One of Marshall’s announcements at this year’s NAMM show is the Silver Jubilee Reissue:
The Silver Jubilee Series was created in 1987 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of Marshall Amplification and the 50th year of Jim Marshall being in the music business, hence the Silver Jubilee’s original ’25/50′ designation.The limited edition all-valve Silver Jubilee amplifiers looked stunning in silver vinyl covering with chrome-plated control panel.
Based on JCM800 2203 and 2204 Master Volume models, the Jubilee amplifiers were the first Marshall products with Pentode/Triode switching, which halves power output.
The Jubilee Series featured an innovative, if somewhat unusual, preamp circuit which had three gain ‘modes’: ‘Clean’, Rhythm Clip, and footswitchable Lead Channel.
The Bass, Middle, Treble & Presence controls, although shared between channels, were re-designed and offered more tonal variation than any other Marshall product had before.
The 100 Watt 2555 Jubilee head caused a sensation when it was launched in January 1987 and, because it was produced only during the anniversary year, it has since become a collector’s piece. But perhaps the real reason the 2555 acquired legendary status is because of the playing public, who took it to their hearts.
The 2555 was one of our most successful products out-right, and since it was discontinued in 1988 one of the most common questions we have been asked is, “when are you going to re-issue the 2555 Silver Jubilee?” So, by popular demand, we have created the 2555X, which is a modern re-issue of the 2555, with the same sonic characteristics and functionality.
There have been some feature improvements made to the 2555X. On the back panel the original 2555 had two speaker output jacks and a rather awkward Output Impedance Selector. For easier operation the 2555X has no selector and instead has five speaker output jacks ranging from 16 Ohm to 4 Ohm. We have also removed the Mains Voltage Selector from the back panel, as each 2555X amplifier is fixed to match the mains voltage of each country.
There are also some minor cosmetic differences between the 2555 and the 2555X: on the 2555X the handle end-caps are silver metal instead of black, the input jack nut is chrome instead of black plastic, and the Mains & Standby switches look slightly different to the ones on the 2555, as the originals are no longer produced.
I have no need for a full-size Marshall stack, but if I did, this would definitely be on the list to check out. Here’s a demo of the amp by Marshall: