Marshall 1959 SLP Reissue

This amp was made in the late 90's and is made to give you a rock sound and pretty much nothing else. Sure you can get away with doing a quiet jazz show with the volume pretty much on nothing or you and turn it up a lil louder and get a nice blues sound! but this is a loud amp was is designed to put out alot of volume and anything past 4 is just pure ACDC. It is a 2 channel 4 input amp, I always patch both channels togeter (therefore then having to use both volume knobs). Patching is simple... just get the smallest guitar lead you can and plug one end into one channel... other end into the remaining channel and then your guitars lead into the remaining channel 1 input.
Its got your basic presence (please keep it no more than 12 o clock) and it has your treble,mid,bass EQ.
I use this amp in a 3 piece rock band and i have to say our best asset is our sound. We aint anything famous, just playing gigs and having fun but i always get positive feedback on my guitar sound.
I give it a 9 because... it dosnt have a reverb or whatever... its better that this amp dosnt have anymore features but still.. yeah I give it a 9.

I use many guitars such as a Gretsch with TV Jones f'trons and a Les Paul Custom. It is a noisey amp.. but it was made to be top of the line and used at any venue in the world... angus young uses 2 of these on stage. And of course this amp distorts at high volumes :) thats the only way to get an overdriven sound... crank it!

AUSTRALIANS: I'm just putting this here cos there aint many aussies here talking about this amp... Anyone here thats into ACDC, The Living End, The Casanovas, The Bazooka Joe's ect.. You will get that sound! Have this amp on at least half volume with bass under half and you will have THE angus young sound. Pull the volume off a bit and you will get that chris cheney vibe in your sound. Especially if your like me and also have a gretsch with tv jones'!

I havent had it very long but I have used one before and I borrowed a simular amp (a jmp) and they are the most vesitile amps around in my oppinion. I also own a Fender and a Moody and im scared they aint gonna turn on everytime I go on stage cos it has happened b4 but with this amp i am totally dependable on.

I have been playing for about 10 years.. havent own heaps of gear.. Ive kept everything and i have a gretsch,gibson,fender and a few crappy ones.. amps I have a Fender deville 410 and a 50watt moody head made in '67. Orange 412 quad box with vintage 30's.

I'd go for this amp 2nd hand.. mine was in mint condition for $1800 as compared to a new one in a store for $3300
I only gave it 8 because they are are really expensive brand new.. thats all. They are my favourate amp in the world.

mine was made 1990 came in straight from the production line, because marshall had a delay with delivering the amps at that time 4 channels from which I only use the 2nd and not the high treble one, because this switches of the first level of the preamp, so will be painfull shreddy high treble. If you sit down and try the settings you will have a very subtile and versatile amp ;-)

I use it with humbucker guitars only, which are gibson, PRS and Ginkel.
It has that tube treble hiss which can't be heart anymore when playing. For the rest it can make you play everything as long as you can play guitar and know what you are doing. The amp only distortes at very high volumes, which I think is good as I use it as a power amp and not to dist.

it has been my mate for 13 years now and never had to change the tubes!!!!! very rare as I use it everyday and go from town to town with a band and a van....... Eat that, Fender or Engl!!!

never dealt with them. The support should be easy to find though

I would certainly buy it again, but this absolute no beginners material. Everything I play on is because I searched first and then buy. Play this Amp with analog stuff (like boss pedals or REAL tube preamps)otherwise it gets muddy or very far away. (remeber the 60's and 70's and think that way)Very VERY Good amp

Bought new in 2002. Very few real features, I can't get the effects loop to work with anything without drastrically altering the tone. It's really a one trick pony.

I think after reading some of the negative reviews you have to put this amp in its proper context. It isn't a bedroom amplifier, it was designed to sit in a band which it does beautifully. You are really forced to use an attenuator otherwise it's just too loud. And this is why the amplifier is so bright otherwise, because when you run in through an attenuator you lose that icy brightness and you get really just the right amount of high end. The amp played by itself is a bright amplifier.
As far as tones, this is 70s rock and that's about it. Put a tubescreamer or Fulldrive in front and there's little you can't play from the late 60s to early 80s. There isn't any clean that I can find, but it does clean up semi-nicely with your guitar knob. It isn't bassy like modern amplifiers, it is midrangey but very complex musically in the midrange. It tracks beautifully with your playing, there is almost no fight in the amp, but it still is very uncompressed.

I've used it several times on gigs, no problems.

Marshall has lousy customer support IMHO, compared to say Peavey where you can get an almost immediate response.

Overall this is a great amplifier for what it does. It is the amp that defines rock and roll IMHO. It isn't plug and play like most amps, you'll need to spend some time with it, and really use it in a band. If you want Page, Townsend, early EVH, etc, it's worth checking out.

Okay we all no by now that there isnt anything on this amp. No reverb or effects to make everything complicated. This is both good and bad at the same time. If you want a versatile amp look elsewhere.

If had this thing for 3 months and havent found a decent tone at all.Its either too bassy or too treble ...it never equals out nicely. Ive tried everything from changing the tubes to fooling around with the board. I use a gibson with emgs and another with duncans. This amp sounds so flat you need active humbuckers or pickups. Channel 1 on the plexi is inexcusable. Its probably the worst tone Ive heard from a head in my life. The bottom end can sound larger than life and will be alright if distorted naturally which would be sweet if your Malcolm Young. But if your not a rhythm player and like to throw some lead fills here and there you'll be sorely disappointed. I dont know what kind of plexi you all have been using but its certainly alot different from mine. The man that can find tones of the likes of Hendrix, Page, or Clapton on this piece deserves an award. Using both channel 1 and 2 doesnt help much at all either. The only time the natural distortion sounds even decent is when cranked to 8-10 (I took two tubes out to make it a 50 watt). If anybody knows any way to make this amp sound good enough to gig with let me know.

It looks strong enough. But ive only had it a couple months. It seems really touchy and has many wierd ticks (like many tub amps) so I wouldnt be surprised if it starts falling apart soon.

Never dealt with them.

In conclusion this amp may be okay if your strictly a rhythm guy and its only redeeming factor is its ballsy bottom end and huge huge volume...but thats not enough to save this D.O.A. Stay away from it!

1997 Limited Edition (White).
Not big on features but certainly not required. No master, no fx loop. It's a monster!

1990 USA Strat/2002 Tele/1980's Kramer Baretta custom. Play prog/hard rock. Loud Loud LOUD. Attentuator required if playing any size gig under stadiums. Cleans up nicely with guitar volume rolled off. Responds accuratley to pick attack, the way an amp should. Distortion is warm, sheer wall vibrating power amp distortion. Great tone in all circumstances. Can remove two outer tubes and go 50W as well.

Gigged twice a month for 18 months without a backup plus studio and rehearsal work (I know!!!! I shouldn't be gigging too much with it in the first place - looking at a 5150 MK2) It never missed a beat. I do however treat it with extreme care moving about.

Never needed them.

Playing as long as I can remember. Playing through the white 1960AX quad with 25W greenbacks - the perfect combination. Run various guitars through a G-Major, BBE Sonic Maximiser in most instances and various vintage pedals where required. Have used a Sans Amp GT2 in front on occasion and it performs superbly. If you own one of these or are looking to, then grab yourself a Ahpek Peanut Butter distortion pedal, made in Australia; the most natural overdrive pedal out there - period. Best thing I ever did. See the reviews elsewhere in Harmony Central.

Has all the features we've known and grown to love in a 4 input marshall. As far as features go they got it right. I will have to lower the rating for the effects loop. Though it is true bypass it does effect the tone. I will have to give a much lower rating to do to the cheap piece of crap electronics used to make this amp. No paper bobbin output transformers, the caps in the head are cheap and will go out, no CTS Pots or carling switches, the cliff jacks are not fully insulated, no carbon comp resistors, and of course no hand point to point wiring. The Output Transformer on this amp must of cost them 35 cents. This is an outrage, these features are not so outrageously expensive that they couldn't put these in there and raise the price 200-300 dollars. At least the amp would have the essential parts to create a true re-issue. Marshall has obviously gotten too rapped up in bottom line profits and left us regular musicians in the cold. Do not buy this amp unless you are going to heavily mod it!!!

I use a Gibson Custom Historic 57 Goldtop (The 2003 version). Gibson finally done the right thing and spent a little more money and actually made a real acurrate copy for the 2003 models. Now for the SLP. For one, this is much more musical than the multi channel amp stuff out there made by marshall or mesa to me. But that doesn't mean much, the marshall and mesa multi channel amps sound terrible to me and are very limited in personality. Having said that, this amp is supposed to be like the greats. That is appauling it sounds mushy when pushed and doesn't crank out anything that resembles the velvety overdrive on real SLP's that I have played. The high treble is incredibly ice picky and unusable in my opinion. Patching the channels together helps but the harmonic content of the signal is far from rich enough. This amp to me is all bark and no bite. This to me is another cheap imitation of what marshall used to be.

With the parts I listed above and the use of Ei preamp tubes this is far from a reliable amp. Ei tubes are know for going microphonic at the turn of a dime. Didn't keep around very long so I will rate no opinion. But it should be known that marshall is not putting your $1350 to good use. How much profit do they want!!!!

I e-mailed them and asked why they are using cheap parts and not wiring the amps like the originals and never recieved a reply

I've been playing for 10 years and have played real late 60's and early 70 marshalls that were out of this world. It was a terrible attempt at that same sound. It was no where close. I returned the amp and went searching on the web for a builder who could build one right. I ran across Germino Amplification. Audley Freed from the Black Crowes has one, probably more than him. Holy Crap!!! From the very first E chord it was on!!!! The amp cost me $1700 and absolutely destroyed the Marshall version. It sounded exactly like the old marshalls I've heard. Do not buy the Marshall. Your waisting your money. Save a little more and get a Germino, a Matchless Clubman, or a Bogner Shiva. All of these amps are a cut way above the quality Marshall is putting out. And only cost another 400 more. I figure if your going to spend a lot of money get what you want. The only thing your getting with the Marshall Plexi's are the name. Oh yeah, the marshall 50 watt reissue sucks too.

I have a limted edition 100w so-called 'Purple Haze' half-stack, which is from 1994 and features purple tolex. I believe there were only 50 of these made worldwide. I got mine thru eBay. The features have already been described: two channels (no high-gain channel, who needs it anyway?), three-band EQ, no effects loop, no headphone jack. Just a simple, straightforward purple monster. When I bought it I had to replace both the preamp tubes (military style 12AX7's) and the power tubes (Svetlana EL34's) because the tubes that were in the amp had simply had it. I was very happy with the speakers, since they were actually NOT reissue Greenbacks but Celestion Vintage 30's. I like speakers that like to be driven hard and are still able to take the abuse and the V30's do just that.

The reason why I'm giving this a 10 for versatility is because I think a simple amp like this is actually more versatile than any modern multi-channel amp. I'm an old-school player who believes versatility comes from picking dynamics, controlling your guitar's volume and tone, and, not to forget, the proper use of a fuzzbox. IMO this makes for the most vertile and, above all, PERSONAL clean, crunch, and OD sounds. Just think about it, players like Clapton, Page, Hendrix, Kossoff, Allman, etc. all used plexis, yet they all had their own personal signature sound. In this day of multi-channel amps, how many players can honestly claim this? The secret, of course, is power tube distortion instead of preamp tube distortion. Pushing the front end of your amp always gives you more diversity, more power, more forward thrust, more warmth, more tone, more of YOU. With one of these heads and a 4x12 cab and a decent fuzz I can make it sound as blues, heavy rock or heavy metal as you want it be. How versatile is that? Besides that this puppy has a LOUD bark to it, way louder again than most modern amps which seem to get their bark more from compression than tone.

Like I said, I'm an old-school player. I come from Texas blues and started out with vintage Fender amps and no effects. This taught me to work with just my guitar and amp to bring out the biggest tone and vibrato I could muster. Since I like Classic Rock as well I've always loved the British guitar sounds and was never averse to, say, a Vox, Orange, Hiwatt or Marshall. Through the years I gravitated more and more toward a hybrid Fender/Marshall sound and had my amps modded as such. Until I got familiar with the sound of Doyle Bramhall II. Like him, I'd been wanting to combine Texas blues with Classic Rock and hearing him play his music through an original Super Bass prompted me to take the plunge and finally switch from Fender to Marshall. When I noticed the purple Plexi on eBay I just knew I had to have it and I actually stayed up late so I could win that auction!

With the Marshall came the pedals. I currently use a silicon 80's RI fuzz face by Audio Crest (built by none other than Dave Fox of FoxRox; read the story behind these RI's on http://www.analogman.com/fuzzstor.htm), a germanium Everman Fuzz Drive Deluxe, a Roger Mayer Octavia, a Prescription Electronics Vibe Unit, and a Menatone Red Snapper. These are all great pedals but what's so special about the SLP is that it makes any guitar and any pedal sound great, even the cheapest crap. It's THE most tolerant amp I've ever heard. Being used to very picky Fender amps that was quite an ear opener for me.

I do agree with Jamie who says in his review that the RI SLP's sound much too icepicky. He suggests taking cap 17 and 18 of the high treble channel out of the circuit, which I had done to my amp, and he's absolutely right! My amp tech discovered that these caps actually had a value which was three times as high as that of an original SL's high-treble channel! You have to wonder what made these guys at Marshall come to a decision like that. Removing c17 and 18 is the easiest and most basic mod you should do to get rid of that upper-mid harsness which actually effects the entire EQ range and, as Jamie rightly points out, prevents you from having a warm tone at lower volume settings. Thanks for the tip, Jamie!

I then got in contact with George Metropoulis of MetroAmp (www.metroamp.com). He's fairly new in the business of making ptp replacement boards but make no mistake: he is an accomplished guitarist and amp tech with many years of experience. More importantly, he's friendly, highly competent and his customer service is absolutely great. I explained to him that I like the Super Bass tone of such players as Paul Kossoff and Doyle Bramhall and he suggested a few mods that I had done to my pc board, all of which were major improvements. Despite all that there were was something about the pc board that just didn't sit right with me. I could have easily left it at the modded pc board but I felt the tone was still a tad too compressed. I decided I was going to order a stock SB ptp board from George. George made me one and, based on the many lengthy email exchanges we'd had about the specific tone I was after, he took the liberty of adding a cap and resistor common to the SL circuit which I could decide whether or not to use. He also included some extra components, among which was a different value slope resistor.

The tone of my SB board is dark and complex. It makes the amp sound good at many different settings, even lower volume ones. Before I had to turn it up to a certain volume (loud!) in order for it to sound good. Speaking of volume, the amp now sounds even louder than before but in a way that is much more pleasing to the ears. The tube distortion comes mainly from the lower regions rather than the higher ones which makes it sound less gainy even though the overall sound is still distorted with my settings. It also sounds better with pedals than before, particularly fuzz, because the low end distortion already has a fuzzy edge. I would describe the sound as more natur

I haven't had this amp for very long but it has already been in the back of the band van without any protection. So far it hasn't failed me and I don't expect it to, either. If you don't ram your guitar into it or shake it like they did in the 60's I imagine it can take a fair bit of abuse.

Have never dealt with the good folks at Marshall. Can't say enough about the customer support at Metro Amp, though. Get your replacement board from George, folks, and make your RI SLP really sing! Whether you want an Eddie Van Halen plexi-style sound or an Angus Young-style one, this guy can custom-make you one.

I've been playing for 17 years. My band Mike & the Mellotones has been around for 10 years. Feel free to check out our website, www.nubluz.com. We've evolved from straight forward three-piece Texas blues to four-piece Classic Rock and we've always done it Mellotone style. There's no better tone than your personal tone!

I own two B/F Fender Super Reverbs which I had modded to become 70w hybrid Fender/Marshalls, one w/ EL34's and one w/ 6550 tubes (I know it's considered sacrilege but you should hear these babies wail!). This RI SLP is the best buy I've done in years. I was lucky enough to win this purple beast for about USD 1320. Besides new tubes I just needed to add another USD 185 incl. shipping for a ptp replacement board and I was there. That's way cheaper than an original plexi with all-new components. You can't get any better value for your $$$!

Excellent. Mine has a few mods by Lee Jackson Himself, this includes a 5 position EQ BOOST and a Power attenuator built in with a Master Volume, which enables me to play this at lower volumes. The controls are very easy, mine only utilizes the "Bright" channel, so I use loudness 1 as a preamp, and high treble(loudness 2) as the overall volume

100 watts of true Marshall GENIOUS. I use a Les Paul with EMG's 81 (neck) and 85 (bridge) just like Zakk Wylde. I also have a custom ESP with Seymour Duncans, the bridge is a Dimebucker, neck is an SH-6. THE TONE FROM MY AMP IS THE HOLY GRAIL OF GUITAR TONE! I mainly play metal (Old Ozzy, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest) and this thing is unbelievable! The rhthym sound I get is absolutely perfect, palm muted riffs and leads sound great. WHEN PLAYING LEADS AND SOLOS, IT BRINGS OUT THE BEST DAMN SOUND ON EARTH. I also like Hendrix style (who doesn't?) you can get many many sounds from this thing, although it is IDEAL for Classic Rock and Heavy Metal. If you are considering getting a new "high-gain" amp, I suggest you try one of these first. THIS IS A TRUE TONE MONSTER.

Play it almost everyday, no problems besides 1 blown fuse (I bought a 4 pack at Radio Shack for like 2 bucks)of course,if a fuse blows on you twice, you get the tubes checked. Mine are FINE

Haven't dealt with them

I have been playing this thing for a few months now, I absolutely love it. I will one day try to get more of these babies. I use this head with a VINTAGE Marshall 1982B (straight cab) 4x12 with 30 watt vintage celestions. I sold my last Marshall stack to get this head, well worth it. If it was stolen, I would hunt down the person, and force feed him his own arms after I ripped them off (j/k) That would totally suck, but I would definetly buy it again, if I couldn't get one, then I would get a JCM 800 (those have the same tube config.)I compared this amp to a Mesa Triple Rectifier, a Peavey 5150, a Crate Blue-Voodoo, a Soldano, and thisamp KICKS THEIR COLLECTIVE ASS! Marshall is GOD!

A 96 reissue. The most flexibility any amp needs IMHO 6 knobs. No loops, no master, no channel switching, it just doesn't get any better. All tube, EL-34s & 12ax7s. At least they didn't mount the pots to the board as they did with late 800 series and 900 series heads. It's not point to point but there are sources for board mods with better quality components. Heard good reports about users changing the OT using a Mercury Magnetics OT. The cosmetic components are not accurate to originals. The pilot lights are cheezy compared to the original vintage heads. Not a big deal.

If you are reading this review you know how a Super Lead should sound. It's seems to be more of a Super Lead flavor than a Plexi, especially prior to this quick fix... The first thing you want to do with this head is remove the bright caps, c17 and c18. Channel 1 is insanely bright, I have no idea what they were thinking, not even close to originals. You might as well drive an ice pick into your ears. Some suggest to clip the caps, I lifted the pc board and de-soldered them. The amp warmed up very nicely and has plenty of edge/brightness at any volume. The bright caps effect tone when running at low volumes, not dimed. So this is an important fix. Jump channels 1 and 2, that's necessary to get the best tone IMHO. After that quick mod it brings the head a little more accurate to originals but still not the same.

It also had a severe 60 cycle hum at idle. Sounded like holding a single coil up to the front of the head all the time. I measured 63 db of noise floor before locating the problem, lowered to 60 db after, with virtually no 60 cycle hum. If you have this problem, one of the things you should check after the obvious issues is to check the wires to pots. I noticed the lead wires going to the presence and other neighboring pots were very close to the OT leads which pop out underneath the board just above the presence control. Carefully pull the leads parallel to the ground rail that connects to all the pots and tie strap the leads to the rail down to at least the channel 1 volume pot. Try to issolate signal leads from voltage supply leads as much as possible using tie straps. That did it for me, I think issolating the wires to the pots had the most effect.. Also, watch those caps, discharge before you poke around or you won't be poking for quite a while. It also had some biasing ussues that needed addressing. I'm the 3rd owner of this head and that was the main reason the previous owner decided to sell.

If it sounded like a real plexi I'd give it a 10. I have a 69 small box 50 I used as a bench mark for this comp, which sounds awesome to say the least. I also have an 800 series 2204 and a 72 Marshall Major... horseys a plenty. Would never consider anything from 900 series to present... I used a 900 100w dual reverb for a while and it didn't have near the tone and volume as my 800 series 2204 (50w).

Nothing has gone on it yet...

N/A

Decent attempt to recreate the originals. It's better than some of the previous reissues. It would have been a little more accurate if they used more similar components and values, the right trannys and voltages (lay down) etc. I understand point to point can't be done at the price these are going at but using better quality components would sure help. But still a quite usable amp... Very happy with it.

I have a rule, I never buy an am with more than 6-knobs. Its useless (to me anyway). 1 excellent, loud, perfect tone (thats all any RAWK player needs), I'd rather have that 1 Marshall plexi sound than 3 over-metal sounds. Sounds Beautiful!!!

I use a 69 and 79 Les Paul (both have Seymour Duncan JB pickups at the bridge, the best pickup ever made for rock) and a Modified 70's Strat. I play in a Rock/Punk/Rockabilly/Chuck Berry meets the first 2 Iron Maiden records kinda thing. What alot of people don't get about this amp is that it gives you one of the best tones you can get. The rest is up to you, you can use any overdrive pedal (or modify it)sound you want and still have that killer "Marshall" tone (a fulldrive 2 works best for me, excellent tone overall). Most 2-3 channel amps just have the head units of a overdrive/distortion pedals that manufactures choose. This one you choose your sound. Its not for people who want to Plug-N-Play. It takes a little work but when you figure out what works best for you you will never go back to anything else! I also own a 1976 50w MK2 master lead and love that just the same!

Took it on tour, went through the desert, snow storms, high altitude (all within a week), fell off of a pretty high stage,god knows what else happened to it and it plays like same day I bought it!!

Never used it

If you are in a gigging band, you know what a pain in the ass it can be getting a good tone from the practice studio to a club. Try to deal with that along with having a few coctails in you and looking a 24 + knobs and switches and not knowing what they do but when you touch one of them it screws your sound up really bad (thats why I have the "no more than 6-knobs" rule), I rather concentrate on how my playing is rather than how did my sound get so screwed up! These Marshall are no B.S. (I can't find a better amp in its class (exept a 57'-59' Fender Bassman). I've owned or played through almost any amp you can think of and came to the conclusion that no matter how many wacky knobs or channels you have all you really need is one good sound and then go from there. I have owned the pricy 3- channel amps and have gotten OK sounds through them, never 100% happy,more of settling for them because (getting a basic overdriven warm tone is harder than you think), but the same problem is that they never cut through like a Marshall does. I got it at cost to try it out (as a backup to my 76' 50 watt) and now my 50 watt is a backup to this! Not for the beginner!