Played through Marshall stack last gig, any idea what it is? (pic)

[mouthmw]

So last saturday I used the venue backline, just to try something different from my rig (GK NEO 412 and GK 700RB II).

It was a 415 Marshall cab, and a tube Marshall 100W head.
I have no idea about the year or the model of either. It looked pretty cool, in red.

At first I was a bit worried about it only being 100W, but it was fat and loud, however it did break up a lot at the volume we played at, and it was dirty as hell. The knobs on the amp had no markers on it, so I turned them all down to set them up. It had way too much bass for me, so I actually had the bass knob all the way rolled off. Still thunderous bass! I cranked the mid and treble all the way, and cranked the presence knob halfway through the gig all the way on.
It's the total opposite of what my rig sounds like, while my rig is fast, tight, punchy and articulate, this was hefty, slower and massive on the low end. I even slapped on it for one song during riffs, and it worked pretty well, but when I tried slapping for some fills it pretty much got burried by my guitarist. So while it was muddy at times, it really filled things up, although I missed hearing the nuances and at times, actual notes that I played. Also, higher notes did not cut through nowhere near as well as my rig does.

Here's the pic of the rig I managed to find on the bar's site:


The bassist in the picture is not me, but it's the only picture I found where you can see the stack.

So, any idea what this might be?
Loved the fat tone, but missed some of the articulation. I might swap my GK 700RB II with a Markbass R500 that is described as "tube vintage sound" to get somewhere in between - fatter warmer sound but still clear.

[Gearhead17]

Almost looks like a 4x15 - possibly the Lemmy Kilmister setup. If that is a 412 next to what you played, it was definitely a bunch of 15's. Could have been the JCM 800 Bass version - I know it was used as a bass head between the 60's and the 70's.

[basscooker]

is that 4 inputs on the front panel? it may be jmp which means $$$$. AFAIK anything newer than jmp's have the faceplate the full width of the head. you may have just played thru a $2000 tube head. you'll never be cured of GAS now...

[rickdog]

I used to gig a Marshall 100W Super Lead (from about 1974-75), this looks like basically the same setup. Two channels, each with its own volume control, and a high and low level input on each channel. One channel is "normal" and the other is "bright".

When I tried it before I bought it, I plugged my bass into the normal channel, and it went "thud, thud, thud". I tried the bright channel and it went "tink, tink, tink". I was about to give up in disgust when the guitarist I was playing with told me the secret: plug the bass into one jack on the normal channel, then jumper the other jack of that channel to an input on the bright channel. Holy ****!

The tone controls didn't do much that was noticeable - but the two volume controls let me balance the lows and the highs. Cranked up to gigging level, it was punchy, crunchy, raunchy and just generally roxious.

So if you're ever back at that venue and can play that amp again, try that trick, I think you'll like it.

But as basscooker pointed out, watch out for the GAS!

[Clammy]

Without seeing the back panel, the head is either a mid/late-70s Super Bass or Super Lead. Based on your description of the tone, I'd say it's a Super Bass. the cab is a 4x15. Likely a model 1979, and likely from the same era as the head.

Cheers!

[lowfreq33]

That's a pretty pricy backline for what looks like a grungy rock club.