New Cab Day... 1978 Marshall? Basketweave.. Has G12h30, T1217

[Brian Good]

Picked up this cab today. It sounds amazing, bright, powerful, clear. The cleans are spectacular, it is bright, but not enough low end for metal. Great for vintage tones. So here are some pics. Any info on this guy? I am not super fluent in vintage Marshall stuff, from googling around, speakers date to July of 1978, so does that mean the cab is too? Are those the correct original speakers?

Man, the basketweave looks great, except someone spray painted it black (why?). Anyways, the basketweave is very sturdy, and when I lightly scratch it, the paint does flake off to a degree. I'm thinking about taking off the grill cloth and maybe trying to remove the paint with a soft brush, maybe even spray it with goof off and then power washing it or something and try to save it. Never done anything like this before.

Let me know what you think. You guys always have the best knowledge. Any info would be helpful.

One oddity I noticed, the piping around the baffle is white, but then along the top they are gold, and are made of what appears to be plastic coated strings. There is no "Marshall" Logo, but holes where they used to be. What would this thing look like new, if I want to restore? Thanks!

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[charveldan]

78's came with black grill or small chequerboard. Id say someone put those 30 watt Blackback speakers into an older cab.
Basket weave were late 60's early 70's but came with greenbacks or creambacks.
Your basket code dates to April 1978.

 

[Brian Good]

78's came with black grill or small chequerboard. Id say someone put those 30 watt Blackback speakers into an older cab.
Basket weave were late 60's early 70's but came with greenbacks or creambacks.
Your basket code dates to April 1978.

Thanks man. That's what the "internet" says too. Marshall didn't really use that speaker. So dating the cab is a lost cause, right? The weave looks brown, like not the grey one I see a lot. I must say, the cab does sound amazing, very powerful and clear. Oddly, the high end sizzle of my JCM900 MKIII disappears, even with preamp and diodes at 20.

 

[Brian Good]

Mine has plastic corners and plastic handles too.... kind of weird.

 

[charveldan]

I have two 1978 A & B cabs with G12M 25 watt Blackbacks.
Yes Marshall did use your speakers but not that grill in 78.
Mine have the plastic handles.
Cane & Basket weave normally had metal handles.
There is a chance your cab was a freak & original but it would be the first Blackback cab ive seen with a basket weave grill.
Could have had the grill replaced too.
But only early 70's cabs had gold piping and yours has that so IDK.
Could have had the metal handles replaced with plastic, unlikely tho.
I have seen a 1983 JMP 2203 in the old headshell and most JMP's stopped around 1981' when the JCM-800's came out.
Your cab could have been a hybrid with leftover stock to get it out the door in 1978. Thats speculation but i would need to see the cab in person to be able to tell if the basket screws were ever turned.

 

[Brian Good]

I have two 1978 A & B cabs with G12M 25 watt Blackbacks.
Yes Marshall did use your speakers but not that grill in 78.
Mine have the plastic handles.
Cane & Basket weave normally had metal handles.
There is a chance your cab was a freak & original but it would be the first Blackback cab ive seen with a basket weave grill.
Could have had the grill replaced too.
But only early 70's cabs had gold piping and yours has that so IDK.
Could have had the metal handles replaced with plastic, unlikely tho.
I have seen a 1983 JMP 2203 in the old headshell and most JMP's stopped around 1981' when the JCM-800's came out.
Your cab could have been a hybrid with leftover stock to get it out the door in 1978. Thats speculation but i would need to see the cab in person to be able to tell if the basket screws were ever turned.

Mine has plastic corners and plastic handles too.... kind of weird.

So if it is early 70s basketweave, with replaced handles, and speakers, what size marshall logo would have been on the front? I'll probably restore it.

 

[charveldan]

So if it is early 70s basketweave, with replaced handles, and speakers, what size marshall logo would have been on the front? I'll probably restore it.

I would use an 11 inch and be done with it.

 

[BygoneTones]

Looks like a mish-mash of parts to me. Can you show a photo of the inside of the cab? That is the best way to date it.

Basketweave with rivetted on plastic corners and that style of serial is definitely "wrong" so maybe a non-original baffle or something. Need better pics of the inside to do the detective work. Show us the bottom and the type of castors too.

Those handle T-nuts are definitely not original. So it is very possible someone has messed around with the baffle.

 

[soundboy57]

Looks like a 1974-75 cab with painted basketweave grill, and '78 speakers.

 

[Scumback Speakers]

Yeah, more pics of the internal cab bracing are needed. Definitely looks like the cloth has been replaced with Salt & Pepper (aka basketweave), and not the standard check cloth it should have come with. You have a cab made up of different parts, IMO, until I see better pics.

 

[charveldan]

Looks like a 1974-75 cab with painted basketweave grill, and '78 speakers.

Yeah but with plastic handles ?
74 would have metal.

OP : is the center post a 2x2 square or 2x4 ?

Need more pics inside.

 

[soundboy57]

Yeah but with plastic handles ?
74 would have metal.

OP : is the center post a 2x2 square or 2x4 ?

Need more pics inside.

Plastic handles started in late 1971..plastic corners in late 1972..large domed rivets on the corners replaced screws
in 1974-75.

 

[charveldan]

Lets say its a 70's cab with GH-30 Blackbacks & call it a day.

A great cab by any standards.

 

[neikeel]

Lets say its a 70's cab with GH-30 Blackbacks & call it a day.
A great cab by any standards.

Don't be a spoil sport!
Black levant, plastic skids and corners must be pre 75 but post 71
Particle board back = post 71
Basket weave grill 68-71 in Uk

Conceivably a 71 cab with replaced speakers?????

 

[charveldan]

Don't be a spoil sport!
Black levant, plastic skids and corners must be pre 75 but post 71
Particle board back = post 71
Basket weave grill 68-71 in Uk

Conceivably a 71 cab with replaced speakers?????

 

[Brian Good]

Thank you all for your responses! Took some more pics, I checked the sides of the baffle, to try to calculate if the grill cloth is original, it was perfectly fitted, and symmetric, I feel like if someone was going to replace it, why not replace it again, as this specific grill cloth was badly stained, ultimately spray painted black, so if the Cane Grill is a replacement, wouldn't they have just replaced again? I dunno...


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[clutch71]

I don't really have anything to contribute other than great score! As long as those speakers are original and you paid a reasonable price that cab is a great candidate for restoration. Bygone, soundboy75, Scumback, and Neikeel own or deal in these old cabinets.

 

[soundboy57]

Those are great cabs, with great wood.
The gold casters are probably the original ones, which also date it to
the mid 70's. Small center post with original foam rubber bumper...looks just like a 1975 cab I had.
I have only seen those "A" type serial tags on 1976 cabs, so it could be that late, right before they
changed over to the elephant grain tolex. Just my guess.
The handles were originally riveted on, so they added the T nuts after drilling the rivets to remove the front baffle
and replace the original checkerboard cloth....very common.
Very decent looking cab!!

 

[Brian Good]

It's a great cab for my purposes, I wanted a solid greenback/type cab, as I have a G12-65, Big M, cab, and a Mesa OS, with Redbacks/G1265s, Bogner OS w/creamback (modern). Turns out 2 of the g12h30 speakers has some gunk on them, I can't determine what it is, one looks like clear silicone or glue, but they sound fine, the other 2 speakers look brand new. I asked Caveman Vintage in LA (where I bought the cab) to discount the cab, but he wouldn't, just told me I could return. The cab was 500 bucks, which isn't too bad, even with the 2 flawed speakers, IMO. But I did feel he knew about it, cuz I even asked, hey man did you check the speakers? And he was careful to quickly change topic to "They sound great!", my dumbass played the cab, and it was indeed a fantastic sounding cab and wasn't careful. I mean the guy is a vintage dealer, for him not to check the speakers is bullshit, IMO... but it's my own damn fault for busting my nut the minute I played it. I'm not gonna go hardcore restore, just redo the grill cloth, handles, glue down some of the tolex tears. The tone is exactly what I was looking for, powerful, bright, meaty. Makes my Marshall cleans sound amazing. Dirty sounds great too on it. It doesn't do metal well for me. I'll post pics when I'm done messing with it. Thanks for all the info! You guys are the best.

 

[DannyB]

Nice find!