Marshall 1962 Bluesbreaker

The features are standard Marshall of this era, no more no less, and it didn't seem to matter to Page, Beck, Green, Clapton, and a zillion other rock gods.

I use a variety of reissue strats from the 80's or frankenstrats. Pickups are Van Zandts, Lindy Fralin, Custom Shop Fat 54's, Custom Shop 'AY' 69, and Orville by Gibson 58 reissue stocked with WCR Coils
(www.crcoils.com) darkburst. I use a tube screamer for crunch when needed. I use it for recording mainly. Style wise I am grounded in early british blues, ala Green, Beck, Clapton and Page. At least with this amp. I have jumped it to two channel but prefer channel 1 for the LP. I have really played with this amp converting it over to G.E.C. KT66's and dropping the voltage by changing out the rectifier to a GZ32 to get a browned out sound. All stock preamp tubes have been switched out as well. The original tube compliment sounded nasty to my ears and I have been using valves for 35 years. Volume is usually cranked between 5 and 10, relying on the guitar pots to bring down the volume. Bass is usually set low around 2, midrange and treble usually somewhere between 5 & 6, nor more than 7. Pres is down to 0. The sound is quite good though I am in the process of doing a PtP conversion and switching out to alnico speakers. The greenbacks are nice but to get into that creamy distortion you are going to need those little alnico magnets. Changing out to a Mercury Magnetics transformer may be in the works. We'll see when I get the other components installed. The cabinet is stock. Now if you want to go to a full size cabinet then MOJO was making them. I don't know if they still are. The true test of tone that I was looking for was on John Mayall's "It's a Hard Road" with Peter Green. On the song "Someday After Awhile Green has this incredible sound and tone thing going on. Also, there was a song recorded by Rod Stuart, Ansley Dunsbar, Jack Bruce and Jeff Beck, called "Stone Cold Crazy" If you have never heard this song look for it on Rod Stuart 64 - 69 cd compilation. Beck has this incredible solo and tone that will not quit, not to mention that Rod's vocals are simply the best recording I have ever heard of him. This Japanese Orville and BB capture that tone to a T.

I would use this amp anywhere, until I found out it was a load of crap, which I am sure that it is not. I have never had an issue with any marshall that I have owned, except for the 73 50 watter that I purchased new. That era amp had a real difficult time with the tube sockets becoming unstable and shorting out the amp.

I have been playing since I was 13 and that was in 1969. I have let slip through my fingers far too many, now big money amps and guitars. My amplification consists of the BB around a 92, 66 Super Reverb(no those RI amps by fender do not sound the same, trust me on this one), 1970 Dual Showman Reverb head, 1969 Deluxe Reverb loaded with a JBL D120,(again the reissue eats crabgrass.)I would purchase this amp again What I love about it is that I can throw almost any type of music at it, with the right gear, and come up with an amazing array of sounds. Each guitar that I use has different color and tones and the marshall articulates them very clearly and with authority. I am rating this as fantastic value considering that you are going to pay the same price or more for just a reissue marshall head. In fact I just saw a BB guts taken and stuck into a head cabinet and it sold for more than I paid for the hole thing.

Mine is a 1999/2000? I play Rock/Punk Rock. This is the perfect Amp for me. I've had Hiwatt, Mesa, Fender, Sovtek - just about everything. For a 30 watt Amp this thing is loud with killer tone. I play medium to larger size rooms & I've yet to get this Amp above 3 with the channels bridged. I run a DOD 250 preamp or a DOD YJM 308 preamp in front of the Amp. It's like those pedals were made with this Amp in mind - Beyond transparent tone. This is a one channel Amp. If you want great tone instead of a couple channels with average tone, you can't go wrong with this Amp.

I play Teles & Strats w/Humbuckers. This Amp is great for cutting through live. If you don't run a pedal in front of the Amp & you want some dirt, then you'd better get a hot plate or something like it. The DOD pedals I mention before are the best to run in front of this Amp. It takes a bit of volume for this Amp to break up. You'd piss off many-a sound man if you ran the Amp at a volume hot enough to deliver the gain/dirt you may desire. I don't care for the tremolo so I had my Amp tech disconnect it. Marshall is not known for their tremolo.

The Amp is built like an older Marshall, nice and solid.
I only use the Amp for recording & live shows. I probably won't take it out on tour, only because it's still in good shape. And I have a great rehearsal set-up I can use.

I've never dealt with Marshall.

I've been playing 27 years and running. This is one incredible Amp.
It's almost like a Fender Bassman meets an AC30 with all the great Marshall tone in one combo. If you want total killer tone, then find one of these re-issues & Let there be Rock.

this amp has got just the right amount features for me. The tremelo system is fun tio muck around with but i hate effects so i never use it anyway. It's just a really simple no nonsense amp

i play old school rock (kind of led zeppelin meets ac/dc) and with the bridge humbucker on my strat selected i can those hard driven clean channel sound which made these bands famous , but when i select the neck pickup and put the temelo on i can get cool pink floyd / dire straits tone.i have been reading some of the other reviews and some say that the have changed quite alot about thier amps , I WOULDN'T CANGE A THING , i've got all the tone that i need , you can never improve an already great amp . i was originaly going to get a plexi but after reving myself from the heart attack that i endured after looking at the price i realised it was way too big so i went for , what i think , is an even smaller brother to the mighty plexi. this amp , when i looked at the cosmetics and the control panel on this amp it reminded me of an ac30 but this is a very different beast , its more crunchy , its more bluesy , its more 'rock'! its basicly JUST PLAIN BETTER

valves have always been dodgy in my book but as long as your extra careful you should be ok. and of course its got that valve rectifier so that increses your fears of a sudden amp explosion at your gig. but as ever marshall are always ready to help and the usual reliabilty you can expect from good old marshall

Marshall realy know how to deal with customers theyr're fast and efficent and very nice to all of thier customers.authorized marshall repairers are everywhere and always ready to listen to amp related problems. my amp is regestered on the 3 year warranty (for free i might add)

i have been playing for 2 years and am about to buy a gibson les paul (huge jimmy page fan , hence the gear)and own a fender standard fat strat.if it were lost or stolen then i would most certainly buy another one (but who would be able to steal anyway it weighs a tone , and you would be able to lose an amp that size anyway).its cranked up 'just dirty' tone suits me dwn to the ground. i considered an ac30 , a mesa nomad,an orange rockoverb and a fender twin but this was inexpensive and lets face it ITS A MARSHALL

This amp is really nice , one big key here is to not sit it down on the floor, keep it off the floor if just an inch or 2, it will sound alot better, Ive had no problems and its pretty quiet with a Gibson. Features, not many which is great to me, theres a tremelo that runs pretty slow without depth but its a Marshall not a Tremolux, I didnt buy this thing to play Ventures tunes.

I use this with Les Pauls and SG's sounds great, classic situation, it breaks up nice and smooth and gets real loud, and fills out real well.

Ive played it everyday or a year, its 2 years old, Ive had no problems I run it on 8 every time.

Never dealt with them and wouldnt anyway, there are guys out there that really know amps.

playing for 8 years, also own a 66 and 64 bassman, an ampeg, and other stuff. I would replace it in a week if lost or stolen. I love everything about it, even love that it weighs 78lbs, and is awkward.

I bought this for half what the RRP is so I think I've done quite well. 30 watts with 2 celestion greenback speakers. Apparently this is the most expensive combo that Marshall make. Features? Well I guess you all know this really. Not much is the simple answer. It does have a tremelo but its not a very good one, in fact mine had to go back to Marshall twice with a ticking tremelo circuit. It then subsequently got damaged in the post (I actually saw the delivery guy throw it in the back of his van!) but Marshall promptly repaced it with a new one. Great service but shame it ticked in the first place. It has four inputs, 2 for the normal channel and 2 for the bass channel. Most people run this with the normal channel jumpered into the bass channel so that you can use both volume controls. IMHO less knobs to twiddle is good thing though, simplicity is the key here. I wish it had a preamp drive though.

With the stock 5881 valves I think it sounds uncannily like an old Fender bassman. Fantastic clean sound, probably the best I've ever heard, but don't think this baby is gonna overdrive. I've had it up to 10 in the studio and it still didn't break up. We all suffered terminal hearing damage though as this baby is LOUD! I use it for blues and rock and the only way to make it crunch is to stick a pedal in front of it. I've used a vintage OD-1 and a tube screamer and a bluesbreaker 2 pedal through this and they all sound fantastic. I can get any clean blues or rock tone I want with this setup but I always felt it could be better. You've probably read about how you can revert this thing back to the clapton bluesbreaker by repacing just about every component and installing GEC KT66 power amp valves but I just couldn't be bothered with all that. What I have done is to buy myself some THD Yellowjackets and install el84 valves. It now runs in class A at half the volume (still bloody LOUD) and sounds like a cross between a VOX AC30 and a marshall Bluesbreaker. Best of all it breaks up beautifully at around 6. You get that great, clean but dirty sound we all want. Can't give it 10 as I had to mod it first.

Had the ticking tremelo circuit to start with but fine for the last two years. I would never gig a valve amp without a backup. This thing is built like a tank so is virtually unbreakable. Its also the heaviest mother to cart around because of it though.

Can't fault Marshall here, they picked it up for free and gave me a new one when it trashed in the post by the Royal fail

I've been playing for over 30 years now. I own amps by marshall, fender and cornford. Sometimes my amps sound shit and sometimes they sound great. Who knows why? You just have to accept that thats the way it is. I have to admit it but I have grown to love it along the way. My guitars are a 70's USA strat with texas specials, a USA tele and a ltd edition gibson es335 with ebony fretboard. I bought this amp to try and get the ultimate blues sound and I think I'm pretty close as I'm ever gonna get. If it were lost or stolen I'd probably replace it with a Cornford Hurricane as the Bluesbreaker is a bitch to carry with only one handle and no wheels. I did put my shoulder out once when I had to carry it about 500 yards and up 2 flights! It looks great though and has a serious pro vibe about it. Every one wants to see it and talk about it and I've had many complimentary comments on the tone. I once saw Robbie Williams guitarist and he had a wall of these things! Awesome.

I believe mine is a 2002 or 2003. Acquired used in near-mint condition. I am very impressed with the functionality of the tone controls, presence, and even the differences between the two channels. There's a whole spectrum of tones here. As has been stated before, the tremelo is a bit chintzy, but who uses that anyways?

I DO wish it had reverb, if only for living-room doodling purposes. If anyone knows of some mod to maybe yank the tremelo circuitry and throw in a Fender reverb unit, please contact me! That would be great, but I don't know if it can be done.

I give it an 8 for features - it doesn't have many, but the ones it does have are very useful.

I got this thinking it would scream with my Les Paul Deluxe, but I actually prefer the sounds I get with my very lightweight swamp-ash Warmoth Tele with Lindy Fralin Broadcaster pickups. Very gritty and snarky, without the flabby/mushy gain. I took out the junky Sovteks and 'Marshall' brand tubes (that's funny!) and put in all JJs, which are the BEST.

I used this amp in a rehearsal with a blues band (drums, Hammond through a Leslie, bass, etc), and my volume was literally on 1.5 (with a Chile Picoso Clean Boost). When I gigged, I had it on 5-ish, and had plenty of room to spare. Like the previous reviewer, I also have a Fender Super Reverb Reissue. Long story short, Fenders have that nice tight low-end, but sometimes piercing highs. Marshalls can get a little flabby on the low notes, but the highs are never too sharp. These two amps provide great tonal contrast, and just like the previous reviewer also said, for less than the price of a boutique amp you can get both of these (I paid $675 for the Marshall and $700 for the Super).

I don't use a lot of gain, but this thing gives PLENTY more than my old 50w Super Lead. I get singing sustain with my Paul on the neck pickup and the volume around 8. I didn't get this amp for the "Clapton Tone" (I mean seriously, find your OWN tone - you might be glad you did), but I did feel the need to bust out that Amin arpeggio lick from "All Your Love (I Miss Loving)".

Only had it for about a month, but one big difference between this and the Super Reverb is how heavy and solid it is. I think that's why it performs so much better at high volumes. Once the Super gets past 6, things start rattling and shaking - it seems happiest around 5 (I'm always afraid I'm gonna snap that wood sheet that goes across the bottom of the back with my leg as I carry it). But the Bluesbreaker loves nothing more than being turned up to 10. It just sits there solidly. In fact, it sounds like garbage at apartment-level volume. The Super definitely smokes it there, but if I could only bring one amp to a gig, it would undoubtably be the Marshall.

I wouldn't even bother. If you buy a tube amp, you should have the understanding that things will inevitably crap out, and you'll need to pay for repairs. Just like any car.

This amp is nothing short of the answer to my prayers. I had to dig in so hard to get the Super Reverb to do what I wanted. This is not a knock on the Super Reverb -- it's terrific for jazz, clean stuff, practicing, etc. But the Bluesbreaker gives me the option to lay back on the volume a bit, and still have tons of headroom. As a result, my picking can be much more dynamic. It's heavy, but if my keyboard player can haul a B3 and a Leslie everywhere, an 80lb amp isn't going to kill me. With the Bluesbreaker and the Super Reverb ($1,375 together), I can't imagine being in the market for another amp anytime soon (if ever).

And oh yeah, this thing looks great - very simple and classy. Just plain elegant. They don't make 'em like this anymore. Oh wait, yeah they do. It's a re-issue.

If you are looking for an amp with a lot of features, get a modeling amp. If you actually play guitar, then get something like this amp which will essentially give you a sound that you can build on for blues, jazz, rock, pop, etc.

The tremelo is a gimmicky little thing that I like sometimes but for the most part is not worth much to me. I certainly didn't buy this amp for that.

If you want to know the specifics just read the reviews below.

I play a '68 Telecaster through way too many pedals already:

EH Qtron+ =>
Boss Compression/Sustainer CS-3=>
Ibanez Turbo Tube Screamer=>
ProCo Vintage Rat =>
EB Volume Pedal=>
Boss Noise Suppresor NS-2 =>
CatalinBread Chile Picoso 35 DB boost=>
Boss DD-5
Line6 DL4 =>
into my Mesa Boogie Maverick (Dual Rect.)
and Marshall Bluesbreaker
(stereo rig for delays and such)

I play mainly rock and pop in a pro band as the only guitarist in a three pice and this amp has enough 'tone' for me to do just about anything I want to do.

One of the few amps I'd want to play just by itself for hours at a time. I did so at Emerald City Guitars just before I bought it.

Not sure, but looks solid so far. In great condition used from a collector it has been dependable.

N/A

Played for about 7 years. Love it as my new workhorse, hate the weight, but it's a trade off, right?

Went to the shop looking for an AC30 and left with this.

Just enough...

2002 built so it has the 10.5" deep cab. Superb combo amp, really. I have a 1987x that I run somewhat detuned?5751 in V1, 12Au7 in V2 to make it sound more JTMish. I run the JTM floored with the channels jumpered. There is some common ground, sort of, between these amps. The JTM is more subtle as has been said before in prior reviews.
If you visit various web bulletin boards you'll swear that you have to completely rebuild the Bluesbreaker reissue for it to be useful. Long story short, you can use this thing with great results completely stock. I would recommend changing the valves and turning the output selector to 16ohms. I run 5751 in V1, JJ 12AX7s in V2, V3, V4(though I don't;use the trem), GTKT66HPs in the output and a JJ rectifier. This combo sounds huge, plays loud and has incredible bass response. I run my bass and pres at 0 and mids and treble at 10.Volume 2 at 6 and volume 1 all the way up. Set-up thusly I never run my guitars flat out, unless for a put-the-smack-down solo! The overdrive is such a big, velvety chunk with an alnico-pickuped Gibson Les Paul it's analogous to being knocked down with a 200 pound pillow. Never harsh, it has air and complexity that other amps can't generate. I don't think I'll sell my plexi, but it will go before this one. With my tele, I can get a sparkley chime at lower guitar volume settings and Led Zepp 1 sounds with the volume rolled up high?very versatile.
I have a Fender Super Reverb reissue that I use for the first part of our shows. I go to this amp and never look back for the second set forward. I love the greenback reissues in this thing. I know some guys swear by the Celestion Alnico blues but given they are 3-4 db more efficient, I don't think I'm going there (let alone the $300 a piece sticker price). This thing is plenty loud. I sure don't want any more stage volume and usually I don't mike it! (Which shows the size of clubs I play in)

So far so good. I've played marshall rigs for years without incident.

Hugh was great when I talked to him about specs.

If I could only have 1 amp, I'd flip a coin between this one and the Fender Super reissue. Both are great amps?so why choose?get them both. This Marshall is a beautiful piece of gear. It's so good looking I'd buy it a ring if it could cook. I love what my Fender guitars sound like through this amp, but Gibsons are incredible with this thing?plenty of gain and overdrive with my rig for the stuff I play. The tremolo is no Fender by any stretch of the keyboard. I don't use it. If I want cleanish to light overdrive I use the Fender. Light overdrive to heavy overdrive, it has to be a Marshall. The quality of this piece is great. True some of the parts are sort of questionable but I can depend on it. I'm proud to have this in my backline?to the point I'm going to start hanging the Union Jack behind me : )
At $1300 this amp is not cheap. Having said that, this amp and $1189 worth of Fender Super Reverb reissue, you're still under most boutique amps and you'll have a sound palate that shows all the one-stop-shopping amps up for what they are?mediocre at best.

30 Watts RMS = loud enough for medium clubs, no more. Heavy (77 pounds!), wide, no protectors on the edges so tolex scratches easily. Excellent manufacturing regarding screws, wood, parts placement.

I use a tele and effects - sounds great, not a specialized sound, just the sound of big transformers driving efficient speakers - lots of response, plays beautifully. Cabling normal and bright inputs helps to dial in tones. Tremelo not very great, but OK. Tube springs rattled on mine.

Looks very durable. Excellent wormanship. Grill cloth looks weak, and speakers might get punched with a falling cymbal stand or wet with a beer thrown on it, so I would stand in front of the amp in the back if I were you. Or drape a thicker cloth over it.

The web site is difficult to find things. Stock tubes really are crappy, so call Lord Valve about the KT-66s. Bonus : The guy below mentions using this at low volumes as a bass amp - AND HE IS RIGHT THE MONEY.

This is not a spectacular amp, or a holy grail, but it is great quality amp from a supported well known manufacturer. It is a workable simple circuit and well made inside. This is about as much amp as I care to invest in, about as much hassle as I can deal with - I don't want to be tweaking 50's Fenders or 60's Marshalls anymore - I've had it with the waste of time.

What people say about the Beano tone is really hard for me to believe. Put KT_66s in there, MAYBE replace the transformer and you DO have about 90 % of classic rock acheivable. That is maybe not very cool to a musician's musician, but as a musician also I have to please the drunks that come see us play, and they respond to that sound immediately, and club owners are happy, and they ask you to return... etc.

Before you read my review, scroll down to the bottom of this page (or use "control" + "end" to shortcut to the bottom). See that review by Tom Quinn? That's my amp. I bought it off him back about a year ago or so. It's a standard 1962 Marshall Bluebreaker Combo. When I received it from Tom it was completely stock. Sovtek 5881's, Celestion Greenbacks, etc. etc. I have since changed all that (more about that later). It was a one trick pony...but a nice trick at that. Very limited on features. From what I have read, it's rated lower than 45 watts. I've read accounts where it's been rated as low as 30 watts.

I use my 74' Les Paul and my 99' MIA Tele with a Keely modded Sparkle Drive. I play bluesy rock most of the time. However, due to my love of classic rock I needed more out of this amp and by doing a bit of research I knew it was possible. I decided to take the plunge. Since I have purchased it I have completely modified it back to Clapton's "Beano" amp and now it's wonderful. I have replaced the Output Transformer (Mercury Magnetics), the power tubes are now Valley Art's KT66s, changed out the preamp tubes, the filter caps, tone caps and changed out the speakers to Weber Alnico 15 watt Blue Dogs (P12BT). The tremelo didn't work from the beginning so I had my tech mod this to a master volume for additional versatility. It's a whole other monster now. It has MAD tone. I can cop a very nice light OD tone up to a serious crunch. The speakers in combination with bridging the channels in addition to the master volume can land me straight into a Jimmy Page/Malcom Young dream. Punchy, precise and clear rock tone that is SOOOOOOOOO satisfying!

So far, so good. Mr. Quinn was very honest with me about the amp but I haven't had a single problem with it.

n/a

I've been playing for over 20 years and I have had my share of amps good and bad. I'm happy with what I got finally. I did have to sink 400 bucks into it to get me there but I can't imagine wanting something else for what I play. I'm really fickle about that too. This is it for me. It cuts through like a dream in band situations and I really have nothing to complain about.

If it were stolen, I probably would buy one again only this time I would buy one that has already been modded to save me the effort of tracking everything down. Of course, I'm not under oath or anything because I would be VERY tempted into buying a Dr. Z or other type of Bluesbreaker Clone because some of these companies simply pay more attention to detail in producing a quality clone than Marshall.

The only thing I really wish it had would be some reverb or an effects loop but to be honest, it has so much juicy tone that it's fine by me with what it offers.