1966 Marshall Bluesbreaker, Grey Pin Stripe, 1st Series RARE VINTAGE! JTM 45 - 4x10 - Plexi - Super Tremolo Start Price USD 11,000.00 Current Price USD 11,000.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price USD 15,000.00 Reserve Price - Start Time Thursday, December 04, 2008 End Time Sunday, December 14, 2008 Location Houston, TX See more about '1966 Marshall Bluesbreaker, Grey Pin Stripe, 1st Series' Description 1966 Marshall Bluesbreaker, First Series, JTM 45 4x10 Plexi   This has got to be my favorite and rarest Marshall Bluesbreaker out of my collection, the JTM 45 Super Tremolo.  It is the best sounding and most collectable Marshall.  Most Bluesbreakers are 2x12 configuration.  It is very rare to find a 4x10 First Series model, let alone one in this museum quality condition.  Jim Marshall supposedly patterned his early amps after the Fender 4x10 Bassman, but thankfully made it much more rockin’ by using KT66 tubes, GZ34 rectifier, Celestion speakers, and better cosmetics/coverings.  It gets the Bassman sound, but better bell tones with my strats than any Fender tweed.  It also gets all the great vintage Marshall sound, including certainly the Eric Clapton/John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers legendary tone, Hendrix, you name it..  The Marshall Gold Label Silverdale Rd.10-inch alnico speaker is my favorite all time speaker.  Better than any green back Celestion, or other Celestion by far.  There is just something about them, they sound the best.  (I even put some in my early 60s Vox AC-10 because they are so awesome, and trust me I would not mess with a vintage Vox amp unless it was a vast improvement).  They are the rarest and best performing speaker from the early 1960s in my opinion (and I have a collection of rare speakers-just came across the opportunity when assembling the amp collection, so I invested and put them up).  I have not even seen one Silverdale Rd speaker come up on Ebay in over 6 years – I snag them when I see ‘em, as my Ebay search e-mails me automatically.  Enough about these coolest speakers ever.    The First Series model Bluesbreakers are the best looking ones.  The tubes in this one are the best:  Vintage Mullard ECC83/12AX7 preamp tubes, and the vintage power tubes are hard to read but appear to say Genalex Gold Lion KT66 and they have the emblem of the famous Gold Lion on them.  The brown base on one of the power tubes says they are from year 1966.  Yeah, you get the picture now, don’t you?  All channels work great, all 4 inputs work well and sound slightly different.  I love to jump the channels.  But, I also love to try different inputs and strat pick-up combinations.  Serial No. 7482, plexi panel in perfect shape with no cracks, original brown knobs (only one is missing its knob cap - see pics), script logo is original, grill cloth is great and has only one small expertly repaired imperfection that must have been repaired decades ago (never noticed it until tonite), white plexi back panel under the chassis says Super Tremolo Amplifier (sweet!) in great shape, original feet on the bottom, original black/white Marshall factory tag is present, un-chipped, and unmolested.  And, all 4 speakers are strong with no rattles, (there I go again about those speakers!) and they all have 7442 stamped on metal frame (3 have VAM stamp on the metal frame with white lettering on the cones that is hard to make out but looks like  either NIB4OW, or NI84OW or NI84QW etc.– anyway they all 3 match up exactly, and the 4th speaker has stamped on the metal frame GCP, and white lettering on the cone that appears to be NI84LR).  Very, very old, code matching, stamps matching, early 1960s identical cone paper, well broken in original cones, with no repairs.  All four speakers have original beautiful Marshall gold label Silverdale Rd. stickers on the back that are showing their 42+ years of age beautifully.  There is scant information available about Marshall Silverdale Rd. 10-inch speakers and I am not aware of any date code information for the 10-inch speakers.  However, The History of Marshall book by Doyle Thompson states that Marshall put the gold Silverdale Rd. labels on their speakers from June 1964 to June 1966.  The Marshall book however only gives date codes on the G-12 speaker and its 12–inch descendants.  The rare Silverdale Rd. gold labels means 1964 to 1966.  The original tremolo footswitch is present (I never used it and the tremolo did not seem to function tonite when I tried it, but no one I know ever uses Marshall tremolo?).  All the volume and tone pots look identically matched and of the same vintage.  One visible transformer code stamp is 1202-55.  Newer 3 prong very long cord is very convenient.  Runs on U.S. (105-115v) or European (210-220-230-240 v) voltage.  I am a busy professional and collector, not an amp tech, so this exhausts my knowledge of the facts on electrical specs.  I have more photos than Ebay will let me post, so email me if you have a specific request for a photo that I may have already taken or give me your phone number and I will call to describe further.  That is, if you have the money and the seriousness to buy the amp.  Right and Left sides are clean, bottom has all its tolex and is in good shape.  Tolex is aged nicely and honestly over 42 years, with a couple of extremely tiny dings not much bigger than the width of a pencil lead and hardly worth mentioning as they are not noticeable.  Ofcourse, upper and lower back panel are there and in great shape.  In my opinion, there appears to be 3 non-original but matching screws on the back panel (probably not worth mentioning and never noticed it before or when I bought it, but am trying to be thorough).  All of the little washers that go with the screws on the back panel are present.  I never had any problem with this amp, and I have not had any need to have it serviced since I purchased it in a large bulk sale of vintage 1968-1969 Gibson Les Paul guitars and Marshall plexi amps from Guitar Center Hollywood Vintage Dept., back in Sept. 2002 while I was out in LA on business.  I have no information on its previous history prior to that.  My information and opinions are based on years of collecting and amassing one of the largest amp collections around, and the knowledge I have gained in the process.  Let the pictures be your guide.  I doubt you will ever see another one of these in this condition.  Rarer than the finest '58 tweed twin (the last time I sold one of those it went for $20k+).  The photos of this amp are proprietary and shall not be used by any person other than the winning bidder for any reason nor shall they be published in your amp forum or next tube amp book without my expressed written consent (never again).  I have tried to describe this sweet amp with as much particularity as is possible.  I was 6 years old when it was made several thousand miles away on another continent, so this is all I know about it. All sales final, she is sold “as-is”, and she is a fantastic 42+ year old amp.  She is rare and old, and you must take care of her.  I prefer wire transfer, or cashiers check – good clean funds before shipping.  NO RESERVE.  NO PAYPAL ON THIS ONE.  I am not a dealer, and I only want a smooth transaction.  I am just thinning the herd because I cannot play them all, and have other projects too (vintage strats, and non-music projects, etc.)  Check out my other auctions for cool vintage gear.  This sale is intended for the lower 48 states.  However, if you are not from the lower 48 you must e-mail me for adequate discussions before you can bid.  If you do not have excellent feedback on atleast a dozen high-ticket items, e-mail me before you bid.  I insist on packing this amp personally, and it will be a flat $300 for shipping, insurance and for new packing materials.  I will personally deliver the amp to the main Fedex office from which it goes straight to the airport. The lucky winner will be very happy.  Please take good care of her. Place a Bid!