NAD!!!!!

[liv_rong]

Where did you get it from?

[Greg_L]

Where did you get it from?

https://rocknrollvintage.com/

[miroslav]

They were asking $2300. I pointed out the non-original bits and offered $1800. They took it. I should have went lower!

Looks like a real beauty!

It's so refreshing to know there are other mentally ill gear nuts.

Considering this is like your 10th Marshall amp...I won't feel so weird when I buy a 3rd Carol Ann amp this winter.

[miroslav]

Where did you get it from?

https://rocknrollvintage.com/

I bought a Tophat Club Royale from them several years back. I ended up selling it last November. It was the only EL84 amp in my stable, and while it was a sweet amp, I just never warmed up to it.

[Greg_L]

They were asking $2300. I pointed out the non-original bits and offered $1800. They took it. I should have went lower!

Looks like a real beauty!

It's so refreshing to know there are other mentally ill gear nuts.

Considering this is like your 10th Marshall amp...I won't feel so weird when I buy a 3rd Carol Ann amp this winter.

Ha, yes I'm retarded.

I bought a Tophat Club Royale from them several years back. I ended up selling it last November. It was the only EL84 amp in my stable, and while it was a sweet amp, I just never warmed up to it.

Their guitar selection is about average, but daaaaaamn, they have a lot of killer amps and cabs. So much good stuff there. If you're an amp junkie, that' place will make you OD.

[miroslav]

Where was the wife when you offered them $1800...?

[Greg_L]

Where was the wife when you offered them $1800...?

She was right there. Trust me, this thing would not be in my possession without her blessin'.

[Tadpui]

Oh OK I see. I've always wondered about that. I thought that Vol 1 and Vol 2 were pre/post gain. So this is another one of those Marshalls with just a volume knob then? So just crank it to get to the good tones?

[Greg_L]

Oh OK I see. I've always wondered about that. I thought that Vol 1 and Vol 2 were pre/post gain. So this is another one of those Marshalls with just a volume knob then? So just crank it to get to the good tones?

Yup. Crank the volumes to get raunchy. The volume knobs are basically gain controls. You can generally think of them like this: the amps have no master volume, so the volume is basically always on 10. Put the Volume knob on 1 and you get a very very loud clean. Volume on 10 is a very very loud dirty. 1 or 10, it's always loud. They can't be turned down without an attenuator or a master volume modded into it. Any time you see a Marshall with the four inputs, it's gonna be one of these kinds of amps.

Your 2204 has a master volume, but it can work very much the same way. Go to your 2204 and crank the master volume and just leave it there. Then use your preamp volume to adjust the tone. You'll have crazy loud clean and crazy loud dirty. That's pretty much how these Plexi type amps work. The Plexis are like a master volume amp that is permanently turned up to 10.

[miroslav]

So strictly tonally...and I'm not sure how many/which Marshall amps you really have (but I think you've crossed over into collector territory)...
...how close or how apart are they, to you, or in general?

[Greg_L]

So strictly tonally...and I'm not sure how many/which Marshall amps you really have (but I think you've crossed over into collector territory)...
...how close or how apart are they, to you, or in general?

That's a pretty good question. Technically they're really not that different. To the uninitiated they probably all sound exactly the same. Lol. One of them is a very modern channel-switching model with all the bells and whistles. It's also my least used amp. It's great, but it does have a more modern sound and feel to it that, to me, is kind of sterile sometimes. I love to goof around on it, when I'm just dicking around it's the amp I use, but when it's time to track or play live, I never use it anymore. The rest of them are simple vintage circuits that are all pretty much based on the same general design, and they're spectacular. It's the subtle differences between them that makes each one different. They're all different enough that I felt like buying them. I'm not a collector. I really do hear and feel the differences between the models and I value those differences, as subtle as some of them may be. Well, this newest vintage one is honestly just a luxury. I like it, and want it, and it's cool as shit, but it doesn't necessarily cover any tone ground I couldn't cover before.

Ultimately I hear enough difference between them that I know which one to go to for whatever I'm trying to achieve. Equally as important to me is the cab/speaker. I've learned which guitar and which head and which cab to use to get the sounds I'm after to make me happy.

[cakewalkKaKed]

nice very clean ... your the only guy i know of that could kill thousands in an amp avalanche


congrats

[cakewalkKaKed]

[/quote]

She was right there. Trust me, this thing would not be in my possession without her blessin'.
[/quote]


you got a good one there,must know these are actually investments and can only go up in value

[miroslav]

It's the subtle differences between them that makes each one different. They're all different enough that I felt like buying them. I'm not a collector. I really do hear and feel the differences between the models and I value those differences, as subtle as some of them may be. Well, this newest vintage one is honestly just a luxury. I like it, and want it, and it's cool as shit, but it doesn't necessarily cover any tone ground I couldn't cover before.

Ultimately I hear enough difference between them that I know which one to go to for whatever I'm trying to achieve. Equally as important to me is the cab/speaker. I've learned which guitar and which head and which cab to use to get the sounds I'm after to make me happy.

I kinda figured that...and I was only kidding you about the "collector" thing......it's the same with me and the guitars, and amps too.

I totally get what you are saying, and again, same way I feel about it when someone asks why I need so many of "the same" guitars...'cuz they just see the Hagstrom thing...but each and every one IS different. I can certainly hear it, and know which one I want to reach for in a given situation.

I've often heard that no two vintage Marshalls are exactly alike, due to age and the fact that there wasn't some precision assembly line thing back than...so one might have a different brand cap here or there, or a different wire was used, etc...and all that goes into the subtle differences.

I don't see anything wrong with buying more than one of something that you really like a lot...but yeah, it seems crazy to other folks.

[Greg_L]

nice very clean ... your the only guy i know of that could kill thousands in an amp avalanche


congrats

Ha thanks.

you got a good one there,must know these are actually investments and can only go up in value

Yeah she's great. I don't know how she feels about the "investment" part of it, but I think I've proven to her that I don't make bad deals and I always come out ahead if I have to flip something. I'm a total knucklehead in most areas of life, but she knows I'm thoughtful and serious about dropping big money on gear. I've turned down lots of stuff that she knows I'd like but the deal just wasn't right. Like at this other shop, there was a real Mosrite that I was looking at. She was like "is it good? Do you like it? We can get it." But something about it was off. I think it was a parts guitar. Real Mosrite parts, but parts nonetheless. The neck joint was odd. The pickups didn't seem right. I passed on it. I'm glad I did too because I hadn't found this amp yet at that time.

I've often heard that no two vintage Marshalls are exactly alike, due to age and the fact that there wasn't some precision assembly line thing back than...so one might have a different brand cap here or there, or a different wire was used, etc...and all that goes into the subtle differences.

That's true. The early Marshalls were built with whatever they had laying around. Jim Marshall was just the business side of it. He had a crew of pseudo-engineers reverse engineering Fender Bassmans. That's how Marshall was born. They tried to build Bassman clones with parts available in the UK. And even once they figured it out and Marshall became it's own thing, they still just kind of winged it most of the time into the 70s. The 60s Marshalls went through tons of changes internally - some by design, some by necessity. Big power tube amps were a new idea back then. They were figuring it out as they went along. None of them sound alike. This 73 that I have is right at the beginning of Marshall using PCBs and getting some consistency with builds and parts suppliers. But even with that step forward, they started running into problems with tube availability and durability. That's why US versions got 6550s. Supposedly EL34s at the time were getting damaged en route to the USA and US dealers insisted Marshall send them amps with better tubes. So US Marshalls in the 70s got 6550s, amps that stayed in Europe got EL34s. Crazy shit.

[Greg_L]

Yeah new tubes!

[Tadpui]

Ooh, Mullards! I've never actually priced those, but I just know their reputation as being kinda pricey. I also know their reputation as sounding awesome, so I'm curious how they sound and "feel" once they're in.

[Greg_L]

Ooh, Mullards! I've never actually priced those, but I just know their reputation as being kinda pricey. I also know their reputation as sounding awesome, so I'm curious how they sound and "feel" once they're in.

These are not "real" Mullards. They're Russian Mullard reissues. Supposedly New Sensor/EH or someone bought the tooling and patents for original Mullards and is remaking them. I'm not sure. I'm not that particular about tubes. As long as they're good quality and matched, they'll work for me. I'm not into tube rolling and NOS stuff and all that nonsense. I've got a set of NOS Baldwins and Raytheon Black Plate 12ax7s in the 1959SLP reissue, and to my balls-out loud all the time ear, they don't do anything magical. They're tubes. As long as they work they're good enough for me.

I thought real hard about trying 6CA7s or KT77s just for different, more 6550-ish flavor since all of my amps are EL34 amps, but decided against it at the last minute. I don't want to experiment on this amp. I might try KT77s in one of the others.

[Minerman]

Same here, when I first got into tube amps 4-5 years ago, I went down that road, but the differences are pretty minimal to me...The last time I did that was with power tubes in the Chupa, summer 2015...There was a slight difference, but not enough to even worry about...

I still do swap pre-amp tubes around in my EVH LBX, but I'm doing that to lower the gain...

[WhiskeyJack]

but I'm doing that to lower the gain...

you can increase or lower the gain with tubes?