Product Description
Vintage 1967 Park Marshall Pinstripe 4×12 Cabinet Celestion 25w
Vintage 1967 Park Marshall Pinstripe 4×12 Cabinet Celestion 25w
A few weeks ago, I got an email from an old guy down south. He said he had an ‘old Park amplifier setup’. One that he’d owned since the 1960s. I asked for pictures, and he sent just one picture back. This one picture was well enough to spark my interest and led to, quite frankly, one of my favourite purchases at The Music Locker. Most early Park amplifiers were made, almost exclusively, by Ken Bran and Dudley Craven. They were made ‘a few weeks a year as a bonus’. They include some overlap, transition and crossovers to Marshall amplifiers of the same period. This setup (a head and another 4×12 cabinet for sale elsewhere) shows all the characteristics of a Bran & Craven collaboration.
The Cabinet
Serial Plate – 3176 (the serial number plate is the same as used on the 1965 Marshall Block Logo 4×12 cabinets, showing Park using up old Marshall parts!). I have only ever seen this front grill cloth on Park cabinets from 1967. It is highly unlikely this dates to any later than 1967, so my belief is that the speakers are slightly later replacements. They are:
4x Matched Quad January 1969 Celestion G12M 25w T1221 Speakers including 2x original 102 003 cones, 1x ‘3’ re-cone from 1973 and 1x 102/14 re-cone from 1973.
This cabinet has all the typical signs of a Ken Bran & Dudley Craven special! I have heard that Marshall, Laney and Hiwatt all used the same subcontractors for cabinets. Ken & Dudley hated woodworking, hence outsourced cabinets willingly. This one has all the signs of a cabinet built similarly to a Laney Supergroup 4×12 of the time (another Birmingham based company like Park predominately sold in the area), with the finishing touches of Marshall employees (the internal handles for example – clearly a recent addition once it came back from the woodworking factory in 1967).
Laney
Laney cabinets were carbon copies of the Park cabinets, and various similar cabinets can be seen used by Black Sabbath just like this around that time – really cool! This one even comes wit the original vinyl cover, showing the side handles through. Cosmetically in good condition, with a few scuffs and scrapes. When the back was taken off this year, some of connecting red/black wire came loose from the speaker. This just requires re-soldering and is not damaged. I will get round to it hopefully before the cabinet sells. As you can see, this is a real piece of Marshall / Park amplifier history.
You’ll not be disappointed. Please the pictures as these form part of my description.
