marshall 2001 - 400watt marshall valve head.

[MAMMOTHvolume]

Recently picked up a marshall 2001 head in a bit of a state of disrepair - given it a once over and the only problems i can find so far are its one valve down and some of the fuses have been bypassed. The pluses though is all the output valves are GE 6550s which are worth a fair bit, the preamp ones are mix and match though.

I've not been able to find much information about this amp on the internet aparently its quite rare?

Anyway i thought people would appreciate some pictures of this beast! Check out the serious iron and take a wild guess at which valve had given up the ghost.

[Nightlyraider]

Too much humidity makes amp sad.

[BassmanPaul]

Looks to me like you have a labour of love ahead of you. BUT, before you get in too deeply make sure the transformers are good. If they are bad it's probably not worth the effort.

<Sigh> Bypassed fuses, seen that a time or ten. There again, we don't need no stinkin' fuses!!!!

Paul

[MAMMOTHvolume]

Amps up and running now sounds like a proper beast! I still need to replace the faulty valve bass on the second channel though.

i've seen people bypass fuses far to many times aswell paul, atleast this amp hadn't had any proper bodge jobs done to it, although i'm not 100% happy with how the new mains socket was implanted.

[nysbob]

Good lord, that is a beast!

I've never seen that model. I assume fairly similar sonically to a VBA 400?

[BassmanPaul]

Originally Posted by MAMMOTHvolume

Amps up and running now sounds like a proper beast! I still need to replace the faulty valve bass on the second channel though.

i've seen people bypass fuses far to many times aswell paul, atleast this amp hadn't had any proper bodge jobs done to it, although i'm not 100% happy with how the new mains socket was implanted.

Glad to hear the amp's living again.

As for the power socket I had a similar experience with a Hiwatt DR2001. Made a little plate to cover the big 'ole and started over. Looks fine now.

Paul

[MAMMOTHvolume]

Originally Posted by nysbob

Good lord, that is a beast!

I've never seen that model. I assume fairly similar sonically to a VBA 400?

different circuit different tone stack, two channels that you can blend, no master control, compression, a transformer balanced DI taken from the output transformer (not seen this on any other amps).

it's quite a different beast to the VBA400 its alot more hifi sounding. I'd say soundwise its more like a hifi more powerful version of an SVT.

@paul - i'm not so bothered about the cosmetics its more the fact they've used spade connectors for some reason which hang out quite far and have me worried they may be a cause of failure in the near future. If you can pull it off with your hands i wouldn't trust it as the main earth connection for the amp!

[Bassmec]

Originally Posted by MAMMOTHvolume

different circuit different tone stack, two channels that you can blend, no master control, compression, a transformer balanced DI taken from the output transformer (not seen this on any other amps).

it's quite a different beast to the VBA400 its alot more hifi sounding. I'd say soundwise its more like a hifi more powerful version of an SVT.

@paul - i'm not so bothered about the cosmetics its more the fact they've used spade connectors for some reason which hang out quite far and have me worried they may be a cause of failure in the near future. If you can pull it off with your hands i wouldn't trust it as the main earth connection for the amp!

Thats a proper chaps amp that one, nothing about that amp suggests the power of the pink pound to me mate!
Never played through one but I bet its great, Marshalls answer to the V8 trace?.

[KramerBassFan]

Never even heard of this model!

Any idea of age?

80's or so looks about right... maybe in the Rose Morris Days? Some obscure head perhaps?

And, was it an import (to America that is ) model?

The 6550's make me think so... I know Univox (Unicord - brand that imported marshalls in the 70's) converted LOADS of Marshalls to 6550's.... Then also used the Marshall transformer designs on the Univox Branded amps.

[nysbob]

Originally Posted by MAMMOTHvolume

different circuit different tone stack, two channels that you can blend, no master control, compression, a transformer balanced DI taken from the output transformer (not seen this on any other amps).

Thanks...I don't usually lust after amps, but that is one I'd truly like to take out for one date....or a hundred.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Thanks for the pics, it's always nice to see rare amp guts.

Regards
Sam

[Sartori]

Originally Posted by BassmanPaul

Looks to me like you have a labour of love ahead of you. BUT, before you get in too deeply make sure the transformers are good. If they are bad it's probably not worth the effort.

<Sigh> Bypassed fuses, seen that a time or ten. There again, we don't need no stinkin' fuses!!!!

Paul

People bypass fuses? Isn't that kinda... dangerous?

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Originally Posted by Sartori

People bypass fuses? Isn't that kinda... dangerous?

Just as dangerous as drunk driving, doing hard drugs, screwing left and right without protection etc.

Hasn't stopped people from doing it though.

And never will.

Regards
Sam

[Sartori]

Originally Posted by T-Bird

Hi.



Just as dangerous as drunk driving, doing hard drugs, screwing left and right without protection etc.

Hasn't stopped people from doing it though.

And never will.

Regards
Sam

People are so stupid. I can't think of why anyone would go out of their way to make their amp more easily damaged and more likely a danger to the user.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by Sartori

People are so stupid. I can't think of why anyone would go out of their way to make their amp more easily damaged and more likely a danger to the user.

so it won't blow fuses on a gig. of course, it'll just blow the whole amp up if it gets a power spike, but at least it won't blow a fuse. that's called "dumb guy engineering."

[MAMMOTHvolume]

Originally Posted by KramerBassFan

Never even heard of this model!

Any idea of age?

80's or so looks about right... maybe in the Rose Morris Days? Some obscure head perhaps?

And, was it an import (to America that is ) model?

The 6550's make me think so... I know Univox (Unicord - brand that imported marshalls in the 70's) converted LOADS of Marshalls to 6550's.... Then also used the Marshall transformer designs on the Univox Branded amps.

according to marshall its an 81 and under a hundred of them were made, so definatly quite rare.

people do some rather stupid things with valve amps, makes you wonder where the myth of them being fragile came from. I've seen people bypass fuses by wrapping them in tin foil which has led to some nice consiquences!

[nysbob]

Want.

[BassmanPaul]

Originally Posted by Sartori

People bypass fuses? Isn't that kinda... dangerous?

Fuses wrapped in cigarette foil is quite common. I had an old Marshall in one day with the HT (B+) fuse so wrapped. Sadly the AC fuse was a piece of a nail. Replaced: both power and output transformers, the choke all the output tubes and a few burnt out resistors.

Paul

[MarshallLaw]

man that thing looks gnarly.

[Happy Face]

Originally Posted by KramerBassFan

Never even heard of this model!

Any idea of age?

80's or so looks about right... maybe in the Rose Morris Days? Some obscure head perhaps?

And, was it an import (to America that is ) model?

The 6550's make me think so... I know Univox (Unicord - brand that imported marshalls in the 70's) converted LOADS of Marshalls to 6550's.... Then also used the Marshall transformer designs on the Univox Branded amps.

About 100 with serial numbers were made. More were made without numbers -- they were given to touring bands. (Mine was used by Deep Purple.) In fact, it's said the amp was developed to silence bass players in bands with Marshall endorsement deals. They wanted to use SVTs, so Marshall came up with these. Noisy and loud. But really not the greatest touring amp IMO. Things like to work loose whenever you move it.