Gear Curiosities: Marshall Valvestate 8100 - 1 Tube + Op-Amps + LEDs = Death Metal Glory!
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- Опубликовано: 24 ноя 2022
- Today in Plague Scythe Studios, I finally dial in some iconic 90's metal tones with Marshall's classic "upside down," sort of solid state, sort of tube amp - the Valvestate 8100!
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Those Death albums that Chuck recorded with this amp sound massive!
Love that you are posting again. One of the most reliable, believable and trustworthy guitar youtubers right now 🤘
agreed, cocky but way more truth then guitar gear fluffers
I lucked into this wonderful piece of gear in the early 2000's. My buddy needed dental work and sold me the head and a 4x12 for $500 (he was into his Line6 setup and didn't see the need for it anymore. .
Not having any clue what I wanted or what I was getting, I just felt the need to graduate from practice amps and thought sure why not a half stack lol.
I've always loved the way it sounded on the boost channel and that contour knob is like some kind of wizard! R.I.P Kari, I've thoroughly enjoyed this rig and I miss you dude!
Miracle Man with the Sd-1 sounded huge!
I with my band actually still gig these along with their successors the VS100. The lead tone is just buttery smooth while the OD2 is tight as hell. Like I own a boogie Mark III Blue stripe and the 8100s are even tighter than that. Massively underrated and written off by way too many people.
Did the whole 48 min - was entertained and at the same time found a line on one of these locally. The “push it” riff MADE me HAVE to get one
These are fantastic, especially the chorus combo.
Tommy Victor snap your fingers snap your neck, I read an article in the 90s that he used this head...Marshall won big time with this product and I wish they would bring them back, just killer tone.
They tried but has made AVTs and Code25... Old original Valvestates like 8020, 8040, 8080, 8240 and 8280 are the best hybrid amps Marshall has released ever. And unique 3210 Lead 100 Mosfet plus.
Your riff selection is always refreshing
Unfortunately since Marshall got bought out they are focusing on Bluetooth speakers and noise canceling earphones and such. Great video, but its a shame Marshall doesn't focus more on amps these days.
Every company is trying to be a “lifestyles” brand. From Gibson to Marshall… pathetic actually.
@@hogie1259 yeah I hate that whole lifestyle brand mentality musicians made these companies wealthy enough to put their name on bologna if they wanted to. Now they do everything but make something musicians want at a decent price.
I'm glad we haven't seen a Nike guitar amp yet 🤦♂️🤦♂️
I just recently pulled my Chuck Schuldiner tribute out of the closet and bought some Schaller locking tuners for it... time to learn Death riffs 🤘🏻
My first "real" amp. Miss it so much.
It was my first too. But I still have it, matching cab included.
@@Herrierecordsinc My cab is still gigging!
Ryan's got the riffs! And opening with Death: *chef's kiss*
I'm glad to see you finally do a video about this amp. I've been seeing it in the background for a while and have been waiting for you to even just mention it.
My first head was a Vs100 Valvestate, the model following the 8100, and I still use it almost 5 years later even when I own a few really nice tube amps. I knew nothing of these amps when I bought it and was just a Marshall fan boy that found it at my local Guitar Center for $150. I couldn't say no to a 100-watt 3-channel high-gain Marshall for that price and I'm so glad I bought it.
The amp is so good and I was shocked how many bands I knew and loved used them, even Slipknot on their self titled used them.
In recent times I've come up with a theory that these are actually Marshall's attempt to capture the Mesa/Boogie sound, specifically the Mark series amps. I own a Dual Rec and a JCM 2000 and sometimes it seems like the Valvestate is closer to the Rectifier having this very Mesa/Boogie-inspired sound. Even the dates line up where five years after the Mark iii and Mark iv amps they released a new valvestate with a very similar look to the amps.
And as you know the staple feature of the Mark series amps is that graphic EQ which the valvestate lacks which would be important for a Mark series "clone", unless you consider one detail. The most important and recognizable slider on the EQ is the 750hz which gives that classic scoop that Marshall did emultate through the "Contour" knob. I'm not sure you can call all those coincidences.
Fell for the RG100 Lynch marketing back in the day. It always sounded muddy to me, I went through many guitars back then thinking it was the guitar. Then I decided to get a Boogie MK3. Had I found this amp might have been happy (for a while LOL). No internet back then to speak of, today's young players lucky to have content like this, great job, always enjoy your vids and know you know your electronics, real deal!
Outstanding review...... These amps were viewed as a joke back in the 90's here in Toronto. This is an eyeopener.
They were laughed at everywhere when they came out, now they are highly sought after.
This video blew my mind. I was aware of the late 80s/90s players using this but had never seen a comprehensive take on this like you have done. Many thanks from me, and fantastic job.
Bought mine a couple years ago for $250, no scratchy pots and sounds sooooo good with my Gibson SG, I’ll never sell it ! 🤘 #8100forlife - Excellent overview of the amp btw!
It's great that you're back regularly, Ryan. My go-to youtuber.
You're such a killer player
If only you heard the horrendous sloppy mistakes I cut out each video 😆
Forgot to mention that I’d love to see you compare this with a Master Effects Martyr if possible. The literature states it’s the preamp from the 8100 in a pedal.
Loved the ZZ Top and crossover thrash clips towards the end, and the bass clips sounded insane
I can appreciate what u are doing here, I actually had found one of these in Albuquerque but the dude did not respond to his own ad ,I would not mind finding one,so in that realm the orange super crush100 i have been eye bulbing 😂since it came to the masses there is some good solid state stuff outthere I still got my Crate GX160 combo I bought in 1992,if I put through one of my 4x12 cabs,it does sound pretty good for what it is, effects loop on the front panel Lita Ford ,Mark Kendall endorsed this Amp back in early 90's lol 😂,I wish Crate would have continued building amplifiers .Great video Ryan 📹 🤘😈🤘🎶🎶🎶💥🍻.
My top favorite amps:
Randall RG100
Randall T2
Randall Lynchbox
Randall Thrasher
Randall Satan
EVH 5150-3
Marshall Valvestate 8100
Klirrton Grindstein (makes for both a good tone coloring pedal, or a standalone amp all in itself, either way, it goes good in front of amps or in FX loops)
I know I'm super into Randalls, but the amps I've tried by them have always sounded really heavy. But I have branched out and tried other amps too, the EVH 5150-3s are really good too, and the Marshall Valvestate is a good color-tone providing amp. It gives a crispy, mid scooped sound.
I mix all of these together to make my wall of sound. I blend the amp sounds. My main main sound is the RG100. What I do is I turn the volumes for the final sound down from the amp tracks on the mixer to allow some space with the drums and bass, because when these sounds blend together, even at low volumes, it gets LOUD as FUCK. The "main sound" (the RG100) is mixed louder than the other amps (I put it to about -3 to -7 db) and the other amps will usually be about -10 to -12 db. They provide a lot of color. The RG100 provides the "in your face" sound, straight up and down the middle is how I have the RG100 panned, it provides a good "basis" for the sound, the t2, the thrasher, the satan, the EVH and the Valvestate are all basically meant as tone coloring (and are somewhat panned, not fully, but partially) just to sprinkle some more harmonics in there. Another thing I do is I use harmonic maximizers (helps warm things up), transient shapers (helps give clarity even more when you are running super-high gain) and the final piece of my brutal recipe is Audiority Pyros. Guitar Overdrive setting. Germanium Diode clipper. Even on my Grinstein tracks, then run it through Breverb (and just a hint of chorus) then front that into my IRs. It makes a really mean chainsaw sound on chords, but sounds so pretty on melodies. On the Audiority Randy 250 I have it set to Dime 333, on Overloud TH3 I have it set with 2 Randall T2s with a Grindstein in front of it. I wish I could show you just how bad ass it sounds when you blend these amps together with Grindstein, with a huge wall of sound and good parametric EQ and harmonic maximizers, transient shapers and pyro distortion clipper under germanium settings, holy fuck you can get a mean sound
I seem to be enjoying the riff selections of your videos. Good stuff!
I'm shocked, absolutely shocked, that it took me this long to find your channel. It's a deep dive on each subject that I look for in a video about the subject matter. I'm not going to say hour long videos on an amp or software make my pants tight but...
Your channel might be the best content I've found on RUclips all year.
Thanks for this!!! I saw a Randall RG100ES for 600 bucks on FB Market but I also wanted this amp so now I can make a quick decision!
Yeeees I'd been hoping you'd do a video on this for a while since it turned up in the background. Good stuff.
Run across ur channel a few times recently, u do solid videos. Keep it up - subbed!
This was an awesome video! Thanks man!!😊😊😊🔥🔥🔥🎸🎸🎸
Great Video! This guy nails it!
I just bought one of these, sounds great. Very interesting video, thank you.
Bought one for $100 10 yrs ago, 100 gigs, couple tubes n couple minor repairs..worked perfectly.. then sold it for $250 few yrs ago, should've jus kept it
I recently sold one of these, wish I didn’t. Great channel 🤙🎸
I own 8240 on the same chassis. The best hard tone machine I've ever had. The only thing this head is even better in some purposes - it's smaller and has more mobility when working with 3rd party speakers.
This just sounds soooo good
I bought two of these within the last year at GC and fell into the hype of the "death amp," but must say it's a cool little amp and will proudly own for years to come!! Cool vid on the history of this iconic amp!
m/
Outstanding video again. And same for the last one with the pedals. This, the VS-100, and the JMP-1 are my favorite Marshall amps.
Tip for when you start doing the Tone Engineer content, start with the JMPre models, boost the low cut a bit, powertubes to 6550 or KT88s, Sag almost off, and play with the B+ Constant to taste. That and messing with the amp block graphic EQs have gotten me great Valvestate results in my Axe FX III.
Also, I think this is the first time I’ve logged in to RUclips in quite a long time, so I’ll say this now: My condolences for you loss. I hope you’re healing on the best way for you.
When you went to the demo for the line out, i made the mistake of immediately cranking the volume upon hearing the riff for "Push It" and forgetting everything you were warning about. GG no re. I'm disappointed but not surprised by the "It's not a JCM, who cares what it sounds like" speaker compensation. I honestly wish they just didn't bother, seeing as it would have been cheaper and easier either omit the feature entirely or to just give an uncompensated line out instead of a wannabe headphone out. Half assed features like this are just another weird quirk that give the budget Marshall amps the weird reputation they have.
That bass tone is fucking GNARLY. I'll have to experiment with the Audiority model of this once i find where i put my 9 volt batteries. I'm not usually a fan of the bright grindy distortion sound on bass, but this amp platform doesn't go nearly as far in the icepicky territory as something like the B7K does.
That being said, These amps sound fantastic when used properly. The amp IS more versitile than it's typically used for, but i love that it just sounds like Nu Metal.🤘I really wish Marshall would reintroduce them. The Valvestate line (topping out with the Mode Four
This is by far my favorite amp of all time. It have a really particular sound that I love.
U always have great content man your awesome bud😈🌟🤘🎶🎶🎶
Check out Marshall’s first attempt at a hybrid amp: in the mid 1980’s they created the 3203 series- “Marshall Artist.” This was a solid state pre-amp followed by a 12AX7 tube phase inverter, then lastly a tube power section with two EL34’s. These were smaller amp heads and 30 watts. Most modern hybrid amps are a 12AX7 pre amp followed by solid state power amplifier. The first hybrid amp by Marshall as early as the mid 1980’s was a solid state pre-amp followed by an EL34 tube power amp section.
Mate! VS265R 212 combo my first loud amp. Picked it up new in 1996 and still have it today. Loved your run through on the 8100 - lots to chew on there. I'm going to look out for a 8100 now. Great video - will be watching for more. Cheers!
I almost bought one of those back in the day, went with a PV ultra plus instead. Glad to see you back on YT after your tragedy.
Great video. I am really glad I found it. I've had a V100 for years. It's in mint condition. It has just about the same layout only the send and return are on the back of the amp.
I spend so much time dialing in my EVH Iconic, Crate Blue Voodoo and JCM900 that I completely pass over my Valvestate, but not anymore. This video reminded me
of why I bought it in the first place. I think I traded a guy $200 and an old Jackson Dinky for it. I'm starting to realize that I really scored on that deal. Thanks man.
Great in depth review
Thank you Tone Engineer! 👊🏽
beautiful done 👍 thank you
20+ years ago, this was my first amp head. When we played nu metal shows, I loved two things about this amp. I loved the contour knob as well as that wet/dry effect loop knob. Back then, the BBE sonic maximizer was a common thing. I would mix in the maximizer to taste and then use the effects loop wet/dry to slightly dial THAT into my sound. Honestly, was able to get some pretty good tones out of that amp. Or so I thought, at the time.
I actually loved that everything plugged into the front of the Valvestate. When your playing shows and its always dark its always easier to Hook everything up.
Great video!
Awesome video as always dude! Have you thought of doing a shootout between this and the Audiority plugin version? I know other people have done so in the past, but you go into way more depth than most other channels out there and I would love to see what you come up with!
This sounds sick
Well done. I’ve had a 8100 since the day I bought it in 96. I didn’t even know what I was really buying other than I thought it sounded and looked great. To this day I still use this amp.
Same here with a VS265R 212. Bought mine new same year as you and still have it in pristine condition. Cheers!
@@greghitt1704 pristine eh headshell could use a good scrubbing. I swapped all the pots out and she's been working like a charm.
i love having the send-return on the front of the amp
Master Effects has the Martyr pedal which is based off of the the Valvestate 8100 preamp. I got it for my friend/bandmate as a x-mas gift last year and he loves it.
With my Revv Generator 100R MKIII and Dean Markley Signature Series 60 tube amps (which I both love) I still have a desire to get my hands on those classic solid state designs. Ampeg VH 140C/SS 150H, Sunn Beta Lead/Bass, Acoustic (any of the 70s and 80s models) and also the Valvestate. I like the sounds from bands like early Descendents (Beta Lead), KARP (Beta Bass) and Rorschach (SS150H) that I cannot achieve with tube heads/boost pedals alone. I gotta have that Solid State "sound."
Just commented about the Master Effects Martyr, which they also have some Ampeg preamp pedals. There are a lot of Sunn Model T pedals, but Berserker Electronics has the Prehistoric Dog (named after Red Fang’s song) which can switch between the Beta Lead and Beta Bass sound
@@slayabouts I did see your comment from earlier. I do want to get the Master Effects Misanthrope (VH140c) eventually. There's also Hilbish Designs that has the Sol Invictus, which is a modified Beta Lead/Bass Preamp with 2 channels.
I'm well aware of many makers that recreate preamps in pedals. I have the ME Super 800 (Which is based on the Gallien Krueger 800RB) for my bass rig
@@Vaifan1981 I’ve thought of getting the GK pedal since I really like the plugin alliance vst of it, but I’m pretty happy with my Tronographic Rusty Box that’s a clone of the Traynor TS-50b which has something unique to it that I can’t get with anything else
@@slayabouts I had the V1 of the Rusty Box for a bit. Loved the way that sounded, the 30v power supply was a pain in the ass. I'm thankful the new versions of the Rusty Box run at 9v 200mA. Ultimately I ended up selling mine to the same bandmate/friend and I got the Bardic Audio Arcane Distorter (Which is a Traynor TS-120 preamp) it's in a smaller enclosure and runs on 9v. I don't mind not have the onboard boost because I'm using the EQD Arrows as that "boost" channel and It also works great with the Super 800.
I also know that Drunk Beaver has the Trainer 100 (TS-100 in a pedal) that he just released.
@@Vaifan1981 nice, I’ll have to check those out
❤ my 8080 combo. Valvestates are so versatiles. For 100 bucks, you can use them in raw mode or modeling gears. Great job dude
Everytime I play with this amp it puts a smile on my face.
Edit
One of the descriptions I saw about the Contour control is that it acts has a mid cut, the more you add the more V shaped it gets. Although I saw a Kris Khole video sayin that it does two different things, it does something bellow 12 o'clock and another above. I don't recall exactly what.
You should checkout the Master Effects line of preamp pedals if you haven't already. I have the Martyr preamp pedal, it's a great clone of the 8100. For what its worth I think It's awesome. They have a bunch of models that you might find interesting.
Just picked one of these with a mg412a and a jackson rhoads v for $150! Love that I came to the same conclusions on how to use the boost channel as you did namely for my hometown hero Shuldinger. Appreciate knowing exactly how the contour works, too. Unfortunately I'll never get to use it to it's full potential so I'll probably flip it. Def one of my favorite amps tho.
That crowbar tone!!! Spot on...
marshall is falling in the trap of life brand with supid headphone and bluethooth speakers ... imagine the amount of money they are losing on just not releasing a hot rodded jcm 800
wisconsin death trip is such a gooooood album damn ...
The problem is that the stupid stuff they sell is much higher margin than any amp they can make will ever be.
39:29 early Crowbar sound nailed to a T !
I owed a vs 100 ran a ts909 through it. I loved it. And I used a 1960 a cab
Really good point you made there bout Marshall kind of brushing off the metal side of things. Since Jim passed away they seem more content with being some sort of life style brand and focusing on blusey rock sounds.
This amp was even used by Cannibal corpse on the Bleeding album and Dino from Fear factory tracked an album with one, Im pretty sure Deicide used them for a bit, at least live I know that much
Did you ever check out the fender roc pro series? They were definitely a response to these, using a tube in low voltage mode as a clipper. The clean channels were actually shockingly nice, and the lead channels sounded good especially with a big muff in front. They were inexpensive and quite high powered, but unfortunately they cheaped out on the construction (similar to the valvestates actually) so reliability and repair was less than ideal.
I love this amp. I bought mine about 28 years ago and it is in use since. Unfortunately since 3 weeks somethings wrong with it. Hopefully I can get it fixed. I would never get rid of it.🤘
A Marshall rep definitely saw this video and shot the idea right up the command chain in regards to the recent pedal reissues lol. The boss Waza success probably had a lot to do with it. Just picked up a clean, clean 8200 bi-chorus myself, and for the couple hundred bucks I payed, it does not disappoint. So many usable tones
Something to note: The 8200/8280 actually do NOT have the same preamp circuit as the 8080/8100. The 8280 was my first gigging amp back in the day so I had (and still have) some Valvestates i repaired/modded over time as "pet" amps.
The main difference to my ears is that the 8100 - like you mentioned - works best with just using "extreme" settings to achieve that signature Death Metal tone because it's already super tight and has a lot of bite by itself. It doesn't really care whether you slam its front end though.
The 8280/8200 circuit uses some different components and its first preamp stage has a little more headroom and isn't as tight naturally. That's what - together with a high dB boost - gives you the Meshuggah DEI tone easily.
I liked both sounds but ended up selling my 8080 and kept the 8200.
I'll have to look for an 8200 schematic. DEI was 100% a Dual Rectifier though, they only played the Valvestates live and recorded guitar scratch tracks with them. You can see Fredrik tracking the Recto in Studio footage.
@@PlagueScytheStudios thanks for clarifying, didn't know that! I always though DEI had been Valvestates, Rectos on Chaosphere and then whatever digital stuff they were using on later albums.
The 8200 schematic is available online, you just have to look for "8280 schematic" as the .pdf is tagged as such. For the input stage, It uses vn2410L MOSFETS off the HT rail, which is also used for the one tube it has, while the 8080/8100 uses TL071 OPamps. After that, the drive preamps are very similar.
So much details what a knowledge and.. you nailed the death tone to nearly 100 percent awesome I even wondered whats that lick and: Fear factory I am a nineties guy 😂. Very cool and informative Thank you
I loved gojiras Terra incognita tone with this amp.
I did some work on a friends guitar and he gave me a VS 100 ,its needs some pot cleaning but overall impressed with its sound still playing around with it using a 8ohm cabinet I bet it would sound even better with a 4ohm cabinet,Im not looking forward to take it apart to clean it but I know when its done Ill throw a dust cover over it
people make fun of this thing, but I am happy with mine. My past few videos have some of the best tone I've ever gotten since I paired it with the fortin Blackout Grind.
Bought a VS100 combo recently and there is so much to like about this thing. Especially for $200. It may just be a big pedal but it does come with a cabinet and a speaker. lol Hoping an 8100 or 8080 turns up soon.
The Lead 100 takes the cake for "best solid state amp". It is *bonkers* good! I find myself plugging into the Lead 100 more frequently than the JVM410H that sits right below it :)
Btw, if you look at the schematic and analyse what the tube does, you'll find that it's basically just a clean volume boost at the end of the preamp circuit. It has very, very little effect. The heavy lifting is all done by clipped opamps and LEDs.
This was my first “real amp” and I liked it but it didn’t have enough volume for me to keep up with a full band. In retrospect this could have been related to the shitty valvestate cab paired with it or maybe it was just my particular head. I ended up letting a friend borrow it and then never saw it again 😢. Between the 3 amps, my ranking is 1) Randall 2) valvestate 3) Gargoyle. I think the Randall and valvestate blended would sound awesome.
Back when I was in middle school, the Valvestate series was what we all wanted for Metallica palm mutes. 🤘
Time to fire up the Audiority 8100 plugin and reminisce. 😎
I use to run my 8100 pre-amp section into the effects loop of my Triple Rectifier. You should try if you get bored. 🤘
The line out could go to an EQ for sure but I presumed it’s main purpose was to slave another amp too; kinda surprised they messed up the signal with any internal filtering.
Brilliant Amps and so are the older Vox valvetronix hybrid Amps
I'm working on my BA in electrical engineering and at the moment we're researching op amps and I'm thinking I should try to build either of these amps with some mods too but in slightly more compact housing rather than full size amp head.
Back in the day, I was going to replace the amp section in this amp with a Sunn 1200s 😂
33:20 TRIAL BY FIRE!
I wonder how it would sound to change the 3 band OD1 variables to target more bass-centric features. You could even have a switch from guitar mode and bass mode and include a clean/dirty blend knob in bass mode.
Fucking awesome, monstrous bass tone you got out of that thing as is!
I had the VS100 and the matching cab for a couple years. It never felt quite like the real deal to me. It had 3 channels: a clean, a more classic rock channel, and a metal channel (at least that's how I thought of it). What I really hated about it is there was lag when switching channels. For instance, you couldn't play a clean tone part and then step on the foot switch to instantly go distorted. There was a second of no sound before the volume kicked in on the distorted channel. And the cabinet was not particular great. If you added much bass at all the low end would bottom out, so I'm really surprised to learn the metal heads like them. It just didn't have a good solid, tight response. You could crank up the classic rock channel and make it plenty loud and passable for like Zeppelin and Sabbath, and 70s style classic rock. But it would not hang at a full metal band volume on the heavy channel. The bass response was just a total deal breaker.
That line-out is the pits. Otherwise, great amp...
PS: With the Boss SD-1 it is superb! The SD-1 is my favourite boost pedal...
Regarding your comment about the "clean clean clean" channel, may I disagree. The clean channel starts to break up with the gain past 12 o'clock (SD JB on the bridge here) and can get pretty gnarly with the gain maxed. It also has a high end rolloff as you turn up the gain. You can get very bright clean tone swith the gain very low and crunchy sounds with it turned up. But to compare this clean channel with a Jazz Chorus is kind a heresy... heheheheh
About the line out, it may work for industrial type stuff, like Rammstein. If you want to use the amp with impulse responses or cab sims, getting the signal from the FX Send is a much better solution.
A distortion pedal that sound a lot like these amps is the Visual Sound Son of Hyde, which is based on the Marshall Shredmaster. A cheaper solution is the Joyo JF-04 High Gain Distortion. The mids controls on these two pedals are actually the contour control, bur wired the "normal" way.
These Valvestate were very popular here in Brazil in the 90's among the punk and hardcore underground scene. Lots of albums recorded with them. I have an 8080, which is essentially the same amp as the 8100, but in a combo format. Everytime I play it, it brings back lots of memories.
Cheers, man!!
Awesome thanks for your videos! What about the Valvestate 2000: is it any good for awesome thrash and metalz?
40:10 love some sol niger within
I literally can't go a week without listening to the whole thing, it's hypnotic.
Want one of these, I have the 8040, i think the 8100 will be the best for me
Always wanted to try this and the Ampeg Vh140. Didn’t Wayne use the 8100 on Wisconsin death trip
own this amp and love it, may it even be just for the Death nostalgia :) my only complaint is that it's somehow always dark and always scooped no matter the settings. but hey, it was released in the 90s so that was maybe intentional on Marshall's end, also given the metal target demographic and the tone trends from that era. i'm really pro-mids on my setting habits on any platform so that's maybe the source of the complaint. also maybe i need to experiment more with the contour knob as you explain around 30:20
that being said, this amp's super dry and super tight gain structure is hard to beat. Marshall does need to bring it back! i do have a preference for the 8100 over Randall's solid state offer due to my love for Marshall tones and mid-heavy tones in general, but i believe that Randall solid state preamps somehow have a bit more headroom and can get more "realistic" mid gain tones (compared to tubes), that translate to more "organic, chewy" high gain tones when up to compression (for lack of better words).
regarding the amp itself, for classic rock up to AC/DC territory gain i really prefer using the "crunch" mode on the clean channel pushed to max gain rather than using OD1. OD1 is in my opinion the most dull channel on the amp, largely lifeless and uninspiring. OD2 has so much gain on tap it's obnoxious. i usually don't go past midway, or 70% for more extreme styles. i never tried to boost it so far.
great content as always Ryan. curious on the coming 8100 tone engineer videos.
My favourite tones are mostly late 80s/early 90s marshall stuff like Nightfall by Candlemass, early Therion, Astral Sleep and Wildhoney by Tiamat, Dissection, first Theatre of Tragedy, ... Do you think a Valvestate would be a good fit for me or would something like a DSL20 with a G12T75 be better?
My first 'real amp' after a crappy practice combo was the AVT50 hybrid combo amp(less desirable). Thanks for opening my eyes to how valvestate works.
Btw do u still have the hotmod in the gargoyle?
I do, you're hearing it that demo!
I think the Randall RH150 G3 takes a somewhat similar approach, with perhaps a broader midrange. Also a good amp.
The Ampeg VH100C and its Crate counterpart (GX-130C) will always be the death metals kings to me. SO MANY North American bands used them in the 90s. Suffocation, Gorguts, Cannibal Corpse. Dying Fetus, Immolation, Nile, Decapitated... Hell, they're not death metal but even Kamelot used the Ampeg.
And every single band you mentioned. Doesn't use solid state amps after you know. They had $$$$$
YEAH YOU PUSH IT
i see you grew fond of the metal zone boosting amps ... sammy duet and kirk windstein knew their shit ... i love this marshall i may get one since you can get the 80w combo and turn it into a head for suuuuuper cheap
I have an mg30dfx at home for practice and a valvestate Vs100 head while I like both the vs100 smokes it. I had a VS15 (no tube in those) and it still beat the mg. I’m looking to get more valvestates now, I keep coming back to them and after deciding I’m done chasing and spending on tube amps and repairs, and don’t want modelers I went solid state and pedals, orange or Marshall and I can’t find these cheaper. Mg gets you there but the valvestate is actually enjoyable
So the Marshall MG100HDFX is a solid solid state amplifier. I know people hate on it but myself and many others get killer tones from it. This is not in terms of recording, this is in the room or at a smaller gig. Ive been able to dial in anything from blues to all types of metal and rock tones with a little bit of knob fiddling lol. The contour matters and well.
First mgs were great. they cdss100 or somthing similar. They were more compresed and in your face then valvestate. I played in a band we usw both amps so i can compare both. Unfortunatly all mgs i used were relative short lived. And after 2010every ge eration is wrose by quality and sound. But those from late 90 were damn good.
Check out Master Effects’ Martyr pedal, which is a pedal version of the preamp