Metallica's Marshall's

Everything from original vintage Marshalls to reissues.

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beaulieu
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Metallica's Marshall's

Post by beaulieu » Wed Mar 18, 2009 4:43 am

Does anyone have any info on any of the Marshall's Metalica uses??(Except for Ride the Lighting where I'm pretty sure they used JCM 800 2210) I know they have a HUGE collection of guitars,bases and im sure amps also.I have seen them with older Marshalls,A Kitchen Marshall, etc. I noticed on the back of what it looked to be a late 70's early 80's 2203 or 2204 and it looked to have extra knobs where the sp jacks are and there was tape that was probally a discription of what knob did what!I know they have Boogies,Vox's...etc. but I'm just wanting to know about their Marshalls.Anyone know what mods they have done to them and or how they run them? I noticed Kirk playing thru a Kitchen-Marshall and it was sitting on top of a 1 or 2 spaced rack piece of gear.Maybe a preamp or something?? Anybody??? Thanks in advance Mark B
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Mynameisfritz
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Re: Metallica's Marshall's

Post by Mynameisfritz » Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:38 am

Ask Larry about that. Kirk bought a modded Marshall from him in the nineties - is that correct Larry?
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novosibir
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Re: Metallica's Marshall's

Post by novosibir » Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:09 pm

Mynameisfritz wrote:Ask Larry about that. Kirk bought a modded Marshall from him in the nineties - is that correct Larry
That's correct! Kirk bought it in Nov. 1992, as he's been on tour w/ Metallica here in Europe.

It's been a early '68 1959SL with a toasted PT & choke before, which I've completely disassembled, moved the OT away from the PT, to get space for two filter cap cans and the choke in-between. After some punches in the chassis on top for additional preamp tube sockets aso. and on front & back for additional pots, the newer mains & output selectors aso. it was new zinc plated and the amp then rebuilt to a 3-channel head w/ effects loop, keeping the orig. OT just w/ new end bells and a new PT & choke:

http://www.larry-amplification.de/dino7 ... 701.12.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here a guts shot from inside, where on an additional board you can see the diodes & electrolytics for the DC heater supply:

http://www.larry-amplification.de/dino7 ... 701.13.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've of course made new front & back panels from brushed 1/16" thick aluminum - anodized - silkscreened:

http://www.larry-amplification.de/dino7 ... 701.16.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The vinyl of the head case was in an awful condition, as I got the dead amp, so I've stripped it completely, removed the glue from the wood (a painful work with the glue Marshall is using):

http://www.larry-amplification.de/dino7 ... 701.17.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

... so painful, that after all this I haven't had the energy, to put a new vinyl on it. So I've simply painted it black and put a new handle and a set of the JCM800 amp feet on it. Here's the amp already in ownership of Metallica:

http://www.larry-amplification.de/dino7 ... 701.11.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The abrasions you can see on the front edge came from already being on tour with Jon Schaffer/Iced Earth in summer of 1992, a few months before it went into the hands of Kirk Hammet.

The amp is heard on the albums Load & Reload (among other amps of course :) ). Maybe also on later albums, but can't say, because at the end of the 90' I lost my contact to Kirk. Haven't had email at that time, he settled to another place, the phone I had from him didn't work anymore... :(

Larry
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Mynameisfritz
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Re: Metallica's Marshall's

Post by Mynameisfritz » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:32 pm

Wow :D :D :D
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Kevin
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Re: Metallica's Marshall's

Post by Kevin » Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:28 pm

Cool info! I have been meaning to ask about this.

Are those three cans outside the chassis all of the filtering? And what is that little black box on the chassis wall by the PT?

And how did you come in contact with Iced Earth?

Maybe we could get Kirk and James to re-record their Master of Puppets tracks with one of your amps. :D

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novosibir
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Re: Metallica's Marshall's

Post by novosibir » Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:59 pm

Kevin wrote:Are those three cans outside the chassis all of the filtering?
No, there are still two 22/450 axial below the board and a 10/450 axial for V1
Kevin wrote:And what is that little black box on the chassis wall by the PT?
12V voltage supply for the relays
Kevin wrote:And how did you come in contact with Iced Earth?
Heard their music first time on an alternative radio station in spring or summer of 1992 and liked it on the first few chords, it's been the title "The Night Of The Stormrider" - called the radio station to ask for the band's name - the moderator said, that the singer (Matt Barlow) and the guitar player (Jon Schaffer) are in the studio - wanted to speak with Jon, but he had to prepare for the forthcoming live interview, so I spoke with their manager - told him, that I'm captivated of this music and especially of the guitar player, said that I'm building tube amps and that I'd like to have Jon trying one of my amps - he invited me to the show and said, I shouldt be there 2 hours before they open the doors...

... and finally I loaned Jon the amp for the remaining tour.

In September 1992 he's been in my house - not only to try my Jackson RR...

http://www.larry-amplification.de/pixs/ ... 92w_RR.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

... but also to try some other amps and to speak about the details of his 1-st DINO amp, which he got in May 1993

Larry
The fault almost always is sitting in front of the amp :wink:

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wdelaney72
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Re: Metallica's Marshall's

Post by wdelaney72 » Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:34 am

Larry,
Would you say the amp you built for Kirk is more like your Dino or your British Purist?

Thanks for sharing the pictures again... always enjoy looking at them.

After watching "Year and a Half Into the Life..." video, I got the impression that Bob Rock is very much a vintage Marshall guy. I would bet much of the black album, load, and Reload were done with superleads... among many others.

Kill 'em All and Lightning have been rumored to have been recorded with Jose modded 2203 amps. Not sure how true this is. I know James mentioned that they switched to the Mesa amps just to have something different as EVERYONE else was using Marshalls... and herein lies the crappy guitar sounds of ...And Justice For All.
Walter

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novosibir
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Re: Metallica's Marshall's

Post by novosibir » Fri Mar 20, 2009 2:27 pm

wdelaney72 wrote:Larry,
Would you say the amp you built for Kirk is more like your Dino or your British Purist?
It's been more kind-a British Purist, especially the power stage w/ the orig. old iron in it, but w/ a very gainy hot-rodded preamp section. Kirk even didn't like the ultra-gain 3-th channel too much. He liked the clean channel very much, what's been nothing else than a 1959 Brillant channel design, and the 2-nd channel was his favourite - a hot-rodded 2203 sound.

Larry
The fault almost always is sitting in front of the amp :wink:

Larry's Website now with included Pix's Gallery

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Joshua Crete
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Re: Metallica's Marshall's

Post by Joshua Crete » Wed May 03, 2017 4:21 am

Kill 'Em All: Marshall 1959 SLP's with ProCo Rats into Marshall 1960BV cabinets.
Ride The Lightning: JTM2203's into 1960B cabinets.
Master Of Puppets: JCM800's,
Later on they used MESA...

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herbvis
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Re: Metallica's Marshall's

Post by herbvis » Fri May 05, 2017 6:21 pm

Heres a quote from kirk about killm all

"The guitar stuff was recorded through James's magical, mythical Marshall. It was his first Marshall amp and he had it modified by some guy in LA, the guy who used to modify Van Halen's guitars [Jose Arredondo] and it just had a really great sound.

"I say magical, mythical Marshall because it's not around anymore. Shortly after we did Kill 'Em All, we played some shows in Boston and someone broke into the equipment truck and stole it."

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