Picked up this little guy locally yesterday for the equivalent of about $400.00. Head box is in good condition too, but was covered in some horrid sticky gunk so it is in the process of being cleaned.
Looks like a cool little amp. Tried it for about 10 minutes yesterday just to check it was working. Will give it a proper run on the weekend.
Anyone have any thoughts or experiences to share on these amps?
It was just really dirty. I think it's spent a significant part of its life holed away in someone's garage, so it's accumulated dirt and some kind of tacky residue.
Anyway, a bit of rubbing alcohol and some elbow grease and the cab is clean as a whistle.
Supposed to be really clean until cranked. The basic circuit was a PA amp. Several models were tweaked for lead and/or bass guitar (only a oouple of cap values were changed).
If that's a re-issue they were notorious for blowing OTs. Korg USA (Marshall distributor in the US) would replace the OT for units still under warranty, but I think many owners eventually replaced them with MM OTs. I don't think the originals had that problem.
Also very high voltages on the EL84 plates, but I don't recall reading anything about shorter tube life.
So, IIRC, the ...
...PA is Model 1917
...Bass is Model 2019
...Lead & Bass in Model 2061. It was NOT 2061x, the "x" suffix how Marshall designates a reissue.
Also IIRC, their turret-boards were identical and the 2019 and 1917 were the exact same amp with different backplates. The only difference between the 1917/2019 and the 2061 is ONE cap. The 500pf cap on one Tone control is replaced with a 4700pf cap.