90’s Marshall 1960BX Cabs…Tell Me About Them

PurityS.L.G
PurityS.L.G
Well-known member
Did Marshall build these with chipboard or go back to ply backs? I forgot what year they went back to ply.

I know these come with the RI GB’s w/6042 cones. Are those really that good of speakers? I’ve read on here and the other forums they are as close to a ‘69 pulsonic as you can get.

Overall do they sound good or thin and cloudy like some of the JCM900 cabs that were built in that era? Not all were bad but I owned and played a few that were terrible sounding. Maybe there were some badly made T75’s at that time.
 
Techdeth said:
The t75s sound like shit alone . I only like them mixed with 30s . I just can’t dig them at all alone
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I feel ya. I like modern T75’s ONLY mixed with another speaker as well. I have a JCM800 cab loaded with the old non vented T75’s and they are incredible sounding on their own but I found out from “experts” that those versions along with the vented version are actually voiced more like a G12-65. I can hear the similarities.
 
PurityS.L.G said:
Did Marshall build these with chipboard or go back to ply backs? I forgot what year they went back to ply.

I know these come with the RI GB’s w/6042 cones. Are those really that good of speakers? I’ve read on here and the other forums they are as close to a ‘69 pulsonic as you can get.

Overall do they sound good or thin and cloudy like some of the JCM900 cabs that were built in that era? Not all were bad but I owned and played a few that were terrible sounding. Maybe there were some badly made T75’s at that time.
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I have the A cab and yeah the GBs in it sound great. Heavy as hell so it’s mostly a home cab, but it’s def solid. Not a loud cab at all. The 75s have more bite which usually is #1 to me and I have a cab with them in it but they are pretty scooped. The GBs in that X cab have a damn nice grind. I’ve combo’d other Celestions in there but went back to the GB quad. If I found a sub $600 BX local I’d prob pick it up.
 
PurityS.L.G said:
I know these come with the RI GB’s w/6042 cones. Are those really that good of speakers? I’ve read on here and the other forums they are as close to a ‘69 pulsonic as you can get.
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I have a few of those 6042 coned greenies and they sound good, but very very similar to the ones that immediately followed them in the 90's. I think there's a bit of internet lore going on, and no not all that close to Pulsonics.

I'm not sure about the ply back thing. Marshall gave that up in the early 70's and started it up again in the 00's with the HW cabs. I'm not sure if they dabbled with ply in the intervening years - I thought they were always particle board, but could well be wrong.
 
I’ve had quite a few ‘90s Marshall cabs with 6402 GBs, both the 1960BX and 1960BC models. I’ve also had numerous quads of 6402s that I installed and used in other cabs.

They’re great speakers, but I feel like I have to give the caveat that we’re never comparing apples to apples when it comes to 30-40+ year old speakers. Age, storage, use and break in, etc…have left them all sounding different these days.

That said, most of my later ‘90s 6402s were pretty similar. The ones that had confirmed seen more use sounded a little more well rounded. I had a pair of late ‘90s GB cabs I bought from the original owner that allegedly never used them much and they never left his apt. Those sounded great, but were also nearly identical to some early ‘00s 1777 GBs (Made in UK) that I had at the time.

The late ‘80s to early ‘90s models I’ve had are all over the place, but probably a byproduct of use. Some of those have the small 6402 stamp, some have it stamped in a giant front, and some of the early 6402 cones have no identifiers at all on them.

I have an early ‘91 Marshall 1960BC cab with the original ‘90 date code 6402 GBs in it. It was toured with and well broken in, and it’s probably the closest cab I’ve heard to my old ‘68 Marshall GB cab.
 
ZEN Amps said:
I have a few of those 6042 coned greenies and they sound good, but very very similar to the ones that immediately followed them in the 90's. I think there's a bit of internet lore going on, and no not all that close to Pulsonics.

I'm not sure about the ply back thing. Marshall gave that up in the early 70's and started it up again in the 00's with the HW cabs. I'm not sure if they dabbled with ply in the intervening years - I thought they were always particle board, but could well be wrong.
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I agree on the internet lore thing as well. There are very few posts I've read on the web where owners actually have an original 60's GB to compare to, let alone one that hasn't been repaired or re-coned. Who knows, those speakers were all over the place back then from my own research. So many factors come into play.

At this point, I'm more curious about the overall tone of the cab. I played a new one less than a year and it sounded great so I would imagine the 90's cab is just as good if not better.
 
PurityS.L.G said:
There are very few posts I've read on the web where owners actually have an original 60's GB to compare to, let alone one that hasn't been repaired or re-coned.
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I acquired some gear from a guy that used to work at SIR in NY back in the ‘70s. They rented gear to everyone that was anyone. He and his brother also did tech work for Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, etc.

In talking about the old ‘60s and ‘70s cabs, he found it amusing everyone was hung up on trying to get Pulsonic cones and etc because they were on their favorite albums, because he said everyone quickly blew those up back in the day. They had all been repaired or reconed, and they just used whatever they had at the time to get things patched up and running quick. That said, there’s probably a solid chance a lot of our favorite tones from old albums were recorded with speakers that were half ass repaired and reconed with cheap kits.
 
6402 cabs are cool; but to my ears are pretty far from the Pulsonic cab that I had. Not worse sounding per say, but not that similar. The RIC cones in a 1974 cab I had are also a step up from the 6402s.
They are really good and the next best thing to a vintage GB cab, but aren't their equal or even that similar IME.
If you have 2 cabs for sale, one with 6402s and the other with Blackbacks, Creambacks or another vintage GB I'd only grab the 6402 cab if it were half the price or something pretty dramatically less.
 
Yep, Agreed,
I really like the 6402 cones as well.

But, yes, different from Pulsonics.

I have a close friend who has a LOT of older vintage Marshall Cabs.
He actually prefers the 6402’s over the Pulsonics for his personal taste as there’s a ‘little’ more clarity and a touch less compression.
… but, of course, most people love that sweet compression and warmth the original Pulsonics possess.
 
SQUAREHEAD said:
Yep, Agreed,
I really like the 6402 cones as well.

But, yes, different from Pulsonics.

I have a close friend who has a LOT of older vintage Marshall Cabs.
He actually prefers the 6402’s over the Pulsonics for his personal taste as there’s a ‘little’ more clarity and a touch less compression.
… but, of course, most people love that sweet compression and warmth the original Pulsonics possess.
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Take me to this friends house
 
Picked one up this morning. Fired it up and its the smoothest sounding GB loaded cab I've owned or played personally. So far very happy. Only tested it with my KK50 and DSL100 so far (seemed only natural to). Going to pair it with the rest of my amps over the weekend.

1960BX.jpg

1960BXbacj.jpg


GB6402.jpg


6402.jpg
 
Racerxrated said:
6402 cabs are cool; but to my ears are pretty far from the Pulsonic cab that I had. Not worse sounding per say, but not that similar. The RIC cones in a 1974 cab I had are also a step up from the 6402s.
They are really good and the next best thing to a vintage GB cab, but aren't their equal or even that similar IME.
If you have 2 cabs for sale, one with 6402s and the other with Blackbacks, Creambacks or another vintage GB I'd only grab the 6402 cab if it were half the price or something pretty dramatically less.
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I had a Quad of them and didn't find them magical/Pulsonic like or better sounding than the Scumback M65's or Blackback 25 watters I had at the time . I didn't lose money when I resold them after satisfying my curiosity.
 
Nice looking cabinet BTW, Congrats on the find. They are good speakers, enjoy.

Marshall started using particleboard/MDF backs in the mid 70's and haven't changed since then. My 78, 79 cabs are all particle board backs. I'm not sure when they stopped using plywood birch backs maybe Racer knows.
 
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I’ve never seen a 1970 or older cabinet with a particle backboard.
I’ve seen ‘71’s both with ply or particle backboards.
From ‘72 onward, all I’ve seen is particle backboards.
Rx might have more solid info👍
 
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