Picked this up the other day. Has 3 mods. Master volume on the back, High Gain mod on channel 1, and an effects loop. Had a couple techs confirm through email that the circuit looks mostly original and that the mods seem to be well done, but no one could really give me any details.
I am hoping the experts here (especially Niekeel, as he seems to know his stuff) can shed some light on what exactly is going on here. I am not sure what type of master volume this is. I am also not sure what the extra preamp tube is for? I'm assuming for the high gain mod?
What exactly is this high gain mod? That extra piece of white board stuck to the side of the circuit board is something I've never seen before. Has a bunch of caps attached to it, but what are they for, and what are they doing? I'm assuming again that this is for the high gain mod?
I was told by a previous owner of this amp that it can get all era's of Marshall tones, from AC/DC to EVH and more, and that of 40 years of owning vintage Marshalls, this one is killer. But he also had no more details on the mods. He bought it with the mods in place, and the amp came from a studio in Canada that shut down.
However to be honest, I can only play it at a lower home volume (night time playing) and with the master way down and treble volume on 10, it seems all I can get is typical plexi gain level. Up to AC/DC but maybe slightly lower then that. Hardly a high gain mod that this claims to be.
My JMP 2203 at similar settings is way more aggressive and more gain at a reasonable home level that's not too loud.
I'm guessing I might have had unrealistic expectations, as I was hoping I could get the hot rodded tones I heard on youtube from modded old marshalls. EVH, Lynch, DiMartini type of stuff. Even in Pete Thorn's video on Vai's "Jose" Marshall, when he's talking to Dave Friedman, they are able to get a really saturated tone as speaking level. I guess that was my unrealistic expectation
Seems like you have to dime the master still, but at that point the amp is unplayable to me as it's too loud.
Maybe I'm not using it as intended and need to invest in an attenuator, even though I really don't want to have to go that route.
One weird thing that I haven't seen before is that when the master is set high or on full, and all the volume controls on the front of the amp are at 0. There is still a clean signal. Not loud, but maybe speaking/TV level. Is that supposed to happen?
Anyways, here are the pics. I'm hoping I can get educated on what exactly I have here.
I am hoping the experts here (especially Niekeel, as he seems to know his stuff) can shed some light on what exactly is going on here. I am not sure what type of master volume this is. I am also not sure what the extra preamp tube is for? I'm assuming for the high gain mod?
What exactly is this high gain mod? That extra piece of white board stuck to the side of the circuit board is something I've never seen before. Has a bunch of caps attached to it, but what are they for, and what are they doing? I'm assuming again that this is for the high gain mod?
I was told by a previous owner of this amp that it can get all era's of Marshall tones, from AC/DC to EVH and more, and that of 40 years of owning vintage Marshalls, this one is killer. But he also had no more details on the mods. He bought it with the mods in place, and the amp came from a studio in Canada that shut down.
However to be honest, I can only play it at a lower home volume (night time playing) and with the master way down and treble volume on 10, it seems all I can get is typical plexi gain level. Up to AC/DC but maybe slightly lower then that. Hardly a high gain mod that this claims to be.
My JMP 2203 at similar settings is way more aggressive and more gain at a reasonable home level that's not too loud.
I'm guessing I might have had unrealistic expectations, as I was hoping I could get the hot rodded tones I heard on youtube from modded old marshalls. EVH, Lynch, DiMartini type of stuff. Even in Pete Thorn's video on Vai's "Jose" Marshall, when he's talking to Dave Friedman, they are able to get a really saturated tone as speaking level. I guess that was my unrealistic expectation
Seems like you have to dime the master still, but at that point the amp is unplayable to me as it's too loud.
Maybe I'm not using it as intended and need to invest in an attenuator, even though I really don't want to have to go that route.
One weird thing that I haven't seen before is that when the master is set high or on full, and all the volume controls on the front of the amp are at 0. There is still a clean signal. Not loud, but maybe speaking/TV level. Is that supposed to happen?
Anyways, here are the pics. I'm hoping I can get educated on what exactly I have here.
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