KEEPING: 1970 Marshall 1959 Super Lead

  • Thread starter Thread starter hellzington
  • Start date Start date
What a cool, cool amp. Everyone loves the 68/69 ‘Plexi’ heads, but a PTP turret board 70 is a goddam gem.
 
motorboy1 said:
Hows this amp for bedroom playing, no attenuation.
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My 72 is really good with both volumes off, but then boosted with 2 pedals, both set at noon…OD1X and a Joyo Ultimate Drive. Apartment, baby sleeping in the next room quiet.
It can be done.
 
This afternoon I had a little time between meetings so I decided to test @RedPlated's advice with my Axe FX. In a nutshell, I wanted to test whether the 4700 bright cap would make a difference in the sound of this amp. In a bizarre twist of fate, there is a 1970 Marshall 1959 Super Lead model in the AxeFX, so I could conduct a very realistic test.

First, I tested without the bright cap. Sounded very similar to my amp. You had to really crank the treble channel (7-8), crank the Presence (8-10) and crank the Treble (7-8) to get a good sound. Problem is that the bass then became very mushy. Even if you turn the Bass to zero and use the normal channel as a combined bass/gain knob, the lows were very flimsy and loose. The amp felt very "laid back" and wasn't that aggressive Plexi bite we are all chasing.

Next, I turned on the 4700 bright cap. Sweet crap and Christ, what a difference! When @RedPlated said the amp would "wake up," he wasn't kidding. This was the Plexi sound I was looking for that I thought this amp was missing. It was brighter, raspier, and more cutting (in good ways) and had substantially more gain at lower levels on the knobs. The model was tighter, faster, and more percussive. You could even increase the normal channel's volume without it mushing out. I think I played for about 30 minutes nonstop at that setting, it was so much fun.

So I've decided to keep the amp and take it up to @RedPlated next week when I'm heading through LA to Paso for vacation. I'm even going to bring my '72 50w Model 1986 and see what a bright cap sounds like in that bad boy, too. As usual when I visit J, I'm confident that I'll leave with a greatly improved amp.

Thanks everyone for your advice and feedback. To anyone who was seriously eyeing the amp, I have some other cool stuff I'm going to be listing for sale over the next day or two. If you send me a DM, I'll tell you what I've got and cut you a good deal for wasting your time.

Cheers all!
 
RedPlated said:
Just plug a speaker cable into the cabinet. Put one lead on the sleeve of the unused speaker cable plug, and the other lead on the tip. Read ohms and it should be in the 13 ohm range if they are 16 ohms. Speakers always read lower than their ratings.
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Common sense is rarely seen these days...
 
hellzington said:
This afternoon I had a little time between meetings so I decided to test @RedPlated's advice with my Axe FX. In a nutshell, I wanted to test whether the 4700 bright cap would make a difference in the sound of this amp. In a bizarre twist of fate, there is a 1970 Marshall 1959 Super Lead model in the AxeFX, so I could conduct a very realistic test.

First, I tested without the bright cap. Sounded very similar to my amp. You had to really crank the treble channel (7-8), crank the Presence (8-10) and crank the Treble (7-8) to get a good sound. Problem is that the bass then became very mushy. Even if you turn the Bass to zero and use the normal channel as a combined bass/gain knob, the lows were very flimsy and loose. The amp felt very "laid back" and wasn't that aggressive Plexi bite we are all chasing.

Next, I turned on the 4700 bright cap. Sweet crap and Christ, what a difference! When @RedPlated said the amp would "wake up," he wasn't kidding. This was the Plexi sound I was looking for that I thought this amp was missing. It was brighter, raspier, and more cutting (in good ways) and had substantially more gain at lower levels on the knobs. The model was tighter, faster, and more percussive. You could even increase the normal channel's volume without it mushing out. I think I played for about 30 minutes nonstop at that setting, it was so much fun.

So I've decided to keep the amp and take it up to @RedPlated next week when I'm heading through LA to Paso for vacation. I'm even going to bring my '72 50w Model 1986 and see what a bright cap sounds like in that bad boy, too. As usual when I visit J, I'm confident that I'll leave with a greatly improved amp.

Thanks everyone for your advice and feedback. To anyone who was seriously eyeing the amp, I have some other cool stuff I'm going to be listing for sale over the next day or two. If you send me a DM, I'll tell you what I've got and cut you a good deal for wasting your time.

Cheers all!
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And this, my friend, is why I made the comment about the bright cap. I read all about “change the bright cap! Remove it!” Yada yada….blah blah…..all that did was neuter the shit out of my 72. Does the same thing, maybe in a worse way, to a 2203/4.

Also, it’s total bullshit on “but you can still get the same tone at higher volume! That’s all the bright cap does!” Wrong. Removing/changing the value changes the tone and takes away aggression.
Congrats on finding the true sound of your Marshall. ?
 
hellzington said:
This afternoon I had a little time between meetings so I decided to test @RedPlated's advice with my Axe FX. In a nutshell, I wanted to test whether the 4700 bright cap would make a difference in the sound of this amp. In a bizarre twist of fate, there is a 1970 Marshall 1959 Super Lead model in the AxeFX, so I could conduct a very realistic test.

First, I tested without the bright cap. Sounded very similar to my amp. You had to really crank the treble channel (7-8), crank the Presence (8-10) and crank the Treble (7-8) to get a good sound. Problem is that the bass then became very mushy. Even if you turn the Bass to zero and use the normal channel as a combined bass/gain knob, the lows were very flimsy and loose. The amp felt very "laid back" and wasn't that aggressive Plexi bite we are all chasing.

Next, I turned on the 4700 bright cap. Sweet crap and Christ, what a difference! When @RedPlated said the amp would "wake up," he wasn't kidding. This was the Plexi sound I was looking for that I thought this amp was missing. It was brighter, raspier, and more cutting (in good ways) and had substantially more gain at lower levels on the knobs. The model was tighter, faster, and more percussive. You could even increase the normal channel's volume without it mushing out. I think I played for about 30 minutes nonstop at that setting, it was so much fun.

So I've decided to keep the amp and take it up to @RedPlated next week when I'm heading through LA to Paso for vacation. I'm even going to bring my '72 50w Model 1986 and see what a bright cap sounds like in that bad boy, too. As usual when I visit J, I'm confident that I'll leave with a greatly improved amp.

Thanks everyone for your advice and feedback. To anyone who was seriously eyeing the amp, I have some other cool stuff I'm going to be listing for sale over the next day or two. If you send me a DM, I'll tell you what I've got and cut you a good deal for wasting your time.

Cheers all!
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What else is he going to do? Im interested.
 
Cap217 said:
What else is he going to do? Im interested.
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Just the bright cap. We discussed putting it on a push-pull pot so that I could have the best of both worlds. Might try a couple of different cap values on the second stage (like how EVH had the "Fat Cap"). I'm not trying to hot rod the amp.

I'm very curious what a bright cap will do to the 50w Bass, too. It's a very cool sounding amp and in amazing condition (way better than this Super Lead). Again, don't want to mod it, but more brightness, more clarity and faster attack would be welcome additions to that amp. Would also be interested in the push/pull here, too.
 
hellzington said:
Just the bright cap. We discussed putting it on a push-pull pot so that I could have the best of both worlds. Might try a couple of different cap values on the second stage (like how EVH had the "Fat Cap"). I'm not trying to hot rod the amp.

I'm very curious what a bright cap will do to the 50w Bass, too. It's a very cool sounding amp and in amazing condition (way better than this Super Lead). Again, don't want to mod it, but more brightness, more clarity and faster attack would be welcome additions to that amp. Would also be interested in the push/pull here, too.
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It’ll do the same thing….adds the aggressive nature of the lead amp to your Bass spec.
 
hellzington said:
Just the bright cap. We discussed putting it on a push-pull pot so that I could have the best of both worlds. Might try a couple of different cap values on the second stage (like how EVH had the "Fat Cap"). I'm not trying to hot rod the amp.

I'm very curious what a bright cap will do to the 50w Bass, too. It's a very cool sounding amp and in amazing condition (way better than this Super Lead). Again, don't want to mod it, but more brightness, more clarity and faster attack would be welcome additions to that amp. Would also be interested in the push/pull here, too.
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I am firmly in the “big ass bright cap” camp but I did put it on a push-pull in my ‘69 Ed-spec clone. The switch just adds a 220k resistor in series with the bright cap. So it doesn’t remove it… it just reduces its effect when pushed. It’s labeled Pull Bright because the stock Superlead arrangement is already bright. I usually leave it stock (pulled) but occasionally like having the option.
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Ok fam,

I have great news: the '70 Super Lead is RIPPING! @RedPlated took at the amp and we made some value changes to various components, added a bright cap, adjusted the negative feedback, and retubed/biased the amp. It is an UNREAL difference. I mean, wow. Go back and check out the video I posted earlier in this thread and then listen to this one. It's like night and day.



Thanks again to J from Ground Zero Ampworks! He's awesome.
 
Racerxrated said:
The first Marshall Vintages went into Artist 30w combos and studio 15 combos; 85/86. Then in Jubilee cabs in 87, and 88-90 in some 800 cabs. Only way to tell was the tag, 280w. The front said JCM 800. All 8 ohm to my knowledge; only 16 ohm versions went into the 2558 combo. Then, in 1991 no more 8 ohm Vintages…only 16, and they are way brighter than the earlier ones. And, the cabs now said Marshall Vintage on the front. The first versions are one of my fav speakers. Killer.
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I have one too!

To the OP I’m glad you got with RedPlated. He’s a great guy and fixed me up as well. Great times, we are very lucky!
 

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