PSA: 1969 Marshall Major full stack

Me and a friend knew a GP local that played thru two MM stacks way back when.
Folks around here still talk about it.
Don't know if i would do a $15K transaction with da zoo but thats me.
 
rsm said:
https://www.themusiczoo.com/products/1969-marshall-major-200w-head-and-4x12-full-stack
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For that price, they need to open all of them up to show the circuit, and close ups of each of the speakers to make sure they're legit. Certainly looks museum quality though.
Thing about those Majors is, they are very clean sounding like a brighter Fender since the transformers are designed that way. You can't boost them, or you risk overheating the circuit...so they have to be modded to get any kind of gain out of them. Pretty sure Blackmore had his tech mod his Majors.
 
Gold faced logos on the head and both speaker cabs are reissues, not original. The bottom of the “R” on original logos is open. But closed on reissues. Not a good start to me. They have a number of vintage Marshall pieces right now. Maybe consigned by local collector.
 
Racerxrated said:
For that price, they need to open all of them up to show the circuit, and close ups of each of the speakers to make sure they're legit. Certainly looks museum quality though.
Thing about those Majors is, they are very clean sounding like a brighter Fender since the transformers are designed that way. You can't boost them, or you risk overheating the circuit...so they have to be modded to get any kind of gain out of them. Pretty sure Blackmore had his tech mod his Majors.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that about the Majors. Thanks!

Great info on the AIWA TP-1011 reel-to-reel tape deck Ritchie used for delay and boost as well as specs for some of the mods made to his Majors:

https://www.treblebooster.net/products/custom-made/rpa-special-booster
 
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JohnnyGtar said:
I didn't know that about the Majors. Thanks!

Great info on the AIWA TP-1011 reel-to-reel tape deck Ritchie used for delay and boost as well as specs for some of the mods made to his Majors:

https://www.treblebooster.net/products/custom-made/rpa-special-booster
Click to expand...
Ive been told for years you can never use a boost in front of a Major w/o causing serious damage to the amp.
Not sure the dynamics behind that.
I know the keyboard player for Deep Purple ran a Hammond B-3 into a Major stack. Was a force of nature.
 
MGL AmpWorks said:
Gold faced logos on the head and both speaker cabs are reissues, not original. The bottom of the “R” on original logos is open. But closed on reissues. Not a good start to me. They have a number of vintage Marshall pieces right now. Maybe consigned by local collector.
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The indicator light is askew.
$8000 tops...LOL

Mark from MGL knows his vintage shit. Thanks for the heads up.
 
Racerxrated said:
For that price, they need to open all of them up to show the circuit, and close ups of each of the speakers to make sure they're legit. Certainly looks museum quality though.
Thing about those Majors is, they are very clean sounding like a brighter Fender since the transformers are designed that way. You can't boost them, or you risk overheating the circuit...so they have to be modded to get any kind of gain out of them. Pretty sure Blackmore had his tech mod his Majors.
Click to expand...

Blackmore’s amps were modded at Marshall. His amps were the first amps with a master volume that was later used in the 2203-2204. So his amps did have a preamp control and master. He then got another stage of gain by plugging his guitar into a reel to reel tape deck and then into his Marshall.
 
rsm said:
IIRC, Blackmore also had a modified circuit in his strats starting sometime in the '70s?



master tone circuit:
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Yep. John "Dawk" Stillwell was Ritchie's tech. He scalloped Ritchie's guitar neck (after he saw Ritchie trying to scallop the fretboard by hacking it with a knife), he set up the Strat's tremolo so it would stay in tune and he designed a special tone circuit for his Strats.

Here's info on the basic wiring mods with and without Dawk's MTC (Master Tone Circuit). The wiring diagram and instructions for the Fender Blackmore Strats is shown first, then... keep scrolling down to get the info on wiring a Strat up with Dawk's MTC.
https://www.premierguitar.com/diy/mod-garage/ritchie-blackmore-strat

However, Dawk passed away and I don't think anyone is making it to his specs.

Here's an interesting thread on MTC "workalike" type circuits including a LOT of discussion on Q-Filter tone circuits by none other than Bill Lawrence. https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?t=14179
 
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MGL AmpWorks said:
Blackmore’s amps were modded at Marshall. His amps were the first amps with a master volume that was later used in the 2203-2204. So his amps did have a preamp control and master. He then got another stage of gain by plugging his guitar into a reel to reel tape deck and then into his Marshall.
Click to expand...

Extra preamp tube, too. See the article linked in post #9.
 
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Those are wired in Ultra Linear.. It's super clean and meant not to distort.

I once put an UL Output Transformer on an Amp with a DPDT Switch so I could go from normal to UL, and the normal easily sounded better for Guitar.

Cool historic Amp, but there's a reason nobody uses UL in Guitar Amps anymore..
 
MGL AmpWorks said:
Gold faced logos on the head and both speaker cabs are reissues, not original. The bottom of the “R” on original logos is open. But closed on reissues. Not a good start to me. They have a number of vintage Marshall pieces right now. Maybe consigned by local collector.
Click to expand...
I wonder if those logos are the 'Music Ground' repros? Makes me think all of it could be re tolexed; which would completely destroy the price/value they listed it all for.
 
Racerxrated said:
For that price, they need to open all of them up to show the circuit, and close ups of each of the speakers to make sure they're legit. Certainly looks museum quality though.
Thing about those Majors is, they are very clean sounding like a brighter Fender since the transformers are designed that way. You can't boost them, or you risk overheating the circuit...so they have to be modded to get any kind of gain out of them. Pretty sure Blackmore had his tech mod his Majors.
Click to expand...
I had a '68 Major 200 and have tried a few others. I don't remember them being that much cleaner than most other NMV Marshall's (less aggressive though) and the more disappointing part was not that loud (despite the wattage for all 3 I tried and mine was freshly serviced) and not as good sounding, which is why I'd guess they never went for as much as their 50/100 watt counterparts. In a way you can overdriven them sooner volume-wise since they're not as loud as the 50 or 100w NVM's I had, but I guess start to gain up at a similar point on the volume knobs

I actually did boost one of them with a whole bunch of different pedals at a store years ago (wasn't my decision lol) and it took them very well and at least in those 10 minutes or so no problems happened, but I never risked doing that to the one I owned
 
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