eBay
For auction is my treasured Marshall Lead and Bass 50 amp from 1975. I've owned it since 1986, when I bought it from my pal Robert. Since then, it's been kept at home and fired up about once a year and it really needs to go to someone who's going to take it out and play it loud! I reckon it's had a total of about six hours home use by me in 30 years.

Boy is this thing loud! As you'll know, this is the rare model 2100, only available for about three years by mail order (mail order!) and housing the classic Lead 50 circuit and Bass 50 circuit in the same space. There are volumes for both channels and a shared tone stack. The lead circuit is bright and toppy and the bass is dark and brooding. The best way to use the amp is to jumper both channels together (I'll include a decent short lead to do that with) and tune the bass and treble channel volumes to get the mix you want.

As I've said, this amp has been kept by me for 30 years. It's never been gigged in my time and so any wear on it happened in the first ten years of its life, in the hairy, hard rock '70s. The amp is in decent condition for its age - there are some nicks in the basketweave cover and one 1in tear. The Marshall logo is intact, though is cracked in a couple of places. Up top, the controls are missing many of the gold pointers and the jewel light works, but is missing its top red lens. All controls work as they should, though the amp will probably need a service, just as it's been stood around for all that time. I have had it serviced once, ages ago.

The speakers are not original. (There were some Goodmans speakers in it when I got it). I've installed a pair of Rola Celestion G12H to keep it in stock spec. The date code is LK17, which I read to mean November 1977. Happy to be corrected on that. Valves are 'Ed-something or other' EL34s and Mazda ECC83s.

I'll say again - this is a loud amp. On zero, it's still not silent. On 'One' it's plenty loud. As you wind up the volume to about 4/10 it gets louder still, but that classic Marshall bite starts coming in. After 5/10, it doesn't get noticeably louder, it just gets richer and richer. It's a very addictive tone, but you need to not have neighbours or family around to really appreciate it. As has been widely documented, this is Paul Weller's favourite amp - and there was even a white reissue of it a few years ago.

Any bad points? The knobs are a bit scruffy, the top grill needs re-stapling in place as a staple has come adrift. I don't think it's got the original handle, though I'm not sure. It's a HUGELY heavy amp - I reckon 50lbs and with a single handle on top, it's a right pain to move anywhere. One reason it's never been out to a gig... I've resisted adding side handles, but I wouldn't blame anyone who did. Other scruffy bits - there are no 'feet' to it, so the bottom edge Tolex is worn and scuffed, but no one sees that bit anyway - and round the back of the cab, some of the Tolex edges are lifting up under the back panel. Oh, and there's a right mix of wrong screws. It does get hissy if you turn it up full, but find me a vintage amp that doesn't. A good service will probably go a long way to sort that. There's still a fixed mains lead - again, no one will mind if you add a decent modern IEC three pin socket.

I keep a saved search for these amps (as I'm assuming you probably do if you're reading this) and you'll know that very few come up for sale. I've seen a couple in Vintage and Rare over the last decade, and there are a couple on ebay for very large BIN prices. I believe in the equalising power of ebay though and I'm going to put it up for 99p with no reserve, like all my auctions (and I have a 100% rating to show for it) and see where it gets me.

There are a couple of stipulations, though. There is no way on earth I'm shipping this amp anywhere. At all! It's either got to be collection only from Todmorden, West Yorkshire (my preferred option as then you can play it and make sure it's the one for you, while having a cup of tea...) or I will do my best to come to some sort of 'meet in the middle' transport arrangement. I'll deliver it to anywhere around Manchester's M60, or I'll try to meet up with you in return for petrol money. I want to make sure that this amp gets to you in decent nick and I don't believe a courier can do that. If you do win the amp and we can't meet up, I'm happy to hold on to it until you're either in the area, or I'm travelling near where you are. I'm happy to answer any questions through ebay.

That's about it. I'll miss it, as the few times I have wound it up, I've loved what I heard, but this needs to be out on a big stage with a Les Paul or a vintage Strat plugged into it. Not sat quietly in the corner of the room glaring at me. This is a great opportunity to own a rare combo with two of Marshall's finest circuits within. It's an exclusive club.

Collection only. Three day auction only. There is no Buy It Now Price. I will not end the auction early and I WILL NOT ship this amp anywhere!