Jimi's Marshall info from 69 and before

[basile865]

Its interesting that the description for the amp being auctioned says its a 66 model, and Jimi used it from 67 to 69.

[yngwie308]

It is such a pity there is virtually no new information about Jimi's amps out there, as he was so famous for his Marshall's, ect.
All the info I have read since his death, has been disappointing fourth handed stuff.
It is fitting however that the mystery continues though, as Jimi's mojo is a huge part of his sound and I know any other guitarist would just produce howling feedback through his rig. He was a master of controlling his sound, just by the way he moved on stage, between his amp and speakers and with his guitar volume. In fact Jimi's use of his guitars volume control is one of the keys to his sound, which doesn't get a lot of attention.
I never fail to be amazed by Jimi's incredible playing!!
yngwie308

[Freedom]

Strange...i was browsing Amparchives site to check out the '69 Super Leads and i saw this one:

69 1959 Super Lead 100W - Jimi Hendrix

Intresting...

[yngwie308]

There are so many changes on that amp, from original. The thing is nobody back in the day cared about any of this and didn't take detailed pictures or document anything closely, I never took any photos of my original Marshalls in London back in the sixties or anything, or Jim's shop, which I certainly would have documented had it happened today.
yngwie308

[basile865]

That thing looks like a rat's nest.

Interesting that the power cable doesnt unplug it just comes out the back panel. Whats with the 4 inputs back there? I have 4 because of the effects loop but why does that one have 4. Whats that little black box thats mounted to the right of the power transformer on the inside? Anything else spec wise that you can tell is diff and how it'd effect tone?

[yngwie308]

basile865 the only time four outputs came stock I believe, was on metal panelled amps from the US Unicord era.
I have never seen a stock plexi panelled head with four speaker outputs.
All I am going to say is that there are many Marshall experts here as far as identification, components and circuit differences. Most of the discussions are based on actual details and physical differences, not conjecture or personal opinions, as some may offer. What I can offer, and much of my information is based at actually looking at the chassis of many Marshalls, both in the 'old days' and up until the early nineties. I have been out of touch personally since that time due to my attending college and my second career in medicine. So some recollections are vivid and others are fuzzy. I did do a lot of research back in the day and actually drew out the circuitry of my Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, for example, back in the day, as I was fascinated that such a cheaply made, simple circuit, could sound so amazing. It turned out the transistors were the major difference, ie: Si to germanium, for example. The time I bought from Music Ground and went to vintage shows with them and sold amps off their stand, I learned a lot of additional info. They told me I had a lot of knowledge about the old amps, which I had, from working in electronics for 17 years, but I never built amps back then, no one really did, this being a recent development. I find though that excellent, accurate knowledge can be found at Metro compared to anywhere else .
The BOG issues are the urban legends of Marshalldom and they continue. The Super Bass, the 6550, ect., these theories continue. But I only can say, that in those days, no lead guitarists, wanted Super Basses, ect. It was only later that they were touted by guitarists, even though the Marshall circuit is based on the Fender Bassman.
I do remember not even looking at Super Basses back in the late sixties, as they were in a separate collection in Jim's shop. The prevalence of the Super Lead, even though the actual circuit differences is extremely minor, was the majority, hence the adaptation of the Lead stickers in the US later.
A simple look at the Marshall catalogs back then, shows how Marshall discriminated between Lead, Bass, PA and Organ, for their various amps.
These are just my opinions, I remember looking at my 1967 and 1968 Marshall catalogs as a boy and saving my money for my Super Lead stack. Saving my pound notes in a tobacco tin, from my summer jobs on the US Airforce base, for a lowly wage, but I was able to afford used gear eventually, all from my own working, with no help from my parents.
I painted my room purple, had all my classic Hendrix posters on the walls, and my 10 foot high Super Lead stack, with the tall bottom cab and all the caster wheels on, as the centerpiece. I was expert at getting all sorts of feedback, before I was learning to play chords, ect.
The point of all these ramblings, is to relate that Jimi was the inspiration for my getting into Marshalls, back in London, from late 1966-67, seeing Jimi's gear and wanting exactly his setup, which started me off on all this amazing journey, and that I always love Marshalls the best, to me all the other amps are cool and as I have gotten older,I have appreciated them more, but there only is one ultimate amp for me, a stock Marshall. And that is my point, what Jimi played, stock Marshall Super Leads. I devoured any technical information about Jimi and Marshalls from back then and asked at the shop about Jimi's equipment and he bought the same spec amps anyone else could buy back then. George asked me, when we first hooked up and he modded my HW, how I felt his mods compared to the old amps I had, I was extremely flattered and even with all my hearing damage, I did find Metro to be the closest I have..still...ever heard, to the tones from back then.
So I still am excited to look at a Marshall head and cabinets, I still feel the sense of excitment flipping the switches, seeing the light go on and waiting for the epiphany of tone after the standby switch is thrown.

yngwie308

[Zeppo]

Both of those photos are on pages 116 & 117 of THOM. Very cool pictures!

[basile865]

what value bright cap did jimi use?

[Roe]

the bright cap won't matter much as hendrix typically turned his amp on 10

[basile865]

I wonder if he truly ran if flat out on 10 or if it was more like 8+, allowing for the bright cap to have a little effect.

[Freedom]

I wonder if he truly ran if flat out on 10 or if it was more like 8+, allowing for the bright cap to have a little effect.

I can't hear the bright cap (neither the 5000pf nor the 250pf one) when the vol is set on 8 and up so in my case i am pretty sure the bright cap doesn't have any effect on 8+ anyway...

[basile865]

so really it was the same as having it clipped all together?

[Freedom]

so really it was the same as having it clipped all together?

IMHO, the bright cap has an audible effect with vol set below 8...i have a dual bright cap in my plexi (push-pull vol pot) and i can hear the differences clearly only when vol is set below 8 (the lower the vol is set, the more difference i'd noticed between the 2 caps)...on 8+ (lets say 8.1-8.2) there is no way i can tell if there is a bright cap and what the value is...

[Tazin]

The supposed Hendrix amp formerly owned by Tony Brown was a '69 Super Lead; Serial Number: SL/A10032. The Inspection tag was dated March 1st 1969 (I was told). In addition, the circuit is straight forward "Lead" split cathode design just like most of the "SL/A 10series" amps.

[yladrd61]

That one has been modified to shared cathode like a Super Bass