Beat up 1969

[Star*Guitar]

I'm pretty sure I'm buying this. I see the mods of course. I am not as astute in Marshall circuits as most of you, (yet). But I'm about to jump in. I want to restore this. I am very good with electricity and have my fluke turned on and my Weller soldering station heating up. Feel free to jump in and let me know what you see.

[rgorke]

Has this amp been turned on and/or played lately? If not, most here strongly recommend bringing the voltage up slowly with a variac.

Regardless, looks like a fun project.

[Strat78]

Hold off on the solder gun for a moment, there is nothing beat up about that amp at all, it's a real beauty! A little restoration around the inputs and V1A and mix area is all I can see at the moment. It has a 67/68 layout except for the pre amp filter cab located on top of the chassis instead of on the board. Usually the 69's had all the filter caps on top of the board. The Dubilier caps are a little later too, if I'm not mistaken, so 69 seems right. Is that a 10k serial number? I'll restore that amp for you for free just to have it on the bench to ogle at for a while. Great find, grab it!

[Strat78]

I wouldn't fire it up before at least trying to reform the caps to see if the caps are too leaky, especially if it has not been run in a while. You can pretty much see how the amp will sound the only concern being if the tranny's are okay.

[Tazin]

Other than the pre-amp needing rebuilding and the one B+ dropping resistor (should be a 1 watt 8K2), the rest looks fairly good. Some of the pots have been changed so you might want to double check to see if they are the correct value(s).

[rgorke]

Where's the mixer?

[Star*Guitar]

Yes the serial number is 10441. The mods were done by Hunt Dabney. I have never heard of him but the seller claims he was well respected in the same era as Jose'. There is more to tell about this amp, but I will reserve that until I get my big grubby hands on it. Strat 78, you live in Syracuse right? I live in Schenectady county. Btw This amp is from south California.

[Tazin]

These are those weird transition amps with only two top mounted filter caps. To me, all the indicators point towards very late 1968 (December) or January 1969. What's interesting is that out of the half dozen or so of these amps I've seen there all USA export amps and there all indentical in make up which includes the following:
Blue & white (blue & Yellow) Dubilier caps.
Earlier red colored RS 0.005uF volume pot cap for the Super Leads.
Hunts 50uF/450v single element phase inverter filter cap.
A pair of TCC 32uF + 32uF/450v filter caps for the screens filtering....With the exception of one amp which has the Daly 32uF/450v caps.
A pair of the odd TCC 100uF/350v filter caps for the mains filtering.
The brown colored RS 47pF PI balancing cap.
The second series T2562 PT.
The earlier style lead dress for the main tag board.

[Star*Guitar]

I bought this amp from Keith Ranch. Alan Holdsworth's stage manager. It was Keith's personal amp and yes Alan and many other top notch slingers have played thru it. Joe Bonnamassa wanted it in his collection, good thing I got to it first. This is my dream amp. I've been searching for a barely molested late 60's super lead for decades that was affordable enough for me. When occasionally I would find one, my personal finances weren't right. In between jobs etc.. YAHOOO!!!

[Star*Guitar]

Ohh btw.. This amp was in storage for about 10 years. So bringing it up with a variac is a good idea. The filter caps and screens etc..cause me concern. I'd hate to have to change them. But conversely, losing that vintage iron would be a sin.

[Star*Guitar]

I appreciate the advice and insight my forum friends. This puppy has officially shipped. I hope to have it by Friday..it cost me 2800. I consider that a good price by today's standards.

[maxwedge572]

Cool amp!

[Star*Guitar]

Thanks Scott.. I'm tracking the amp.. It will be in my hands Monday..