different power valves for my MA !!

[Crunchifyable]

Thats interesting. I can't tell for sure on mine, and it's possible that mine sat in music company warehouse collecting dust for two years.

Thats very interesting that yours was converted or fixed like that. Can you describe what the mods look like? Or was this something they just told you via the serial # on it?

But I know I had a revoiced MA50c briefly and the boost channel *seemed* completely different from what I have now. As in unusable fuzz pedal levels of gain, even with the gain knob down and single coils. But the OD channel was much better, much tighter as I remember. So I assume mine is un-revoiced.

I sort of wonder what it would take, step by step, to do the revoicing. I do think it improved the overall sound on the OD channel, but made the boost less useful, but I had only a week to play with it before I returned it.

I didn't really do a good job comparision shopping back then, and didn't know as much as I know now. But even the old version Chris George demoed still sounded pretty darn good.

I think the secret is just very moderate settings (knobs fairly even with eachother), and a good volume knob setting (around 5).

But maybe my JJs altered the sound before I had a chance to try it with the proper cab, and made it all either mushy, or too trebly. Could be a lot of things.

The Chinese can make good stuff.

[washburn 1]

H i Crunchi
Spoke to a guy at Marshall tech dept about my reverb not working (Now fixed) as i found a stray capacitor inside the chassis. He looked at the schematic and said it was nothing to do with it. I happened to ask about the mods as i thought i may try it myself. He started to tell me what components were removed and changed and this particular cap was one that would have been removed hence finding it loose inside! It had been clipped off its legs from the board.He could only tell me SO much saying that he would have to refer me to another dept, ...... then he came back on the phone and said that they would not give that info so he couldn`t help any further. It did give me a good idea of what had been done. I have info of about ten steps of the mod which i`ll put on later (i`m at work) at about 3.30am english time (just forgot to take them out of my bag, DUH!!). It may give you an idea but if you`ve got the 100 watter it might not be the same , some help from Steve would be nice, you could do a new thread for it/him possibly. It seems to be mainly removal of comp`and solid links .

Wouldn`t say that my boost is over fuzzy but it does seem to have a different characture but i think that is to be expected with a higher gain , its also different to the overdrive then turned very low in trying to emulate the straight o`drive sound, careful balancing and role reversal of these two pots can bring some nice results.

Would love Chris Georges` geetar that thing has got SOME tone!! Dont know what it is or the pickups but they sound mean!!

Running mine with two M 1936 cabs, one standard lead with G12 t75 and the other is the vintage, they compliment each other really well an using them together i wouldn`t want to use either singularly, they sound REALLY solid together much better than a 4x12 i think, due to the greater cabinet volume. Cheers, Kev.

P.S. Have you ever tried Planet Rock, pretty good, the only station i listen to over here. I can get it on digital radio but you could get it on the net wherever you are . give it a go!!

[Crunchifyable]

Well, I know the mod has something to do with increasing negative feedback for more gain. That will also brighten the sound a bit.

This probably explains why the boost itself is brighter, as I am thinking more negative feed back = more "presence" effect.

I look forward to hearing about it! And thank you - I'm always been curious about what exactly they did to add gain.

If it's that simple to do (clip one cap and a few other things) I may be interested in it, esp. as it seems selling the MA may not really be an option for me ( very little demand it seems for it). Bright cap mods for both channels might be interesting too (but thats a subject for another thread).

I've heard the Chinese tubes have earlier breakup. I'd be interested to know if you found this to be true at all.

[washburn 1]

Hi Crunchi
These mod `steps` are all i have , as i said earlier this is not the full procedure but i think there is enough evidence to prove that mine has been modded.

capacitor C8 (the one i found loose inside)

resistor R13

R162

R163


Link LK47 replaced with 100K resistor .

Unfortunately thats it. Dont know whether SteveD might help if you asked. Good luck.


My TAD do give a small amount of break-up noticable on the clean channel but the channel volume still has to be quite well up.

Hope that helps. Kev.

I guess to use smiles i just click on the appropriate one ??????

[Crunchifyable]

Hi Crunchi
These mod `steps` are all i have , as i said earlier this is not the full procedure but i think there is enough evidence to prove that mine has been modded.

capacitor C8 (the one i found loose inside)

resistor R13

R162

R163


Link LK47 replaced with 100K resistor .

Unfortunately thats it. Dont know whether SteveD might help if you asked. Good luck.


My TAD do give a small amount of break-up noticable on the clean channel but the channel volume still has to be quite well up.

Hope that helps. Kev.

I guess to use smiles i just click on the appropriate one ??????

Thanks for sharing this. I would be interested in knowing the full list of what was changed.

C8 was removed, you implied. The same, I take it, with R13, R162, and R163 (removed) ?

Interesting info.

[washburn 1]

Hi Crunchi

Sorry mate i should have made that clear, yes the resistors have all been removed. As i said you could always try involving Steve for some feedback and info. If you do let us know and i will follow it.

[Crunchifyable]

Hi Crunchi

Sorry mate i should have made that clear, yes the resistors have all been removed. As i said you could always try involving Steve for some feedback and info. If you do let us know and i will follow it.

Okay. Will do soon / eventually. Just put my MA chassis back in the shell,and my back doesn't relish the idea of taking it out again so soon :D (hardest part is trying not to mess up the shielding on the bottom, requiring some creativity), but it might be a good idea soon, as one of the tubes seems a little flakey in bias.

First priority I'm going to build an attenuator and consider rewiring my M412 cab to stereo (as soon as the parts arrive). Attenuator is 8 ohms, so it'll be a better match up using half the cab. but definitely would like to see if I can tweak the MA to sound better, which may including revoicing it, changing bright caps, or doing something to make the clean channel break up earlier (right now it basically has no pre-amp breakup without heavy boosts or really hot pickups)

For the smilies, you just click the icon and it pastes a code like :code: which will show a smiley in the final version.

[jagermike66]

On the subject of different tubes in the MA i thought id throw in my experience. I have used 4 different pairs in my MA50 (including stock winged Cs).

Stock winged Cs = not good at low volumes, but they come to life when gigging. Mid range fattens up and the low end stays tight. Also worth noting I have owned a few amps all with winged Cs in them, and I have NEVER blown one, so they are real workhorses.

JJ EL34L = Similar to winged Cs, but with more bottom end, and a crispier top end. Not to my tastes as the amp is already bright!

Gold Lion KT77 = AWESOME! wonderful balance, nice '3D' sort of sound. More bottom, and a smooth top (unlike the EL34L). When pushed it turns to pure filth (in a good way).

EH6CA7 = These are the ones I use at the moment and were describes as a 6L6/EL34 half breed. And thats a pretty good analysis. Full bottom end, glassy top (6L6), with the grit of an EL34. Oh and as an added bonus its breakup is pure evil. You gotta get the amp up to rediculous volumes to achieve that though. I find these really suit the MA as it puts more emphasis on the lower mids.

Still tempted to go back to KT77s though.....they did make me smile alot :)