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tjon901 « Valvestate Combo »
Published on 06/15/11 at 14:18A few years ago solid state amps were still not really accepted by most guitar players. Players felt that they sounded too digital and unnatural. In the 90s Marshall attempted to bridge the gap between tube amps and solid state amps by making hybrid amps. The Marshall hybrid amps contained a tube in the preamp with a solid state power section. This solid state power section meant you could easily simulate load on the amp and get great tones even at low volumes. It has a clean channel and an overdrive channel. The overdrive channel comes with two voicings and the clean channel has its own EQ. They call it a 3 channel amp but it is really a two channel amp with two overdrive modes. It puts out 100watts of power with an effects loop. It has a rather flimsy spring reverb. When i got mine it was almost broken off. It pretty much rattles inside the amp chassis. 100 Watts is a lot of power for such a little combo amp.
UTILIZATION
It has a few more knobs than your normal amp. Starting at the left you have the input for your guitar cable. The first set of knobs are for the clean channel. After the clean channels EQ knobs there are some buttons for a clean boost or clean OD sound for the clean channel. The next two knobs are the gain and volume for the overdrive 1 channel. Then there is a button to switch between OD 1 and OD 2. The overdrive 2 section has gain contour and volume. The contour knob will be your best friend with this amp. After these knobs there is the shared EQ for the overdrive channels. The last set of knobs are for the FX loop and the reverb. You can adjust how much reverb you get on the clean and dirty channels. Because it is a combo instead of a head the amp is pretty heavy. It is probably more than 60 pounds. This may hurt your back.
SOUNDS
The gain on this amp is very contemporary sounding. Playing with the contour knob you can go from a classic British sound to a searing high gain sound. The contour knob emulates the loading of the power amp. Chuck Schuldiner from Death used this this amp on most of his albums and it sounds exactly like what you heard on these albums. With the contour knob on low the sound is more classic Marshall. It has a lot of bite and clarity. With the contour knob turned up all the way the it tightens way up. With the contour knob up it almost sounds like a modern 6l6 amp. The clean channel is good but it is not great. The clean channel has a very cold sound even with the reverb on. I am not able to push this amp to its maximum volume but it would be interesting to see how the speaker holds up under the strain of 100 watts. Normally a 100 watt amp would have at least 4x12 hooked up to it. This combo just has one speaker.
OVERALL OPINION
These amps offer great bang for the buck. Since it is a combo you will not have to worry about getting a cabinet to go with it. These amps put out a great metal sound for such a little price. With the turn of a single knob you can go from classic British gain to a searing modern metal sound. Dont let the valvestate badge scare you off these early hybrid Marshalls sound really good.
UTILIZATION
It has a few more knobs than your normal amp. Starting at the left you have the input for your guitar cable. The first set of knobs are for the clean channel. After the clean channels EQ knobs there are some buttons for a clean boost or clean OD sound for the clean channel. The next two knobs are the gain and volume for the overdrive 1 channel. Then there is a button to switch between OD 1 and OD 2. The overdrive 2 section has gain contour and volume. The contour knob will be your best friend with this amp. After these knobs there is the shared EQ for the overdrive channels. The last set of knobs are for the FX loop and the reverb. You can adjust how much reverb you get on the clean and dirty channels. Because it is a combo instead of a head the amp is pretty heavy. It is probably more than 60 pounds. This may hurt your back.
SOUNDS
The gain on this amp is very contemporary sounding. Playing with the contour knob you can go from a classic British sound to a searing high gain sound. The contour knob emulates the loading of the power amp. Chuck Schuldiner from Death used this this amp on most of his albums and it sounds exactly like what you heard on these albums. With the contour knob on low the sound is more classic Marshall. It has a lot of bite and clarity. With the contour knob turned up all the way the it tightens way up. With the contour knob up it almost sounds like a modern 6l6 amp. The clean channel is good but it is not great. The clean channel has a very cold sound even with the reverb on. I am not able to push this amp to its maximum volume but it would be interesting to see how the speaker holds up under the strain of 100 watts. Normally a 100 watt amp would have at least 4x12 hooked up to it. This combo just has one speaker.
OVERALL OPINION
These amps offer great bang for the buck. Since it is a combo you will not have to worry about getting a cabinet to go with it. These amps put out a great metal sound for such a little price. With the turn of a single knob you can go from classic British gain to a searing modern metal sound. Dont let the valvestate badge scare you off these early hybrid Marshalls sound really good.