Captures of our Marshall Bluesbreaker MKII 1966

Watch capture demos and intro to our Beano Pack based on captures of our 1966 Marshall JTM-45 Script Logo amplifier here:

CAPTURE DEMO

AMP TALK

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One of the most iconic blues albums of all time is John Mayall’s Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton. It is from the era when graffiti appeared on the walls of London saying “Clapton is God”. The legend had reached his peak early in his career, and later, when Clapton looked back at his earlier work in an interview, he said there were things on it that he wouldn’t dare to go for anymore.

The simple yet perfectly played blues lines that ooze character and feel are as significant in music history as they are within the pantheon of guitar tone. These tones are, without question, among the most desirable that guitarists strive to achieve.

The tone is less boomy than with the later ceramic-speaker-equipped cabs. The vintage G12 Alnico speakers are extremely lively, punchy, responsive and 3D-sounding. They have a slightly nasal quality that gives that unmistakable old-school vibe. The low end might be slightly flubby by modern standards, but that is exactly a big part of that old-school tone.

With the volume dialed to about 8, these old JTM45 amps become a blues drive tone heaven – they easily get singing sustain for blues leads without the help of any pedals. Contrary to claims that there was a Rangemaster booster involved in his signal chain (no evidence of this exists), it is clear that these amps do NOT need any additional help to get to these drive levels.

And while his setup was simple, it has become practically impossible to get your hands on the equipment he used – a 1966 Marshall Model 1962 2×12 Super Tremolo combo that later got the name “Bluesbreaker” due to its association with Clapton. The guitarist’s name became synonymous with this holy grail Marshall amp.

Yet the amp itself is half the story – equally unattainable and important are the vintage Celestion G12 Alnico speakers that were used in the earlier Marshalls. They have a distinctly different tone to the later ceramic speakers and give the amp its punchy, old-school, slightly boxy, hollowed-out tone. And that is the tone that very few will have experienced, as these speakers have become extremely desirable and rare, and many are blown.

For this pack we used a 1966 Script Logo JTM45 and ran it through a Reissue 2×12 Marshall Bluesbreaker combo cab that was equipped with vintage Celestion G12 Alnico speakers, essentially creating an identical combination to what would be found in an original 1966 Marshall Model 1962 Bluesbreaker combo as played by Clapton on the Beano album. Originals of this particular model nowadays cost in the region of 40,000 EUR, and this setup gets you identical spec and tones.

During the same era, Clapton played a 1964 Block Logo JTM45 with a Radiospares OT through a 4×12 with G12 Alnicos live with John Mayall. We therefore also included 4 captures of an amp that is a few serial number digits away from Clapton’s actual unit and ran it through a 4×12 with vintage G12 Alnicos to give you some of that tone as well.

If you have been chasing the legendary Beano tone, this is as close as you will get.

The set features 14 AMP+CAB captures of the Script Logo JTM45 from 1966 and 4 AMP+CAB captures of the 1964 Block Logo JTM45. The Script Logo amp is run through a Reissue 2×12 Bluesbreaker combo cab with 2 vintage G12 Alnico speakers (original Pulsonic cones) with 3 different miking variations. The Block Logo captures use a 4×12 Marshall cab with vintage G12 Alnicos. The mics used were 2x Royer R121, a Beyerdynamic M160 and a Neumann U87. Please refer to the full list of included captures in the product photo section.

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