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Vintage threads from the first ten years

68 Marshal 50 voltages

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3/11/2000 6:37 PM
jbednar	68 Marshal 50 voltages I just picked up a '68 50 Watt Marshall, which sounds amazing. It has a replaced power transformer. It looks like it was from a fender Bassman. The EL34's currently have about 460 volts on the plates. Does anyone know what the voltage would be with the original power transformer?

3/12/2000 4:12 PM
dave rutherford	About 390v to 400v plate voltage, I think. Some of the earlier 50 watt plexi's may have had ~440 v.

3/14/2000 6:42 PM
SpeedRacer	My 1970 1986 head has 430-440V fwiw. Pretty typical. The eary-to-mid 70's stuff went sub 400V

3/19/2000 5:45 PM

Thanks for all your help. The tranformer in the amp is a fender x mount that someone handmade brackets to install it. The amp sounds great, but the transformer looks like it wouldn't take a beating on the road. So, if I went in to sturdy it up, I figured I just replace it. I have a spare from the 70's but it only got about 400v on the plates. I didn't want to drop that tranny in and lose that tone.
Thanks again.

3/13/2000 11:47 AM
Nils	I think they may vary alot, and it seems to me that the older ones were hotter. I had a Super Bass 4 EL34's and it had 540volts on the plates, if I remember correctly Nils

3/13/2000 12:07 PM
DavidB	A friend of mine has a 68 thats around 530,if it sounds amazing at that voltage I'd leave it.

3/13/2000 3:45 PM
Rebel420	I get about 530v on my '73 running 2 power tubes, if i kick itup to 4 (it's a 100watter), the voltage sags a bit, but never more than 525v

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