Marshall "green wash" tolex - which period?

[shakti]

Around '66-'67 at least, Marshall tolex had a faint greenish hue to it. It looks really classy, particularly along with the pinstripe grille cloth. But can anyone tell me for how long this type of tolex was used? It's not always easy to distinguish in online photos with varying light etc.

I believe Marshall reissued this type of tolex for the handwired series, and it's apparently what Jeff Swanson used for my Bluesbreaker style I cab, but if I have, say, a '68 era clone, which type of tolex would be more correct? The straight black looking stuff, or the green-on-black/"green wash" type as seen here?

[908ssp]

Both. As far as I can tell Marshall used both all black and black/green simultaneously. It was just what they happened to get that day as to what they used. The earliest Offsets didn't use the same pebbly surface but a smooth Levant more like what Mesa uses. The reissue stuff doesn't look real to me it tends to be too green not really a wash over black like the original stuff. They also used a wash of blue/gray as well as the green.

[shakti]

After some more investigation I tend to agree with you Alex. Several different types used all at the same time, although the '66-'67 period tends to produce more of the green wash type.

As for the accuracy of the reissue stuff, I think it does at least look more proper for the '66-'67 pinstripe era builds. I guess I should take some steel wool and dust and grind it in, and then see what it looks like...

[yngwie308]

I can tell you that my 1959HW stack, now I have a1959HW head left..do not have the green tolex of yore, that was a very cool feature of the old vinyl, and also the HW vinyl is very much thinner, ect..but don't get me started on the HW's..
yngwie308

[beaulieu]

I had a 69 Cab and it had the black with a grennish haze to it!!

[shakti]

Here's a photo which shows a Metroamp smallbox head cab (from Mojo, I believe) on top of a Swanson-built Bluesbreaker combo cab. The small patch of tolex is from a roll I bought from Antitique Electronics supply, sold as original Marshall black levant.

I am still a little confused as to which tolex types are out there...the stuff that Mojo uses is obviously not the same as the original (current) Marshall black levant. The Marshall levant I bought from Antique Electronics appears to be the same as the stuff Swanson used, but it appears to have a slight green hue to it, at least to my eyes. It looks much better for a vintage Marshall appearance than the Mojo stuff, IMHO. Any opinions?

[Scumback Speakers]

Shakti, I haven't really done a comparison to the Mojo tolex (but I could!), but the small piece you have there is like the stuff I get from CE Distribution (wholesale division of Antique) for my cabs. It's sold as the Marshall Black Levant, but not having used anything else, I haven't compared it to other suppliers tolex.

I had a client over with an original 69 100w Plexi going through my new 69 spec cab. With the head on top of the cab, the color/tint/hue of the tolex was the same. But whether his head was the greenish hue I couldn't say for sure. I just know his head tolex matched my cab, minus the slight dulling from 40 years, of course!

[62sg]

the Original Marshall black levant will play trixx on your eyes sometimes..with regard to "hue"...especially taking into consideration lighting, and, in pics.....but, there definitely is no hue to that product.
The sample you show, and the Swanson cab for that matter, doesn't appear to have any green in it..at least not to my eyes.

[shakti]

Jim, thanks for your comments. I can't quite make up my mind whether the Marshall black levant is the same as the tolex on my Bluesbreaker, but it is at least close enough to work, so it should work excellently for all the '65 and up era clones. As mentioned earlier in the thread, there were different hues of colour on original Marshall tolex in that era. Some green wash, some blue/green wash, some more charcoal like. I don't think I've seen anything quite as shiny black as the Mojo stuff though.

I got the tolex to re-cover a '67 slant cab, so now I am confident that it will at least be close enough.

[shakti]

the Original Marshall black levant will play trixx on your eyes sometimes..with regard to "hue"...especially taking into consideration lighting, and, in pics.....but, there definitely is no hue to that product.
The sample you show, and the Swanson cab for that matter, doesn't appear to have any green in it..at least not to my eyes.

I agree about the lighting thing, very hard to judge even when you inspect it in person. That's why I wanted to take a photo of them all together to be able to judge the colour. I think the Swanson cab has a definite green hue, but maybe it's a greay/charcoal thing playing tricks on my eyes, like you say?

[62sg]

the Original Marshall black levant will play trixx on your eyes sometimes..with regard to "hue"...especially taking into consideration lighting, and, in pics.....but, there definitely is no hue to that product.
The sample you show, and the Swanson cab for that matter, doesn't appear to have any green in it..at least not to my eyes.

I agree about the lighting thing, very hard to judge even when you inspect it in person. That's why I wanted to take a photo of them all together to be able to judge the colour. I think the Swanson cab has a definite green hue, but maybe it's a greay/charcoal thing playing tricks on my eyes, like you say?

Likely so. Looking at the sample next to the headcab, you can see the headcab is much "blacker"....possibly making the sample appear differently.

Here's one that I did a ways back with O.M. tolex...and I have had many people contact me to ask if it is covered with 'reissue old black with green hue'. It is not. I did this in O.M. tolex. I know of no accurate reissue with the hue.

http://www.stoneagecustomcabinets.com/u ... p_view.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you zoom in on this image, you'll notice a false hue. Weird, but it's there.

[908ssp]

Just samples. Not the best but just to give you an idea how varied Marshall levant was over the years.

The top head box is original 66 the bottom cab original 69. The head has a blueish cast the cab greenish.

[shakti]

Likely so. Looking at the sample next to the headcab, you can see the headcab is much "blacker"....possibly making the sample appear differently.

Here's one that I did a ways back with O.M. tolex...and I have had many people contact me to ask if it is covered with 'reissue old black with green hue'. It is not. I did this in O.M. tolex. I know of no accurate reissue with the hue.

http://www.stoneagecustomcabinets.com/u ... p_view.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you zoom in on this image, you'll notice a false hue. Weird, but it's there.

Just to clarify this, by O.M., do you mean original Marshall tolex?

[shakti]

Just samples. Not the best but just to give you an idea how varied Marshall levant was over the years.

The top head box is original 66 the bottom cab original 69. The head has a blueish cast the cab greenish.

Funny, I'd say the bottom is more all black and the top has a green hue, but there you go...don't trust your eyes. Vision is a sense which is very easily tricked!

It does show what a wide variety of hues original tolex presented, even if you have to take varying degrees of fading into account. Still, the shiny all black Mojo stuff looks "wrong" to me. This photo shows the same smallbox head cab as above (covered in Mojo tolex) on top of a '70 original basketweave cab.

[shakti]

Actually, on my monitor, this photo doesn't show the difference very well. In person it is much more noticeable; the '70 cab has a more matté look with some charcoal or green tones to it, the Mojo cab is very shiny and pure black.

The head cab at the very top was an earlier ('06?) Mojo head cab I got from Metroamp, but has now been sold. The tolex had a different texture, not as shiny and a little more "rubbery" than the stuff they're currently using. I can't say for sure whether it was actually Marshall tolex, but it looked better than the shiny stuff, IMHO.