Marshall has unveiled its first signature guitar amp in 14 years with the launch of the Billie Joe Armstrong 1959BJA.
This is one tube amp we did see coming; everyone saw it coming after the Green Day frontman used it onstage during the Super Bowl LX show. Who couldn’t fail to notice that alongside those oversized Marshall stacks there was a Super Lead finished in baby blue vinyl, with a badge on the front that looked very much like a signature plate. Even Marshall shared the image.
Well, the amp is here, and while it is a Super Lead, built from the same cloth as the 1959HW, it arrives with the so-called “Dookie Mod” – which gives you a master volume on what would have traditionally been a non-master volume head, and an under-the-hood tweak that gives you Armstrong’s signature tone, namely more gain, and a bit more meat on the tone.
This is for overdriven power chords that have been down the gym, and it is the sound that Armstrong and long-time Green Day producer Rob Cavallo were chasing when recording Dookie.
“Billie Joe’s guitar sound is instantly recognisable,” says Steph Carter, culture marketing director at Marshall. “From the moment you hear those opening chords on Dookie, you know exactly who it is. Working with Billie to create an amp that captures that punch, aggression and clarity was an incredible project for our team.”
It’s a tone that a lot of people want to nail. Though they will need the space to play this thing; at 100-watts, with a quartet of EL34 power tubes, this amp will be loud.
Definitely, it is worth considering if you have been booked for, y’know, a sports stadium or similar.
The 1959BJA has a trio of ECC83 preamp tubes, the control surface – is your classic Plexi with the aforementioned twist, with controls for Presence, Bass, Middle, Treble, Master and Gain, the latter two marked in red.
Other aesthetic updates include the Dookie signature plating on the front, the BJA designation on the control panel, and that baby-blue finish matches Armstrong’s Blue, the Fernandes Stratocaster copy he has played since he was a kid. Right now Armstrong is feeling a little like a kid with this new amp hitting stores worldwide on 21 July.
“I’m so overjoyed to have my own signature Marshall amp,” he says. “These amps have been a part of my musical life, from my heroes down to little old me. Turn it the f**k up! …This amp is my ride or die. Play fast! Die trying.”
The Billie Joe Armstrong 1959BJA is priced £3,099/$3,999. See Marshall for more details.
Marshall says this is its first signature amp in 14 years, but it has released a few artist tie-ins recently, including the Sex Pistols 50th Anniversary JCM800, all pink and yellow like the Never Mind The Bollocks cover art, and the Jimi Hendrix 60th Anniversary Collection, which comprised a hand-wired head and amp in black and purple, and a matching Dunlop Fuzz Face.
