ROB MATH: Hey out there. I’m Rob Math with Marshall, and I have the pleasure to introduce you to the incredible 1974X. This is an authentic reissue of the 1974 combo, which was originally produced by Marshall between the years 1966 and 1968. It’s an incredible, extremely organic amplifier that’s very player friendly. It’s very dynamic and it has amazing tone.

In order to recreate the 1974, we had to stay faithful to the original constructional methods to the source of the original parts and components to recreate the exact sound and feel that was Marshall’s goal. It was to recreate this thing to be exactly like an original. So, we even had to go to lengths to especially age the speakers so they would have the sound or the softness of a 35-year-old Celestion Greenback speaker.

Let me tell you a little bit more about the amplifier. It’s completely hand-wired point to point and it features three 12AX7’s, three ECC83’s as they say or valves in Britain. It has an EC81 rectifier. It has a nice sag and feel to it and it has two EL84 power tubes which are cathode biased. It’s a two channel amplifier. It’s the essence of simplicity. You have channel 1 here with volume and tone, and then we have a second channel which has a tube-driven tremolo circuit as well.

The 1974X is a killer combo amp for any player that’s experienced and wants to hear, have great clarity in their playing, and if you’re not a great player, you’re just going to be not a great player but with incredible tone. so, it’s a little bit about the 1974X. As I mentioned, we used all the same constructional methods as in the original. We added a few deviations from the original that make it a little more friendly for today’s environment. We put the fuses in a more accessible place. The original was actually located -- the fuses were located in the chassis but this has no sonic effect on the tone. We added in an impedance selector switch and a speaker out but which was not on the original.

As I mentioned, the speaker is a reissue of a 20-watt Greenback, and basically when Celestion went to recreate this original Greenback speaker, they recreated everything to match the original speaker, and they found that the older Greenback that was 35 years older than the new one still didn’t sound exactly the same. And what they realized was that the cone texture had a different texture on the older ones. They found that the cone had a little bit of a pulpier texture, and so Celestion set out to essentially age our new Greenback speaker to have that texture. And by doing that, that softened up the highs a little bit and changed the tone of the speaker. The second thing they found is that the speaker has something called a magnetic flux. And by matching a 35-year-old Celestion Greenback speaker’s magnetic flux, that actually softened up the highs a little bit too and warmed up the low end and also changes the output power of the speaker. And once they matched those capabilities, they essentially aged the speaker and what you find is that you have a perfect authentic reissue, totally handwired 1974X combo that sounds like it has been broken in from 35 years ago.

One other thing I’d like to mention is that -- I don’t even think I’ve mentioned that -- it’s an 18-watt amplifier. So, one of the great things about this amp is that it’s 18 watts so it’s perfect for a recording situation or for gigs. It’s loud enough but not too loud. It’s a perfect recording amplifier. And in this amplifier, there is no negative feedback, which essentially means that the power amp doesn’t have any brakes. So, when you crank up the volume, the distortion that you get is not only from the preamp but you’re getting pure power amp distortion too, so you’re going to get all the dynamics and the feel from the output section, and because it’s only a relatively low-wattage amplifier at 18-watts, you can crank it up and not kill your neighbors. So, basically what you’re going to find is the most organic and dynamic player-friendly amplifier that I’ve played in a really long time.

So, just to go over the points again, totally hand-wired point to point, three ECC83 tubes in the preamp section and an EC81 rectifier. You’ve got EL84’s which are cathode-biased in the power section with no negative feedback, 18 watts, crank it up and you’re going to get the most dynamic player-friendly distortion that you’ve ever heard. So, why don’t we give this a listen.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL 1974X]

And you can also get your great Hendrix tones.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL 1974X]