Did one of Angus Young's main plexi (super bass) have a 4th preamp tube (weird picture) ?

[jlinde1973]

And I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a photo of Angus with a couple of stacks of 2203’s

Really? man search Acdc on YouTube. There's at least a dozen clips of Angus with 2203 JMPs. At least maybe more. Malcolm always had his 4 holer never seen him playing a 2203. One time I've seen Malcolm playing that 800 200 watter while Angus was using his 2203 stacks yes again. Practice rehearsal in early 80s was posted here not long ago.

 

[79 2203]

Really? man search Acdc on YouTube. There's at least a dozen clips of Angus with 2203 JMPs. At least maybe more. Malcolm always had his 4 holer never seen him playing a 2203. One time I've seen Malcolm playing that 800 200 watter while Angus was using his 2203 stacks yes again. Practice rehearsal in early 80s was posted here not long ago.

I’ve seen a hundred clips on YT and as many photos from that era and it’s mostly 4 holers. Are you sure you’re not mistaking the rocker switch/large logo/white piping late 70’s 4 holers for the 2 holers which have the same cosmetic look??
As for Mal playing 2203’s, I think it’s the Rock Goes To College video that has lots of clear shots of him playing a 2 holer.

 

[PentodeLicious]

I don’t think he played exclusively a Superbass till later in his career. Listen to tracks like Night Prowler where it’s just Mal starting the song with no backing and there’s a aggression and clang/kerrang I just can’t quiet get out of my stock 70 Superbass but my stock 71 1987 does it in spades.
There’s also vids of him using 2203’s in the late 70’s and not sounding significantly different to any of his late 70’s album sounds. The If You Want Blood live album is all 2203’s.
I’ve got a stock 79 2203 as well and can dial in that Powerage era tone, just not as midrangey/vintage sounding as his mid 70’s Bon sound, or as fat/warm/clean as his later career sounds.
I even had a 2061 that was killer for cleaner Mal tones. Basically, any classic Marshall will do it.

Whatever he is using I like his sound.
It's only when I saw a few live clips I realized all the guitar parts with the sound I liked were played by him.

My superlead is almost converted fully to super bass,
Except the high channel, which only had the coupling cap changed to super bass spec(22nf).
It reminds me alot of malcolm's sound.
And of course they way he plays and his gretsch is the other half.


You can hear me scared to really hit the open chords
It was scary loud in the room.
I felt my ear drum pushed inside.
And sorry for mentioning my 75 superlead almost on any post in the forum.
I just adore this thing in every possible way.
I feel like a proud father.

 

[Derrick111]

I've only seen them with super tremolo written on it but with Marshall at that time, who knows. Especially for artists.

There is no DIN jack for the tremolo on/off pedal so wouldn't be a tremolo model.

But my point is you don't need any extra gain stages to get that sound. The stock plexi is more than enough. I don't even think he had them fully cranked at times. Angus tone is cleaner than most people think. Malcolm even more so.

THIS!^^

It really depends on the specific amp because many 70’s Lead spec Metalpanel Marshalls breakup really early and can do ACDC easy by 3 or 4. A 60’s Plexi, maybe not so much.

My stock Dec 71 1987 can do some cleaner Malcolm stuff on 3 and by 4-5 will cover most Mal tones. But it will need to be 5-7 to cover all but the most gainiest Angus tones(the Paris Let There Be Rock shows come to mind)
My stock 70 Superbass needs to be at least on 6 to get Malcolm’s sound. On 3 it’s squeaky clean no matter how hard you smash the strings.
Obviously Angus’s wireless unit adds some compression but it’s not as if they were setting his amps clean, there was always crunch coming from the amp.

Nobody ever considers the presence circuit differences in these amps... Not only were Superbass and Superlead amps wired differently from the factory, Marshall even wired the presence differently on the Superleads sometimes. This makes a world of difference in how lively and aggressive the amps is. For that matter, without a photo of their amp internals, we don't know if they changed that in their amps.

Either way, getting the AC/DC sound from stock 70s Marshalls is not hard at all... what is hard for people is realizing that you need to be doing it cleaner than intuition would lead you. Volume level can play a role in getting this right.

 

[rtcook]

AC/DC = Low gain and VOLUME!

 

[PlanétBlanch]

View attachment 151306

I found this picture while reading the belgian ACDC blog. It was an old pic made public in 2015 to promote the band's tour in facebook and twitter.

is this a 4th preamp tube or a filter cap ? something is off there, no ? It's written super bass on the back and super bass have originally 3 preamp tubes.

This is a fantastic picture! Do you mind sending a link to the blog?

As others have already stated it’s a super bass - the AC/DC rig rundown, go to the 30 minute mark, the guitar tech mentions the details



30:00 - Malcolms amps

#1 1971 Marshall Super Bass (Extra tube for Slaving in studio), no master volume.