In the late 60s, Marshall introduced a 200W amp, a foray into high powered amplification, demanded by increasing popularity of shows with large venues (High powered PA was not a thing back then).
The first 200W model sports only 3 control knobs – Treble Volume, Bass Volume, and Master Volume.
The preamp is unique, and reportedly was a design by GEC, the original maker of the KT88 tubes, which are used in the model.
The most famous user of the amp was Mick Ronson, guitarist for David Bowie, who nicknamed the amp “The Pig”, probably due to the snout-looking shape formed by the amp’s 3 controls.
The design was short lived, and reportedly, only 50 of The Pig were ever made. Marshall did continue with a 200W design, which is another legendary amp we all know as the “Marshall Major”.
Ceriatone is proud to offer a variant of The Pig. We try to stay as original as possible, to preserve the legacy of the amp, but at the same time, we also address certain concerns such as reliability, and also reality of current day playing – volume management.
The Ceriatone Pig 100 features same exact preamp as original, except:
1) Power
The Ceriatone Pig is 100W, instead of 200W of the original design.
We think 100W is more than enough to blast that modeler-playing guitarist off to the next state.
We can offer the 200W as a custom request – some are just born kings, we acknowledge that
2) PPIMV
The Post Phase Inverter Master Volume helps with volume management, which is an important factor these days.
With the knob turned up, it is totally bypassed, making for stock circuit.
3) V1A Cathode bypass capacitor switch
Some original Pigs have a cathode bypass capacitor at V1A, while other samples do not. With this switch, you can have it both ways!
4) Reliability
The original circuit runs very high voltages, at about 750V plates, and 550V screen, for the KT88s.
The legendary GEC KT88s might have been fine with such operating voltages (story is that they were not, thus the short life of the amp model), but these tubes are impossible to find now, and extremely pricey.
As such, we run the voltages lower, at 600V plates, and 300V screens, making for a more reliable amp, without sacrificing the tone.
Head Dimension : 26 x 8.25 x 10.50 inches / Actual Weight :25 kg
Combo 1×12 Dimension : 24 x 10.5 x 21 inches / Actual Weight Sans Speaker :
