Original vs New Build

[Littlewyan]

I'm currently toying with the idea of building a 69 Marshall 50W Head, but I'm wondering, is it better to buy an original?

It will cost roughly £650/£700 to build a new one with the parts I like to use, whereas a 72/73 50W Head is between £1300 and £2000 depending on condition and whether its PCB or Turret Board.

The original Marshall will go up in value, however, if I continue to play it then eventually parts will fail due to wear and tear and will have to be replaced, thus reducing the value of the amp.

If I build a new one, it will never be worth a lot of money because an unknown person built it, its not branded and people are always weary of buying home builds (understandably). But it will be new and it will be built to my spec.

What are your guy's thoughts?

[Bob S]

Build one to suit you.
Lots of mods & options out there.

[martin manning]

Cost of DIY is 1/3 to 1/2 of an original. Will it sound like an original? For all practical purposes yes, with some care in selecting components. Some people will disagree, but so be it. Maximizing the resale value of an original amp would not be compatible with playing or even properly maintaining it, and further to Bob's comment, you won't be afraid to tweak a DIY amp here and there to suit your preferences.

[sliberty]

Sounds like you plan to play the amp, so I'd say build it. Resale value is not so important as your initial outlay will be so much lower. And since you will have built it to your specs, and you'll feel free to mod it along the way, it will suit your playing needs better.

If your goal was an investment, obviously an original would make more sense.

[Littlewyan]

Thanks guys, you're right. Plus a new amp with new parts should (in theory) be more reliable. I will build my own

[martin manning]

Spend some money on transformers to get the right voltages and OT characteristics. Mallory 150 caps are a good choice. Here's my JMP/JCM800 hybrid from a few years back: http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

[Littlewyan]

Thats a lovely amp! Very tidy!

I used Classic Tone transformers in my JTM50 which sounds pretty dam good, so I will probably go with them again.

I will start a new thread as always when I get started . I actually have two possible amp projects coming soon. I might be moving my JCM800/Pignose G40V into a proper JCM800 Chassis. In it's current state it oscillates too easily, even after adding a few snubber caps and it just doesn't sound right. Plus I'll never get a big sound out of that tiny cabinet so I want to turn it into a head.

[Firestorm]

People like Greg Germino and Chris Merren do wonderfully well at replicating Marshalls from specific periods, so it is possible to source highly "accurate" components. Transformers are key of course. And coupling/tone caps. Filter cap values are all over the place in classic Marshalls with some of the most revered examples being hugely underfiltered. Sounds like a fun project.

[Littlewyan]

I've always heard good things about them. I think my JTM50 sounds very similar to the real thing but I'm only going by youtube clips.

The filtering I was going to go for was 100uF Mains, 50uF Screens, 50uF PI and 32x32uF Preamp

[TUBEDUDE]

That sounds a tad over filtered to me. Is 50, 50, 20,10 too little to avoid oscillation or ghosting?

[ToneMerc]

People like Greg Germino and Chris Merren do wonderfully well at replicating Marshalls from specific periods, so it is possible to source highly "accurate" components. Transformers are key of course. And coupling/tone caps. Filter cap values are all over the place in classic Marshalls with some of the most revered examples being hugely underfiltered. Sounds like a fun project.

Ditto, underfiltered and the ability to sag.

TM

[Littlewyan]

Its standard for a 69 50W Marshall. 68 50W Marshalls had 32uf PI and 32uf screens I think. As I already have a nice saggy JTM50 I thought it would be good to have an aggressive fast playing 69 50W.

[bluesfendermanblues]

The 68 model sounds pretty nice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hYCKeOsj_w

[Littlewyan]

Sounds real nice. How do you know its a 68 model?

[deeder]

Such some of good things on this thread.
I built a JMP50 68 era replica with Chris Merren transformers (see my project in the Marshall section) and can't be happier with it. I have done a lot of experimentations using it as a good platform for.
What I've learned is to go for modern components, best transformers you can get, and good suppliers for hardware.
Since you're located in Great Britain my take is to source lot of parts from Modulus. Or if you want to go oversease with Robert @ Valvestorm. That will be a good catch ;^)
I got no building amps fever under my skin, I only get musician DNA. Reason why I joined TAG to validate my project approach. Since I built my JMP 50 I converted it to a 2204, a real Rock Tone Machine ;^)
Long live tube amps!