Blog of Ian Parr

Well I have been waiting weeks for Marshall to give me a formal quote for the components for my 2203.
Half hearted (from several Marshall staff) email communications over several week resulted in a quote of £16.63 for (almost) all the bits and pieces I needed.
Quote from Marshall:
“The only problem that we have is that the [...]

I could go to town having it recovered, replacing the corners etc. but its a vintage amp and I want to keep it looking well used.
1. New strap handle for the top of the amp. The old one has rusted and snapped at one end.
2. New ceramic valve bases for the EL34’s, one has cracked [...]

A matched quad set of Electro Harmonix valves arrived yesterday.
Had to wait until the wife and children were out of the house this morning before I could plug them in and test the amp with all four valves.
I did remember to set the output impedance back to 8 Ohms before testing.
A warm, satisfying orange glow [...]

Apart from the cosmetic ‘problems’ with the amp:

Shoddy looking tolex cover
Broken top strap handle
Rustly looking internal chassis
Cobwebs inside !

I wasn’t actually sure whether the amplifier was in working order.
With replacement transformers costing around £100+ each, all the power amp valves (EL34) missing, voltage selector and impedance selectors missing etc etc. It may turn out to [...]

I have had a Mk 2 1978 Marshall Master model 100W head sitting around for ages (about 9 years!) as a restoration project. Well, now I have finally got around to starting the restoration job.
I’ll document my progress here over the coming weeks.