Marshall AVT50H

I paid about $450 for this at a local music store. It came with a footswitch and tone that kicked my ass.

Just about everything! Both the clean and OD channels rock. The clean channel is suprisingly good far a half solid state. It has a pretty good amount of warmth, and sisnce it doesn't push a cab as hard as a 100W head, it has really good headroom. Then, there's the sweet, sweet distortion. The tube preamp makes an awesome OD sound that is extremely versatile. You can go from soft blues licks to skull-crushing death brekdowns in the crank of a knob. The reverb is pretty good, but I don't really like using it (personal preference). Since it has a headphone jack, you can practice without bothering anybody else. Awesome amp.

Since it's only 50W instead of 100, you don't get quite the chest-pounding volume out of it. But it is definitely loud enough to gig with and jam with. Also, it takes forever to warm up. I'm not sure why, but a JCM 2000 TSL100 boots up in about half the time this one does. The tone controls aren't 100% expressive, either. They work really well but not quite like a full tube amp.

Everything is amazing about this amp. It's built perfectly in the Marshall tradition. It's impossible to fuck this thing up.

I recommend this amp to anyone who wants a very good gigging amp with tons of tone. (That would be all of us.) The price is really good, and with a good cab, the tone is outstanding. Whatever you do don't get the combo version. It deosn't sound half as good as the head. No matter what kind of music you play, this amp can suit you. It's practically flawless. Go buy one ASAP.

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

I traded in my VS100RH for it at Noah's music in Yuma because I needed something better for recording.

TIGHT punchy vintage metal overdrive -much tighter than the VS100RH. Straight forward setup. Excellent, warm sounding clean and reverb. Gain switch on the clean makes the clean channel warmer and more versatile. Much Much louder than I expected -sound maintains shape at just about any volume. Records well and looks sharp too.

It would be nice to have a mid EQ on the cleans, but the sound doesn't seem to suffer much from it.

The construction is beautiful! This time Marshall actually made a Valvestate head that is proportionate to the cab. It doesn't look cheap like the older heads -it includes gold lace lining around the perimeter of the face and has a vent and fan built in to keep it cool. I seriously go to sleep staring at it!

The trade was just a trial run at first. I actually had low expectations on the AVT50 head, but was willing to try anything to make better recordings. I compared it side by side with my friend's VS100RH and was truly surprised and astonished! I doubted that I was going to keep it, but after hearing just the first few notes from it, I was won over. I haven't tried it full bast yet, but so far seems to be about as loud as the 100 watt VS100RH. I liked my old more versatile VS100RH, but the versatility couldn't match the sound -I am thrilled with the trade!

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

I bought this head at Mars and paid $459.99 for it. I had needed a bigger amp than I was using.

Even though its not all tube, it sounds great. The ovedrive channel has good warmth and the clean channel is nice & glassy. The reverb also sounds great, and it sounds good at any volume.

The CD input doesnt work well at all. But everything else works great.


The contruction is very tough. This head is made more compact than most Marshall heads. It's about 3 inches narrower. The quality is equal to all other Marshall products.

This is a great amp at a great price. It,s definetley big enough for anything smaller than a stadium, but will work in a bedroom just fine.

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