Recently on the bench we had the privilege (and let’s admit it) a whole lot of fun working on this wonderful early Marshall amplifier. It was a real treat to play. You can almost hear the history of rock music coming out of it. Take a journey with us now. Won’t you?
Click the images for my detailed commentary.
Here we have a very fine mid-1965 Marshall Super PA amplifier reportedly once owned by Pete Townshend of The Who. This amplifier was also reputed to have been used by Jimi Hendrix.
In any case, it’s a very fine example of an extremely early Marshall amplifier.
It does have some “beauty marks” from some rough treatment along the way. But with a little TLC we put it back into proper working order.
This inscription is allegedly the name and address of the man who purchased it from The Who’s management. A lot of this is speculation, but there is some evidence to suggest this as fact. I’ll leave you to decide for yourself. It’s a seriously cool amplifier!
One more interesting marking on the interior cabinet which suggests a bit of Who history.
Here we find the original filter supply electrolytic capacitors. Notice the very primitive tag board used for this purpose. This was in the very earliest days of amplifier production at Marshall, and they were making a lot of it up as they went along.
Here we can see the brand new F&T filter capacitors installed.
At the bottom of this photo mounted to the tube sockets for the power tubes we can see the new screen grid resistors to replace the old originals. As always, all removed original parts will be retained to maintain the value of the amplifier.
Here is a stand up portrait of the entire interior of the chassis. If you look closely you will notice that all other original parts, not mentioned previously, are still present. This amp has a whole lot of original mojo going on.
Here we see the upper side of the chassis featuring the brand new KT66 power tubes as intended in the original design. This amp has a wonderful big complex tonality. Also notice the very rare DUAL output transformers. This was necessary to obtain 100 watt performance at that time since no large enough output transformers were available.
Here is a nice close shot of the Valve Art KT66 power tubes. Notice the ratings on each tube to ensure that they are tightly matched.
One final view from the rear before we close her up. As with many vintage Marshalls this one is a lot of fun to play. And it’s interesting to think about the history of this particular amplifier.
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