Marshall reverb 12 info

4114Effects

Seen one for £30 in my local Cash Converters ... Seems like a steal. Anyone know anything about them? Looks like a good candidate to convert to a valve combo :-)

timmysoft

I’ve got a little lead combo you can have, needs some tlc, but I think you’d do good things with it! It’s the 8 inch speaker one 

4114Effects

timmysoft said:

I’ve got a little lead combo you can have, needs some tlc, but I think you’d do good things with it! It’s the 8 inch speaker one 

Haha ace. How much? 

ICBM

It’s not a bad amp as it is, if it’s the tall one with a 10” speaker. JCM800 build quality, ply cabinet, thick steel chassis. The stock speaker isn’t great and the pots are the known weak point of them.

The short version isn’t as good, MDF cabinet I think, and an 8” speaker.

4114Effects

ICBM said:

It’s not a bad amp as it is, if it’s the tall one with a 10” speaker. JCM800 build quality, ply cabinet, thick steel chassis. The stock speaker isn’t great and the pots are the known weak point of them.

The short version isn’t as good, MDF cabinet I think, and an 8” speaker.

Looks like the 10" to me. Will go back for a better look 

timmysoft

4114Effects said:

timmysoft said:

I’ve got a little lead combo you can have, needs some tlc, but I think you’d do good things with it! It’s the 8 inch speaker one 

Haha ace. How much? 

Sort the postage on it mate and it’s yours! 

4114Effects

ICBM said:

It’s not a bad amp as it is, if it’s the tall one with a 10” speaker. JCM800 build quality, ply cabinet, thick steel chassis. The stock speaker isn’t great and the pots are the known weak point of them.

The short version isn’t as good, MDF cabinet I think, and an 8” speaker.

It was the 10" version. Model 5005 - needs a bit of a clean and a few wires fixing, so I talked them down to £20 ... seems like a steal as it's pretty highly regarded on the web. Might leave it as-is rather than convert to valve. Maybe shove a new speaker in as the magnet on the stock one is comically small.

bbill335

Convert it to a head and run a 4x12 off it!

ICBM

4114Effects said:

It was the 10" version. Model 5005 - needs a bit of a clean and a few wires fixing, so I talked them down to £20 ... seems like a steal as it's pretty highly regarded on the web. Might leave it as-is rather than convert to valve. Maybe shove a new speaker in as the magnet on the stock one is comically small.

5205 - 5005 is the Lead 12.

G10D-25... the worst 10" speaker Celestion ever made, like a miniature Rocket 50 .

A G10 Greenback sounds great in them - and it's a 16-ohm speaker, very unusually for a solid-state amp. (The Lead 12 was 8-ohm - I don't know why they changed it.) You can actually get a 12" in the cabinet if you're determined!

If you're interested in tweaking the amp part, fit the resistor (R4, 10K) which is missing from the preamp board near the input end - it adds a bit more bottom-end chunk. Why they wanted to take it away I don't know...

£20 is a huge steal - in full working order and decent condition they go for up to a ton.

bbill335 said:

Convert it to a head and run a 4x12 off it!

I drilled out the hole where the speaker wires go through the chassis floor on mine and fitted a 1/4" jack and plug there. Sounded huge through a 4x12".

Fortheloveofguitar

I have two lead 12 heads and a bass 12 combo and through a valve power amp and a 4x12 they sound fantastic 

4114Effects

ICBM said:

4114Effects said:

It was the 10" version. Model 5005 - needs a bit of a clean and a few wires fixing, so I talked them down to £20 ... seems like a steal as it's pretty highly regarded on the web. Might leave it as-is rather than convert to valve. Maybe shove a new speaker in as the magnet on the stock one is comically small.

5205 - 5005 is the Lead 12.

G10D-25... the worst 10" speaker Celestion ever made, like a miniature Rocket 50 .

A G10 Greenback sounds great in them - and it's a 16-ohm speaker, very unusually for a solid-state amp. (The Lead 12 was 8-ohm - I don't know why they changed it.) You can actually get a 12" in the cabinet if you're determined!

If you're interested in tweaking the amp part, fit the resistor (R4, 10K) which is missing from the preamp board near the input end - it adds a bit more bottom-end chunk. Why they wanted to take it away I don't know...

£20 is a huge steal - in full working order and decent condition they go for up to a ton.

The plot thickens - the chassis says 5205 on the sticker inside, and 5005 on the sticker to the rear. Both on the same chassis. Opened it up and it doesn't have the PCB reverb tank inside anymore - someone has removed it and left the wires hanging. Dammit.

Might be a valve conversion at this rate

ICBM

4114Effects said:

The plot thickens - the chassis says 5205 on the sticker inside, and 5005 on the sticker to the rear. Both on the same chassis. Opened it up and it doesn't have the PCB reverb tank inside anymore - someone has removed it and left the wires hanging. Dammit.

Might be a valve conversion at this rate

Fit a Belton Brick - better than the rather tinny reverb anyway.

You can do that whether you valve-convert it or not! It would be very cool to turn it into something like a miniature 5W 2144...

clarkefan

+1 on rigging it for an external cab, so much better.  I like ICBM's resistor tip, never heard that, will be going in asap

Edit - check out Johan Segeborn's vids on the 5005 heads, he makes them sound great

martinw

£20 is worth it for the cab and chassis.

Personally, I think they are overrated as standard, but they make a nice valve amp.

robinbowes

ICBM said:

I drilled out the hole where the speaker wires go through the chassis floor on mine and fitted a 1/4" jack and plug there. Sounded huge through a 4x12".

I did just this with mine (now sold).

ICBM said:

4114Effects said:

The plot thickens - the chassis says 5205 on the sticker inside, and 5005 on the sticker to the rear. Both on the same chassis. Opened it up and it doesn't have the PCB reverb tank inside anymore - someone has removed it and left the wires hanging. Dammit.

Might be a valve conversion at this rate

Fit a Belton Brick - better than the rather tinny reverb anyway.

You can do that whether you valve-convert it or not! It would be very cool to turn it into something like a miniature 5W 2144...

I've got a Reverb pedal based on a Belton brick that you can have for not very much if you fancy going down that route.

R.

4114Effects

So I've decided to build an amp that fits all the controls on there - don't have to do a new control panel then ...

Gain, volume, TMB, reverb - will use a spring reverb tank and either a single-valve reverb circuit or LND based transistor reverb circuit. Can't beat actual springs for reverb

Have all the transformers for a single-ended EL34 amp so that sounds like a plan.

Tolex is cleaning up nicely - it's a very dark green rather than true black, rather fetching. 

ICBM

4114Effects said:

Tolex is cleaning up nicely - it's a very dark green rather than true black, rather fetching.

Is the grille cloth faded to 'wheat' as well? I seem to remember only the fairly early ones had that green tolex.

There is quite a myth about the 'wheat' tolex - a lot of people seem to think they were made like that, but if you carefully lift the logo they're pure black behind .

The single-ended EL34 idea is great.

longjaw

Just picked one of these up from a second hand shop - sounds pretty good!

portobear_65

I'm a big fan of these amps, got a Lead 12 as part of my living room rig, amazingly well built compared to modern practice amps.

guitargeek62

Necro bump! 

I’ve just acquired one of these too and I’m pretty impressed with it! My one is the later plastic-panelled version with the Marshall-branded 8” speaker rather than the G10D-25. It came with the original sales paperwork too which was a neat touch! 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CRLbKiHrbiz/

I’m going to mod it for a speaker jack on the rear, and run it into my Zilla 1x12 - I might even make a head cabinet for it and do a conversion. I’m not wholly against a valve conversion either, but it already sounds pretty decent so I’m not sure it’s needed!

One pf the springs in my tray has broken a solder joint and come loose, I can’t see an easy way to repair it, so I might look to replace the unit instead. What’s this Belton Brick mod you speak of @ICBM?

guitargeek62

Buuuuuuuump - any more mod tips?