The first day I drove 5 hours almost to the Atlantic ocean (I live in southern France) to see the first 4010 combo with my strat. Turned up the master to 3 1/2 and the preamp to 10 and there was no distortion. Right then and there, I told the guy I didn't like the sound of it and I left. 10 hours of driving for nothing. I was a little dismayed... So yesterday I went to look at combo #2. Three hours in the other direction. And this one was a total winner. Had the same settings as above but this time I brought my les paul classic with 1970s super distortion in the bridge. I plugged it into the amp and it just sang. The distortion was beautiful. No pedals. Just crazy good amp. I paid 850 euros ($1040) for it. The owner believes that everything is original on it including the power tubes and caps. He says two preamp tubes have been changed (V1 and V2) but he's not aware of any other modifications. I took it apart this afternoon and took lots of pictures. @Georgiatec (Tony) put together a set of vintage tubes for me and has sent them to me. I will bias the amp when I get them. Please let me know if you think you see any modifications and also what parts I should replace (filter caps etc.). Here is the front. Looks pretty good. There is a slight stain under SH of Marshall. I think that is vintage dog pee or something... And here is the back, set to 230V for France. Here is the inspection label dated April 15, 1983. Here are the Drake choke and transformers. They are in really good condition. Pretty shiny. A little rust on the choke. and the filter caps. And here is one of the power tubes. This is an ITT Lorenz EL34 (which I think is a relabled Siemens) and was installed by Marshall. Original power tubes!!
Here is part 2 of the 4010 combo pics. The internals. You can see the cap on the mid pot. it has the number 5000 stamped on it. I think this is the difference between this amp and a 2204 head.
Yep, all looks good with that one Nick. Happy NAD mate. I hope the tubes I've sent you do the business.
Thanks Tony, from what you've sent me before I'm sure it will be great. Thanks @AndyD and @wolfpack ! n
Thanks, I've wanted this for a very long time. I think my Marshall arsenal is now full. Thanks and thanks for pointing that out. I just ordered the premium set of this kit. 3 F&T caps (blue) and 2 small sprague atom caps (black). https://www.amplifiedparts.com/products/cap-set-marshall-jcm800-2204-4010-4104-50w-volume n
That is a holy grail amp IMO. Great find! Mine is an 82. It needs filter caps for sure, lots of hum. That looks great!!
Thanks and I agree. It is a holy grail amp. This one here is very quiet. No hum at all. And it sounds great. I've been wondering if I should touch it at all. n
Glad you found what you were looking for. I had an '83 4010 once, was a good amp but I just couldn't bond with it. Enjoy yours in good health!
As in never play it?? You mean modding and changing things, personally I wouldn't but it is your toy!
Congrats mang! I swear, every time I see a Drake including opening my old SS Marshalls, it's drool festival. Hahahaha. Why is that!??
Nice amp! Like you, I've heard JCM800 combos that were duds and ones that were stellar. Glad you found a good one!
Nice amp, great price. I’ve been looking for one in that price range. If it’s not humming I might leave the filter caps alone. But that area around the one bias cap looks like one might have been leaking. If one of those goes you might have major problems. If I was going to change anything, it might be those bias caps. For the record, my 86’s still have all the original bias and filter caps and they are quiet and sound great.
Don't worry, I'm not a lawyer. I plan on playing and recording this amp as much as possible. I did mean about changing things. In my past I've taken apart things that worked perfectly well and when I put them back together again, they didn't sound as good. I did that with a treble booster pedal last year and I'm still kicking myself in the butt about that one... When I get that new cap set, I'm going to take those 5 caps out of the circuit and measure them with my ESR meter and report the results back here and see what you guys think about it. n
I would leave it for now Nick especially if it is quiet and sounding good. It's the same year as my Fender Twin Reverb II which is totally original and sounds great. If it's been used on a regular basis by it's previous owner(s) it should be fine. The old addage "if it 'aint broke, don't try and fix it" comes to mind.
