Lower Volumes???: 1980 Marshall NonMaster Super Lead

[randyrhoadsguitar]

I've been thinking of purchasing a 1980 NonMaster 100WT JMP MKII Super Lead Marshall. It's local and I had a chance to play it.

LET ME TELL YOU THAT IT IS CRAZY LOUD!!!! Almost blew out my ears. But the only way to get a good sound out of a 100wt Super Lead is to crank it.

Is it possible to get a nicer sound from it at lower volumes? Would a hotplate do the trick? Any ideas would be helpful, i'm no amp master.

[Axewielder]

I've got a Marshall Power Brake. It's a bit of a mixed bag. Good for occasional low volume situations, but not as good as a modeler for the quiet stuff.

[toejam]

Yeah, you'll need some kind of attenuator like a THD Hotplate, Marshall Powerbrake or something similar. Otherwise, you'll just have to use it clean, keep it as low as possible, then use an OD or distortion pedal to get your distorted tones.

[horns666]

Yeah..Variac..attenuattor..powerbrake..

A stomp is the quickest, easiest and safest fix..countless folks do great like that.

Older Marshalls are so fuggin' loud.. they'll make your teeth hurt..seriously!

[Rich#6]

I am having this exact problem with my 8100. At home I play it at about 1to2 and it doesn't sound good until about 4 to 8.

[randyrhoadsguitar]

what brand of powerbrake or attenuattor do you guys recommend? Something around or under $200 if they make it.

If not, what other solutions are there that would cost under $200?

[MSGfan]

It's almost impossiable to get a decent amount of gain out of a Super Lead unless you modify it in some way. I sudjest buying a Tonebone "Hot British" tube distortion pedal and not worry about buying an attenuator or any thing else other than maybe a ISP Decimator noise gate to quite the Tonebone pedal.

[Racerx2k]

I run an old Scholz Power Soak with my Laney, and love it. Doesn't seem to affect the tone at all.

[jgcable]

That is the wrong amp if you are already trying to figure out how to get it to sound good at low volume. I had one and sold it for that exact reason. It was easily one of the loudest most powerful amps I have ever heard. It starts sounding good at volumes that are just crazy and insane.

[randyrhoadsguitar]

That is the wrong amp if you are already trying to figure out how to get it to sound good at low volume. I had one and sold it for that exact reason. It was easily one of the loudest most powerful amps I have ever heard. It starts sounding good at volumes that are just crazy and insane.

you're right and i've been thinking the same thing. When on earth am i going to beable to play it at the volume i'd like. But, someday, i'll have one in the collection just for bragging rights

[Axewielder]

But, someday, i'll have one in the collection just for bragging rights

Not a good reason to buy an amp! It will end up in the closet in no time.

[emperor_black]

Also, dont forget that an attenuator sucks tone big time. So, there you are, buying an amp for its tone and then using an attenuator which sucks all the mojo

[Robert Burns]

I think the modern amps have addressed this way better...my VHT has
a 1/2 power mode..(40 watts) and im able to get a great tubes pushed
tone out of it, at "loud Bedroom levels" Controllable tho, but still have the
volume at 7. VHT has addressed this issue

[charvel pointy head]

You might consider a Post Phase Inverter master volume, sometimes called the Rich mod. Extremely easy to do, if you can rewire a guitar, you can do this mod. I've long ago got out of the buying the latest Bogner/Boogie/Soldano high gain chase and have been "rolling my own" amplifiers for several years now. Check out Metropolous Amplification. They sell a kit for this mod. Hears the deal. Everyone talks about power amp distortion. From what I've experienced, they mean a cooking phase inverter, the tube closest to the power tubes. This is actually part of the power amp section and is what feeds your pre-amp signal to the power tubes. Most of the JCM800 type circuits are just a plexi circuit that has the two gain stages in the V1 tube tied together and all these hi-gain deals are more of the same w/ extra preamp tube circuits added in front of that, the cascade of gain thing. You ever noticed that the "distortion" in those circuits tends to clean up as the amp gets louder? You got to drive the whole signal chain into and out of the phase inverter for the best crunch/distortion/tone, thus the ppimv. You'll notice that the new Vintage Modern series use this way to get master volume distortion, why do you think that is? I've yet to use an attenuator yet that didn't fiz out the tone somewhat, though they are nice when used very subtley. Your other problem is that the amp your interested in uses 6550 tubes if it's still stock and these are brutal loud in a "100 watt" amp. I bet they are throwing out 30& or better output than just el34's. It is going to be loude, and clean unless you break up that phase inverter. Cost on parts is about 5 bucks, extremely easy to wire. If you can stick a pickup in a guitar, you can do this mod. Essentially what you are doing is putting a dual 500k pot between the signal caps out of the pi going to the Pin 5 on your output tubes. These run that way direct w/ a step off to the side to ground w/ your 220k bias resistors. Works great and gets great tone. Easy to do.

[Dave L]

I´ve heard good things about the power scaling modifications that London Power does.