Marshall MB30

got mine at the bargain price of $55, and for that price, it does pretty darn good. i play a lot of different styles of music, and this little amp serves me well. it has channel switching, line out and a second input for a CD player, but i never use those features. i wouldn't mind trying out the channel switching, though, if i ever happen to find a footswitch.

it handles massive volume pretty well, i crank the volume knobs on my bass, my metal muff and the amp itself, and it keeps on kicking.

as for the amp itself, awesome for what i paid. i use it with a fender MIM jazz bass, late 2004, and a metal muff pedal, and various envelope filter pedals. sometimes i even throw some ultrasone headphones into the mix, when it's a bad time to play the music out loud. great sound for the most part, but when i use the send and recieve jacks, my metal muff sounds kind of muted, like more of a booster and less of a distortion, which i don't like. other than that, basic 30 watt solid-state bass amp, small enough to carry to gigs, powerful enough to use for both practice and small gigs.

again, stock fender MIM standard jazz bass, sounds pretty good with it.

the "classic" channel has a gain circuit, crank it all the way and it can pass for a decent fuzz pedal. the "modern" channel has a junky compressor circuit, but you can turn the compressor off, and then "modern" becomes your clean channel.

the headphone jack has an annoying buzz to it, but my amp was also thoroughly used before i got it, so maybe it's just mine.

the effects loop (the send and recieve jacks) are a great feature to have. it works like a charm with most of my pedals (mainly envelope filters, such as a russian bassballs and a micro q-tron), but can't seem to play nice with my metal muff. like, my metal muff has a great bone-crunching death-metal-bass sound when i plug it in between my bass and my amp, but it sounds very subdued and downplayed when i plug it into the loop.

the built-in EQ is almost your standard-issue 3-band EQ, but it has something extra called "voice shift". what it does, i have no clue. the 3 bands work like you expect them to, though.

the guy who owned this amp before i did is pretty brutal on his equipment. i don't treat my amps that much nicer, either. but so far, and knock on wood, all i've had in the way of functional damage is a ripped handle, an annoying buzz from the headphone jack, and some cabinet rattle.

it's not a soviet tank, and it's not an electro-harmonix pedal, but it's a tough cookie.

bought mine used, and haven't contacted marshall about anything yet. no insight to offer on my end.

i've only been playing for 4 or 5 months now, but for the bargain price i got this amp for, it's been the ideal starter amp for me. if it got jacked or if it died, i wouldn't rush to get a new one, they do cost $200 new, but i wouldn't completely rule it out, either.

if i had to express gripes with it, the send/recieve jacks completely muddle the sound of my metal muff. but other than that, it's a pretty good unit, if you're looking for a practice amp, or an amp for small gigs where no guitarist is there to overpower you.

Lots of knobs to control two channels and three voicings, manual adjustable compression and voicing adjustment, four band eq. Buttons. Closed back. Handles the B string on a five string with no cracking or popping sounds, very hard to find in a practice amp. Check it out for yourself. Most can't handle the B.

Although not loud like a thirty watt guitar amp it has a beautiful range of sounds and absolutely awesome tone. It is a practice amp and can be enjoyed in that context. I have a Schecter new Stiletto five Elite neck thru body and it sounds incredible thru this practice amp; I have a new Squire J bass that sounds awesome, nothing like a J bass - great basses if you can only have one bass; a used Squire P bass in great shape that I am hot rodding and it sounds great too, but, of course, doesn't have the versitility of sound that the other two basses do. It's a P bass! I always wanted a P bass and the affinities are way better than a lot of you think they are, especially the newer ones. I play the new metallic red Squire J bass the most because it is light, sounds great, and I don't have to worry about it like the Schecter. I also have a Fender Rumble 100, complete with the switchable flashing rythmic red lights in the base port, but I love the amp. It is not an expensive bass amp but is really great sounding and has a fifteen inch speaker and I play it in my den. It is heavy and I'm 59 and don't want to haul it up and down stairs to lessons, so I got the Marshall and it is an awesome amp and very portable but not all that light for its size. It is a substantial amp. Not some price leader junk. I have a special place in my heart for Marshalls I guess and this practice amp fits right in there. I also have an old mint Valvestate II VS30R guitar amp that is solid state but awesome for what it is. I'm lucky to have these two relatively inexpensive Marshalls.

5 year warranty. Overall build quality looks really good; solid, heavy, quality covering, knobs, switches, etc. Has a quality sound that indicates structural integrity and a well thought out design. Seems built to last.

Have not used customer support but the shop I bought it at provides outstanding back up of their products sold.

Played this amp almost exclusively for about 6 months +/- and the sounds and tone are awesome. It doesn't say Marshall on it for nothing. I would buy this amp again as a practice amp because I tried many similiar practice amps of the various companies and none of them compared to the quality of sound, superb tone, tweakability, professional feel, and overall vibe. Plus this was the only amp that could hold the B string without cracking up. Obviously Marshall designed the preamp and power sections to take into consideration five strings, etc. Even the SWR I played didn't come close and cracked all up over the B string. The Peavey's didn't even come close and looked like toys in their design and overall look and vibe compared to the professional look and build quality of the Marshall MB30.

For 169 out the door, I got a great deal.

Anyone looking for a first bass practice amp or a decent amp to replace that one that came in the starter pack, this is an awesome professional level practice amp, or even a top quality studio amp. The price at most places is 199 and you will not find another bass practice amp that has the tone and sound qualities and versitility of this amp, hands down. It is not an exceptionally loud thirty watt bass amp, but tonally it is far superior to the louder Peaveys, etc., that fell by the wayside in my comparisons. To my ear this amp is an unbelievable deal and I would expect the price to go up as time goes by. Like the Blackheart 3/5 watt heads jumped way up. Did you notice? This MB30 is a totally quality amp that will be appreciated by many a professional needing a practice, warm up amp, or even small studio amp. It is awesome and deserves every consideration of its many features and capabilities. Test it out, hammer it, hit that B string like you want to rock the house and see what happens.

I hope I have encouraged someone to try out the Marshall MB30 or even the larger more stage oriented models.

Duffy
Winfield, Pa

Marshall MB30 combo with 30W RMS powerstage and 1x 10" speaker.
2-Channels (1 Modern (Volume) 1 Classic with Gain+Volume control.
No Mid control but voice control + 3 voice presets (Very practical)
Channel switching can as well be done with optional footswitch.
Switchable compressor incl. variable compression level control.
Headphone socket and external source in socket on front panel
DI Line Out with emulated jack on the rear panel.

Sound is quite good given its size and wattage.
A bit boxy sounding from the cabinet as no damping inside which was designed that way to make it louder. Easy to damp it yourself and have even better sound but loose overall loudness.
Anyway this is no stage amp and even no rehearsal amp but very good as a practice amp and maybe small venues together with acoustical instruments.
I mainly prefer the Modern channel, clean and good.
The Classic channel does distort a little too early (maybe it is the high output of my 2x9V Peavy Millenium) And of course that distortion is nothing like a real valve amp, but that was expected.
Tone controls work ok and the mid control (voice) is highly effective. Compressor works very good. Haven??t seen a good one like this on amps alike in this price/wattage range.

Have not dealt with reliability issue as not having had this amp for too long.

Warranty 3years from the place I bought it from so I cannot comment.

I have been playing bass on and off for many years now and mainly played 4 strings (Squier Jazz Bass / Fender Jazz Bass / Westone Fretless) and currently on a 5-string Peavy Millenium.
I also own a Kork Pandora PX4B (superb!) effect box and use high quality instrument cables at all times.
I would replace this amp if it was stolen as it was quite cheap (170 Euros that was) and for that price (and I have looked and tried a lot) I cannot find anything better sounding. Only nearby competition was a Warwick Bluecab 30 but one must like the Warwick sound to appreciate it. I do not really (Already had a 300W Warwick top - Too clean, no emotion etc...Not really my cup of tea...)
Wish it had a real DI out socket but for that price, forget it.

After all I personally do recommend this practice amp and should I ever play in larger venues again I might consider the bigger MP range of Marshall. But would always keep this little bugger as a practice amp regardless.