Marshall 2150 Combo

Mine was made in 1978 and came with the original Celestion Powercell Speaker which I replaced with an Eminence Wizard. It has 4 Electro Harmonix El 34 Powertubes and I replaced the original preamptubes by JJ's. 100 Watts, can be VERY loud but also usable in your living room. This amp has every feature a classic rockamp needs, no modern bullshit effects loop or something. I bridge the channels all the time I use it.

This sounded quite good when I bought it - but changing the speaker (I would highly recommend the Eminence Wizard, perfect match)and the preamp tubes has made this the holy grail of combos! I tried many combos before I found this jewel: a Fender the Twin (nice clean, but shrill Overdrive), a Fender Blues Deluxe (not bad, but a bid muddy sounding), a Vox AC-15 (also not bad, but it sounded a bid thin and bottomless), and a Marshall JCM 800 Combo (nice distortion, but lacked bass and the clean wasn't very pleasing).
This amp sounds superb - very good clean for a Marshall and the overdrive and distortion settings are the best I've ever heard from a combo - lots of depth and bottom end and very nice overtones with a little chime in it. Sounds absolutely great with my Telecaster, very nice with the Les Paul and also very good with my SG (with P 90's). The Strat also brings out some nice tones with the Neck Pu. I play classic Rock like MC5, the Stooges, the Hellacopters and this amp fit my style very well. It also like pedals a lot, good results with a tubescreamer and Boss SD-1. It doesn't sound like 1x12 Combo, it sounds way bigger. The best combo I've ever heard... get one if you can find one, it's rare...

Never let me down so far, except for a broken presence poti.

I've tried to contact Marshall in Germany to get new mounting screws for the amp chassis (these are inch screws which are impossible to get here). Took them two weeks to reply that I have to order through my local dealer, so could be better..

I've been playing for about 10 years, 5 in Bands. I would definitely cry if this one was stolen as it is almost impossible to get another one of those great amps. Very versatile and excellent sounding Amp. An absolut treasure...

1979 is what the Serial Number dates it as. I play classic rock, blues, and country, and this amp delivers regardless... you just gotta know how to set them. 100 watts of pure EL-34 juiciness; it had an EV-12L in it when I got it, but I immediately put in a Celestion 75 watt in, and the difference was amazing.

I don't know what others are talking about when they say this amp can't produce any clean tones, because this baby can go the whole spectrum- sparkly clean to straight out inferno. Channel Switching...? Please- this amp is made for rocking, not hiding behind a bunch of pansy ass effects.

It's a MARSHALL. Need I say more? Take care of your equiptment, and it will take care of you. Learn how to do basic maintenance, and you'll rarely have any problems.

Never had to deal with them.

I've been playing 30 years, and have owned Fender black face Bassmans and black and silver face Twin Reverbs, Hiwatts, Ampegs, and nothing has sounded better than my Marshall JMP's- '75 100 watt Super Lead, '76 50 watt Super Lead, and this '79 sounds better than booth combined. I gotta agree with what the others said, this is THE best kept secret of the Marshall family. I'm gonna get a Lo-Jack for this one... I'd have to open up a BIG can of WHOOP ASS on whoever tried to steal it.

Think this amp was made in 1978/79. I mostly play Hard rock metal covers from the 80??s (saxon, maiden, Ufo, Nugent, Ozzy, etc.etc..).
For this this amp is absolutey versatile enough. 2 Channels, each with hi & low input. Can be bridged to mix the channels (Bright and normal). I wish it had a second master volume for solos. So i let ad one at tonehunter.de, a very good german amp repair and mod shop.
Use mainly no effekts. Straight from the guitar in the amp. For me personally a 9. It has all it needs! Doesnt have a 16 ohm cab connection. So i use 8 ohm for my 16 ohm Greenback cab. Got it out of the combo and made a head of it.

The amp is able to produce some "rather" clean tones. What it does relly good it distortion sounds. Used it a long time at home. master volume at 2. Ok. Then played with the cover band, Master at 4,5 , it sounds awesome. Punch, punch punch. Wow. Used it with a epiphine es pual custom spezial with aktive emgs. Treble at 10, middle at 5, Bass 1 Volume 1 at 9, volume 2 at 2, and this was abolutely genious. No harsh trebles, just overdriven tube sound as its best. Had a jcm 800 (good amp), jcm 900 (not so good), have a Traxe elliot speed twin), Best of all by far, is the 2150.

never had business with marshall!

would by it again at once. 16 ohm cab out would be very nice!

My 2150 is a 1978 model. I have to cofess I had a lot of doubts in the beginning. recently I upgraded the whole device and installed a Celestion Truvox 1225E because the old Powercell speaker was getting ropey. The Truvox isa 300 watt PA bass speaker so there is plenty of headroom. I like a clean sound with not too much distortion. I play a Fender Strat through the amp and I was reasonably pleased with the results. As metioned earlier the amp did not come to life until I figured out how to jump the channels. (Using a short patch lead you conect one of the treble inputs to one of the bass inputs). The effect was a wonderful crunchy sound but very top end. This is when the Celestion Truvox came in handy. it has more bass response than the Celestion G12K-100 which is that company's Heavy Metal flagship speaker. Then I started to make real progress.The amp has four channels, no effects loop and no headphone. It's loud enough for any gig but a little noisy. (You can avoid noise by switching pick ups I have discovered. One would have to say the features are limited.

As mentioned above I stil had my doubts so next i purchased 16 new capacitors from Tube Amp Doctor in Worms Germany. (www.tubeampdoctor.com). I replaced the five 'fat boy' filter capactitors (R50 +Y50UF 500 volts) and the difference was astonishing. I now had tone like never before. Gone was the awful noise and in came overtones sweet harmonics ad that wonderful tube sound when playing notes. Then I got to work on the pre amp and replaced the seven 0.22 UF capacitors there with mustard caps from tube amp doctor. I found another 'fat boy' capacitor, this time a R32 + Y32 450 volts, which I whipped out. I also replaced the bias caps which are polarised. Every electrolytic capacitor I could find was replaced. The result was pure cream. I still have trouble controlling the distortion at low volume but the trick is to ramp up the master volume and tweak things with the channel volume. Also it helps to use the right pict up and tone/volume control on the guitar. it's tricky but the results are excellent. There is a beautiful tone that sweeps a chord into harmonics and overtones. It's a very expensive tube sound for such a little amp.

I have used this amp at gigs and practice. I one blew a valve and ended up with a mad whistling sound but they were the cheaper PA Chinese valves. I now use Electro Harmonix El34 valves and Power valves (ECC83 or 12AX7A) from TAD. (Tube Amp Doctor). The amp is fragile however ad will not tolerate rough treatment. The same goes for any audio device.

I found MArshall to be pretty good. You won't get peripherals off them because they do not sell to the public. You need to get those items from a dealer or on the net from Tube amp Doctor or similar sites. I think there is one called guitarbits.com in the US. When I needed circuit giagrams for the 2150 Marshall obliged with two plans. Also there is a good guide on their web site to find out how to read the serial number and discover which month and which year the amp was made. As mentioned above. Speaker design adn capacitor quality have improved and the amp is worth upgrading. However the basic tube amp design is sound and still works well today.

I have been playing 25 years and have played Gibson and classical/spanish guitars. This amp does not fetch a high price because few people know how to get the best sound out of it. if you can persevere it is worth learning as the saving in euros/dollars is considerable. Tube heads and cabinets go for mad money these days and the 2150 is a viable and more portable alternative. I am now retoring a Simms Watts 100 watt head from 1970 and I can tell you its a lot more primative than the Marshall 2150.I have tried solid state amps and they just do not comare. I use a Boss ME50 guitar effects board but to be honest I only use reverb, noise gate, compressor sometimes and a little chorus. Most pedals are trying to replicate the sounds of a tube amp anyway so they are not necessary. A lot of the time I will plug straight in and the sound is better than any effect. Feel free to check out my music on www.theworldmusic.info. I did not use the amp on these recordings but that will now change as it is better than any Roland Guitar effect included on the recording desk I use.

This is basically a two channel amp with a 1x12 speaker There are four inputs for the two channels, one channel being bright the other leaning towards the bass end. Both channels share the same four pot's eq. At first glance the controls layout look like a super lead but for one differance. A master volume control. On the back panel there is two speaker inputs, a switch for changing ohms and another to select voltage.
Mine is a 1978 UK model having EL34 power valves (Tubes to our cosins across the pond). There is no FX loop or built in effect or any of that shite, so if you like lots of buttons to press or flashing lights you are looking in the wrong place. So some may not find it versatile enough, but for myself playing classic rock it is perfect.
When Marshall first released this amp they billed as the rock 'n' roll baby, but at 100 watts i don't know what kind of baby they had in mind. Elephants maybe! Oh yeah it's loud!

As I said I play classic rock and all the greats are in there with this amp and a Gibson Les Paul Standard (stock), think Paul Kossof, early Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and crank the channel volume up, there is even EVH or Randy Rhodes tones in there.
Like others have said here, if the master volume is down low it dose sound some what flabby. I think what it is you have to get the speaker working. Push it past 4 it really gets into its stride. If you set the master volume really high and control the overall volume with the channel volume you can quite a reasonable clean sound. For a Marshall that is.
As for hums. Yes there is some but you only notice it when you are not playing, anyway all valve amps hum don't they?

This is a hard one as I have only had this amp for two mounths, but the fact it is 28 years old and still sounding great is testment to it. Years ago I owned a Marshall JCM800 MV head and that never let me down so that give me some confidence in Marshall's older products.

A bit hit or miss, sent them a email and got a reply with in 24 hours. Sent them another email (twice) never responded. Need to try harder.

I have been playing for 32 years on and off and recently got back into playing electric guitar. As a kid I always wanted a Gibson Les Paul and with this amp it's a perfect marriage. I did look at newer amps but they just not built as good as the old amps and other people seem to agree. If I lost it I would kill myself. If it where stolen I would find and kill the scum bag that stole it.
These are getting quite rare so if you see one for sale buy it you won't be disappointed.

Mine was made in 1980, (serial ends with an "M").

100W of pure Marshall power.
I see this amp basically as a PI master volume version
of the Super Lead, (or the sought after Park Rock Head).
But with a bonus 1x12 speaker.

You get the best of both worlds. An amp small enough
to lug around, not so much bigger than a Marshall top.
But at home or at rehersal & gigs I can use it "as is"
as a combo. When I need a bigger blast, just plug
in to a 4x12 cabinet. This amp is far more easy to
carry around than lets say a 2104 2x12 combo. (And
it sounds just as good or better).

The 2150 "Rock & Roll Baby" is basically the same
amp as the Park 1210 Rock Head, that Marshall also built,
but in a combo version. Although the Rock Head had some
kind of weird solution for channel switching which required
a special double cord connected to a special pedal that came
with the amp, (doomed to get lost these special pedals).

I'm playing mostly humbucker guitars through this beast.
Mainly USA Hamer's with Dimarzio or Seymour Duncan pickups.

The 2150 outmarshall's the classic JMP Marshall's with
even greater tone. I've mainly had JCM800's before this
one. An early 80's 2203 top and some combo's.
I really think the 2150 outshines all my previous
Marshall's when it comes to classic tone.
Like I said, it's similar to a 1959 SuperLead but
with a PI mastervolume. A truly unique Marshall model.

You might look at it and think, "that is a small combo,
don't look much for the world". But it's a classic 100W beast
for sure! See the Super Lead top in it, for that is really
what it's all about.

It also has great semi clean blues tones. And if
not cranked, a pretty decent clean tone too.

These amps originally came with the Celestion Powercell
speaker. Never heard them, but I've heard
they have really hard cones and don't sound so great. I have put
a Celestion G12B - 150W 8ohm speaker in my amp.
This speaker comes from a Marshall 1912 1x12 closed
back cabinet. In an open back cabinet I get more
bass from this speaker. Really creamy tones. A perfect
match that can sound almost as tight as a closed back.
It rocks! It makes the amps sound BIG and full of life.
The tones jump out. Warm, sweet. Everything from blues
to hard rock.

As a 1x12 combo the 2150 sounds way better that the
JCM800 1x12 combos, or 1x12 silverjubilee, as it
has a bigger cabinet that gives more "oomph" to your
sound. When it's nearly impossible to the a good
BIG tight sound from a JCM800 1x12 combo the 2150
has that BIG tone. It's more fair to compare it
to a 2x12 amp. It spreads the sound nearly as good
as a 2104 2x12 combo. I've rehearsed with the 1x12
and the other guitarist had a 4x12 and I do not
disappear. My sound is nearly as tight and big.
When I had a 1x12 JCM800 combo I just could not
hear myself in the same situation. Again the 2150
really shines!

For you other people that owns a 2150 I can recommend
the Red Coat Eminence speakers such as the 120W Red Ryder
or ManOwar. Or perhaps the 150w The Tonker, but it might sound
a little hard as it breaks up very late.

It's a vintage 1970's Marshall model, nudge nudge say no more.
I've had the amp fully serviced, caps changed etc.
This removed some noise that comes with aging components.
After all the amps is 26 years old.
Now it sounds like new. KILLER!

Okay Marshall. You need to get better at this.
No way to reach you by mail through your homepage.
At least not that I could find...

I needed a screw that holds the speaker to the baffle.
I only had three, one missing. The diameter for these
screws where impossible to find here.
So I tried to reach Marshall for some help. Impossible.
This is not good. Eminence has a great customer support
page that answers mails within a few days. Hamer has
helped me with parts giving excellent service, (thanks
Kim!). But Marshall does not seem to care for their customers
in the same way. Get better at this please. I like your
products and would like to get some help when I need it.
Not being asked to contact the local dealer. Frankly they
are not as knowleageble about your products as you are.
And they don't care about the vintage stuff. They just
want to sell you new stuff.
So get a customer support thing going NOW, damnit!
Be proud of your legacy and see to it that the old amps
out there can be maintained to the best standards possible.

Great amps! And they can be
found at good prices to, although
they are pretty damn rare.

If stolen I would look for it day and night
and maim the bastard who took it with a dull
butter knife, slowly. It must hurt to mess with my stuff.

I love most things about this amp. Killer sound, rich,
creamy with an edge. Not much to ask for that it don't have.
All I need is good tone. It has wheels on it which is
it's best feature ;-) as it makes it easy to cary around.

Been playing Marshall's for over 20 years. This amp is
the GEM of them all. It has that classic tone that everybody
is searching for. Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, The Darkness, Van Halen,
early Def Leppard, Ratt, Motorhead, Frank Marino, Clapton, all the
great 1970's & 1980's guitartones imaginable in a nifty little combo. A "grab and go" half stack if you like. Looks great too.

Less is more in my book. Basic tone - only pussies need reverb and fx loops etc. This is a mans amp. I am so lucky to be in the 2150 club.

Crazy brutal valve amp tone. Lizzy stones, 70's Darkness. You can hear your fingers and your guitar and it will cut through anything like Luke Skywalkers light sabre. I mix the 2 inputs together for Bassman/Marshall mayhem.

I had one of these amps about 5 years ago because I was getting back into guitaring and had no gear and found it in a little shitty guitar shop under a load of other stuff. I loved the sound of and stupidly sold it after 6 months for Boogie MK111 (Great amp). I have regretted it ever since. Note to myself dont sell great amps you always regret it! It never went wrong - was never going to go wrong its too simple and Marshally and old to go wrong.

Marshall - industry standard support. Sent me some free knobs!

I am the luckiest guy alive to have found this amp. I sold one similar and have not seen one for 5 years even though I have been searching like crazy. It is imense. It will do a good Bassman clean and a raucous Marshall crunch. Pedals love this amp as well. THIS COMBO IS THE BIGGEST BEST KEPT SECRET IN MUSIC!!!

this is a very usable amp but the sound you set is the sound you stay with, unless you change some knobs. no reverb-no channel switch-etc. having said that, the amp will go form very clean to very overdriven with the volume knob on my guitars (all changed to 500K) and the sound is GREAT.. open enough for 'fender' sounding leads and rhythms with the guitar turned back to 7-8 and Eric and Angus on 10. Does fine with an overdrive and time based delays. but I ususally just plug straight in. this amp has plenty of power but will get the sound at about any volume. I have used it in small clubs and on festival stages it has always come thru

Use a Les Paul STD ( Stock ) a Tele with Dimarzio fast track 1 humbuckers ( sounds stock but no hum ) a strat ( stock ) and similar stuff ..also a seagull acoustic with baggs blender.. I play blues based everything .. frm Albert King to Jeff Beck to acoustic grunge ( amp sound really cool with an acoustic with the acoustic )
amp can make some noise if turned way up .. but I never turn it WAY up. It is as quiet as the fenders , Dr Z's matchless Bogner Vox etc that I am on stage with .. so in my opinion it is a quiet gitar amp . this is also the main amp I use for praise and worship at my church so it is quiet enough for that too and I record it a lot .
you can set the amp for heavy mid, no mid big bass and treble .tone wise the amp will do all the clean and dirty sounds ..one at a time-no chan switch or programability.. I use what I call a moderate amount of distortion ..Angus, Page, Albert SRV etc but the amp will go far beyond that.

has an EVM12L which will handle the power very well .. would like a vintage 30 but afraid it would blow .. the 12L sounds fantastic but adds about 20# to the amp



the sound is this amp is one of the best I have ever had as it will work with my pedal board ( 8 pedals echo chorus od phase comp wah etc) and will work fine just plugging in

I have only had the amp for 4 years but it has never let me down. I take a spare to big gigs but in general only take out.

never have called the factory ..amp was over 20 when I bought it, tag says 1979, I had Jeff Bakos ( Atlanta's Tube amp Guru) put new tubes and bias it before I took it out and it has never done a thing wrong.
if you can't find a good marshall tech you are not looking .. parts and support is easy to find if needed.

I have been playing almost 40 years . I have another JMP combo, '65 blackface bassman, trace elliot vellcette, I have had 3 hiwatts, 4 ampegs, lots of fenders .. lots of amps .. this one is one of the bette ones I have ever had .. I really enjoy playing on it.
I origially bought this as a spare for a '77 50 watt 2X12 combo .. they are now each others spare.. they are the best 2 amps I have had ..
the amp does weigh a bit .. but that is the price for the sound .. I have tried little amps .. they sound little.. this one sounds as big as you want it to. I keep thinking I want a boutique amp but when I get on stage with someone with the 1800+ dollar amps I am always proud of this one ( and its brother the 50 watt ) people want to buy it often. but I would have a hard time replacing this one

All the features the others guys have already mentioned -- four inputs, 100 watts, one 12" speaker, master volume, etc. Mine is a '79 with a Marshall-label Rola Celestion speaker (they supposedly dropped the Powercel speaker in 1979), and I've got the Euro-spec EL-34s instead of the U.S.-spec 6550s. The '79 also has a plain black grillcloth with white piping instead of the basketweave look. I personally hate reverb, so am happy it's not there. Got all the dials you need to make some VERY sweet (and loud!) 60s and 70s Marshall sounds -- all in a portable (but heavy!) package that you can throw in the trunk of your car.

I love the sound of this amp. I've been a Fender guy for many, many years -- tweeds, brownfaces, blackfaces -- and I've really gotten used to that 6V6 tube sound. When I first plugged in, I wasn't very impressed. That's because I had the master volume down at about 2 or 3 at first. When I moved the master volume up the scale (and figured out how to jump the channels), I realized what all the previous reviewers have been raving about! When the master gets up to about 4.5 and beyond, you're talking pure, Marshall tone of the Gods territory -- there's nothing else like it! The sound really opens up the higher you go with the master. Strong, assertive leads with my Les Paul. Amazing tone. I put on Wheels of Fire and played along with it -- Clapton's exact tone was coming out of my amp! Fabulous! I always use an Ibanez TS-9 Tubescreamer to drive my Fenders when playing with my band -- not necessary here!

This one is mint -- looks like I just brought it home brand new from Guitar Center -- and is built like a tank. I wouldn't bother bringing a backup to a gig -- just some extra tubes and fuses.

No idea.

I'm a rocker -- been playing for about 30 years. I've had several Les Pauls, Teles, Strats, and more, and have had Fender tweeds, brownfaces, and blackfaces. This amp has got to be the absolute best bang for the buck Marshall going out there today. I would rate this an 11 overall if I could -- an amazing combination of tone and price! The sound is truly inspiring but, for some reason, people can't seem to give these amps away on eBay. I got my MINT example for only $600. I've seen others going for even less -- it just doesn't make sense. If this one were stolen, I would definitely get another. As other reviewers have mentioned, however, this thing weighs a ton. But, for a relatively small package -- not all that much bigger than my '65 Deluxe Reverb -- it's got all the guts and assertiveness of a MUCH larger amp/cabinet. This one's a keeper, along with my '67 blackface Princeton Reverb. It's also rare, so someday (10 years? 20 years?) it's gonna be worth a lot of $$$. Until then, I'm just gonna enjoy the great sounds it makes (and smile every time our drummer asks me to turn it down!).

Mine was made in 1978.("K" suffix on the serial #) 4 inputs, 2 channels for vol.I & II, non-switchable. Same control layout as a super lead, but with a nifty post inverter master volume. I've read it's the only 4 input Marshall to have this feature stock. Brilliant idea. 100 watts via 4 GE 6550 power tubes & 3 12ax7's. Rotary switchable impedance between 4 & 8 ohms. Rocker style power & standby switches. 2 speaker outputs. No effects loop, or any of that tone sucking garbage. This is a man's amp! I'd give it a 10 for features if they woulda made an attempt at reverb. I'ts a combo with plenty of room in the bottom of the cabinet, so why not put a long spring reverb tank in there? Wishful thinking. At least they definately got the amp part right! Someone also put casters on this thing. Not a bad idea, but you gotta be careful on thick carpeting not to position the casters as to make the amp prone to falling over.

I play mainly 70's style rock & blues covers & originals. Mainly thru Les Pauls & Strats. I mainly used my trusty 74 Les Paul Std. with humbuckers for this test. When i first plugged into this amp it sounded simply horrible. I couldn't understand why everyone raved about it so? Then i unplugged the 12" Celestion Powercell(Powersuck?) speaker & plugged the amp into my Marshall Celestion greenback 4-12 cab & the amp instantly came to life! I'm an old Marshall snob & this is simply one of the best Marshalls i've ever heard. You can dial in Keith Richards clean tones or full on Angus Young bombast! Not as clean as a Twin Reverb of course, but still very versatile. If you want the old school Marshall sound in a portable & controllable package(& who doesn't?)then this is the amp for you. I'm not even gonna bother changing it over to EL-34's. I don't wanna jinx how good this amp sounds. If you're gonna use the amp on it's own tho, you're going to have to replace the speaker. The Celestion Powercell speaker in my amp sounded like complete crap! Very tubby & tone-sucking, like the gain was mis-managed or something? I took a gamble & ordered a Carvin GT12-8 8 ohm 100 watt speaker to see if that would improve things. This speaker is supposed to be Carvin's equivalent to the Celestion Vintage 30, but with more power handling & a slightly wider frequency response. People tend to snicker at Carvin, but this speaker really revived this amp! It went from being a d-minus sounding combo, to getting straight A's! It now pretty much sounds exactly like it did when running thru my greenback 4-12 cab. Angus Young in a 1-12 box! This thing is as freakin' loud as a half stack!One important thing to know when replacing the original speaker in this amp is that you'll have to rotate the replacement speaker on the baffle board slightly (clockwise, about 2" is best)& drill new screw holes for the replacement speaker, cuz other Celestions, Carvins & the like won't match up with the Powercell bolt pattern. When i first went to install the Carvin speaker & the screw holes didn't quite match up, i thought i was screwed until it dawned on me to do this. (can't see the forest for the trees syndrome) Now i pretty much have one of the best sounding Marshalls on the planet.

I haven't owned this amp long enough to judge it's own particular reliability, but being an older Marshall, if you just keep them serviced & change the tubes, they last pretty much forever. I own many older Marshalls & none have ever given me any real problems on gigs. I'd probably gig this amp without a backup.

I've tried unsuccessfully to contact Marshall via e-mail & their new products always seem to be on backorder when i try to order thru a catalog, but on the other hand, i've read that Jim Marshall will take you to lunch if you show up on the factory doorstep? You gotta like that? I really have no opinion on their support. I'm happy to buy the old stuff & let my amp tech figure out whatever i can't?

I've been playing for 24 years. If this amp were stolen, i'd look for a guy complaining of a hernia & beat him senseless, cuz this amp aint light enough to whisk away without some effort? Still not quite as spleen splitting as a Twin Reverb tho. I would definately try to find another one. Get on ebay & get yours now! If you like old school crunch & balls, you won't be disappointed!