Reviewed by:
SeanX3187, on august 21, 2009
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 600
Purchased from: Friend
Features: This head was made in 1993 at the Marshall factory in the UK. I play punk and ska for the most part, and this head is perfect for it IMO. Its has 2 Channels (Channel A-Clean/Channel B-Overdrive) and the channels can be switched with a button on the front of the amp, or by a footswitch. It has an FX loop with an effects level knob in back. It doesn't have a headphone jack, but it does have a direct out and a recording compensated out.
I wish it had a headphone jack because sometimes it's nice to have one. There are no features on this amp that I don't use. I use this amp everywhere from my room, to practice, to live shows, and although it's a bit loud for my room, it's incredible for shows and practice. It's a dual reverb head (seperate reverb for both channels) which is nice to have. It's all tube (4 power amp, 3 preamp tubes), and it has a hi/low power Switch to go from 100w to 50w (good for bedroom and practice settings). It also has a 16ohm to 8ohm Switch to match cabinets better. // 10
Sound: I'm mostly using a Gibson SG Special, but will occasionally use other guitars (Squier tele, Epiphone les paul, Fender strat) and every guitar I play through it sounds amazing. It's a high gain amp, but not as ridiculous as today's high gain amps, so to me, at full gain, it's not very gain-y, but just perfect. I don't have the gain much above 3/4 of the way for the most part anyway. The clean channel is also very good. This amp never makes any unwanted noise. You can do anything with this amp. The clean channel will distort at high volumes because it has it's own gain knob so when you get the volume high enough, it will start to break up (but if you keep the gain really low like 2 or 3 you usually won't have that problem). The distortion is crazy, but can be dialed down and get some really good crunch and basically sound perfect for every style of music. // 10
Reliability & Durability: I can't afford to have a backup head, but I won't need to because this amp is dependable. It's 16 years old and still looks/sounds Brand New. I've never had any issues with it because I take care of it very well. But I'm sure if some owner neglected it, it would take quite a while for any issues to arise. // 10
Impression: Like I said, I play punk and ska, and I can't think of a better amp to play that with. I've been playing guitar for several years (I never kept track) and I play this head through a Marshall 1960AV cabinet and I use a Gibson SG Special. I got really lucky when I bought this amp for suck a good price, and there's nothing more I could/should have asked about it. If it was stolen, I would have to wait forever to save up for it again, but yeah, I'd definitely buy this head again. I love everything about this head and I don't think there's a single thing I hate about it. My favorite feature has to be the recording compensated output. It makes everything so much easier. I compared it to a few other amps, and while it's no Mesa Triple Rec (ideal head) it's still better IMO than most other tube heads. // 9
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