Mods to a Vintage Marshall

[OlinMusic]

My Marshall is getting a checkup - while it's there I was wondering what your thoughts on mods would be? REVERSIBLE ONES!

I was thinking hmmmmm 50/100w switch to shut off 2 tubes. hmmmmm

How about a Master Volume?

It's all pretty cheap so I wanted to know thoughts?

I should post this on the Plexi Palace board as well.


My only fear is that should I sell it, I would have to unmod. Mine was already a Plexi Palace restoration to begin with, to go make any alterations from pure stock bliss could cause problems.

 

[Simon_F]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

I vote for leaving it alone.

Both the mods you're considering are about making it work at lower volume. Just use an attenuator and protect your investment!

Just my 2 cents... er pennies.

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

It should be criminal to touch those old amps. If you need something else go get an amp that is designed to do it.

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

Non invasive and w/o any holes you should be ok. Any tinkering may effect value a bit, but I see early 70s Marshalls with replaced iron going for areound 2000.00.

I would really make sure there was a real sonic goal that you are shooting for. I would not change,just to change. ( if it were mine)

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

It's "your" amp,so do to it whatever you want..

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

If you're after lower volume, get an attenuator.

A 50% power switch would only lower your volume around 10%. You probably wouldn't even notice it.

A no holes, non invasive MV wouldn't be too bad, especially if your amp is already a project.

Yes, it's "yours" right now, but when you decide to sell it, whatever you did to it becomes "someone's" issues. We're not talking about disposable amps.

 

[Liquid]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

Noooo dont do anyhting to it. If you got a nice vintage marshall then your crazy to mod it IMO.

 

[OlinMusic]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

OK OK I won't! lol

I'm glad to see people love Marshalls so much.

As I said in a recent post, my new love is the idea of carrying a rackmount power amp and FX unit and taking a line out from a Hot PLate or Weber Mass into it - tried it at home and it was AMAZING!

So far I am surprised no one mentioned Power Scaling... though that sounds INVASIVE as well.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

If you're after lower volume, get an attenuator.

A 50% power switch would only lower your volume around 10%. You probably wouldn't even notice it.

A no holes, non invasive MV wouldn't be too bad, especially if your amp is already a project.

Yes, it's "yours" right now, but when you decide to sell it, whatever you did to it becomes "someone's" issues. We're not talking about disposable amps.

Yes, it's "yours" right now,  but when you decide to sell it, whatever you did to it becomes "someone's" issues.  We're not talking about disposable amps.[/QUOTE]

And that's "if" he ever sells it!

Sue me cause my Marshall went from PCB to PTP and is so much better! LOL The MM transformers didn't hurt the amp either...I won't be selling my "modded" Marshall anytime soon!

Before

After

 

[shredaholic]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

So far I am surprised no one mentioned Power Scaling... though that sounds INVASIVE as well.

What about Power Scaling

If you go for the kit, it'd be extremely invasive and you won't be able to remove all trace of it. However if you went for the box, you should be able to install it so there's no trace of it when it comes out again. Just put the drive compensation control in a spare speaker jack hole or something.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

And that's "if" he ever sells it!

Sue me cause my Marshall went from PCB to PTP and is so much better! LOL The MM transformers didn't hurt the amp either...I won't be selling my "modded" Marshall anytime soon!

The point is, you can't take it with you. The amp will outlast you. After you've either lost interest in it or are worm food, with care, that amp will still be around.

Whether it's after you've sold it or after your death your family bequeaths it to your son or whatever- whatever you do to that amp is going to be someone's problem down the road.

Think of all the horrifying things you've seen done to guitars- the '59 Burst named "Bad Coconuts" the one with the cutaway carved next to the switch... I had Travis Bean serial # 117. Some genius drilled it out for a bunch of mini switches.

Oh yeah then there's my Park:

See anything that doesn't belong on the back of the top amp? The previous owner's bright idea is my headache- and I always have to say "I didn't do it"

I'm sure it was a good idea at the time.:blackeye:

 

[OlinMusic]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

BTW the 1/2 power switch isn't JUST attenuation
The amp sounds smaller and less ballsy with 2 tubes yanked
I can't explain it, but sometimes it's nice to thin a 100w

SOOOOOOOOO you can put in Power SCALING without anyone ever knowing?


STRATDELUXE your amp sounds better after being made PTP? YA?
I can tell you I've been talked out of selling this amp 3 times now.
After discovering the Wet/Dry mix using a power amp, I might be sold on the sound for LIFE! NOthing compares, I mean it! Thanks to this forum for 4 times talking sense into me (you guys saved me on a bad trade with my Mark 2B when I wasn't feeling it!)

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

The point is, you can't take it with you. The amp will outlast you. After you've either lost interest in it or are worm food, with care, that amp will still be around.

Whether it's after you've sold it or after your death your family bequeaths it to your son or whatever- whatever you do to that amp is going to be someone's problem down the road.

Think of all the horrifying things you've seen done to guitars- the '59 Burst named "Bad Coconuts" the one with the cutaway carved next to the switch... I had Travis Bean serial # 117. Some genius drilled it out for a bunch of mini switches.

Oh yeah then there's my Park:

See anything that doesn't belong on the back of the top amp? The previous owner's bright idea is my headache- and I always have to say "I didn't do it"

I'm sure it was a good idea at the time.:blackeye:

When I'm old and can't play anymore,my Marshall goes to my son...:laugh2: I've been working on and modding early Marshalls for alot of years and so the things you mention wouldn't pertain to me...:13:

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

The point is, you can't take it with you. The amp will outlast you. After you've either lost interest in it or are worm food, with care, that amp will still be around.

Whether it's after you've sold it or after your death your family bequeaths it to your son or whatever- whatever you do to that amp is going to be someone's problem down the road.

Think of all the horrifying things you've seen done to guitars- the '59 Burst named "Bad Coconuts" the one with the cutaway carved next to the switch... I had Travis Bean serial # 117. Some genius drilled it out for a bunch of mini switches.

Oh yeah then there's my Park:

See anything that doesn't belong on the back of the top amp? The previous owner's bright idea is my headache- and I always have to say "I didn't do it"

I'm sure it was a good idea at the time.:blackeye:

What the heck is that?

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

What are those two strange holes??

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

What the heck is that?

It's a 1981 50w Park MV head.

What are those two strange holes??

I can only guess that it's the remnants of an effects loop. So not only did the previous owner drill holes into the chassis of a rare and potentially valuable (as well as somewhat significant- as it's among the last "real" Parks) amp, but didn't have the decency to put both holes at the same height.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

: I've been working on and modding early Marshalls for alot of years and so the things you mention wouldn't pertain to me...:13:

Where are all those Marshalls you've worked on? Do you think that somewhere there is a current owner of an amp that wishes you'd never set eyes on it?

No offense to you (and I'm definitely not saying your work looks as bad)- but if I met the previous owner of my amp or the guy who "modded" it, I wouldn't feel the least bit bad about telling him what a dumbass he was.

 

[shredaholic]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

The point is, you can't take it with you. The amp will outlast you. After you've either lost interest in it or are worm food, with care, that amp will still be around.

Whether it's after you've sold it or after your death your family bequeaths it to your son or whatever- whatever you do to that amp is going to be someone's problem down the road.

Yeah but the important point is it's your amp; it's not on some sort of lease from the guitar playing community. Not everbody buys amps thinking of resale value, and I'd much rather worry about whether I like my tone right now as opposed to what the next owner thinks of it. I've modded the hell out of my 1959slp, and it's never gonna get sold. I doubt anyone in my family it gets passed down to (son, nephew etc) will consider it a problem, as it's got added sentimental value when it's been personally modded by the owner. Don't you think members' guitars here like "Les Strat" have much more intrinsic value because they have a history of changes done to them, and are not bone stock guitars?

Not all mods are gonna be someone's problem, I know for a fact some people seek out 80s modded marshalls nowadays, which many people would call "butchered" amps. Even if I got a modded amp that I didn't like the sound of, I wouldn't consider it a 'problem' to return it back to stock. It gives the amp some sort of history, and modded gear like that has a lot more character than NOS gear. Obviously if it was say, a guitar with half of the wood around the bridge ripped out, then yeah it would be annoying to the next owner as it would really permanently ruin the sound, but I don't think anyone has any right to judge what people do with their posessions if it's not intended to affect anyone else.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

If you don't like how it sounds, change it, or sell it and get something else.

Whatever, don't take any of this "you're the devil if you mod a vintage piece" crap to heart.

 

[OlinMusic]

Re: Mods to a Vintage Marshall

Well, I think you all bring up an interesting point

The thing is that so many strats and Les Pauls, Marshall amps got hacked up - MANY WITH BAD MODS, that it created the rare and collectible market.

Many old Marshalls didn't offer the kind of sound people wanted in the 80s, and a mod done right would get you there. Just as someone pointed out in another thread, there are HORRIBLE builders calling themselves BOUTIQUE amp builders, there were bad mods.

If an amp is to taste, and it sounds good then so be it. HOWEVER, at THIS point in time, I can see where preserving perfectly good amps for posterity and for their pure tone is a good thing. Mods, hack jobs, etc can be done on REISSUES.

My main idea in this post was to find something non-obtrusive. I will be honest, my vintage Marshall rig is hard to move around and you have to treat it somewhat delicately. I do everything from use it Hot Plated and cranked, to pedals, Variacs, and it gets a tone like no other.

I was looking for a cheap or easy way to just move the head and get the tone from it. Looks like it just can't happen unless you look into some of the fine designs by companies like Bogner, Matchless, etc etc (sorry if I left names out).

I will say that NOTHING compares to the tones that 68-73 Marshalls have shown me. Someone had the "not in my studio" post. Well, ever since I got this amp, it has paid for itself - the tone records beautifully, and mixed with Rectos etc.

My next curiosity - one of those Jeff Seal mods where he can literally put a Fender circuit into one of the channels of a muti-channel Marshall.