Marshall Lead 12

1985 2channel headphone jack low mid high 10inch speaker

use with all pickups rock blues close to tube warmth for solid state

old amp replaced one input

i assume is good never needed

playing 10 years would by another if stolen needs reverb best solid state low watt amp iever heard records very warm

Early 90's combo...bought in Japan. I removed the chassis from the combo and made a head enclosure for it...normally use it with a Marshall 4/12.

I have to give this little amp an honest 10 for sound quality. It's truely the cat's a$$. I play in a 4 peice blues/rock band and our rythm guitar player has used this for the past year both rehersal and live shows. It's got a very nice warmth to it that alot of the newer Marshall stuff doesn't have. (the G30RC comes to mind as pretty lifeless and crummy amp in comparison).

We've used it for studio recordings and it comes out sounding very full.

The pots are crummy and I've had to replace two of them becuase they were very scratchy. Other than that, this little guy is a workhorse. It has seen alot of use and abuse and it's still going strong.

No idea. Bought used in japan in the early 90's.

This is such a fantastic amp for rock music. Great sounds abound from within it's meager 12 watt circuitry. This amp has played alot of shows, and because it's in a custom-made enclosure(a nice looking one to boot) it always brings a surprise to sound guys and other musiciains alike when they find out it's *only* 12 watts. Plenty of power to play most small/medium sized clubs without being mic'd...we've done it.

If this were lost, I would get on ebay and buy another.

made in 1984? S# S34353

For FENDER RHODES 73 (!)

home use

Believe it or not..

Believe it or not: it actually produces a very nice clean sound for my FENDER RHODES 73!!! Not bad for a guitar-amp!!!!

Even though I, now and then, plug an extra speaker on it for extra full bass-sound it has never failed me.....
Only now it needs some cleaning of the pods (crackling)... I used it unserviced for more than 10 years.

I did install some little feature so I can listen to it and have the spaeker mute (headphonejack didn't do it... shich is nice for line out but not for neighbours..) It's an easy to deal with amp so I didn't need custumer support.

Bought mine years ago 1992 for 100 gulders (approx $50 at the time) for the 1970's GibsonSG which also makes a nice couple... Indeed nice or indoor use. Pity that they become rare and now I have to deal stereo with an MG15CDR. Which unfortunaely reacts more like a guitaramp than an overall amp the lead12 proved to be. MUCH clearer and direct sound.
Also the lead12 with Gain produces less of a METALsound but more round distortion! Unfortunately for Headphones (sound didn't go off when plugged in) and speaker-out I had to convert it a little. It still works. :)Now for that lost second one which wantes to join the first...

I play classic rock/rhythm/blues. Two channels. Red enclosures. Effects loop, which I haven't figured out, yet and Headphone jack which I don't use. This amp is loud enough to easily make my ears ring, although I expected it to be louder, but 12W is more than enough for anyone's living room. This is my first Marshall amp after playing for over 20 years and it is the perfect size for me. I plug this through what I consider the best speakers ever made, 2 Peavey 12 inch Black Widows sitting through a 120W combo. The 120W needs new capacitators, and requires very loud commitment to warm the tubes; and the 12W Marshall suits my needs perfectly.

I play mostly a 1987 Ibanez 540S through Boss multi ME50, BBE Sonic, Aphex Exciter and GE-7. I read that you might give your other overdrives/distortion effects away after owning a Marshall and they make great gifts. I didn't believe it.

I've lived the past 5 years with a Crate 15W Flex Wave and thought that tone couldn't get that much better. Well, it does. After experimenting with tones for the past several years, I almost have to start from zero again. It's a good thing. The sound is basically altered and created into Marshall tone, exclusively.

My Crate, I couldn't listen to over 2 1/2 on the dial, the Marshall's tone doesn't break up at all and I feel comfortable playing at loud volumes. I have always tried to sound like Joe Perry, and thought that I was, but there isn't a substitute for the original.

I bought this on Ebay for $103 and plugged it in and the original owner must have taken very good care of it. No problems anywhere.

I'll never need them, I hope. Although I did email Marshall about their recent mini stack and asked if I could just buy the amp and not the speakers and I did get a reply within 2 days. It wasn't the answer I wanted, you have to buy the entire set.

This amp head is exactly what I have looked for. The tone is there. The volume is pretty massive for indoors and could probably get fed into a PA for louder venues. I've read here that it is better than the latter produced mini-stack.

I love the Marshall tone only because I grew up listening to it. Who hasn't? Probably 50% of the music heard anywhere has been produced through a Marshall. It is like owning a piece of history. I have fought for years against owning a Marshall; and not becoming part of the "status quo". Well, if you can't beat them, join the Marshall Army.

I fell in love with the sound when in NJ in 1984 when I was 19 and I met, whom I believe, was Zakk Wylde at the time visiting his Aunt during the summer in Bound Brook. I thought it kinda odd that this teenager would be visiting his aunt for a week and bring his stack. Well, it was around 10 pm and he plugged in a gave me about a 5 minute set and my balls shrunk to the sound. His Aunt then pleaded, "Jeffrey, not now, its too late!" I told him about my Peavey Deuce which was almost as loud, and he kinda rolled his eyes with disinterest. My pride was kinda hurt, thinking, "who is this 16 year old punk communicating to me that my amp isn't so great?" He doesn't even own a car. Hasn't lived through life's anxieties... That's just Zakk, I predicted that he was going to become insane with the long hair, or rather successful with his committment.

I joined the US Army thereafter, hoping to earn $ so I could perhaps buy greater tone. Anyway, thanks Zakk for inviting me inside.

It doesn't have a date, but I know it was made sometime in the 80s. The amp has two inputs , high and low gain. Always high, cant seem to get much decent out of the low input. No channel switching, just a gain control for how much overdrive you want. But this is fine by me, it's just a practise amp. 3 band EQ and volume are the only other features, apart from headphone/line out. So pretty standard stuff. Yeah, it could be much better if it had a bit more power, but there you go.

I wrote the review on this based on the fact that the guy I got the amp from treated it like crap and one of the knobs is missing. I assume that the fuzz and crackling is because of the amp being treated like garbage over the years (it's in a pretty bad state). The rating is based on this not being a problem with half-decently treated versions.

This is where I was surprised. I use an old vintage 60s semi acoustic (not sure of the brand) and I can get some really good sounds out of this thing! It sounds louder than my friend's new 15w practise amp and you can tell, when you turn both the gain and volume right up, that it once was a great piece of kit. Theres loads of crackling with high gain, but boy does it give some good distortion! If you are using it for practise, then the 3 EQ knobs are enough to shape your sound to what you want.
I play classic rock, some blues, grunge and indie. As long as the pickup and tone settings are ok on the guitar itself, the amp will do its job very well. With lots of treble and not much middle, the sound really bites, especially if you add a pedal or two to customise the sound and add more distortion a bit

This thing looks like it's been through the wars! Both as well...
And, despite the fuzz and crackle at high gain settings, this thing looks like it would never break down. The outer casing is bloody bullet-proof as well. No problems here.

Never had to deal with marshall.
And the warranty would've expired before I was born, no doubt.

Yeah, thats right! haha, #10.
I ripped off someone i know who didnt think much of it and wanted the money :D
I bought it about a year ago, and recently I also bought an 80w G80rcd Marshall combo that is based on the MG series, nearly new. But I can honestly say that I can't get as good a sound out of it as I can with this little fella.
I haven't been playing for very long, but its not age that counts; I probably know a lot more about guitars and amps than a lot of 30 year old guitarists out there.
I can safely say that, with a service and a bit of repair done, this would be far better than any of the crappy 15w combo practise amps being sold these days. If it was stolen, I would be quite pissed off; it was my first amp!
If you see one fairly cheap, buy it. It will replace the majority of practise amps out there.

Got this off ebay and it has reverb! Built in the 80's. I will say the best little practise amp I have ever played and if needed , mic'd could be a good little back up amp under the right sound system. Super light and has the "Marshall" tone out of transistor amp!!! go fig...Best sounding Tranny amp I have EVER HEARD...and I play 1968 Super Bass, 1978 MKII and 1972 MKII heads.. Anyone that knows how to work their vol control on their guitar can get an nice clean tone and then all the way full tilt Marshall distortion. I have been playing for over 30 years in prof rock bands www.rolloverrocks.com and this little guy is always back stage plugged in and real for warm up. I would not bafawl if it were mic'd at any venue.

If you know what you are doing with your guitar you can get many dif guitar tones from country to AC/DC. It just depends on what you are all about. If you do not understand about using your guitar vol then do your homework before trying to get a clean tone out of this amp full tilt, but it can be done with easy.

na

na

The Marshall Lead 12 is hands down the best 12 watter out there for the touring bus / dressing room/ or practise amp/room. Like I said been playing for 30 years, I own 5 silverface fenders, 3 Marshall Heads, Mesa,Hiwatt,Music man amps. This Marshall is as cool as my other babys. If it was stolen I would buy another one in a heart beat.

Single channel amp. No channel switching. I have used this amp mainly for private practice and recording with excellent results. I attempted to use this amp at a band rehearsal as my main rig had failed. It was underpowered, but I don't believe it was designed for that specific use anyway.

I have gotten some very good heavy blues sounds out of this with my seymour neck pickups. Also, I use a Seymour Full Shred and that pickup smokes with this amp. Great old school AC/DC type distortion. Very good sound for a solid state practice amp. I've played it for a few bands i've been in and they all agree that this amp really cooks. Too bad it doesn't have more power. :-(

Pretty reliable. I got it as a "gift" from my old vocalist who wanted it put to good use. Thanks Ron. I've written some great music thanks to the inspiration in this amp. The volume pot has gotten very scratchy. I've tried to clean it with TV Tuner without any luck. I've never had this problem with an amp, but I guess it was in a very dusty environment before I acquired it. Otherwise, it's reliable.

For a practice, and recording amp this amp really smokes. If tone is inspirational to you, i highly suggest you check out this amp. I get inspired everytime I play through it. I can't say that for alot of amps

I have had this amp for about 2 years. I traded my grandfather for it for an old crate i had. It was cool at first. It had the usual, Gain, Volume, Treble, Middle, and Bass. But wait, THERE WAS NO FREAKING CLEAN CHANNEL SWITCH!!!!!!!! I am in a band and I need to have clean tones once in a while so I had to bear with playing with distortion all of the time and you cant use any type of pedal on it because it feedbacks like a psycopath, so later on i got my old amp back from my grandfather and everything got a little bit better. Oh and dont even get me started on the loudness. The sound really sucks when you turn the gain most of the way down and the volume up.
Its really a pain to use sometimes.

I use an epiphone les paul with it and it sounds ok with the distortion on. But once again when i try to make it clean it sounds like crap on a stick. It really isnt that good if you are going to play in public and are gonna have to use clean and overdrive in the same song. The distortion is good though, M'kay.

Well, if all of your amps you owned suddenly were vaporized and the only one you had left was this one. Yeah it can be used as a backup.
It is a very sturdy amp though. Its hit the floor a few times.

Never broke because I'm not an idiot towards my gear.

I've been playing for about 3 and a half years. I would actually play my crate with a worse distortion sound than that one any day. If it was stolen or lost i wouldnt care because it is a hunk of junk, but sort of would care because it was my uncle's amp.

This amp is very versatile and it's okay for a practice amp. There only two channels in it hi and low. I wish it had reverb and overdrive. This amp is great for practing and disturbing anyone, its only 12 or so watts solid state.

I am running an American made fender stratocaster custom which has beatiful sound. I would not gig with it because it does not have a enough power but you could mic it up. My style of music is rock and metal. The clean channel always stays clean at all volumes.

I have never had to take it in or anything.

Never delt with them.

I have been playing for a while, and the other gear I use is JCM 800, Ampeg vl1002 and a musicman rd 210. If it were stolen i would defiantly buy another one.

This is the English made version of this amp from 1986. It has one channel with high and low inputs, no presence control and a line out as well as a headphone jack. Mine is RARE as it is covered in RED with ultra rare WHEAT grille cloth-Ive owned 3 of these(one WHITE) and have never seen this grille cloth on the mini-stack version of the Lead12. It is dead mint and has celestion 10's in it. Feature wise,it is pretty minimal, but I'm gonna rate it high as the tone from this beast is freakin' amazing for a solid state amp.

These vary in quality a bit and the combo version can be weak distortion-wise. I use this to record and it flat out kicks ass from blues to death metal. A lot of people run pedals with these and they probably have a shit amp, bad ears, no ability or a sad guitar. I run primo Gibsons and Fenders into this and it KILLS!! That said, I've been using single channel Marshalls a long time now and understand their gain structure well. it also gets sweet blues tones if you limit the gain and turn the GUITAR down. You don't need a ton of knobs if you have ability and experience. Truthfully though, the examples of this amp I have experience with have all been SMOKING and I suspect those that have had bad luck with these need to go get a peavy rage or some other consumer piece of dreck. Bottom line...the stack lead 12 kicks ass for hard rock/metal...the combo 12 makes a groovin' blooze amp.

Built like the Rock of Gibralter, like every Marshall I've ever owned-and doesn't require the service the tube ones need to perform at peak.-I've run it live thru the board as a spare, record and practice through it all the time-no probs.

Never had to deal with them as their products have never caused me any grief

I've been playing 2 decades now, and I own so much equiptment it's just crazy. If this were stolen I'd be seriously bummed as the color is so darn rare, but I wouldn't go nuts getting another because I got it just for the color, not knowing how much more usable it would be for me now that I am recording and practising more than I did a few years ago when my emphasis was on gigging. It does a couple things real well and that happens to be great "marshall" sounds-if you aren't getting that from one of these, it needs serviced or you just can't work an amp for anything and should consider accordion because you must be a dork. LOL.