For about six months, I've been using a '65 Ampeg Jet, which is ridiculously small and light and surprisingly loud, but lacking in the all-important headroom department.
I'm not terribly picky about amps - my requirements are for chimey-sounding cleans and lots of headroom in a reasonably-sized 2x10 or 2x12 configuration. I like Twin Reverbs but they're too heavy and too expensive. My last AC-30 had a lot of issues and broke up just a smidge too early for my tastes.
With the money from my Gemini in tow, I went around trying out a few different amps that were within my budget - $400-$600 or so (what can I say, I prefer to spend the big money on guitars!). Most of the tube amps that fall into that area were Fender Blues/Hot Rod Deluxes and the like. I thought they sounded good enough until I did a loud a/b comparison next to a new Deluxe Reverb. There was simply no comparison. I sort of grudgingly tried out some new combo Marshall, which I knew I couldn't afford - it was priced at about $2600 - but I ended up quite pleased with the sound of the amp. I made a note to myself to consider them, even though they were an amp I hadn't used since my pre-teen metal days (JCM900 half-stack \m/
)I read Andy Brauer's "Sleeper Amps, part 1" column in Vintage Guitar mag just this morning, and the whole article was basically about the Marshall JTM 30 - an amp that was mostly panned when it was around because of a factory flaw that caused serious overheating problems. Because of this, they can apparently be found very cheap. Brauer mentions that the fix for the overheating problem is stupidly simple - replace the tubes with 6l6's.
His description of the amp was seriously glowing, so to eBay I went. There just so happened to be one listed, with an hour and change to go, at $300. I tossed in my bid in the closing seconds and scored the amp for a paltry $366 plus shipping! Plus, the seller has already done the 6l6 conversion. I'm looking forward to bringing this thing out this weekend and giving it a serious warm-up.
Sheesh, that was long-winded, sorry! Just excited.
Your turn - anyone have any experience with these? Any Marshall fans here in general?
