Marshall 1974X

This amp was built in 2006, I play Blues/Rock (ZZ Top Etc.) I play a 2001 Les Paul Gold top Classic reissue thru this hotrod. I can still remember hanging around the rock venues in the 70's & 80's and once you hear that Marshall/Les Paul creamy tone 100 times over, you begin to hear it in your sleep. This 1974X is a dream machine for tone, crunch, and that "lil ole Texas blues sound" I can go on and on, but in summery, this is the s**t.

This amp can be clean and still carry some sack in a small room or you can crank the amp and adjust with guitar volume. Also if you adjust you can pick it clean and then bring on the bomb with the amp cranked all the time. Dont let the simple panel adjustments fool you, old school guitar slingers will appreciate how this amp will make you earn that creamy tone. The distortion on this amp is majic.

This is where the tire fell off the wheelbarrow. Dammit all the trips to vegas that I canceled to harness this dream and the dang power tranny goes to the pearly gates after only after 10-15 hours of play. I gotta tell you, I was P****d! I was so mad that I sent an email to Dagnal telling them they are making crap tranny's. Then this great guy from Marshall HDQ in New Your named Adam hooks me up with a local tech, and 7 days later Im in dreamland again. Folks I gotta tell you, all my adult life Marshall has been the benchmark in quality, and I know they are going to get this right. Even though this tranny issue has effected a bunch of us, my experience with Marshall warranty was great and I feel assured they will put this behind them.

Again Adam from Marshall USA did me right and I expect that they will get this right. Also my local repair guy wasnt a hack, he was a ginuine glasses on the end of his nose, no personality, tech wizard.
The warranty is a 4 year transferable on the amp and with me being the 2nd owner they still honored the warranty after some effort on my part getting the original bill of sale.

Ive been playing on & off for the last 25 years. If someone stole this amp Id hunt them down and gut them like a trout, well Id be hot O.K. I love the compact size of a combo, and I hate the fact that the power tranny flew the coop. I only compared this amp to other Marshall's (JCM 8500 but I didnt want to kill babies)If you are thing of owning this amp, go to a music store and drive this thing in a private room for an hour and you wont leave without it.

Sorry my english not good enough, Actually i love this thing, this is the first marshall i've ever bought. i love fender much but this thing make my eyes open, its look vintage and difference with another new marshall. this amp is my second lover after my BassBreaker CustomShop

i playing Blues and this amp make my blues more psychadelic and the tone more agresive but sometime i feel the bottom-end its need more. this amp is not to loud, but enough to make some noise in room or cafe. i feel it the Perfect marshall for me.

Yeah, after maybe 3-5 months the main transf is dead and the capasitor bank to... that very very make me anger, cos i should buy that 'main' on US, it takes more than $120 and $100+ to service and upgrade cos the cap bank doesn't replace with another size 32/32uf. and my technician said this thing is versatile and little bit difference with another amp

For sound is The Best Marshall but the transfomer is sucks....

everybody who takes a look at this site should know this amp.

I don??t agree with the guy below: Changing the tubes to NOS Mullard makes a big difference. Buying so called NOS tubes can be frustrating. Buy a tube tester. It also made a big difference to change both trannies with Shinrock trannies. This guy uses the exact materials as they were used in the 60s. Dagnall does not. After the change you get the original wooden tone old plexis are known for.

I never got trouble with any trannie in my Marshll amps (all from Drake). This was the 10th Marshall I bought and after 3 month the main transformer died. Dagnall made good transformers in the 60s but the todays production isn??t worth the money. If I had payed 2000 Euro for the 1974X I would have been realy angry. But I only payed 1250 plus 200 for the new trannies and service. So 1450 Euro is a good price.

Never dealt with them. I wanted to get rid of the Dagnall grap.

If this amp would have been stolen I would buy one of the 18W clones made by a boutique manufacturer.

I would like to give my 2 cents on the reliability issues that are obviously giving this amp a really bad name here on HC. I have been in contact with the chief technician at Marshall UK, and this is the official info that he gave me:
1. Not all amps are affected by failing power transformers.
2. Marshall have long since realised the problem, and all amps with failing PT are being or have been repaired with an improved PT from Dagnall.
3. Wasting your money on new transformers from Mercury or Heyboer, Trinity etc. is absolutely unnecessary, and will not improve on the tone. Nor will fitting NOS tubes make any noticable difference. The tubes originally fitted are from JJ, and are the best currently available. These amps sound killer as they are, period.

The PT on my 1974X blew while on stand-by, and was repaired within 3 weeks. Yes I was angry about this too, but the amp now has the improved PT from Dagnall, fitted free of charge on warranty of course, and the amp has gained a little more headroom from it.

I also tried NOS tubes, old Tesla EL84s from the sixties, they were expensive, sounded just like new JJs, and they went bad after just a few months!!! NOS preamp tubes? Oh behave! Forget it, it is all just a huge rip-off. Try the new russian Tung-Sol 12AX7s if you want to experiment. I am back to the original JJ tubes that came in the amp in the first place, they sound best, and last longer than anything else. After all, Marshall did all the testing for us, they build these things, they built the originals too, so suggesting that people spend even more money on this amp to get it to perform supposedly better, is simply pathetic.
It is fine just as it is thank you very much.

So if your 1974X fails, get it off to be repaired under warranty, it??s free! And if it doesnt fail, dont sweat it, play it and be happy!

First off, for all who bash features ratings on simple amps dont buy a simple amp. If you want tone though, simple is my suggestion. I am a Tele player and never really thought of going Marshall. I play a range from country to blues to classic and hard rock. I never thought of Marshall for country tele tone but i have no trouble pulling off any sound i need with great great tone. I find the tele/1974x combination to be a little bright so i normally have the tone control around four. I am not a big user of reverb and I am glad for the simple circut that there is no reverb. Maybe im just paranoid about added features robbing tone in exchange for flexability. Mids are where the ear hears the most difference, with no mid control the tone one this amp is gorgeous. Some people might want the control; on this amp i dont think its needed. The trem is a welcome feature and will get much more use than my Boss TR-2 ever got. As for power, there is much more than you think. With single coils it breaks up around 5. This quite loud. I recently played this at a 150 seat gig and i had trouble turning it up tho this point. But i got much closer than i would with say a 100 watt head. This is the power i want. Got a gig bigger than a few hundred? Buy a mic. As a sound engineer i would suggest mic'ing any amp in any venue.

This amp impressed and suprised me for the sounds i was going for and what it could do. Going straight into the amp i have no problem playing country, rock, blues, punk, anything you want to play. A friend of mine's jazz guitarist played it at that 150 seat gig and it worked great for that. It dosent do Twin Reverb or JC-120 clean but it sounds beautiful for pretty much anything. As with any non master volume amp if you want thicker dirt you need to be loud. Country and blues are the cleanest things i play, i would set the volume to about 4-5, rock 5-7, Marshall Beauty dime it. This does mean if you want to play really dirty in a small - club venue you probably wont get it from the power tubes. Use Humbuckers and youll lower the headroom getting dirt at lower volumes. Like me? and not the biggest fan of humbuckers? Use a pedal. I am a big pedal guy. Ive got a half a dozen commercial and boutique dirt pedals and have owned a dozen or two. One great way to get a bit dirtier is to use a boost. This might not make sense if youre trying to keep the volume down but roll down the amp volume a bit and turn up the boost. This keeps the sound of guitar, with some colour depending on the boost, while driving the preamp creating dirt inturn driving the power amp some. This is great simple tone. I use the Electro Harmonix LPB-1. This colours the tone some, fattens it up a little. There are more transparent boosts on the market if thats what you want. If you want some help with dirt pedal ideas just send me a note ive owned and played more shades of dirt than are in the ground. This amp recieves pedals very well. Guitar and pickups ive mentioned, I may look at humbuckers in the form of a Gretsch for Malcom Young AC/DC tone. Humbuckers will drive an amp into dirt at lower volume settings. The amp works great for my style, my style is gorgeous tone. At least it is now. It is not a Fender, it is not a Vox, It is Brittish and it is liked muchly by me and my Fender loving friends. I was looking at a Deluxe Reverb, unbeliveable clean tone, but the headroom on a Deluxe is a little high for me. I was also looking a a Vibrolux, headroom here was a little low for me, and the Vibrolux is none to be noisy. My friend's Vibrolux is good friends with the repair shop aswell. I am/was a Fender amp school kinda guy, not a huge fan of Marshall but this amp blows me away. Many of my Deluxe and Vibrolux playing friends agree. I said the Vibrolux was noisy, this is especially true when it comes to the amps tremolo or vibrato. I have gigged with a brittish AC15 and this was also the case. I was pleasantly suprised to find a seemingly noise free tremolo in the 1974x. Even with single coils, a large pedal board and dirt i have had no issues at all with noise. If you want tone and can shell out the dough, if your not of the 50 knobs make a great amp school of thought this is a very great amp. And its a freaking handwired Marshall.

I have had no problems with this amp.

My friends Vibrolux has issues all the time and the one in the store had been serviced a few times.

I have seen a lot of low reliabilty ratings for the 1974x. Im not too worried. I know amps wear and need service. A non master volume amp is even more true for this.

Touring i would take more than one amp, but id have no problem taking this amp alone to a gig.

I suppose my opinion on this might change if i experience a lot of problems, but compared to what ive seen in other amps this one dosent seem to be as bad off.

Ill give it a 9 because i know it will wear.

I have not had to deal with Marshall so i will say No Opinion. I do deal with a very very good store. Not something i can say for a lot of stores ive been to.

I have had no problems with this amp.

I have been playing for 8 years and have giggeg a lot and toured some. I am also a Sound Engineer. I own a bunch of pedals, commercial and boutique and have owned 4 times what i have. I am only playing American Teles at the moment but have owned a dozen or so guitars. I am a tele guy. My next guitars purchased will most likely be a Gretsch and then a Strat. I have owned a few amps. Currently i only own the Marshall along with a Keil 44. A very simple small old Canadian combo that nobody seems to know anything about. Its only about 4 watts and makes for some sweet sounds cranked. It needs some work though. I also have acces to a Vibrolux, Champ, and Deluxe through friends.

I would buy this amp again. I hope not to have to. It will be insured. I wont rule out buying other amps on top of this, which i plan to do, but i dont know what could replace this. I love this amp. I have talked a bit about other products, all great but nothing like this.

This is a pricey amp for most people and there are great amps at much lower prices. Truth be told had i not purchased the 1974x i would have bought a 65 Deluxe Reissue. Dr. Z was also a thought but nowhere around me carries them and i wasnt really that interested. If you are in the market for something in this range it is great bang for the buck. Ill give it a 9. Its worth every penny in my books but it will take every penny of most to buy it. If anything if you ever see one of these in a store check it out. Turn it up too, its worth getting asked to turn it down. Send me a note if youve got questions.

2006 model, with classic Marshall tone.PTP wiring, and two channels.

amazing tone and feel. starts to break up early, but with very musical distortion. Not quite as much overdrive as the big boys, but enough that you won't need a pedal.still amazing tone that sounds classic Marshall with a dose of Bluesbreaker and Vox.

"0" Lasted Three months before the mains transformer died.

I've had a few conversations with Korg, they say mine is just an isolated incident. I've been waiting four months to have my amp repaired. They lie, they suck. Joe Gilmartin at Korg wouldn't say Shit if he had a mouthful.
I'm done with Marshall products, theyr'e in it only for the money.

I own vintage Fender, Marshall, and boutique amps and have never had a problem. You'd probably get better service and quality from peavey, but the tone,...it's stellar

Not many features on this amp...but it really doesn't need any. It was very liberating to pay a non-master volume amp and no I'm hooked. Vibrato is great! Better than my Fender!

Sounds great with my Eric Johnson strat and my 52 thin-skin nitro tele. This amp nails the Hendrix sound at low volume...that why my wife likes it. Blues, rock, hard-rock...this thin rocks! Whats more, it cleans up great with the guitars volume. I think it's got to be one of the best recording, practice, and small gig amps out there...and simple to use. My pile of stop boxes are very sad right now; all I'm using is a Fulltone wah. The only thing this amp lacks is headroom...but is still has a very cool clean sound when you roll off the wolume with the amp wide-open. I'm in need of a Gibson now. This amp has made want to play more.

The down side: mine blew a mains fuse and somthing else??? I sent it back to MF and they a sending me a new one. I bought it frome MF because I've heard of the problems. One of the challels stoped working on a friend's amp thet was less than a year old. Mine lasted a week. No light, no sound, just dead!

Sound over proplems...I hope I don't have any more problems.

The features on this amp is somewhat limited compared to today's amps. However, the main reason for purchasing this amp was not for it features but for the extent that Marshall went to reproduce the original amp and it's excellent sound qualities. Not an easy task for any company that does not manufacture the original components since many of those earlier suppliers no longer exist.

I mainly play this amp at home but from time-to-time I will take it out and play it with some friends I have who likes to jam. 18 Watts is more than enough power for me. As you will read below I use a hot plate in order to crank the amp volume to 7-8 without disturbing family and neighbors.

The amp is a 2005.The originals are legendary amps.Many of you out there probably know that there's a website completely dedicated to the Marshall 18 W and that many manufacturers are offering their versions of this classic,beatiful,versatile and very portable amp(The originals typically sell for at least 5000 dollars)
18 Watts doesn't mean this is a weak amp by any means.Hooked to my 1970 Pre Rola Marshall cab it can be used at any gig.
Pure Marshall sound but....this after having changed a power transformer that blew!As a matter of fact I changed both the PT and OT and added a choke.All the trannies are Mercury Magnetics.This made a HUGE improvement on tone and reliability!
I also changed the tubes with real Mullards and swapped the speaker for a Weber Silver Bell 30 W Alnico.

After all of these changes the amp really sounds beatifully.

It is truly capable of a miriad of sounds.From a clean Marshall growl to full volume crunch.
With the 4 x 12 1970 Marshall cab it really sounds big.
I would compare it to a white canvas.A classic beatiful tone machine.
Sounds different depending on the guitar you're plugging in it
I have a couple of vintage Stratocaster and a Gibson es 335.
With the Strat the amp reacts relly well and gives me all the sounds I need and more.
I am rating the original non modified amp.

Totally UNRELIABLE in its original form as many other rewiers pointed out.Do you want to keep it and make it sound as it should?
Then I strongly suggest you upgrade the transformers with Mercury Magnetics!!
Change the garbage tubes inside.
Change the speaker.
Possibly buy an extension cab.
Upgrade the components in the circuit board.
It's crazy but that's the way it goes folks!

Didn't deal with them.

I have been playing for 27 years and as all guitarists I went through a lot of Guitars and Amps.
If it were lost or stolen I'd probably directly buy a London 65 or a Roccaforte.
I love its pure sound and portability.I hate that you have to spend a lot of money to make it work correctly(after having had to spend a lot to buy it)
As with all previous ratings I am referring to the original product.

My amps were a early 2005 models It sounds like a minnie plexi when turned up to 6 or more . ,I do wish it was a tad louder. It is pretty much a one trick pony.Looks cool,when it works , it works well in small clubs.

I play strats ,teles and lespauls .I think this amp sounds great plugged in straight with a good les paul turn the amp up to 6 or more .strats and teles need a tube screamer or a old ibanez ge-601 e- q pedal on the front of it to get the gain that I like.It is good for rock or blues.and small clubs

I have gone through three of these amps ,Longest running amp was 6 months.one of them only lasted 5 minutes into the gig and quit for good .problems with the tremolo channel disengaging and the trouble it is not in the foot switch , it is the amp!!!! .
Hi pitch sqeals somes times when you plug your guitar cord in to the amp . If you use one of these at a gig bring a back up amp.

I purchased mine from Guitar Center they were real good about it and gave me a loner amp while mine was being repaired . When I got the amp back from a reliable authorized Marshall repair shop .I plug the amp in before I took it home and it shorted out right at the guitar store .I never made it home with the amp .I never dealt with Marshall so I don`t know how they are to deal with on claims.Very disapointed
these amps do have a 5 year warranty You may end up having dozens of these before the warranty is up.

I have been playing guitar for 41 years and have owned about every thing out there.I think that these are a nice size club amp ,only if they did`t brake down.