Marshall MG10CD

I have been a muso for a little over 20 years. I started playing drums in high school, which lead to playing in a band. I found drums a lot of work with setting up for practice at home, pack up and load them in the car for practice with the band, pack em and take em home to do more practice, pack em and load em up for gigs etc etc, so when I got a job involving shift work, it all got too hard, and I stopped playing drums. But I couldn't give up alltogether, so one day it was down to the music store and bought a bass guitar. I knew nothing about bass, and I bought a black one just because it was black. It turned out to be a Profile Silouette, a very good P Bass copy, and it has served me very well. A couple of years ago I picked up a Rickenbacker 4004L (review to follow soon...) and I am currently playing bass in a band. I have picked up a couple of 6 strings (elect and accoustic) along the way, but bass is my thing these days.

I picked up this amp off ebay for AU$40. I was looking for a little amp for my 6 strings, and my kids are getting old enough to start guitar lessons, so I was also after something small and cheap for them to use as well.

It's small and very light. It's loud enough for practice and making a racket in the bedroom, but not loud enough to lift the roof or upset the nieghbors. It also has a headphone jack for those times when you can't make any noise at all. It has 3 knobs: gain, contour and volume, and a boost button. I was pleasantly suprised by the clean sound. It's very clean. It sounds very nice with an acoustic, maybe a bit trebley through the small speaker, but thats easily fixed if you have an eq on your guitar, or by fidling with the countour knob-a kind of midrange eq. Hit the boost button and turn up the gain and you're in heavy metal heaven. The kids will love it! I first thought it sounded kind of trashy, but it's realy growing on me now. Turn the boost off, and crank up the gain and you get a very nice 'crunchy' sound with your electric guitar. Just by mucking around with the gain and contour (with or without the boost), you're bound to find a sound that suits.

It's pretty hissy with the boost button on and the gain turned up. But then again, hit that first power chord, and you can't hear the hiss any more! And to be fair, it's very quiet when playing clean.

It seems to be well made. It's very light, but I treat my gear with respect, so I can't see any problems in the construction area.

If you don't want to front a band with this amp, it's great. It's small, portable, and a great sound for what it is. Plenty loud enough for the bedroom Eddie Van Halen, yet nice and clean and quiet if that's what you're after. You want to play in a band, buy a bigger amp. Want a good cheap practice amp for you or the kids, buy this one.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I was going to buy a an MG15CD but I didn't realise how much they cost so I bought a MG10CD instead which I wasn't too happy about because it is only 10 watt and is small and dosn't have many controls. I paid £55 but the RRP is £60.

It looks really cool and is perfect for a practise amp and dosn't shake the whole house as much as other amps. The distortion is great and the tone isn't bad neither. The CD input is a nice touch aswell.

I would prefure it to have more controls and it is good clean but not as good as when its on overdrive. But for the price you can't really complain.

It is a real tough well built little amp it looks like it could take some travelling and still work perfect.

If your looking for an amp just for practising in your bedroom etc for a low price its perfect and I don't think any other amps are better at the price. I would guess it is better for rock and metal but would probably be fine for all other types aswell but you might want a few pedals to go with it.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I Bought this amp at Hermes Music for $60. I was going to buy a Larger (more expensive) Dean amp until someone showed me this amp and told it would probably be the best sounding practice amp I've heard.

For a built in distortioner it sounds great. And is very simple to use. The clean tones don't sound bad either. It's Great for just playin with other guitars.

It's not quite loud enough to play with a drum set. The clean tones aren't near as loud as the distorted ones.

The quality is great. I Got as a Floor model and it still plays as if it were brand new.

It's a great amp for it's price and does fine when playing with other guitars but if you're trying to start a band this amp isn't quite powerful enough.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com