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Official Marshall Amp Club!

#261
Hey all, I've got a question for you: how do you get the electronics out of a VBA400 head?

My sound had deteriorated recently, sounding a tiny bit distorted. I removed every screw I could find on that baby to pull the electronics out of the wood case, but nothing moved.

Ever the impatient fool, I thought "oh yeah, the fabric panel on the front (with the logo) must pop off." So I popped it off, and...the power tubes are all the way in the back, and I just tore the screen off of the three wood screws that were holding it in place. I r a moron.

It looks like the whole electonics panel should slide out of the back once loosened. I'm wondering if the panel had kinda glued itself to the wood case just from heat, and if I would have been a bit more patient the whole thing would have slid out?

The preamp tubes are in front, held in place by a nice foamed bracked. When I went to re-seat the tubes I could tell at least one of them wasn't seated very well. Five minutes later, with the preamp tubes re-seated and clamped down the amp sounds great again. But now I have the grille cloth on the front of the amp ripped away from the wood.

I just wanted to check to see if any of you had ever replaced your tubes before and, if so, how you got access to them?

I'll do something stupid to re-install that grille cloth on the head, but seeing as how it's screwed in from the back I would ideally need to open up the back again. And I've not had any luck so far!

Great amp, even if I can never get the logo grille cloth on a gain. What a monster!

Thanks all,
 
#262
Z -Bar said:
marshalls2.jpg

Here it is - my Marshall stack. I didn't plan for this, it just kinda evolved. :)
I started out with the MB4210 combo. I thought that should be all I ever need. Come on, I'm 47 and I haven't played in a band in over 15 years. In fact I've hardly played at all in that time. All I'm going to do is plunk on a bass once in awhile, maybe play a little electric guitar through it.
Well, I got out and jammed with some friends a few times and it was really, really fun.:D
To me this amp sounds surprisingly good and seems to have lot's of power but I got the 1x15 extension cab any way. It makes a great little rig with just two cabs and brings the controls closer to eye level but it leaves me nothing at home unless I bring it back with me. So I got the MB450H head. I'll be getting the 4x10 before long and then I can keep the combo at home and use the "stack" everywhere else. It also gives me an identical a back up amp and I can now attempt Ric-o-sound, at least as soon as I can get a stereo instrument cable. :bassist:
Click to expand...

UPDATE:
I tried Ric - O - Sound. To me it sounded like a chorus effect. I sounded good but I doubt I'll use much because I can control electronic effects more precisely.

I've been working on dialing in using both amps. The MB4210 Combo for mids and highs and the MB450H and MBC115 with HF turned off for lows I'm using a Lehle P split to split my signal, putting effects only on the highs/mids. This gives me two 300 watt amps pushing two 4 ohm loads which (I think) gives me more head room.
My favorite thing about this rig is it's scalability. For example, if I just going to jam with some friends I can take just the 300 watt combo.
I can add the 1x15 for a little more coverage and the amp bumps up to 450 watts at 2 ohms.
Because the amps are identical I can also compare them for trouble shooting.
I may still pick up the MB4410 but I'm not sure I really need it.
Of course, this is all still in the tweaking phase.
 
#263
Love all the Marshall's. I'm useing a Silver Jubilee 600 model 3560 with a matching 410, would love to someday find the 215 that goes with it. I play an American Standard Jazz with a Duncan up front and a Lace at the bridge, a Hamer USA 12 String with EMG's, and a old 76 Guild JSB-2 thats bone stock and has that great worn finish. I also run a Rat, Ross compressor, and a Morley volume/wha and this thing stomps loads and rattles everything for miles. I would love to hear from other Jube players.
 
#264
Hi all! I just read through the thread. Awesome rigs! On the guitar side, I always gravitate toward Marshall even though I have used a Rivera 100 W head for a long time. Just a couple of days ago I finally hooked up a JMP-1 preamp to a JCM 900 SL-X head, both of which I have owned for two years or so. I bet the head could work for bass as well, with a proper cabinet. I used to drool over a 8 x 10 Marshall cab way back when I knew nothing about gear. I would still like to have the cab and a proper Marshall bass amp. Well, I guess I just will have to give the SL-X head a go one of these days, into this Trace Elliot 1x15 I have at home. Then maybe I can take pics and get into this club! I wonder if anyone is giving out numbers any more...
 
#266
Please delete my membership of the marshall amps club! Both units shipped back to Milton Keynes due to persistant faults on the crossover cards, replaced with entirely different manufacturers head and 4x10 now. A lot of amp for the money but ultimately poor qc or design on a silly little component meant they were just not reliable for regular gigging. Most disappointing.
 
#269
Thanks Al! I think I will have a good time with the JCM 800 Bass Series I am just about to get my hands on. If I need more wattage, I can rout it to my JCM 900 SL-X guitar amp! Cabs are Aguilar (also arriving soon) and Trace Elliot, both 8 ohms.

I will update my sig.
 
#270
Al Heeley said:
Please delete my membership of the marshall amps club! Both units shipped back to Milton Keynes due to persistant faults on the crossover cards, replaced with entirely different manufacturers head and 4x10 now. A lot of amp for the money but ultimately poor qc or design on a silly little component meant they were just not reliable for regular gigging. Most disappointing.
Click to expand...

That really sucks - sorry to hear. Good luck with your new gear though. Come back and let us know how it works out. I'd like to hear how they compared to your new rig. :bassist:
Really, we can take it.;)
 
#273
Z -Bar said:
That really sucks - sorry to hear. Good luck with your new gear though. Come back and let us know how it works out. I'd like to hear how they compared to your new rig. :bassist:
Really, we can take it.;)
Click to expand...
I now have a Hartke XL410 cab (400w, 8ohm) and a peavey tour 450 head. Firstly this is about £150 more expensive than the 2x10 combo and 1x15 cab from marshall, but the depth of tone and the punch from the cab really exceeds the marshall. There's loads of headroom and a lot of tone options on the peavey head, 9 band eq, mid-shape contour, treble and bass knobs, hi boost, low cut switch, as well as built in octaver. I'm getting a great range of tones from the Stingray into this with a little tweak from the eq or the mid contour so I am delighted. Sadly not very sorry to see the Marshall gear go. I still hold on to my tyrusty Mb150 combo as a backup, that has served me well and did not suffer from inferior build or qc courtesy of indian manufacture plant.
 
#274
Al Heeley said:
I now have a Hartke XL410 cab (400w, 8ohm) and a peavey tour 450 head. Firstly this is about £150 more expensive than the 2x10 combo and 1x15 cab from marshall, but the depth of tone and the punch from the cab really exceeds the marshall. There's loads of headroom and a lot of tone options on the peavey head, 9 band eq, mid-shape contour, treble and bass knobs, hi boost, low cut switch, as well as built in octaver. I'm getting a great range of tones from the Stingray into this with a little tweak from the eq or the mid contour so I am delighted. Sadly not very sorry to see the Marshall gear go. I still hold on to my tyrusty Mb150 combo as a backup, that has served me well and did not suffer from inferior build or qc courtesy of indian manufacture plant.
Click to expand...
I wonder if there is a difference between the Vietnam manufactured Marshalls and the ones made in India? I'm glad you got the gear that works for you! It's been a long time now but I used to run a Peavey Mark IV. The thing was like a tank. Gigged it for years and never had a problem with it.
Best of luck.:bassist:
 
#280
TheRockinRoadie said:
Both of my MB4210s broke on me, so, i had a change of heart, and bought this =]
So far we are getting on well, although im finding the Classic channel doesnt cut through very well.
Anybody have any settings for me to try?
Click to expand...
I found esp with the 15", the classic channel was way too scooped and just gave too much mushy bass in the background, lacking definition.
You need a load less mid cut in it, I usually ended up using the channel blend, never classic on its own, and used maybe 25% classic in the blend just to warm up the modern channel a bit.
 

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