Marshall 1974X

I knew what this amp offered when I tried it out...Marshall sound to the core. It does classic Marshall better than any other amp I have ever played, so I bought it. This is THE classic rock amp. If you want to play gigs and dont want to have soundmen yelling at you to turn down and/or looking stupid bringing a plexi stack to a small club gig...bullseye double! It has a reputation for a "one trick pony". But I say if you are versed in the lost art of using your volume and tone knobs (ESPECIALLY with a Les Paul) there is a large selections of tones to be had here. This amp is the Les Paul's soulmate, straight up.

You cant make this amp sound bad. The only amp I have ever played that comes close is my friend's vintage 50 watt Marshall 1987 plexi. But it was 10X louder to get it to the point where it started to sound good. Before that, it was pins and needles. The 1974x starts clean, which last until you turn to 2, after that its all gain and compression. None of that eye piecing trebly unusable clean. If you use your volume knob as a boost, there are nice clean tones to be had. Not like CLEAN clean, but nice. That doenst bother me in the least. Thats what Blackfaces are for. If you want an amp that does both BADLY, go buy a Meso' Poopie. this is a REAL amp. Get a wah pedal, a boost, maybe a external EQ, and you are set.

The problems with the old transformers are well documented. Makes me wish I saw one used. But I never did. Guess that says something about reliability AND sound. Ive only had it for a few weeks, no problems so far, none on the horizon.

If you want to sound like all your favorite classic rock records...this is the one. I have a rattle I am battling from the rectifier tube and the spring holding it in. I WILL figure that out because it is louder than any spring rattle I have ever encountered. But this amp sounds so good, little things that would normal drive me crazy, dont. stop reading forums and buy this amp. It will make you want to play more.

Well you'll already know the features if you're reading this, hand wired 18 watt amp, 12" celestion aged speaker, comes with a trem, no trimmings. I have no use for the trem so I cannot comment on it. Used it once or twice, wasn't really my bag.

Not scoring this because if you look at, say a line6, the features list is a mile long, and if that's what you want then you wouldn't be looking here. This is a reproduction of an amp made in the late 60's, it's not likely to have built in effects, different amp modelling etc.

Well, what a weapon. It might be a one trick pony, but it's one hell of a trick. I'm usually playing blues or rock and for a change I sometimes play a bit of blues/rock. The sound you get out of this is immense.

A word to people who want to play this in the house...It's fierce...I had a 10watt solid state before this and thought 18watts on full chat wouldn't be much louder. I, and half my street, were in for a bit of a surprise. The problem is, on bedroom levels, the amp sounds shrill and thin and, well, crap. On anything past about 6 sounds awesome. With the vol set to 8 I had next door but 2 around complaining and I was in a detached house at the time.

So if the sound you're looking for is that distorted Marshall tone at bedroom levels, this probably isn't for you. As mentioned, that sort of amazing sound that can only be got from driving the jacobs off a tube when it's cranked can only be done when it's cranked.

I spent a lot of time thinking I'd made a right balls up, I had an amp repair guy in a guitar shop call me a ****** and tell me to put a duvet over it, AS IF, definitely the most useless advice I've ever had, unless this guy has a 1,000 tog duvet on his bed he was clearly being a tool.

The only way to do it is to fit an attenuator, you're getting that ace sound at whatever vol you want. Before this the amp was unusable in the house for me because it was just so loud.

My fault, not the amp.

I don't gig with this. It only ever moved from house to house, so it's had a fairly easy life in that respect.

I do have the attenuator between 8-10 most of the time, so it's getting a good workout every time I use it.

Worked perfectly for a couple of years continuous use. Fired it up one night recently to warm, came back to it 5 mins later, dead.

No lights, nothing. No fuses blown, just nothing. Transformer knackered.

The attenuator doesn't put any extra strain on the amp anymore that playing at those volumes would normally, so this should not be the cause.

I'm giving this 5 because, in spite of this well known issue, it is a solid cab and well put together.

This is where it all turns a bit sour unfortunately. Given the amount I'd been bigging this amp up to mates, you'd think I was on the Marshall payroll, but unfortunately I'm not, I'm just another name embossed on the front of a credit card.

Phoned them and, well, they offered to check it out for free to tell me what was wrong with it, then let me know how much it'd cost to put right. Problem with that is the factory is miles away, I don't have the original box and it aint cheap sending a 3 stone parcel. The person on the phone conceded that it was likely the transformer that has been so problematic for fellow 1974x users, and even said that they didn't use that transformer any more because of the problems they've had.

So would they replace the known defective transformer gratis if that turned out to be the problem? - No. I'd have to buy one. But that was okay because it would be the new transformer and they've not had the same issue with that according to the guy, which a quick search on the internet for this issue would suggest otherwise.

I'm not really going to pay to have this sent to them to put another component in it to then send it back, all of which at my expense without being 110% confident that this issue is fixed...and I'm not convinced one bit by what I have read on this issue.

Although it sickens me to spend even more money on this amp, I'll be putting a 3rd party transformer in because I've already had issues with the factory fitted ones and stubbornly, I'm not paying Marshall to put something right they should be doing anyway on an amp of this calibre.

Very disappointed. A real shame.

Played for around 6 years, Les Paul Classic (P'ups are SD Hotrodded set), Home Made Les Paul (don't ask), Ibanez RG350DX. Just have to love the combination of the Les Paul and this amp.

I love the fact I have it, I'm bitter about it dying, felt stupid about having to shell out for an attenuator, but it is ace, and it's what I want and I wouldn't want to be without it.

Buy it again if it was nicked? hmm, tricky. Consider it came with a 5 year guarantee for naff parts, and I'd still say no (I think).

For the money you could by 2-3 similar sounding amps that don't have Marshall written on the front, there are lots of copies out there, and if the Marshall isn't reliable, what are you paying for apart from the logo?

I'd buy a clone or a 18watt kit and with the money left over buy an island in the Caribbean.

Most said already, but to stress that this Class A/B and not A as some think. The circuit is based upon a Watkins Dominator amp.

Two "channels" - two identical inputs into normal channel and two inputs into tremolo channel, the top one very bright and the lower one much darker - something to do with sensitivity of the source. But, forget the tremolo channel as both inputs sound inferior to the normal channel. Also, on mine the tremolo is unstable and speeds up as the amp warms up. So, if you're playing for half an hour plus, the tremolo becomes much too fast on the slowest speed setting and therefore is unfit for purpose. Apparently there is a mod for this if you're up to tampering with ??1,200 worth of amp. I bought my amp secondhand, but almost new, so no transferrable guarantee.

The tone control is pretty ineffective, but make sure that you set it at 12 o'clock as anything else sucks out the natural tone.

This may sound all a bit negative, but I auditioned the amp against a new Blackstar Artisan 15 and fell in love with normal channel of the 1974X. (Also, I liked the fact that is was hand wired in the UK and had a Union Jack on the rear plate.)

The main features are: stunning tone, wonderful looks and vibe and British made. If you want more - look elsewhere.

Guitars used - Yamaha Pacifica 312 and AEX 510 (I think - the singlecut semi with dogear P90s), plus a Westone Thunder IA.

The amp is absolutely stunning with the 312. The alnico single coils really bring out the shimmer when clean (up to about 2/3 on the dial). Beyond, the break up is wonderfully smooth. The amp reaches its maximum volume at about half way and beyond just adds distortion.

This is a wonderfully tactile amp for playing clean, on the edge of distortion and Marshallesque rock. I'm not into the heavy stuff, but there are probably better amps for metal.

In summary, a one sound amp that is truly stunning. Just consider it as having one channel and a volume control only and you won't be disappointed.

It's till working, but tremolo useless when warm.

Marshall very unhelpful, particularly as the tremolo problem is a latent defect in my opinion.

I've been playing for about 45 years.

If stolen, I'd probably go for a Brown Note or similar. I'm hooked on a pair of EL84s, but don't need a tremolo and would prefer the money put into improvements in the circuit and better transformers.

I love the tone and nostalgic vibe.

I compared it to a Blackstar - see earlier comments.

simple to use

sounds great for any guitar

not.. bought used a month ago and the power transformer went on this one too.

i left it on by mistake for a few hours and returned to find the power fuse blown.. replaced blows in a second.. .. reading reviews that this is common but sure is frustrating

did not try..

not much now

This amp is very very very simple, it has two channels, a normal channel (1 volume 1 tone control) and a tremolo channel (same as normal but with speed and intensity controls for the tremolo, there is also a footswitch to turn the trem on and off)
both channels have 2 inputs, on the normal channel they are exactly the same, and on the trem channel they are like other high/low inputs.

The way I see it there are two outlooks on the features of this amp
1. "Simplicity RULES!!!"
2. "No EQ? That's cute now get me a real amp"
When I first got mine, I has the first outlook, but as I play an EQless amp I realize how important they are, nothing that a pedal doesn't fix.
18 watts is perfect for cranked Marshall tone in your bedroom, plays over a drummer easy, and if you gig you can mic it up and it's as loud as any full stack.

I use a 2007 Les Paul Standard and a 2005 '52 Hot Rod Tele
Both sound Incredible!
I play a lot of blues, classic rock and GnR/Van Halen higher gain stuff
I pretty much always keep the amp dimed and make adjustments on my guitar.
the distortion level with the amp and guitar at 10 is somewhere between Eric Clapton in Creme and early Slash. If you need more dirt then a MXR distortion + or a Boss DS-1 will push you into hard rock/metal territory.
Both my guitars have relatively low output pickups so I am not sure how hotter pickups would sound, I imagine that if you have higher output pickups you want a higher gain amp though.

Keep in mind I don't gig.
But the closest thing to breaking down this amp has ever done is one of the tube covers came off, and I didn't even notice.
I haven't needed to replace the tubes yet and I push them pretty hard daily.
But I haven't had it for that long, hence the 8/10 rating

Never dealt with them

This amp is perfect for what I want it to do, the ONLY flaw is the lack of an EQ
When I was looking to buy it was between this and a 100W Plexi, I chose this because it sounded as good and was easier on my ears.
I would buy this amp a million time over if god forbid it was stolen or lost.

I write only to clear up the class A or class AB subject (hopefully). The folks who claim that most push/pull (double ended, not single ended) amps are class AB are correct. It is not a matter of the "inventor" (which this amp and others like it were not even invented by Jim Marshall, but rather by Charles Watkins of WEM amps and music equipment fame, see the Watkins Dominator) claiming it is class A or AB or whatever. It is a matter of operating conditions for the power tubes generally. And, in general, push/pull guitar amps will be running the majority of the time in class AB mode which means that current is not conducting through one tube to the plate 100% of the time,but rather is on and off to some degree as the signal switches largely from one tube to the other during each cycle of the signal waveform. Many of these smaller 2 tube amps will be cathode biased and some will generalize this as a requirement for being called Class A operation. It is and it isn't. Owing to the overdriven conditions and operation of these amps they are really operating in class AB but they are commonly called Class A amps. The preamp tubes being triodes are running in class A mode, so to some extent, class A operation is shaping the signal a good deal, the power section is still probably running AB at any real volumes.

I have built dozens of 18 watt and 36 watt variations. They all have classic Marshall tone but I tend to voice them with my own choice of bypass elytics and other components I deem worthy.

These amps are reliable as modern components and with regard to how they are treated. If abused enough, anything can be made to fail.

Playing 35 years, playing rock and hard rock. These would be nice if they had a good reverb instead of tremolo IMO.

2004 18w Hand wired all valve combo, 2 channel with tremolo 1x 12 celestion aged vintage greenback speaker. Vol& Tone on each channel with speed and intensity for the tremolo. That's it.

It's everything you want and more. Stunning Amp. Makes you want to play all day.

Only have the amp.After I bought the amp I read some of the reviews and was worried about the reliabity of the transformes as my amp was one of the first proudction run. I contacted Marshall and they explained that not all of the amps had the problem just some of the first ones and they have the problem sorted. So dont let any of the reviews put you off buying one as Marshall will stand over their products. I have to give it a 10 as it was made in 2004 and is still going strong.

The best customer support that I have ever had. I contacted Marshall about the transformer issue and explained that I had bought the amp second hand. I did'nt think that they would want to know. Got a reply in one hour and the contact info for the local Marshall engineer in case I ever had any problems with the Amp. Also got an email from the engineer.

I have owned lots of Amps and this is the best one ever in it's price range.

2007 beand new model. Scores high as I dial in my tone in 1 second with just 2 knobs. No other amps this simple sound this great!

Sound is just fabulous! However I took out the 20watt greenback and through in a celstion Gold! Big digfference.

Built like a tank like all UK amps.

Spoke to marshall with regards to transformer issues. They said that was a problem on the first run and so far mine is holding up nicely.

Going to buy another one! Love this amp too much!

Love the simplicity of this amp. It scores big with me as it's straight forward 2 knobs which is difficult to get your hands on anymore. If it was up to me they can do away with the vibrato and make the circuit even less complicated!

AMAZING!!! Just crank it up and play. One of the best sounding class A amps out there. I have had monay and really like this one. I must admit I swapped out the speaker and had to try an Alnico Gold. Hey it even looks like it should have came with the thing. Allot more bite and some extra headroom. A Les Paul is doable now!

I have heard of the transformers problems on the earlier ones. It must be solved on this new one as I have been playing the hell out of the thing and everything seems just fine!

Never used them, hopefully I never will.

I would have to replace this asap if it wass stolen. It sure would be interesting if they released a JTM-45 in this series. Overall this ampo is not cheap but worth every penny in my opinion. If you have a few extra bucks throw in a celestion gold, you won't be disappointed.

for Cap'n Pugwash, from the aforementioned 18watt website, courtesy of Zaphod Phil, one of the moderators there.....

he 18W is Class AB, not Class A
The Vox AC30 is Class AB, not Class A Ditto for the AC15
All those Matchless amps are Class AB, and not Class A
All those Black Cat amps (except the Mini Cat) are Class AB, and not Class A
And ditto for many others...

Not flamin' ya matey, just repeating what I read....... in the remainder of this thread on the 18watt.com forum, the salient fact is this......it doesn't matter if it's class A, or A/B......if it sounds great, it's great!!!

Cheers!