Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

[tone?]

i am going to London in a couple of weeks and have decided to buy a JMP 50 watt head about 1975-1979.

does anyone know where i should go to get one of these at a good price??

i will go to Denmark street but i know that these guys are usually pretty expensive.

i have been looking on e-bay UK and i still havent quite found what i am looking for.

i just want a good condition JMP with a master volume so i dont knock the house down!

i did see a site on the net that has these quite cheap. has anyone heard of them ?
http://www.toneheaven.ndirect.co.uk/marshallpa.htm

i need your input please!

 

[zak]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

I should be able to help with a few places, but what you must do is call before you go - whether any of these shops have exactly what you are looking for depends a lot on luck.
In denmark street, there is:
Andys
http://www.andysguitarnet.com/
020 7916 5080

Vintage and rare guitars
http://www.vintageandrareguitars.com/
020 7240 7500


Slightly further out (20 mins by underground) from the centre of london is:
New Kings Rd Vintage Guitar Emporium
http://newkingsroadguitars.co.uk
020 7371 0100

Then, if you are willing to travel to the edge of london (45mins by train/underground), there are two excellent shops to try:
Chandler guitars
www.chandlerguitars.co.uk
020 8940 5874

and Charlie Chandlers Guitar Experience
www.guitarexperience.co.uk
020 8973 1441

Two others that are even further from central london (about 1 and a quarter hours north) are www.machinehead.co.uk and www.coda-music.co.uk

IMO none of these shops are cheap - you will not pay the same price in any of these shops as you would expect to pay on Ebay - i reckon you will end up paying about 20-30% more. Also, in all cases dont just look at the website and assume they dont have what you want. Their stock changes quickly and most of them hardly ever update their websites.
There are loads of other guitar shops in london, but very few that have a decent stock of second hand amps.
I work about 5 mins walk from denmark street, so would only be too happy to help if you let me know when you will be around.

 

[tone?]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

at last!

thanks Zak.

i will be there from the 24th of this month to the 26th.

so that doesnt leave me too much time.

someone else recommended me this site, which is not in London but i think has good prices.
http://www.twotribesmusic.co.uk/index.htm
have you heard of them??
the guy from there replied right away and quoted me around 700pounds for a JMP 76-79 model.

then again i have seen a 78 model on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7365133377&sspagename=ADME:L:RTQ:UK:1&rd=1
what do you think of this???
should i grab it?

i was considering maybe paying a bit more from one of the stores in London or the one i mentioned insted of Ebay just to make sure the amp is really good. but the ebay one i showed you looks mint. and the guy says it is all original.

tell me your thoughts

 

[zak]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

That one on ebay does look absolutely mint. There is always an element of risk buying something like that on ebay. I tend not to take the risk, but i know lots of others that have taken the risk and managed to grab themselves a bargain. There is no right answer, it just depends on how much of a risk taker you are! I would certainly ask for more photos - especially of the inside of the amp.
I dont know much about twotribes (i have seen them advertise on ebay in the past), but just checked out the website and i must say they have a very good range of old amps - probably better than any of the shops i recommended you. However, bear in mind that it may be very difficult for you to check the amps out - they are probably about 4 hours from london by train.

Of the shops i recommended, i would certainly phone guitarexperience.co.uk and ask to speak to Charlie. He really knows his stuff, and even if he doesnt have one in stock he may well be able to point you in the right direction or recommend other shops.

 

[tone?]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

yeah the guy from two tribes would have to ship and i would be buying kind of blindly. a guy from PLexi Palace recommended him to me, and some of those guys on that site know there stuff.
i will e-mail Charlie and then maybe call him tonight and see what is going on.

if you hear anything or see anything on ebay that you think is good give me a holler.

thanks so much.

you understand how frustrating it is to search for an amp.

 

[zak]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

Actually, I myself have a 1978 jmp master volume 50 watt 2x12 combo that i may be willing to part with.
It is a superb amp, although i guess the shipping costs of getting the combo to Greece would be astronomical - i think it weighs about 35kg!

 

[tone?]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

sorry Zak, but i am looking for a head, so i can have speaker combination options.

i e-mailed Charlie so we can see what he says.

keep your eyes open if you see or hear anything on one of these suckers.

so do you think i will get a good Van Halen/rock sound from one of those JMP's?

thanks by the way for all your help!

 

[zak]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

you can get a reasonable VH rock sound from one, but not a perfect one. When I bought my JMP, i compared it to a 1987x 50 watt non-master volume reissue head. That gave a much better early EVH sound, but of course only at high volumes - you couldnt use one at home without an attenuator.
So in the end i opted for the master volume combo. It is a little thinner sounding, and you still have to turn the volume up loud to get a good sound. You simply cannot get a really good gain sound without the master volume being on at least 5, and at this level your neighours will be banging on your door pretty quick.
What I love about both amps compared to more modern marshalls (i also have a jubilee) is that the earlier ones are more responsive and less fizzy/buzzy. I tend to use the jubilee when i gig though, because i like having two footswitchable channels.

One other thing to consider is that the jcm 800 master volume heads are exceptionally close to the jmp ones, and it may be worth looking at those as well. I imagine you have read loads of opinions on the internet from people saying they were only good between 1975 and 1979 or whatever, but take all those with a pinch of salt. There is so much crap out there its unreal, and in one sense, the more you read the less you know, because unfortunately what you read tends to colour your opinions of what you hear when you actually try an amp out. Then, a few months later, after buying the amp, you realise you actually dont like it and that you only bought it because of dodgy advise you read on the net somewhere.

Charlie may not respond very quickly to an email - he is often extremely busy. So if you dont get an answer then call the shop.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

i am going to London in a couple of weeks and have decided to buy a JMP 50 watt head about 1975-1979.

does anyone know where i should go to get one of these at a good price??

i will go to Denmark street but i know that these guys are usually pretty expensive.

i have been looking on e-bay UK and i still havent quite found what i am looking for.

i just want a good condition JMP with a master volume so i dont knock the house down!

i did see a site on the net that has these quite cheap. has anyone heard of them ?
http://www.toneheaven.ndirect.co.uk/marshallpa.htm

i need your input please!

I was over in London in 2003 and is Denmark Street that little lane way that has 10 guitar shops on it? Music Ground was there... I almost bought a Hiwatt Pete Townshend head there to bring home..... Saddly everything was so expensive for a Canadian to buy because of the exchange rate and the duty tax when you get home....

 

[zak]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

Thats the street.
Actually, musicground is DEFINITELY another shop worth trying. I forgot about them
The website is:
www.musicground.com
They usually keep the website pretty up to date as well, so check it out

 

[tone?]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

the 1987X Plexi Reissue head is better than the JMP's??

really?
maybe i can find one of those cheap. but there is no way i can play that sucker without an attenuator.

with an attenuator can you get the volume down alot and have a good sound?
cause i was gonna get an attenuator anyway.

 

[zak]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

I wouldnt necessarily say it is better - that is down to personal taste and there a countless people out there that would prefer the JMP
But the 1987x is definitely better for the early EVH sound. They are also still made, and not too expensive either.
eg it is £599 here:
http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/p.php?n=127

As far as attenuation goes, you can get the volume down to zero, but whether it sounds good at low volumes is another matter. I personally dont like the effect an attenuator has on tone when bringing an amp down to bedroom levels - the sound becoes a bit fizzy and definitlely loses something, but i know others that dont mind it.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

Thats the street.
Actually, musicground is DEFINITELY another shop worth trying. I forgot about them
The website is:
www.musicground.com
They usually keep the website pretty up to date as well, so check it out

Some friends of mine had a gig at the Astoria just a round the corner from the Denmark street guitar stores.... their tour was sponcered by Music Ground.... the band is www.thewholigans.com and i may be back over in the spring to see the Shepherds Bush show at the WHO Convention in the spring... If i do i'll be going to Denmark street again...

 

[Imp]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

Actually, I myself have a 1978 jmp master volume 50 watt 2x12 combo that i may be willing to part with.

dude.. really? are you looking for a particular other amp?

tom

 

[zak]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

Imp
not in the short term necessarily as i have a couple of other amps at the moment. But in the long run i am looking for another gigging amp - 20-50 watts with a minimum of 2 channels.
you interested in the jmp? If so and you live in/near london you are welcome to come and try it out.

 

[Imp]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

heh i live next to morden (jewel of the northern line) but i'm at university in guildford..

i'd love to get me a jmp at some point.. i recorded with one over my DSL.. el84s dont quite match it

PM me a price man, and i'll try and get my finance sorted out - by the looks of your gear list, i'd be able to hear you from here anyway :laugh2:

 

[Grandor]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

2 things...

And OLD marshall in London.. easy done...

A GOOD marshall anywhere.. very hard...

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Help, where can i find a good Old Marshall in London?

i did see a site on the net that has these quite cheap. has anyone heard of them ?
http://www.toneheaven.ndirect.co.uk/marshallpa.htm

Do a Google search for Marcus Hardy and Toneheaven. I wouldn't do business with him. That site has been up forever, nothing seems to change on it...