Marshall 1974X

Same as below

Maybe the best combo sound I've ever heard. I have run a complete arsenal of guiatrs through this amp and it screams on both channels. Great clean awesome growl.

Have to chime in with the rest of the folks that call this amp sketchy in the reliablity department. Mine seems to have made it a bit longer than most---5 months. I was in the middle of a gig when it died. Modest volume, no pedals, conditioned power....ideal for any amp and the damn thing blew up!! Blew the fuse, smoked the mains transformer (power tranny) and the power tubes. WAY TO GO MARSHALL!!
Have a local guy that takes care of the warranty work.
An amp at this price must perform better. You should be able to beat the crap out of it and it still work. Very disappointing.

Worthless.....Marshall just directs you to the store of purchase.

Would it kill Marshall to listen to its customers and their concerns?

Average rating. Great sound 10 terrible reliability 1 so it gets a 5

I'll keep getting it fixed while it's under warranty, but Marshall should really fix the problem

This is a reissue of a vintage amp. The features it has are exactly what you would've gotten back in the late 60's, so my score is for the accuracy to the original.

This little beauty produces tones that were made in heaven. Thick, singing sustain when cranked plus crisp & fat when played clean. The tremelo is very nice although even at the slowest setting it still seems a bit too fast (maybe just me, though). Both channels are useful since they are voiced a little different from each other.

Here is the weak link for this amp! The power transformer blew up while I was playing it. The amp wasn't being pushed hard at all, had the volume maybe at 9 o'clock, when it just stopped. I walked over to it & immediately noticed a "burnt" smell & the mains fuse was blown. Apperantly, these have a history of blowing transformers in a short amount of time (mine had approx. 40-50 hrs of play time on it). To be fair, I should note that this was a refurb from musicians friend & they took it back w/ no problems.

Never delt with Marshall, just sent it back to musicians friend. They took it back with no hassle, so the score is for M.F. not Marshall.

It's too bad that these amps seem to have this issue because it really is a phenominal sounding combo! I was really bummed that I had to part ways with this amp since it was truly one of the best sounding amps I've ever played through. I feel that for the price Marshall charges for these, they should have no issues whatsoever (not including the normal "tubeamp" trouble that we all see from time to time). I really want to get another one but now I'm a little worried that I will just have to send it back eventually. It's just not worth the trouble for me, so for now I will just have to live without it. Honestly, other than the reliability problems it is a superb amplifier in every way! It gets an 8 overall.

Very simple, but very good. You know what you get.

Ok, first of all I didn??t like the original speaker so I changed it to a G12H made in 1972. This made the amp sond 3 times better and as twice as loud. With a Strat (have 3 Strats, 2 Vintage Reissue from 1982 and 1983 and a Standard Strat from 1989) I would rate the sound only an 8. With a Tele is??s a 10 but with my Les Paul Standard it??s a 12. I forgot to tell you that with the G12H the amp is able to do the classic high gain thing (with a little help).

Never had any problems, but I think that the original speaker with only 15Ohms leads to the problem with the OT. My G12H has 16Ohms and I never got any problem becaus of the higher resistance wich kept the OT from blowing. Normaly a difference from one Ohm doesn??t matter, but if you drive the amp to 10 it does. Also the original tubes are crab. Get yourselve some high qualitiy Mullards. I payed 100 Euros for a set of 3 ECC83, one EZ81 and two EL84.

No need to deal with them.

I??ve been playing since 1972. This is my 9th Marshall (JCM800 was the newest model). I was looking for a relative small amp with lower power (2 x EL84 is realy nice) because of only doing small club gigs I don??t need more power. I like to cary the amp with one hand and the guitar with the other. So for me that??s the perfect amp. Would like to have a reverb instead of the trem.

This is an update.
Very simple controls.Its how it should be!

Still excellent sound!

More versatile than you'd think. Plugging my Les Paul into my Tonebone "Switchbone A/B,A+B Pedal with one output into the low input on the trem channel and the other into the "short" channel I can get quite a wide variety of sounds just by switching between the two. I set the volume on the trem channel between 4-6(Low input) and can get some quite clean sounds with my Les Paul by rolling the volume back a bit.Turn the volume up and you get a mild crunch with Vox-like chiming. With the "short" channel I usually run the volume between 7-9 and get a nicely saturated overdriven sound(Standard '57PAFs). Using the "Switchbone" with its built in gain and/or mid boost function really kicks the amp into super overdrive, but as I've said before,not a huge increase in volume unless you run the amp below 5, which I don't.The thing is meant to be cranked out to maximum....well just about maximum as there is an issue with the design which is apparently not a fault but just how it is with cathode biased class A/B amps. Due to the high voltages at max. vol. there is crossover distortion between the two valves than results in a slightly "fuzzy" sound when fully cranked. I know Cornell(English company) make replica Marshalls and have incorporated what they call their "Cream Box" to eliminate this problem(well I don't really see it as a problem). I just love the sound of this amp. It sounds great with a Strat also.Using the tonebone A/B pedal with My '62 RI strat (with Texas Special pickups)into the 1974X I can get great clean sounds and a SRV crunch-tone. I have an issue with the Tex.spec. pickups, well the bridge one anyway, it just sounds thin! I think a Lindy Fralin Steel Pole 42 or 43 with the bass plate would work wonders in my Strat into the 1974X. My playing style is fairly eclectic, but mostly blues-rock with some country twang and some grungy rocky stuff.
I love listening to Hendrix, Clapton(Mainly Cream era) and Led Zepplin, and this amp certainly covers the tones there. By the way when I can I always use the 1974CX 1x12" extension cabinet with it, it seems to pull something more out of the amp and makes it sound even better!

As I've said before reliability is an issue. Mines on it's 3rd mains(power) Transformer in under a year! The reviewer who said 8hrs maximum life you can expect from these transformers is wrong and very unlucky! I'd say between 50-100 hrs before mine blew(each time). If ...or when it goes again I think a Heyboer or Mercury Magnetics transformer will go in, even though the amps still under warranty! Might also be a good idea to have a spare on hand because it took over 2 months to get it repaired last time!

Not too bad. I eventually contacted the Marshall distributor in Australia and dealt with them rather than the store I bought the amp from as they were pretty slack about getting the warranty repair authorisation. I emailed the distributor and had a reply and repair authorisation number within a few days, after waiting weeks and many phone calls to the store I bought the amp from!

Well apart from reliabilty issues the main thing is the sound, and this is it! Once you've had it you can't live without it. I take 1 point of for dubious reliability!

Very simple and minimal. As it should be.

Great sound, but totally unreliable. This is my second amp in 2 weeks. Both sounded great but they die after a total of 8 hours playing.

The worst. Zero reliability on this amp. Do not buy this amp if you don't want to keep returning it.
I had 2 of these barnd new out of the box, both died in the span of 2 weeks. The first one died after 2 days and the second replacement died after a week. Both had the same of amount of play time.
Marshall told me the replacement would definately solve the problem and it wouldn't happen again. That replacement lasted a week.

Half decent support. Mostly dealing with the store I purchased it at.
Marshall is in denial here. They must know there is a problem with these amps. They told me that there were no known issues re. this amp.
I mentioned that it seems to be common knowledge in reviews and forums that they die soon after purchase. They basically told me don't belive what you hear on the net.
Well I've now experienced it firsthand, so I can say believe it, these amps are lemons. Great tone when working, not so great when it dies. And a major pain to have to keep taking a brand new top of the line amp in for constant replacement.

Great tone, but useless on an unreliable amp.
Marshall is not upfront about the truth re. these amps.
It seems obvious to us that buy them that there is a reliability problem and that they are prone to dying very soon after purchase. They are having these returned yet claim that there are no issues with the amp.
Paying this much for an amp that dies within days of purchase is total bulls#@t.
I feel I should be reimbursed for my time and inconvenience by Marshall. Taking this thing back and forth is a pain, and neither Marshall nor the distributor offer any apology for it.
They should be bending over backwards to keep their fan base loyal. Especially when considering that this is supposed to be one of the "holy grail" amps. Though I doubt it will be much longer.
I'm seeing alot of compaints about these.

Buyer beware, this amp is very, very unreliable.

To rate this category effectively we have to take into consideration what the product is. In this case its a simple low watt amp so we cannot expect features. However for what it is it has plenty. 2 channels and tremelo. The amp actually has great rage of sounds depending on attack and guitar volume. You would be surprized the tones you can conjure from this little thing.

Here where things get tricky. I have 2 of these at home. Both had a great overall voice but one was weak. FOr me thats a problem. Amp A was weak sounding while amp B rocked completely. Amp B's tolex was a complete mess though and coming off at every joint.

Soundwise amp A did not cut it for the price while amp B was worth every dime. Ouch .. how do I rate it? To be fair I have to split the difference between the two .... a 5. Quality control goes a long way Marshall - do some!

Hard to say with 2 brand new amps. However the better sounding of the two 1974x's had some intermittent problems. Freakish noises and a sputtering tranny. That worries me. Still without long term experience I cannot rate.

Never dealt with Marshall support.

I have been playing for 23 years. I've owned several Marshalls from various eras. I use Strats and Les Pauls. My current main amp is a 1959HW which has been very good. Before that a Jubilee shared main duties with a Matchless.

What I loved about the Marshall 1974x? Well the good one of the two sounded fabulous. The bad one was a dog that shouldnt have made it to market. HOWEVER the good sounding one has terrible tolex. It was peeling everywhere and it was NEW. Geez Marshall. So I can have nice tolex and a weak tone or great tone and crappy cabinetry. For these prices I went with NEITHER. At this price point I want all the above.

This is a tricky one to rate. Features are usually seen as a good thing. On this particular amp, and other vintage reissues, the simplicity is what makes it so fantastic. Compared to say a Line 6 amp, or Marshall Valvestate, the ?amount? of features would give this amp a 2-3 rating. It does have valve-driven, footswitchable Tremelo on one channel which is nice, but I do find it a little temperamental. It speeds up when it gets warm, and the slowest setting isn?t all that slow anyway. Also it has a severe overall volume drop when engaged, this kind of bugs me.

The 1974X has two channels with separate inputs, which means they can be footswitched, but you need to buy an AB box in order to do so. I tried this out for the first time the other day and this actually makes it a very versatile amp. You can set the master volume and tone controls differently for lead/rhythm or clean/dirty, or just two different sounds. And, if you have an ABY box you can blend the channels. This is a very handy feature, and can be done more simple by ?patching? the cables together with a short patch lead. The channel that is set louder is the more dominant one obviously, but it gives a nice third sound. This also gives you the option of blending different effects by placing them after the AB box. So you can blend a wet and a dry signal, or two different effects without having them in series (one plugged into the other) which makes them interact differently. I tried it with two different delay pedals set at different rates, made a nice atmospheric sound, almost a reverb.

It doesn?t have a full tone stack (TMB) but it does have a master tone control for each channel, just to control the highs. The sound this amp puts out is so balanced that its better off that you can?t go stuffing around with the settings anyway. I honestly don?t miss them at all. You can always buy an EQ pedal, which gives you the option of footswitching your different sound anyway.

Would have loved it to have had built in Reverb, and an effects loop, but they were trying to make it as authentic as possible to the originals.

Amazing! Totally organic Marshall crunch. Is actually worth a ten! If you are looking for that classic Marshall overdrive this is it. Being a single channel amp (well kind of - in the sense that it doesn?t have a predetermined clean and overdrive channel with footswitch) the sound is a totally natural overdrive. It goes from almost completely clean at low volumes, to a nice saturated overdrive at high volumes, and everything in between. Its class A valve, so there?s no processed signal path at all. Very warm. And being 18 Watts means you can realistically use it at high volumes to get that classic power tube saturated distortion that is so coveted but so rarely achieved. The essence of real tone is pushing the power tubes (EL84?s in this case) into distortion, not just relying on the preamp tubes (12AX7?s). A lot of people buy 100 Watt amps and never turn the volume past 2, what a waste. Even at 18 Watts this thing is pretty loud. I play at church, with a pretty open stage, and I still have the thing resting on the ?tube amp threshold? somewhere between half and one. In a band situation however, there?s no reason not to have the thing dimed. This is the perfect amp to use with a power attenuator also, because it is designed to be pushed hard, and sounds so amazing when it is. Has the matching 1x12 ext cab which would help when the volume doesn?t quite cut it. Sounds incredible with my modded Ibanez Tubescreamer. It doesn?t respond well to all pedals however. Bought a Vox Cooltron Bulldog Distortion pedal, with the 12AU7 tube in it. Great sounding pedal through an ordinary clean channel, but sounded rubbish through the 1974x. I wouldn?t recommend using any tube preamp distortions with this amp, not necessary.

This is where this amp falls down. It has been well documented on the net that the 1974x has some issues, specifically with the output transformer (OT). I bought mine second hand, and the guy warned me that it tends to blow mains fuses, and boy does it what. I keep a couple of packs of fuses in my case. It has calmed down a bit since when I first got it, but if you ever change the impedance selector to use the ext cab and turn it off and on again its guaranteed to have blown the fuses. If the OT ever goes completely I?m stuffed, but for now I can live with it. This amp is probably better suited as a recording amp than a gigging/touring amp.

Again, not great. I emailed Marshall and they forwarded me on to my local Marshall repair agent for NZ who knew nothing of the problems with the amp, and didn?t offer any real practical solutions. If you are international (not US) and you want any help from Marshall themselves and you use the online help/contact function I would recommend selecting US from the country list! I have done nothing about it for now.

Next to no features, but surprisingly versatile little screamer. 18 Watts gives the perfect overall volume, and useable power tube distortion.
Amazing sound quality, but serious reliability issues. Better suited to the studio.
Sound quality alone more than makes up for its downfalls, still gets a nine.

The simple features of the 1974x have already been described by the reviewers here, there is nothing new to add.

I play it with a Gibson Les Paul Standard (with WCR Darkburst PUs) or with my Fender Highway 1 Strat (with Fender CS '69 PUs) for classic Blues and Bluesrock. Usually I go straight into the amp, sometimes I use an OCD or an TS808RI, that's it. The Amp produces nice clean sounds but best will be to get it into soft crunch - very creamy and compressed tone.

That is the dark side: After only a few hours of home use, the Power Transformer failed and killed the power tubes. I had to get a replacement tranny from Marshall and had it installed by a Marshall Service Center. When I got it back, after some hours the Power Transformer started to become hot again. Furthermore the creamy sound was gone, it produced a very harsh overdrive sound. So I had to bring it to an amp specialist who had to adjust some things (do not understand much of the technical side - I was told, it was simply running too hot with too much power at the power section).

I bought the amp via mail/phone in the UK but I am living in Germany. Therefore neither Marshall UK nor the German Distributor/Service felt to be in charge to support me. Although I was able to receive some help from Marshall in the UK after some mails and phone calls, I still had to pay for the repairs (although the amp was under warranty). I got no support from the German Marshall Service (Musik Meyer)at all, they refused any help !

If it works, it is a great amp. But taking into account the list price, the PT failure and the behaviour of the German Marshall Service, I think that there are better alternatives on the market.

This is a 2005 bought in 2006. I love the tremolo sounds real good.
Came with foot switch, on/off.
The amp has two channels. tremolo. and non-tremolo.
Can't really tell, but i think the non-tremolo channel it the one to crank up. This amp has plenty of power/volume. This is a tube amp with a tube rectifier. Two EL84's for power. It looks like the amp has Marshall branded JJ's for the 12ax7's. I haven't looked under the power tube cover yet for the brand of those tubes.
Anyone that thinks this amp is a one trick pony... i don't want to insult. I can play any type of music style on this amp. Metal? Early metal with no pedal and a les paul. Add a 808 or two if you gotta.

I have only played this amp with mod. gain angus young signature gibson pickups.(Humbuckers.)
This amp is great for clean styles. The tremolo takes you back to those great 60's recordings.
The amp is not noisey at all. Cranked up this amp is a Marshall combo blues amp. 18 loud watts...
This is a non-master volume amp. It distorts pretty quick on turning up the volume. It has full one distortion when cranked. I think the Celestion G12-20 kicks in. Great rock/blues amp.
Play clean with the guitar volume turned down, still leaving the amp turned to like 8 or so.

Just bought it today. I would. I keep my amps in good shape. This amp i would think has to be built correctly. It is a copy of a vintage curcuit.
Marshall wants a good reputation. They put some thought into the hand wired amps for us who now have the $.

I have called korg once. seemed fine. the warrantee is 5 years.

I have played since i was 18. i am 44 now.
I love that it is a Marshall.
This is a beautiful sounding amp. If you have the money this is a great amp. It looks cool.
This amp if original vintage would sell for $10,000.00
This amp was made for someone who knows what it suposed to sound like. Hand wired,Point to point.
Great speaker. This amp is expensive. The market will set it's value.
This amp won't be into the heap of crap amps.

I bought this amp brand new this year, and really had to empty my pockets to pay for it. I sold alot of vinatge effects and stuff to get the money for the deposit, but well worth the money. It has two channels, one with the best sounding organic tremelo I have heard. There and two sets of inputs on each channel, each sounding different enough to be useable. I don't think you need to do the classic channel jumping thing on this one though, its got quite enough gain without the need to do that. I always use the tremelo channel, and just switch the tremelo off, it gives that lovely dark vintage tone.

I use a 1978 Gibson ES335TD which has a coiltap. Total versitality with this guitar and amp combination. I turn the amp up to around 8 on the volume, and fulll on the tone and just adjust my guitar volume and tone pots to build wonderful tone scapes. It cleans up nicely when you roll back your guitar volume, and vice versa has an awesome lead sound.

Its a great blues amp, and its got such a fluent, dynamic, organic, bassy, woody, ballsy sound to it, yet it can be so delicate. Its all in the way you use your fingers and volume/tone pots. It has been a total education for me who grew up in the 80s, using effects, racks and midi, then goiing through the 90s using vintage gear. Its all about finding your way through, trial and error.

This amp is by far my favorite tone, and its so simple to get a great tone. Its the classic way of doing it really. I have not played live with it yet, maybe I would use a zvex or mxr clean boost live, not sure yet, but I think it would be great to just turn up with this amp, plug straight and sound great.

Have had it for 4 months now and it has not missed a beat. Smells abit when you use it though, maybe this will pass.

Never had to deal with them. I am sure there would be no hassles.

I am 34, but have been playing for over 25 years. I suppose like most of us I am a bit of a gear junkie. I also own an old Jen crybaby, and Ibanez phasetone. On my wish list there are a 1970s Les Paul, Maestro EP3 echoplex, zvex superhardon, and a vintage sola sound tonebender.

I am kind of buying gear 'for life' now. I actually bought this amp on the stength of reviews on this site, without even demoing it! No risk though, if you are after a 'wonderful tone' look no further.

If it my amp were stolen, I would be gutted, but sure I would be looking to get another.