Plexi's what is the deal? Super 100

[SuperSonic]

Went to guitar center today and they had a 1972 Super Lead 100. My son had never played through a Marshal. This amp sounded like crap on channel one, thin, thin and thin. Now when you went to channel two, holy Mother of God it was unreal running through a 4x12 slant. It could only be taken to about 6.5 before we thought it was going to make the guitars fall off the wall. One sexy amp.

I just don't know anything about these amps. Is there a primer on these amps and who makes clones?

 

[FennRx]

GC let you crank a JMP 1959 up to 6.5?

Lots of clones out there....or you buy the Marshall YJM for well south of $2k brand new in the box. And it comes with a built in attenuator and auto-bias for any set or mixture of power tube.

 

[saltydogg]

A lot of (most?) guys jumper the 2 channels together using a y-cable or short patch cable, and use a mix of both channels.

I'm with the guy above: 6.5 on the volume? At GC?

 

[lang.murphy]

'jes for the record... '72 1959 is a "metal face," not a plexi.

Start here: http://www.drtube.com/marshall.htm

 

[FennRx]

A lot of (most?) guys jumper the 2 channels together using a y-cable or short patch cable, and use a mix of both channels.

I'm with the guy above: 6.5 on the volume? At GC?

yeah, i was going to mention that. Jumping the channels gives it extra balls.

And if I turned the EPA to 0 on my YJM and cranked the volumes to 6.5, I'd blow my eardrums out. It's freakin' L-O-U-d.

 

[JB6464]

This amp sounded like crap on channel one, thin, thin and thin. Now when you went to channel two, holy Mother of God it was unreal running through a 4x12 slant./QUOTE]

That's why most plexi players jumper channel 1 & 2 together to get that fat singing overdrive tone . Channel 1 to me sounds to bright and channel 2 sounds to dull. Bridge them together and you get a Marshall tone that even a JCM800 can't get. Best of both worlds.
How hard you drive a NMV is a personal choice in my opinion , what ever it takes to open the amp up to hit the sweet spot.

 

[tubetonez]

Also the metalfaces usually had a bright cap on the treble channel that most prefer to remove, or sub a different value.

 

[Britishampfan]

Buy it and save yourself from future regret. I`d look at the transformers and the guts first. Channel one is bright and gets darker as you crank the amp because it takes that overly treble bright cap out of the mix.

 

[James BCM]

My 69' SLT/A. Bridge top right to bottom left, plug in top left. 4 dark channel, 8 bright channel, off the hook tones.

LB
BCM

 

[SonicBoom]

Also the metalfaces usually had a bright cap on the treble channel that most prefer to remove, or sub a different value.

+1

That bright cap is why channel 1 sounds thin. Get the vol. beyond 7 on that channel and the cap has little effect. I removed mine. It is a different amp completely at low vols. now. Much better.

 

[gtrnstuff]

Those amps were made to be cranked. Brite cap works great with humbuckers above 6 or 7 on the volume.

 

[SuperSonic]

GC down here has a small glassed in room with the high end used gear in it. So door closed he aw able to get it there. I made him turn it down caus I though the glass was gonna come off of he frames, lol. The thing was starting to sound amazing as far as breakup goes. Will a 50 watt be more manageable?

 

[gldtp99]

A 50 watt NMV Marshall will also be too loud, by the time it's cranked to get it sounding good, for playing in a house or for most clubs these days.
50's usually have earlier breakup (less clean headroom) than 100's but are still very loud amps---many use an attenuator or have a PPIMV added---- or clip the bright cap and run the amp on cleaner, quieter (kind of) settings and use pedals for dist tones.
I'd hesitate modding a nice orig NMV Marshall with a PPIMV----- i've added them to beaters, though................................gldtp99

 

[cmath]

The primer would be Rush's "all the worlds a stage".I used to own a 74 100w metal panel.Sold it.No regrets.