$430,000 for Marshall #2

[Ritchie200]

Buy it now from Ken Bran himself on Fleabay.  Actually it was a few months ago.  I wonder if it ever sold.  Interesting comment by Ken Bran about who helped fine tune the "tone" of the Marshalls....  Not the folks I have read about in the books (Townsend, Page, Clapton, etc...).  Although in 1962-65 he was one of the top, if not the top session player in England.  Who could I be talking about!

http://www.ampgas.com/2010/05/21/half-a-mil-for-a-marshall/

Jim

[Shrapnel]

Hey Jim,

Did you see the other article there? http://www.ampgas.com/2010/05/27/200-watts-of-power-marshall-majors/

BOTH are an interesting read. Some mis-info I think maybe a bit too on the KT88s (or perhaps a mis-conception?)

[Rev D]

 Probably some misconceptions, but two truths, a) Heavy as an anvil b) burned up frequently....


D.

[Ritchie200]

Yeah, I know Dawk (Ritchie's old amp tech), so does Groundhog Ken.  Dawk actually looked over the last Major I bought.  He used to work for Macintosh and single handedly figured out the problems with the Major for Marshall, brilliant guy.  He fixed all of Deep Purples amps from 1972 on, then did all the amp mods to Ritchie's Majors from about the end of MKIII and Rainbow on.  He also did the scallop work on the necks of his Strats, modified the Fender wang bar setup so it would not go out of tune (even with a 1/4" diameter bar), and also invented a master tone control that was a big part of Ritchie's Rainbow Strat sound.  He has a warehouse with about a half dozen of Ritchie's old modded Majors and cabs, and tons of broken guitar parts (courtesy of Ritchie over the years).  I wonder what all that is worth....  I've got a picture he gave me of the amp (re-covered) that Ritchie famously blew up at the California Jam and tossed off stage.  Not a thing broken other than a tube - built like tanks.  He also did all of the work on Jon Lord's B3, Roger Glover's Ric bass mods, and also did work for Tony Iomi in the early 80's during the Dio Sabbath years.  

There are some things taken out of context by the author of that article you posted.  He (Dawk) knows the old GEC KT88's are rated to 800v.  He used to bias them so hot Ritchie's Majors were pumping 280watts (they don't make tubes like that anymore).  This amp was already on the ragged edge and RItchie liked the tone when it was pushed even more.  Dawk spent a lot of time on planes flying around the world putting the smoke back in!  They would last about a month.  The rest of the story is accurate concerning the issues with UL design, HV spikes, and transformer problems.  Dawk is in the process of writing a book concerning all the work he did for DP, Marshall, Ritchie, and others, with detailed schemo's and all.  I am waiting in line.....

Jim

[Shrapnel]

Dawk is in the process of writing a book concerning all the work he did for DP, Marshall, Ritchie, and others, with detailed schemo's and all.  I am waiting in line.....

Jim

That shall be one interesting read in many-many-many ways. Please pass on the info when it is published. (Yes, you can grab your copy first, and of course get it signed for posterity.  )

[Danskman]

$430'000 for a tube amp???? This world is getting more mad day after day.... Richie played with it? It was #2? For me, it's just rich kids caprice.
... and you won't power it up, 'cause it can smoke??? LOL

[Rev D]

 I guess being #2 of the history of rock and roll it will probably get its price from a collector somewhere. After seeing 315,000.00 dollar 58' les pauls on Gearbase recently and they made more of them than the Marshall I'm pretty sure, it puts it into perspective... (and yes I'd rather have the 58 Les Paul, if we had time machines we'd all be rich.) Makes me wonder if a parent these days should buy the kid a custom shop low volume les paul to put away till he's much much older wouldn't be worth it, but then again it will probably never be worth what the 58's are now....

Regards,

RD

[simonallaway]

Makes me wonder if a parent these days should buy the kid a custom shop low volume les paul to put away till he's much much older wouldn't be worth it, but then again it will probably never be worth what the 58's are now....

I often think of that myself, but I read once that the demand for 58-60 Gibsons or "pre-CBS" Strats came from music fans of that time growing older and wanting to re-live their youth/mid-life crisis/emulate heroes.  i.e. you grow up loving Clapton so you HAVE TO have a genuine '60 LP Standard? So if that's true, who is producing innovative music these days? and what instruments are they playing? I can't think of anyone that isn't just playing re-issues of old designs (not a bad thing, of course).

You could argue the same for amplifiers. And in fact I'd go so far as to say it is communities like this one (the forum) that not only keep tube amps alive (literally) but push them further into new territory. And probably the most important thing I've learned by lurking here is that the amp has so much more influence over tone than any of my guitars do. So are all vintage buyers looking in the wrong place?

[Ritchie200]

Not only that - take a look at the vintage effects market!  Not in the stratospheric price ranges of the amps and guitars...but, a couple thousand for an original Fuzz Face, Tone Blender, Color Sound, Roto-Vib, EchoPlex, etc., etc.  And we all know it has about $20 worth of crappy parts (by todays standards - and pricing)!!!  Even the thinly veiled boutique re-issues are bringing top dollar.  Maybe my ears are getting old, but I can not tell the difference between some of the new digital effects and the older analog.  That was not always the case, so I can understand a previous demand.  But now?  I remember reading a review on the Jimi Hendrix pedal (can't remember who put it out...) about how they added hiss and other noise to the modeling to reproduce the "mojo" of yesteryear!  I'll bet Jimi would have given his eyetooth for some quiet effects!  I wonder what Jimi would be playing through today....

Oh well, nobody is forcing these prices, its what the market will bear.  Not my market!

Jim

[simonallaway]

... I can not tell the difference between some of the new digital effects and the older analog.

I'd agree in that they're just simulations of the analog effects, but I can definitely hear a difference.

For years I used a Boss GT6 multi-effects unit. Before that my rig was Les Paul -> cord -> Marshall, so I'd convinced myself I needed the GT6 (and a simple SS poweramp) to be in a cover band. Over time I managed to create some reasonably convincing tones with it, but one day I got my Marshall going again and realised what I'd been missing. Even with old tubes and old caps it blew the GT6 away. The so-called "modeled" tones had a harsh grittiness in the high frequencies that just didn't sound good. Even the simulated Tubescreamer doesn't come close to even my 'real' TS808 clone.