Marshall Valve State V.s. All Tube

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metalj

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ANyone have a opinion to share on the marshall valvestate guitar amps that have a tube pre amp but a solid state power amp??

I think they are called AVT's now but used to be called valvestate.

do they (avt's) sound as good as the all tube marshalls???

If not, what would be the main sound differences?? I am tempted by some late night ebaying.

thanks
MetalJ
 
i sold my avt 50 - cos to be honest it's the same as an mg series amp......

you can get a better distortion even with a boss ds-1 or something like that...

marketing gimmick all the way in my opinion
 
I had a 100 watt valvestate and didn't like it, practically had to give that sucker away to get rid of it. A peavey transtube is alot better if you want a solidstate amp.
 
i bought a valvestate stack in '92. sold it back again a couple of months later. the worst amp i ever owned, it sucked for clean AND for distortion.
 
hey jimistone...why didnt you like the valvestate?
 
faderbug said:
i bought a valvestate stack in '92. sold it back again a couple of months later. the worst amp i ever owned, it sucked for clean AND for distortion.
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Yeah, they did suck..... 13 YEARS AGO! :rolleyes:

I think he's talking about the present.... like, 2005 perhaps?

The newer AVT50's sound great. Like any other amp, much of the tone depends on the guitar that's plugged into it. I have a G & L F100, a Samick Ultramatic UM-4 (PRS clone), and a Yamaha Pacifica. I chose the AVT50 because all 3 of these guitars sound stellar through this amp.

I'd bet that most of these guys doing the trashing of the AVT series are basing their opinions on older models.
 
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I have an 'older' Valvestate 30 watt with reverb. I like it, and can make it sound ok. Problem is that it can't compete with a drummer. I paired it with an Alesis Wildfire 60 watt amp, and using it as a right side of a stereo setup, and leave it in the clean mode. Kinda gives me the 'high end' in my setup and WITH the Alesis gives me a sound I'd match up to anyone. I use NO effect pedals, only the channel switching on the Alesis with an expression pedal.

Probably will get a lot of people turning their noses up at this setup, but I am not expecting the amps to be the crutch for my sound. I'd like to think what is going into the amps has a MUCH bigger influence than what the amp does for the end result.

but...back about the Marshall...the distortion is ok... in the same ball park as any ProCo Rat, Ibanez Ts9...or whatever stomper you like. The problem I find with LITTLE amps is that they are not pushing enough AIR to get THE sound. It doesn't sound full enough...no balls... That is why I run a stereo setup to increase the "width" and "guts" of my sound...even though off stage it is still going to sound like mono.

I gotta think that the naysayers coming from many people regarding the equipment you can get nowadays just plug in and wank away...analogous to the Saturday afternoon guitar player at Guitar Center. The same with mics, guitars, ...almost anything you can buy. Go back and look at what was ONLY available to the AVERAGE joe back in the 70's and compare it to now... but leave out your "festival stacks"....eh!!..we're talking dinky amps and budget gear for the sake of THIS discussion.

so...don't expect a "mini" version of your JCM800 pushing a slant cabinet. But at REDUCED volumes, it can sound great.
 
Okay, I have to add something. The AVT50 combo has a closed-back design and pushes out more than enough power to play at club-level without having to mic the amp... unless, of course, you have a sound man that needs to mic it in order to do a mix. Also, many of the guys here are comparing the sound of AVT series to Fender, Peavey, and Mesa tube amps, which are the creme de la creme of tube amp sound. It's a no-brainer that the Marshall isn't going to sound nearly as good as these amps in their respective category of "pure tube sound." But, the Marshall will give you sweet overdrive tones, better "controllable" feedback, and a clean-channel sound that is distinctly "Marshall" in tone. If you play a lot of Classic Rock and Metal, the AVT50 is definitely the way to go, because that's *exactly* the sound this amp is geared toward. If you're playing Blues, Jazz, Funk, or Country, forget it... this is NOT the amp for those styles. If you want an amp that is a virtual "Swiss Army Knife" of great sound and can play at club-level volume, go get a Tech21 Trademark 60... I guarantee you won't be disappointed with it's versatility and array of great tones.
 
HangDawg said:
Of course not!
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I ASSume you have played through both?? to come up with that opinion??

Although your statement is probably true, I am looking for some reasoning, or personal experience, not just the common ideology that all tube is better than solid state or a hybrid of the two, just because that what we are all led to believe before hearing ourselves. Maybe you have that personal experience playing through the avt/valvestate marshalls but forgot to tell us.

I am only at spending like $150-$200 for a used 100 watt marshall combo. That is alot of power from a reputable amp maker that i could use for a backup, or try to get some differnt sounds for recording. So this isnt the end all for amps for me, just looking at some bargins on ebay.

I have heard that the clean sound is really nice, and the distortion is a little too crunchy/loose. Again this is just what i have "heard" from other people.

thanks for the comments
metalJ
 
>>>>>>>I have heard that the clean sound is really nice, and the distortion is a little too crunchy/loose. Again this is just what i have "heard" from other people.<<<<<<<<<

The clean is VERY good and sparkly, for a effort at a verbal description. The distortion is "artificial" sounding, but other than a real overdriven amp AND speakers, that is what you usually end up getting.
 
I own a Valestate and use a PRS guitar :cool: thourgh and you won't hear any complaints from the audience I play for. I play from Classic rock to Metal I love mine I know it's not as good as the real thing but most people in the crowd wouldn't know the difference I've had mine for about 3 years playing out in small to medium clubs. I even recorded with it a few times and always shined through for me, :D but hey it just my opinon of the amp. I paid 400$ used 3 1/2 yers ago at a Pawn shop but that was with the 4x12 cab to. I also own a Peavey Transtube Supreme 160 and their great amp to I sometimes A/B both amps together the Marshall has better lows then the Supreme but the Supreme has better mids and both together is pretty F@#$King awsome. Hey if you can buy it cheap go for it you won't be that disapointed. :D
 
I'm guessing the Ebay auction is over by now. In fact it probably ended over a year ago. :rolleyes:
 
I know a guy who has a AVT 150 half stack, the clean sounds great, the distortion leaves a bit to be desired, but this is nothing a pedal couldnt fix.
 
bh4554 said:
i sold my avt 50 - cos to be honest it's the same as an mg series amp......

you can get a better distortion even with a boss ds-1 or something like that...

marketing gimmick all the way in my opinion
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I have both an mg series and an avt50 and that statement you just made couldn't be further from the truth. They sound much different and are not the same thing. Now that being said they don't sound that much better than the mg's at all but the distortion is different. I have had a few mg owners offer to buy my combo. After getting my Mesa I've realized that one tube just doesn't get you that tube sound.
 
I DO have personal experience with both. I have owned both a Valvestate Marshall (an older VS100) and a couple of all tube Marshalls. Of course the Valvestate does not compete with the tube Marshalls. I really don't think the tube is much more that a marketing gimmick. It sounds like any other solid state amp to me. It does not have "tube" character at all. That being said, it's not a horrible amp. It's usable, but it just doesn't hold a candle to a tube Marshall.

And the new Valvestate Marshalls don't sound near as good as the old ones I think. It does have a really nice clean channel, too.
 
I have an old 8280 Valvestate (1st generation Valvestate I think?), barely working at this point, but it was a much more realistic sound than the later Valvestate models. It couldn't do metal very well, but it had a fairly realistic Marshall crunch. The later Valvestates got stupid with the gain and the scooping and sounded fairly unpleasant to me; although I guess they could do a "better" metal sound.
Or course they can't hold a candle to the tube Marshalls.
 
I bought the AVT 20 back in 2001 for a practice amp. Initially I really liked it - sounded great at bedroom level, easy to carry around, can jam with a full band and it's enough volume.(although after the volume is past 7, there's hardly any increase in output) The "clean" channel isn't really clean, its more like lower gain. Over time I found that I grew less fond of the overdrive, it is very mid-scooped (even with the mid control on 10) and kind of high end diode-buzzy overdrive. The preamp tube provides "harmonics" to the sound (according to Marshall statement). They are using clipping diodes for the high gain though.
The big difference between the AVT and a full tube amp, is the power section in an AVT is transistor. If you like tube power amp overdrive, you'll really find that sound lacking on the AVT line. And the preamp section only uses 1 tube (and I switched around brand tubes, and it didn't make much difference) whereas in a full tube amp, there are at least 2 that may use different gain stages. The amp doesn't clean up as well as a full tube amp, and doesn't sound as "open" as a tube amp.

but for a practice amp, I like it - Marshall did get their sound into this, and it sounds alot bigger and fuller than it really is. But if you compared the AVT line against any full tube amp, you'd immediately tell the difference between the sounds.
 
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