The Infamous Purple Plexi

[Gainfreak]

Actually 71 had an inordinate amount of duds due to a run of bad output transformers, I had one, and no matter what was tried, it sounded weak and shitty. Different tubes, mods etc, nothing worked. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you get fucked.

There's actually no difference between a 72 and a 71 either in their circuit etc other than some 72's had the "Chicklets" on the board, which made no difference in tone.

I have a 72 that Mike is currently working on and Im pretty sure its going to kill when it comes back
I agree that the 71-72 and even some 74's were flighty as hell.

 

[War Admiral]

Don't worry boys, she is not stock...The cabs are Mojo and only the chasis and the iron is '71. The amp was modded already when I bought it hence the decision.

 

[Chubtone]

I've heard many, many people say that there are a lot of magic '72s but I just think there are a lot of '72s period and the amount of good ones compared to average ones is the same.

 

[Marshall Freak]

Don't worry boys, she is not stock...The cabs are Mojo and only the chasis and the iron is '71. The amp was modded already when I bought it hence the decision.

I have a '69 like that. It's been retolexed, regrilled, transformers changed etc, but it sure as hell looks good. LOL

 

[Chubtone]

Don't worry boys, she is not stock...The cabs are Mojo and only the chasis and the iron is '71. The amp was modded already when I bought it hence the decision.

Alright, we'll let you live.

See if Mike can put all the mod knobs and switches on the back and have a real sleeper amp. Or, restore it to a correctly working, stock spec '71 LIKE THE AMP THIS THREAD WAS INSPIRED BY and use the right things with it and revel in the beauty and ROAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR of a stock, vintage Marshall. I mean, Marshall is famous because of the tone their stock amps gave for almost all the classic rock and metal tones we grew up on, right?

 

[Digital Jams]

Don't worry boys, she is not stock...The cabs are Mojo and only the chasis and the iron is '71. The amp was modded already when I bought it hence the decision.

Alright, we'll let you live.

See if Mike can put all the mod knobs and switches on the back and have a real sleeper amp. Or, restore it to a correctly working, stock spec '71 LIKE THE AMP THIS THREAD WAS INSPIRED BY and use the right things with it and revel in the beauty and ROAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR of a stock, vintage Marshall. I mean, Marshall is famous because of the tone their stock amps gave for almost all the classic rock and metal tones we grew up on, right?

Bro we grew up in the 80s, not smoking peace pipes at woodstock watching Jimi.

 

[Gainfreak]

Don't worry boys, she is not stock...The cabs are Mojo and only the chasis and the iron is '71. The amp was modded already when I bought it hence the decision.

same with my 72!! It has been modded twice before and the chasis looks like swiss cheese there are so many holes on it

 

[Gainfreak]

Don't worry boys, she is not stock...The cabs are Mojo and only the chasis and the iron is '71. The amp was modded already when I bought it hence the decision.

Alright, we'll let you live.

See if Mike can put all the mod knobs and switches on the back and have a real sleeper amp. Or, restore it to a correctly working, stock spec '71 LIKE THE AMP THIS THREAD WAS INSPIRED BY and use the right things with it and revel in the beauty and ROAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR of a stock, vintage Marshall. I mean, Marshall is famous because of the tone their stock amps gave for almost all the classic rock and metal tones we grew up on, right?

I really hate to say this but the stock Marshall tone never did it for me unless it was doctored up somehow. Ive always gravitated towards hot rodded tones even as a Kid and if a Marshall was stock it usually had to have a few stomp boxes in front of it or some sort of EQ in order for me to like it

 

[rupe]

The Aspen Pittman purple plexi was a '71 I believe.

I'm pretty sure that Aspen's "The Tube Amp Book" states that it was a '72...I'll have to go dig it out of storage.
George used it for his rhythm tone on ULAK as well, didn't he?

 

[Chubtone]

Let me say this though. Doug's tone before he had Frank Levi mod his Marshalls was drop dead killer. His tone after Levi did them was killer. Joe Holmes tone was killer and he had Jose mods. I heard so many crappy Jose mods though it was crazy.

 

[Chubtone]

Bro we grew up in the 80s, not smoking peace pipes at woodstock watching Jimi.

Scott,
Talk to me again again about the clip you embedded in this thread and the stock or modded status of the amp that inspired this thread. Here we have a killer sounding, stock '71 Marshall Super Lead with the extremely exotic Boss SD-1 (MIJ obviously worth maybe $75) boosting it and we are still talking about it 18 years later. Then somehow we start talking about how this tone is in our own modded amps. It confuses me.

I think there was a lot less "modding" going on with the classic 80's tones than we think. Heck, most of the 70's and early 80's Marshalls came with 6550's in them. We HONESTLY considered it some big deal to get our amps "modded" to el-34's. And I think a lot of guys flat out lied. I mean, I was there, in LA. I remember playing my stock '79 and stock '81 Marshalls boosted by a Furman PQ-3 split into stereo by the huge chorus of a Lexicon PCM-41 and just having so many players FREAK over the tone. I kept my 2 space rack covered and told people my heads were modded. Then I would pop into Lee Jackson's shop and play a Metaltronix modded Marshall or a Metaltronix amp and be like, "are you freaking kidding me?"

 

[Chubtone]

I really hate to say this but the stock Marshall tone never did it for me unless it was doctored up somehow. Ive always gravitated towards hot rodded tones even as a Kid and if a Marshall was stock it usually had to have a few stomp boxes in front of it or some sort of EQ in order for me to like it

Ralph,
I think we are all really saying the same thing here. I never plugged straight in to my Marshalls either. I always MODDED them with a TS-9 or an SD-1 or a OD 250 or a GE-7 or an Ibanez GE-9 or an MXR 6-Band or the Furman PQ-3.

It's just when you "mod" Marshalls the way I do you can instantly change the entire vibe and flavor and do it using the same tools that my heroes used just by switching from what was a $29 TS-9 to a $39 SD-1 to a $199 Furman PQ-3 etc. The amp underwent RADICAL changes that way and I was always in control of what kind of flavor I wanted to add to my amp that day.

I guess what I am saying in 2 million words is that, I prefer the blank canvas that is a good, stock Marshall.

 

[goldwing68nv]

a good stock Marshall with an o/d boost! ...+1 on that Curt!!!


...love my '80 JMP 2203 w/6550's

 

[Gainfreak]

I really hate to say this but the stock Marshall tone never did it for me unless it was doctored up somehow. Ive always gravitated towards hot rodded tones even as a Kid and if a Marshall was stock it usually had to have a few stomp boxes in front of it or some sort of EQ in order for me to like it

Ralph,
I think we are all really saying the same thing here. I never plugged straight in to my Marshalls either. I always MODDED them with a TS-9 or an SD-1 or a OD 250 or a GE-7 or an Ibanez GE-9 or an MXR 6-Band or the Furman PQ-3.

It's just when you "mod" Marshalls the way I do you can instantly change the entire vibe and flavor and do it using the same tools that my heroes used just by switching from what was a $29 TS-9 to a $39 SD-1 to a $199 Furman PQ-3 etc. The amp underwent RADICAL changes that way and I was always in control of what kind of flavor I wanted to add to my amp that day.

I guess what I am saying in 2 million words is that, I prefer the blank canvas that is a good, stock Marshall.

Gotcha! With that said, i would have killed to have known about the PQ3 when I was a Kid. i didn't know about that little gem until the mid 90's

 

[goldwing68nv]

R.A.L.P.H. ,what's up "metal freak"

 

[Chubtone]

Gotcha! With that said, i would have killed to have known about the PQ3 when I was a Kid. i didn't know about that little gem until the mid 90's

That's the thing about the PQ-3 Ralph, and why I used to hide mine. Most people didn't know about them at all or if they did, they didn't know to use it as a preamp to boost the snot out of the input of the amp. Most people just assumed you were using it to EQ the amp. I saw a few guys using them like that and you could tell because their peak lights were never flashing.

In 1984 or early '85 my other guitarist and I saw Rough Cutt on the Rock Palace TV show. Amir's tone on that was just freaking ridiculous. When Rough Cutt came to town, our other guitarists sister was dating a cool older guitarist in a big Chicago local band. He took my other guitarist backstage and Amir took a real liking to my buddy in an older brother sort of way. He showed him his whole rig and how to set it and everything. How to set the PCM-41 for the right chorus etc. We both immediately bought that stuff and our tones were freaking huge. It was hilarious. We were like 16-18 and older guys in bigger bands kept trying to see our gear.

That's when we started hiding our secret. Even though Amir had openly shared it with us, we were too uncool to share it with anyone else. As far as the LA local bands, we saw everyone after we moved here. It was very rare to see a Furman in someones rack. Amir and Chris from Rough Cutt still had them. Stryper had them. Doug Aldrich had one and Icon used the Audio Arts Preamp/Parametric EQ in the exact same way we used the Furmans. Jake had them for a short time (Rough Cutt connection?) and Lynch used them with his Randalls on Tooth and Nail era.

Much later on, it became common knowledge that "everyone" used them in the 80's but that really wasn't the case at the time. Everyone used Lee Jackson mods or ADA refrigerator racks in the mid to late 80's out here and very few guys had cool tones. Just sayin'

 

[glpg80]

your making me wish i would have bought that para EQ that dave took down

cool reading stuff like this

 

[goldwing68nv]

love that Rough Cutt "Rock Palace" show! got an old copy of it that i watched just a month ago actually..."Dreamin Again" is such a cool tune Amir's tone is HUGE!!! i remember when i saw Rough Cutt,in 1985,open for Dio at the "Poplar Creek" outdoor amphitheater in Hoffman Estates,Illinois...the next week,i immediately went out & bought their 1st album so i could hear the song "Black Widow"...great times................

 

[Digital Jams]

Bro we grew up in the 80s, not smoking peace pipes at woodstock watching Jimi.

Scott,
Talk to me again again about the clip you embedded in this thread and the stock or modded status of the amp that inspired this thread. Here we have a killer sounding, stock '71 Marshall Super Lead with the extremely exotic Boss SD-1 (MIJ obviously worth maybe $75) boosting it and we are still talking about it 18 years later. Then somehow we start talking about how this tone is in our own modded amps. It confuses me.

I think there was a lot less "modding" going on with the classic 80's tones than we think. Heck, most of the 70's and early 80's Marshalls came with 6550's in them. We HONESTLY considered it some big deal to get our amps "modded" to el-34's. And I think a lot of guys flat out lied. I mean, I was there, in LA. I remember playing my stock '79 and stock '81 Marshalls boosted by a Furman PQ-3 split into stereo by the huge chorus of a Lexicon PCM-41 and just having so many players FREAK over the tone. I kept my 2 space rack covered and told people my heads were modded. Then I would pop into Lee Jackson's shop and play a Metaltronix modded Marshall or a Metaltronix amp and be like, "are you freaking kidding me?"

I see your point about how a modded amp could sound like Lynch in that clip but wouldn't modding the pre section to be hotter be the same as slamming a stock Superlead? I have an sd-1 and will try this with the fortin while in a plexi type setting and see what I get, I dont have a stock one on hand and that may not be awhile since I just bought a lawn tractor and the wife wants to go to Atlantis next April

The cool thing is that you do NOT have to boost with today's offerings from many of the builders, only time I boost now is when using the yngwie clone due to the low output pups. Plus you know Lynch is stupid loud in that vid and listening through monitors.

The more I listen to you guys I have to agree, there was less internal modding than we think back then.

 

[Digital Jams]

your making me wish i would have bought that para EQ that dave took down

cool reading stuff like this

I love it when Curt sits down by the fire and spins his tails