flagship marshall scandal

[bourbonsamurai]

History of Marshall transformers

Before they used Dagnall, the older ones used Drake transformers and lay down transformers. A few even used the Partridge transformers (found in Hiwatts and some Laneys). 


 

Yeah, I had forgotten some of that, but around 10 or so years ago I became obsessed with old Marshalls and tried to learn everything possible about them.

Both of my old Marshalls have upright transformers, and I am pretty that Superlead had a Dagnall before someone butchered it. If I can't find an original one I might just go with a clone (they really can get it right these days in that department). Plus, as I posted earlier, the Power Transformer isn't that big of a deal as far as the tone is concerned, unlike the Output one which is essential for the Marshall tone we know and love. For what is worth, my 69 Superbass has Dagnalls.

 

i got into modding marshalls due to dissatisfaction with my dsl50s red channel, and subpar feel when variacd.  i put heyboers in one head, including an added choke, and later did the same with the other, using mercury fat stacks.  to my surprise, the stock spec heyboers felt much better than the giant mercury fat stacks, leading me down the drake/dagnall rabbithole of experimentation with subsequent client builds.  as a rule of thumb, the stock trannys are best, and marshall got the specs right, once they decided on the 50w drakes, and 100w dagnalls.  i never got close to the sound and feel of an original tranny, in any vintage marshall i worked on, no matter how expensive and spiffy the repro component i tried instead.  id say this is also the case, and even moreso, with blackface fenders.  the more you kick the shit out of these amps, the better they get, all other variables being equal as possible.  i never did try dropping a vintage drake in either of my dsl50s.  the one i put the heyboers in, particularly, was an absolute BEAST of an amp.  i had many, many engineers, throughout the southeast us, tell me it was the best marshall they ever heard.  the only conclusion i could draw was, quality trannys really do get better, when thrashed repeatedly, and money spent on newer, fancier components suffers steeply from the law of marginal utility.  whatever the true cause for the apparent superiority of those vintage drakes and dagnalls is a mystery, to me.