Marshall Lead 12 Combo Manually
Ever play one of these? It's a small solid state amp with a 10' speaker,made in England in the 1980s. I saw one on Ebay for $60 BIN. Think it is worth $60? 'Vintage Marshall Lead 12 Combo Amp from the '80s in Classic Black. All original loaded with Celestion G10D-25 speaker.
In great shape, no rips or tears to the tolex, all original pots and knobs. In complete working order with no issues.' Here is a photo of the same amp on GBASE (priced $140). I read Billy Gibbons used a Marshall Lead 12 when he recorded 'My Head is in Mississippi'. Can't say anything specific about that exact amp - but as a general rule one should not disregard Marshall SS amps from the 80's. They can actually sound very good indeed - not the same as a big tube Marshall at gig volume, no - but they can certainly be nice sounding practice amps, and some are very good at what they do.
In some older schematics the 4103 & 4104 combo's are. User manual for Master Volume and Lead. The TS122 combo's is fitted with a 12' Marshall Celestion.
Personally i have a 'Marshall 75 reverb' which is an all SS channelswitcher with a celestion 'Sidewinder' speaker in it. Not quite a tube amp, but it definitely gets a Marshall vibe going. And it could easily do a good Marshall impression at an impromptu jam. Honestly, my experience with SS Marshalls is that their speakers are often a weak link and they tend to have a very definitive sweet spot. Play them too quietly and they sound thin, play them too loudly and they sound REALLY like a fizzy solid state amp.
I've said it before, but I had a friend that had an early 80s JCM800 1x12 combo and one of the SS or hybrid amps from the late 80s or early 90s (I met him in about 1994 and he'd had it for a couple years) with the two full rows of knobs. I think it was an AVT something series. He swore up and down that he preferred the AVT.
I think part of that was the 800 always sounded better and better the louder you turned it, but he really did get some incredible tones out of the SS/hybrid jobbie. He actually let me borrow the 800 for about a year and a half because he never played it unless I was over. He gigged and recorded with the AVT.
The only way to get past the nasty op amp clipping artifacts is to crank the heck out of it. And its pretty darn loud at that point. I was hoping that Ed Hunter was buying the elusive Lead 12 that doesn't have the line/headphone out jack on the front. Just the High and Low inputs. Supposedly, that is a different circuit. Possibly done 'discretely' with some back to back diodes for clipping. It was the very first year or two that the Lead 12's were made.
Roger Troutman Patch Micro Korg Ebay more. But, I don't know. I've seen/read posts from years ago with people talking about them. Now when I ask around, people don't know what the heck I'm talking about. So, I can't even get a decent gut shot of one.
A Lead 12 is a decent amp, but not or ever 300 bucks decent, even for a stack. Besides the 1st version you want, never came in a stack, but only in the 5005 combo form. And then it's only a good deal if you can get it for 50-100 bucks. Pay more and you've been had. There's a couple of tricks to make the most of it.
Use a Y plug to go into both outputs. Use the Headphone/line out into another amp. Either as overdrive into the front, or as preamp into a powersection. And last but not least plug it into a 4x12'. Wakjob, I have 2 version 1s in storage, if I remember next time I'm in there I'll shoot a few gutshots. A Lead 12 is a decent amp, but not or ever 300 bucks decent, even for a stack. Besides the 1st version you want, never came in a stack, but only in the 5005 combo form.
And then it's only a good deal if you can get it for 50-100 bucks. Pay more and you've been had. There's a couple of tricks to make the most of it. Use a Y plug to go into both outputs.
Use the Headphone/line out into another amp. Either as overdrive into the front, or as preamp into a powersection.