1959SLP - what to buy?

grappagreen

All,

About the only thing missing from my gear today is one of the above. I'm not keen on vintage stuff as I'm not a believer in vintage mojo and all that.. I want something reliable etc..

What would you guys be looking at?

Si 

fretmeister

Depends on your budget.

The Marshall handwired one is very good - the Suhr SL68 has a built in variac type thing but is a mental price.

If money was no object I'd have the Suhr, it just sounds amazing.

ICBM

Marshall SLP reissue. Why bother with anything else?

Aidanspaghetti

Friedman SS. Great clean channel too....

p90fool

Aidanspaghetti said:

Friedman SS. Great clean channel too....

Clean channel? A 1959 is a non master volume amp, it doesn't have a clean channel. Both channels are clean until you turn them up. 

The Marshall reissue is very very good, just get one. 

hywelg

Ceriatone.  

timmysoft

The suhrs are very good, worth the extra in my opinion.

fretmeister

shaunm

If you want an SLP then get an SLP. It has its downsides (useablity) but sounds magnificent.

If you want something more user friendly but doesn’t sound the same then look at some of the alternatives mentioned above. I say this because a master volume version of a NMV amp just doesn’t sound the same to me.

grappagreen

Thanks for the posts all - going to check out the Suhr and SLP reissue.

ICBM

Forgot to say that if you want to overdrive it, you'll need an attenuator with the SLP. The Marshall Powerbrake actually works extremely well, and isn't too hard to find.

Winny_Pooh

@ICBM have you directly compared the Powerbrake & Airbrake by any chance? I have the latter with my 69 SLP but wonder if I could do better. 

grappagreen

Thanks @ICBM - I’ve got a Palmer and Fryette PS2 so hopefully this should suffice.

Si

FelineGuitars

What about the Malmsteen head . That is a great 100W and it has power scaling that works. 

You don't have to use the built in OD pedal 

fretmeister

FelineGuitars said:

What about the Malmsteen head . That is a great 100W and it has power scaling that works. 

You don't have to use the built in OD pedal 

Oo good call.

That is an excellent amp.

Some ebayers do ask for silly money for them - but that's still cheaper than the Suhr.

ICBM

grappagreen said:

Thanks @ICBM - I’ve got a Palmer and Fryette PS2 so hopefully this should suffice.

The PS-2 should be, at either 4 or 16 ohms - it's limited to 150W at 8 ohms, which isn't really enough for a SLP. The Palmer may not be enough either - these amps are really loud, with good valves they will put out around 130W clean and over 200W fully distorted.

Winny_Pooh said:

@ICBM have you directly compared the Powerbrake & Airbrake by any chance? I have the latter with my 69 SLP but wonder if I could do better. 

I would also be very careful with the Airbrake and a SLP if you're cranking it - I doubt it will handle the full power continuously either. The Powerbrake also sounds better with Marshalls in my opinion. (The Airbrake is better with no-NFB amps like Voxes.)