Marshall Master Lead Combo?

[CaughtLikeFire]

anybody every try these early Marshall solid state amps?

they seem to be going for ~$150 or a little less and I was thinking about picking one up as a practice amp. One I'm looking at now has a Celestion G12M-70 (meh), probably made in mid 1980s, but it's super clean.

Has to be better than the current MG series, right?

 

[B P]

Re: Marshall Master Lead Combo?

anybody every try these early Marshall solid state amps?

they seem to be going for ~$150 or a little less and I was thinking about picking one up as a practice amp. One I'm looking at now has a Celestion G12M-70 (meh), probably made in mid 1980s, but it's super clean.

Has to be better than the current MG series, right?

Well, I'll take an older Marshall over the new ones. I bought my Marshall 5212 50W Split channel reverb in 83 and I will definately put it up against any of the newer models. It has the Celestion G12M-70 's and man it rocks... still, guess they're seasoned well. Never owned a tube amp yet but this wonderful amp has such a great tube tone. I've played on the newer MG's and honestly the 5212 has a way better tone to me. So to answer your question, to me yes they are better.

 

[CaughtLikeFire]

Re: Marshall Master Lead Combo?

Well, I'll take an older Marshall over the new ones. I bought my Marshall 5212 50W Split channel reverb in 83 and I will definately put it up against any of the newer models. It has the Celestion G12M-70 's and man it rocks... still, guess they're seasoned well. Never owned a tube amp yet but this wonderful amp has such a great tube tone. I've played on the newer MG's and honestly the 5212 has a way better tone to me. So to answer your question, to me yes they are better.

thanks BP

guy from craigslist hasn't gotten back to me yet, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for these.

one question for you - it's been so long since I've owned a solid state amp -
is the tone at bedroom volume pretty much the same as the "rock out" volume? with a solid state power amp it should be, since the only thing that varies in response to volume is the speaker

 

[B P]

Re: Marshall Master Lead Combo?

thanks BP

guy from craigslist hasn't gotten back to me yet, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for these.

one question for you - it's been so long since I've owned a solid state amp -
is the tone at bedroom volume pretty much the same as the "rock out" volume? with a solid state power amp it should be, since the only thing that varies in response to volume is the speaker

Well, I don't play for a living but I have jammed on this amp in garages, outside and lol, mostly in the room. I'm running the Twin Tube Classic preamp in front and it has the tone I'm looking for playing through a solid sate unit and it screams tone. With my clean volume on 8 and master volume "room" @ 5... it's loud, pounchy and crisp. It's a great amp ! And the prices are reasonable these days.

Good Luck,

 

[ErikH]

Re: Marshall Master Lead Combo?

Those are cool amps. Back when I was in High School, another guitar player I jammed with had one. He got some really cool sounds out of that amp. It kept up with the drummer we jammed with just fine.

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: Marshall Master Lead Combo?

I have one, it ain't, but I have heard much better SS. I have both Shure and Standel SS PA heads from the late 60s, that I got dirt cheap, that sound so close to tubes it is almost impossible to tell.

The Marshall gets a bit bright, even with the blend channels, but is certainly decent sounding. They look cool, mine is Fawn which is pretty rare. Plenty loud too! I think mine is a 77 or 78.

Way better than the MG, not quite as good as the Mosfet, and not close to the 2nd gen Valvestate. The VS65 ( think that is the model) is a killer combo and is what I would buy before the Master Lead.