The
BLUESBREAKER:
Revisited
ECC83 (12AX7) preamp tubes and one GZ34
rectifier tube. In 1993, Marshall replaced
the 6L6s with 5881 vacuum tubes. Tonally,
the Bluesbreaker reissue had a unique and
fine sound of its own. It produced varying
degrees of that but-
tery smooth sustain,
while retaining that
traditional Marshall
crunch.
plenty of Marshall crunch, it was definitely
not the sound of the original. And for that
reason, I began a quest to change the sound
of my reissue into something more closely
resembling the original.
differences would come from the use of
output tubes originally selected for the
Model 1962. Although the very first combos
incorporated the smaller 5881 vacuum tube,
Marshall designed the Model 1962 for the
more prevalent but
enormous Coke
bottle-shaped KT66
vacuum tube. The
usage of this particu-
lar tube necessitated
the deeper
10. 5” cabinet.
The following is a listing of the basic differences between the original Model 1962
and the Model 1962 “Bluesbreaker,” as reissued in 1990:
Model 1962 Original Reissue Bluesbreaker
Cabinet Dimensions: 32” X 23” X 10. 5” 29. 13” X 23” X 9”
Cabinet Material: Birch Plywood Particle Board & Plywood
Grill Cloth: Horizontal strip Checker pattern
Output Tubes: KT66 6L6 / 5881
Speakers: Celestion 20-watt Alnico Celestion 25-watt Ceramic
But just how close
was this new vari-
ant to the original
Model 1962? To the
true Marshall collec-
tor, and to the rare
few who actually
owned the genuine article, the differences
were immediately apparent. In Michael
Doyle’s book, The History of Marshall,
he pointed out that the cabinet was too
small and the grill cloth was not right. But
the major disappointment was not in the
appearance, but the sound the amplifier pro-
duced. While the sound was good and had
Hitting the streets in 1990, the Model 1962
“Bluesbreaker” reissue was plagued with
discrepancies out of the box. The cabinet
was undersized by some 30 percent, with a
depth barely over 9”, while the original mea-
sured in at 10. 5”. The reissue’s overall width
was almost 30”, while the original was 32”.
The most reasonable explanation for these
Likewise, the cab-
inet’s construction
differed significantly
from original specs.
The Model 1962 Series I was built using
pine planks for the cabinet with multi-ply
birch baffles; the Model 1962 Series II was
completely constructed with multi-ply birch
plywood (more about these Series differenc-
es in a moment). The reissue used particle
board for the cabinet and plywood baffles.
