View other reviews for this product:
MGR/Lucky Luke « Marshall AVT 100 »
Published on 06/14/04 at 15:00I paid $699 plus tax for this amp at a local music store a couple years ago, and it still sells for the same amount today, even on eBay. I suspect the price will go down in a year or two. Obviously, I was looking for quality at a reasonable price. Then again, pretty much anything Marshall is quality.
I like everything about this amp. Its sound and performance qualities are greater than entry-level Marshall amp quality (AVT 50, etc.).
The AVT 100 comes with tons of on-board effects. You will not need effect pedals when you have one of these awesome amps. The on-board effects alone will be adequate enough for most guitarists' needs, this eliminating the need for external effects. The AVT 100 can add a wide range of reverb, delay, chorus, fladge and plates -- just to name a few programs -- to your sound. I like how you can adjust many aspects of the effects that you add to your sound. For instance, if you are adding delay to your sound, you can not only adjust the delay time, but the intensity of the the delay. That's Marshall quality for you.
There are three channels. Each channel has its own volume level, gain level. The overdrive channels share the same tones. This can become a little counter-productive because you may wish to keep the tone settings for one overdrive channel, but need to change them for the channel. Therefore, you will need to copy the tone settings on a piece of paper for the previous channel before you switch tone settings. It's amazing how versitle Marshall makes their amps, and the AVT 100 is no exception. The volume and gain levels of each channel are completely independent of each other, therefore changing the levels will create totally different sounds. High volume and low gain can create a British sound, yet high gain and low volume can create a grunge sound. Amazing versitality.
As I mentioned, the tones reflect the very essence of Marshall sound. Lots of bass will put foundation in your sound, kinda like making your sound deep and bodied. Middle tone will give your sound some meat; adding dimension to your sound. Added treble will increasingly produce that beautiful, trademark Marshall ring sound in your guitar sound. The channels have scoop/bright buttons, which take a little experimenting with before you start developing your own original sound.
The first channel is clean. You can definately reproduce the vintage sound of the 50's through this channel, especially with the bright button turned on. The first channel is perfect for truly hearing what your guitar sounds like. The second channel is capable adding pop/rock gain to your sound. Think Matchbox Twenty to Madonna to Prince to The Doors to The Rolling Stones. A very diverse channel and my personal favourite channel of the AVT 100. Marshall comes through with the goods with the third channel. The third channel is capable of adding Nu-Metal gain to your sound. Think Korn, Linkin Park.
Because two channels share the same treble, middle and bass tones, some degree of counter-production occurs when changing settings. Changing settings can be the effect of switching channels or simply desiring a different sound. Time is lost when you need get a pen and paper and copy the tone settings before changing them to, say accomidate a different channel/sound. This problem could be avoided if each channel had its own tones, and the tones of each channel were completely independent of each other channels' tones. I would recommend Marshall add independent tones for each channel.
The third channel, as brutal and extreme as it is, has very limited use and is not as versatile as the other two channels. In other words, the only use I've found for the third channel is the genre nu-metal, which is just one water droplet in a sea of music. I think this thought is just a simple opinion, but a popular opinion (the thought that the third channel is limited in musical application). Marshall should add more versatility to the third channel by maybe not adding more gain, but sound. I don't know, just a thought.
The AVT 100 is so great that you start imagining what it would have been like if you spend a few hundred dollars more and bought the AVT 250. You start getting a little jealous of the AVT 250, if only for its more features, but you remain satisfied with your AVT 100. Just sometimes you think about other amps, like the AVT 250 and how slightly greater the AVT 250 is.
I like how Marshall amps have been described in the past, so I'm going to say what everybody else says about a Marshall amp and call it a tank. It really is a freakin' tank. They smell good too. Has anybody ever noticed that? When you buy a Marshall amp you not only get audio quality but smell quality. They smell so good. Yeah.
But I've had people sit and stand on the AVT 100, and it didn't even phase the amp. The screen is a bit thin. I'm guessing the screen would tear if you kicked it or smashed your guitar through it. It handles heating effeciently. It has a nice vent on the top which is supposed to be left clear, and for good reason too. The handle is rubber, which I guess is overall the best material to make a handle out of.
The amp's knob area is shiney and gold-plated. You really get that Marshall feel even by looking at the amp. I've seen and played with other amps, even Mesa Boogie, and we're not even talking about audio here, but asthetically, all other amps are ugly. Not even visually can other amps compare to the AVT 100. Here you get, originally designed, gold-plated knobs that look like they belong on a wonderful amp. The numbers and words around the knobs looks proportional to the knobs, so nothing looks out of place.
The values of the AVT 100 -- such as its sound, features, performance -- are worth more than $699. Marshall proves again why he is the king of amps. Marshall makes the best amps, okay, but you, the player, get the glory by playing through the AVT 100, because it will enrich your sound and make you look professional.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I like everything about this amp. Its sound and performance qualities are greater than entry-level Marshall amp quality (AVT 50, etc.).
The AVT 100 comes with tons of on-board effects. You will not need effect pedals when you have one of these awesome amps. The on-board effects alone will be adequate enough for most guitarists' needs, this eliminating the need for external effects. The AVT 100 can add a wide range of reverb, delay, chorus, fladge and plates -- just to name a few programs -- to your sound. I like how you can adjust many aspects of the effects that you add to your sound. For instance, if you are adding delay to your sound, you can not only adjust the delay time, but the intensity of the the delay. That's Marshall quality for you.
There are three channels. Each channel has its own volume level, gain level. The overdrive channels share the same tones. This can become a little counter-productive because you may wish to keep the tone settings for one overdrive channel, but need to change them for the channel. Therefore, you will need to copy the tone settings on a piece of paper for the previous channel before you switch tone settings. It's amazing how versitle Marshall makes their amps, and the AVT 100 is no exception. The volume and gain levels of each channel are completely independent of each other, therefore changing the levels will create totally different sounds. High volume and low gain can create a British sound, yet high gain and low volume can create a grunge sound. Amazing versitality.
As I mentioned, the tones reflect the very essence of Marshall sound. Lots of bass will put foundation in your sound, kinda like making your sound deep and bodied. Middle tone will give your sound some meat; adding dimension to your sound. Added treble will increasingly produce that beautiful, trademark Marshall ring sound in your guitar sound. The channels have scoop/bright buttons, which take a little experimenting with before you start developing your own original sound.
The first channel is clean. You can definately reproduce the vintage sound of the 50's through this channel, especially with the bright button turned on. The first channel is perfect for truly hearing what your guitar sounds like. The second channel is capable adding pop/rock gain to your sound. Think Matchbox Twenty to Madonna to Prince to The Doors to The Rolling Stones. A very diverse channel and my personal favourite channel of the AVT 100. Marshall comes through with the goods with the third channel. The third channel is capable of adding Nu-Metal gain to your sound. Think Korn, Linkin Park.
Because two channels share the same treble, middle and bass tones, some degree of counter-production occurs when changing settings. Changing settings can be the effect of switching channels or simply desiring a different sound. Time is lost when you need get a pen and paper and copy the tone settings before changing them to, say accomidate a different channel/sound. This problem could be avoided if each channel had its own tones, and the tones of each channel were completely independent of each other channels' tones. I would recommend Marshall add independent tones for each channel.
The third channel, as brutal and extreme as it is, has very limited use and is not as versatile as the other two channels. In other words, the only use I've found for the third channel is the genre nu-metal, which is just one water droplet in a sea of music. I think this thought is just a simple opinion, but a popular opinion (the thought that the third channel is limited in musical application). Marshall should add more versatility to the third channel by maybe not adding more gain, but sound. I don't know, just a thought.
The AVT 100 is so great that you start imagining what it would have been like if you spend a few hundred dollars more and bought the AVT 250. You start getting a little jealous of the AVT 250, if only for its more features, but you remain satisfied with your AVT 100. Just sometimes you think about other amps, like the AVT 250 and how slightly greater the AVT 250 is.
I like how Marshall amps have been described in the past, so I'm going to say what everybody else says about a Marshall amp and call it a tank. It really is a freakin' tank. They smell good too. Has anybody ever noticed that? When you buy a Marshall amp you not only get audio quality but smell quality. They smell so good. Yeah.
But I've had people sit and stand on the AVT 100, and it didn't even phase the amp. The screen is a bit thin. I'm guessing the screen would tear if you kicked it or smashed your guitar through it. It handles heating effeciently. It has a nice vent on the top which is supposed to be left clear, and for good reason too. The handle is rubber, which I guess is overall the best material to make a handle out of.
The amp's knob area is shiney and gold-plated. You really get that Marshall feel even by looking at the amp. I've seen and played with other amps, even Mesa Boogie, and we're not even talking about audio here, but asthetically, all other amps are ugly. Not even visually can other amps compare to the AVT 100. Here you get, originally designed, gold-plated knobs that look like they belong on a wonderful amp. The numbers and words around the knobs looks proportional to the knobs, so nothing looks out of place.
The values of the AVT 100 -- such as its sound, features, performance -- are worth more than $699. Marshall proves again why he is the king of amps. Marshall makes the best amps, okay, but you, the player, get the glory by playing through the AVT 100, because it will enrich your sound and make you look professional.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com