Marshall JTM-145 Custom Shop Guitar Amp

Limited to just 200 pieces, the Marshall Custom Shop CS JTM145 50th Anniversary Andertons Valve Head was designed in collaboration with Lee Anderton to celebrate Andertons Music Company's 50th birthday. Built by the Marshall Custom Shop in Milton Keynes, UK, and available exclusively from Andertons Music (one of the oldest Marshall dealers in the world!) the CS JTM145 features a commemorative plate with Andertons 50th Anniversary logo and a matching custom amp cover. Each amp will be hand numbered and signed by Lee Anderton.

The cab has a 12 inch Celestion T652 Alnico speaker – these are hand made, to special order only by Celestion UK, and they cost about 4 times the price of a Celestion Vintage 30.

The early Marshalls were covered in a very thin/soft almost leather feeling vinyl. It’s beautiful to touch & looks much nicer than modern coverings, but because it’s so thin its shows up every single raise/dimple in the cabinet. This meant that prior to applying the vinyl, every single cab had to be hand sanded to ensure the smoothest finish – especially over the joins. Please be careful with these JTM145 amps as the covering marks very easily – beautiful as it is, I can see why Marshall (& all other brands) quickly moved away from using this to the much thicker, harder wearing (and in my opinion uglier!) modern vinyls.

Specs:

• Power RMS: 1W
• Low Power Mode for super quiet use
• Valves: 1xECC82, 2xECC83
• Dimensions: (h)230mm (w)510mm (d)197mm
• Weight: 6.1kg
• 220-240V

Styling

Featuring styling that is authentic to the original 1964 JTM heads, the CSJTM 145 boasts period correct vinyl, handle, knobs and white plexi face, along with the white and maroon Marshall logo which was only ever used on very early Marshall amps. These visual details would have been impossible without the rare chance to examine two original 1964 JTM models from the collection of Paul Goodhand Tait (of Ampaholics.org.uk), models so rare they had even evaded the Marshall Museum itself.

Sound


The CSJTM 145's circuity is based on the Marshall 50th anniversary JTM1 but with an internally dimed signal path that allows you to use either of the two gain stages or combined both to achieve classic rock tones that defined a revolution in rock music. Pure British overdrive tones that made Marshall a household name and ensured their worldwide domination for years to come.

Power
Surprisingly powerful for a 1 watt amp, the CSJTM 145 could easily hold its own in a pub or larger venue if mic'ed up. The 'super quiet' mode reduces the power to give great tone at bedroom levels, which also makes it a fantastic amp for home studios when a balance has to be struck between great tone and low volume: the CSJTM 145 doesn't need to compromise either!

Size
The CSJTM 145 is a head to be taken seriously, not a novelty, that's why Lee Anderton and Marshall felt it was most appropriate to house it an authentically sized JTM head.

Cab

Make sure to partner with the official cab for truly authentic tone: although Lee and and the Marshall Custom Shop had originally planned to load the cab with a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker Paul Goodhand Tait (& Joe Bonamassa!) suggested that for  a more authentic tone a Celestion T652 Alnico 15w Speaker should be used. After AB testing both speakers all involved in the project agreed that the Alnico speakers blew away the Vintage 30s – in fact the alnico T652 1x12 sounded even better than the Marshall 4x12s that were used in testing!

Covers and COA included