Re: Marshall Amps
 

I have an old 100W Marshall JMP, well old-ish I suppose. It's a 1969/1970, the first year of the metal face plates after the plexi glass face plates.

I bought this amp back in the 90's for £70.

LOUD!!!

I also met Jim twice too, when he used to have the Marshall road show that toured around the country in the late 80's to demonstrate the new products. Thats one of my true 'claim to fame' stories. :)

Re: Marshall Amps
 

(Just a little side note mods)

Hi David,

I have read somewhere in the past that many harp/harmonica players liked the sound they got when using a valve amp with a very un-balanced phase inverter valve installed that created a more a-symmetrical wave form that resulted in a more distorted type of sound. Something like that I think.

Would that be about right David ?

Re: Marshall Amps
 

I don't know about that, and I doubt many musos would that that was the case so long as they got the sound they wanted. What I do know is, it's quite normal for harmonica players to mic up their instrument into a small, 'practise' valve amp turned up full, and then mic that up into the PA. That way they can easily overload the practise amp with it being too loud.

Re: Marshall Amps
 

It would be possible to make a variable unbalancer... particularly for amplifiers with cathode-coupled (long tailed pair) phase splitters.

David

Re: Marshall Amps
 

Yes, the great John Lord. I couldn't believe it when I heard he had died:'(

A local(ish) lad from Leicester, I believe, formally of Deep Purple and before that the Flower Pot Men, which morphed from the Ivy League, a member of which died in poverty in a Lincoln flat close to where I used to work.

As regards to guitar players, I recently discovered this young lady on 'youtube', not just talented, but gifted in her style of playing in my opinion. After seeing her play she'll just make you want to give up and never play again - what's the point after seeing this - could you ever be this good:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEr2JZOa27c

Re: Marshall Amps
 

(Sorry mods :))

Nice one Techman, brilliant.

& don't forget about Tina S either playing some Beethoven.

Well, lets face it, if wasn't for Marshall amplifiers, the sound of the electric guitar would be as far back as the Generals ! :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6rBK0BqL2w

:)

Re: Marshall Amps
 

Long-tailed pair phase-splitters are sometimes intentionally "unbalanced" in terms of the anode resistors not being the same, simply in order to balance the outputs of the two triodes in the long-tailed pair. If the anode resistors are identical, the outputs of the two triodes will differ.

So, if you built a long-tailed pair phase-splitter with adjustable anode resistor(s), you might achieve a (maybe limited) unbalance. You could get even cleverer by having the two anode resistors as a dual pot, with one increasing as the other decreased its resistance. I would imagine that the amount of unbalance and difference between the anode resistors would have to be limited, but perhaps someone with more knowledge of valve circuitry might have some better ideas?

Colin.

Re: Marshall Amps
 

Ok, she is better than me and nifty on the fretboard, but she isn't the only one. I tend to think positively about better players than myself - the "why can't I do that? I'll give it a bash".

Why hasn't she been recorded? Or maybe she has, but in these days of downloading music, I just haven't noticed.

Other impressive players in the "shred" zone include Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eddie Van Halen. If you want to be truly dumbfounded to the extent of giving up playing, just take a look at what Jeff Beck can do (I have a go at some of his stuff, too. He is getting on a bit but can still pull it out).

Colin.

Re: Marshall Amps
 

Thanks for the link Techman, there seems to be no end of talent available on Youtube from kids of all ages, it just blows me away!

These talents represent one of the more positive aspects of Youtube. Many artists would surely remain hidden otherwise.

Re: Marshall Amps
 

I watched the video, gotta say....zzzzzzzzz.

Each to their own.

I'm old enough to remember Sister Rosetta Tharpe on telly near Manchester, go babe go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9a49oFalZE

Lawrence.

Re: Marshall Amps
 

I occasionally open a second session to listen to YouTube in the background. There are indeed many excellent covers of prominent musicians. No one holds the rights to be the best, just to be amongst them. They're not all using Marshall amps though.

Re: Marshall Amps
 

Hey, that's cool. Is that the same gig as Muddy Waters, at Chorlton station? That's now a tram stop round the back of Morrison's - a less rock-n-roll venue would be hard to find, even if it isn't raining. There should be a blue plaque :)

Re: Marshall Amps
 

Yes it was, Granada was tops again.

Lawrence.

Re: Marshall Amps
 

That's brilliant! I love watching musicians for their remarkably different techniques. There're some excellent Alan Lomax videos on YouTube too.

I got a Little Esther 78 a little while ago from a seller who said he'd seen her in New York. A little bit of history with every record. I've got a Marshall JCM600 from Freecycle that's awaiting cautious testing. Apparently it has a reputation for blowing up.