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Im delving into the world of amp mods and they seem so simple. Question is, what are the consequences? Am I sending my amp to an early grave? Or is it alot like hot rodding a car? Thanks...
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Re: Anyone have tales about the old days of "modding" Marshall amps, or others?
The "old days" weren't as glamorous as they would seem. Back then, people didn't seem to care about vintage value like they do today; and, as a result, there are plenty of hack jobs floating around. Also, (for the most part) modders back then weren't as clever (IMO) as today's modders (of course, there's always exceptions, like Jose Arrendondo), and as a result you'll see a lot of "brute force" mods (like adding an extra preamp tube(s)). Today, you see a lot more circuit board finesse (again, there are exceptions like Bogner, who added tubes AND finessed the circuit). -
Re: Anyone have tales about the old days of "modding" Marshall amps, or others?
Well, Im not going to do anything that will wreck my Jubilee to the eye, or do anything that is not 100% reversible. But the things Ive done so far, are sounding good. Swapping resistors here and there, and doing it so it cannot be detected after being put back to stock. I just dont want to damage something like a tranny down the road or blow out circuit "B" because I knocked down resistance in circuit "A".... thats all.Comment
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Re: Anyone have tales about the old days of "modding" Marshall amps, or others?
When I had a tech look at my Jubilee, he replaced one capacitor he thought was a weak spot in the circuit, and he's repaired a lot of Jubilees, so I trusted him. It didn't effect the sound, but just made a component upgrade. I think for the sake of collectibility, I'll never mess with that amp, although I have a few ideas of how I'd like to tweak it.
My only modded amp stories are about 2 I've had. The best one was a modded 72 Superbass, I scored at GC Hollywood for $525 in almost mint condition. I knew a guy that worked there, so he gave it to me at cost. Anyway, I retubed it, and heard the most amazing FAT heavy tone I'd ever heard out of a vintage Marshall. It became my main amp, and a few months later I took it to a popular tech in LA. The guy flipped when he saw it, because apparently it was a very pedigreed amp. He told me that he'd personally done many of it's gain mods, and that Bob Rock owned it, and used it during the time that the Cult and Metallica were recording with him.
I regret selling that amp, and only did it to finance a better amp, my current Bogner.
I bought it for $525 and sold it for $2200.
The other modded amp I had was a 98 Marshall Plexi 50W Reissue that had it's inputs bridged, and had a gain mod and dual footswitchable masters. That was the coolest mod I've ever seen on a plexi, and again, sold that one. I really wish I had both of those amps back. That 72 Superbass had one channel that was pure Zakk Wylde/Metallica, and then it's original tone on the other inputs. Too bad I sold it.Originally posted by Boogie BillComment
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Re: Anyone have tales about the old days of "modding" Marshall amps, or others?
Ive noticed a couple things about my Jubille in the circuit board, a resistor piggybacked here, or replaced there...I can tell by the "different solder job" For a 2x12 combo this thing has a TON of low end, Most times I have the bass around 5 or 6, which has never been the case with a any Marshall Ive owned, especially a open back combo. It just has low end from hell! The presence pot has been replaced and it seems to add more of a "saturation" to the tone rather than "presence". And the gain seems to be tweaked, its no "slash" tone, maybe slash on crack....but Im digging it.Comment
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Re: Anyone have tales about the old days of "modding" Marshall amps, or others?
I used to plug a old EH LPB-1 into the rehearsal studio's JCM 800's
That thing will make any amp sound like a Marshall that's ready to blowup.
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