THE HW Marshall thread. Tweaking it step by step.

[yngwie308]

Ifeel honored that these were the last amplifiers that Gary played live, they really are a classic Marshall tone, and once they are Metrofied, they are off the charts.
Still would love to have Gary's 1972 Super Bass someday..
yngwie308

[cfljames]

Time to kick this thread back into gear,I just took possession of a new Marshall 1959HW... I have already changed the bright cap @4700pf and replaced it with a 100pf instead and the change was dramatic and gave me a nice sweep of the volume-(1)instead of having it rupture my eardrums at only 2 or 3....
I also had a early Telefunken ECC83/12AX7 I popped in and it instantly gave it the warmth it needed...
I have only started this voyage and plan to mustard or Sozo it and change the filtering,as far as the OT they are cheap enough to make the swap but I think after all the years of the crap ones they put out maybe they got it right or close to it so that may not happen right away,I will give it some time...

[cfljames]

Okay here are the changes made so far and as expected Casper the ghost has come to visit....
The changes are as follows:
6CA7 JJ's
V1/Reissue Mullard..V2 N.O.S.Telefunken..V3/Reissue Mullard
330/820 V1 Shared Cathode
.68/820 V2
67 Superbass spec w/Sozo's throughout
500/250/33 Tonestack
50/50 Mains Filtering/Ruby's
32/32 Screens Filtering/F&T
32/32 P.I Filtering/F&T
16/16 Preamp Filtering/F&T
47K To 8ohm Tap Verses stock speaker jack...
Replaced to all Allen Bradley Carbon Comp's....
Cathode & Bias resistors to Sprauge Atoms..
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I love the way the amp sounds and performs but it does ghost quite a bit,are there any suggestions from where I stand to tame this rather than upping the filtering? I hated the stiffness of all 50/50's and heard this exact spec/setup other than the power tubes which have a slight 6L6 voicing to them IMHO...and it did not Ghost noticeably ...
This thing nails the Free IOW BMF Tone I was after and then some so I don't want to lose that,does anyone think changing the plate resistor from 82 to say 56 and possibly trying another EL34 type would possibly cure this or head me in the right area?
Thanks in advance...

[VelvetGeorge]

With regard to ghosting: my original '68 has 100uf total PI filtering. You could try a dual 50uf can there. A choke upgrade can also help.

George

[cfljames]

Thanks George,I'll give both a shot and see what happens from there...Also what is the spec on the HW choke as it is now? and what would be the wise choice as a replacement if need be?

[cfljames]

With regard to ghosting: my original '68 has 100uf total PI filtering. You could try a dual 50uf can there. A choke upgrade can also help.

George

I got a good matched set of Winged =C= EL34's and its 99.9% gone,go figure I never get this lucky....

[Capt Vemo]

What happened to all the links to the sound clips?

[VelvetGeorge]

We lost some files in our recent server crisis. I think file uploads may be turned off at the moment, while we sort it out.

george

[Capt Vemo]

Got ya thanks George hope they come back up. I was following this thread and enjoyed the little tweaks you did to this amp. I was actually thinking of getting one since its based on the 1969 Marshall. Which was always my favorite.

[chrisom]

A wise man once said: "There is no right piece of gear, only the next piece of gear."
He eventually went broke, but his tone was incredible...

Priceless.

[yngwie308]

My 2005 1959HW Marshall Super Lead has been a great amp investment as it has a lot of versatility once it was improved performance wise by George.
It isn't really easy to play as say a M/V amp but it's where I came from and it absolutely nails all the things it does brilliantly.
Takes pedals well has so much dynamics and I just love it and to me it is a true '69 Marshall Plexi.
The upgrades/improvements I have made including one of the most important switches, the introduction of the Dagnall clone OT Transformer really takes it to a whole new level.
I trust George's recommendations implicitly and he steered me down the right path that's for sure.
The 1959HW is a great amp, but can be made so much better easily.
Love it to death.
yngwie308

[MLeJazz]

Hello here ,
I try to modify my 1959HW and I have some doubts about some details .
for example about F&T Dual Can : 32x32 , I see the 56k 3w comp above has been removed , is it because dual cans decreased from 50x50 to 32x32 ? or or something else ?

before


after.


thank you .

[yngwie308]

Here is my album of pics of my modded by George 2005 1959HW. Hope this helps answer your question. I had all the mods available at the time..well they are parts substitution really. I have the Dagnell clone OT as well.
http://s57.photobucket.com/user/davida5 ... t=3&page=1
I had the F&T cans, Allen-Bradley carbon comp resistors in key positions and Sozo signal caps, this was pre vintage Sozo's but these are great, the biggest change from stock for me was how dynamic all the tone controls became the whole amp was woken up, the Dagnall clone OT is a key component change.
yngwie308

[ROBIN L.]

Unchained sounds terrible. Diming the treb and pres just doesn't seem to work anymore. The other clips all sound good. It sounded good stock. I felt that the tone knobs just needed to be adjusted to get a great tone. For VH, just boost it with a mid/gain boost.

And the lack of objectivity on this board is a joke. Most of you are so biased away from Marshall/Dagnall and toward Metro/sozo/Dagnall replica that you're incapable of making a fair assesment. Oh, how different your responses would be if you didn't know what you were listening to. If George had posted that first clip of the stock HW and said it was his latest build, you guys would be saying it was the best thing you ever heard.

This forum has a credibilty issue. Listen with your ears, not your eyes.

I fully agree with you.

[ROBIN L.]

Unchained sounds terrible. Diming the treb and pres just doesn't seem to work anymore. The other clips all sound good. It sounded good stock. I felt that the tone knobs just needed to be adjusted to get a great tone. For VH, just boost it with a mid/gain boost.

And the lack of objectivity on this board is a joke. Most of you are so biased away from Marshall/Dagnall and toward Metro/sozo/Dagnall replica that you're incapable of making a fair assesment. Oh, how different your responses would be if you didn't know what you were listening to. If George had posted that first clip of the stock HW and said it was his latest build, you guys would be saying it was the best thing you ever heard.

This forum has a credibilty issue. Listen with your ears, not your eyes.

I agree on the unchained clip. I've never made an acurrate sounding EVH clip with my LP. The output is too low and the lows are too loose.
But that's what I felt like playing when I hit record, so I went with it. I should had made a better choice of clips.

Contrary to how it sounds in the clips, the presence is usable. In fact, only now can I dime it without squealing. And use it to add to the tone, rather than cutting it to take away shrillness.

On objectivity: I have tried to document the changes I'm making without putting too much of my own personal spin on this thread. I do have strong opinions. But it's unfair to call me anti-Marshall. You'll have to look long and hard to find a bigger Marshall fan. Hell I built my business around putting great Marshalls on a pedestal.

Also, if anyone wants full resolution wav files of these clips, let me know. You lose so much going to MP3 that it almost defeats the purpose.


george

I wasn't referring to you George. I think you're a good honest businessman. But your bright. Surely you can see how biased some of your supporters are. I could hear nice tonality in the stock clip. With some tweaking of the tone controls, I felt it could have been very nice indeed. What would have been fun is if you would have asked for opinions on the clip without divulging what it was.

In fairness, perhaps you could point out some positive aspects of the HW to offset the pointing out of the choke screw and solder joint.

Certainly, every little change affects tone. Best of luck with the tweaks.

Right on