Marshall 100-watt

Andy Summers was known for using Marshall 100-watt amps for the majority of his career with The Police.

He’d use a couple of Marshall 100-watt stacks onstage, with modified amp heads and a 4x12 speaker cabinet. The stacks were set at half volume, "with not a lot of presence" as per Musician magazine June 1983 issue. Models-wise, the amp head was thought to be either a JMP 1959 Super Lead or a 1992 Super Bass (which some guitarists used as well). But close examination of photos showing the back of the amp reveal it to be a JMP Super Lead Mk. II model instead.

Gear history
Andy Summers switched from the Fender Twin Reverb and Ampeg amp to Marshall amps when The Police did a show on 21 February 1979 at the Hatfield Polytechnic. He previously rented/borrowed Marshalls for the US concerts during the Outlandos D'Amour tour in Autumn 1978, and in early 1979 for the concerts with Eberhard Schoener.

The Marshalls became his preference for live work, and has used them almost exclusively on subsequent tours with The Police until 1984. Onstage he typically used two Marshall amp heads with a 4x12 speaker cabinet (typically a 1960A model) for each one. There's been confusion over which model the amp heads were, but it is possibly the '''JMP 1959 Super Lead Mk. II''' model.

In the studio, Andy would have a range of amps around (including the Marshalls) to try certain guitar and amp combinations and see which one of the combinations would work depending on the song. The Marshall 100-watt was used for the screeching guitar sounds in "Synchronicity II", for example. But Andy liked using a pair of Marshalls for the Roland GR-300 guitar synthesizer, to record them in stereo.

Sometime around 1980, Summers had his Marshall amps "treated a bit" by Pete Cornish - using special valves - "so they're a bit more Deluxe and richer sounding" than standard Marshalls.

Quotes about the Marshall amp from Andy
"'On Stage I use two Marshall [100-watt's], and I use them about half way on... They've [got] old cabinets - the old cabinets are better, the new ones aren't the same. You know, people say that's not true, but... the old ones are better! No question about it. The one I use is about 15 years old. I've got four of [the cabinets] actually, two of them are old and two of them new. I use two on stage, and we usually carry a spare one with us - sometimes they blow out. Marshalls are still great, they still have that sound on stage. They're terrible if you turn them down - you've got to turn them up loud! If you play with them quietly it's a thin tip and a big fat bottom, that's lousy, just really terrible. You've got to get them loud. But when you get them up in a big hall they sound better than anything, I think. You know, I have no trouble playing a sustained lead through them or getting a big sound generally out of them. I like them.' (Music UK, October 1981)"