Marshall 1959 SLP Reissue

This thing was made when that angel-devil guy got thrown out of heaven...man!

RAWK RAWK RAWK RAWK!!!! Teamed up with "Blackie" my '79 Custom Les Paul & 4/12 Orange box, this amp is some kind of menace!

With lord SATAN & the plexi on my side, nothings gonna get in our way!

never needed it

Who cares about me & what i've done! Go buy one & you wont be sorry!

If you're checking this out then you already know...Mine is a 2003 with the effects loop.

Using this with 2 '94 Hamer Daytonas with Duncan Sh-10's in the bridge positions. First off, I have to say that this amp has to be used the right way to get the desired results. You don't need to change the trannys or the choke,etc. Hot Plates and Power Brakes just beat up your amp, create a lot of heat, and make it sound like a heaping pile of dross. As far as re-tubing, JJ E34L is the way to go.Tight, driving bottom,smooth mids and ripping highs. Also tried the JJ ECC83-S gold pin preamp tubes. Made a BIG difference. Anyway it seems to me the best way to use this amp is to install a post phase inverter master volume control. Also referred to as the Ken Fischer Mod. Because the tone network on these amps are so interactive, you have to use the volume controls for tonal adjustments as well. This mod allows total tonal control so that when you find the sweet spot, you won't lose it when you change the output level. Without it, turn one knob and everything changes. Then you're back to square one to adjust for the level that you changed. This way you can incorporate any drive/dist box into the front end, adjust the tone exactly the way you want it, and have complete control over your volume from bedroom to arena! Always get quizzed on how I get my tone. We play anywhere and everywhere. 150 at a pub and 2500 at theatres. My amp drives 2 1960a cabs on top and 2 GenzBenz g-flex 2-12's on the bottom as sort of sub-modules. The 1960a's fit on top of the Genz's perfectly. And with the connection options on the Genz's, I can run all 4 with my one Plexi head. The only way to describe it is God of Thunderchunk. For smaller gigs I just take 1 1960a cause casters make it easy.

Totally 100% reliable. It gets serviced every 6 months. No issues at all. But then again, you guys using those crappy hot plates might have a different story to tell.....hmm...........

Never needed it so I can't say.

Playing 34 yrs. My signal goes ( i'm probably gonna regret this ) Hamer Daytona> Boss TU-2> Dunlop Crybaby> SansAmp GT-2> Rocktron Hush> to front end to jack 1> jump 1 bottom to 2 top. loop send> Digitech MultiChorus> Digitech DigitalDelay> to return jack. I can't believe I just gave it away. There ya go kids. Sorry, no amp settings. (Find your own) Do some diggin' !! Oh, and if someone stole this, i'd hunt em down like the elk I got with my Uncle Ted. Yeah, that's right. THE Uncle Ted !!

It's a tube amp with no frills. I believe you need to start with good clean power and what you do with it after that is your business - so this amp is perfect for me. I jump the 2nd to 3rd channel and play through channel 1.

I play with all the knobs fully open excluding the treble and intensity which I leave off. The treble on this amp is ear piercing. With these settings and a tube screamer it has a good vintage tube amp sound for the rock music I play. It does not have the buzz sound with the tube distortion that I hear in all the other new Marshall Amps that have one or more master volume controls.

Terrible. I blew the output transformer in 6 hours. In 40 years of playing I have never had a problem like this before - was there any quality control and testing with this product before they put it on the market?

Montreal does not stock output transformers so I must wait 1 month for the warranty part. Marshall loads the Canadian market with these amps but dosn't supply repair parts? Is this a good marketing strategy?

I like the sound when its working. There was another amp in the shop with a similar problem when I sent mine in. I hope Marshall is tracking this to see if it is a one off thing or a problem that needs to be addressed with the output transformers. I now have two of these amps (one for back up).

This amp is a poor excuse for a Marshall, the reissue that is, obviously someone at Marshall forgot how they made their plexi heads and this reissue is a prime example!
I have an original 1965 Jtm45 100watt plexi head and a Marshall 412 cab w25 watt greenbacks and an original 1959 SLP Marshall, these two are tone and more tone I have not heard better sounding amps yet especially the Jtm 45, as rare as these are they were getting banged up from me gigging so I decided to retire them for home and studio use and got a 1959 Head and a 412 with Yes the Chinese Marshall celestion speakers, didn't know that at the time, anyway took the it home played tried to tweek the sound and still sounded like crap, then I played the reissue cab through my old 412 and it was a lot better but still not that great. So through process of elimination I tried both my head through the new Chinese Marshall Celstions and it was not even comparable to my cab, then I tried my heads through my cab and it sounded like music to my ears, did all kind of AB swithcing and the end resultis the 1959 plexi is basically a hunk of crap that's why people are selling them for dirt cheap on ebay if they find a sucker to buy them, folks I'm telling you night and day this sounds nothing like my 1959slp, not even close, it seems they forgot to make the amp that they made that made them fame and fortune, and many great players play the originals and they sound amazing, talking to a lot of people who are experienced there is a total dissappointment with Marshall amps and they're cabs, I also have a Canadian Version of the JCM 800 1982, and a friend of mine bought the reissue, not even close.
Is it mass production, is it the chinese offshore thing(they are assembled and brought in from offshore or oversea's???
THEY ARE MADE IN CHINA! now was that too hard!
Marshall speaker cabs they say are made in england and assembled in China, well whatever they're doing they don't sound the same anymore.
I AB'd a JCM 800 412 from mid eighties to one of the chinese ones 4 or 5 years old and there was no comparison hands down the 80's one took it by a long shot.

I believe Marshall had a superior product in the 60's 70's and 80's,but they have lost a lot of credibility from many a player, thus players going to boogie and all kinds of amp companies popping up offering point to point wiring, and building a quality product.

I mean it's pretty bad when Marshall reissues one of the amps they made originally and some guy in his little company duplicates a plexi and the little company's amp sounds closer to the Marshall than the Marshall reissue does, pretty pathetic.
And believe me when I say I stand behind my older Marshall products 100% but some of the reissues man, not very good, A B them and you'll see what I mean, thus to say I sold my reissue head which may I add took a while, everone wanted it until they heard it,then no one wanted it, gradually someone did buy it, sold it for $600 Canadian thank god.

Chinese Marshall cabs? sell out or what it's all about the money, why do you think that for about $700 you could buy a brand new Chinese Marshall 412 cab, where as before they were around the $1000 or slightly over sure slave labour at $1 an hour if that.
I spoke with someone who is the president of his own compny and he gave me a comparison, he said if you paid 2 people in america $30 an hour the total of that will employ a whole factory of workers in China 110 people to be exact that's what this person told me and everyone is following suit to make more of the almighty dollar, but unfortunately for us the players who spend our hard earned money on costly equiptment, we deserve the quality and workmanship and a good product, I really don't care where it's made as long as it sounds good!

I mean I remember in the 80's were people were laughing at Japanese guitar manufactures " oh it's a Japanese Copy" and they would stay away, yet those same people are hunting down those instruments today because they were better than Gibson and Fender in the mid 70's to the early 90's.
Tokai is a perfect example, they made better guitars than the company they were copying was making.Their quality was A+ that's why.I don't think 10 years from now people will be saying oh is that a Chinese Marshall buy it that's worth a lot of money, based on the fact that the product is not maintaing the Marshall name and Legend enough said!

Didn't have it for that long couldn't stand the sound.

Tried emailing Marshall for some info as to why it didn't sound good , sent several emails and no response at all from Marshall, very poor customer support oh sorry NO CUSTOMER SUPPORT!

Gear I own:
1961 Fender Strat
1969 Fender Strat
71 Gibson SG
73 Gibson Les Paul
Gibson Flying V
Original 1965 Marshall JTM 45 100 watt head( Best head ever)
1969 100 watt SLP Marshall
1970 412 Marshall cab with real 25 watt Greenbacks(not the Chinese Kind)
Peavey XXX head
Koch Twintone head- These heads sound amazing!!!!!

I have the version prior to Marshall adding an effects loop and raising the price by a grand (That's Just Criminal). Must have been made somewhere between 2001-2003?? It was on the showroom floor of G - Center for about a year and a half totally misunderstood by the staff and the teeny bopper high gainers. The features are basic; 2 channel volumes, tone controls, presence. I actually like bridging the two channels and getting the high / low set with the volumes on the two channels. Works out better for me. Run it through a 2x12 Marshall cab and more recently through a custom 4x12 cab I built and tolexed loaded with greenbacks. Sounds really great!

The good.....

The amp is the $hit. Sounds really great on chunky stuff.... kinda like the old testament God. Power chords are something akin to a freight train on a dark moonless night rolling through a crossing. Just awesome. It has some of the fender bassman sound, but thicker on the low end. I can dial in anything from Metallica to Joe Satriani to Robin Trower to Santana to Van Halen to a descent (not great but descent) warm jazzy sound. Overdrive tones and textures depend alot on what is put in front of it in terms of stomp boxes. Another thing I like to do is set the amp at a moderate volume then turn the volume on a pedal up. This helps overdrive the preamp tubes and sounds really rich as compared to just depending on the pedal for distortion.

It's not a one trick pony. Some compromises are made between clean and dirty tones. The best setup for me is to switch between amps. The marshall for dirty or bluesy sound and a Fender twin Reverb for clean.

I tried the AC/DC thing one time.... Man that just hurts. In my living situation (i.e. having neighbors) cranking the amp at those volumes is just not practicle. The setup I mentioned before (pedals and two amps) gives me the tone I enjoy at manageable volume.

I've played alot of guitars through it using both humbuckers and single coil. My personal style at this point is heavy blues on the one hand and technical skill / lead on the other. I've experimented with alot of gear and come up with some strange solutions. For example, I have a Warmoth guitar which I put together with Texas Specials. The pickups are wired individually to on-off switches with one volume and one tone. I turn on all three pickups and the guitar is just great for lead, Satriani, Van Halen, whatever. For the hendrix tone, it is my limited edition Strat with a quilted maple top and the neck pickup. For that David Gilmore dark side of the moon sound I switch to the middle position on a USA strat and put both guitar tones on zeroe. Chokes the crap out of the guitar and just sounds awesome!

The bad......

Crappy Marshall pots. Had the volume pots replaced because they were scratchy and extremely sensitive. Got the amp back home.... had brand new scratchy, extremely sensitive pots. That's just marshall.

Had the tubes re-biased but I've gotten alot of life out of the originals. I take care of my stuff too though. I don't slam the tubes with voltage until they warm up and I live in one of the more arid regions of the country which is easier on electronics.

I gigged pretty extensively through 2004-2005. Overall.... the amp hasn't given me any problems. I have faith in it.

The ugly.......

O.k. so marshall makes a cool re-issue at a descent price (I got mine for $999). Then they add an effects loop and double the price. What a bunch of jerks!!!! Honestly, the company was supposed to be on the side of musicians (or they were back in the 60's and 70's). It's all about the money now. Would I buy another product from Marshall.... Not only no but hell no! Marshall has lost integrity!

What are the options.... there's alot of good options if you have a little patience and like to work on projects. Building custom cabinets that have better quality control at a good price is an option. Load em with celestions, Eminence or Jensen speakers.... poof.... a great sounding, great looking (if you take your time) 4x12 at 1/3 to 1/2 the price. The external hardware you can use is heads and tales above the plastic Marshall is putting out. You can also get your own nameplate if you want. Amplifiers? There are alot of kits out there, especially good are the ones from Metropoulos Amplification. He makes a great, straight forward kit with clear instructions for a Plexi or JTM-45 head. Hand soldered point to point construction.... done by you. They both sound killer and come with everything needed for assembly, including the head cabinet and handle. Metropoulos has great customer support and is very helpful with questions.

Marshall is an icon, but they've lost integrity. Quite frankly I think they've also lost touch with the common musician. The sad thing is that Jim Marshall is still alive and he's letting this stuff go on. What happens when he passes and the board of directors takes over?

Great amplifier design which has stood the test of time. Not really sure the company has! Instead of making music, the company focus seems to be all about the money. Maybe someday they'll turn it around.

bypassable series effects loop.
unlike the old ones...

To the reviewer below,
Firstly, JJ tubes have now been discontinued from Marshall because they are way too unreliable right now and are NOT the best tubes, you might like them but thats just like pushing a Mustang on someone who much prefers a GT, silly,
Secondly, the stock tube of the 1987x and 1959 re-issues are now winged C SED Svets. my favourite, and an excellent choice for old Marshall amps and extremely reliable right now.

Any old iron?? the trannies are quite good in the re-issue series amps I think, I changed mine to a custom wound and did notice a bit more grind but not a huge improvement.

PTP turret board???
Thats just going way too far,
It really sounds like you bought the wrong amp, for the money youve just gone and spent, you could have bough a boutique clone, with all that work already done, a metroupolis kit and build it yourself for alot less maybe??
I myself, could not be bothered with the amount of effort or money involved with any of your "mods"

Ive a/b my re-issues with the real deal and actually prefer the re-issue, that is after a few months break in.

These amps are actually copies of the "72/73" circuit, not the plexi era, they do have the look of a late 60's Marshall but have the innards of the more favourited metal panel Marshall's.

I still havent seen any problems with these amps, not one except for tubes and stupidity.

Not very helpful,
basically non existant.
the wait on any part is a long one.

Simple non master volume head. Jump the channels.

I gig and teach for a living and always wanted a kick-ass half stack. I play a strat all the time but when I'm using this amp it's for rock/groove/blues. Think Hendrix/Sly Stone/Stevie Wonder/Freddie King/Doyle Bramhall/Buddy Guy/Stones and you're there. The std version of this amp sucks, very bright, very harsh and can sound very thin. HERE IS WHAT YOU MUST DO IN ORDER OF COST!!

1. Replace ALL valves. the stuff that marshall use is pretty crap. Best new production EL34's are the JJ tesla EL43L's. You could go KT66, 6CA7 or even go all out for NOS tubes but ditch the std crap. You WILL notice a difference straight away but how much you spend is up to you. I put a selection of various NOS stuff in preamp and output sections of this amp and the improvement is HUGE.

2. Any old Iron? The Transformers make a big difference and guess what the ones marshall use are like...crap. I put a Metroamp Dagnall clone in after I did the tubes and it was like having a second cab. The amp 'felt' so strong and the sound was noticably bigger and much more authorative.

3. PTP Board. A hand built point to piont wired board from metroamp.com will put you in the same league as a real 69 plexi. I put in a 69 Superbass board and the sweet creaminess that I'd wanted when I bought the amp in first place was finally there. Georges stuff is so well put together and the quality of the components makes a big difference. You can choose the components to use depending on what sound/style you're after. I have nothing to do with metroamp other than I'm a very satisfied customer.

No problems, I built it myself.

Marshall suck. I was trying KT66's instead of EL34's. The tech guy at Marshall hadn't a clue and actually gave me the wrong info that would have seriously damaged the amp and the tubes if I'd taken his advice.

If you wanyt the true vintage tones of a Marshall, custom build your own, either from scratch or modify an existing amp. You could just save the hassle and buy one direct from someone like George Metropolous at metroamp. The next plexi i buy that's what I'm gonna do.

DON'T KID YOURSELF! Marshall aren't the slightest bit interested in giving you good tone. They just want to trade on the strenght of their brand and get you to hand over your cash.

yeah, i bought this thing on advice from a buddy. I had an extra 3g's hanging around, and needed an amp to replace my 1968 version, which wasnt working. i sold it for 200 buck, and bought this one.

i cant compare the old one, cuz its been a while since the other one worked. Im only startin to pick up and play the guitar again. I bought the slant cab, and base cab to go with it, so i can imagine im jimmy henrix.

Wow, i didnt know this thing was so loud. My mom doesnt want me to turn it up too loud in my bedroom. But it looks cool on top of the cabinets. Oh the cabinets have celestions it it. (Hey look at me,,im jimmy hendrix)

I bet this thing wouuld sound cool cranked up.

i dont know about reliability. i hope it lasts longer than my original 68 one. Actually someone told me it may have been a fuse, or the tubes or rectifier (whatever that is) is blown on the 68. Oh well, and i probably could have got more money for it so i was told.
Darn. Oh well live and learn. Kinda wish i had it back now.

i never dealt with Marshall.

I bought this because it looked like my old one. I own a epiphone les paul flame top. I had the music store put it george lynch pickups in it. it sounds better now.

I wish i could turn it up louder. I guess i will need to play in a band or something somewhere , so i can get down to playing again.

i have a 59slp 100 watt head. 2005
this head is AMAZING!! Maybe i got lucky and got an extra good one.
Thru 2 boogie 4 12's and a THD hotplate. Holly grail reverb thru effects loop, and a mod. wah. that's it, with sometimes the mxr micro amp. If your a real player, and don't cover up your sound with prossessed crap. This amp is all you need. RAWNESS and REAL.

i use a 1976 les paul standard, 1990 les paul standard.
But the 68' strat sounds the best thru this rig. roll back the volume alittle and you have the sweetest clean sound.

haven't had it long enough to say how dependable it is.

don't need em

i have been playing for 20+ years.
and have had marshalls always. i still have my jcm's 900 & 800
and this slp blows them away.

1993 "Plexi" 1959SLP. It's got all the features it needs!

First off I love this amp! I had been searching for that old-school AC/DC-Thin Lizzy classic crunch for years. I've owned many (too many to keep track of unfortunately) Marshalls and other varieties, this is the best for classic tone. I say "best" because I don't think actually bringing a vintage Plexi-type Marshall to shows is very possible for most of us working musicians (most "real" musicians don't have the $$$ to do so anyways). Obviously the reissue isn't the real thing; however, it's close enough for my liking. I'm surprised how many people discredit this amp -- not sure why? It's definetely a player's amp, you can't "hide" behind a wall of distortion with it. That's the beauty of a non-master Marshall circuit in my opinion - if you can play this thing will demonstrate it.

I primarily use telecasters, one Am. Std modded w/a SD '59 in the bridge and the other is a '72 Deluxe with the big wide-range Fender hums. I don't drive the hell out of the amp, I personally like the bright channel with tone settings between 11 and 1 o'clock and volume 1 around 6 or 7, depending on what cab I'm using. I also use an Ibanez TS-9 (for a little dirtier sound & leads), Crybaby 535Q, Boss Graphic EQ (for slight boost), and a Guyatone tube tremolo unit. I then run the amp into a Weber Mass attenuator, then into either a 1960TV cab (w/greenbacks) or a 1936 2X12 (w/vintage 30's & modded semi-open back). The greenbacks really love this amp -- in my opinion this is the best way to go cab-wise, big and warm sounding.

The great thing about these SLP's is that you can really mod them, if you like, to get exactly the tone your looking for; they're simple and straight-forward. Bright caps C17 & C18 have been removed from my reissue -- I would suggest this if you find the amp overly bright. Mine has also been modded with dual post-phase inverter master volumes, this allows me to run one wide open for leads and the other at 3/4 volume for rythym. Post-phase masters work very well on these, but you still need to drive the amp hard. I use them just because I hate not being able to hear my leads. The more you crank the masters, the less they're in the circuit (wide open they're not in the circuit at all). This set-up works very well for as a solo/lead boost. David Bray did the mod for me -- his work is great.

I can't understand how you could not like this amp. They are very, very dynamic -- just using the guitar's volume control and your pick attack these clean up real nicely. And the crunch is to die for, not harsh, not britle, not too bassy, but just right. The biggest thing I will stress is that you ABSOLUTELY MUST run a powerbrake, or hotplate/attenuator for practice or most practical purposes. The Weber Mass unit is very cool. These amps, as indicated by everyone who has ever played one, are super loud. You should (as with any tube amp) run high quality pre and poweramp tubes and make sure they're biased correctly for best tone. Running the bias too cold definetely makes these amps sound pretty dull. I'm running JJ's in mine -- they seem pretty good.

Built like a tank -- very simple, not much to go wrong like most modern multi-pcb amps. Wish I could say this for all the Marshalls I've owned but....

Overall, I'm in love with this amp. I've been playing for about 14 years, and I've played many, many shows. I've owned or played shows/recorded with many amps including Marshall DSL's, JTM60, JCM900, SL-X's, Orange, Fender, and on and on... This is the best one if you're looking for old-school classic rock, Brit. crunch, blues tone. Like I stated earlier, it's somewhat of an unfair comparison to a true vintage late 60's-early 70's Plexi/metal face amp, but these sound pretty killer in their right. Plus, there are a lot of options that can be done to change the tone of these amps to your own personal preference, if you insist.