Skybone
Well-known member
When I was looking to buy a new guitar amp, I'd considered everything, but with everything I read I was wanting to try Valves as everyone reckoned that they were far superior to the Solid State amps and the Hybrid amps. Didn't really consider the Digital Modellers as they weren't something I knew about.
Other criteria I had was that it had to be versatile, portable, and turn downable as I would be using it at home mainly as well as rehearsals. It had to be a 2x12" configuration as it could push more air, more air movement = more impact = more oomph.
After trying many amps, I'd narrowed the selection to either a Fender Twin, a Peavey 5150 combo, or a Marshall combo.
The Twin was a nice powerful amp which could be pushed into real dirty break up and real sparkling clean sounds, but wasn't really that portable (anyone tried carrying one by that flimsy top handle?). The power reduction switch was also a great tempter.
The Peavy 5150 head sounded great through a 4x12", but I tried a couple of the combo's which were incredibly disappointing, as they tended to sound like tinny transistor radios! Erm.....maybe not.
Finally the Marshall option. I was really looking for a JCM900 2x12, but couldnt find one anywhere. I tried the TSL as it was reduced in the shop, had three channels, EL34's, a power reduction switch (which drops about 120 Watts to about 25 Watts, which, on about 2 at home, is still too bloody loud!), more importantly it had recessed side carrying handles, making it more portable than either of the other two, oh yes, and it was a Marshall. At 33kg it wont break your back either.
This amp is incredibly versatile, as the Clean channel is clear and sounds really nice, but Crunch & Lead are the real plus points of this amp. OK, so I try to play rock, and the Crunch channel is what I was after more than the Clean channel, but its nice to have the Clean there, and it does that real "on the edge of breaking up" sound, roll the off the volume and its crystal clear. It comes with a 5 way footswitch, one for each channel, one for the reverb (which is typically lush), and one for the effects loop, which can be set as a dummy mode switch for the selected channel. By placing a patch lead into one of the 2 effects loops, you can set it up so that on the selected channel you can have a reduced sound (using the FX Loop and the FX Volume knob on the front panel), and a boost (the normal channel with the FX Loop switched off).
Oh yes, did I mention that it was 120 Watts of Marshall power? :wink:
Other criteria I had was that it had to be versatile, portable, and turn downable as I would be using it at home mainly as well as rehearsals. It had to be a 2x12" configuration as it could push more air, more air movement = more impact = more oomph.
After trying many amps, I'd narrowed the selection to either a Fender Twin, a Peavey 5150 combo, or a Marshall combo.
The Twin was a nice powerful amp which could be pushed into real dirty break up and real sparkling clean sounds, but wasn't really that portable (anyone tried carrying one by that flimsy top handle?). The power reduction switch was also a great tempter.
The Peavy 5150 head sounded great through a 4x12", but I tried a couple of the combo's which were incredibly disappointing, as they tended to sound like tinny transistor radios! Erm.....maybe not.
Finally the Marshall option. I was really looking for a JCM900 2x12, but couldnt find one anywhere. I tried the TSL as it was reduced in the shop, had three channels, EL34's, a power reduction switch (which drops about 120 Watts to about 25 Watts, which, on about 2 at home, is still too bloody loud!), more importantly it had recessed side carrying handles, making it more portable than either of the other two, oh yes, and it was a Marshall. At 33kg it wont break your back either.
This amp is incredibly versatile, as the Clean channel is clear and sounds really nice, but Crunch & Lead are the real plus points of this amp. OK, so I try to play rock, and the Crunch channel is what I was after more than the Clean channel, but its nice to have the Clean there, and it does that real "on the edge of breaking up" sound, roll the off the volume and its crystal clear. It comes with a 5 way footswitch, one for each channel, one for the reverb (which is typically lush), and one for the effects loop, which can be set as a dummy mode switch for the selected channel. By placing a patch lead into one of the 2 effects loops, you can set it up so that on the selected channel you can have a reduced sound (using the FX Loop and the FX Volume knob on the front panel), and a boost (the normal channel with the FX Loop switched off).
Oh yes, did I mention that it was 120 Watts of Marshall power? :wink: