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Marshall 9005 power amp Help!


shine182
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Hi,

Just picked up a marshall 9005 50w + 50w valve rack mount power amp.

I own a orange SP212 and had hoped to put the full 100watts into it via the marshall and peavey Alfa bass preamp! Snagg is it only seems to run in stereo.

Does anyone know these amps and can help? Do I have buy another cabanx iff not am I stuck with running one channel at 50w?

The guy I bought it off said it could be done simply by running a Y cable into the cab?

Any help appreciated.

Regards

Alex

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[quote name='shine182' timestamp='1433376282' post='2790645']...
Any help appreciated...
[/quote]

Don't listen to the guy; you can't use a 'Y' cable for the outputs of that amp (it'll suffer serious damage...). The only really useful suggestion would be to modify your cab so as to have 2 separate jack sockets, one for each speaker, and plug the two channels into one jack each. You'd get the full 2 x 50w, and the speakers won't mind a bit.
Is this for bass..? These are very good amps, but not, I'd say, ideal for 'classic' bass use. No real problem, just not as suitable as several other valve amps. Still, if you bought it for a low enough price, it'll work OK.
Hope this helps.

Edited by Dad3353
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Advice appreciated! I'll look into a stereo wiring mod!

By not as suitable you don't mean these things have a built on low frequency cut or anything?

Price wise it seemed a bit of a steal and having used other 100/120watt valve heads before I was confident it would have my trousers flapping in no time :)

Regards

Alex

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Guest bassman7755

The 9005 is essentially two JCM lead head power sections in one box so is really designed for people building modular stereo guitar rigs.

Edited by bassman7755
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Yes I hear you there but weighs as least as much as a V4BH or SC120B I'd run with before and its unbelievably loud with a guitar. Had hoped it would work well for bass coupled with a fairly good preamp. Guess I'll find out tonight when I plug it all in to test!

Totally gutted I can't run it 100w mono tho... Felt sure there would be a way other than wiring my cab in stereo :(

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Alex...

I've just had a closer look at your cab, an isobaric 2 x 12. Hmm... Electronically, there's no problem with separating the speakers, one jack each, but I'm not sure that it'll sound the same when split like that. Any tiny difference between the two signals will confuse the cones, which are designed to work very closely together. Might be worth a try, of course, and easily reversible if not satisfactory. The ideal option, as mentioned in your OP, would be adding a second, identical, cab.
The amp is, essentially, just a 2-channel power amp, with very limited options for tone changing, and lacking the features of a more classic bass amp, such as DI out, or fx send/return. All the tone is taken to be in the pre-amp, and guitar rigs are usually mic'd, so no meed for DI. We use valve amps for bass (I've a '70s Fender Bassman 50w and Hiwatt 200w...) and we forgo these 'modern' conveniences; that's part of the charm, but it's not always the most flexible solution. As we play 'straight' (Plug in and play...), this is not a problem for us; you may find it more of a constraint, depending on your repertoire and style.
Nice amp, anyway, which deserves to be used and appreciated. One has to like the 'Marshallness', as that's what it will do best, so it's best suited to a guitarist using a stereo pedalboard playing AC/DC and such. Personally I prefer 'Fender clean', so it wouldn't be my first choice, even for guitar, but, as usual, YMMV. Good luck with your projects; tell us how this progresses, please..?

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hopefully the previous owner didn't try the y-cable trick as it could have damaged something, if this was me then I'd be looking to swap it out for a mono valve power amp, your cab isn't ideal for stereo as Dad3353 has already pointed out, and running just one side at 50w is a bad idea too as it may damage the amp (valve amps are supposed to always be running into a load when switched on)

Matt

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[quote name='Matt P' timestamp='1433409653' post='2790786']... running just one side at 50w is a bad idea too as it may damage the amp (valve amps are supposed to always be running into a load when switched on)...
[/quote]

True in general, but in this case, an unloaded channel will be fine, provided that the relevant channel is left on 'Standby'. With no signal, it will be OK; it's often done that way with these amps. No worries there, but it would be prudent to 'gaffer' the Standby switch, or jam it with a plectrum or similar. it's all too easy to blunder, n'est-ce pas..? :happy:

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Thanks for your input guys! Had that horrible feeling you get when spending hard earned cash on something that could be a completely useless!

Wager your right regarding the potential for frequency cancellation if I wire the inline speakers to stereo.

Looks like I'll have to get another Orange SP212... I'm sure the wife will agree... She loves the precision placement of my speaker cabinets in the living room :)

Best Regards

Alex

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It doesn't have to be useless. 50w of all tube is quite a punch, I think it will be suffice. A little dirt from the power amp might add a nice charm to your sound. I regularly gig with Little Bastard 30w all tube amp, and for really loud gig I take 150w Ampeg b1 head, most of the time with only one can so it is more like a 80-90 solid state watts. It's alright.

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Well fired up the Marshall yesterday using only the 50watts on tap into a Kustom 410 via the peavey alfa bass pre and my mexican active jazz. I was pleasantly suprised!

With a little drive from the pre and a touch of drive from the power amp I had a lovely Carlos Dengler type sound going down, just solid and growly.

I've decided to stick with it! Get another orange SP212 to unleash the full 100w, as my 410 departs this weekend.

I think there's more balls to this amp than I had imagined. Given that in essence it's two seperate marshall 50watt heads in one box, with four fair sized transformers, it certainly packs a punch. Not masses of head room. But just enough :)

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