Marshall 1959
Encyclopedia
The Marshall Super Lead Model 1959 is a guitar amplifier
Guitar amplifier
A guitar amplifier is an electronic amplifier designed to make the signal of an electric or acoustic guitar louder so that it will produce sound through a loudspeaker...

 head made by Marshall
Marshall Amplification
Marshall Amplification is a British company, founded by drummer Jim Marshall, that designs and manufactures music amplifiers, brands personal headphones/earphones , and, after acquiring Natal Drums, drums and bongos. Marshall amplifiers, and specifically their guitar amplifiers, are among the most...

. One of the famous Marshall Plexis, it was introduced in 1965 and with its associated 4x12" cabinets gave rise to the "Marshall stack."

History

The 1959 (Marshall's identifying numbers are not years of manufacture), first produced in 1965 and made until 1981 (when it was replaced by the JCM-800), is an amplifier in Marshall's "Standard" series. One of its raisons d'etre was a request by Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...

, who asked Marshall to make a 100 watt amplifier; Ken Bran and Dudley Craven of Marshall's development team complied. Its output was first channeled into an 8x12" cabinet, but that single, unwieldy cabinet was quickly changed to a set of 4x12" cabinets, creating the "Marshall stack." The amplifier also came as a PA
Public address
A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...

 and a bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 version.

The Plexiglas panel led to the name "Plexi," and, while 50-watt models of the time are also called Plexis, the 1959 100 watt model is often referred to as the "original" Plexi.

In 1969, Marshall replaced the Plexiglass panel with one of gold aluminum. There were other modifications: the KT66
KT66
The KT66 is a beam tetrode/kinkless tetrode vacuum tube for audio amplification.KT66 is the designator for a vacuum tube introduced by Marconi-Osram Valve Co. Ltd. of Britain in 1937....

 tubes were replaced with EL34
EL34
The EL34 is a thermionic valve or vacuum tube of the power pentode type. It has an international octal base and is found mainly in the final output stages of audio amplification circuits and was designed to be suitable as a series regulator by virtue of its high permissible voltage between heater...

. After 1976, the plate voltages were lowered slightly for improved reliability. But during the 1970s, Marshall's increasing exports overseas led to a problem: often the EL34 tubes would break during transportation, to the point where amps began being shipped from the factory with more rugged 6550 tubes, which are "stiffer and not as harmonically rich" as the EL 34 tubes.

Reissues

The amplifier was reissued for the first time in 1988 (the 1959S), and again from 1991 to 1993 (the 1959X) and from 1993 to 1995 (the 1959 SLP). In 2005, Marshall introduced the 1959 HW (for "hand-wired"), based on the 1967-1969 models, with negative feedback added corresponding to the 1969 model. This amplifier was called "expensive but good." Guitar Player
Guitar Player
Guitar Player is a popular magazine for guitarists founded in 1967. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print since the late 1960s and during the 1980s, under editor Tom Wheeler, the publication was...

magazine called the 1959 "monumentally huge, frightfully loud, and painfully expensive," and it its review of the 1959HW said it was "quick, percussive, articulate," and required a "total commitment to volume."

Technical specifications

The 1959 had 100 watts of power, two channels, and four inputs. They were equipped with four KT66
KT66
The KT66 is a beam tetrode/kinkless tetrode vacuum tube for audio amplification.KT66 is the designator for a vacuum tube introduced by Marconi-Osram Valve Co. Ltd. of Britain in 1937....

 tubes, but models made after 1969 had four EL34
EL34
The EL34 is a thermionic valve or vacuum tube of the power pentode type. It has an international octal base and is found mainly in the final output stages of audio amplification circuits and was designed to be suitable as a series regulator by virtue of its high permissible voltage between heater...

 tubes; it had three ECC83
12AX7
12AX7 is a miniature dual triode vacuum tube with high voltage gain. It was developed around 1946 by RCA engineers in Harrison, New Jersey, under developmental number A-4522. It was released for public sale under the 12AX7 identifier on September 15, 1947. The 12AX7 was originally intended as...

 tubes in the pre-amplification stage. A model with tremolo
Tremolo
Tremolo, or tremolando, is a musical term that describes various trembling effects, falling roughly into two types. The first is a rapid reiteration...

, the 1959T, was available until 1973.

The amplifier had four inputs into two channels. The lead channel has a boosted bright tone, and the rhythm channel has a flat response. Each channel has a high and a low gain input; the low gain input is attenuated by 6dB. The channels can be linked with a jumper cable.

Notable early users

Slash from the band Guns N' Roses used this amp to record GNR's most famous abum, Appetite For Destruction. Besides Pete Townsend of The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

, early users include Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

, who in 1966, when he founded Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...

, traded in his famous Bluesbreaker
Marshall Bluesbreaker
The Marshall Bluesbreaker is the popular name given to the Models 1961 and 1962 guitar amplifiers made by Marshall from 1964/1965 to 1972. The Bluesbreaker, which derives its nickname from being used by Eric Clapton with John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, is credited with delivering "the sound that...

 combo for a 1959 Plexi, and Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...

, who used a 1959 with four 4x12" cabinets (his "couple of great refrigerators") at the 1969 Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...

 and established the Marshall as the "definitive rock amp." Eddie Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...

 was another famous user of the Marshall Plexi, using them from the mid 70's until the OU812
OU812
OU812 is the 8th studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1988. The album title is allegedly a joke on Van Halen's previous lead singer David Lee Roth's 1986 album Eat 'Em and Smile . However, "OU812" was also seen in the 70s sitcom Taxi written on a wall...

album in 1988.
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