Marshall JCM1960AC Guitar Speaker Cabinet
Tonally, the 1960AC (loaded with Celestion 25W "Greenbacks") falls somewhere between the 1960A's brightness and the 1960AV's warmth. Greenbacks have a very distinctive sound with a fast, snappy response that adds detail and dynamics to both clean and distorted playing. Obviously, for a vintage/Hendrix type tone, Greenbacks are the way to go...duh! Heavily distorted lead lines sound extremely full too, but when these speakers are driven really hard, they can get rather piercing and thin. Due to the fact that a 100W Marshall amp will kick out far more than 100 Watts when cranked to the max, Marshall does NOT recommend a 100W head to be used with a 1960AC or BX as a halfstack, if the head is going to be turned up to "eleven!" (unless a powerbrake is being used, of course). Such a set-up might sound wonderful but there's a fine line between clever and stupid and doing this crosses it...unless the user doesn't mind the inconvenience and expense of replacing blown speakers!
After the initial success of the Marshall 4x12, it wasn't too long before Marshall designed and built the first stack, where an angled cabinet sits on top of a straight fronted cab, with the amplifier placed on top. This came about after discussions with Pete Townshend of The Who. Pete and Jim Marshall sat down and discussed The Who's requirements for an 8x12 cab with an angled top. This was designed and built, but due to this awesome cab being somewhat cumbersome, only six were ever made.
As a result, Marshall came up with the more practical idea of stacking an angled cab on top of a straight fronted model. Thus the famous Marshall stack was born. What happened to the six 8x12 cabs do we hear you ask? Well, two went to Pete Townshend, two went to John Entwhistle and the remaining two went to the Small Faces. The Marshall stack on the other hand has stayed in production ever since and has gone on to become the most recognisable rock 'n' roll icon.
As they literally invented the stack, Marshall 4x12's are the only true originals. Everything else is merely an imitation.
