New Here/ Marsha Questions!

[motrock]

Hello everyone, I am new here. Some of you know me from Metroamp, The Gear Page, and a few other sites. I recently had Dave mod my Blankenship Variplex. He swapped out the Output Transformer, remover the internal variac, and tweaked whatever else needed tweaked. This amp totally nails Van Halen. You can't get any closer to Van Halen... in my opinion. I have the Sylvania 6CA7s and a couple of Sylvania 12AX7s in it. Dave can add whatever he wants to my amp, but I think I have covered everything!

My next project will be a Marsha Amp. My problem is money, since I am out of work. I am working at getting a new job, and I feel like I am close to getting something! Once I do start working again, I am going to do one of 2 things, save for a while to get a Marsha amps, or have my Mojave Peacemaker modded. Now here is the deal with the Mojave: I had it modded already by someone. This amp is basically a Plexi clone with the Jose Mod. But, the Jose Mod was done wrong. There is too much bass and not enough gain on tap. I don't want this $3000 amp to just sit and collect dust. So, to me the logical thing to do would be to have Dave do the Kitchen Sink mod.. then get a 50watt Marsha down the road! At the time I had the Mojave Modded, I had a new face plate done for it. I did some custom graphics on my computer and changed the name of the amp to KJM 100... which are my initials! I will post photo's below!

My questions are this:

No one talks about the Custom 45 Mod. I always hear people talking about the Brown Eye and Hairy Brown Eye. Am I going to miss the Custom 45 if I don't get it? Is there an advantage to having the C45 mod? How is it different then the BE/HBE? Sounds to me like I would do just fine with the BE/HBE, but I want to know more about the HBE! The tones that I am in to are Van Halen, classic Def Leppard (High and Dry era), Judas Priest, AC/DC, Ratt, Dokken, Lynch Mob, Paul Gilbert, Jerry Cantrell, etc. fan!

Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself and get the ball rolling on my Mojave. I wanted to research and ask questions first!

BTW, I just build 2 4x12s for myself, based off of Jim from Scumbacks 69 Marshall Cab, and I am going to be loading one with Scumback M75 65watters. I have the other cab loaded with old Greenbacks for the Van Halen tone! Here are some photo's of my rig:

The amp to be modded:

Here are my guitars. The Lynch guitar was built by McNaught guitars. Its a Mahogany Strat. It has a High Order 8.7k PAF. The other is my Frankenstein Replica. It has a Northern Hard Ash body, USA Customs Maple neck with a Tung Oil Finish, and is loaded with a custom MotorCity Pickup that is 8.5k. Its basically a hotter version of the 2nd Degree Blackbelt, and voiced a little different. Check them out:

 

[RACKSYSTEMS]

The c45 is cool and is inc in the kitchen sink mod you want it.

 

[motrock]

The c45 is cool and is inc in the kitchen sink mod you want it.

Cool Dave! Thanks for the reply! Whats the difference between it and the BE/HBE?

 

[stephen sawall]

motrock .... welcome to the forum.

Nice rig

 

[motrock]

Thank you for the welcome and the compliment on my rig!

 

[JDouglee]

The C45 is my favorite of the three. Just a bit more sparkle & chime

 

[motrock]

The C45 is my favorite of the three. Just a bit more sparkle & chime

Cool! Glad to hear that.. I will probably like it then.

 

[narad]

Damn, nice cabs. I mean, think of it like this, scumback cabs are what - $15-1800? And you built yourself two with scumbacks in there? You basically just saved enough money to buy a marsha. That logic might not be sound, but it'd be enough for me buy one.

 

[motrock]

Damn, nice cabs. I mean, think of it like this, scumback cabs are what - $15-1800? And you built yourself two with scumbacks in there? You basically just saved enough money to buy a marsha. That logic might not be sound, but it'd be enough for me buy one.

Yeah, I saved a lot of money with those cabs. I spent $500 total. I even sacrificed some parts from another cab that I have. The tolex is from Mojo, but the grill cloth is the real Marshal Salt and Pepper Grill Cloth from AES(Antique Electronic Supply)! One cab has old Greenbacks in it for the early Van Halen tone, and the other will be the M75 65watters. I don't have them yet. I am waiting on a kid to by my Mojave Cab, then I am going to buy the M75s! I have owned most of the H and M series of the Scumbacks. I also had the M75 25 watters.. which sounded great. I should of kept them... but my other 2 cabs sucked, so I couldn't accurately hear the tone. Seriously, I took the Greenbacks out of my Splawn cab and put them in the new cab that I built.... dude.... it was like night and day. I didn't realize that the tone would change that much. I was like taking a blanket off of my amp!

 

[LP Freak]

The C45 is my favorite of the three. Just a bit more sparkle & chime

Does anyone know if you can get the C45 with just the BE?

 

[RACKSYSTEMS]

Yes you can no problem

 

[Mailman1971]

Man..........love that Purple Tiger!!

 

[motrock]

Man..........love that Purple Tiger!!

Thanks man! Its an awesome guitar. I am going to be adding a Floyd Rose sustain block down the road with some custom MotorCity Pickups. I need some money first! LOL

 

[Scumback Speakers]

Damn, nice cabs. I mean, think of it like this, scumback cabs are what - $15-1800? And you built yourself two with scumbacks in there? You basically just saved enough money to buy a marsha. That logic might not be sound, but it'd be enough for me buy one.

Your logic is flawed. Motrock had his grandpa's shop, his help, expertise, tools, and extra pair of hands to do this project. Even then they spent 6 days at 4 hours per day (grandpa helping the whole time) just to get to the part where they put on the tolex/cloth/etc.

If you factor in the man hour labors (I count 48 by the time the tolex/cloth had to go on) and that Mojo tolex (thinner), etc was used, it's not an apples to apples cab cost comparison. In addition there were some parts reused from previous cabs, so there's an extra expense not added in (handles, etc.).

If you had to work 48 hours for two cabs to be assembled, then had to do the cloth/tolex/etc, there's probably a good 56-60 hours total into these two cabs. Now do the math on what you make per hour, buy hundreds of dollars of table saws, jigs, cloth stretching tools, routers and router bits, drills, etc. and see if you'd still have the inclination to do this.

I'm afraid motrock has oversimplified the real costs involved here, and I'm going to be the first to say that he did a nice job on his cabs, but did he save enough to buy a Marsha...no. And neither will anyone else who doesn't have the resources motrock did. By the time you buy all the stuff to do this, you'd be into it for a bunch more than $500.

 

[motrock]

Alright guys, this thread has gone off course a little bit. I should make myself clear here. I have been getting a lot of emails and PMs on these cabs. I need to make myself clear that I am not going to be building cabs for anyone. Like I said, this was a fun project for my grandpa and I. I am just showing everyone what I accomplished with my grandpa. Its a proud thing for me. The only reason why I was able to do this, was because my grandpa has built cabs for 40+ years. He can build this stuff in his sleep. I could not have accomplished this on my own! That being said, my grandpa had the table saw, the drill press, routers, radial arm saw, screws, etc. All of this equipment cost my grandfather thousands of dollars. I even have a place locally that I can get any screw or bolt dirt cheap because I know that people. So, in all reality Jim is right, I would of spent $600 per cab if I would have went somewhere else and didn't have my grandpa's expertise and tools.

My cabs are loosely based off of Jims cabs. They are not exactly like his cabs. Like I said a few times, I reused parts from other cabs, and I did cut some corners with the finishing. The tolex is from Mojo!

This cab is similar to Jims cabs, but they are not Jims cabs. My grandpa had a few suggestions on things that we changed from the photo's. We did things our way. So, don't think that these ARE Jims cabs, because they are NOT! If you want Jims cabs, go buy a cab from Jim! Not only that, I should be honest and say that I spent an hour on the phone with the guy StoneAge Cabs... twice. He was really helpful with things also! I also need to thank the other members of the Gear Page that sent me specs on old Marshall Cabs.

 

[stephen sawall]

Well your grandfather build us all cabs ? Does he charge different rates for work he does well sleeping ?

I am sure these guys are right ..... if you have the tools, material and time, It could be a cool project. But your real cost and results could be very different.

 

[motrock]

Well your grandfather build us all cabs ? Does he charge different rates for work he does well sleeping ?

I am sure these guys are right ..... if you have the tools, material and time, It could be a cool project. But your real cost and results could be very different.

Yeah, it can get expensive. And the thing is, I am out of work right now. And its hard to fathom being able to buy a cab built for myself by one of the great builders. I had to sell stuff to get money to do this! Heck, I am still selling stuff locally to get my money back!

 

[stephen sawall]

Well your grandfather build us all cabs ? Does he charge different rates for work he does well sleeping ?

I am sure these guys are right ..... if you have the tools, material and time, It could be a cool project. But your real cost and results could be very different.

Yeah, it can get expensive. And the thing is, I am out of work right now. And its hard to fathom being able to buy a cab built for myself by one of the great builders. I had to sell stuff to get money to do this! Heck, I am still selling stuff locally to get my money back!

I hear you ..... last year my income was less than 1/4 of the year before.