Whew, was I lucky (I hope)

[75lespaul]

Once or twice last month before I went away for a few weeks, I was playing my 77 Marshall 50 watt and the sound started cutting in and out. I checked the effects, cords, tubes, inputs etc.... then it was fine. Last night I fired it up for the first time in awhile. I hit a chord and....nothing. Then it rung out but cut out. At that moment I quickly shut off the amp as I remembered that THIS amp has that plug in the back for the ohm selection. I checked it out, but it was in tight. I even put tape over it to make sure it doesn't work loose. On a hunch I pulled it out and shook it and sure enough it sounded like a moracca. Luckily I had another one so I put it in and no more problems. I didn't know these could go bad! Hopefully I haven't damaged the amp at all. I consider myself lucky I didn't blow the amp.

Just a tip for anyone who has an older Marshall and may not know about this.

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Whew, was I lucky (I hope)

Given Marshall's propensity for blowing OT's and screen resistors when presented with an open output, those little plugs were the dumbest idea ever.

Glad you caught it before it did real damage.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Whew, was I lucky (I hope)

Uh oh happy endings are the best under those circumstances

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Whew, was I lucky (I hope)

Yeah, that thing is pretty dumb. I wonder why Marshall didn't just do switches like Univox or something else like just about everyone else did. Just to be different? By 77 you would figure they would have had something better than that.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Whew, was I lucky (I hope)

would my early 80's 800 2204 have this plug?

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Whew, was I lucky (I hope)

would my early 80's 800 2204 have this plug?

I had one of those and I'm pretty sure it had the dial which is a way better option. I would say no. This thing sticks out about an inch and has a square cut out of the plastic where you can see what ohms you have chosen. It's an obvious piece that can be pulled out and it has two metal prongs sticking out of the underside when it's removed.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Whew, was I lucky (I hope)

I had one of those and I'm pretty sure it had the dial which is a way better option. I would say no. This thing sticks out about an inch and has a square cut out of the plastic where you can see what ohms you have chosen. It's an obvious piece that can be pulled out and it has two metal prongs sticking out of the underside when it's removed.

got ya.... mean has an OHM Dial.... mine is the Canadian issue head and only has 4 and 8 ohm.... no 16ohm which sucks sometimes....

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Whew, was I lucky (I hope)

got ya.... mean has an OHM Dial.... mine is the Canadian issue head and only has 4 and 8 ohm.... no 16ohm which sucks sometimes....

No 16? That's unusual. Right, the ohm dial. I keep hearing though that in the late 60s, early 70s, lotsa guys ran Marshalls at FOUR ohms. Wonder how much that affects the sound. Probably nowhere near as loud I guess? Wonder it that's true.

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: Whew, was I lucky (I hope)

My nephew had something similar happen with his amp. A sovtek Mig 50. The internal speaker wiring came loose and presented an intermittant signal and finally no signal at all (fell out). I checked the tubes and they seemed alright and they powered up on standby just fine. Turned the amp off and started checking around and luckily identified the problem. The amp works like a charm now.

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Whew, was I lucky (I hope)

My nephew had something similar happen with his amp. A sovtek Mig 50. The internal speaker wiring came loose and presented an intermittant signal and finally no signal at all (fell out). I checked the tubes and they seemed alright and they powered up on standby just fine. Turned the amp off and started checking around and luckily identified the problem. The amp works like a charm now.

That is soooooo good to hear. I'm worried that maybe there's some damage to the amp that will not show up for awhile. I hope not in both our cases. However, the amp still sounds SMOKIN!

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Whew, was I lucky (I hope)

No 16? That's unusual. Right, the ohm dial. I keep hearing though that in the late 60s, early 70s, lotsa guys ran Marshalls at FOUR ohms. Wonder how much that affects the sound. Probably nowhere near as loud I guess? Wonder it that's true.

ya the Canadian issue 2204 and 2202 heads from the early 80's were slightly different... they had metal toggle on/off and standby switches, not the plastic rocker ones... they also had a different output transformer i'm told...

4 and 8 ohms only.... Canadian issue 800 cabs at the time were 8 ohms as well...

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Whew, was I lucky (I hope)

I had one incident of the knob falling out.

I figured out the pinout, using a knob with the window- stuck a piece of duck tape on the back panel- drew out the layout- have a piece of wire with soldered ends duck taped to the panel to act as a jumper if that knob ever comes unplugged again.

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Whew, was I lucky (I hope)

That'll work. :beerchug: