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NAD Marshall Super Bass


Billy Apple
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Thought I'd take a punt on a Marshall Super Bass and all told I'm very happy with it. Arrived via courier on Tuesday with no damage, so well done Interparcel / UPS. Mind you the seller must own a Bubblewrap mine as I could've dropped it down the stairs without bothering a bottle! So thanks to Tommorichards and thanks to Basschat for having a reliable marketplace with stand-up members.

So without further a-do!..

Ta Da!..

[url="http://imgur.com/JklsO4u"][/url]


Now I've never played through a Marshall before and for some reason I always thought they would sound a bit stuffed-up and gainy, but I've been blown away by this thing. It's really fresh and open, with a lovely articulation and beautiful treble clank. All wrapped up with a nice punchy, kick in the guts bass. I've heard these were non too popular for not being loud enough, but at half volume I think the whole of the village heard me today. It really starts cooking when you get the volumes up.

There is very little fuzz and no gain control, it all comes from the back-end which as we all know is where the beauty of valves lie. Also I'd argue that this head is just about a manageable weight to make it a contender for regular gigging. At 20Kg it is portable in the valve sense, certainly easier than a 35Kg SVT.

I thought I'd check the serial number with Marshall, so I phoned them up today and was told one or two interesting things. Firstly, it has no markings on the front save the Jim Marshall Sig. I'd understood that this was due to it being an early JCM800 transitional model. Phil the historian at Marshall told me that all JCM800 Series Marshall Super Bass Mk II's where scripted on the front with JCM800 from '79 onwards. He said that the original lettering was silk screened on and that people used white spirit to remove it in an attempt to make the amp look older.

He told me the EQ section was interactive and in his opinion didn't sound as good out the box as the older heads, but with a bit of work you can get them to sound better. The slope pot boosts low end a bit and the mid sweep affects bass and treble. Anyway, I've just got everything pushed a bit and it sounds great.

I took it out the sleeve today and everything is in good order, save a clean needed to the top chassis. The lead dress is very good and it doesn't look like any repairs or mods have been done at all. The amp runs very quietly indeed. I was relieved not to find any horror stories inside.





Stuck to the chassis was the original QC label and this has given a little bit of interesting history to the amp..



Well, the amp was born on 16/06/81. The test was carried out by Dennis who has only recently retired from Marshall. Jean did the AC, tag board and back panel and Rena did the assembly. Rena, it turns out was Jim Marshall's wife! So all in all a pretty good pedigree! :)

All I need now is a cab wide enough to sit it on.

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I had one of these until last year. A genuinely brilliant sounding amp, for some reason over looked and under rated by people. I only sold it as it was sitting there not getting used due to buying an ad200b.

The same model has been used by refused and underoath on their last few albums. I think tool used them for guitar as well.

You got yourself a good purchase.

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Ooooh she's a beauty!! I have a Marshall Super Bass too. Mine's an interesting story hailing back to '68 / '69 and makes a very lovely sound too. I totally echo your comments about sound. Get it away from those classic sealed cabinet 4x12's and through a Barefaced Big Twin II, it sounds clear and articulate.

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[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1456934772' post='2993757']
If only they were wide enough not to have each end hanging over!
[/quote]

That's very true..will just have to try out the Barefaced 6x10 / 8x10 then!!

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  • 2 months later...

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