Marshall 1987 Head

I have a 1972 model of this amp.Never had a single problem other than power indicator light is broke and i cannot find a replacement thus far.I mostly like the sound of this amp with straight guitar,no effect pedals,best at half ways or more on the the volume.I play alot of ac/dc,sabbath,judas priest and other classic stuff.Pretty much bare bones amp with no gain,just master volume and channell volumes.I don't really use the presence,but there is a presence setting on the amp.I usually jump a jumper patch cable from channel 1 to 2 and between both channels,go for the blend of tone I want at the time.I use this as my main amp.I never have problems with the pre amp or power tubes or anything else for tyhat matter and i push it fairly hard at times.This thing has some ball.Power galore for a 50 watt amp.It is an all tube amp.Cannot beat the tone received from this simple amp.I have had many a people offer to buy it after only seeing it or hearing it for short time.I will keep it as long as I am able to play.Only issue I have is I wish I could get the sound and tone of the the amp at high volume without having it as loud as I need to to get there.It literally hurts your ears if you are not used to it or in a good sized area.I know I should look into power brake or a power attenuator to remedy this,but never have so far.At times I do run thru a boss overdrive pedal to attempt to play it at lower volumes and attempting to retain the tone of the higher volume .It does this somewhat ,but I believe a attenuator would work a great deal better.This is just an aswome Jim Marshall amp ,a true workhorse,and a must to get the genuine marshall crunch and the old rock and roll vibe and feel.

Amp can get a nice sounding clear tone and also an excellent overdriven tube sounding rock and roll amp tone.It doen't have a metal sound or distortion on its own,you would probably need to experiment with some pedals to get some of the current metal ,distortion sounds.I mainly plug my Gibson SG Standard or my Gibson Les Paul Studio straight into this amp and the result is absolutley amazing.I also at times plug in a standard Fender strat and can get pretty close to SRV sound.It does have a hum or buzzing sound when fired up,but I think all the older models get that.It doesn't bother me a whole lot.

I have gigged with this amp with no backup other than a digitech rp 100,which i would then plug that into the pa system and find the best tone I can find with that(Never needed to tho,my Marshall never let me down)The outside otf the amp shows wear,but I replaced the logo and gold piping trim and looks dam nice I think.

Never had a problem,
Although I did email them some photos of the amp, and asked for a schematic of the amp.The company was quick to reply and sent me schematic to my address at no charge

I have benn playing since 1979.
I would be devastated if it were stolen.I wouldn't be dumb enough to loose it.Would be very difficult and $$ to replace and would depress the hell out of me honestly.

I bought this 1969 made 50 Watts Plexi from ebay.I had always been looking for a relacement for that 1973 made Marshall i sold and never forgot that amazing tone. This amp has already the metal faceplate . I just expect a special sound , but with a distotion box you can get everything from clean to insane distortion. I use it for recording, so versatality isn't realy an issue for me.

That amp delivers serious tone , theres a huge difference when you change the guitar.
It got that Hendrix clean sound, the old AC/DC crunch and that Van Halen brown sound.
This is the sound of Rock.When you play the guitar riff from Deep Purples "Smoke on the Water", there is a difference, because of the original sound. It's not creamy or pleasing,
it 's rough. It's got massive Bass. The Sound is heavy using just a little distortion.
It's got a VERY good clean Sound, that's a differnce to the 1959 Model. I got also a 2203 Mastervolume Model from 1976, compared to it, the Plexi is fatter sounding with a lot of sparling. (I like my 2203 very much, it just smoked the Mesa Stiletto)

This Amp is nearly 40 Jears old, all original. It's working perfect. Never had reliability Problems with Marshall.

I'm a Marshall Player for 20 Years. Had four Heads, but never Problems. But if, it can be seviced from any technician in every bigger Town.

I'm playing for more than 30 Years . Had different Vintage Marshalls, old Vox, Fender, also full blown Mesa Rack and a Recto. For the sounds I like it's just right. This Amp got personality and style. It's still not surpassed in the category of Tone. Best Amp for crunchy Rock Sounds.

The head was made in 78 and is the classic 50W, 4 holer. The amp does not have any of the modern features like effect loops, channel switching. However, these features do not matter as this head just drips of pure tone. In my 26 years of playing nothing has come close to the sound of this head.

What can I say? These 50 watters sound great with natural compression and harmonic distortion when cranked. One night I noticed our bass player just staring at my rig(50W head with slant cab loaded with 15W, alnico Celes. speakers). I asked if he was OK and he just nodded and said he just realized how awesome that amp sounds. This was after 5 years of playing together with the same amp! I guess it just finally "hit him".

Purchased used in 1986. I've replaced the power tubes 3 times and all the preamp tubes twice.

Never needed it.

Playing for 26 years and I plan to be buried with this head(sorry sons). If this was lost or stolen I would do things to find it that I can't detail here. If you play electric guitar you should have a 50W Marshall , 4 holer. By far the best sounding amp I have ever owned and I owned alot(Sunn, Fender Twin, Ampeg VT-22, Kustom, Garnett, Traynor, Randall, Mesa and also a Marshall 2210.)

I bought this while stationed in England in December 1969. 50w tube small box - new. I added the 8x10 cabinet and a 1963 early Hagstrom/Kent model I (Euro Strat). The guitar was used and did not have the later models' switch panel (see Hagstrom site for the Kent version of this guitar).
The amp had a standard tone and volume controls (no master volume). Vol, low, mid, high and a presence control that could slice your eyeballs out when cranked to "11". It had 2 channels with 2 inputs per. It was a LOUD 50 watts when put through the 8x10 (25w) celestion cabinet. As it was in 1969-1970 it had all the features I needed. I used this setup with a couple bands palying at local small indoor and outdoor gigs with no problems with projection and clarity. It filled in for a busted amp with a band called Hawkwind at a large venue in Cambridge UK called the Corn Exchange. The lead guitarist played with bass and mid at 5 and 7 and the treble at 8 with full presence. Just enough power up front to rise above the rest of the band (although it was also miced through their PA board). The guitarist replicated their album sound nicely using the amp rig with a Fuzz Face and a reverb box.

I used a 1963 Hagstron/Kent model 1 exclusively. I couldn't afford a Strat in England and this guitar has great bright tonal range but it can lay down some deep sustain with the bridge pickup and less presence. I played Led Zep, GFRR, Stones, Cream and (failed miserably at) Hendrix, although the sound was approximate to his early non-fuzzed up stuff. The Hagstrom was nice and gutsy with a slightly broken up overdrive, just like a Strat on steroids. The amp was relatively quiet for a Marshall (my other bandmates used a 50w plexi for bass and a 100w lead for the other guitar and they put out a bit more hum). The higher I cranked it, the more the tubes broke up and it got into that slightly overdriven bluesy, rich treble, but no great distortion, just more punch. I did not use much bottom end, but had the tone in mid most of the time with the presence on max. At low volume it was almost as clean as a Fender but with much more depth. Not squeaky, but richly clean.
When I got back to the USA I got a stock 69 Strat and Thinline Tele with humbuckers and ... well you must know what that sounded like if you've listened to rock for as many years as I have. Played the Strat as rhythm for bands doing Sabbath, Neil Young, Dave Mason, etc. I played straight through
with a Vox Wah for effects.

I started blowing the speaker fuses after only a couple months. I had to bring it to the dealer who in turn sent it out a couple times for repair (warranty work). I lost use of the amp for more than a month. Good customer service but bad quality (for the times).

At the time the factory AND dealer service was excellent but slow turnaround.

At that time I had been playing lead for about a year (played bass and rhythm for 4 years prior). I started life with a Harmony Stratotone and a Supro 5W (with a 6''x9" speaker). Later I graduated to a Sunn 100S head with a single 12" cabinet, a stock non-Bigsby Guild Starfire IV and a Hagstrom model I bass with an Ampeg B15N fliptop.
Now I play several guitars but my faves are a stock Mex Strat, a Gibson S-1, a custom made Tele clone with Fender humbuckers and an Aria Pro ll ST with stock a flat h-bucker and 2 single coils. I have a 1963 Stratotone and the Supro 6" x 9" amp.
I sold the Marshall rig and have been kicking myself for a few decades. That was the most honest sounding tone machine I ever owned. You could NOT play poorly using it because it would not hide the screwups in a blizzard of muddledness. It was pure tone. Clean, crunchy or slice and dice.

1971 (C reg) Combo with 2 12" celestions ) with tremolo, 4 inputs. I think the speaker cloth may have been changed as it is black and it has a large plastic logo. Started out with a brushed metal plate, (all the lettering wore off) but has since been changed for a plexi top. Bought it from a friend for #50 in 1983 who needed a small practice amp. This combo is bigger than the Bluesbreaker and much heavier. I'm not really sure what I've got, but Marshalls have told me it is likely to be a 1987x head. The repair man says it is a JTM45. The test label on the chassis says 50w eng. The footswitch socket for the tremolo looks like a din plug - where can you get a footswitch from? EL34's and ECC83's. (Mullard)

Use a Gibson Les Paul Classic and 78 Strat. Both sound tremendous with a lot of low bass if required. Can get the amp to really be clean below 4 and sound almost bell like. Above 6 it starts to really crunch and distort. When used with a bluesbreaker pedal instant sounds are available at relatively low volumes. The amp can be a bit noisy, but its old!

Been serviced twice. Once at purchase, needed new tremolo pot and some new knobs. They also fitted and supplied the plexi front and new knobs. Never broken down or failed.

Have contacted Marshalls for wiring diagrams and they sent them immediately with no charge. Lots of authorised repair men out here. Who needs a warranty with a Marshall?

I've been playing since 1969. I also own a Boogie 45watt Nomad combo. I don't know if I'd replace the Marshall as it's so heavy it needs 2 people to carry it. The Boogie is much more portable (although still heavy). One tremendous amp with GREAT sounds. I've got to rate it at ten as it only cost me #50

My one is made in 1971 (Ser# ends with a C), except the replaced pig nose plug which had be converted to a normal plug everything is original. Has small head, lay down mains tranny and looks like new due to the circumstance, that it stood for approximatly 17 years in a dry basement where I found the amp by incident. I asked the owner whether it still works, we switched it on and it worked without problem. Features are well known, it's a real plug and play amp, only things you need are a good guitar and a good box to play through. By linking the inputs you are able to realize the sound you're looking for.

I owned a lot of Marshall amps in the past, e.g. TSL 2000 (lots of features, crappy sound), 4203 Combo (cute little 30 Watter with an amazing sound), JCM 900 (too compressed and fenderesque), JCM 800 (not enough gain), 2204 MK2 MV (great sound, but just distorted) and a 100 W Superlead from 1970 (great sound, but earthshaking). After buying a 2558 Silver Jubilee Combo (great hard rock amp) I was looking for an additional amp which could deliver the sound of my vintage 1959 but on lower volumes. My 1987 matches perfectly what I had been looking for, great clean sound with lots of bottom and, using a good distortion pedal (for example the Bixonic Expandora is an excellent match) you'll get the sought after vintage sounds like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix and so on. It really depends on the cab you use, how good the sound is. Cabs with Celstion Greenbacks are excellent, Celestion Vintage 30 speakers, which are for example the first choice with the Silver Jubilee, suck in combination with the 1987.

Like I said, it had been switched on after 17 years and ran without ptoblems since that day.

I have a local repaiman over here in Frankfurt but hadn't to consult him to date.

I'm a semi-pro player since 1969 and played nearly all the amp shit that occured during that long period. I own and dumped Marshalls, Mesa Rectifier, H + K ZenTera, Bogner, Koch and so own, but Marshall rules.

hello all. it seems i am among the wise here.

i play through a '72 50w and 4x12, SG and LP standard, straight cord-no whizzers. i had the good sense (luck) to start out with this amp in '74 and the natural sound of it immediately got me into bands when i had no business being there. wobbled through my 3 chuckberry licks and everybody said, "o he is a genius. how do you hold your pick?" later when i could rip around pretty good but the pint had come back around to me one too many times in the parking lot, the marshall would step in and carry me as i revisited wobbly chuckberry licks, leading everybody to say, "o he is a drunken genius. surely one day he will be on tv". well, we all know better, don't we?

these old 50 watters have the large note. they sing like aretha franklin. they teach you to use your hands instead of whizzer boxes. have you ever noticed that multichannel switching, pedalboard/rack,separate pre-power, etc. has generically anonymized rock'n roll? die mtv die. deneuterized dribble. the irony of it all.

i think duane allman was the best example of plugging straight in and generating a rainbow. if your stereo is hooked up right, he's in the left channel on "live at fillmore". allman used 50s, cranked, and constantly worked guitar tone and vol. betts, on right, used 100s, turned down for twang. they both used jbls, d-120 and k-120. drill out the rivets and take out your cabinet handles if you want to try that trick. that'll fat things up.

don't mod these excellent amps. the "ken fischer" master is cool if you put it in one of the speaker out jack holes. i am an amp tech. do you know how many of these amps have been killed by mod gurus? i can't stand it. i am standard issue hippie. we do not beat on folks, not even when hopping up and down and spitting mad. no yeah no yeah... no. i have had several famous name disasters through my shop. splattering, choking down and oscillating like cw transmitters. holes blasted through chassis, blinking leds, silicon blobs everywhere... oh no no no. one day i will dress up like scarytheclown and drop out of a tree on somebody's neck.

these amps are for players who know what i mean when i say that jascha heifetz never needed mods and whizzers to make his fiddle sound like a saxophone. it's up to you. can you play what you hear in your head?

my amp has never needed any work except preemptive supply caps. i put a master volume in it.

once i needed a print for one obscure amp and marshall sent me prints for everything.

over the years, i would sometimes use an a/b box and twin reverb in very top 40 cover things, but even then, i'd usually ignore the twin and play the marshall all night. i used the marshall even for top 40 c&w just-for-money jobs. (as i looked at the budweiser clock thinking, "how long can this go on?")

if i ever get a job playing dinner jazz, i'll use the marshall, swear i will. it'll be unique.

after close to 30 years, it appears that we've gotten old on us. while i'm probably scuffed up a little, the marshall is still pretty. (i always took better care of it than i did me, anway.) i love this amp.

1970-71, small box 50 watt head. Normal features for this year i.e. 4 input, polarity switch and very well done master volume. Only 2 inputs work because of the mod. Both inputs sound the same. Channel 2 having a bit more gain.

ESP/LTD with Dimarzio Tone Zone at the bridge and a stock early 80's Gibson Explorer. Marshall straight 412 with Vintage 30's.

My style is indie rock leaning towards the British side of things.

This amp is simply awesome. Very heavy sounding with the basswood body, ESP. Nice articulation and very clean when you roll the volume back on the guitar. This is what its all about. I could play a whole gig with only this amp, my Boss SD-1 and CE-2 pedals. The mahagony Explorer had less bottom, but was clearer in the mids. Easily compensated for with the very usable eq. I'll eventually get a proper medium for both guitars.

She screams and purrs when ever I want her to. An amazing amp!

PTP Marshalls are easy to fix by any good tech. I don't for see any problems. I use multiply amps, so I always have a back up.

Never dealt with the company.

I love this amp. It's perfect for my style of music. I use a VHT Pittbull 45 112 and a Rivera Knucklehead 100 into a Marshall 412 with 75's. The Rivera is used as a clean slave amp for the VHT. Adding the small box 1/2 stack has really opened up my sound. I'd buy another in a hot minute

Mine was made in 1976 (serial # ends with H). I changed the GE 6550 tubes out for Groove tube EL34's #1 hardness. It had a master volume mod in it when I bought it. This mod makes it very good for gigging. Otherwise, you would have to have an attenuator (like HotPlate, Weber MASS, PowerBrake,...). Very limited features, just a warm marshall clean and crunch. Basic 4 knob tone stack. No effects loop or any other tone-robbing feature. Just basic rock and roll!!!

I have an american designer series strat. The clean is really nice with the strat. The strat distortion from the single coil pickups (american standard) is not as good as humbckers. It sounds about an 8 with the strat overall.

My other guitar is a hohner headless that has EMG select humbucking pickups on it. The amp sounds like a 10 with this guitar. I used to have a LP and it sounded extremely good with this amp. It seems like this amp prefers humbuckers. This is a classic rock and roll amp and it does this sound perfectly. You need to use a marshall cab with this. I have Marshall 1965a/b 4x10 cabs (bought in 1988) that I use with this. The transient response (punchiness) of 10" is better (IMHO).

I like to use it like this for gigging: I set the volume on it for a good crunchy sound (which is what this amp does best). I back off of the volume on my guitar to clean it up. When I want searing lead, I use clean boost (basically turn up the volume from my rack) which is switched by midi.

But is sounds the best when there is only a cable between the guitar and the marshall. This is usually what I do at home (and I also crank it up loud!)

If you want a brutal distortion, then get a boogie. If you want crunchy rock sounds then get this marshall.

Average rating a 9. Great rock sound. Limited versatility.

This amp has worked very well for me. I have owned other marshalls in the past and they have all worked well. That being said, I always keep spare tubes. Tubes amps are usually very simple. If something is wrong you can typically fix it by replacing the offending tube. If you change the output tubes then you need to bias it. I also have a spare amp. It is a Boogie Studio .22 (w/ graphic eq). At one time this amp sounded fizzy after warming up for 20 minutes of playing or so. I fixed it by changing one of the 12AX7's. There was an RCA 12AX7. I replaced it with a Sovtek 12AX7WA. The WA is a slightly lower gain tube, but sounds good in my amp. I tried 12AX7LPS (higher gain), but it sounded slightly buzzy at high gain. I may try a 12AX7-EH (different plate structure), but I am so happy with the current sound of this amp that I might not.

Overall rating is 8, because it is a (high-quality) tube amp.

I have never dealt with Marshall directly. I have used their website, which is painfully slow. I bought the History of Marshall book. It has all the marshall schematics in the back and lots of pictures to drool over. If it breaks I will fix it myself. This amp is extemely simple. This amp is 26 years old now. I bought it for $350 in 1987.

Since I have never dealt with Customer Support or need their repair show, I am not going to rate on this category.

I have been playing 32 years. I have some midi rack effects and midi switching system. I also have a wireless rig. I love this amp.

If it were stolen, I would put my other hobby in high gear (which is kung fu). There would be some major ass-kickin' goin' on (I'm also from Texas). I would try to get another one if this were not-recovered or somehow destroyed.

Also, if you want to add features, you can get the amp modded to add the features. Marshalls have been around a long time. There are lots of good mods for them.

Overall this amp excels at crunchy rock sounds. Has a warm clean. If you are looking for a classic rock sound, this is it. If you want another style or more versatility, look for another amp. Also note that I own a Boogie. My midi stuff can switch between them (and also channel switch the boogie along with all my other rack stuff).

The last thing I want to add is that it sounds better, the louder you turn it. The awesome marshall crunchy distortion that I have been talking about is a result of power tube distortion. This means that you need to turn up loud to get the best sound (even with the MV mod). Actually the better sounds are when the master and pre-amp gain are set to 6-8. This kinda negates the reason for having the MV, but usually I like the flexibility of the MV mod for gigging. Typically I run the master from 2.5-4.0. If I do this, I need to increase the gain to 7-10.

This is a 1975 50 watter. Bought it used, cosmetically and electronically stock, A solid 8/10 scale. Changed the GE 6550 tubes out for Siemens EL34's and put in some NOS GE 12AX7 tubes. I opted to have a reversible Master volume mod installed, which I believe makes this amp a versatile unit. It was a bit bass heavy when it came in so it needed some voicing help. No effects loop but I would not use one anyway.

I use a '81 Gibson Les Paul and a Fender Stratocaster with one EMG81 through it. Between the 2 guitars and the two channels on the amp, there are plenty of available combinations to suit my needs/wants. The amp needs a little push from a Tube screamer to get the level of distortion I prefer.

This is in "like new condition" and 100% reliable. I prefer to keep this one at home. I'll take one of my beaters to gigs.

N/A

I like the Marshall sound, every amp sounds a little different.

Sheer simplicity
This amp lay under someones bed for 10 years, my mate purchased it for the princely sum of #35 (about $50)and i remember not being very impressed with it at the time i was using a Calsboro sting ray tranny combo at the time (there's no accounting for taste sometimes). I purchased a second hand superbass and had it modded for guitar, a meety amp but not a great sound. I went to a jam session with my mate who was trying out for a band and the only amp available was the plexi Marshall. I plugged in turned everthing up full and the sound was simply awesome. At the end of the session I begged my mate to sell it too me but he refused, after a year of begging he agreed to sell it too me for the same price as he had paid definately the bargin of the centuary. Broke down and went to get it repaired the guy in the shop went apeshit, anyway he did the repair and found that the original owner had done a mod which was causing the fault so he had removed it. He said this was the second best Marshall he had ever heard (Purple 50 the best)and that the amp relly sang a low volumes. Went to a practice session and plugged in and incredibly it sounded even better. I eventually got my hands on a late 60's 4 X 12 120 watt celestion greenbacks for #100 ($140) the ultimate setup. I think that this amp could have been one of the first JMP 50 produced at the new factory. I saw JTM 50 with a serial number seven lower than mine (I'll need to find out)so possibly about 1965/66 also the chassis has an extra hole in it.

The sound is awesome think of any rock band of the late 60's/70's and this setup will reproduce it absolutley 100% authentic. This amp sings like a songbird plenty bass mids and sweet treble the brown sound. Turn all knobs up full except volume which you set to 8 (my amp tech said eight and i agree), please note this amp is at full volume at 2 going to 8 increses the cream not the volume. Use the guitars volume to control thr sound 2 for clean 5/6 for crunch and full for full cream. this amp is for playing rock/blues. When i used to play with this rig in my band people were always trying to buy it off me no chance. If there is a holy grail of setup's then this is the one too have, never part with yours and look after it and always make sure it is well insured. Others may say that their triple channel all singing and dancing amp provides them with the versitility sadly lacking in a plexi then they seem to be missing the point (a jack of all trades and a master of none). These amps add an inherant musicality through the rich harmonic distortion they produce and is therefore more pleasant sounding to the listener(s). They allow you to express youself more distinctly just listen to the differnce in the sound between hard picking and soft then mix the two together and you'll see what i mean. I have listened too and try'd out many of the other amps out there and there is nothing out there that sounded as good, I accept that i am biased in this matter however musicians have always coplemeted me on how good the amp sounds and has even converted some to using Marshalls. I use to use a distortion pedal but I don't now just an old Jen wha-wha (white room no probs). I did plug in a binson echorec2 (rare valve echo fx used by pink Floyd on early albums)I picked up the echo fx were'nt working so it was like adding an extra valve stage to the preamp shit hot sound at low volumes (about 1/3 up from vol zero this amp is ridiculously lous at very low volume settings) so was good for home recording setup.

The mod made this amp extremely unreliable however since this was removed I not had it repaired. The amp is relly tattie no plastic marshall logo and no tolex on the front and back. Difficult to know it's a marshall unless you look close but I was burgled once and lost alot of my equipment thankfully not my amp. So don't know whether to have it restored as it's in need of a good sevice and re-valving, however still sounds good.

In my experience they have always been very helpful and forthcoming with me and my friends.

Been a musician for about 21 years both live, studio and currently do a lot of home recording (well no other ego's to compete with). If stolen It means the earth is about to be hit by a comet, quite simply my amp is irreplacable i've tried the rest this is the best and that includes others like mine.

PS! The price I paid was for the amp AND the 4 x 12 cabinet
According to the serial number, this was made in 1974. It's very basic: Precense, bass, midrange, treble, vol1 (bright), vol2 (normal). 4 inputs (two for bright, two for normal). Two power tubes (EL34), three preamp tubes (ECC83/12AX7). Two speaker outputs with three impedances (4, 8, 16 ohms).

I've had this amp since 1987 and due to its sound I haven't even bothered to look for anything else. I've tried other amps (Mesa Boogies, newer Marshalls, Peaveys, Oranges, etc. etc.) but nothing matches this thing. I must stress, however, that it isn't the worlds most versatile amp. It's pure rock'n'roll/bluesrock and does not produce the kind of chrystal clean sound of f. ex. a Fender Twin Rewerb or a Hiwatt Custom. But for classic rock and related music forms, this is what you should get.

I use an old, beaten Fender Stratocaster for this amp. I don't, like most purists, plug directly in (it's so fucking loud, despite only 50 watts). Instead I was lucky to find, after having searched thorougly for many years, a tube preamp that actually matches this thing, namely a Mesa Boogie V- Twin. I've tried avariety of fuzz boxes and preamps, but most of them ruin the actual sound of the amp. The V-Twin does not! Part of the reason is that you can easily adjust all the tone metres the same way as the Marshall (namely all of them all the way up). With this set up I get a good blend of sounds from rock guitarists from the seventies (Blackmore, Page etc.). And, yes: it can be a bit noicy if you forget to change tubes or do regular service.

Also, I have the right cabinet for it (a must, at least in my opinion), namely a Marshall 4 x 12 from early 70s with Celestion Greenbacks.

This is an old amp. And old amp do break down every now and then. I've had mains power condensator dry-outs a couple of times. This causes it to produce an awfull lot of noice (like someone frying pork on full volume). It's quite normal, really, for this to happen on old amps, but there is nothing to worry about. The awful noice does not damage the amp and the repair is not a tricky one.

Another thing that can happen to these that did happen to mine, is that the power switch burned out after years and years of use. This is also something you may expect from old equipment.

Other than that it is very reliable. I've dragged this thing in and out of vans and venues in all kinds of weather conditions and circumstances and it has indeed stood the test.

Never had anything to do with Marshall the company. I fix amp problems myself.

There can be few doups that these amps are among the best ever made. I don't have any other amps allthough I've tried a whole bunch. They're simply the best classic rock amps. If you have this thing for distorted sound and a Fender Twin Rewerb (which I do not have, at least yet) for clean, you've got the best vintage sound, really.

This was originally a 1976 Marshall 2204. I bought it on ebay for $200 last May. It needed a little TLC, so I replaced a few parts and undid a few mods the previous owner put in. The amp sounded fine, but it wasn't what I was looking for. The master volume amps sounds great, but it just didn't suit me. I bought a Hoffman plexi board to put in, but it sat in my closet for about 6 months with the amp. I finally got around to replacing the original circuit about a month ago. The amp sounded pretty good before, but it ROARS now. There's nothing like it.. The 2204 had more gain, but this circuit (which is a 50 watt plexi) just rocks! My jaw drops every time I crank it up.

I'm using this amp with a gibson les paul std and a 2x12 cab with celestion vintage 30's. I've tried plugging a Fulldrive 2 and a Boss SD-1 into it, but nothing beats the sound of just the amp and the guitar. It's an unbeatable combination. I play mostly older rock covers with a band, and this amp is just what the doctor ordered. The components are all high quality, and the amp still has theoriginal beefy transformers. It sounds close to a 50 watt reissue, but not quite. This one has more balls and a gut wrenching low end when you want it. Jumpering the two channels together can get you a good variety of sounds. I like to keep the normal volume around 7 or 8 and the bright volume at 6. The volume control on my guitar can clean the sound up a good bit, but it's not as clean as my Deluxe Reverb. I love it.

I would definitely depend on it. The board is very well put together. I also replaced all the filter caps while I had it apart, so I don't expect anything to fail for a long time. The tubes are new Valve Arts KT66's. I tried some Svetlana EL34's, but I prefer these tubes. They have a fatter sound. Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever.

I've never dealt with Marshall, and I never will. This amp is so old and simple. I can fix anything that goes wrong myself.

I've got about $350 in this amp (hoffman board, new filters). I wish I could get another one like it for that price. This amp is not for everybody. It's loud as hell, and not all that versatile, but it does what it does better than anything else. Every rock guitarist should play one of these at least once. There's nothing like it.

This head is from 68 or 69, dunno exactly because the serial number is not available anymore... it was dated thanx to his features...
i play mostly Rock and Blues from the late 60's and early 70's
two chanel, classic 4 input 50W head, presence, low, middle, high, vol1, vol2... power and standbye quite simple...
i think it's enought buttons... no need for more...
enough power for rehearsing and playing on stage...

i use two guitars, a 71' strat and a Les Paul, i guess i have all sounds with this two guitars...
this amp is not noisy at all... never seen such a quiet amp... of course the strat introduce some buzz but i guess everybody can live with it...
with the strat and a good germanium fuzz, a good ol' italian wah and a ts808, i can have all the classic sounds of Hendrix, gallagher etc...
with the Paul, i can reach led zep, allman bro', zztop, the who sounds, depending on the setting ofthe amp... and the boxes used...
ok, this amp is Creamy... the control are verrrry efficient... lot of combinations of sounds can be create depending on the setting, the chanel used etc... hours of fun looking for sounds... i noticed that i prefer to play it without no boxes... sound so good with just the Paul... the distortion increase as you increase the volume... so nice...

i definitivly use it without back up, cause it's verry simple amp, and it was checked by a good tech, cap replaced good tubes... of course this kind of ol' amp must be serviced to be reliable but it's part of the fun...

this amp has a story... one day i went to a pub to see a friend playing with his band... he lend me his amp to play a few songs... it was on a dark stage... i plugged into this strange marshall combo, i noticed that the buttons were upside down... i played with this fabulous sound, powerfull, acid, tasty and creamy at the same time...wow!!! after the gig i asked him what this amp is supposed to be... in fact he had this old marshall head without the wood that a friend found in a trash... after servicing the electronic, he putted it in a marshall combo with a vintage30 HP... i asked him to sell it... he didn't wnt at the time but after one year, he had a failure, and didn't want to service it anymore so he trade it for a guitar and a few pedal that i didn't use anymore... i brough it to a good tech that found dead diode on the power stage... he replaced 'em and the amp now sound awsome... i build a wooden box for the head and a wooden cab loaded with 2 65W celestion that a friend gave me... i realize how much i'm lucky to play on a plexi 50W... for such a low price...

i got this amp for 2 years now, i'm so happy i got this classic amp...
i also got a 76' twin reverb which sound awsome too...
if it was stolen, i would commit a crime... because it's a one chance in your life finding such a good amp...

this amp was sold to me as a 73 but it is a 74. it has only vol, bass, tone, pres and middle. It's got balls for days and can generate a lot of cool sounds at the turn of a volume knob. If you need more than that then you suck and you also probably own a cheesy effects board and pay hommage to vai or suckriani.

with p-90's it sounds great but they are very noisy. Humbuckers are great. On a strat you get that "live" Hendrix sound for days. the amps does not goe any louder after you turn it passed 2. It just compresses and distorts beautifully.

this amp has been through the ringer and has the battle scars to prove it. I have not had any problems with it, but then again, I have had it re-tubed and all that other good shit that goes along with that.

this amp is the best amp I have played with. It kills a twin, and barks meaner than a boogie. for the money it was well worth it

All early Marshall are easy to use. Just run your finger along the bottom of the knobs until all are on full! Simple.

It's a Marshall. It should sound good. Keep in mind, early stock heads only sound good turned up all the way. The 1987 and the 1959 ( bka Plexi Super Leads, four inputs, no master volume) have to be turned up to get crunch. Depending on the type of music you play, you might want to consider having it safely modified to take advantage of the heads capability. Pre amps are just distorion boxes. The sheer balls of an amp (the ones that shake your moms china cabinet) come from the power tubes, not pre amp tubes. If you have it modified make sure it can be reversed and thier are no cosmetic changes. Amps of this type are roughly 25+ years old and are collectors items and ever increasing in value. I can restore my plexi to its original condition. ALSO, THE HOUSEHOLD VOLTAGE WILL EFFECT THE SOUND OF YOUR AMP!!!!!! It's amazing how many players and tech I come across who don't know anything about tube amp sound and how it is related to voltage. In order for the amp to remain consistant in sound, it must have a consistant power suplly. The adverage house current can flex between 100-130 volts. I can remember those days when my Marshall would sound so sweet and those days when I wanted to drop it of the Eiffel Tower with no hard feelings. Get a voltage regulator. Make sure it can handel your amps amperage rating.

It's A Marshall. They have stood the test of time and the abuse of Pete Townsend!

Never neede it.

There is nothing like the sound. Sad to say a lot of people are buying the originals and the reissues only to find that thier sound is based on thier effects and not the amp. If you are using a tube pre amp, it doesn't matter what tube amp you use. I bought mine years ago used and am very happy with it. Unless you are a collecto or a rock star and play lage stadiums, do yourself a favor, don't buy a 100 watt plexi (1959). I have seen countless people here who are selling both originals and reissues because they are too much for them. ANY club will kick you out if you try to use one of the 1959's up all the way. Thats 170 watss of rageing power. British ratings are conservative, i.e. the standard rating on a 100 watt plexi (1959) is before distortion. The 1987 is the 50 watt brother to the 1959 plexi. Both are the same. I have 6550's in mine which I prefer over EL34's.