Marshall Guv'nor

My model is an early 90s model; black slanted box with red stripes. Looks dated now!!
Op amp design with LED symm clipping.
Very easy to use - standard in/out jacks and bypass switch. Vol, Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble controls.
Pedal also has a "loop" stereo jack so you can run other pedals into the Guv'nor and switch then on/ff globally via the Guv'nors bypass. Sounds great but I've never used that particular function!!

I bought this pedal over 10 years ago when I was just startin out playing electric guitar. I used to use it to beef up a crappy Zoom FX unit, and it did a very commendable job (IIRC!!). I put the Guv'nor in the cupbard when I bought my Laney 50w combo, as the Laney provided my main distortion.
I've dusted the Guvnor off recently - plugged it in a was really..... dissappointed. It sounded flat and fizzy compared to any other pedal I've used. No matter how I set the Gain and EQ, it kept the same weedy, thin base sound. I couldnt get a pleasing sound from it. Instead of adding to natural tone of my amp, it robbed it of all warmth and made it sound like a cheap tranny amp.
Not sure what else to say. My amp loves pedals; I've got several OD units including many "standards"; Boss SD1, 0D3, DS1, TS clones, MXR Dist+, Big Muff, Rat etc. The Guv'nor is the worst of the bunch.
I dont think is malfunctioning, but I am gonna open it up and take a peep to make sure.
I will add here that I have never owned a Marshall amp, and therefore if Marshall are trying to model a classic Marshall sound I aint gettin it !!

The sound is poor but the unit has been dependable. I gigged with it though my early teen and it worked fine then and still does now. Never used a backup.
It still works after being put away for a number of years. Pots were ceased but nothing a drop of lube won't fix.
I was always vary about the cheap jack sockets - but they have last the test of time so far.

Nothing to report - never had to deal with Marshall.

The Guv'nor is heralded as a classic... but I don't think it delivers. Lots of people still own the original "blackies", but I wonder how many of them (like me) have woekn up to realise that this pedal is ok at best.
I wonder whether the newer gold guvnors are better? May be worth a shot considering the price.
I reakcon I'll check the circuit, and if it's working I may mod it to breathe some life into it, or build a new pcb based upon a bluesbreaker for a change.
If all elase fails it'll end up on ebay.

This is a very easy product to use as are most pedals, the only negative comment I can make is that the two double knobs (for bass/deep and middle/treble) were slightly hard to tell the difference between what controls what but I overcame that after a couple of days by quickly looking in the manual. One thing I like is it is very easy to change batteries on the pedal, because you can use a pick of coin to open and close the compartment, instead of having to go and look for the right screwdriver.

I play a Les Paul into this and it sounds excellent with the treble up and the bass and deep pulled right back I compare this setting mostly to an early Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers and in Cream. But with the EQ controls you can archive the likes of AC DC and a lot of classic rock. You can push it to the max and you'll get something similar to the early metal bands of the 80s like Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne and Iron Maiden. I mainly play blues and I've played strats and teles through it and it has the power and thickness that every fender player wishes for. My only bad point here is only that it is at times too thick for humbuckers.

This is a robust metal solid unit I wouldn't expect it to break, but I did get a lead stuck in it that was a bit of a scare but it wasn't this unit's fault it was my fault as the lead was broken and snapped off into the pedal.

I play blues and occasionally rock and Hard Rock and this is the perfect pedal for me. It has the right amount of gain, but if your a metal freak I wouldn't buy it there is not enough gain for that stuff. It's basically three pedals in one an EQ, overdrive and boosting unit. Been playing for 4 years, and if it broke I would get another one asap. I love the EQ control as it is unique and you can control if you wanna drive the treble mids or bass. I compared it the the bluesbreaker pedal, Boss SD and a danelectro pedal and chose it because of the eq setting and the high amount of gain compared to the SD and BB but the BB is a better boost pedal. The Danelectro is nowhere as good. I couldn't wish for anymore.

The Guv??nor is a 5 knob Overdrive/Distortion Pedal. With the EQ you have a lot of possivilities, but it`s also a spoilt for choice. I wish this pedal had more lowend. The Loop is a good idea but you need a special cable.

I use the pedal with a Les Paul or a Strat into a Hiwatt or a Marshall and it always sound great. I use it for a light crunch. It gives a very natural overdrive.

Never a problem.

Perfect for light overdrive. I just with it had a little more bottom.

Very easy to get get a good sound out of this unit. gain, bass, middle, treble, and level knobs.

It is exactly like an old Marshall 50 watt plexi cranked! You get note separation even at higher gain volumes, and at lower gain volumes you can pick through clean and get your dirty when you dig in. it's seriously a little amp in a box, and although it sounds best through a tube amp, it still has fabulous tone through a solid-state. plenty of headroom for anyone.

i play a epiphone sheraton II, and a gibson les paul standard through
ernie ball EV-pro volume pedal, boss TU-2 tuner, electro-harmonix LPB-1 linear power booster, ibanez tube screamer, marshall guv'nor, seymour duncan shape shifter tremolo, boss CE-2 chorus (japanese made silver pin series), boss DD-5 digital delay, and a line 6 echo park delay. and all of this goes through either a 72' fender pro reverb or a twin.
the LPB and the tube screamer give me plenty of grit, but the guv'nor is what i go to for leads, its perfect!

i got it off ebay from a gentleman in europe who had not taken it out of the box. it was still in it original packaging, so i dont expect it to crap out on me any time soon.

i've never dealt with marshall, but this pedal isn't made any more so i dont expect to.

i play mostly classic rock and blues, but i am doing indie stuff now and it works great with almost anything. if i lost it or it was stolen i would hunt down another one of these little treasures.
it's a lot like a pro-co rat in the sense that it can get down right nasty, but the rat will never sound as good. when i play try to be as tasteful as possible with leads and hooks, hence all the other drive pedals, but when i do use it i never really want to stop.

With most pedals you get a Gain, a Level, and a Tone control. The tone control usually just changes from dark to bright. With the Guv'nor you have a 3 band EQ, which actually makes this pedal extremely versatile and usefull. It is easy to get a wide variety of sounds from this pedal.

I built a clone of the original Guv'nor from scratch and added a few slight differences.

One difference was in my use of a 100pF Gain capacitor instead of 120pF. I could only find a 100pF. This should mean my pedal build is slightly brighter, and possibly more "fizzy" than a standard Marshall unit.

Second, I added a switch to go from the standard LED clipping diodes to 1N914 diodes and back. The 1N914 are less gainy, but I tend to prefer the switch on the normal LEDs like Marshall uses.

As far as sound, the Gain control seems to be very sensitive on the last third of it's sweep. Between that small area a lot of different shades can be dialed in though - from warm overdrive, to insane heavy metal crunch. The EQ can change the entire character of the pedal. You can go from a thick, throaty, growl with the Mids turned up, to a scooped Pantera metal sound (Treble and Bass maxed and Mid turned all the way down).

There was little noise until really cranked up, which is normal for distortion pedals. It amplifies single coil hum as well, which is also normal. I plugged this pedal into a few of the tube amps I've built and used my Les Paul Junior and my '57 reissue Les Paul Custom. They sounded great in a Fender tweed Deluxe (5E3) clone I built!

To really appreciate this pedal, you have to play with the tons of combinations the Level/Volume, Gain, Treble, Mid, and Bass can give you. The controls interact with each other to give you a lot of sound options.

I built this myself with parts from a local electronics shop and RadioShack. I got a schematic and went from there with my soldering iron. I couldn't tell you how the Marshall pedal's reliability is.

Homemade clone, so I have no opinion on Marshall's support. Their amps have never died on me, so that says something.

This pedal can cover a lot of ground. I build my own tube amps and have about 12 now. I wouldn't need it with my Marshall-ish builds, but this pedal is great for bringing to jams where you're not sure what you'll be playing. I've also built a Mosfet clean boost, a Rangemaster clone (a warmer Germanium boost that kicks the treble up a bit), and a TS808 Tubescreamer clone. I like the TS808 for more subtle Blues-Rock or Classic rock stuff, but the Guv'nor can do that decently, as well as many other styles. It is the most versatile distortion pedal I've used or own.

I generally plug my guitar straight into the amp and dislike using a lot of effects, but this pedal is usefull for all kinds of music projects - live or recording.

The only perfect 10 as far as pedals go for me.

Not much to say in this category. I mean, it's pretty hard to screw up with a distortion pedal. Insert a battery or adapter, connect it to your rig and flick the amp from standby to on.

The only thing that one may bat an eye at is, due to the limited space, the deep and mid controls are positioned behind the bass and treble controls (sounds wierd, but difficult to explain). Otherwise, as simple as it gets.

Let me start out by listing off my favorite artists / influences

Obviously, I have to start with the Beatles, everybody does.

I take alot from Jimmy Page; he's slightly slower-handed than most, but he can make one note mean more than 10 coming from anyone else.

Hendrix. Nuff said.

I'm actually one of the few who willing say this, but the White Stripes? Killer band. Jack White is my personal guitar hero.

So I guess it's obvious that I'm into edgier, dirtier blues-rock.

My rig is as follows:
Crate V18-212 (all tube, superb sounding amplifier) --> Digitech Whammy IV (only buy this if you absolutely need it, most of the time you most likely won't) --> Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Wahwah (a really fierce wah pedal) --> The Gov'Nor --> Epiphone Les Paul Classic with a few minor upgrades.

Without the Gov'Nor, my rig is pretty mellow sounding, perfect for a brit-blues tone, but, simply put, this pedal lets me hammer out anything - some pretty heavy stuff to some pretty crunchy, classic stuff. After getting this pedal, I can say that I finally have "that sound" (guitarists of the world, you know what I mean).

Just fiddle around with the eq on the amp and the box itself to avoid a colder, nu-metal-esque tone (I shiver at the very thought).

The Gov'Nor is, to say the least, solid. I've had it thrown around on tour, and nothing's come of it but a couple of paint scratches.

I've actually had to replace the stupid little nut that lies between the mechanism and the box itself, but that costs what, a hefty 25 cents to buy the part?

I would use this without a back up any day.

Can't say with this product. Marshall is usually really good for amps, but I haven't experienced it first-hand to know.

Havent needed to ;)

This pedal is amazing. I got it as a gift, but sometimes I wished that I could have bought it instead of the whammy and had an extra 100 or so dollars in my pocket haha.

The guy in the store won't try to sell you this pedal. He usually brings out some boss or digitech toy that doesn't even come near to the sound produced by this thing.

I think that's all I have to say.

Cheers.

Easy to use, 5 controls - Gain- Bass- Mid -Treb - Vol
Input, Output, Loop, 9v battery or power supply input.

Well Im impressed; I use this for boosting and for a light overdrive.
Stands up very well to these duties, better than a Maxon 808, to my surprise.

The EQ controls can make quite a difference with some tweaking.
Great for Blues, Jazz, Rock , Metal

Well I purchased mine second hand and it looks very sturdy. Its practically armoured thick steel case.
And its classic old Marshall.

Marshall has great customer support had a few amps serviced with them. Top notch.

Gonna give this top marks for a pedal that has seen alot of use it is still going strong and looks immaculate inside.

Has the classic controlls gain and level, and additional a 3-band-EQ.
The EQ is not too easy to set to the settings i like, therefor only 8 of 10. Treble control doesn't controll the highs but the upper mids, imho.

The Gov'Nor can be used in front of a clean amp. I do not likethe higher gain settings, but with gain at 10 o'clock or below it gives you a very superb marshallish crunch sound. This sound fit well for rock. The sound is typicall of older Marshalls: middy, grainy and rough. With the EQ you can give your sound (more than) enough bass and upper mids.
The Gov'Nor sounds good in front of a clean amp, but it does sound great in front of an overdriven tube amp withnot too much tube distortion. The Gov'Nor (again with not too much gain) vaccinates the tube amp sound with the typical Marshall dirt, it gives the sound of your tube amp the Marshall bite, the driving mids and a tad more gain.
And this sounds absolutely great for harder blues and (classic hard-)rock. Fine AC/DC-sounds are possible.
The sound has balls, definitely!
For the sound in front of clean amp i'd rate the Gov'Nor 8, for the sound in front of a slightly overdriven tube amp the Gov'Nor deserves 11 points, so i rate 10 all in all.
I have tried diverse overdrive/distortion pedals, but the Gov'Nor is the only one that gives my tube amp the extra kick it needs.

It isn' made anymore, and older Gov'Nors sometimes show problems: input jack gets lose, controls start to scratch. Therefor only 7.

don't know

The EQ isn't tha easy to set right, and the reliability could be better, but the sound is so good (if you like older tube Marshalls and their dirt 'n bite) that i have to rate it 9 all in all.
If you find one in good condition, beg borrow or steal ;-)

Is it easy to get a good sound out of it??? Hell yes!!!
It is just great! plenty of room for choosing your wanted sound, very easy to use, very, very friendly!

I own a Epiphone Valve Junior (with a few minor mods - Mallory 150s caps, lo and hi switch...) and i run it with a American Stratocaster (upgraded pups to Texas Special), and when i plug in the Guv'nor i just can't stop playing!!!
It is excellent, makes any tone u need! i was really happy with that Sultans of Swing sound with just a bit of gain, and a fat bluesy sound with gain at 12 'o clock(Sunshine of Your Love - for example), but then...
trying to get that Gary Moore (example - Empty Rooms) sound!!!
IT BLEW MY MIND!!! So good that i still can't believe!
Makes my relatively low power single coils sound like proper humbuckers! Really really good tone
All from light bluesy tones to Steve Vai and Satriani.

If you can connect it to a radio, it will make it sound like a JCM800 :)

Looks really well made, looks nice! I opened it, looks like nothing can go wrong :)

never had need to and i guess it will stay like that!
just visit their site...

I've been playing for just under a year, and as mentioned above own a Strat with Texas Special, played thru Valve Junior Combo. I play classic rock, blues mostly, and that is the best pedal for those kind of sounds!
Don't be fooled and buy BluesbreakerII, this is way better than that - for the same money.

Mine is the Guv 2.
Very good EQ section, alot of gain and level. Very easy to get a good tone from the pedal. Easy to use.

I use a number of guitars but mainly live a use Jap tele's with a seymour duncan buckers at the neck (very cool). Amp wise i use a fender vibroloux with my pedals being Boss tuner, crybaby, TS9, Aramat Green machine, Soul Fuzz, Guv 2 and Boss DD3 Delay.

I used to be anti OD pedals prefering the tone out of the amp. But i got fed up with changing rig when i wanted a new sound so i brought a vibrolux and use a few pedals to get different sounds.
I tried a JCM 800 and thought it sounded great but did'nt want to change my vibrolux and carry a cab around for gigs. I tried the Guv and this is a jcm 800 in a box!!!

Great marshall stack sounds, loads and loads of bottom end and it feeds back in a great way as well. Big, meaty sounds, really clear notes never mucky. Really great cost.

Good so far. Marshall are buit very well although this is made in the far east. Time will see. Although at under ??45 would not cost too much to replace.

The switch is a little fragile. Not as bad as an old BB1 pedal i had though.

Have dealt with in the past and very good.

I play rock and this pedal is perfect for that. Not suited to metal really. I wanted the Slash from G'n R sounded. Big, smooth and ballsy.
I'm pleased to say this pedal is it.

It's a great match with Fender non master tube amps. Very clear sounding and does that classic 80's Marshall tone. As i stated before i wanted a marshall sound with the added size of a rig. Now i have a jcm 800 at my feet!! Excellent.

Pretty basic stuff... Stacked pots can be space efficient but can be a little difficult to adjust on the fly. I tend to adjust mids more than anything else, too bad mids are stacked with treble.

I tried the pedal out at a Guitar Center and was impressed enough to make the "curiosity" purchase. One of the problems with demo'ing products in "noisy" Guitar Centers is you really don't know what your getting until you get the product in your own environment. First off... I noticed that the box doesn't really sound like a Marshall JCM900 when played on a Fender HRD or any of my Fender tube amps. It's an "OK" sounding pedal, nothing great, and reminds me a lot of MXR Distortion+ type of voicing. When I tried a test recording in my home studio, I found the overall tone to be lacking. It lacked fidelity and reminded me a little of a PodXT (somewhat processed and a little sterile). I compared it with my Visual Sound JekyII & Hyde and J&H was lively, crisp, and hifi, meanwhile the GV-2 lacked in all these areas. There is also a noticeable lack of high-end which really eliminates the true guitar tones from coming through and made this box unusable for both recording and live in my rig. Be leery of those rating this pedal a "10" for Sound Quality.

Won't know... sending it back. However, it does look like it would be a very reliable pedal.

Won't know...

I play a variety of music but mostly Christian rock in more recent years. I been a active player since the 70's both professionally and studio work. I've been through an embarrassing about of equipment over the years and like many, have not seen anything too exciting coming from newer technologies (i.e. some of today's modelers and pedal gear). I'm always seeking and willing to try new gear when it looks interesting. Intrigued by the reviews, I thought I'd give the GV-2 a try. Like I mentioned above, it's an "OK" pedal but nothing great. Passing on this one... but it was worth a try.

I bought this used with out the original box and no manual to read but this pedal is very easy to use. gain, low mid and high knobs, and a level knob. thats it just find the right settings for your style, guitar and amp.

This pedal gives me that older classic rock sound ( CCR, Cream, and neil young ect...). I run this pedal in conjunction with a keeley modded tubescreamer, a guyatone compressor, and a boss ge-7. i run through a peavey classic blues 50 watt amp with a single 15 speaker and a peavey 115E cab. For guitars i use a dearmond m77-t and dearmond starfire custom, an american fender cal. series fat tele, and a fender 57' reissue strat MIJ w/ tex specials.

I have had it for 5 years and never had one problem with it. i gig about two weekends a month.

N/A

I play original meterial which is a combination of classic rock, country, and blues. This pedal i the best for what i do. if lost or stolen i would replace right away. my sound would suffer with out this pedal so let me hope this never happens.

Good ole classic rock / hard rock tones.

If you like that classic Marshall midrangy tone (which is very different from the classic tubescreamer midrangy tone) then this or the new Guv'nor 2 might be for you.

I (and you) can approximate Gary Moore like tones with a shitload of different setups (guitars, pedals amps). However with this pedal this becomes a lot easier and closer.

Try this inexpensive pedal for that peculiar sound and remember none does it all.

I just wanted to add a couple thoughts :

- This pedal gives the classic rock/hard rock from the 70's & early 80's when plugged in an already mildly distorted amp.

- It's an overdrive !!! so it doesn't really have a color of its own unlike a distortion pedal. Don't expect it to turn the clean channel of your amp into a full tilted marshall whith all knobs on 10. It needs to work with your amp.

- I had a bunch of "incredible" pedals too like the aforementionned Zoom HL01, Boss metal zone etc ... While those pedals sounds exciting indeed at neighbour/mama/roommate friendly volumes, they sound like ass at gig volumes.
The guv'nor is as good (if not better) at high volumes. That makes one world of a difference ... to me at least ...

Plug it in, turn it on, turn the dials and find any number of distortion sounds from mild boost to trashy metal.

Currently using a Fender Telecaster into a 2 x 12 Marshall JCM900 combo. I use the Guv'nor as a boost for solos.

In the past I used it as a full time distortion pedal on a Laney Trany amp. It will never produce the sound of a Marshall Valve amp, but is about as close as you can get.

Been using it on and off for nearly 17 years, it's never let me down. Switch is still fine and the rotary knobs are crackle free. Can't get any better than that!

Never had to use them.

I've been playing for 22 years and never played with a better boost pedal than this. If it were lost or stolen, I would do my best to find a replacement.

THIS IS THE BLACK ORIGINAL GUV'NOR
Very easy.........level, EQ's, etc.......

The sound of this pedal is a nice crunchy Marshall Over drive sound. It is different than the tube screamers. I always come back to this pedal no matter what I might try. I do not turn the gain up that much. Just a little bite, turn the level up and it sounds awesome with my 1968 vibrolux reverb!!! Of course tone is an individual preference depending on your style but you can not beat this pedal!!

Well it is not the best. It is a metal housed tank with fragile plastic parts. I have replaced the switch, and the input jack. Since it is an odd part I moved the loop jack into the input jack!!!

Never tried!

I play rock, blues, country, jazz, and some heavy stuff. This can do it all. Just adjust the gain!!! I play mostly a Strat and PRS into a 1968 Vibrolux Reverb. OK I have owned just about every OD pedal. I have modded SD1, modded BD2, TS9, have owned boutique pedals and I ALWAYS come back to this pedal. My set up now is Fender tuner-Boss Wah(sometimes)-Guv'nor-Akai Headrush!!!! A overall 9 for the breaking parts!!!!

Gain, 3-band-eq, output level, easy.

It's vintage.
It can scream, but I use it mostly with the gain half open and a litlle boost on the bass. It's on an auxilary, I run drumcomputers and synths through it. I use it like I'd use peper.

Never had any problems with it.

About eight years ago I was in a band (playing the bass guitar) and we'd rehears in my garage. My friend and our beginner guitarist had borrowed this pedal from his uncle, and he left it there after the band split up. So I started using it in my set. He's ok with it, I never spook to the uncle.
It's been on the shelf from time to time, but especially the past 3 years, it's constantly been in my set-up. I like it a lot.
Roland tr707 with this overdrive: ... ACID!
I'd never sell it (I'd give it back though). I don't want to think about it being stolen or lost.

Watched this one in a small music store for 2 years before the guy marked it down to $75. It takes a good 10-15 minutes of tweaking thru my stage setup to find the sound I want. 5 knobs - Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Gain. Rotary knobs. Too easy. I had the box and instructions years ago, but...

Using a 2003 Standard American Tele (Natural Finish, Maple Neck) with NO MODS. Don't believe in 'em. Run this thru a 1980's "Acoustic" brand "brown cube" 50 watt amp. One 12' Force 12 speaker. Amp has an "Ext. Speaker" jack, so I also use a 1966 Fender Dual Showman cabinet with 2 - 15" original JBL's. Unbelieveable sound. The only other pedal I use in conjuction with this one is a Boss DM-2 Analog Delay. Beefs up an already incredibly thick sound to the point that the keyboard player doesn't matter during the solos. A slight 60 cycle "buzz" if I turn the treble past 10 o'clock (So I don't. Probably the single coil pickups.)

Bought this in the early 90's ('91 or '92) and used it from then until 1999. Went back to playing keyboards until 01/2005, when another band called for lead work. In the interim, the footswitch died, and the knobs are "scratchy", I'll have to clean them soon. Also, the case is starting to rust (probably 1990's beer) so I need to give it a tuneup. Never failed me yet. I DO gig without a backup. Never really worried about it dying in the middle of a gig. So, a "9" in reliability.

In early 2005, I contacted Marshall's website to see about a replacement footswitch. I was willing to pay for the switch. I got a polite email back saying they don't support this sort of thing, and I should look elsewhere for a switch. I did, and found one for $6. As I said before, I soldered it in myself. 5 minutes. Done.
So, a big "Zero" for Customer Support.

I've played rock and blues for 37 years (bars, weddings) like everyone else. Even big band and Jazz (on keys & bass). But for guitar, I'd say it's a very good match for rock & roll! If it were stolen or lost, I would definitely look for another. It's just a great pedal! It's incredibly easy to use, but I wish the knobs were ON THE TOP of the box, not FACING OUTWARDS BETWEEN THE INPUT/OUTPUT JACKS!!! I wanted the "Marshall Sound" without the expense of the "Marshall Amp", so this is the next best thing. With outrageous amp/cabinet combinations, it goes beyond what I feel it was originally designed for.

5 knobs - gain, level, 3-band eq. It's simple to find your sound, if only you know, what you want to get. You've just got to spend some time on matching pedal settings with your amp knobs configuration.

My setup is simple, really close to classic rock setup: Ibanez SZ 520 QM (with Invader B and SH-1N), very Gibson-like axe; Laney AOR Pro TUBE 50 Combo (all tube), pure british stuff.

Guv'nor is rather overdrive pedal than distortion unit. With the gain knob you can achieve sounds from light crunches, through thick overdrive, to sharp and noisy distortion-like sound. However, I turn gain knob up to 12 o'clock, because when more cranked, is too noisy and 'too solid' to me.
Guv'nor sounds delicious when it boosts crunch channel on amp. I usually set the pedal: gain - noon, bass - max, mids - 10 o'clock, treble and level - 1 o'clock. With the guv'nor turned off i can footswitch my amp between crunch and clean, and when I turn it on, I get very thick, Marshall sound, and (what is essential to me) VERY NATURAL OVERDRIVE. When used with neck pickup (especially with LP-like guitars), and levelled up a bit, you can solo like Gary Moore for a while. I have also posessed Ibanez TS9 for some time, and I must admit, that Guv'nor sounds really similar to TS, but can be used in much heavier stuff (not only as solo booster, but also as overdrive on clean amp channel). I've also used GV-2 Plus, but to me it sounds too sharp and 'vulgar'.
When you use Guv'nor with more gain, it sounds good when soloing, much weaker when riff playing.

There's something more about this, Guv'nor has its own effects loop, so if you want to play solo with overdrive and for example flanger, and delay simultaneously, just put delay and flanger into marshall's loop, turn them on, and with guv'nor switch, you can turn'em all on or off with one stomp.

Just like all old Marshall pedals - built like a tank. It seems to be unbreakable.

It's a vintage, second-hand stuff, so...

I really recommend this unit to these guitar players, who like classic rock sound, who want to make their weak tube amp sound like Marshall JCM. It isn't pedal for metal-massacre-maniacs, and nu-metal players.

Not too easy to find a suiting sound, but trying a little is worthy.
The 3-band-eq offers a lot of versatiliy, but it is not too easy to find the suiting settings of the eq in combination with drive and volume.
I rate it 7.

If you are looking for a marshall tube like crunch ir distortion, the Gov'Nor is the right stomp box.
It has some very good marshall-like crunch sounds (gain 3 to 5).
Very cool! There are very few distortion stomp boxes that offer this special tone!
At higher gain (lets say gain 4 to 6) the Gov'Nor still sounds good, but not as pleasant as in crunch sound.
I did not like tthe very gain sounds. In my ears it sounds too transistor-like if gain is more than 6 or 7.

The crunch sounds you can get are a full 10 without any doubt!
The distortion sound at medium drive level are 8.
What makes a 9.

I use the Gov'Nor in combination with humbucker guitars anda Engls Straight all tube combo.
I like most the combination of Gov'Nor at crunch level.
It turns the clean channel of the Engl into a crunchy marshall, and if the Engls distortion chanell has a gain of about 5, it addsan crunch sound the Engl doesn't have. If i combine the Gov'Nors crunch with the Engls tube distortion, i get a really good high gain marshal-like sound.

The bad side of the Gov'or.
After 10 yearsthe controlsare very noisy.
What is even worth,they do not work anymore in each position.
E.g. if i put volume to 5, the Gov'Nor is dead (as if volume was zero).
The same with treble control.
The Gov'Nor was one of the more expensive stomp boxes at this time. For that price i'd expect controls/potis of a higher quality.

Dont know

If everything still worked well, the Gov'Nor would deserve a 9, for its versatility, for the very good crunch sounds and decent medium distortion sounds.
The lousy reliability/durability deserves does not allow a good rating.
All in all i give it a 4.
The Gov'Nor (the old, black one, not the new silver Gov'Nor2) isn't sold anymore.
If you want to buy it second hand, DO test the controls carefully before buying it!

THIS IS A REVIEW FOR THE ORIGINAL BLACK GUV'NOR. Drive,level, mid, bass, treble, if you don't know what those are you shouldn't be on this sight!

A 1995 40th anniversary strat with powered EMGs, Gibson Les paul DC with Phat Cat p-90's, a PRS custom 24, and a Japanese strat with Rio Grandes, into a 1968 Fender Vibrolux. I do not understand anyone who thinks this is bad. The overdrive is fantastic. I guess if you want shred metal look for something else but with the drive on about 11 and the level at 12 and EQ depending on which guitar I use this thing sings!!!! Warren Haynes sound!!!! For heavier Ozzy stuff or ACDC I turn the drive to about one O'clock!!! In my opinion one of the best OD/distortions I have used, and I have used them all!!! I always come back to this one!!!!!

Over the years I had to change the switch. One of the jacks in the back broke. I just swapped it with one of the loop jacks......works fine. I always carry a modded BD2 or a modded SD1 with me for back up.

N/A

I play in a band that covers everything from Garth Brooks and Pure Prairie League to Ozzy, Zepplin, ACDC, Foo Fighters. Name a style and we probably do it. Been playing for 32 years and have tried EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!! PUE5 Tube, BD2, SD1, TS9, Boutique pedals, etc......... I always come back to this black box!!!!!!! I have a Prescription Electronics Germ pedal > Guv'nor(ORIGINAL) > Chorus(Boss-or Guyatone) > Akai Delay. I have the same Guitar sickness everyone else does and this pedal is great. I do not know anything about the new one but the original Guv'nor is well worth the investment!!!!!!!

It's a distortion stompbox. Easy to use.

What the heck are all these people talking about? Fuzzy? Bland? Thin? Are you folks playing through the same pedal???

Mine was bought circa 1995-1996.

This is one of THE rock pedals of all time for me.

My set-up with the Guv is: SG into Guv'nor into clean Laney. The Guv'nor is set as follows: Bass @ 3 o'clock, Mids @ 9-10 o'clock, Treble @ 7-8 o'clock and Gain at about 8-9 o'clock.

CLASSIC 70s Marshall and humbucker bark! AC/DC, Montrose, Thin Lizzy, 70s era Alice Cooper, Zeppelin, Purple,... The list goes on. They're all in here.

I will agree that it doesn't seem to like single coil guitars. So if you plug your Strat/Tele in here, my guess is you won't like it.

It's all metal. It's lasted me 10 years. Sounds like new. Knobs don't crackle or nothing. Killer. This will still be kicking ass in my future grandson's rig when I'll have gone the way of the dodo.

I'll give it a 9/10 because it DOES prefer humbuckers, but hey... I got a FullDrive 2 for my Strat.

With the gain at about 8 o'clock I've even used this as a clean boost. Works fine, although there are probably better options for this purpose.

Gain halfway up till all the way up is rock territory. Even some old-school heavy metal (Maiden, Priest) is possible.

To me this is THE classic rock pedal to use with LP/SG type guitars.

Angus would be proud. Let there be rock! Let there be Guv'nor!

Super easy to use. And while we are at it: this pedal needs to be used in front of a TUBEAMP ! ;-)

Features are a 3 band eq, level and gain pots. The bypass is a bypass - not sure if "real" true, but opposite to a SD-1 it doesn`t color the sound when not in use. Also there`s one (stereo) jack which can be used as a loop (lets say when you just need your delay pedal when soloing thru the Guv'nor). Nice feature - tried it, but since my delays are in the loop I don`t use it.
Also a 9V DC jack of course . . .

Excellent - of course at higher gain settings there`s hiss - but which pedal doesn`t add hiss when it adds gain?

What I like the most about it is its mid character and that its possible to add a lot (but not too much) bottom end when soloing.

I`m using it mostly with a 1970 SuperBass for solos (thru a Marshall 1960A or a Diezel 2x12") or with my Diezel Einstein Proto Head. Axes are a 1976 LPC or a Schecter C1 BJ.

I set it with the Sb like this:
level - full
bass - noon
mids - 75%
treble - 30%
gain - noon

This way with a Lester Gary plays thru your Marshall ;-)

Compared to the (tube-amp "driver") 'standard' Boss SD-1 it does the same 80s attack thing, just a bit better, because
- no coloration when in bypass mode
- better eq-control possible
- more bottom end when "on" - if thats what you are looking for
- more reliable due to its built-style

Built like a tank. This pedal is full metal - so what could ever happen to it?

No idea

I`m playing hard rock a la Moore, Sykes, Lizzy and so on. Since 25+ years now thru Marshalls and Diezels with Les Pauls (or LP-ish guitars).
If it would brake or whatever it would be definitely replaced. My all time favourite when it comes to OD-pedals.

I am using this original Guvnor MK1 pedal with a Peavey Duel 2x12 6L6 valve amp straight into the clean channel. Couldnt be simpler to operate.

I was so excited about this pedal. I was expecting the ultimate Marshall in a box since guys like Gary Moore used it. Well in reality I found this is just a booster pedal. The distortion is bland and transistory with not that much gain available. Little character in the pedal. I guess the blandness lets a crunched up tube amp do its business with minimum colouration?

I wanted a beefy Marshall tone from the clean channel of my amp and this is not the pedal for it.

The Zoom Hyperlead knocks it for six in super high gain Marshall department. And the Marshall DriveMaster Mk1 has so much character like a real Plexi for blues and character rock tones (like early Van Halen), a touch more gain too.

Unless people are using this as a characterless booster I cant understand all the hype?

I got this unit used,no manual-but its an overdrive ... gain,bass,mids,treble and level.

sound quality is very good, early marshall jmp1-jcm800 tones came out fairly easy. nice clean up when rolling back vol. on guitar. I was a little dissappointed at first that it never got real hot, but thats not its purpose,and I have other things to get that. This unit is,however absolutely great for turning your fender tube amp into a marshall! My rig? 57 r.i. strat or epi sheraton w/ gibson PAFs> mr crybaby vol/wha>boss line selector>guvnor>dano daddy-o>mxr phase 90 (r28 mod)>dan-echo. #2 from line sel. goes either straight into vib/rev chann. of either 66 BF pro reverb,or A plush p1000s or to rp100 1st. #3 goes to tu-12 tuner. this rig really gets it for me.zep,VH,Black crows,JIMI,p-funk,cream,j.brown!

as they say like a brick

havent dealt w/ them

I play mostly bluesy rock, classic rock(early) funk,classic R&B,but really improvisational.NOT trying to sound like the record so much, but definite vintage tones,techniques. dont be looking for a modern sound (hi gain) w/ this. in those days,people w/ marshalls still used fuzzes,amp boosters,and distortion boxes in combination to get there sound. (R.Rhodes- dist+,Jimi- Fuzzface)This will give you either the stock marshall tone,or on lower sett. drive ur tube amp.Three band tone is crucial!! the switch kinda feels fragile,but all in all,I really dig the transparency,doesnt destroy guits. tone like a big muff,more natural than any boss unit,more gain than ts-9.ive been playing since 1978 and my first rig was BF champ,univox superfuzz,ross comp.(Iwish ikept them)

Couldn't be simpler really. Play with the levels on each dial until you get a sound you like.

I use a '72 thinline telecaster and a Les Paul Custom with a Marshall Valvestate 265 and the pedal sounds fantastic. I needed a distortion pedal which isn't too 'metally' for playing classic rock and this really fits the bill. If you want a good metal pedal try a Boss Metal Zone MT-2. I use a 9 volt battery so I haven't come across any hum others have experienced with an adaptor.

Haven't had it long - only a month but haven't had any problems and certainly seems sturdy enough. I've used it for gigging with no problems

Never had to deal with them so wouldn't know

I'm not an expert on guitar effects by any means. I just wanted a decent sounding distortion pedal suitable for classic rock and some blues. For this its ideal and for the price it seemed a lot cheaper than than its competitors - i.e Boss. It has genuine bypass capablilty and doesn't seem to weaken the guitar signal noticeably. I was really pleasantly surprised when I tried it for the first time. If you're wanting a pedal to play thrash, speed metal this probably isn't the one for you but for standard distortion/overdrive effects its excellent.

The two-in-one knobs for bass/depth and mid/treble are really annoying on stage. You'll be best off to find a good setting and never ever change it.

I play a Fender '52 reissued tele through a Fender '69 reissued Deluxe reverb (1st preamp Mullard nos, 2nd preamp Jan Phillips nos.)

This pedal has it's niche, but not for the price. It's more of a fuzz sound than a real marshall crunch, and is really really hard to get a good sound out of the pedal. It's a neverending knob adjustment. At low volume (< 30% on pedal volume setting), this thing is a a static fuzz box and sounds like poo. At higher volumes, it more usuable. Definitely my least favorite pedal on the board.

I used to own a marshall valvestate 60W amp. That distortion sounded like marshall.

It's as reliable as any marshall product.

If I started gigging again, I'd rather use a 2nd Ibanez TS-9 (modded to sound different than my currently modded TS-9). If the pedal was stolen, I'd try something else.

Really easy to get different sounds out of it. Superbly voiced EQ. The loop feature is also nice for a stomp box.

AMAZING. I used to play with a valvestate, after the years i refined my taste and now play with a Fender SF Princeton '69.

The pedal really excels with tube amps. Changing midrange settings, and playing with gain and level controls you really get versatile sound-wise.

I can get sounds from SRV, to GNR. Best pedal ever. Gain is also more than enough, when you turn the volume up and the tubes start overdriving you won't really need more than 75% gain.

It's a rock.

N/A

Best OD/Dist pedal ever, it does frome TS-like overdrive up to full distortion. It's more limited with ss amps, but it really adds tone-value to any rig!!! 100% recommended.

This is a simple mono in / mono out overdrive/distortion pedal with the standard knobs.

There is really nothing else that needs to be said in regards to "ease of use".

First and foremost let us get a few things straight here before we dive into the Marshall Guv'nor's review. Let us all keep in mind that this is a public forum review site and as such it attracts all sorts of players.

What may sounds "totally awesome" to a fourteen year old with a cheap Strat copy through a $50 Peavey amp will not likely generate the same degree of enthusiasm with a seasoned player with a better understanding of good tone.

Having cleared this up let us move right along to the Guv'nor pedal. This little devil is a fantastic overdrive/distortion pedal given the fact that it not only delivers a wide degree of distortion, from very mild overdrive (ala the Boss SD-1) all the way to a heavy "shred tone" that saw the light on countless 80's hard rock albums.

Better yet the pedals tonal variations are what really make it shine. After you have dialed in the right amount of distortion you are further able to tailor your tone with the standard bass, mid and treble knobs not to mention that superb "deep" knob that not only adds bass but also tighten the low end as well.

This can take you from a bright and vintage like Marshall growl to a high gain JCM 900 tone with that tight and refined bottom end.

A heavy and very well built (think Boss like build quality and weight) that has stood up to countless gigs without any failure.

Marshall is superb if you find the right rep. If you are not pleased with what you are handed, you are advised to seek someone else within the Marshall camp.

Overall a fantastic pedal that leaves many other basic overdrive pedals in the dust due to its great distortion flexibility not to mention tone tweaking as well.

As played through various vintage Fender and Marshall amps it performs like a charm. Though it really shines with my USA Strat it is just at home with my various humbucker equipped Jackson Firebird.

I cannot stress enough just how flexible this little pedal is!

If you can dial up a good tone on an amp, you should have no trouble. The knobs are set up like a amp: gain, bass, middle, treble, level. The pedal is set up just like a marshall. But I give it an 8 only because it takes a bit more figiting than with most pedals.

I am useing this with a Mesa-Boogie studio 22. I use it as a di for recording, and, with the gain all the way down as a acoustic preamp/di. Sometimes I will put it in frount of the amp, but, my favorate trick is to use it through the buffered effects loop of the boogie. You can get metal sounds out of it, but in my humble opinion, this isn't the best box for that. You can, however get great Hendrix, SRV, and Cream era Clapton sounds out of it no probelm. Its about as noisy as any other pedal. I like it.

Its old, proably twelve years old, no probelms so far.

Never dealt with them.

I have a couple of "favorates," this being one of them. If lost, I definatly would look on E-bay intill I found anouther.

Straight-up. 5 k-nobs. Amp goodness.

Holy smokes! Had one in the early 90's. I sold it. What was I smokin'? Now i gots a good job and nabbed a pair of these guys off eBay. Seriously... it's that good. Puts some mids back in your diet.

Well... my first one didn't break... then I sold it. I now gots one on my pedalboard for leads and one I drag to practice when I don't want to bring that stupid pedalboard. Who breaks pedals anyway? What are you doin'? Seriously... I'm guessing mine are from the early '90s... that's proof enough for me. Well, I don't throw my stuff either...

Nope. I mean I don't know... yeah that's my final answer.

The Guv! Who loves you? The Guv does. This is a good pedal! It don't sound like your amp (grammar) but it gives you what you need when what you need is not just your amp sound + distortion. It doesn't judge you either. Can you say that about your friends?

hey guys, maybe you could take away the pic of the GV-2?? there is already a seperate review for that called GV-2 with exactly the same picture, which is very misleading

This is a review for the original not the GV-2 pictured above (thanks harmony central!!)


Very easy to use although altering one pot, will chaneg another

This is great because of it's range
It is both an overdrive and a distortion, so you can acheive both

the pedal itself has never gone wrong, but the cheap plastic inputs have broken

would gig without backup

Palm mutes well, not great for metal though, better for alt./classic rock

used by the pixies

Pretty easy to use - has a couple more pots to mess with than usual - but nothing you can't handle, right?

Pretty hard to get a bad sound - just set the EQ, get the right gain level and set the output volume...

Gibson SG / Fender Strat (for slide) -> home made boost -> Guv'nor -> Yamaha 212 Combo (solid state)

I use it as a general distortion pedal, playing mainly blues rock style numbers. Great sound - probbly the best i've heard for the music I play. Also very natural sounding and with pretty much no unwanted noise. Also with the variation of controls it is pretty flexible, in that it can be used as a stright distortion box, an EQ type pedal or a clean boost.

I bought it new over 10 years ago and its never let me down. 'nuff said.

No contact

Overal probbly the best guitar investment i've made. Absolutly perfect for blues / rock playing. Think early Clapton, Gary moore and some nice albert king / SRV / BB King type sounds in there too.

I compared it with a few other pedals at the time - and maybe if you are into metal or country this might not be for you (though with the EQ it can get many counds).

The only thing i need to do now is get a spare before the second hand price gets too silly!

very easy to use!

old Version, Made in England,good Sound,powerfull for me.Gary Moore Sound!fender Telecaster>Vox Wah Wah>Bluesbreaker als Booster>Boss OD-1>Guv`Nor>Boss DD-5 Delay>Fender Bronco15W combo.for Classic Rock good!

I like it.Marshall Pedals sind Gute Freunde fuer Gitarristen.

I find this pedal to be a no-nonsense, straight ahead stompbox that is damn good at what it does, offering a little versatility without trying to be an all-in-one, multi-voiced piece o' crap.

I have the best of 3 worlds with my setup. My main guitar is a Les Paul Standard, but I also use my '50's re-ish Strat and a Rambow Custom which has a unique blend of Les Paul and strat style characteristics. I run them into a Mesa/Boogie Subway Rocket. The Les Paul is the primary offender, so I'll use IT for the sake of this revue. My main influences are Steve Marriott, Paul Kossoff, Slash, Audley Freed, Warren Haynes... you get the idea. With my rig, though small, it suits my needs to a tee. Of course I have a wonderful, warm, clean sound, and for my creamy neck position Warren/Audley sound, I prefer the drive channel of the Mesa with the pre-volume jacked and the gain around 3 or 4, but the Guv'nor still wins for the more "vintage" sound. For my more agressive, or "lead" sound, I'll switch back over to the clean channel, and it's the Guv'nor ALL THE WAY. If Slash had've discovered this little box before the Jubilee, I suspect history would've been written a little differently. I'm NOT a fan of distortion OR overdrive pedals. They just don't sound REAL to me. I've tried more of them than I can remember, and the only one that held my interest for any length of time untill this, was the VisualSound Route66, but even that faded. The only way that I could make this pedal sound bad, was to back the mid E.Q. knob down too far, but you'd have to be a moron to want to do THAT anyway...the MID is what makes it sound like a guitar! I LOVE this pedal... I WILL own more of them. It is part of my sound forever. DON'T BUY 'EM, CUZ THEY'RE MINE---mmmkay...

I give it a "9" only because I've only owned it for a couple o' months, and have not gigged extensively with it, but I will say this... It's built like a truck, the knobs & jacks are smooth & sure. I have NO reason to believe that it won't last forever.

I can't offer an opinion here. I haven't had to deal with them. If you are a dealer or manufacturer reading this, customer service and the willingness to stand behind your product mean EVERYTHING to me. If YOU, as the seller or manufacturer are not willing to stand behind your product, then why innahell should I risk spending my hard-earned bread on it? There are guys building some of the best stuff in the world in their garages & basements all across America Just ACHING to give me the opportunity to find out how good their stuff is, and to tell my friends. It's a big deal for people like me to be able to buy our beloved gear, and I wanna know that if somethin' goes wrong you're gonna make it right.

I'm a more traditional blues/blues based rock 'n roll guitar guy, and this (as I said before) is MY pedal (so don't buy 'em). This pedal will NOT be lost, and if it were stolen, I'd hunt the SOB down & beat 'em with it (then plug it in & use it)! It really IS a shame that the GV-2 is such a POS, and it is somewhat of an emmbaresment to have it share the name of it's father. I'd desperatly LOVE for Marshall to make a GV-3 made to the same specs as the original Guv-nor, but including the "deep" control from the GV-2 (don't really need the loop featured on the original either).

I love my lil` black brick `o` noise.Plug it in and turn it up.

i play a "custom" (read `home made`) guitar that was once a Peavey Strat with stck humbuckers through a yorkville bloc100G.
I got the Guvnor because i wanted a MARSHALL but didn`t have $1000+ lying around.the sound quality of the pedal gives me a reasonable facsimile of an 80`s model Marshall (not exact but close enough)
i find it pretty decent for loud rock/metal but needs to be played at a reasonable volume, it tends to get a bit fizzy sounding below a certain level.
The three band eq is a bit of a problem seeing as it has that stacking effect (lows effect the mids effect the highs) but if you`ve got the time and patience to play around with it you can get something you like.also the angle of the knobs make it hard to see what you`ve set it to when your gigging.

This mutha has survived the last 16 years of abuse relatively unscathed but for one replaced footswitch that someone else busted by jumping on it (literally),a lost battery cover and a busted up fx loop input(the edge cracked and the silver ring went 'who knows where`).As for using it on a gig without a back up pedal.thats what i did for about 6 years so no worries there.

never dealt with the company.haven`t needed to.

I Play Metal/punk/alt. pretty much anything with a bit of an aggressive edge to it. This pedal has done an excellent job in all the situations i`ve used it. i`ve been playing for about 16 years and i love the fact that it`s been virtually indestructable all this time.the old buggers showing its age now with a bit of rust lifting the paint off but it just keeps on rocking..

It is such a versatile tool; it takes some experimentation to find the right sound. I?ve had mine for two years now and I?m still experimenting with it. I usually keep the gain knob at about 60-75%; the bass knob at about 50%, the high knob at 75%, and I always set the level knob at a volume slightly higher than the clean volume (without the Guv? being engaged), which varies according to other effects I might have in the equation. The mid range knob I tweak up and down to get different tones, but I find that if the bass knob is set at more than ?, it will interfere and drown out the mids.

My primary guitar is an 87? Stratocaster with two humbuckers instead of the 3 singles. I send it to my pedal effects in this order:

Original Crybaby Wah (not Dunlop reissue) > The Guv?nor > Akai Intelliphase analog phaser > 1979 Morley Wah/Fuzz/Volume.

The end of this chain goes to the instrument input of my Randall RG100 (pre-Washburn) half stack. My rack effects run through my amp?s buffered effects loop ? a Rocktron Hush II, an Ibanez UE405 effects processor (analog) and an MXR dual 15-band graphic EQ model 124. I have plenty of EQ-ability with the Ibanez and the MXR, so I really like to set a rich clean tone before any distortion is added. This is the reason I don?t need to get much out of the bass knob on the Guv? so it?s really the mid knob that controls the tone. That?s where the punchy-ness comes from. The Guv?nor does give off quite a hellacious white noise when it?s engaged and you?re not playing ? this is to be expected from a device that adds SO much gain to the signal. I compensate for this by setting the threshold on my Hush II just above that noise level with a quick gate so it will silence the hum if I stop playing suddenly, but if I hold a long sustain, I won?t lose any signal. The Ibanez compression helps a lot with this too. If you can?t live with that hi-gain hum sound, you'll definitely want a compressor somewhere in the mix with your Guv?nor.

I know Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog) uses a Guv', and people have compared me stylistically with him, although I think I sound nothing like him -- it must be the Guv'nor that's making them think he and I play similarly.

Virtually indestructible; they don't make pedals like this anymore. I would trust it to never break down, although I do have a backup (more on that under Overall Rating).

I've never dealt with Marshall. No need to, I've never owned a Marshall amp, and my pedals have never given any problems.

I've been playing guitar for about 15 years. I wanted a Marshall Guv'nor 10 years ago, when I played through one that my friend had, into my amp (the Randall). He used it for Death Metal distortion, which it worked very well for (he currently plays in a death metal band called VORE <www.vore.org> but now uses a Mesa Boogie :mark IV: instead of the Guv'). Some of the previous reviewers said that you can't get metal tones from this pedal, well - they're wrong. At least, you can through my amp. Anyway - this was back in the days before eBay so I went to Musician's Friend to buy one of my own, only to find that they had been discontinued. I bought a Marshall Shredmaster distortion pedal instead. It looked the same as the Guv'nor, the operator at MF said it was the same pedal, only a newer model. Well, it showed up on my door and I plugged it in and it just wasn't as powerful as the real Guv'! The Marshall Shredmaster looks the same as the Guv'nor; it's housing is that black diecast steal, same stomp switch, same red pilot light. BUT - the knobs are labeled from left to right: Gain, Bass, Contour, Treble, Level. AND - there's no effects loop. The Shredmaster is very similar to the Guv', I used it for 8 years, but it's just not as ballsy. Take the Pepsi challenge with the Guv'nor and it's weak successor; the Shredmaster sounds really watered-down in comparison. I would use the SM as a back up distortion pedal, but only in a pinch!

I play a psychadelic 70's style of guitar, I use this pedal mostly for lots of added gain on my leads (samples available for download at our website: <www.jivemarket.com>), but sometimes for a crunchy rhythm phrasing as well. I love it. If it broke or was stolen, I'd go back to eBay and get another, there's usually 2 or 3 up for auction; there are currently 5 of them on eBay (at the time of this writing). Make sure you don't get the "Guv'nor Plus," which is what is pictured at the top of this thread. It's ironic that most technology evolves and get better, more efficient; but with music gear, the vintage stuff is always the best and there's devolution over time. TRUST NOTHING BUT THE ORIGINAL!!!

It takes a little tweaking to get the sound you want, but that is in a good way. After maybe less than half a hour of tweaking around with the knobs, I was able to go from song tone to song tone very easily and quickly.

I got it for that Marshall Head Overdrive thru distortion sound, and that is what it does.
I have played guitar for over 15 years now and have tried most other distortion pedals out there and this is the only one that has the sound of distortion coming from a 100 watt Marshall amp head.
I play a original '63 & '73 Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul. I have about 5 other effects along with the Gov'Nor going into a Gibson 1954 Atlas 80 watt amp head and into a 12'x4 Cab.

It's built tough like a tank and it is definitely gig worthy.

Awesone pedal. I was looking for a pedal that gives the sound of a Marshall and I talked to a salesman at Future Music in Hollywood, instead of trying to sell me one of the hundreds of vintage and new pedals that they had in the shop, he told me to get this one if I can find one out there (because they didn't have any).
The guy is right, it does sound the way he says.
I love this pedal, and will try to find another one if this one ever fails on me (which think it NEVER will).

I do this all in the order the form tells me
good sound; yes, easy to dial in, basically just make the eq flat (all knobs at five) and turn the gain up how much you want, then comes the level...I set the level just a bit louder than the clean guitar sound. BAM.good sound

I'm using a 2001 mexican stratocaster, very rock and roll in a buddy holly way. The guitar goes into the guvnuh', then to an old skool RAT and into a 72' silverface bassman 50 (also very rock and roll) with a crummy old keyboard amp I converted to use as a cabinet, it's got two 10'' made in Canada NO-NAme speakers, the make of the cab is "RAM"
No more noise then you would expect with a distoriton pedal, almost none by itself, were not talking metalzone gain levels here.
This pedal is not weak in the slightest, very uber-tres rock and roll, lotsa balls!
I can get the sound of Van halen pretty well, I mean the pedal basically sounds like a cranked jmc800 with a bit of boost, so the sound of any artist using a big ol' stack is within my reach. It's not an exact replica of the tone, but it is so very close.

the guvnor sounds more real then an MXR dist+. The MXR sounds 1-demensional. Just simple transistor hard-clipping, like a bad fuzz pedal. The guvnor sounds engineered, like a patch on a digital unit. Smooth but not muddy, bright but not grainy. Big 10 for a SS dist pedal. I heard some guy made an album with one of these. I'm keeping it forever 4real!

the only bad thing about it ,is that it gets kind of fizzy when you turn down the volume, unlike the rat

Yeah, it's like a frying pan. The pots are moundted well, excellent build quality, good parts, grounded....it'll never die

Whatever, all big companies are tools. They don't NEED YOU to make money, they can and will say "f@ck the consumer" :D

the pedal is no longer being made anyway

For like english sounding blues, It gives a great tone. In the three years I've been playing, I've only owned a rat, and that's different and good in its own way. For it's job the guvnor is perfect. If it were lost I'd buy one on ebay for a way huge inflated price (like FETS :D) I like it that much. I can compare it only to boutique pedals, like fulltone products or those guys who makes the rumble....they're all on the same echeolon(sp? you know what I mean) werd. I bought this cause some guy told me too, and then I saw one cheap, I owe that guy beer.

Very easy. I love the effects loop built in. Too bad some retard has the wrong picture on this thread. This will definatley harm the Original Black Guv'nors Pride as that silver POS shouldn't even hold the same name!

Gary Moore, Radiohead! Nuff Said. This pedal rock out great saturated gain and overdrives. Nice EQ capabilities. Very usable gain knob with perfect taper for easy to dial in gain.

Solid, Maybe the switch will go some day. I have had this since 93 though and no problems. 10 years and counting. Best $109. I ever spent!!

don't know??

Bought this brand new and it never failed me.

Works great with Fender amps and older Plexi type Marshalls.

Steal it and Die. They just don't make'm like this anymore;(

well when i bought it i didnt have a clue of how to use the thing, but after a while i got the hang of it. i still dont know what the heck the deep does. i bought it used so i got no manual.

I use it through a Fender Deluxe 90 DSP and a Cort G260B. The only problem my amp kinda sucks or the pedal sucks cause when i would turn up the mid or treble a bit to much i'd get a disgusting static noise but it was distortion. So i had to turn the treble and mid down a bit. but after that i got the classic marshall sound. i got the old van halen and aerosmith sound which i thought was cool. its good for solos but i dont care for it when it comes to rythm. and my only problem is for some reason when i turn it off and use the amps distortion it sounds exactly like the pedal so i have to wait about ten minutes for the sound to fade away. i can kinda get that nirvana sound that i like but the pedal is pretty good.

well it looks pretty tough. i dropped it a couple of times. the pedal has to be tough with a name like the Guv'nor!

well i think its a decent pedal to last but ill try it different amps to see how works. i think its a pretty decent pedal. but until i get enough to buy the mxr double shot distortion, this is what i got to work with.

A simple pedal can't be difficult to use, can it? This one deserves a 10 because the EQ is very well voiced and makes it very easy to find the sound you're searching. It features DC in, and a loop jack, for use as a master switch for a whole pedal chain, very nice...

I'm using a Fender Stratocaster and a Marshall 100 Watt head with a 2x12 celestion equipped cabinet. It's not noisy at all.
The sound quality is really amazing, you can get any sound out of it, except heavy metal (who cares). For blues, rock and hard rock, I think this is the best pedal there is. It's really very versatile, from bluesy crunch to hard rock distortion. It also adds a lot of sustain to your sound.

Made in the 80's and still rocking. Steel case, solid state, DC jack. It's bullet-proof.

It's long discontinued, don't think you'll get any support, but the circuitboard is very simple, I think anyone can fix it if broken.

Best pedal I've heard. I would definitely buy it again, I'm thinking of buying another one just in case, but in my (small) country it's not that simple to find one of these old boxes.

I use this one mostly together with synthesizers (always connected to my clavia nord lead and korg ms2000).. but also with a nice fender. Connected it directly to my ADAT.. so i use virtual wires to connect it differently for every tune i make.

I really love this box! Think i'm gonna go get the GV2 too. + maybe the jackhammer to get some more dist. The synthesizers i connect it to sounds really agressive before i plug them in, but it doesn't sound like they really mean it. With the gv i hear that they REALLY mean it. I guess that's the difference between bad DSP-distortion and real analog distortion.
The only "negative" things is that there isn't any memory on it.. but for that price + it's real analog + i guess it's not made for this kind of studio work.. so i didn't expect it.
Another thing is that i think it acts more like a cruel overdrive, and not so much like a real distbox. It really can dist.. but anyway. I guess that's what diff it from the marshall jackhammer.

The sound of this thing is now a part of the main characteristics in my music.

It's very reliable.. i'm almost sure i can jump on it a couple of times without it even noticing it.

I bought it used, so I don't have a manual. Setting it up is easy though.

I use it with an Epi Les Paul Classic Birdseye loaded with Seymour Duncans. The Guv'nor is placed before my H&K Tubeman which I use to get some tubesounds out of my Dynacord DC120 solid state combo. I bought it because I was looking for the "Still got the blues" Gary Moore sound and I found what I was looking for! But the Guv can do a lot more. There's Metallica in there and I heard some Santana also! For SRV I prefer my Tubescreamer or Tubeman but most of the time I use the Guv. I really really love this sound.

You'll need a sledgehammer to break it but gigging without a backup? Never..!!

Never dealt with em.

I've been looking for this sound for years. I read about the Guv'nor on the Gary Moore website and decided to try it. I found the original 80's model on the internet and bought it immediately. If this one breaks down I'll buy it again. Maybe I'll buy one just in case...

*** This i just an update from my last review - a few reviews down.
Recently my pedal went a bit odd. If i plug into my amp using the 'output' socket on the pedal i get a fuzzy-buzzy and very quiet signal - not the cool distortion i was used to. if i plug through the loop socket it works fine BUT if i turn the pedal off it cuts the signal (thats what its supposed to do after all) so at the moment, on stage the pedal is useless to me. I hope i can get it fixed - because the newer versions dont stand up to the sound of this one. I'll Keep you posted.

I own the old version with 5 knobs, which i bought new 1 months ago (NOS).
Very esay to use, everything is written on it. 5 knobs, 1 effect loop, ac adaptator ... comes with a manual (but do you really need one ?).
Here's my setup: Fender American Tele std. -> Boss dd3 -> ProCo Turbo Rat -> Guv'Nor -> Phase 90 -> Fender HRD.

Woooooooow very nice sound !!!
This thing totally change the sound of my Fender ! Really amazing.
I can handle all the Marshall sounds: crunch, soft od. or high gain distortion. I mainly use it for crunch/mid dist. (thinks Lift To Experience sound ... Josh uses one).
Works well with my others pedals except the Phase 90: the Phase boots the volume which is very annoying.

Seems very reliable ...

?

I mainly play rock/alternatif/experimantal music and it delivers the sound i was looking for. Now i have all the kinds of sound i need: clean with the Fender, crunch with the Guv and wall of fuzz with the Rat.
I have THE Marshall sound for a very cheap price (yeah i know, i can't beat a true Marshall, but for the price the sound is really amazing, believe me).
If it were stolen humm ... if i had the money i would buy a true Marshall (JTM45 2X12 combo) but if i had not YES i would try to find another one !!
Nothing wrong to say about it !!

Well it is a stomp box. Plug it in adjust the knobs till you get the sound you like.

The sound is the best I've ever heard come from a distortion pedal! The thing that amazes me the most is how it will make anything you play through sound simular to a marshall. Now a days amp modeling is whats hot and that is what this pedal does. It really models the MarsaLL sound and it has been around since the 80's. I know thats when I got mine!

Again as I mentioned before I bought mine in the 80's and it has taken a beating. it still works great!

Overall it rocks!! the best damn distortion pedal in the world as far as I'm concerned

This is da old, old ooooooold 5 knob version which is a little flat black box a bit like a rat but betrtrer... ish.
It sounds good it has a nice tone with a lot of treble bite.
it goes GAIN, BASS, MID, HIGH, LEVEL. I think.
very solid constructionabilitationality... ish.

I use an epiphone SG copy and a westone thunder 1A which both give out a good range of tones so I tend to use the guv'nor for lots and lots (and a few more) sounds.

It aint noisy unless you mean the high gain sounds that it puts out,
cos they are noisy!

If you turn the bass up too much the treble and high mids get drowned a bit so keep it at 12 o clock.

If you want to use it, before a high distortion effect like a fuzz, as a boost I would use it like this:

0-5 10 10 0 10
GAIN BASS MID HIGH LEVEL

as a thrashy crunch power chord type of thingy:

10 6-10 0-4 6-10 ?
GAIN BASS MID HIGH LEVEL

It sounds raw and rough but it aint for any smooth kind of sweet distortion, the sound has a jagged edge.

I dont know of many (or any!) artists who use this pedal and i like to create my own kind of sounds so its up to you to decide who it sounds like...

its solid like a small black brick. (is that a term for something else? if it is i didn't mean it!)

n/a... ish.

I play funky punky rock shit.
I am 14 and ive been playing since 8 so i am a slight hendriaxic maniac when it comes to fuzz + wah.

I love the fact that it is solid and stompable.
It helps me man. It helps me.

Hey i gotta finish writing this track im doind called spazquotch or something so bye i'll leave you with the number 8... ish.

This is the original model, 5 knobs, very easy to get a very good sound. Simple as that.
I never give tens for anything though, so it can have a nice round 9.

Great distortion sounds to be had, from mild to brutal, this bad boy's got it all.
I use this with a BOSS CE-3 Chorus a Colorsound Wah-Fuzz-Swell, Rocktek Phaser, and play an Epi Les Paul Standard, and I've got to say the only noise I ever seem to get is from the BOSS, a common trait,or so I understand.
Lots of good rock tones to be had, Crowes, Zep, blah blah blah.
It's truly golden.
Only distortion pedal I've ever had, and it's the only one that I will ever have, breakages permitting!
Another tasty 9 for the Guv.

Built like an air raid shelter, you'll only break this if your feet are size 16 and made of lead lined granite.
Used it many a time without back up, but I will try and find another just in case the gremlins start to mess with the one I have now.
Not the prettiest of pedals (compared to it's newer, flimsier, aesthetically pleasing counterpart), but then most things that are ugly are good.
Just look at Ozzy.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....9?

Never dealt with 'em.

I play rock, taking influences from Skynyrd and Free through to Gomez, the Crowes and Supergrass. A broad mix of styles calls for an accomodating selection of FX, of which, the Marshall Guv'nor is the daddy.
Been playing 10 years, only distortion I've ever had, will definitely get another whilst I still can, even if I do have to search high and low. If this this was nicked or decided to stop working and I couldn't get hold of another, I'd be gutted, it's truly sweet.
Basically, I got this pedal for nish all, without even knowing what it sounded like, and I'm very, very pleased that I did.
Marvellous stuff.
9........
Naaaaaaaaaaaah, have a ten, you've earned it.

Easy, see other reviews.

This is my second "Mk 1" Guvnors (Black finish, steel-cased), having recently discovered a small store with some NOS Guvnors, Drivemasters and Bluesbreakers in stock!!!!. Since I bought the original in 1993, my tastes have matured and I find them a little "fizzy" when compared to my fave Twin Reverb drive sound. It relies on LED's to provide the clipping to a TLO72 chip, so now I have two, I may change these for germanium diodes to see if the harshness disappears. Overall, a good sound, but noisy like all such pedals at high volume.

I have a number of Marshall units, not one has let me down (including old amps!!)

Excellent, they recently sent me (free of charge) a couple of replacement footswitches for two of the other pedals that are quite loose.

Very good, but times move on and some of my other things have better sounds (Digitech RP2000, Zoom GM200, Benringer V-Amp, plus my beloved Fender, Marshall, Roland and Vox Amps)- it's still a classic and I'm tempted to get the others I have seen, as these are fetching very high prices secondhand in London Music shops.
I also have a Guvnor 2, Bluesbreeaker 2, Supevibe Chorus and they are all excellent (in fact, the GV2 sounds smoother that the original).

I do not own one of these pedals. However, at a gig last night through some crazy circumstances I ended up playing through another guy's rig - JCM900 (not a fantastic amp) and a pedal board including the Guv'nor. I was using a custom built guitar with 2 Dimarzio VV blues singles and a Dimarzio Tonezone 'bucker in the bridge postition. What amazed me about this pedal was the incredible articulation I was able to get with it. The gain was set at a moderate level, not screaming but at the same time it gave a fairly good distorted tone. I found that quick picking and in particular quick palm muted stuff was extremely clean, tight and focused and gave a beautiful sound, I dunno if punchy is the right word, but let me just say it was a delight to play and an unexpected surprise on a night when a lot of stuff was going wrong! So ah, yeah, that's that really. Check one out

Well, there's 5 knobs on this thing; Gain, Bass, Middle, Treble and Level (volume) and since the tone controls are interactive (ie changing one affects another) you have to do a fair amount of fiddling to get good tone.

I'm using this with (in order): Squier Telecaster > DOD Milkbox Compressor, Rocktek Phaser (don't laugh) > Marshall Vibratrem > Marshall MG30RCD or Laney LC-30 if gigging. It definetly sounds better through the Marshall on the O/D channel with the amp gain set low and the pedal set up as a gain/volume boost. It kind of sucks through the clean channel, but i'll attribute that to the fact that there is no mid control on the amps clean channel to beef up the sound, it sounds kind of tinny/fizzy so keep the treble low and you'll get a reasonably good sound. Most of the 'classic' Marshall sounds can be pulled out of this box such as Clapton's Bluesbreaker era esque tones.

It ain't broke yet and if it did i'd have to fix it myself since Marshall don't make these anymore!I'd gig without a backup though, it's built like a brick shit house.

Never dealt with Marshall, heard they're good with schematics and stuff though.

I mainly play Britpop/Britrock and this pedal covers both of them but I only use it as a gain/volume boost. I compared it to a Marshall Guvnor+ a while back on alt.guitar.effects, both are good, i say use the original as a gain boost and the Plus as rhthym/crunch or whatever. The tone is unbelievable through a solid state amp!

(Before i start this is the old style Gov'nor, the big fat ugly pedal that i know you all love.)

Level, Gain, Treble, Mid And Bass knobs, which you turn straight away to full gain, treble and bass, at least you do if you're a real man :) I tend to find that the Level at 12 o'clock works nicely for just a slight boost in volume, and this didn't take anytime at all to work out.

Then you plug it in, and stamp on it.

Simple

Playing my Epiphone Explorer into the Gov'nor (full gain, treble and bass, no mid and Level at 12 o'clock) into my shitty little Korg effects pedal (which spends most of its time in Bypass mode) into my Carlsbro GLX100, this little baby has tone to cut through several layers of reinforced steel. I love this pedal to bits I really do, in many ways i prefer it to the tone you get out of a Marshall Amp, but maybe thats just me. the sound it gives is nothing short of perfect for lead playing, and although I don't play many solo's in my band (being more of a ryhthm guitarist) any solo's i do play go through this pedal, and it makes pinched harmonics squeal so perfectly. Also with the gain turned down a little, it gives a nice crunch rather than the hacksaw of sound that i usually use it for.

It's a big block of metal. So much more sturdy than the new cases that Marshal have taken to using - so what if it's ugly - i could jump on it from off the top of the drum riser and it would do me more damage than i would it. - No back-up needed. The Switch always works.

Also it doesn't eat batteries as if they were pop-corn, like many other pedals I've used (My AW3 kills batteries dead in afew hours of use) but I'd get a power adapter soon, because in the long run - if you're gigging, you don't want to run the risk.

Dunno, never spoken to Marshall.

They've stopped making this one though, so...

For the tiny price i got it (new) this pedal was great, and so much better sounding than a lot of the other distortion pedals around.
I've been playing about 3 years, but i'm an avid effects head, and a little bit of a tone-freak when it comes down to it (especially when i'm recording). The pedal does exactly what it says on the box, and better still, it does it well.
If it was stolen, firstly I'd cry, then i'd hunt down the guy that did it and shatter his kneecaps (oh yes i would). Then I'd cry some more, because Marshall don't make them like this anymore. It would take some hunting to find one that someone was willing to give up or sell to replace it, because it is just that good!

Easy to use. Gain, bass, middle, treble, level. Tone knobs interact with each other. Pretty cool. Easy to get several good sounds due to this, but only if you're willing to experiment. Knobs are angled away from you which is great to keep them out of the way but hard to see settings when you're standing. Manual is bare-bones but very informative. This is the original model, not one of the two newer re-issues. Trust me- they don't sound the same. I prefer the original.

The sound quality is fantastic. Very Marshall, no matter what amp I've put it in front of. The gain goes from practically none to JCM-900 territory. Great for boosting level with added character. Even at high-gain settings, the noise is bearable. Nowhere near the hiss from a DS-1, Big Muff of the re-issued Guv'nors. I run it into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. It'll retain the amp character when the tone knobs are set to 12 o'clock, or totally change it when I fiddle with them. I've pretty much left it set at a Santana-esque lead tone since I dialed it in but it'll give classic hard rock, 80's metal, texas crunch and smooth blues sounds.

Very dependable. I had one from 90-93 and used it daily with no failure. I recently got a brand new/old stock one from a music store that shut it's doors and had it buried in their warehouse. The footswitch was sticky but a drop of oil fixed it right up. This thing is solid steel and the footswitch is very solid and heavy-duty. I have no problem using it without a backup.

Never needed to contact Marshall on any of thier gear.

I loved this pedal 10 years ago and I love it just the same today. I play rock and this does it for me better than any other overdrive pedal I've used (and I've used a TON of 'em in my 17 years of playing.) I have a thinline Tele, Dano U2, DeArmond M-75 and M-75T. I use these "cheap" guitars because I love their distinctive vintage sounds, and the Guv'nor doesn't interfere at all. Sure it adds gain and has a versatile range of tones, but you can still hear the original pickup tone no matter what guitar I use. It has a cool effects loop feature that I use sometimes with a Micro Vibe with no problem. I don't wish it had anything else- I just wish I could find another NOS one at the price I got this one for- half the price that I regularly see some pretty shoddy used ones go for.

Essentially a pre-amp in a pedal, the Guv'nor(original version) suffers from the same fiddly EQ system as Marshall's amps - the low affects the mid which affects the high etc. It is very easy to get lost with this approach if you have to change settings in a hurry. The knob positions aren't exactly easy to see either.

As a pre-amp/boost effect the Guv'nor has much to recommend it, it's quiet, punchy and drives the signal through any number of leads and pedals, but as a distortion/fuzz unit it's awful! It has a few usable settings which are the most cliched rock tones imaginable. It's complicated EQ renders most settings an unpleasant muddy mess. As with other Marshall products of this era (early Valvestate amps, the terrible 9000 pre-amp) it should be avoided if you value originality and invention at any level.

The original Marshall Guv'nor is without doubt the most badly made piece of junk I have ever owned. It must have broken down ten times whilst I used it as a solo booster for live performance. Not the electronics, all these were mechanical faults - the switch broke so many times that it eventually collapsed completely and the jack sockets were thick with glue from the number of times they snapped off in transit and on stage. Shameful. I own several cheap and vintage effects and have never had anything like the trouble I had with this monster. I replaced it with an old MXR Distortion + and have never looked back.

Never bothered getting it fixed properly - it wasn't a good enough effect.

There are a few things that an old Guv'nor can do well, but other devices can usually do these and other things too. My Guv'nor eventually fell completely to pieces (only a plastic bodied JHS wah pedal has done this to me since) and has spent the last ten or so years in bits in a plastic bag. I could fix it in a few hours given the right parts, but I cannot be bothered. It does nothing that my MXR, ElectroHarmonix and Boss pedals and Vox amp don't do vastly better. It has even put me off checking out Marshall's (better looking) new range of effects. One to avoid unless it's free.

This thing's very easy to use. The two parametric knobs need a little time to get good fat tones.

Use a Fender Deluxe Fat Strat, Squier (late 70ts)with EMG gold Pups
Marshall 4210 Lead Series (800)Combo.
This one from Marshall sounds really good. Don't know how they do this but you can easyly reach the sounds of much good Alltube Amps in a really perfect quality. Use'd this thing only in clean mode of the amp, and sometimes I don't now if be in the real overdrivechannel of my amp or just forget step on this Guvner-Piece. But no matter if you're not really bliend you can see the LED, so be shure! If you want to use it as a booster in Overdrivechannel, it gives you a very long compressed sustain tone. But don't take to much drive in this mode better not more than 12 o'Clock settings and slightly more volume. Its not a Distortion Pedal anyway.

Even in high volume settings this thing is not too noisy to use.
Propably I would use it on stage if the song needs this creamy sustain over-overdrive.

Customer gave it to me, said: Test at home, pai if you like it.What more do you whish?

You like very authentic Marshall 800 Sounds? Buy this thing, you won't regret it!! By Shredmaster's

******I have the Original from the 80's******
Easy to use if you've got fingers(yes i do). Scoop out the mids and play your Metallica, turn up the Mids for a nice rauncy soloing sound, roll back the treble and bass and gian, grab a strat: your in bluesland. Very simple. Very flexible. You can't use it for "NU METAL" so don't expect it.

I can't complain, sure beats that tinny sounding Zoom pedal i used to have. Works well with my jackson, but better with the Strat and Samick SG

I could kill someone with this gaged steel tank, i can't see it breaking anytime soon. I'd gig with out a backup without blinking, this one's actually been used by the canadian band "treble charger". {That's a cool little thing i like to brag about :)}

Never deal with 'em

I think it's great, covers it all, I would check out the newer ones if it were ever stolen, but it won't be lost.I like everything, wish it had a presence knob. I helps me make music. It's more flexible than a Tubescreamer, and has more gain... but who's gonna bitch about that?

very easy, i didn't faff about with settings just cranked the gain, volume, treble and bass up full to get a really harsh distortion sound. Its the old version, i don't know about the new one but i think the old one looks better. the manual with its old pic of jim marshall is brilliant, not much use though! i haven't changed anything on it or in it

i use a strat into wah wah, chorus, fuzz pedal then guvnor. I like the setting i've got because the fuzz is lighter and bassy then i jump on the guvnor and my amp explodes. its noisy but thats cause i have it cranked full, i've had it turned down a few times and got lighter tones, more overdrives and fuzzes than distorions. i was aiming to get the type of sound rod jones gets from his pedal, i think he has an xtortion and a big muff. i wanted to have two different effects for distortion and this provides one of them, the fuzz the other.
im giving it an eight because i like the sound but and decent guitarist would probably hate it

built like a fucking tank alright, i jump on it regularly in full confidence
if it ever broke id eat my guitar

not needed it yet but i think marshall is usually very helpfull

i play what id call alt-rock and this gives me the boost i like. i've been playing for four years and have heard quite a few different pedals and researched alot of pedal boards and the guvnor comes out top.

the name says it all really!

!!!Beware!!!The old GuvNors and the new ones(Guv'Nor+) are reviewed there, so take care of what you're reading.
Mine is an original one, with the reds lines. The manual is great whereas, useless. One point of because of the knobs placement; it's hard to see how they're set.

D'you like marshall sound?Yes? then it's for you.
You've got the sound of any one who used marshall amps and more. It's an amp in a box...

As reliable as you wish ot would be...

If you want a Marshall sound then buy this pedal. I hate when the reviews are short but there you don't need to say anything else. The most versatil pedal I've ever seen...

6 knobs

Sounds better than jh-1 but i would rather buy a ibanez dist.

built like a tank

never delt with them

My Guv'nor is the original (80') one, and I bought it as used recently.
It's very easy to get good sound, because it acts like a preamp. It has 3-band EQ after the overdrive section, the frequency bands of the EQ are musically good selected and they are quite effective (althought it's passive type).
That's why I like it most. My other overdrive units (Ibanez TS-808, TS-9, Boss SD-1) have only "Tone" control, and my old MXR Distortion+ doesn't have it at all.

My main guitars are a original 70' Stratocaster and a 80' Stratocaster with EMG-SA active PU's (and some other customizations made by myself).
I have several amps, but now I'm using a Music Man RP-65 combo, because it has quite "neutral" sound itself, and therefore it's easy to process with external effects. The Marshall Guv'nor isn't very noisy, althought it has more gain than Ibanez Tubescreamer or Boss SD-1.
To get more distortion, I modified my Guv'nor a little by changing the two clipping diodes (LEDs) to silicon. The sound of my Guv'nor changed more biting and aggressive.

Althought I bought my Guv'nor as used, it's working perfectly, so I don't need a backup unit.

No experiments about customer support.

I'm a semi-pro guitarist, and I often use my Guv'nor in my gear . Because I think it's very flexible, it suits for me and my music very well.
I have tried the new Guv'nor Plus, but I think my 'old' is better!

I found it very easy to use......but then again, I do also own two Multi Effects pedals

I play Gary Moore Blues, and for that, its great. I play it through a Marshall JCM800 50w head and 4x12 loaded with Black Widows. For the smoother things (Still Got the Blues etc) I use the les Paul and for the funkier things (Since I met you Baby) I use a charvel, and for all those its great. You can Even get a good Santana tone out of it aswell

I have had mine for about a year, and its spot on. My Boss ME5 pads wore out ofter 7 months

I never needed any. All my Marshall gear has always been spot on

Overall, This pedal gives a good sound. I'm thinking of adding a BluesBreaker 2 Pedal and a Compressor to my rig, along with a couple of others (all Marshall), I just hope they dont ruin the sound from it.

It's a pedal, with 5 knobs...volume, gain, 3 band EQ. Not too hard to set it up. A neat feature is the insert jack, although without a stereo cable, I've been unable as of yet to try it out.

I use this pedal with a Vox AC15 and a SF Princeton, with some Ibanez pedals. I was a purist, using only the Ibanez TS-9 and SD-9, and my desert-island pedal was the SD-9, but I like to bring two or three distortions out on a gig for variety (or if one craps out). Well, 3/4 of the way through this one gig, I realized that I had left the pedal on nearly the whole night, and had not used the other distortions at all. The key with this pedal is to set a good rock sound, and then manipulate the gain with the volume knob. It cleans up nicely. Very meaty and smooth, with a nice hard rock sheen at higher gains.

Had no trouble...always bring a backup!!!

Never dealt with Marshall. Had an op-amp replaced in the pedal (I bought it used) when it sounded anemic. It's back in fighting trim now.

Blues/Rock, Jangle Pop, some older hard rock/HM stuff for laughs.

Please be advised that my Guv'nor is from the original 1988-1989 production. I don't know anything about the new 1999 Guv'nors. This thing is as easy as an amp to use. Controls for Gain, Treble, Middle, Bass, and Level. The eq controls provide a good amount of variation, so you should easily find something you like in this pedal.

I have used this over the years with a strat-style with EMGs, a Les Paul, a tele-style with Duncans, a Zion with EMGs, and a strat-style with passive SCs. The amps are a SF Twin Reverb, a Marshall 800 Series 100 watt, and a Marshall JMP 50. There is a bit of noise from this pedal, but it's no more of an issue than with any other good-quality distortion unit I've ever plugged into. The distortion quality is very much Marshall. You can get basically one sound out of the Guv'nor, with eq variations and gain variations. I mainly use mine to get a bit more grunt out of my Marshall JMP for solos. I set the controls so that it doesn't affect the tone of the amp at all (I don't want to change the amp's tone, just get more of it). It just boosts the gain and volume a very little bit. For what I use this for I give it a...

10 years, never a problem.

I've never dealt with Marshall for repairs, but when I have called with questions, they have been very helpful.

I have been playing for 16 years. I mostly play rock and blues, and the Guv'nor is great for my style. I especially like that I can set the eq on the pedal so that it doesn't mess with my amp's tone at all; it's transparent if you eq it carefully to your amp, only boosting the gain and volume. When I bought it, I had tried out a lot of other dirt boxes, and I found that, in general, they sounded thin and buzzy. The Marshall had sufficient eq that it could sound pretty natural and not have the buzzy tone. For me and my requirements for this pedal, I give it a...

I hate mucking around with pedals to get a good sound. If a pedal is good, it should sound good from the the start.

I have a Marshall VS65R, and the distortion it pumps out is so much better than the Guv'Nor. The Guv'Nor lacks the real Marshall crunch. It's a bit more fuzzy, though i still use it in my setup for an aditional fuzzy metal tone. But another way you can use it is by running over the top of your current overdrive. This is how- Set the over drive on your amp to how you want it. The set the Guv'Nor gain to about 3, anymore and there is too much saturation. Then set the equaliser to add more tanal rage to your current overdrive. Finally, set the volume on the pedal to about 3-4 or 5, depending on how much Guv'Nor tone you want in your sound.
You should try this effect if you have a Guv'Nor, you might be happy.

It's pretty rugged and metal. Stromg like most Marshall stuff. It really does look like a piece of sh#t though- the front panel sticker looks gay indeed!

I was suppose to get the pedal when i picked up my amp, as 'Venue Music' in Sydney had a deal on Marshall amps where you get a free Guv'nor. As it happend, i didn't get the pedal at the time i bought my amp because they ran out of stock. I waited f#cking 4 months for the stupid thing! I didn't really care cause' my amp was supurb, but still, Venue f#cked me around. I still think Venue is a great shop though, and i buy alot of my gear from there as they are so cheap.

I wouldn't buy it if i was looking for a pedal. I don't buy pedals. I think a good sound should come from the amp, and if you want a good sound, buy a descent amp, don't waist your good money on pedals that don't offer very much.

Real simple to use. Like others said, it is setup just like an amp with a gain, level, and eq knobs.

I originally used it with a Peavey Backstage amp. I guess it sounded OK. But then I bought a Fender Twin Reverb and it sounded much nicer. It sounded much more Marshall-like. I like the tonal variety you get with the EQ. But it still sounds to thin and tinny for me. I like a meaty distortion with clarity but no buzziness. Maybe if I bought an EQ pedal, I could beef it up! I like the sound of it at full gain, but not at lower levels of gain. But to be honest, I've never been able to get a lighter distorted sound that I actually liked with any pedal. Compared to the distortions my bandmates get from their amps, and the distortions I can get from my SGX-2000, the pedal sounds crappy. But compared to some other distortion pedals I used, it sounds fine. Actually it sounds pretty neat when the battery is just about to die. The sound becomes much more saturated and it sustains forever! I also like the scooped sound it gets when you crank the bass and treble and turn down the mids ( although it would sound better if it weren't so tinny ).

I thought it was pretty reliable, but lately the controls have been making scratchy noises.

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I play mostly 70's classic rock. It seems to be pretty good for that. I read other postings that said it would be good for metal, but I've never been able to get a real good metal sound out of it.

Pretty easy to use: level (volume), three way equalizer and a gain.

Great sound - it's a Marshall. Great range too. With the gain on 2-3 you get a drooly bluessound (dial in a lot of mids and lose a bit of bass). Gain, Treble and Bass full throttle and the Mids backed up gets you a battered-over-the-head-with-a-baseball-bat kinda sound. Heavier than thou! This is really where it belongs, although you can get less brash, lighter rocksounds out of it.

Strong metal casing, built to last. I've had it for about two years now and I wouldn't want any other dist. pedal.

Good pedal, good range. Maybe just a tad too pumping for lighter genres. But for ANYTHING from AOR to Death, it's great!

Gain,level, 3 band EQ. Pretty easy to use. There is a fairly sudden change between crunch, and a more aggressive distortion, so getting a sweet in-between spot isn't incredibly easy. Annoyingly the in and out are back to front compared to other pedals.

The sounds is... rather Marshall. It isn't an incredibly sweet, fat sound, but can be a good, trashy sound, with that distinctive Marshall edge. Plenty of range from the EQ. It does respond to guitar dynamics in that you can get a clean tone for single notes, and then distortion for chords, a little like some Cream songs. Crank up and there is quite a lot of speaker breakup type sounds if you want that. Not too harsh though.

I don't play guitar live any more (just bass) but it is built fairly strongly. Take care of the knobs projecting from the back (easy to use but exposed). It seems fine though, and since it is the 179th made, that must be quite a testment.

I've asked Marshall before about things, and provided they are in, they are very helpful.

Very easy to get good sound out of. Well placed buttons, has never been any problems with em. The switch i good, bu somewhat small. If the switch ad been more comfy i would have given it 10. Dont get to involved in playing, when you are barefooted the switch is very small, so you could injure yourself. ( i did once )

It is a little noisy if you put everything right up, but that aint neccesary to get a really good sound. The distortion is very good.. When speakin of the distortion, the zoom 1010 dist is terrible , but when i use it through the guv`nor it really attacks.

Works fine, and has always worked fine. No trouble. The batteries disappeared a little fast though.

Never had any need to, talk with em.

I certainly would. Cant live without it.

Very straight forward, Gain, Level, 3 Band EQ, Effects loop. Pretty easy to get a good sound.

Very quite until you really start pushing it hard. With the gain all the way up and the mid down, it's a great metal crunch. I prefer a softer sound with the gain up about half and the mid at 12 o'clock.

Never had any troubles. Gigging hard with it and it's up to every show.

Never had to deal with them.

I'd buy it again in a heart beat. It's what a rocker should sound like. From low Fender purr to the classic Marshall Scream it'll blow you away. I play in a cover band and do all kinds of music, from country to metal and this little guy smokes on everything. Buy one before they get too hard to find. And if you know anyone at Marshall, tell them to start building them again.

Pretty straight-forward: gain, level, and a 3-band EQ. Getting a good sound is pretty easy, though getting a *great* sound is somewhat more difficult.

It's what you'd expect from Marshall -- damned good. Could use a little more low end for my tastes, but it's perfect for a Black Sabbath/Blue Oyster Cult 70s metal sound.

Never had any trouble with it.

Again, I never had any trouble with it.

I doubt I'd buy another one, but that's because it didn't have some of the sounds I was looking for. It's a good pedal, but it's just not all there for either a Metallica mega-crunch tone or a Brian May type of sound.

THE CONTROLS ARE :GAIN BASS MIDDLE TREBLE AND VOLUME.A VERY AMP LAYOUT!! THERE IS ALSO A BUILT IN LOOP FOR EXTERNAL FX UNITS.

VERY VERY MUSICAL BOX.THE DEFINITION IS OK .I'D LIKE MORE DISTORTION BUT I USE IT WITH A SINGLE COIL GUITAR SO IF YOU HAVE A 'BUCKER ..NO PROBLEM. VERY LARGE RANGE OF CLASSICAL SOUNDS FROM FUZZ TO BELIVEABLE AMP OVERDRIVE.

THE TREBLE POT IS NOISY.BUT WITH A CRC THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED.