In high school I had a Marshall mini stack that was a mosfet 100w head and 2 4x10 cabs. Bought it new in 86 or 87. I assume the guts were the same or pretty similar.

I liked it a lot. My band played a bunch of shows indoors and outdoors, and it always sounded great. It had a fantastic clean channel. I used a DOD eq pedal on the gain channels and it worked well for me. Great sound from what I remember.

You're not talkin about that 80's 30 watt Marshall Artist with dark green tolex with 4 10 cabs are you?

Those kicked ass!

That would have been the 3203 head or 4203 combo. Great little amp, I had one, but my little blackstar head is all I need now.

I got it this morning. Chassis is signed and dated 1986. Cabinet is signed and dated 1989.
Great clean channel, great reverb, great lead channel. This amp needs no pedals. It has a ton of gain. Its extremely loud. Came with the original Celestion V30's. The rip bigtime.
I can't see anybody who likes Marshall not liking this amp. It sounds just like a JCM800 with a little DSL100 mixed in. Just like most Marshalls, the eq is almost useless but it doesn't matter. I can't find a setting that doesn't sound great.
Anyway, this amp is very cool.

Glad you're digging it. I remembered liking mine a lot, but like you said, I've always been a Marshall fan.

Gigging with it for the first time tonight. I threw a rack mount EQ in the loop and it sounds even better now.
Should be cool.

Did the gig Friday night. Here is my review. We did all classic rock songs.
This amp is not good for a 2 guitar band unless the other guitar player is playing and amp with a ton of presence.
This amp cuts through a live hot mix too easily. It literally shits all over every other amp on stage because of its incredible midrange.
Regarding tone, its typical high gain Marshall. It is a very non-forgiving amp. If you are a sloppy player.. steer clear.
I got a ton of compliments on my tone. I think the majority of the compliments were because the amp is so easy to hear live. I barely had to turn it up to be heard. I actually had to turn it down as the night progressed!
Its a very cool amp and extremely easy to dial in. Took me 5 minutes. If you don't like pedals or effects or anything other than a guitar, cord and amp.. this is the amp for you. The only thing you need is a footswitch to change channels.
It also takes pedals really well in front or in the loop and its extremely quiet. Even with the gain dimed out its pretty hard to tell its even on.
Also, it has enough power to play large clubs. I lined out of the back into the mixing board to balance my sound. The amp has a level control on the back which is very handy when doing this. Makes it super simple to set the signal you are sending to the board.

I am resurrecting my own thread from 5 years ago! I still own this MosFet 100 Marshall 5213. Its a 100w split channel with reverb built in 1989. Its beat to heck. Still sounds great. Very unusual amp. I think it actually might be rare because I have never seen another one like it. It has an input that is footswitchable between gain and clean with a shared EQ and it has 2 other inputs (0db and -6db) that activate a 3rd independent channel with its own EQ. Very strange. It also has 2 effects loops. One for the (split) channel input and one for that 3rd independent channel. Anyway.. the gain channel is very close to the Silver Jubilee tone. The clean split channel is VERY bright and that 3rd independent channel is very lush and full bodied. I just don't get what the layout is intended for! Oh yea... came stock with 2 Celestion V30's.

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Neat! Looks like the gain channel is the typical split-channel design: volume, tone, gain? Yeah, the rest of it looks crazy with all those knobs!! I am used to seeing the "Lead Mosfet 100" amps, which are like SS versions of the 3203. Never seen one like that....

I still have a 3203 - the one I traded you the purple Jackson for:



It's the best Marshall I have ever used.

Hey Mark, I would say out of all the Marshalls I have owned (everything from Plexi to Haze to every DSL,TSL, to JCM800's, 900's, Valvestates, etc...) I might like this 5213 Mosfet 100w Reverb Twin the best out of all of them. Regarding tone... I guess its very similar to a JCM900 but a little darker like a 6100. Its incredibly loud. Amazing actually. Those 2 V30's are easily loud enough to play a large hall unmic'd. Also.... a unique thing about this MOSFET powered amp is it sounds better as its turned up just like an all tube Marshall. The only controls for the gain channel are volume, gain and a single tone control! The tone control covers bass and treble. Dime it out and it sounds great. If you want vintage distortion tones of the late 60's early 70's just turn it down. All the other controls are for the other 2 channels which are both clean channels. How is that for unusual... a true 3 channel amp with 3 different volume controls, 2 completely separate EQ sections and a boost channel that has its own tone control. What was Marshall thinking? Anyway... the amp is 30 years old (chassis is dated 1986, cabinet is dated 1989) and it still works. I would say in car terms this amp has easily 250K hard miles on it.

Hi there, If you still have the 5213 would you be able to help me with dimensions for the cabinet and the chassis. I have everything except the cabinet's and chassis's to rebuild two of the amps. Any help is much appreciated thanks

I am reviving this thread again! I still own the 5213. jeez... with all the high end tube amps I have I still find myself jamming on this amp the most.
I have a gig tonight and my set up is as follows...this is my first time with this exact set up. It sounds great at home loud.
Marshall 5213 plugged into the clean channel.
Plugged into the front of it...
Dunlop GCB-95B wah
Electro Harmonix Metal Muff with Top Boost
MXR Carbon Comp Bright Delay
Electro Harmonix LPB-1 Power booster for Solo Boost

For guitars I am using an early 90's ESP Eclipse totally stock with fixed bridge and humbuckers and a early 90's Washburn super strat with a blocked trem and an EVH humbucker in it.

This band is not really a metal band. Its more of a hard rock band that dabbles in some metal. What I like about what the Metal Muff is even though it is very abrasive and "metal" sounding, the EQ is very easy to shape and its extremely easy to hear live. It also makes it very easy for me to rip guitar solo's all night long because even with the gain 1/2 up its a ton and very saturated. Kind of like how easy it is to rip solo's on a Line 6 amp set on the INSANE channel.

Anyway... should be interesting. I never played live depending solely on a distortion pedal since the 80's when I was using a Hiwatt head, marshall 4 x 12 cabs and an MXR Distortion + out in front.

I was contemplating using my Mesa F-50 head (using the Rectifier type distortion from the amp) and a 4 x 12 5150 cab but I would have to have the volume on the Mesa set to no more than 2 and I just don't see the point. I also have a Sovtek Mig100H that sounds REDICULOUS with the Metal Muff in front of it but again.. the master volume would be set between 1 and 2.
With the Marshall Mosfet powered 2 x 12 100w amp I can at least turn it up to 3 AND...... since its a solid state amp and I am using it on the clean channel it sounds great at any volume.

Well, after talking to the other guitar player in the band who is bringing his Peavey JSX Joe Satriani 1/2 stack I can't take the chance of not having enough fire power or presence with the solid state 2 x 12 combo and a metal muff pedal. There will be a ton of people at this show tonight and most of them are expecting me to be ripping solo's all night long. Also... we hired a sound company and its our first time with them so I don't know what to expect in regards to mic'ing gear.
Because of that... I am bringing my Mesa F-50 short body head and my 5150 4 x 12 straight cab. I will throw the carbon comp and the LPB-1 in the loop for delay and solo boost and throw the wah out in front. Next gig is at a much smaller place so I will bring the small rig to that one.