Vintage Marlboro amplifers?

Yamaha 350

Yamaha 350

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Anyone ever used the old SS Marlboro amplifiers? Were they popular back then or considered junk because they were sold through Mongomery Wards? When you find them they are under 400 dollars or free on the side of the road. Waiting for the trash truck. Are they hated because of the sound, no tubes, the place they were sold from, or not a one famous person used them? Sound works put them out. Any info? I have found some info on the web. but not a lot?

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MIM#1

MIM#1

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Never played one, but I would imagine a super clean and loud pedal platform awaits. I do have several 70's era ss PEARL amps, and the clean tone can be described as a more fendery Jazz Chorus [sans chorus] and without the JC120 'hiss'.
Are you thinking of buying one? If so, go plug in and report back!
 
K

kimock

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Yamaha 350 said:
Why were they thought of as junk? Is it because of SS, Store brand? Etc..
Click to expand...
Just relative to the other better known brands, Marshall, Fender, Ampeg, etc the rock star tube amp stuff, and the SS market went pretty much entirely to Acoustic and Kustom in terms of iconic use.
You just didn’t see Marlboro on stage back in the day.

Wasn’t much stigma attached to the “store brand” gear in my corner of the pond, everybody knew the stuff was cool, sounded good, and we all knew there was some other level of guitar and amp more expensive, but it was just “different” as opposed to better.
Unobtainium vs doable maybe.

Nothing wrong with junk, it’s been put to good use historically.
It’s also junk. Nobody thinks there isn’t something better.
As tho it mattered.
 
Yamaha 350

Yamaha 350

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9,499
kimock said:
Just relative to the other better known brands, Marshall, Fender, Ampeg, etc the rock star tube amp stuff, and the SS market went pretty much entirely to Acoustic and Kustom in terms of iconic use.
You just didn’t see Marlboro on stage back in the day.

Wasn’t much stigma attached to the “store brand” gear in my corner of the pond, everybody knew the stuff was cool, sounded good, and we all knew there was some other level of guitar and amp more expensive, but it was just “different” as opposed to better.
Unobtainium vs doable maybe.

Nothing wrong with junk, it’s been put to good use historically.
It’s also junk. Nobody thinks there isn’t something better.
As tho it mattered.
Click to expand...

The reason I said the place that sold then matter is let's talk Silvertone. Most guitarist always say I wanted a tube amplifier. Mom came home with a Sears tube amplifier. I was so mad. I hated those amplifiers.

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K

kimock

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Yamaha 350 said:
The reason I said the place that sold then matter is let's talk Silvertone. Most guitarist always say I wanted a tube amplifier. Mom came home with a Sears tube amplifier. I was so mad. I hated those amplifiers.

8-21-15g.jpg
Click to expand...
Haha. . I loved those things. .
 
Fatboy666

Fatboy666

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early solid state gear, for the most part, was not particularly good sounding - especially for guitar if you were trying for that classic 70's OD sound. Tuck n Roll Kustoms actually sounded pretty good, especially with a Tube Screamer. Suffice it to say it has taken decades to get us to the Fractal/Katana point.

Marlboro amps were one that I remember in particular, NOT sounding good. Of course the selection of pedals and signal processors in the 70's pale in comparison to today's marketplace, so you MAY be able to coax usable sound from a Marlboro with a modern tone bandaid. Reliability-wise I can't really comment to that - Marlboro amps were not the thing you got repaired if they broke. You put it under the new amp you bought to make it look more like a stack ;) Like Gramma's house where they put the new space aged 27" tube TV on top of the non-working console they had from the 60's.

Sooooo.......I guess if you came across one at a garage sale, in working order, in a usable wattage, for a real reasonable price, it might be worth giving one a shot. But it won't increase in value over time, there are no "mods" to hop it up, and you will need to supplement it with pedals for gigging.
 
Jon Silberman

Jon Silberman

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From the cosmetics, perhaps Marlboro's were also have been made by Univox (similar too, e.g., Lafayette amps).
 
OldN'inTheWay

OldN'inTheWay

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Cool ! I actually had one of these Marlboro combo amps. It was pretty small, I think it had a 10 inch speaker. Normal input and overdrive input. The overdrive wasn't terrible but it was just that...overdrive. Not much sustain or gain and you couldn't vary the amount, it was simply a pre-set amount of gain. It was my very first amplifier. I had loaned it to a friend back around 1985 or 1986 and I never saw it again.
 
70' s Tone

70' s Tone

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Yamaha 350 said:
Anyone ever used the old SS Marlboro amplifiers? Were they popular back then or considered junk because they were sold through Mongomery Wards? When you find them they are under 400 dollars or free on the side of the road. Waiting for the trash truck. Are they hated because of the sound, no tubes, the place they were sold from, or not a one famous person used them? Sound works put them out. Any info? I have found some info on the web. but not a lot?

s-l1600.jpg


5046768225_6527fe820d_b.jpg


hd_item_884264_6faf4cb96c.JPG


marlboro-sound-works-1200r-5875.jpg


marlboro-sound-works-1500b-755495.jpg
Click to expand...

Never even heard of these.
Way cool. :cool:
Thanks for posting. :)

Probably as popular as GBX was.
Anyone remember GBX amps?
https://www.google.com/search?q=GBX...dAhVvneAKHQzyAF4QsAR6BAgEEAE&biw=1680&bih=939
 
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