Marshall 2150 and Superlead differences

[1234_thumbwar]

I’ve seen a JMP 2150 for sale that’s been turned into a head alone. I’ve got a Marshall 4104 I was going to trade in since I prefer the sound of a jumpered Marshall and can’t bear the weight of a 2x12 JCM800 combo.
I’ve played a couple superleads and like what they do and the main amp I use on a regular basis is an SV20C.

My question is what’s the difference between a 2150 and standard 1959? I know it’s more than just the ppimv but the few clips I’ve heard of a 2150 sounded similar to a standard 1959 if it was run through a 1x12. I’d like to own a big boy Marshall amp from the ‘70s and this would be the first tube head I’ve ever owned

Also if I have the ppimv at 10 is it essentially removed from the circuit or does it still affect the sound of the amp?

 

[V-man]

AFAIK the 2150 was a 1959 crammed into a 212 combo and is an exceptionally rare amp. I don’t recall the production numbers, but they are rarely encountered.

If the amp (other than the headshell conversion) is not modified, I would leave it stock and purchase one of the many attenuation/DI units available at a variety of price points.

We’d be in different circumstances, but I’d eventually get a good cab maker to do a repro cab. I read your plans, but IMO you have the wrong amp for that concept.… unless you are into the very limited selection of single 12” speakers that can withstand the power rating of a 100w NMV. If you want that amp, I would think 212 cab or a pair of 112 cabs would be the minimally-prudent setup… that or find a 1987, which can work better for your gigging plans.

It’s your choice/opportunity but given the rarity of the amp, I’d feel that it deserves to be enjoyed unmolested (no PPIV) and eventually restored back to its glory as a combo. I assure you, a number of ppl would love to be in the position to restore the rare amp back to what it should be.

 

[1234_thumbwar]

AFAIK the 2150 was a 1959 crammed into a 212 combo and is an exceptionally rare amp. I don’t recall the production numbers, but they are rarely encountered.

If the amp (other than the headshell conversion) is not modified, I would leave it stock and purchase one of the many attenuation/DI units available at a variety of price points.

We’d be in different circumstances, but I’d eventually get a good cab maker to do a repro cab. I read your plans, but IMO you have the wrong amp for that concept.… unless you are into the very limited selection of single 12” speakers that can withstand the power rating of a 100w NMV. If you want that amp, I would think 212 cab or a pair of 112 cabs would be the minimally-prudent setup… that or find a 1987, which can work better for your gigging plans.

It’s your choice/opportunity but given the rarity of the amp, I’d feel that it deserves to be enjoyed unmolested (no PPIV) and eventually restored back to its glory as a combo. I assure you, a number of ppl would love to be in the position to restore the rare amp back to what it should be.

The combos I’ve seen of this amp were all 1x12s with some weird powercell speaker or they were replaced with an Evm12L. Idk if they ever made it as a 2x12.

I don’t think they’ve done any mods to it aside from putting it in a head. I’ve got an attenuator already but I’m going to have to trade it in for a higher wattage one since I bought it for a 50w amp and my SV20

I’m honestly unsure what kind of cab I want to get. I live in an apartment so while I really want a 4x12 of g12h30s the most space I could take up is a 2x12 I guess with g12-65s. I’ve also thought about an oversized 1x12 with a celestion redback but I want to hear these speakers in person or at least more clips of them with a superlead style amp. I might do a pair of 1x12 g12-65s to spread around my apartment

The 2150 came from Marshall themselves with a master volume. It has 4 inputs and 2 channels to jumper like a 1959 but there’s 7 knobs on the front panel from the factory and one of them is a ppimv or some kind of master volume. I’ve been looking through old posts and asking around but information is hard to come by partly because of how rare the thing is.

 

['2204']

From Dr Tube`s website:

JMP 2150 Master Volume PowerCell 100W 1×12″ combo​

This amp was introduced in 1978. It used a 12″ Celestion PowerCell speaker.

 

[1234_thumbwar]

From Dr Tube`s website:

JMP 2150 Master Volume PowerCell 100W 1×12″ combo​

This amp was introduced in 1978. It used a 12″ Celestion PowerCell speaker.

I almost want to hunt down a powercell speaker to remake the combo with this but it seems a lot more convenient as a head