Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

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Lewguitar

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Hey buddy...could you go into a little more detail about why you chose to sell your DC-30 and keep your Chieftan?

Was it mostly a matter of the Chieftan having reverb and the DC-30 not having reverb?

Or do you prefer the tone of EL-34's over EL-84's?

Just wondering because I followed your advice by buying the SC-30 and as you now know: I just bought a single 12" Chieftan to go with my single 12" SC-30! :smack: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:

As you mentioned to me in our PM's, that should make for the greatest stereo rig on the planet now that I'm playing out and gigging again regularly.

I'll be putting my '70 Marshall and many of my 50's, 60's and 70's Fenders on Ebay over the next few days. We're doing the photo shoot this week.

Thanks!
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

Hehe well not related, I have a friend who has a Phoenix, we tried all the EL-84 amps and found them being to VOX like, while the EL-34 amps had more of that Marshall bite.
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

Lewguitar said:
I'll be putting my '70 Marshall .....on Ebay...
Click to expand...

Somebody here on the boards better snatch this one up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

I've played both and the comment above is pretty close. marshall versus vox tones, but not exact on either.

Maybe a better way to phrase this, what the DC/SC30 did for Vox tones, the Chieftain does for Marshall tones. The Chieftain is a killer amp man.
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

JeffB said:
Somebody here on the boards better snatch this one up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...


Lew and I have talked about some of his amps...I want his Marshall so bad but to be honest I want his 51 Super much worse...the sad truth is both are out of my price range and I have a GOOD feeling that the Super is not for sale!

Lew,

Congrats on another Matchless...I might have to look into one of those...to be honest I have never played through one!
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

If I had the $ right now I'd buy it..assuming the price wasn't totally astronomical....70-75 or so are my fave years for Marshall NMVs. Killer "classic rock" and "classic metal" amps..the *BEST* , IMO.

I just hope one of the forum bros gets it...keep it in the family so to speak :D..was kinda sad when I read just now he was selling it :blackeye:
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

Im sure it will priced fair but fair both to the buyer and to Lew as well...it being a 70 model it should be a Small box and I know it is a handwired amp...worth a good bit of cash!
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

Well let me ask: what's a '70 small box 50 watt Marshall head going for? It's in excellant condition and 100% original. Original filter caps and everything. It probably does need a recap but I'm thinking it's worth more if I sell it as totally stock. Sounds great as is, but with 35 year old filter caps and electrolytic caps I'm sure it'd sound better after a recap. I'm sure it's more collectable though with the original caps in place...

Lew
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

Honest to GOD Lew...there was a Red 69 Small box 50 as well as a 70 in black here in Atlanta at the same shop I bought my 58 reissue LP in...in fact I tried out the LP through the 70 model. He sold the red one for $4000.00 and the black one for $3100.00...both were very clean and FWIW...neither amp stayed very long AT ALL!
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

Don't get me wrong Christian..I'm sure it will be priced appropriately! ...just meant that I'm not sure what they would go for and whether it would fall within my "normal budget" , so to speak..vs. maybe what a collector would pay.

Lew, I'd leave it stock ..just because it most likely will go to a collector. Pricing I don't know. I see early to mid 70s SuperBasses going for $1200-1500 in so-so shape, so I'm sure a 1987 would pull alot more.
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

the guy who invented fire said:
Honest to GOD Lew...there was a Red 69 Small box 50 as well as a 70 in black here in Atlanta at the same shop I bought my 58 reissue LP in...in fact I tried out the LP through the 70 model. He sold the red one for $4000.00 and the black one for $3100.00...both were very clean and FWIW...neither amp stayed very long AT ALL!
Click to expand...

Wow...I had no idea! :smack: That's alot of money...

Maybe I should spray paint it red first?:laugh2:

Lew
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

Lewguitar said:
Well let me ask: what's a '70 small box 50 watt Marshall head going for? It's in excellant condition and 100% original. Original filter caps and everything. It probably does need a recap but I'm thinking it's worth more if I sell it as totally stock. Sounds great as is, but with 35 year old filter caps and electrolytic caps I'm sure it'd sound better after a recap. I'm sure it's more collectable though with the original caps in place...

Lew
Click to expand...


If you are selling it, don't touch it at all. Let the buyer decide who should do the work. Just my two cents. Call it a Closet Classic or something in your ad. It belonged to Grandpa and he never played it much.
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

Lewguitar said:
Wow...I had no idea! :smack: That's alot of money...

Maybe I should spray paint it red first?:laugh2:

Lew
Click to expand...


Yeah...they bring a good bit...thats why when you said it was gonna be for sale I told you "I'd love to have it but it's by FAR out of my price range"

the guy that bought the red one already had a 69 4x12 in rad as well...so he really wanted the red one BUT IMO, the black one sounded better but both were dead stock and pretty damn clean.

I'll tell ya what, now that you know you can do well on the Marshall you can just send the Super to me and you won't even miss the money!:rolleyes:
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

Scott_F said:
If you are selling it, don't touch it at all. Let the buyer decide who should do the work. Just my two cents. Call it a Closet Classic or something in your ad. It belonged to Grandpa and he never played it much.
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking...
Actually, I'm old enough to be my own grandpa!:laugh2:

I bought a pair of small box 50 watt Marshall heads maybe 10 years ago and I compared the two quite a bit. Both were great amps but I decided the '70 sounded a little better and livlier than the '71 and sold the '71.

I kept my '82 50 watt Marshall combo amp for awhile, but the '71 head just beat it out tone wise and eventually I sold the combo amp too.

But as I mentioned, I just don't play that '70 Marshall. With the 4 x 12 bottem, it's kind of alot to cart around to a gig and although it's a great amp it doesn't have the master volume and it's just a little to loud.
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

Around 1999-2001, I got into buying low/selling high just Matchless amps, since I liked them and the profit margin was pretty good. I had about 4 of them...2 matching Chieftains in black, a gray DC-30, and a SuperChief head.
I ended up keeping the best Chieftain, but only because I really like reverb on clean amps, plus the high end was a little smoother and less peaky than the DC-30. DC-30's can be a bit bright, but sound gorgeous. The Chieftain's EL-34's have deeper lows, and more low mids, and don't splatter as much in the highs with humbuckers. To me, the Chieftain is like Hendrix's best clean tones, which I like more than the fat Vox sound of Brian May or Petty.
They both have their own flavor, but EL-34's are more my sound.

You're gonna be in tone heaven, when you have both those amps tubed up with your favorite tubes, and run them in stereo, like you did with your Tweeds. They're pretty loud for their size, but at least they have mastervolumes that really work. Unlike Marshalls, where you've got to keep turning up to get to the sweet spot, you can just use the Chieftain's gain control to find it, and either use the mastervolume, or just turn it up to 9 or 10, and treat the amp like a non mastervolume.
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

Can you switch the master volume out of the circuit on the Matchless C30 and Chieftain amps, or is that a feature that Sampson added to the Bad Cat amps he designed?
 
Re: Gearjoneser: Matchless Chieftan vs. DC/SC-30

Kelsey said:
Can you switch the master volume out of the circuit on the Matchless C30 and Chieftain amps, or is that a feature that Sampson added to the Bad Cat amps he designed?
Click to expand...

The DC/SC-30's have the defeatable mastervolume, but the Chieftain doesn't.
On that, you have to turn the master to 10. The Chieftain is sort of a mastervolume Marshall front panel with a Brilliance knob, which is basically like a presence knob. Also, reverb and FX loop, which vintage Marshalls never had. The Chieftain could be considered a Marshall designed for the best cleans breaking into natural power amp gain. That's what it's whole vibe is.
 
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