Marshall 1959 SLP Reissue

My amp is from the early 90's. It does not have the effect loops that the new reissues have, and that is a positive fact to many. I can't say which reissue is the best the knew ones that are made today or mine. Because unfortunately I have not played a knew reissue. It's a pretty straight forward amp that you probably already know. It's perfect for blues/rock. It has four channels, the first channel is more treble sounding and the second has a more bassy sound. This amp is as simple it can get. Bass, Treble, Presence and Midrange thats it.

I am using a 2004 Gibson Sg standard with original humbuckers. I play Blues/Rock and the amp is very suitable for that. But it also have a very warm clean sound that works with many other music styles. The treble channel is very trebly. You really has to adjust your settings to get the tone you want, it can take a while. But when you get the settings right it sounds amazing. This amp, worth mentioning is that it's VERY loud. To get tube distortion you'll have to put the volume up to 6 or and that is not much overdrive, to really get the 60's marshall tone you must have the volume at 8 at least. and then it's LOUD. The you have tone!! Cream/Hendrix sounds. Also good for ac/dc. But if you are in a place were you can't cranke the amp i really recommend a pedal like the tube screamer or a power break. I did not give it a ten because that the amp is not handwired and there is a few other tweaks that has to be done to get the true master tone. But my economy couldn't afford a original 60's marshall or a handwired one.

These marshall amps is amp you can trust. My amp is 15 years old and it's not even a buzz from it. So I can't be happier.

I have not used it.

I have been playing for four years. Have owned a Line 6 flextone 3. The tone of the marshall can not be compared to the Line 6. I have played many other amps and this one cranked just takes the lead. I am definetly going to buy more similar marshall amps as Jtm45 or other SLP. I love the look and the sound of it it is amazing. It is a shmae though that you have to play it so lud to get "the tone". It is not the ultimate marshall amp. A vintage original 60's marshall is the best or a handwired is better but i got it for very little money, and to get that tone for so litte cash. You can get the 60's tone if you handle it right. I am sorry if there is any bad english, Thank you

2007 Reissue. I feel its versatile in the sense that it provides a great base to add pedals and construct an overall sound. Other than that, the fact that this amp is simple is what I love about it. Its not busy like many amps of today. Just the EQ and volume. Beautiful in my opinion. I give it an 8 because it doesn't do a bunch of different sounds, so you wouldn't exactly call this extremely versatile, but in my opinion it does what I need quite well.

Ok, SO, I give this a 7 because out of the box its really not happening. These amps all have the potential to be 10's, but they just need a little TLC.

I am a strat player who likes to do Hendrix style Blues. The bright channel on this amp will break your eardrums its disgustingly trebley. I actually removed the bright capacitor all together which was real easy to do and made a world of difference. The adding proper preamp tubes made this sound like a completely different amp - huge improvement. These amps are extremely sensitive to the quality of tube you use in them. Mullard Reissues are pretty good. I have a NOS RCA in the the first position which is great.

Many say to upgrade the output transformer which I plan on doing soon. I've played some boutique amps and original plexi's that have alot better tonality going on which is effected by the output transformer. You really hear the quality in an output transformer when youre pushing the amp hard. Harmonics and musicality are increased.

Speaker choice you use is very important as well.

So it gets a 7 because its not a plug in and instant tonefest. But, these amps have major Potential. Just needs some tweaks, and patience.

By the way, I paid a good bit less because I was an employee at a music store and got the discount. I wouldnt pay the full price for these amps, theres usually plenty of used ones and/or boutique knock offs which are already upgraded for equal or a lot less.

I've owned it for a little less than a year now but it hasnt seen gig duty. Its been cranked countless times and run for hours though and seems solid. No worries here.

I had some issues with the brightness of this amp and noise, which was actually due to crap tubes and the bright cap. I didn't know about these things when I first bought it so I emailed Marshall. They took over a week to get back and did not give any productive input.

As some of you have read, Metropoulos Amps are a great boutique plexi amp and the website has a forum with lots of knowledgeable folks. In all honesty, buy from metro not marshall, unless youre getting a deal on the marshall, which you can upgrade as you go like I am doing.

The word about these amps is POTENTIAL. Huge potential. Just needs patience, knowledge, and tweaking. When you get it right you'll be extremely pleased. I dont think buying new is worth it, just buy used. Theyre easy to have work done on if need be, its a simple circuit. If you're considering one I'd highly reccomend it. By the way, volume is the obvious part of this amp. If you can't truly push the volts, get something lower wattage.

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.