Unexpected NCD. Marshall experts opinion please.

[Thunderpaws 17]

Hi folks. 

Was donated this cab today but I don’t really know what it is. The elderly chap that gave it to me (I gave him a nice bottle of wine in exchange) told me he bought it new way back when (possibly 1969). 

Its a 4 x 12, made in England (so guessing Marshall) and has had some DIY connectors put on the back panel at some point. 

 

Irs been signed some person at some point probably in the factory. 

Any help identifying it and how many ohmagges it uses and how many wattages it can handle would be greatly appreciated. 

Cheers,

Paws. 

[ianrendall 86]

Hiwatt? Is there and indication that there was a logo stuck to the front?

[Thunderpaws 17]

Yes, it appears there is a reinforced rectangular area around the centre of the front panel. The old owner said the cloth grill had gone long time ago. 

[Bill Fitzmaurice 120]

It looks like a guitar cab loaded with Celestion Greenbacks.

[chris_b 620]

Looks like the bottom cab of a stack.

[Dood 540]

55 minutes ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

It looks like a guitar cab loaded with Celestion Greenbacks.

My thoughts exactly! 

[Dan Dare 189]

6 hours ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

It looks like a guitar cab loaded with Celestion Greenbacks.

Agreed. If they're working, you should be able to flog vintage Greenbacks separately to guitar players for decent money and give the cab a Christian burial. Have a look at the prices Celestion charge for the re-issued GBs (Watford valves stock them).

[DrBike 3]

3 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

Agreed. If they're working, you should be able to flog vintage Greenbacks separately to guitar players for decent money and give the cab a Christian burial. 

I'd say that something like that deserves a Viking Burial!

[Thunderpaws 17]

I’ve had a look at the soldering. It’s a bit dodgy. I’ll fix it so all works ok. 

Potentially could do it up again and out guitarist could use. Where can I buy grill cloth and a Marshall logo from?

Either that or I sell it and buy bass gear!! 

[bertbass 51]

Not a Marshall bottom cab as the baffle doesn't slant back.  Not a Hiwatt, they used Fane speakers.  Not a Sound City as the handles are wrong and they also used Fanes.  Judging but the bit of fret cloth wrapped round the edges of the baffle inside, I'd say it's something like a Sola Sound.

[chris_b 620]

36 minutes ago, bertbass said:

Not a Marshall bottom cab as the baffle doesn't slant back. 

The baffle slanted back on the top cab. I had a Marshall bottom cab and it was this shape. . . but then a lot of others were too.

[bertbass 51]

You're right, the top cab has the top 2 speakers angled back but the bottom cab has the baffle slightly angled from about an inch at the bottom to about 2 inches at the top and I can't see that slant in the photos.

[stevie 132]

I once had a pair of Marshall 4x12s of that vintage and the bottom one certainly looked similar to this. I remember that it was plywood and I also remember that ruddy great brace in the centre. Those also look like the cups that the wheels from the top cab fitted into. I used to lift one 4x12 on top of the other without blinking. Those were the days!

I'd say it's probably a Marshall. If it is, it's the same one used by Jimmy Page, Pete Townsend, Paul Kossoff et al, and might be worth more than the value of the individual Greenbacks. You can get Marshall bits and pieces on eBay.

I hope it was a good bottle of wine, Thunderpaws.😛

[MoonBassAlpha 84]

13 hours ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

It looks like a guitar cab loaded with Celestion Greenbacks.

Definitely Greenbacks, shame the labels are missing, but they can be dated to within a range from the codes on the basket and the cone.

I had a small Marshall bass combo (30W) that was factory fitted with 2 greenbacks. It didn't sound great tbh.

[bertbass 51]

This is interesting.

 

http://www.marstran.com/cabdata/cabdata.html

[KK Jale 20]

I think that's a possibly a "Ron" assembly signature.  "Ron" and  "John" were commonly found in Marshalls in the 70s. Jim Marshall signed some at times, but he scrawled his full name. I'm no cab expert though. 

T1281 is a guitar cone code found on G12H speakers. The date code could be stamped on the cork gasket, you'd need to remove a speaker to see it. These are quite sought-after so-called "Hendrix" speakers, even with the missing labels. See here: http://www.bygonetones.com/celestion-speaker-models.html#T1281 

Bottle of wine, pfff! Don't blow them. 

 

 

Edited June 28 by KK Jale

[T-Bay 597]

Looks like Alan to me.

[Thunderpaws 17]

I’ve sent an email and photos off to Marshall to see if they can date it and tell me more about it. They got back almost instantly when I contacted through messenger. I’ll wait and see what info they have but all of the above sounds intriguing. 

They said they’d sort me out some grill cloth and a logo to help renovate it. The first person I spoke to at Marshall  seems to think it is one of their bottom cabs

As soon as they get back I’ll let you know. Might also get time to take a speaker off for further ID over the next couple of days  

 

 

[Pea Turgh 101]

Loving this - what a find!

[Thunderpaws 17]

The guy I got this from still had a head of the same era and a top cab plus recording equipment. He wanted rid of this as it was getting in the way in his wee carpet warehouse!

[Pea Turgh 101]

Get him a box of wine and help him out!

[Thunderpaws 17]

Pea Turgh, I know...I did suggest that when I saw it. However he has shelf space for the rest. 

[Thunderpaws 17]

Managed to get a few minutes this evening so took a driver out for some photos. 

Dont know if this means anything to anyone?!

[MoonBassAlpha 84]

From the basket code it looks like the 25th of June. If you can find a better example of the last figure on one of the other speakes that will be the year - pre 1970 from the date code format DD M Y as described here: http://www.bygonetones.com/celestion-date-codes.html

From where the stamp is on the chassis the last character is probably an A dating it to 1968, which ties in with the back story.

The cones look like the highly sought after Pulsonic from '68-'71 according to this: http://www.bygonetones.com/celestion-cones.html

They are the 55Hz resonance ones, so possibly the cab was a bass cab?

Edited July 3 by MoonBassAlpha
extra info!

[Thunderpaws 17]

This from Marshall today...

 

 

Thank you for the information, as the last digits is not clear, this could be a N or a M meaning 1967 or 1968 the speaker itself was first used in October 1966 it is a 30 watt 15 ohm G12H based on the 1221 the 25 watt lead speaker but was manufactured for bass. 

If the cabinet is wired as a standard 4x12 it would be 15 ohms at a maximum wattage of 120, these cabinets were designed to be used with the 50 watt bass amplifier 1986 or two of the cabinets with the 100 watt version. We would not recommend using one cabinet with a 100 watt amplifier.

If is very difficult to say which fret cloth was used as there were two to three different designs we don`t have records for individual cabinets the covering would have probably been black levant .

 

Kind Regards,

 

 

JOANNA GREEN RETURNS/CUSTOMER SERVICES MANAGER +44 (0)1908 375 411 DENBIGH ROAD, BLETCHLEY, ENGLAND, MK1 1DQ