Your opinions on the Marshall 1987x?

[Lullabies]

Hey guys just curious what you guys thought about the 1987x before I dive in and trade one of my amps for one.

I must admit I have never been a huge Marshall fan but have always wanted to try a plexi. Do these amps have decent cleans ? Do they take dirt pedals ok ?

That kind of stuff!

 

[billyguitar]

I had the 90s reissue 1987X. It's not really a Plexi sound. It was great at the AC/DC kind of sound. The cleans were just that sound without as much distortion. It was a really great head except for the 1/4 watt screen grid resistors which blew on me.

 

[V-man]

I can understand how one may prefer the sound of X to a Marshall, but IF you are into classic-hard rock from the late '60s to the '80s you pretty much have to suck if you don't like these amps, and yes, by that rationale Pete Townsend must suck (and awesome as he is, I stand by that).

You have 50W of ass kicking tone AND an FX loop. They also take pedals relatively well. by that I mean they take pedals slightly less well than the 2203/4 circuit (IMO), which takes pedals extremely well. The Timmy was born to drive this amp, but it does well with Tube Screamers, Rats, and DOD 250s/MXR D+ boxes.

The upside is the touch sensitivity of these amps (which is quite amazing) and the tone. The downside (to some) is the volume. The cleans are great if you find Fender cleans "amazing", but if you insist on nothing less than hiwatt/fender cleans as the standard, you would be better off with a JTM or another amp. This ALSO ties in with the volume. There is a bright cap on these amps. from 0-2 you have a good LOUD (believe it or not) clean. past 2 and it gets REALLY loud and moderate saturation begins between 2-4 with full blown volume and saturation in the 6-7 range.

The two ways to eke more headroom out of the amp are to use the LO sensitivity output OR to clip the bright cap.

 

[Sirloin]

Do these amps have decent cleans ? Do they take dirt pedals ok ?

That kind of stuff!

Yes and yes

 

[Lullabies]

I can understand how one may prefer the sound of X to a Marshall, but IF you are into classic-hard rock from the late '60s to the '80s you pretty much have to suck if you don't like these amps, and yes, by that rationale Pete Townsend must suck (and awesome as he is, I stand by that).

You have 50W of ass kicking tone AND an FX loop. They also take pedals relatively well. by that I mean they take pedals slightly less well than the 2203/4 circuit (IMO), which takes pedals extremely well. The Timmy was born to drive this amp, but it does well with Tube Screamers, Rats, and DOD 250s/MXR D+ boxes.

The upside is the touch sensitivity of these amps (which is quite amazing) and the tone. The downside (to some) is the volume. The cleans are great if you find Fender cleans "amazing", but if you insist on nothing less than hiwatt/fender cleans as the standard, you would be better off with a JTM or another amp. This ALSO ties in with the volume. There is a bright cap on these amps. from 0-2 you have a good LOUD (believe it or not) clean. past 2 and it gets REALLY loud and moderate saturation begins between 2-4 with full blown volume and saturation in the 6-7 range.

The two ways to eke more headroom out of the amp are to use the LO sensitivity output OR to clip the bright cap.

Yeah I was reading about the bright cap on another forum. I plan on using the low output on the normal side not the brighter side. I want to get as much headroom as possible. Thanks for the insight and thanks to the other poster for the PGS video. Andy makes everything sound good!

 

[Suspect Device]

I love my David Bray modded one but need to sell it to pay for by Friedman BE-100. The 1987x is a great amp.

 

[rockbutt]

A common practice is to replace the 4700pf bright cap for a 100pf one. That will give you a bit more headroom and less brightness, plus the volumen increse will be more uniform on the volumen knob dial, instead of the "instant jump" in volumen at lower settings.
Anothe mod that will increase headroom and obtain a much cleaner overall sound is to increase the negative feedback by replacing the existing resistor (100k) to half that value ( 50 or 47k)

 

[Lullabies]

A common practice is to replace the 4700pf bright cap for a 100pf one. That will give you a bit more headroom and less brightness, plus the volumen increse will be more uniform on the volumen knob dial, instead of the "instant jump" in volumen at lower settings.
Anothe mod that will increase headroom and obtain a much cleaner overall sound is to increase the negative feedback by replacing the existing resistor (100k) to half that value ( 50 or 47k)

thanks for the tips I'm not really good with electronics and amps! but I can take it in to a tech nearby and describe what I want done. I think I'm gonna change the bright cap if I don't like it at first. If I like it I will probably leave it for now. This head is used and the caps were replaced already with Sozo ones the ad said so I'm not sure exactly what was replaced.