Marshall VS30R

Lower wattage model--all solid state.
Most notable features: no mids on the clean channel; "contour" on overdirve channel is like a reverse middle control, so if you want to sound trendy and lame, turn clockwise to scoop your mids; reverb--I don't know what this does here; line out and headphone jack great for recording and small apartments, respectively; footswitchable, which is nice.

This has all the traditional Marshall sound, but without the warmth or sparkle of tubes. I bought this in the late '90's, after taking up electric guitar again after 6 years of being overseas with the Marines. I was young, didn't know any better, and played everything with the gain on '10'. Since then, my playing, music tastes, and guitar collection have improved, so everytime now that I plug in, it is a soul-crushing experience, knowing that I could have bought a tubie if I had saved my disposable, single guy income just a tad longer.

Made in England, so it keeps going and going, just like that stupid rabbit.

Never had to deal with them (see above).

Great for the time, but doesn't suit my needs now. If stolen, I wouldn't care, knowing the thief would be stuck in tube-simulation purgatory. Kids: friends don't let friends play solid-state.

I'm not sure when this was made exactly, but it would probably be the mid-90s. It is a solid state amp with tube emulation (at least it is supposed to simulate the sound of tubes).

This amp has a single input. It basically has two channels (clean and drive/ distortion). There's an option to use a footswitch to go from one channel to the other. It has a global reverb setting. The reverb mechanism itself is a spring reverb. In terms of EQ, it has bass, mid, treble for the clean channel, and it has bass, contour (scoop), treble for the drive channel.

It's rated at 30watts for power, and has one Celestion driver, if I am not mistaken.

I normally use it as a practice amp, and it is reasonably ok as a practice amp. For a full band performance, it does not have sufficient power to cut through a band mix, especially with live drums.

I would appreciate if it had a presence feature as well, and I would have appreciated more articulation (more on that below).

I currently use two guitars with this: a Squier Strat with stock single coil pick-ups and a Hamer STX with dual humbuckers wired in. I normally play mostly rock or alternative, as well as some jazz pieces.

Overall, I feel this amp lacks articulation and sparkle to its sound. Howver, this is not to say that it has a "warm" tone to it. Rather, I find it a bit flat sounding, especially on the clean channel. This is why I would have wanted a presence feature on it. Particularly on clean, there is very little sparkle to it, even after boosting the treble. Rather, it becomes rather harsh.

It also does not have very much sensitivity to playing dynamics on the drive channel. It will clean up somewhat with a roll-off of volume, but it does not have the characteristic ramp up from clean to overdrive that true tubes will have.

The drive channel, on the other hand, sounds rather dirty, and lacks the characteristic break-up of overdrive. Rather, it is more a distortion tone, not very apt for blues or rock, but more towards metal music.

That being said, it does sound respectable, when you consider that it is a 30W solid state amp which most will use as a practice amp. It just lacks a sense of liveliness for recording or playing live.

I have had it for a good number of years. I honestly cannot exactly remember how long. Suffice to say, it's served me for a while.

I have never had to have it serviced or repaired. Over the years, the input jack has come a bit loose, but nothing overly alarming or out of the ordinary. Some of the pots are also no longer as clean as before. It sometimes crackles with adjustments, especially on the lower ranges/ settings.

But, even then, it has held up well and it has been through a few loud practice sessions, small gigs, and a whole lot of home practice.

Never dealt with them, but, generally, manufacturers do not have dedicated service centers here.

Overall, this amp has served me well as a practice amp. It has been pretty reliable, and it does sound better than many amps in its price range.

However, given the heritage and the legendary status of Marshall and the Marshall sound, it does not quite deliver on the idea of emulating the tube sound in a small solid state package.

I bought it long ago, as a relatively newbie guitarist, given the brand, mostly. As I've grown with it, I've found myself wanting more liveliness and crispness from the sound, which I could not get, no matter how much I tweaked.

If it were lost or stolen, I'm not sure I'd get it again (assuming it were still available). I would consider it, but I would also consider offerings from other manufacturers, like Fender and Laney, for the price range.

I am a minimalist when it comes to features, and I avoid pedals. The features give me just what I need. Here's how they break down:
Channel 1 (clean): volume, bass, treble. Channel 2 (overdrive): gain, bass, contour, treble, volume, reverb. The amp also features line-out, footswitch, and headphone jacks. The phone jack has been extremely useful since, until recently, I have lived my entire adult life in small apartments. The contour is, in practice, a reverse-middle control, and turning it up scoops the mids for that palm-mutey metal sound. The reverb doesn't do anything--but then again, Marshall isn't known for reverb.

First off, this is a solid-state, pure and simple. The sound comes really, really close to the tradmark Marshall sound, just without the warmth and sparkle. I play through a Gibson LP Studio and Flying V, and the best sound for me is with all of the tone shapers set due north, and the volume between 3 and 5. Beyond 5, the distortion channel gets grittier, but also more brittle as the bass response thins out--I must dial the bass control up likewise. The clean channel breaks up at around 7, and on 10 it evokes that chimey Malcom Young rhythm sound. This is when the VS30R comes closest to sounding like a tuber, and it makes my Flying V spank like a drunken stepdad, which is not easy to do on a Gibson. Also, the clean channel is excellent for acoustics.

I have owned this since the late 1990's, and through countless practicing hours and jam sessions, neither it nor the footswitch has quit on me. It was made in England, meaning the QC and components are faultless, and it doesn't look a day older than when I bought it. But alas, like all other solid-state AV appliances (think TV's, radios, etc.), with age there is an increasingly noticable background buzz while it's on and I'm not actually playing. If or when this amp goes out, since it is way, way past warrantee, it will cost more to service it than what it's worth.

Never had to deal with the Marshall folks--see above.

I've been playing for almost 20 years, though only as a hobbyist/vicarious rockstar. Looking as how these other reviews are from the previous decade, it looks like I am the last word on the VS30R. If misplaced, I would not get another one, though this has given me great service for what it is. The solid state sound has gotten old as I've gotten more experienced. It's past time for me to move on to tubes, and very soon I will use this to trade up to maybe a Traynor YCS50 or Fender HR Deluxe. Possibly I could trade it for some other gear and then get a used Marshall, Fender, or Boogie off Ebay for cheap. And maybe I can finally get serious with gigging.

2 Channel - Clean & OD. - Option of footswitch.
Great for a practice amp, but sound is interesting at times.
Lacks mid control.
Definitely not using valves, despite the name.

Used this amp for the past 10 years with various Les Paul and Strat ripoffs, and a few assorted nice axes.

The O/Drive channel is incredibly dirty, even at lower volumes, which would be great for shredders, but tends to lack some of the bottom end if you want to get into Blues. Lack of mid control really doesn't help in this respect. Definitely a shredder's distortion.

Volume wise at home I've never been able to get it past about 2 on the O/D channel, and about 4 on clean. O/D channel appears to get a lot more volume out of it. Clean tends to lack at higher volumes, and distorts a bit. I've still heard far was amps.

You can get some half decent sounds on the O/Drive channel if you mess around with the controls. The contour control tends to change everything around on you, so you can find yourself changing everything once you move it.

The Line Out sucks. Even using the O/D channel with low gain produces a fairly intense distortion that lacks omph, but will take your ear drums with it.

I'd prefer mid controls on both channels, and the gain range could do with being extended so you can get a gentler, bluesier sound out of it without an hours worth of messing around.

Really wish I could get a crisper sound out of it at times.

Using the foot switch causes me some grief - it's prone to ignoring the switch and cutting in and out. Possibly a short somewhere, and haven't had time to fix. Also had to put a new plug on it more than once, but that was going to happen with age.

The amp itself has always been reliable, as expected for solid state. It's only ever been on stage a few times, and for the most part, I used it as a monitor as it had no hope of getting over the drummer. Not sure I'd rely on it, as it's a bit small, but still reasonably suited to bedroom/quieter jam use.
Using a few effects pedals, you can get some improved sound out of it.

Never dealt with the company, though the retailer has always provided good support.

Overall it's a reasonable amp for what it is. I bought it without a lot of research, and at the time was playing some pretty crap guitars through it.
I've never expected much from it, though I've always wanted more - (or in the case of distortion less).
It's a great size, it's always worked, and it's been around.

If it vanished, I'm not sure I'd look for another VS30R, though I'd probably stick with Marshall. Despite the lack of need for more output, I'd be more interested in finding something that is more versatile.

Give me a decent blues driver, and a clean channel that's got more oomph, and maybe a mid control, and I'd be happy.

standard practice amp
2 channels (clean and overdriven)
tone controls and reverb
footpedal and line out as well as a headphone socket
not much but for the price what do you expect

I play indie punk stuff for a small band and for my needs the amp works admirably. the clean channel is alright there isnt loads of tonal variation but you can go from a very bluesy bass sound to a high end treble squeal without it breaknig up, unlike some amps of this calibre ive tried the trebly sound doesnt assault your ears in the same unbearable way.
the overdrive channel is farily limited. I have the gain on about 2 or 3 because anything over this starts becoming thrash metal or american rock. some people like this but i actually like to be able to tell what i am playing.

this is a really solid little amp. ive used it on several occasions to gig with and can tsee any need for a backup. the black covering has peeled away slightly on one side but this isnt much of a problem. the footswitch though has broken its jack connection twice. easy to sort out but a pain especially if you need to play live and need to swap channels mid song

never used though i hear fender are alright

ive been playing for about 2 years and own a squier jagmaster(excellent, split the humbuckers to get singles)) and a washburn hb30 which both work well with the amp. I also own a zoom pedal though i only really use that for tuning . i also play slide which works well with the amp
the sound i get out of it is really fat and is great for indie and punk and all the way up to white stripes esque blues. the clean channel is nothing special but the overdrive (once fiddled with works really well)
I compared this amp with the orange crush 30 and both were really good though the orange had a boxy sound and this was far cheaper so i went for this.
I am currently buying a new amp and i really wich i could get something with the sound i get on this but with a higher wattage as i really like this amp and all the tranny amps now are ones with built i effects which are just silly.!

1998, VS30R. This unit has all the features for practice amp(ie headphone jack and single 10" speaker. Dual channel with the clean channel no where near 30 Watts IMHO. The gain channel however really moves some air. The reverb is decent sounding, but nothing to get excited about. Marshall was never known for reverb amps anyway.

My two main guitars are a 1989 Washburn GV8 with EMG pickups and 1991 Fender Stratocaster Deluxe with Lace Sensor pickups. The first thing I noticed with the Washburn plugged in is that when using the gain channel you really need to tinker to get a good sound. This sort of surprised me as my last Marshall practice amps Marshall Lead 12(5005)and Lead 30 (5010) sounded great the minute you plugged in. I must have spent close to one hour adjusting knobs on the gain channel to get what I consider the "Marshall" sound. The contour control is the real culprit as the slighest movement changes the tone considerably.

Bought used and had to repair broken tone pot on the gain channel. The handle looks like it would break under normal conditions. The cabinet is made of cheap pressboard.

Never dealt with.

I've been playing 27 years and have played or owned just about every major guitar amplifier out there. My main rig is a vintage 1978, Marshall 1987 50 W head and 4/12 Marshall cab. This IMHO is the gold standard of sound and is what I use to judge other amps against. The VS30R has a decent clean sound and with some major time spent adjusting the gain channel, a passable distortion sound. For a practice amp the VS30R is fine. If lost or stolen I would probably look for another Marshall combo

This amp has two channels : Clean and OD. The clean channel has a volume, bass, and treble control; the OD channel has a gain, bass, contour (kind of like a mid sweep/scoop type control), treble, and volume; and then there's a master reverb.

Input, Line out, Headphones, and Footswitch jacks.


I will tell you up front right now that this amp is not a hybrid amp like it advertises; it does not have any tubes of any sort - it is 100% solid state. "Tube emulation" doesn't count. It's still solid state and there are no valves to be found.

The EQ controls are useful but you can't really tweak out the actual sound of this amp. There's always something you're looking to improve, but the fact remains that this amp is still this amp, and that's the sound it will give.

I use both a Fender '57 RI Strat and a 1998 Fender Toronado with this amp. I can write a review based on memory of how the amp sounds, but since I have it here with me right now, I believe it would be more effective to write the review as I play through this amp to provide complete and total accuracy.

I will break this section down by each guitar :


Fender '57 RI Strat

The clean channel compliments my Strat pretty well, but makes it sound thinner than most good clean channels I've played through. The clean channel has little to no warmth; it's more bell-like and chimey. It captures the jangle of the Strat but the warmth just isn't there. With my bridge pickup, the clean sound I get is barely useable. It sounds best on the neck pickup because it gives it a more rounded tone that's missing. If I adjust the Bass and Treble controls, I can make the chimey-ness disappear, but also with it, it takes the clarity and crispness of the sound. So it's 6 one one, half dozen on the other.

Switching over to the gain channel, the overdrive bites pretty hard but there's something lacking. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to dial in a great sound. Once again the bridge pickup proves to be harsh with this amp, as the Overdrive circuit is built similarly to the clean circuit. When I switch to the middle, it's less harsh, and once again when I flip to the neck pickup, it's the best setting I can get. Fiddling with the contour controls proves to be somewhat effective, but I can't seem to dial out whatever it is that's causing my tonal confusion. With the contour knob past 12 o'clock, it's a little too square-wavey for me. It's modern, but it just doesn't sound right. With a Strat, the best setting is to have the contour knob 12 o'clock or less. I usually always have the treble set at 12'oclock or lower, because the trebles on this amp are just horrendous. Very biting, very chilling, very cold, very harsh. I have the bass knob at about 2-3 o'clock.


So for the Strat, this is probably not the kind of amp you want to go with. The clean channel has always sounded much better than the gain channel to me, and even then - the clean channel is not very impressive.


Onto the '98 Toronado.


The clean channel captures quite a bit of the murkiness from my Toronado's humbuckers; but in the process it creates a bit of mud and the bell-chiming highs are almost unbearable. Even when dialing out the highs and boosting the bass, we have the same dilemma as with the Strat - when you take away the highs you sacrifice the clarity of the tone.

Onto the OD channel. Humbuckers really do shine with the Overdrive channel on this amp. I think this amp was made for Humbuckers. It screams and wails, but we still have the dilemma of the square wavey distortion when the contour goes past 12. Dialing in a good sound takes some time, but it's a fair bit easier with a humbucker-equipped guitar than with a single coil like a Strat or Tele. You can get a wide range of useable sounds from the OD channel with the right guitar, but it's quite unresponsive as most solid state amps are.


The OD feature is best with the Toronado. The clean channel is very unimpressive.



Some other worthy noteable facts are that the Line Out should not be used on any occasion. If you are unable to mic the amp, use someone else's. The Line Out is NOT EMULATED and therefore sounds like crap. Pretty much the equal effect of plugging a distortion pedal like a Big Muff or a ProCo RAT straight into a mixing board. You'll get buzzy, fizzy, ratty, nasty distortion. I repeat, do not use the Line Out.

I have not tried the headphones feature yet, but it's in the same bracket as the Line Out on the panel, so I'm guessing you'll get the same effect. Save yourself some grief and don't blow your ears out.

There has been some question on whether this amp sounds good cranked. I got it about 3/4ths of the way to maximum volume (my neighbor's would allow anything louder - that's how loud this can get) and it didn't sound as bad as I thought it would. The speaker can handle high volumes a lot better than most amps I've tried, but the fact still remains that this amp will still sound like this amp at any volume.


I give this category a 6.

Seems pretty sturdy and reliable. I haven't gotten a chance to play out with it yet, but we shall see. I'll leave this one as N/A for now.

Depending on what you're looking for in an amplifier, this may or may not suit you. If you're looking for a JCM800 emulation, look elsewhere. This will not respond or sound even remotely close to a JCM. This amp will on the other hand, sound like a Marshall, whether it be solid state or not. It may not sound as beautiful as an all-tube JCM800, but if you want the "Marshall tone", then buy a Marshall.

I will re-emphasize the fact that it does not have any tubes whatsoever. A close examination of this amp has shown that it is completely solid-state circuitry with no tubes involved. It's false advertising on Marshall's part as it's not a hybrid amp like they claim it to be. I would rate it a step above the MG series amps, but if I had to compare I would have to say it's closest to an MG80. The MG80 has a Goldback Celestion like this amp does, and the circuitry between the two is pretty similar.

This amp is meant to be a practice amp. It's not professional by any stretch of the imagination - and as long as you realize that, I don't think you'll be too severely disappointed. It has that Marshall sound, but it's not nearly responsive as its more expensive older brothers.

All in all I was kind of disappointed in this amp, I was expecting more - but for dropping only one bill on it, I can't really complain.


Have a nice day!

Basic 1x10 medium power (30 or so watts) SS amp 2 FS channels HP & LO jacks. Made in UK.. includes low end Celestion "Gold Back" speaker. Somewhat limited by todays standards (no FX, CD in ect.) but workable.

I have a Fender MIM "60s Classic Strat. the amp works OK with this guitar..perhaps a little bright. I get the idea that it was voiced to handled humbuckers without farting. Typical middle of the road clean with a bit of breakup past 1/2 distortion is usable at low gain but is quite good for low volume "shredding".. HP sound is basic but usable..I only use the LO for a tuner once in a while.

I have never known a Marshall SS product to fail in normal (bedroom/jam /informal gig) use.

Have delt with the amp guys at Korg USA once or twice concering a problem with a small VOX; they were polite and prompt and resolved things to my satisfaction..

I bought this to replace 2 amps; a larger/ louder/heavier Kustom 1x12 Combo and a smaller quiter Park 1x8 combo.. I didnt really need the power of the Kustom any longer, and was enjoying the Park but it really didn't have enough "git" to handle the ocassional jam I do with a drummer friend. I was able to trade for this and some cash at a local shop, and it's a nice combo of the two. It lacks the fat sound that the Kustom had,but it dosen't rattle the windows either, and I no longer need to pull out a different amp for practice, recording. HP use ect. As others have stated this is pretty much a big practice amp with some nice features..it's pretty quiet for 30 watts..and if you are on loud gigs with a heavy drummer I would look elsewhere..its fine for pub gigs if your drummer is on a small kit, and you bass player is also on a smallish combo. A nice portable amp for blues, R&B, church players ect. Everyone under the sun seems to make a 1x10 channel switch combo
running around 30 watts. Most have one problem..shared EQ between the channels. This didn't and was pretty much the same price as the other offerings..I have always had good experence with Marshall and the chance to own UK made product for the first time tipped my hand.

I got this amp 3 years ago and since than i have changed many opinions on it. At first it was excellent but with time i matured in playing and the amp showed some flaws. Don't get me wrong, this is an excellent amp for a begginer starting from a scratch - lots of gain and volume, just what a rock-wannabe needs. Footswitch, 2ch, 10' speaker, headphones, line out.

Yeah, the sound. It's a typicall Marshall, solid state amp. I'll divide sound review in few parts to make it easier.

Volume
This amp is loud enough for home practice and rehearsals under condition members of your band do not have amps with more power. For live gigs it's too silent - i had it once turned 3/4 and i couldn't hear what am i playing. I never played on it live after that.

Sound Quality
I believe this is the weak point of all Solid States - the amp works perfect in only one volume range, and tone varies alot while changing volume level. I have been playing on it through the Korg AX300G effect proccessor and it worked seamlessly half way up the volume (+-10%). If i turned it down, sound became flat, the groove was gone, and on the other hand while turning it up the sound became unclear, and started to crack, ecpecially in the bass levels.

Clean
Is preety good, although it is stable up to the 3/4 volume.

Distorsion

Through AX300G - I use a high gain, studio dist., with slightly reduced treble, enhaced bass and lower mid, some stereo delay. Sound works perfect, distorsion is very high freq, but very stable even during palm mutes.

Second Channel (No FX) - The distorsion itself is very good, freq is not very high, just enough for rock, but still not stable while palm muting.

Never had problems with it

Never needed

Excellent amp for begginers, although i think marshall itself is overpriced. I'm not sorry for buying it, but i will sell it ASAP and buy myself a Tube amp.

Bought this thing new a few yrs back. Great little 2 channel amp, with footswitch. perfect for home use, lots of gain at low volumes.

Using Fender Hot Rodded Fat strat, with duncan designed pearly gates. Like the hard rock from the 80's, motley crue, bon jovi, acdc etc. Great amp for practising at home. At low volumes you get great sounding gain, and turning it up it comes alive. Can sound a little messy at higher volumes. If you want the full sound of a tube amp, go and spend 4 times the money. The clean channel sounds pretty good and clear for a marshall.

Never had a problem with it and have owned for 3 or 4 yrs. Only thing is the pedal, can act up occassionally but not often

never had to deal with

perfect for practising with