Marshall hybrids and so called 'tone monsters'

[Imp]

Re: Marshall hybrids and so called 'tone monsters'

want british manufacturers with TONE?

ashdown and laney.

these guys make amps which just sound awesome. no badge for the 13 year olds, no on-board flangers, tremolos and scientific calculators, just 4 tubes for the preamp, 4 for the poweramp, and the circuitry to power them.

next amp i get will probably be an ashdown.

 

[B2D]

Re: Marshall hybrids and so called 'tone monsters'

I used a VS265R Valvestate combo for 4 years until I got my JCM800 combo that came next... I never really liked the high-gain channel but the overdrive channel was pretty good and the clean sounds were excellent!

The VS series were the 2nd generation Valvstates and I actually liked 'em! They just LOVED having distortion pedals crammed in their face and took effects well and delivered very good clean tones. Plus the stereo chorus on that combo was KILLER.

I've not tried the 1st generation ones so I can't pass judgement on them...

The AVT's are quite possibly the worst amps I've ever had the misfortune to come across... They're buzzy, thin, muddy, undefined, anemic, and weak. They seem to have very little power for what they're rated at. When I worked at GC we were ALWAYS having problems with these things... about half of them had a tendency to have this real annoying clicking or buzzing in the sound when they were operating and I actually saw two of them CATCH FIRE on separate occasions. AVT's are sh*t. I can't believe anyone would say they can get decent sounds out of those. They're either deaf or they just flat don't know any better.

The Mode four... much better amp but i can stil tell it's SS. The tube pre's don't really do much for the sound but it's an OK SS amp if you look at it that way.

 

[Sozos]

Re: Marshall hybrids and so called 'tone monsters'

Just go for the Ashdown Fallen Angel 40. They are cheap they sure rock and they are full tube moherf*ckers

 

[NecroPolo]

Re: Marshall hybrids and so called 'tone monsters'

If you're a tube nut, you won't like a simple note they pump out, a hybrid amp is not a vintage this or boutique that, but if you need some aggressive, biting, raw metal sound you may like them. In my country most players are on the budget so there are thousands of hybrid Marshalls lurking around. Through these hybrids some guys sound awesome, most guys sound decent to good and some guys sound like poo.

Valvestate mkI - I think the best sounding series of the hybrid line, at least among the ones I played. If you set them right, they're killer. I can say the best things about reliability: my 1992 8080 is beaten as hell but still working. My only problem was the quality of the pots.


Valvestate mkII - I noticed a little more treble with the second generation and as my VS-II user fellows told me these amps had a habit of blowing the power transistors at near-full volume. I also noticed that they use some different Celestion speaker, I don't remember what (my old 8080 has a G12T-75).


AVT - I agree with volume problems. IMO they have a slightly smoother sound and a better tube-ish feel but at high volume the definition is not as good as the older VS models. I also noticed that at moderate volume they can produce some awesome sounds for recording.


MG - the series basically produce a colder and quicker Valvestate tone with even more bite and much more gain, with pretty good definition for detuned stuff. Despite their SS nature, I feel them much more defined than AVT amps. In my experience they (MG100) are pretty capable of handling gigs. During our 2004 autumn tour the warm-up fellow band played MG100s and they were really F'n loud. The bad side is the use of cooling vent. All cooling vents (except for PAPST brand vents) mean a sure future breakdown.


MFour - I have only a little experience with these, a couple of minutes playing and nothing more. Anyway, I've heard a lot of people playing through them and I noticed that the low response of their own MF cabs is totally undefined and spongy while from a distance they sound pretty tube Marshall-ish through a standard 1960 cab. I know 2 guys who use MFs and they say it's pretty well built and reliable.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Marshall hybrids and so called 'tone monsters'

meh, for the price of a marshall solid state you can get a real tube peavey classic.

Or you can get a used fender BF head and really rock the house. The key is to buy what's not being hyped, the bandmaster was never a 'hip' amp, but i went for it because the price/tone ratio was way better than the other fender blackfaces. And it has the same circuit as a vibroverb, minus the reverb and tube rectifier.

I tried all the AVT's at guitar center, they're very very muddy and spongy sounding to me. Very 'cardboard'ish' response to picking dynamics. It's just a SS amp with 1 preamp tube that generates a little bit of growl. Crate SS amps sound better IMO.

 

[Nite_Maresz_25]

Re: Marshall hybrids and so called 'tone monsters'

flippity floppity