Marshall 1987HW

HW stands for "Hand-Wired," indicating that the 1987HW uses point-to-point turret board construction rather than the printed circuit boards found in Marshall's standard production amplifiers. This hand-wired approach is meant to more faithfully replicate the construction methods and tonal characteristics of Marshall's original late-1960s Plexi amplifiers.

The Marshall 1987HW is a 50-watt amplifier that uses a pair of EL34 power tubes in its output section and three ECC83 (12AX7) preamp tubes. This tube complement is the same configuration used in the original late-1960s Plexi models that the 1987HW recreates.

At 50 watts with no master volume control, the 1987HW is extremely loud for home practice and needs to be driven hard to achieve its characteristic overdriven Plexi tone. Most players use a power attenuator or rely on overdrive pedals to get usable tones at lower volumes.

The late-1960s Marshall Plexi circuitry that the 1987HW recreates was central to the tone of guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton during his Cream era, and Jimmy Page with Led Zeppelin. The 1987 model itself, along with its 100-watt sibling the 1959, became one of the foundational amplifier sounds of hard rock.