Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I sold my behemoth '66 Ampeg Gemini II last week, which I always felt put out way too little volume considering the size of the damn thing. It was relegated to home & recording use only, and I needed a bigger amp for playing live.

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?

It's one of the best amps that you can pick up with one hand. Congrats.

Not at all fluent in techspeak but I love that Marshall sound! Big congratulations, John, I hope it serves you long and well.

leftyguitars wrote:It's one of the best amps that you can pick up with one hand. Congrats.

Looking forward to that! 35 lbs.

sloop_john_b wrote:Your turn - anyone have any experience with these? Any Marshall fans here in general?

Yep, I play mostly Marshalls. No experience with the JTM30's though.

For both chords and leads, nothing beats a nice Marshall tube. I'm partial to JTM45 styles---and I've usually played a Bluesbreaker 2x12 JTM45 combo.

I am jonesing hard for a 1974x though (at $2000 it's a lot to swallow for a small amp....all hand wired etc. 18w).



As much as I like Rics and the jangle, my musical tastes fall much closer to Clapton/Peter Green kinda Marshall stuff (with humbucker guitars)....simply nothing sounds better than a nice cranked Marshall. It's the most "organic" overdrive there is.

Cool score, John.

People can hate me and tell me I'm being close minded when I say this:

Humbuckers + Marshall amps = Good tone
Single coils + Vox amps = Great tone
Any style pickup + Fender amps = Best tone out there

I do like Marshalls, though, and if I had the strength to lift it or frequent gigs to play, I'd probably want a JTM 45 half-stack.

Nothing wrong with Fenders.......that's just a different arrow in the quiver, right? Fenders are great for their onboard effects (their reverb and vibrato are second to none--industry standard), and they are versatile, cheap, and kinda "middle of the road" tone-wise between shrill cleans and overdrive .

A nice tube Marshall makes any guitar sound better. (Try your Ric through a nice cranked Marshall, Jake! Makes it nice and crisp for rythym guitar too..)

Thanks guys. Fenders are nice but the ones within my budget wouldn't really fly. The Deluxe Reverb is a nice sounding amp but would get squashed live unless it was being mic'ed. Also doesn't have enough headroom for gig volume.

sloop_john_b wrote:Thanks guys. Fenders are nice but the ones within my budget wouldn't really fly. The Deluxe Reverb is a nice sounding amp but would get squashed live unless it was being mic'ed. Also doesn't have enough headroom for gig volume.

Depends on your gig!

Until a couple years ago when my friend Conrad Sundholm (Sunn co-founder) introduced his Blues Jammer amp (I helped a bit with this one), and the host of the jam bought one to replace his 1964 Deluxe Reverb as the regular amp, he used his Deluxe Reverb to stunning results every week without being miked. Of course he was trying to get breakup and usually ran about 6 on the volume knob. These are just local bar jams though so lots of volume isn't needed. The Blues Jammer is only 28 watts but uses a Weber Blue Dog so its a bit louder, and has a really sweet tone. I've used my AC30 down there which sounds great but is too loud for the venue...I'm much rather have a Deluxe Reverb than my AC30 for that gig.

I read the article on those Marshalls too and I've never played one, but they sound like they're fine once you fix the overheating issue. Anymore for myself anyway, I like reading about lots of amps as I'm a gear nut like everyone else, but I want to build my own creations. I can make them the way I want in every way this way.

Enjoy your new amp!

greg

sloop_john_b wrote:Thanks guys. Fenders are nice but the ones within my budget wouldn't really fly. The Deluxe Reverb is a nice sounding amp but would get squashed live unless it was being mic'ed. Also doesn't have enough headroom for gig volume.

I use my Deluxe Reverb at home...I never gig, and when I start playing at big venues regularly, then I'll consider a Twin or a AC-30, but for now, my home playing and the Deluxe Reverb are a good match.

JakeK wrote: I use my Deluxe Reverb at home...I never gig, and when I start playing at big venues regularly, then I'll consider a Twin or a AC-30, but for now, my home playing and the Deluxe Reverb are a good match.

You don't necessarily need anything louder, Jake. It all depends on your band and your sound.

Also, remember that "big venues" will mic your amp.

I'm only playing dives and need a clean signal at face-melting volumes. If this Marshall doesn't do the trick, Hiwatt it is.

sloop_john_b wrote:If this Marshall doesn't do the trick, Hiwatt it is.

Dude, you get a Hiwatt, that would be too crazy!

sloop_john_b wrote:I'm only playing dives and need a clean signal at face-melting volumes. If this Marshall doesn't do the trick, Hiwatt it is.

Now you're talking!

I used to sell those amps, and almost bought one myself. They are a great sounding little amp that won't break your back. I was ready to buy it when a customer came in looking to trade in an 88 Marshall 50 watt combo, that was exactly the 87 Silver Jubilee, except an 88 with black tolex. Good thing the boss wasn't in, as he came over to my house that night and we swapped for a Peavey Fury bass and hsc. I didn't swindle him, he wanted the bass, so did I get a deal or what?

I was happy to have an amp I could take to rehearsals and small gigs, and not have to roll the Hiwatt halfstack out. I had that amp for a couple of years, and other than home jamming, didn't cut the mustard live or in the studio. I even tried running it through 4x12 cabs, and it just got lost on the stage. Maybe it sounded good in the audience, but all I could hear would get lost in between the cymbals and bass, and the volume wasn't there. Even in the studio, it didn't commit to tape well without some big eq tweaking, so the recording sounded little like the amp. The amp was in perfect working order, I guess I was just spoiled.

It seems most people have really good experiences with Marshall amps, and they have been used by countless people on countless recordings with great success. I have nothing bad to say about them other than the 4 different ones I owned didn't do it for me, which is really odd considering the bulk of my favorite songs were recorded through one.

I'm sure yours will be a positive one John!

So, John.............how is it?

collin wrote:So, John.............how is it?

+1 ??