Old Marshall Amps

[darrin_h2000]

I was told that certain bands touring over here from england in the late 60s would help finance the tours by bringing over and using Marshalls they could get cheap there...then selling them here for a huge profit....buying up Fender amps with that money and taking them back to england to sell.

So it stands to reason that allmost any Marshall anp in the US older than the first year they actually distributed amps here was used by a famous Musician once...what year would that cut off be?

 

[ocnor]

So it stands to reason that allmost any Marshall anp in the US older than the first year they actually distributed amps here was used by a famous Musician once...what year would that cut off be?

I don't agree with that. Some may have been used by famous people. I'm sure that plenty of not so famous people brought amps over with them [IE: tourists,military personnel].

 

[legionserial]

I don't agree with that. Some may have been used by famous people. I'm sure that plenty of not so famous people brought amps over with them [IE: tourists,military personnel].

Not to mention the bands that didn't get famous.

 

[second skin]

I was told that certain bands touring over here from england in the late 60s would help finance the tours by bringing over and using Marshalls they could get cheap there...then selling them here for a huge profit....buying up Fender amps with that money and taking them back to england to sell.

So it stands to reason that allmost any Marshall anp in the US older than the first year they actually distributed amps here was used by a famous Musician once...what year would that cut off be?

thats some really fuzzy logic. besides...who cares. it's just another tool no matter who used it.

 

[DrewPeterson7]

thats some really fuzzy logic. besides...who cares. it's just another tool no matter who used it.

...and you couldn't sell it as a "used by famous person collectable amp" unless you could document that claim pretty well.

Besides, old Marshalls are bloody expensive no matter who owned them anyway - the potential profit margin would be quite small.

 

[Light]

Not to mention the legitimate importers who, you can be sure, imported FAR more amps than any touring bands.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[darrin_h2000]

...and you couldn't sell it as a "used by famous person collectable amp" unless you could document that claim pretty well.

Besides, old Marshalls are bloody expensive no matter who owned them anyway - the potential profit margin would be quite small.

Apparently they were pretty big margins if they made the figures they say they did...according to Richerd Cole...Led Zeppelin made tens and thousands in profits on both coasts...probubly selling large numbers to contacts in both countries.

Now tourists that brought over amps might only make up a small ammount of those amps...I allways remember those old amps having some kind of story at the places that would carry that vintage stuff.

Id venture to guess that at least 50% of them were brought over on concert tours and sold in that same manner.

 

[darrin_h2000]

Not to mention the legitimate importers who, you can be sure, imported FAR more amps than any touring bands.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

According to Richerd Cole...it was very profitable because they were not able to get Marshalls any other way...you couldnt import them back then...as was the same with Fender amps over there.

 

[Light]

According to Richerd Cole...it was very profitable because they were not able to get Marshalls any other way...you couldnt import them back then...as was the same with Fender amps over there.

Incorrect - it was just very expensive. But it was done. I promise you, it is nothing like 50%. Maybe 1% came over that way - but I kind of doubt it's that high.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[mrface2112]

According to Richerd Cole...it was very profitable because they were not able to get Marshalls any other way...you couldnt import them back then...as was the same with Fender amps over there.

The birth of the Marshall amp makes this "fact" incorrect.....being as jim marshall owned a music shop which distributed/sold fender amps....and given the fact that the JTM45 is essentially an english clone of the tweed bassman (which Jim sold in his store).

the story goes that local musicians loved the tweed bassman but lamented the extremely high price (due to shipping and import duties) and were pining for something more affordable. jim simply gave them what they wanted.

the recipe was simple....use the bassman as your basis, replace the valves and transformers with versions that were more readily availble in the UK, make the necessary circuit tweaks to accomodate those changes, and there you go.

that said, it's not like tweed bassmans were exactly cheap here in the states at the time, either.

cheers,
wade

 

[rayc]

Have a read through Ian Hunter's Dairy of a Rock N Roll Star.
Besides being a good read he explains how members of Mott the Hoople supplimented their meagre income by buying decent old U.S. guitars & gear from any pawn & music shops they encountered & taking them back to Blightly to sell at a profit but below the asking rpice in shops. They managed to make a pound here or there because they put the booty in with the bands gear & didn't have to pay transport or customs & excise. I don't think it'd have been worth the effort if they'd had to pay for those bits. The Marshall deal is probably the same sort of deal - ah, market forces of supply & demand in use by our rock heroes - soooo sad!