Marshall GV-2 Guv'nor Plus

OK- It's not QUITE as easy to dial in a good tone as a Boss or DOD pedal, for one good reason...those pedals only have one tone control. Sure, you can dial in more bass, but you'll sacrifice some treble- or vise versa. NOT so with this pedal. It has 4 tone controls- treble, mid, bass, and deep- But if you take the time to learn how these controls interact with each other, you'll find it is a MUCH more versatile pedal than any other.

The manual has a couple of suggested setting, which represent a good starting point- but you'll want to tweak those settings for your own setup.

I have been playing for over 40 years, and I can say without hesitation that this is THE best distortion pedal I have ever owned. Simply put- it makes whatever amp you're playing through sound like a Marshall. If you're playing through a Fender amp , but want that Zeppelin, AC/DC, Cream, or Hendrix sound- this is it!

I am currently using a Fender Stage 112 SE (my favorite amp of all time- do yourself a favor and read the reviews for this amp- I sold both a Fender Deville 410 and a Marshall 100 watt combo and still have kept this amp), although it sounds great through every amp I have tried it with- both tube and SS. The "deep" control is amazing, and makes any amp sound like a half stack.

I'm not sure what "passive bypass" is- ( I assume it's not the same as true bypass), but the pedal is quiet, and when not engaged does not suck the tone out of your rig.

I would suggest putting all of your other effects (particularly fuzz), AFTER the Guv'Nor 2 Plus.

Too early to tell.

Have never dealt with the company.

I play blues, classic rock, jazz, and flamenco- although I use this pedal only for blues and rock. I have tried every distortion pedal out ther over the years- and this is by far the best. Prior to this, I had ( for the past 2 or 3 years)used a Boss SD-1 with TS 808 mod on my pedalboard. Although it was not bad- it was thin sounding with no bottom end- and like all Boss pedals, sounded like "bees in a can".

This pedal completely blows away every other distortion pedal I have tried- in fact, I can't wee myself using anything else.

I'm using this with a Fender Stage 112 SE amp, Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, Fender American Standard Strat, and an Epiphone Riviera- and it sounds great with them all. Other effects include a Crybaby Wah, Ashbass Fuzzbrite ( the best fuzz I have used in over 40 years), DOD Ice Box Chorus, Ibanez DE-7 Delay/Echo, and a Boss TU-2 Tuner on an SKB pedalboard.

If you're looking for a distortion pedal to get you that big Marshall crunch and tone- whatever amp you're using - this is for you. This is truly an amazing pedal!

Well, it's easy to use. Turn the knobs and listen. The 'Deep' knob I find very useful to even recreate tube-sound directly into my Korg D12 recording studio. Sometimes I feel the 'Gain' knob is a bit too sensitive, you have a setting and want just a tiny bit more gain, you turn it ever so slightly and it ups the gain massively. But when you do get your tuning right it sound very good.
There really is no need for the quite thin "manual".

I'm using this both live and doing direct recording with a Korg D12. I use a Fender Telecaster semi-acoustic and a Gretsch Atkins Axe.

Doing live stuff I have guitar -> Guv'nor -> TC electronics Booster/distortion -> Vox AC50 with a 2x12" speaker. In this setup the Guv'nor sounds great. I use it to get a nice warm distortion and then the TC for harder sound.

When I do home recordings (just for testing things, not "proper" recording) I use guitar -> Guv'nor -> Korg D12. Then I use the amp simulation from the Korg. Here the Guv'nor is quite noisy. Surely it goes with how much gain you use, but even with very little gain I get pretty much noise. For me it doesn't really matter since I don't use it for proper recordings. I don't notice the noise when hooking it up to my live rig.

I play some kind of alternative/indie music and with the combination of the Guv'nor and the TC pedal I have no problem at all to tune the sound I want. I quite easily can get the "Wedding Present" crunch/distortion sound that I really like, more Pixies sound or just massive distortion wall while still hearing every string on the guitar.

I think the pedal is very versatile and you can get many different sounds from it. Though I'm pretty boring there so when I get the sound I want I don't experiment anymore.

Since it's a bit noisy I only rate this as 7...

So far it has been very reliable, but then again I have only used it for about 6 months. But it's all steel and switch is the old proper one so I imagine it will last a lifetime. I'm a bit stupid so I never have backups with me to gigs and so far I've been lucky.

I have never contacted them or had a reason to do so.

If my Guv'nor was stolen I would probably not replace it. Not because it's not good enough, but because I'd like to try out a RAT pedal. I was out looking for a TC distortion, a RAT or a Guv'nor and I found the Guv'nor first and bought it.

I like pedals with the steel switch instead of like the Boss setup. It seems more reliable, I know when I have stomped it and it easy to replace by myself if it breaks.

As I said I play music that sound like The Wedding Present, Pixies, 22 Pistepirkko etc and it does the job. I get the sound I want very quickly by turning the knobs. Then again I might just as easily get the same sound with a Boss or a RAT pedal, I don't know since I don't have them.

Use your ears and go with it

I have my Guvnor + since 3 years and it was the best allround overdrive I ever had but now i changed it against a Jekyll and Hyde Red and I must say , sorry Guv you was a good friend but now I have a new love....This is a great pedal and anybody who wants a good and cheap pedal go and try this wow its my backup at concerts.

A Brick

????

I play since 18 years and I earn money with making music and this one helpded ma alot in the early days of live gigs as a "pro", making good Rock, but well...........

It's not the easiest pedal to find a good sound on, but when you find them they are perfect, it's an extremely versatile pedal. The manual is slightly lacking but if your an experienced guitarist it's a cynch.

This pedal sounds great, but on the more trebly amps you have to turn the treble down.
As i previously said, it's very versatile, so you can get pretty much any sound out of it. It's an awesome pedal, with it you can make any guitar grunt. You can even get a les paul grunt sound out of a start with this little baby.

Definitely reliable, i dont even have a backup. its all metal, so it'll last for donkeys years.

haven't dealt with them, but seeing as it's marshall, i'd expect it'd be very good.

my band plays rock but also various other things, and the guv'nor excells at them all. I'd definetly get another one if this one got stolen. this beats a ds-1 hands down, it has so much more tone shaping involved. Two things to remember - the many controls might make it hard for a beginner to get the right sound, and two, the only fault i know of, is it clicks when you turn it on. but overall this is a fine piece of guitaring ingenuity.

It's going to take a while to set up to your liking. I have had this for 2 months and still cant decide how to leave it set.
Manual is ok, and it's a nice enough pedal.

hmmmmm. I bought this to be the heavier, more classic distortion on my board (i also have two of those little FAB pedals and a Big Muff, Ego Booster, DynaComp etc..), i wanted a pedal which was different from my other pedals.
Im just not impressed. I find it sounds too fake, fizzy and almost like a multi-effect unit distortion, ie - processed. With the deep control on i can hear a very odd "electric" noise, hard to explain, but its not nice. I also found that the gain starts to clip past the 3 o'clock position pretty badly, and the overall sound lacks warmth or drive. Dont get me wrong, it's not a bad pedal, it does sound like a Marshall amp, and i have found uses for it.

Seems pretty good, solid enough, no problems here.

No idea

I play Pink Floyd, lots of it, Dave Gilmour, Page, Clapton, Hendrix, SRV, Beck etc.. are my favourites, also stuff like the Chili's, Green Day, QOTSA, old goth stuff and the like are the sort of things i like.
I have a pretty extensive setup: Strat Plus, EMG pickups, loads of pedals, Peavey Classic 50 tube amp, and more.
This isnt the pedal i was looking for, my #20 Danelectro FAB pedal blows it away.
I wanted to like it, it looks good and has a great reputation, but it's not for me, in fact it's the least fun pedal i have.
I set it with the Deep off completely, bass and mid about half way, treble just below that, gain at 2 o'clock and volume abdount 10 o'clock.
No matter what i do it sounds fake, cold and essentialy pretty thin, the bass and deep controls only seem to add boominess and the whole thing has an odd chorus-ish fizz.
I did find i liked it for the odd riff or lead sound here and there, so it's not all bad.

Try it before you buy it.

It's not too hard, but it heavily depends on the gear you're using. Forget about the settings suggested in the manual, they're a bit overdone imho (too heavy bass/deep settings).

Keep in mind this pedal is best suited for guitars with humbuckers.

I use this pedal mainly with my Gibson Les Paul through a Laney VC30 class A tubeamp w/ a Marshall 1936 2x12" cabinet and it sounds truly FAN-TAS-TIC. (I also have a USA Tele, but the pedal doesn't seem to be keen on singlecoils, unless you back off the gain and bass/deep knobs)
As long as you use humbucking guitars it'll sound fine on any setting.

My favourite setting:
GAIN: 3 o'clock
BASS: 12 o'clock
DEEP: 3 o'clock
TREBLE: 2 o'clock
MIDDLE: 2 o'clock
LEVEL: 1 o'clock

What I love about this pedal is that it definitely *HAS* that typical Marshall roar. Instantly recognizable. And I can know, cause I have owned a JCM 2000 DSL for some years (I sold it because I couldn't live anymore with its dull cleansound, as I started to play clean more and more since the last few years -- but its overdrive was great of course). Okay, this pedal won't replace a JCM 800 full stack cranked at max, but it HAS that character and I don't believe any other pedal in this low budget price category will get any closer!

Really shines with power chords, but when you back off the gain it also can sound beautiful with full chords. Perfect for singing solo's too - sound has clear definition and nice sustain.
For mellow crunchsounds you may be better off with a Tubescreamer or a SD-1 or similar, but if you like powerful rock distortion with nice mids and a beefy low end you will love this.

When I need a softer, less aggressive tone I use my amp's overdrive.

OK, some less positive news here. After barely 6 months of use, the footswitch crapped out.
It didn't came as a surpise though... I've owned several Marshall amps in the past (some Valvestates and JCM's) and there were ALWAYS problems with the accompanying footswitches.
Marshall should use Boss-style switches instead... whether you like FET-switches or not, at least those are able to survive decennia of stage abuse.

My band plays dreamy indie rock with influences of 80's new wave and occasional noisy outbursts. A good match.

The Marshall Guv'nor+ is my favourite pedal. It's the best distortion stompbox I've come across in more than 15 years of playing. I wanted a lead guitar sound somewhat in the vein of Joey Santiago (Pixies fame) and I found it... (actually he used the previous incarnation of it, that's the black one).
Over the years I've tried literally dozens of different overdrive/distortions units and I love this one most. It sounds SO much better than all other pedals in this price category. And if you use it on a decent tube amp, it doesn't sound boxy at all. The EQ has a pretty wide range and the deep knob enables you to add enough bottom, even if you're playing on a modest sized combo.
I've already had lots of people that complimented me on my overdriven tone since I got this one... That's not a coincidence, right :-)

Over the years I played with all of them 'popular' dist/od-pedals (Boss Distortion & Turbo Distortion & Super Overdrive & Turbo Overdrive & Dual Overdrive & Metal Zone & Heavy Metal & Hyper Metal, DOD Trash Master, ProCo Rat & You Dirty Rat, EHX Big Muff NYC, etc etc ...) but while some of them are pretty good (eG. the RAT and the Boss DS-2), none can really compare to the Marshall Guv'nor in terms of TONE and sheer BODY.

If it were stolen or lost, I would go out and buy it again THE SAME DAY. Or perhaps I'd search on eBay for an old Guv'Nor (the black one).

-2 points for that damn unreliable footswitch, otherwise I would have given this pedal a 10 for its great sound!

It takes a bit of time to find the sound your looking for with this pedal. The deep, bass, mid, and treble controls provide a great variety in tonal range. The gain and volume controls, depending on your amp, is also more than sufficient and has a lot of head room.

We, my son and I, use a vintage '72 Fender Stratocaster, loaded with the original 1976 prototype EMG pickups, similiar to the SA model. Our effects chain is currently under construction, as we wanted to revamp our line-up to compliment our new amp, JSX combo. The effects consist of a Marshall ED-1 compressor, Marshall Gun'Nor Plus, Crybaby Wah, and soon a Boss CH-1 chorus, MXR phase 90, and a Digitech whammy pedal. Through our effects loop we run a Boss DD-3 delay, and Morley Little Alligator Volume Pedal. The Guv'Nor on its own does not produce a lot of noise - virtually all overdrives produce some degree of noise. We like the sound of Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, Marty Friedman, and Zakk Wylde. In order to get a similiar sound, it really starts with your own feel, a good amp that already sounds overdriven on its own(this is very critical), a compressor to smooth out the pedal breaking up, and a touch of echo to bridge the notes. You may notice that when Satriani and Vai demonstrated their signature amps they both used delays to smooth out the sound.

So far it is too early to comment on the reliability factor, since both Marshall pedals are relatively new to our line-up.

We have not had to deal with Marshall at this time.

As mentioned previously, Steve Vai among the others listed is our favourite guitarist. I've been playing for 35 years, went to college for music, jazz and classical guitar, university for performance and education and have taught over 2000 guitar students in my career. My son is heavily influenced by the virtiouso musicians including Paganini and lives in a world of Vai/Malmsteen/Satriani/Friedman. I spent my entire career checking out the most recent effects, and most recently spent a day in Toronto, Canada, checking out everything on the shelf of several music stores. The Guv'Nor is among the best out there, which is highly subjective to personal experience and taste. I have been looking for the perfect "combination" of effects since I started when I paid $18.00 for a brand new Big Muff. I'm wondering if there is any experience musician out there who is perfectly content with their electronic guitar rig. We own a ton of other stuff - too much to mention here. I would recommend this pedal, and may replace it if it were to malfunction.

ive found the guv'nor a slgiht bit frustrating to get a good overall tone that i can get and come back to afterwards without having to tweak it again. thats the good thing about this pedal, its surely a tweakers paradise haha

thats not to say is not a bad pedal, i just find it frustrating to get something really gobsmacking from it as there is a few to many knobs to twiddle

i use this not really as an overdrive pedal per se, rather i turn the gain down completely so as to get a nice warm airey kinda sound that i use to ambient sounds from my guitar, and with an equaliser, i manage to make my guitar sound like a piano so for that i think of it highly. the gain does give a variety of nuances to the same settings ive found. but...

when i bought this, i had the mindset of using it as a mild distortion/overdrive. something to give my rig a bit of tube like grind and ive always been a little dissapointed in that respect. i wanted something massive sounding, something that has an even tone that was easliy mouldable and versatile. what i found i have was a lot more bass than id reckoned for, a treble and mid knob that doesnt nearly enough rectify the mass of bass and an overall tone that just doesnt have the punch i was wanting.
compared with a friends marshall tube head, its a little souless and shy compared to the amps massive wall of sound, even at similar settings, its really always been outshined by the amps its supposed to sound like. in my opinion its a little underwhelming

having said that, ive never found the pedal especially noisy, no more than you should really expect from any od or dist pedal and whilst i doubt its a true bypass, ive never notice it do anything drastic to my tone other than drain a slight bit of volume, which ive found having more than 6-7 pedals does anyways

so for i now get out of it, id give it a 10, though if your reading this looking for a massive marshall overdrive, id ask you try it first, it really wasnt what i was looking for in an OD pedal and im fortunate i got something else out of it i liked

ive never thought the marshall built pedals were all that fragile, they are heavy and either that means theirs a lot of stuff in them or they are a really thick metal case, i dont expect it to break any time soon

would gig without a back upbut i like to have some backup, whatever gear im using

never had to deal with them thus far

like ive said, i couldnt get much of an OD sound i wanted from this pedal so i use if to give my guitar tones an ambient quality when i want them to.
for the money, im sure if i lost it or had it stolen id get another, 35 pounds isnt breaking the bank

because i didnt like this as an OD pedal, ive now got a good OD pedal for what i wanted and would buy it agin just for the sounds i can invent from it

in all its a versatile pedal and i dont doubt it gives many people a great sound that suites thiers tastes for tones, but for me it wasnt a big enough sound, no matter how hard ive tried with it (over about a year now i reckon)

Pretty simple to use. It has four knobs, GAIN, BASS, TREBLE, and VOLUME. The bass & treble knobs each have an additional feature to enable you to tweak the DEEP and MIDRANGE tones. The pedal also comes with an owner's manual that shows four basic settings. With those, you can get some great sounds. Then adjust the settings for the guitar and amp you are using to fine tune it.

Folks, this is the best sounding distortion/overdrive pedal I have ever owned. From the moment I plugged it in, I was getting that CLASSIC MARSHALL CRUNCH. It's simply jaw-dropping-ly cool. And that can be obtained while your amp is on a totally clean setting. I used to have to "cheat" with other pedals and bring the gain up on my amp to help the pedal achieve a better, fatter tone. NOT THE GUV'NOR! I have an old, beat up hybrid-tube amp; a MusicMan 210-HD. I have a Gibson SG Special with the stock Alnico Humbuckers that it came from the factory with. The MusicMan is an outstanding amp for clear tone, but I could NEVER get the overdrive sound I wanted. EVER! It had to be cranked so frickin loud to get any meat to the thing. So, I own just about every Boss, Ibanez, MXR distortion pedal in this price range in lame attempts through the years to get the sound I wanted. The Guv'Nor slays them all! The very best thing about the pedal is that it retains the tone of your guitar when engaged. My other pedals always turned my guitar into a toneless, bland sound, no matter what position the pickup switch was in. The Guv'Nor seems to recognize your different pickup settings without any loss of tone & texture. I swear I can get ALL the Marshall amp sounds: ANY LEVEL of crunch. Like AC/DC, to the Led Zep type Les Paul, Bad Company, Blackmore, old Black Sabbath, etc...all those classic, rippin' Marshall sounds. And you know how you tune your bottom E to a low D? You can rip into all those Metallica-like sounds, or goth-rock or metal screamin' sounds, or WHATEVER. BUT ALSO! Turn down the gain and tweak the treble/bass/mid/deep knobs, and this thing can get a PHAT blues sound, too. I use it for my country/rock solos. And the volume knob will kick your amp to 11, bro. I swear. Unbelievable and LOUD volume.

So far, the thing is rock solid. It's heavy, too. Like a gold brick. No need for a backup as of yet.

To be a fair reviewer, I can't rate this section because I have not needed CS help. But, COME ON! IT'S FRICKIN MARSHALL, MAN. They ain't goin' anywhere...

I play a range o' styles. Power/pop, adult alternative rock, and country. This lil' pedal gives me any tone I need for all those types of music. I have been playing for 35 frickin years, man. I know I shoulda bought a Marshall amp years ago, but I'm weird that way. I've had Fender Twins, MusicMans, an old Earth amp I wish I'd never sold, Peavey, Yamaha, Vox (solid state). I've gone thru my share of Tele's, Strats, Pauls, and the occasional low-budget brand guitar. Currently, I got the SG. If this pedal were stolen, I'd buy another in a New York minute. I drove the folks at Guitar Center and Sam Ash crazy as I tried every single pedal in every single store! Nothing was quite right. I went on line one night and wondered if Marshall made any pedals, and BOOM. There was the Guv'Nor. I really lucked out on eBay and got a great deal. But I swear I would pay twice as much for this thing. The tone from this baby really helps me make the music I want. What was the alternative for me, anyway!? A Marshall tube amp? Mesa/Boogie? And I love all those new "boutique" amps that have that killer overdrive tone, but I don't have $1000-2000. This pedal does it ALL for me. It will give you that great Marshall amp sound, man. TRUST ME! TRUST ME!!

It can be alittle frustrating at first to get a good sound because of all the knobs but on the upside it is a tweakers heaven.

I have played the original Guvnor and really liked it so when i tried the Guv II model i was skeptical at first but was blown away when i used it at my first gig,It has all the power and tone of the original and then some,Very tubelike I can go from classic cruch such as Hendrix,Trower and Beck to Sabbath,Ramones,Nirvana and Van Halen its all there.Also the Guv Plus works very well with other pedals.Using a clean boost with the Guv Plus really brings out the tone.

Built like a brick shithouse,I've been gigging with it for 5 years now with no problems.

Never dealt with them.

The Guv Plus is a excellent vintage distortion device,It far excedes the sound of the original and the price is very resonable,As for making your amp sound like a Marshall i never owned one ,I use the Peavey delta blues and the Guv plus totally rocks with this amp,When playing blues rock ala Robin Trower,Jimi Hendrix and SRV is where this pedal really shines for me.Also when i need to get heavier the Guv Plus can give me the extra crunch and power.