An Amp Full of Surprises - S.I.R. LA Marshall JMP

jsnow90

Active member
So a while back I traded with a buddy of mine and got this 1976 Marshall JMP. He had gotten it from a friend who's Dad had a studio and said it had just been sitting around for years and he had no idea if it even worked. It had clearly been modded at some point, with a knob on the back and some labels on the amp. When I first plugged it in it had a good amount of gain and sounded very 80's, think Dokken, Ratt, etc.
I wanted something more modern sounding for my current band so I hit up Shea at Monomyth Amplification. I actually already own an 80's JCM800 2204 that was modded by him very early on and it's my favorite amp. I also wasn't sure about the integrity of the mod currently on the amp or if the amp was even up to par and show ready. Shea agreed to take the amp on and so I sent it off.
Fast forward a bit and I get a message from Shea letting me know he will be starting the amp soon. I then get a follow up message, "we need a chat."

Here's where it gets interesting.

Shea discovered that this amp had been part of the rental fleet at Studio Instrument Rentals (S.I.R.) Los Angelas, this was stenciled on the bottom of the amp, along with the name Roy Harper. As many of you probably already know, S.I.R. LA is where Slash rented his famous Marshall for Appetite for Destruction, as well as where countless other guitarists in bands and in studios in the 80's and 90's in LA rented their gear from. The amp is marked "SIR 61" on the output transformer. As you will see in the pictures below the first number is pretty tough to make out, we decided it's more than likely a 6, but could also be a zero with a slash through it, making it 01.

Now on to Roy Harper. I admittedly hadn't heard the name before. Turns out Roy has played and toured with the likes of David Gilmour and Jimmy Page. Roy even sings the song "Have a Cigar" by Pink Floyd off of Wish You Were Here. So THAT was super cool in and of itself.

BUT, there's more.

Shea then starts looking at the circuit of the amp and realizes that the current mod is an early Mark Cameron "Aldrich" mod probably done in the late 90's. Shea has had a ton of Mark's work roll through his shop and is very familiar with it.

So, needless to say, we decided not to mod the amp, and to keep the historical values of the amp in tact.

I want to thank Shea at Monomyth for being a stand up dude with integrity through this whole thing. His love for amps and old Marshall's in particular comes before the business end of things for him and I think that's fuckin awesome.

If you happen to know any more information about this amp, or know someone who might, please get in touch! I feel there's more to be uncovered on this one.

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I bought an SIR amp a few years back. 1978 Super Lead. It was all stock. Very low gain. I sold it on TGP and the guy who bought it sent it to Tim Caswell for his AFD mod. Never did hear how it came out.
 

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I bought an SIR amp a few years back. 1978 Super Lead. It was all stock. Very low gain. I sold it on TGP and the guy who bought it sent it to Tim Caswell for his AFD mod. Never did hear how it came out.
I remember this
 
I love the rudimentary faraday cage using the grounds above/below the board with foil.

It’s one of the cleaner Aldrich’s I’ve seen. The feedback part isn’t the same as what’s used today but it’s hard to see from the image.

I’m sure it sounds good. I’d replaced all of the electrolytics on the board and recapped the power side….
 
Shea, what a standup guy and his mods sound absolutely insane. I wish I wouldn’t have sold mine. That is a cool find!! Reminds me of the Paul Gilbert Marshall I found and sold to the guy that’s got those Kemper clips.
 
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