean channel and and wonderful overdive channel as well. The tonality is superb and it has great features. Pete Traynor has done a terrific job with these amplifiers. While the reverb is not quite as good as that of Fender, I am well pleased with it.

philco · Post by **philco** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 1:02 pm

The YCV40 reverb might not be as good as Fender reverb, but it's certainly better than my Marshall. Of course, people don't generally buy Marshalls for the reverb.

The only way the Marshall AVT50 beats the Traynor YCV40 would be the bass, due to the closed cab. In order to fully exploit that, you have to buy something like a Vintage 30 or G12H 30 speaker at a little over $100, plus I would install a Scan-Speak vent and some Acousta-Stuf damping fiber to smooth it out. After that, the price differential is more than eaten up by the cost of upgrade parts. The Marshall should then beat the stock Traynor as a heavy metal or bass practice amp. When I get some spare experimental funds, I intend to upgrade both amps. I could shove the YVC40 speaker in the AVT50 since it's a notch upscale in the Marshall range, and just buy a Vintage 30 for the YCV40.

I would expect Traynor to come out with a head version of the YCV40 and YCV80, in order to compete with the AVT50H and other moderate powered heads.