Evolution of the 100w SL circuit
Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2005 12:29 am
Great group of individuals here interested in the details of Marshall. I have gathered some observations over the years of aquiring and playing vintage Marshalls, mostly 100 watters. I'm finding Mr. G's post interesting since it draws on info from reliable sources. But it seems strange to me that steel chassis amps would come in that late because there would have been so many evolutionary changes and a hugely increased production within a very short span.
While Marshall has not been great with record keeping, Drake on the other hand is pretty good. Their stock numbers ink stamped on the bells represent models made specifically for Marshall. Each one of these exist in their database with inception production dates. My time time based on their info makes sense to me, so here's what I have to throw into the discussion for friendly debate:
The 1202-84 OT, Drake's first for the Marshall 100w came out 11/65 replacing the dual OTs. 05/66 is when the 1204-43 PT came out replacing the potted RS (likely made by Woden) PT. 02/67 marks the intro of the 1203-80 and 1202-119. I have seen photos of what I believe to be one of the first to have those and it had the JTM45 front panel, gold SL back panel with window serial number and aluminum chassis. I think by 03/67 the switch to the "black flag" panel with steel chassis had been made followed shortly by the JMP panels and even some "polarity" panels. The 1202-132 came in 06/67. At this stage I have seen the start of the PI cap on top with the 2 100mfs and 2 32s inside. Based on the flow of changes, Dagnalls probably started appearing very late in '67, but '68 owns the bulk of those Dagnall 100s with one cap on top. Then there are some with two on top when they moved the preamp filter next to the choke followed soon by six on top with the rotated OT. I believe the metal panels started May/June of '69.
This seems a resonable timeline to me.
I'm preety sure the "Orbison" catalogue is early '68 and the white stack one is '69 because their accompanying price lists are dated. There was one early catalogue that I know of that was not shown in Doyle's HOM book and that was "Go Over Big With Marshall" from '67 whish shows the only catalogue shot of an early strap handle stack with tall bottom.
While Marshall has not been great with record keeping, Drake on the other hand is pretty good. Their stock numbers ink stamped on the bells represent models made specifically for Marshall. Each one of these exist in their database with inception production dates. My time time based on their info makes sense to me, so here's what I have to throw into the discussion for friendly debate:
The 1202-84 OT, Drake's first for the Marshall 100w came out 11/65 replacing the dual OTs. 05/66 is when the 1204-43 PT came out replacing the potted RS (likely made by Woden) PT. 02/67 marks the intro of the 1203-80 and 1202-119. I have seen photos of what I believe to be one of the first to have those and it had the JTM45 front panel, gold SL back panel with window serial number and aluminum chassis. I think by 03/67 the switch to the "black flag" panel with steel chassis had been made followed shortly by the JMP panels and even some "polarity" panels. The 1202-132 came in 06/67. At this stage I have seen the start of the PI cap on top with the 2 100mfs and 2 32s inside. Based on the flow of changes, Dagnalls probably started appearing very late in '67, but '68 owns the bulk of those Dagnall 100s with one cap on top. Then there are some with two on top when they moved the preamp filter next to the choke followed soon by six on top with the rotated OT. I believe the metal panels started May/June of '69.
This seems a resonable timeline to me.
I'm preety sure the "Orbison" catalogue is early '68 and the white stack one is '69 because their accompanying price lists are dated. There was one early catalogue that I know of that was not shown in Doyle's HOM book and that was "Go Over Big With Marshall" from '67 whish shows the only catalogue shot of an early strap handle stack with tall bottom.