Marshall 2104 212 Combo

It?s hard to rate the features of this 50-watt amp. My memory tells me I bought this in 1979 but acording to a serial # matrix it says 1981 no matter as the amp did not go through any changes in that period. If you are looking for loads of whiz bang dials and switches and buttons to push than you would have to give this a low rating. If you realize that all those things detract from a clean and powerful signal path than the lack of them is it?s most important feature. In that case you would have to give it a 9. Why not ten you ask? Well, the Master Volume feature does make it a bit less tonefull than a non Master Volume Marshall hence the 9. In my case this feature is a welcome trade off since I can?t always crank it to get THE sound.
The layout is High and Low Sensitivity inputs, Master Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence, Volume, Standby switch, and On/Off switch (ohhh its lighted!). It has a voltage switch so you can set it for different voltages in different countries. You can also set it for the proper ohms for your speakers. It comes with 2 65 watt 12? Celestions, G12-65 to be exact. They are 15 ohm speakers wired to run at 8 ohms? well perhaps it?s actually 7.5 ohms but who?s counting? Two output jacks to connect speaker cabs (one is used for the internal speakers). That?s it, the whole feature set except for? TONE! It?s got that in spades, you cannot beat the sound this amp gets but that?s for the next section.

You have heard the sound of this amp I guarantee it. Just listen to most of the heavier sounds of the 70?s and 80?s and you get the picture. It actually cops late 60?s stuff too like Cream and Hendrix. Allman Bros. Live at the Fillmore is a good example too. This is the sound of Marshall, that unmistakable knock. Even though it is an open back cabinet it still gets that classic tone. Of course you can hook it up to one or two 4x12 cabinets and get that directional in-your-face sound as well. I personally feel that the 50-watt version of any old Marshall amp is preferable to its 100-watt brother. Doubling the wattage only gives you 3 decibels more volume. You do get more clean headroom on the 100-watt version but that?s not what I use

I should mention that this combo came with 6550 power tubes. You HAVE to change them to EL34?s if you want the true British Marshall sound. The 6550?s have a load of more clean headroom. It?s not as easy to get it go into power tube grind and compression. This is an inexpensive mod that any amp tech worth anything at all should be able to do.

I retubed this amp recently with Electro Harmonix EL34EH power tubes. They sound excellent and although I never had original Mullard EL34?s I understand these come pretty close. Experiment with the preamp tubes to tweak the sound to what you want. They are cheap and loads of choices to be made. Even though the Russian 12AX7WB?s are not the best they sound excellent here. Try some quality ECC84?s as well. No rebias needed just pop ?em in and have some fun. Chinese tubes have come a long way and the 12AX7C from Groove Tubes are very nice with good output.

It sounds great with any pedal you put in front of it. Goose it with a TS-9 if you like. The pure tone you get is a great building block to build YOUR sound. It is not like the JCM stuff, especially the JCM 2000 junk. I hate that fizzy sound. They sound like a fuzz box and if I wanted that I would buy a Fuzz Face. It wont do the scooped mid thing that is popular today but I imagine if you got a decent equalizer like an MXR 10 band thing it would do it. The point is that this produces a tone that you can shape anyway you want. I personally just love the way this thing sounds with only my Strat and a quality guitar cord. Boutique amps try to sound like this one. There are a few basic, classic amp sounds, Fender, Vox, Boogie (hot wired Fender), and Marshall. Everything else is just a take on one or more of these. Do yourself a favor and if you like the real Marshall sound than buy a Marshall but not just any Marshall. Get one that is the sound that made rock history.

I have owned this amp for over 20 years and all I ever had to do was change tubes and rebias. Marshall is built like a tank; at least they were when this one was made. Even though the newer Marshall?s are not to my liking I am sure they are well built too. I also must point out that there is less to go wrong with this amp over one that offers 3 channels with reverb and multiple cascading gain stages and effects loops and who knows what else that you don?t need. Carry some extra tubes and perhaps an extra fuse and you won?t need a backup amp when you gig. Well you may want one anyway but I never did in the 20 + years I have used it.

Never needed to call them and since it is way over warranty I don?t think I will be any time soon. Besides what amp tech does not know how to fix a Marshall in the rare case something went wrong. This is, as I?ve said before, a simple circuit that just sounds great. Go to any amp forum on line and ask a question on this amp and you will get loads of help.

If you haven?t guessed it already this amp is more essential than ruby slippers in OZ. It is one of the essential ingredients of Rock. You need this amp. Put it together with a nice Fender for that sparkly clean sound and you can cover just about any base. Put a stomp box in front of it for your desired flavor of the month? scooped mids, fizzy high gain, fuzzy 60?s, 80?s shred, whatever?. this amp has the basic solid building block of tone you need to shape your sound. It is NOT a Fender. You need a Fender for that sound.

Buy this one now if you see one. Prices are going up as players are starting to realize that you need a great foundation to build a great sound. Starting with this amp you are well on your way.

I've been playing for 40 years! Wow, I should be good by now. I would not hesitate to buy a replacement if I could find one