The most interesting amp Marshall ever made

The most interesting amp Marshall ever made

[@KozmykJ]

The prices shot up when Johan Segeborn did his Lead 12 vid a while back ...

[@BigHairyGuitars]

I love Johan!

[@Ross-nj6ck]

Johan has a great knack of making any amp sound like a vintage plexi. His lead 12 demo is a prime example

[@rangerdoc1029]

Yeah, when he did his cheap Jensen substitute for Greenbacks videos, the supply vanished overnight.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

Ross Strang haha! Yes! He’s a beast

[@jimmymurphy7789]

Yeah - and the prices for everything in Mendocino skyrocketed right after that-there "Mendocino" Song hit the Airwaves. I swear, there were people (even Kids) hummin' & singin' it wherever you went over there - like some big Tourist Attraction TV Commercial or something. Great Song, tho.

[@RobinBassett]

1986 "Reverb 12" just back from Marshall service dept today. It is fantastic - it is the sound I had in my head, the sound I looked for in digital gear and better than a coupe of valve amps I've had. Thats me, retired to home and happy!

[@LeonTodd]

The mighty lead 12. My first rig!

[@SirVicc]

I have the Lead 12 combo and it's a fun little amp. Punches way above its weight. But for the 4x12 I have the MOSFET Lead 100,and dialed in, it kicks major butt.

[@sirbaronvoncount4147]

Back in the 80s when I was I high school a friend of mine had one of these amps. I fell in love with it the first time I saw and heard it. My buddy lived across the street from school and during lunch break he would have use the lead 12 and play Judas Priest and zeppelin on his second floor balcony and we would go nuts and throw cigarettes and joints at him. Mostly cigarettes. He dragged that amp around to parties and jams for years and it never broke. Great memories

[@RamonPalonski]

I prefer the Lead 12 Reverb. It actually provides some good jazz cleans. Legend has it, that the Lead 12 was often used as a preamp (not only Steve L., also Players like Billy G.) and that is why Marshall decided to build a pedal based on it...the Guv MK1.

[@kennyh5083]

Get a combo, then mod the cab for a 12" speaker and have a sleeper that blows minds! I've done this to several of my own. It's awesome!

[@johnhestich458]

I had this amp laying around in pieces. Last night I reassembled it and went online to order a celestion ten 30. Works perfect!

[@dagoldigol]

Very interesting bro,can carry 30watts 8ohms or more? There's no need to add another resistor?

[@johnhestich458]

@@dagoldigol I am just swapping out the original Celestion 25watt(8ohm) speaker for a new 30watt, 8ohm speaker. The orig was pretty beat up and after I replace a few missing knobs, it will be ready to list on ebay? I'll put a few hours on it of course.

[@dagoldigol]

Bro I'm planning to buy a Japan surplus fender frontman 15r and i've noticed that there's an 8ohms written in an output jack for extension speaker,it's work with 30watts 8ohms speaker or higher than that?

[@johnhestich458]

@@dagoldigol I have a 15 watt tube amp that came with a 80 watt speaker. Yes, It will work fine in my opinion. Do it..

[@dagoldigol]

@@johnhestich458 thnx bro...

[@ThemFuzzyMonsters]

Picked-up a Lead12 head last year for $100. I use it with an EV12L 1x12 around the house. It has a great vintagey Marshally crunch tone ... 4:37 - I now feel like I am under using it. That reeks of the '80s pop, shoulder pads and puffy hair.

[@denniskollen5757]

I gigged with that same combination for several years in the late 80's ans early 90's. With the EV12L as an extra speaker it was a monster that must to be tamed. It did not have reverb but I used a Boss mini rack digital delay and a few other pedals all of which I still have. I sold the 12L years ago to get some extra cash - stupid me. My daughter has had the Lead 12 it for the last few years and liked it very much. She gave it back to me recently and I'm using it quite a bit for recording. It needs a bit of service for some crackling pots which is understandable after 30 odd years of regular use. I have three other amps as well, which I like, but the Lead 12 is my favourite for working in combo with the volume on the guitar. Oooo, yeah. Brings out the teenager in me every time.

[@kevinroberts1680]

I had the Lead 12 micro for my first amp. I have a Lead 20 that's a beast now. The Lead series solid states are a best kept secret. Smoke any solid states nowadays.

[@Fotosaurus56]

I have a Lead 12 with a single HP/LINE OUT but I haven't used it as a preamp. I did change the speaker to VOR 25 W 8 ohm alnico by Midwest Speaker. So yes it's a keeper.

[@mhb450]

I remember playing these in the store when they were new. Pinch harmonic dive bombs flew out of the speakers!!

[@larsfrederiksen3005]

I've had pretty much all of the different amps in that "collection" of amps. I quite like the Lead 12, the Lead 12 with spring reverb and really liked the Lead 20 because of the slightly bigger cabinet!! All sounded great when close-mic'ed..

[@EverydayGuitarist]

He definitely just said ”lukather goo” and it ruined my night.

[@jasonsapp792]

Michael have you heard of the Marshall 3315? It is the solid state 150w brother to this and the Lead 20 ... Not called a Lead but is the JCM800 SS amp of the 90's ....the 3315 came paired with a 1961 a/b cabs witch were full size like a 1960 but each were 2x12.....I have the head and 1961a cab a lot of fun

[@goodun2974]

I had a Lead 20 for a while, it was okay, kind of a one or two trick pony in my estimation. The pots are really cheap and tend to be noisy or intermittent, and don't usually respond very well to cleaning , so if you are thinking of buying one of these, check the controls carefully to make sure they're not worn out, intermittent or noisy. The way the circuit board and interior are laid out, it would be a major hassle to replace a bad pot , if you could even find an exact-fit replacement.....

[@larslevinberget9558]

One jamming buddy of mine had one in the 1980s and I discovered one at another Buddy's place, and it was exactly as you say, pots scratchy and cheap, but set to warm crunch mid-gain or run clean with a Metal Zone and the Dave Murray black strat, it smoked the Roland Cube amps he had :D

[@JoeGuitar]

I have the Lead 12 head / stack w/ two 10" cabs... I took the entire Lead12 amp guts out (still have them in a box) and then had built an all tube JCM800 circuit inside the chasis. All turret bd construction, 12ax7's , one 6V6 pwr tube for about 5 watts (very loud ! way louder than most 25 watt sold state amps ) I even used the front Line out plug as a Preamp out signal so I can use the Head as a JCM800 preamp / pedal. Then I took the two spkr Cabs and removed the crap-tastic 10" spkrs, installed a new spkr baffle right on top of the existing baffle that was cut out for the 10" spkr and installed a baffle with a cutout for a 12" spkr. Then I installed a Celestion G12-H in one cab and a 12" Creamback in the other. (YES a 12" spkr will actually fit inside those little Marshall cabs) WOW !! Its a total sleeper amp ! Super gainey JCM800 thru real speakers. It freaks the hell out of people because it looks bone stock. I use it as a Preamp and when I run it into my 2x12 and 4x12 and it sounds like my big 100 watt JCM800. I also run it into my two notes Captor X and it is now my go to JCM800 amp sound. SO I could literally show up to a stadium gig, run the thing into my Torpedo captor X and do a concert..... LOLS I am going to eventually take the original guts of the Lead12 and put it into a metal chasis and mount it under my workbench and use it as my bench / test amp.

[@Cmoth040]

Bought a Lead 12 right after I graduated high school from a pawn shop in 1988. It was my first amp. I still have it, just replaced the faded speaker fabric. Still sounds great for its size. Sits next to my Orange micro terror.

[@michaeltoren]

That was my first amp! Got it with a Japanese Squier Strat. Kinda wish I still had both.

[@glenkepic3208]

yep, Japanese Sq strat….passed in '85. Still have the Arbor ;) I just loved the flatter fb radius..

[@ericlarsenhbeleatherworks4992]

Love Japanese fenders.

[@niklas5396]

Regarding Lukather: There used to be pictures from the Seventh One tour in the rig show on the CAE website. The X88R had just arrived, but Luke was still using the MESA/Marshall/Soldano amps, as the X88R was not yet integrated. You could also see the Marshall combo on top of one of the racks. I seem to remember the text explaining that Bob used it to monitor Luke, nothing more. However, when Lukather did start to use the X88R, he also had a Rocktron Pro G.A.P preamp in the same rack as the X88R. Probably for a different flavour of gain. But, I do have X88R rig pics where the Rocktron is missing. I'm guessing those pics are slightly later, probably closer to 1990.

[@garettoverstreet]

I actually had the combo as my very first amp, then graduated to the stack!

[@Neilybob100]

Great demo. Had the MG15MSii head, Lead 12 combo and reverb 12 combo. I kept the Reverb 12 combo. Steve Vai is playing through a MG15MSII and cabs, not a lead 12 head.

[@jaysmartin]

Hi Neil, I'm possibly buying one of these over the weekend. Anything to watch out for? Or any tips regard the Reverb? How come you kept it over the others?

[@beardedretroguy6428]

I have the 3005 Microstack version of the Lead12. I actually put some money into it - got custom brushed-gold aluminum faceplates, cabinet plates, and pulled the Celestion G10D-25 speakers out for a pair of Celestion G10 Vintage speakers. Now I have TOO MUCH bottom end and mids. They’re hard to control now, but it does sound pretty awesome. I never tried a pedal in front though.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

Raaaaad!

[@traineecanuck]

I had the reverb 12 when I was learning. Only got rid of it because I emigrated to Canada and the voltage is different.wired it through a 4 x 12 a couple of times and it sounded immense. Needed a high output pickup or booster to get decent gain, but it had the classic low gain crunch down.

[@jimmymurphy7789]

Besides everything else, it looks so COOL sitting up on top of your desk, in all its little Marshall GLORY ! Nice solid Playing, BTW.

[@larslevinberget9558]

I had the Lead 12 without reverb and set to crunch with the Korg ovd1 in front or set clean with Korg CHR1 it was a great companion to my JMP and JCM800 stacks for practice, auditions and studio. The line out useful for slaving through Ibanez DDL3, Boss Super chorus rack and Alesis micro verb into old Plexi 1987 and a club & country combo. That's how we experimented in 1988 :) The Microstack was much better, though I'm not sure if it was because of the 2 cabinets or the amps...

[@maxgrim1672]

i have 13 of them :-) I love the Lead 12

[@jafethuerta]

Yeah but, what about the MOSFET Lead 100 ? I think that thing went under the radar quite a bit and is still super underrated and a bit hard to find.

[@davidwilson7042]

I picked up the series II head version a year ago. It's pretty good through my 80s Laney 4-10 cab. Not bad for a buck fifty.

[@Tele30blu]

I bought the head lead 12 , came with one straight cab and one slant cab, both 10 in. cool thing is I still have it. I use the cabs for other amps, sound good.

[@florianbohren5886]

Lonely beat of my heart! Nice one

[@BigHairyGuitars]

Florian Bohren *Ding Ding* nice job Florian!

[@andyjett]

I have pictures of Tom Keifer of Cinderella with Lead 12 and Kane Roberts of Alice Cooper also having it backstage.

[@THUNDERWORX]

I have a little Park solid state about that size that I use for acoustic flat picking with a sound hole pickup. I'll bet it is really close to being the same amp. Mine has two gain knobs. Using just a touch of OD it brings out a unique eq that works really well for country bluegrass. It turns heads. All the old guys I pick with really like the sound. I have a Mesa and a couple of DSLs for rock and roll, but for flatpicking it works pretty well. But, for a rock and roll show, it is kind of like having a moped scooter at a biker rally....LOL.

[@Phoebedumplings]

Lonely beat of my heart!, great track,, !! Great Solo

[@mathiasmouret5288]

He used the SLO a lot on this album I think ...

[@barryengle12666]

I've had one of these for over 20 years. I have it plugged in under my computer desk and run a Boss parametric eq and an analog delay pedal into the front. Quite honestly it's a smoking little practice amp to jam with learning and writing songs. Is it a gigging amp? Nope, not even close but for what I'm doin with it this little guy has always been fantastic

[@jasonsapp792]

I have a couple Marshall MG15 amps ... One is the MG15msII head and a MG15DFX.... I have used an overdrive and Eq pedals together on the msII and it wakes it up .... Also converted another MG15 combo into a stand alone 12" cab... A lot of speaker for the cab but it fits and that also wakes up some tone in the amp.... Never thought to use the line out into a power amp..... Hmm?

[@christianbusch2123]

I think Marshall made the Guv'nor Pedal after that preamp, can you compare the two? Greetings from Germany

[@kellybates1972]

Billy Gibbons loves this amp and recorded most of Eliminator on one. 🤘

[@emreemre369]

Nİce Mike! But I am stuck on the Friedman Vintage S! I will get back to check with the Marshall when I am done with it. What is the neck profile like on the Friedman? c v d e f g h ..? I am comfortable with the Fender Modern C, that would be the most vintage I would like it to get.

[@rogerkiethsyd]

They have a really cool sweet spot on em.

[@neilswan-h2z]

i learned of another sooper cool Marshall solid state yesterday....the 5210 50w

[@StrictlyGenteel]

Can you do a vid on PQ-3 and how it was used as a boost?

[@regortex3364]

I have this amp and a couple PQ-3’s. You can use the PQ-3 in front of the amp like an eq pedal, or you could use it after the line out between the amp and power amp, it has line input and outputs as well as instrument level inputs and outputs.

[@208414]

It sounded sort of okay after you put it through the 2150, a 4x12, mic'd it up, and put some effects on it. This is not Marshall's finest nor most interesting product.

[@larslevinberget9558]

The Studio 15 was MUCH more interesting!

[@huntergalloway3944]

If you think this is great you should try the Bass 12. It has a much better speaker and it’s all black! It’s also a bit bigger so it sounds less boxy. Of course on bass it sounds like Lemmy in a little box. It also has the line out, but I’m going to mod mine to have an external 8ohm speaker out. It can everything from amazing cleans to even a more modern sound with the right boost. That, and the very rare Marshall 3315 150w Lead are the most interesting to me.

[@AshShearer]

I tried to find a lead 12 stack but ended up going with an MG stack. Tossed the head straight away for a DSL1H and turfed to terrible stock speakers for a couple of 8ohm Celestion G10 Vintage wired in series 😄

[@KozmykJ]

It's surprising just how loud 1W can be isn't it? I have a little Laney with a 1Watt mode and it rocks.

[@ia5662]

My friend had the Lead 12 stack and I was mesmerized as a kid - thought he looked so cool with a mini-stack. Funnily enough, I heard Kurt Cobain had the mini-stack set up next to his big amps just as a joke on stage. As a 13 yr old kid starting out though, rocking this stack made you feel like a thunder god haha

[@BigHairyGuitars]

YES!

[@kennyh5083]

@@BigHairyGuitars Believe it or not you can mod the Lead 12 cab for a 12" speaker, I've done it several times! And that's when this little Lead 12 becomes a tone monster, especially if you use Billy Gibbons fav speaker (the amp & speaker that he used on "My Heads in Mississippi" the 12" Celestion G12H-100.

[@stringlocker]

Johan Segeborn gets that lead 12 rockin every now and then.

[@Greg-rd8qr]

Sounds really Good!!! Next time I see 1, I just might buy it!

[@whuseman1881]

The beauty of the Lead series amp is the mid gain breakup. Thats where it's best tones shine. Like a Plexi or 800. Vintage type gain. Nothing over the top. Just a great mid clip.

[@p_1210]

I have the master lead 30 combo, much fuller and great practice amp!

[@larslevinberget9558]

Yeah, both my cousin and other jamming buddy had them! Powerful and loved our Strats, Roadstar II and Charvel guitars as well as Boss pedals back in 1985 :)

[@jamiesmith1151]

Any good for pedals

[@skunkproductionsMLA]

I used to have a Reverb 12 which is essentially the Lead 12 with extra Reverb and a slightly larger cabinet which I regret selling.

[@TheKevinNewsom]

Sounds awesome!

[@markjohnson1020]

Isn’t it the JMP circuit?

[@TheRosswise]

I know a guy that used one of these as a preamp on some old junk Kustom bass head. That thing sounded like a full JCM800 stack.

[@giraffewaggoner8119]

Got a vs232 2 12 combo, sounds awesome after a full resolder of the boards. The 232 was NOT a tube, solid state and it is 🔥! But take a fender frontman 15 which has a cab out on the front, run it into a 4 12 cab and man, full on metal machine. 15 watts of goodness. If you ever want to know what you will look like at 52 we are twins...lol...kinda weird to watch young me on KZbin.

[@greghitt1704]

I have 2 cheap amps: VS265r (bought in 1996) and fender frontman 15, run them through a Mesa 212 recto and you’ve got 🔥

[@Nghilifa]

What OD pedal did you hit at 3:00 @Michael Nielsen ? I like these little amps, I tried a Reverb 12 once, sounded pretty nice for practice purposes at least.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

The TubeScreamer side of the KingTone Duellist

[@andyc5729]

I run mine out the headphone out into a 1x12 closed back oversized cab and its a superb late night big little marshall tone. All the gain in mine is between 8.5 and 10 though oddly!

[@MrSimondaniel3]

maybe cuz theres very little power from the headphone jack ?

[@Tini.F.]

I've got the reverb version.... super! 😃

[@topfacemod]

I have the Lead 100 Marshall Solid State Model name (JMP 2098) FROM 1976. It is 100 watts of SS Marshall madness!!!!

[@willbarnz6960]

The 5005 Lead 12, the combo, has a cheap stock speaker in it. Plus it's open back. Replace that speaker with something better and you'll improve the sound quite a bit by doing that alone.

[@BUPETA3351]

Just looked at some schematics, the thing is basically the same as on most low wattage Valvestates, so if you want to spare some extra cash just go for them. Valvestates have also Boost which adds switchable clipping diodes after IC, which this one doesnt have. Speakers might differ, but if using strictly as pres, its the same thing.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

The valve states sound good, but they mostly look kinda weird...mostly

[@BUPETA3351]

@@BigHairyGuitars maybe try them as preamps the same way as this one. The values, components and topology of the circuits are the same. At least for the ones i checked out. Very similar to the Shredmaster, and Bluesbreaker pedals, the biggest difference being clipping diodes in the pedals = more distortion perceived as more gain.

[@aeugmk2]

That is a great sound, mmm... '80's goodness.

[@RiffandDestroy]

Owww man!!!!!! Freaking awesome!!!!! A small amp.... but what a tone in vht!!!

[@waitingforanalibi3069]

Love that guitar

[@kylecoffey6010]

Micheal - I love you bro but I'm not feeling this one... The amp, the video is great as always!!! I gotta bust your balls!!! I think that the 2100 vs the 2150 may help with the harmonic saturation but I'm going I'm gonna take a Pasadena on this little amp. In the spirit of little amps though Peavey had a cute lil' tube "Classic" tweed amp that was a 1x10 er 1x12?? That was pretty awesome. I remember plugging it into one of my 4x12's & damn! It was pretty righteous tone. Did you ever take a spin on one? Another Great vid, keep 'em coming!

[@jeffshaffer2887]

Boss SD-1 in front would have made it sound even better.

[@chrisquinn9104]

I’ve wondered if changing some of the pot values would make it sound better. I think they are all 22k

[@KelsterVonShredster]

Love your videos man, huge fan from Ottawa here !!!!! I'd like to know what your hourly rate is to teach bimbo's like me how to make real youtube videos and I'm not joking.....you have the secret sauce and I want in!

[@TempoDrift1480]

I'm running two VHT S6U's and the fuckin rock no matter what tubes I run.

[@booitsnick]

It’s a 12 watt amp with a 10 in celestion speaker

[@glenkepic3208]

Knew of these back then. Head version I have. used to slave it thru a Crate gx 65.' Sounded huge. Story was (Marshall book) cats like Luke would junk the cabs and use the head as a preamp. heck, in tribute film to Frank Zappa, he had one of these next to his easy chair in an entertainment center.

[@jsnowdendavies]

Great vid! I reckon Andy Summers had one in his rack on the "equinox" video - search for it here on YT

[@jeffklein9623]

I use a MG 15fx as my learning amp,I like it

[@brpadington]

These sound killer boosted.

[@grtxyz4358]

That is my first amp... I still have it in my storage. Actually it does not sound bad on the video...

[@allmetaliswelcome]

Turns out the Songs for the deaf bass sound was a tiny Peavey with a ribbon mic on it like you did. Were you inspired by Eric Valentine's video?

[@BigHairyGuitars]

No. That's something I figured out on my own. I love EV and his videos. I've had this amp for about 5 years, it's taken that long to make a video about it. haha

[@livingthedream137]

I enjoyed this video and yeah it did sound great with when you first plugged it out into the power amp before you pumped up the gain and cut the mids. I have a small solid state Marshall and it does sound way too good for the price and size but it does sound small. I use headphones sometime to not bother the family and I can get lost in my world but the “emulated “ headphones Jack is SUPER bass heavy. So I have to use an eq pedal and nuke 100-200 hz.

[@hadleymanmusic]

I got the combo from a pawn I made a offer 60$ showed em the money. They said no. I put the money back in my pocket and walked out the store. They were fallin all over each other runnin out the door as I was gettin in my van. It had a torn cloth which i replaced with white. But this one only has a headphone jack on the left. No verb either.

[@hadleymanmusic]

A squier 15 is the perfect companion to this and it has springs.

[@trickyrjb1]

Should throw on a TS

[@2DclanSnipingTeam]

That stock speaker is the weak link. Upgrade to a Celestion VT-junior or a Celestion G10N-40 for a much fuller sound.

[@ThunderFalcon333]

Is the lead 15 the same ?? Anyone??

[@laffta6727]

I once met the producer of evh and he told me they recorded some of their albums with a small combo--lead 12? hmmmmm

[@PXR5-PXR5]

Is that the MK3 ??

[@BigHairyGuitars]

I'm not sure

[@PXR5-PXR5]

@@BigHairyGuitars Ok, thanx for the answer and the video. You played amazimg as usuall. 👍

[@Ewald_93]

Billy Gibbons used those on my heads in Mississippi. I have the lead 20 which I scored for 45 bucks. Best steal ever haha I love your Preamp videos. Could you make one of the ADA MP-1?

[@BigHairyGuitars]

Yep. It's high on my todo list

[@Ewald_93]

Michael Nielsen can‘t wait for it 😊

[@ITheFight]

Wow I did not expect that at all.

[@whssy]

Getting one of these tomorrow for about 80 bucks...

[@TheEricsnet1]

Man I bought one back in the early 80's and ran it as a pre through a Musicman. Excellent little amps.

[@danieldemayo6209]

What about the avt 20?

[@rikantony6571]

from WEM dominator vox AC30 to JCM800 .all the same.played em n gigged em.its whats in ur fingers kids ...

[@MrSimondaniel3]

you made it sound ok but i dont understand the theory about Lukather etc. the fact that he might have wanted an in -between sound doesnt point to this amp in particular. his rig was like $30,000 & heavy with or without another amp. why not get a proper marshall tube head? i believe it could be true but i don't get the reason behind it. was he down to his last $200 ?

[@BigHairyGuitars]

haha. People did a lot of weird things in the 80's

[@TheDogPa]

Mine makes a good door stop....

[@vondragonnoggin]

I had a Lead 12 as my first amp back in 1983. It was kind of crap as I recall. I used an Ibanez Tube Screamer with it. Next to my friends JCM 800 it sounded horrible. It might have been my inexperience and 15 year old ears but it never sounded great. I still played it for a couple years.

[@eduardwilliams1245]

I used to gig with this amp. Mic, some through the monitors, Bob's your uncle.

[@dnews9519]

I've had one since 87 and I won't ever sell it.

[@surf247365]

Try Marshall Studio 15 4001 from mid 80’s 🤯 6v6 tubes & built in attenuator for headphones. Mini plexi beast. Made in UK.

[@RobertBakerGuitar]

V I N T A G E - S

[@raysmetaltracks6782]

"That is not exciting..." Friggin' ROLLING!... does that bad boy come with a snooze button? Dialed in, didn't sound half bad!

[@richardturk7162]

I love when young YTers think they are the first to figure out something new when the rest of the world already knew that.

[@McFlyGuitarsandStuff]

My vote for most interesting marshall is a Marshall Major....200 watts via 4 6550 power tubes.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

I can co-sign that!