# Marshall 1974x (Calgary)



## seadonkey (Feb 9, 2008)

I'm thinking of ordering a slightly used Marshall 1974x from a store in Calgary (I'm in Northern B.C.). Have any of you Calgarians seen/tried out this amp? It's at TMC. (Mods, am I allowed to name the store?) 

Any 1974X owners want to chime in on their experience with this amp..is it worth the money? I'm looking for classic Marshall tone in a small package.

Does the amp do well with a good overdrive pedal in front of it?

Does it clean up good when you roll off the volume on your guitar?

And finally, how does it sound with single coils?

Cheers!


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

what's the budget?


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## seadonkey (Feb 9, 2008)

I want to stay under $1500. Of course if my wife asks, I want to stay under $400. kkjuw


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## dwagar (Mar 6, 2006)

seadonkey said:


> I want to stay under $1500. Of course if my wife asks, I want to stay under $400. kkjuw


lol, I can relate to that.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

seadonkey said:


> I want to stay under $1500. Of course if my wife asks, I want to stay under $400. kkjuw


Amen brotha..all my guitars combined are not worth more then 500$.....it's the truth, and i'm sticking to it..


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

I've never owned, but I did give one an extensive run through in a music store with a Tele. Just awesome tone - very lively and responsive. For me, only a clean boost pedal would have been necessary to kick it up a litle for leads. I'd love to own one (assuming its for rock n'roll - wasn't too much available in the way of clean headroom).


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## seadonkey (Feb 9, 2008)

Yeah, I've never been to concerned about clean headroom, sdsreI'd use it strictly for classic rock.
sdsre


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

$1500 eh?

www.ceriatone.com

save yourself some coin


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## exhausted (Feb 10, 2006)

dwagar said:


> lol, I can relate to that.



ok good it's not just me....kkjwpw


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## Soldano16 (Sep 14, 2006)

While the Marshalls sound good, you will pay a hefty premium for the name. If I was looking for an 18 watter, I'd check The Gear Page for a used unit by a well known boutique builder.


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## Stevo (Apr 3, 2008)

Soldano16 said:


> While the Marshalls sound good, you will pay a hefty premium for the name. If I was looking for an 18 watter, I'd check The Gear Page for a used unit by a well known boutique builder.


Agreed...

The 1974x and it's brother the 2061x are great but overpriced. I bought a 2061x on Ebay for around 1K so I got it for about half price, where it should be priced.


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## stratman89 (Oct 13, 2008)

I have a 1974X and I must say this is one killer amp. 
I play in a Classic Rock band and use single coil, P90 and humbucker guitars through the Marshall.
I also have a Dr Z Maz Jr that is a great amp, but find myself using the 1974X most of the time.
The tremolo works great as well.
The 1974X covers Classic Rock beautifully and runs clean or breaks up well when you need it........expensive amp but you definately get what you pay for!


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

www.ceriatone.com

or you can get the same thing, without the name, for less. is my guess.


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## seadonkey (Feb 9, 2008)

After exchange and shipping what would the clone cost (approximately)? The Marshall in Calgary is $1399 cdn + shipping. The only concern with the Marshall is I don't know the year and I've heard there was tranny issues in 2005.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

the pricing for the Ceriatones is on the website - once you click on the model, you have to click "completed kit" and it'll show you the prices


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## seadonkey (Feb 9, 2008)

Sweet, Thanks!


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

Did you get it figured out?

I've ordered from them several times, and built them myself.

For the standard 18 Watt Head (with tremolo) it would cost:

$585 US dollars for the actual amp all finished with tubes (JJs)
$112 US dollars for shipping to Canada

It gets delivered by DHL right to your home address, and you will likely pay anywhere between $20-$80 for customs fees/taxes. I guess it depends what they declare the value at. I've only ever ordered them as parts.

Then you would probably want to buy or build a head cabinet. the easiest type of cabs to build, and you can get pretty creative on design.

Trinity amps can be pretty competitive for this amp if you want the kit to build it yourself, But for the complete one, Ceriatone can't be beat. Also, they have some other 18 watt variations. I would think the TMB EF86 model would be pretty versatile. 

I actually ordered 18 watt transformers and a combo chassis from Ceriatone recently because I am just finishing up an 18 Watt T-Rex for my Brother-in-law for Christmas. (don't worry, my family can't get together till monday, so I am still on schedule). Anyways, it is on the 18 watt forum. It has a regular 1974x watt normal channel, plus a sort of trainwreck inspired TMB channel instead of the tremolo channel.


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## rhh7 (Mar 14, 2008)

bcmatt, just bookmarked your blog, plan to read it all...I dream of building my own amp some day...


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## pickslide (May 9, 2006)

Get a Trinity. Made in Canada.


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

rhh7 said:


> bcmatt, just bookmarked your blog, plan to read it all...I dream of building my own amp some day...


cool! Thanks, I now have a reader! I guess I'll have to start spelling correctly.
By the way, the dream is not as far off as you might think. 2 years ago, I didn't even know what the symbol for capacitor was; now I'm on my second amp built from just a schematic. The kits are a great way to get into it.


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## Soldano16 (Sep 14, 2006)

seadonkey said:


> After exchange and shipping what would the clone cost (approximately)? The Marshall in Calgary is $1399 cdn + shipping. The only concern with the Marshall is I don't know the year and I've heard there was tranny issues in 2005.


The price is fair but the trannies would always be an issue unless you can know for sure it's a newer one.


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## Archer (Aug 29, 2006)

They are super nice amps and do take fairly well to pedals. They don't have a lot of headroom before they start to break up but the breakup is really nice.

Highly recommended amp.

When you crank them they sound absolutely amazing.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

with Ceriatone (and Trinity as well im guessing) you can get the whole chassis in head cabinet sent to you as well.

anyone got a link for Trinity, do they have their prices?


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

Budda said:


> with Ceriatone (and Trinity as well im guessing) you can get the whole chassis in head cabinet sent to you as well.
> 
> anyone got a link for Trinity, do they have their prices?


Here is the link to the Trinity 18 Watt
http://www.trinityamps.com/Product_Trin18.htm
Says it starts at $1100.

The more decent prices are on the kits:
http://www.trinityamps.com/Product_Parts.htm
$350 - Trinity 18 watt sIII, TMB, Plexi Head or Combo Kit + $20 shipping
$140 - Trinity RS Clone Custom Wound Transformer set + $10 shipping
Total = $520 US Dollars + Taxes
You will need to buy tubes and a cabinet separately. 
So, I think the Trinity Kit would work out about $20 cheaper than a Ceriatone Kit, delivered to you.
Trinity Cabs start at $220 USD

For an 18 Watt Kit, I would go with Trinity. Ceriatone is good for their vast selection and for their great prices on completed amps.
Of course, I went with Ceriatone for my 18 Watt Chassis and Transformers just because I was also ordering other chassis' and parts for some other amps at the same time.


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

My personal Opinion, if you want an 18 Watt Marshall, and you have no interest in electronics projects, is to go with the Ceriatone all made up. It would be about $700 to your door.

Then I would build my own head cabinet, if I had any access at all to any woodworking tools, because it is usually less than $50 in parts, and you might already have some of them on hand.

Trinity can be competitive when it comes to kits and parts, but no-one can assemble them cheaper than Nik and his crew at Ceriatone (except me of course- but there's not many who work for free like me)


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