Marshall Valvestate 8040

Bought it new in 1994. 40W. Two channels, clean (gain, bass, middle, treble) and boost (gain, contour, bass, treble, volume) master reverb and a singel power tube in the boost channel.

i have used a strat, never anything else(i think). The clean have always been a disapointment, sound flat and soul-less, like a very cheap amp, but the volume is good and its clean all the way up.

The boost is better, you can get a really warm and fat distortion or a classic rock overdrive. The countour control is useless under 12 o??clock, the sound becomes weak but over that you can change from blues to heavy rock (or maby the tube does its job!)

I play punk and 70th rock and this amp handle it well. I??ve never used it on stage only for practice but it is loud, you could easily use this in a small club gig.

I didnt use it for a couple of years and the controls was in need for a good cleaning after that. It sometimes just dies and need to cool down for a few minutes, dont know why, it never did that the first ten years or so.

I have a feeling that if i carried it around it would break down soon.

Dont know.

Been playing on and off for 18 years, this amp fits me but i dont love it and I have played dozens of amp better than this. I??m not gonna buy a new one if its stolen and will probably not fix it when it breaks down.

I bought the amp used in 1995, I don't know when it was made.

The amp is versatile enough considering it is solid state and relatively cheap as amplifiers go. It has 2 switchable channels and an effects loop with no switching. It has no headphone jack (i wish it did). As has been mentioned several times, the clean channel and reverb leave much to be desired.

I use this amp around the house and at jam sessions when I can get out to one. It has plenty of power for around the house or keeping up with a drum set in a small setting. Anything larger and it needs to be miked.

I use this amp with a Gibson SG with PAF+(neck) and Tony Iommi(bridge) pickups. I also use it with an American Deluxe Strat with EMG pickups.

The amp suits my style perfectly. I play jazz/rock fusion, blues, progressive rock, progressive metal and classic rock.

The pots - all of them - get noisy. I clean them but the noise comes back. It is only really a problem on the gain and master volume controls. Everything else I just leave set where I like them.

The clean channel is made to start breaking up aver 12:00. This is intentional by design, poorly executed, but not the real problem. The real problem with the clean channel is that it is very flat and lifeless. The only acceptable uses I have found for it is a really dry, hard jazz sound with the tone and volume rolled off the guitar, or as a mute switch for the boost channel.

The boost channel is awesome. It easily makes up for the lame clean channel, the goofy reverb (I'll get to that) and the noisy pots. Using the boost channel for distortion, it is a low to mid volume firecracker. It gets the very gutsy Marshall high gain sounds and moderate crunchy blues and classic rock sounds. Although, if you take the master over about 5 with the gain set over 5, it starts to lose some of its magic.

The boost channel also gets a beautiful glassy clean sound with the gain on 0 to 3 and the master on 10. It is a very nice clean channel that rivals my vintage Fender Twin. The problem with using the boost channel for a clean channel is that you no longer have the switchable amp distortion. This is not a problem for practicing or recording at home but playing with other musicians it can be a hassle. It just means using one of the many distortion or overdrive devices I have in my trunk, but it is a drag because that Marshall distortion is very sweet.

The reverb: The tank on this thing is plastic, about the size of a stick of butter, and soldered right to the pcb. It adds enough color to be acceptable up to about 1 or 2. Any higher than that and it just starts sounding ridiculous. It is not useless, it's just so far over the top and foamy that it is not practical for most of the people that would be buying a Marshall. I have an Accusonic reverb tank that I'm going to try to wire into it. Until then, it sounds fine on 1 or 2 or off.

It has not failed me in 14 years. The pots are noisy.

I've never called them.

I have been playing guitar since 1979 and I own a lot of gear. In amplification, I have a Roland GP-100/Marshall stereo rack mount rig, a Fender Twin, a Peavey Special and this little Marshall.

I bought this amp as something I could use around the house and quickly grab and run out the door to a friends house. I went to the music store that day with $500 burning a hole in my pocket looking for a really great sounding, light practice amp. I tried some Peaveys, some Fenders, a Vox, and a Roland. Some of these were over $500, and the little Marshall sounded much better to my ears. And it was $200 cheaper.

If this were lost or stolen I would look around for a cheap one on eBay or Craigslist. If I couldn't find one cheap I'd probably sell some other stuff and buy an all tube Marshall Combo.

I bought the Marshall 8040 used in 1994. Guess it was built aprox. in 1992-1993. Bought it as a practice and small venue/club amp.

For more features, read the older reviews. It's the same amp.

I have always been using a Les paul on this amp. First an Epiphone, and later a Gibson Les Paul Standard Vintage with Alnico Pro II pickups.

I've always played with a deep warm tone, and the overdrive does this very well. But I've always used an EQ pedal for shaping the tone a bit more, and to give it a bit more sustain and power.

The clean channel is ok at low volumes but semi-crap at high.

I loved this amp for years, but it is basically a solid-state compared to a "real" tube amp.

It worked perfectly from 1994 - 2004. In 2004 is started having problems, and after 5 - 10 minutes it needed to cool down for 20 min.. I bough a Marshall MG15DFX instead, and the MG15DFX is almost as good for practicing at low volumes.

None

7. Great amp from the early 90' :-)

Mine is a 1994 model that I got new in early '95. I bought it as a practice amp, I thought it gave a pretty good version of the 'Marshall' sound on the cheap. It's got two channels, clean and distortion. I think Marshall introduced the 'Contour' control on this amp and it is a cool feature. It's got reverb that's useful up to about 2 but above that sounds kinda crappy. As far as features go for this amp it met my only requirement: Good distortion.

This amp was my next step up in practice amps from the Marshall 'Lead 12' that my mom got me in the mid '80's. I liked the idea of having a tube pre amp. You can get some amazingly good sounds out of this amp. Just don't get one expecting it to be or cover a half stack type sound. At 40 watts it is loud enough to play with drums. I wouldn't use it in a full live situation but it could probably do it. I don't really use the clean channel. The distortion works for me on the classic rock stuff that I play. I play it mostly with a strat. The amp can be dialed in to get a wide variety of tones, I can usually find what I want in it. That goes for the last 12 years of use. I give it a 10 because it met and exceeded any initial expectation I might have had for a 'solid state' amp.

This amp is very dependable. It was in the for service once in the late 90's to get the scratchy pots cleaned. It is still on it's original tube and, I think, it sounds better now than when I got it. The amp is built like a cinderblock. If I want to check out the sound of a new guitar I take this amp to the store with me. This gives me a good indication of how the guitar will 'scale up' to my full sized rig. I had the amp in the back of my truck and had to stop in a hurry, this caused the the amp to slide forward and slam hard into the cab end of the bed. I thought this would kill it..nope. This thing rocks on. I used it for a while when practicing with the band. It handled that fine, cranked up, month after month.

Never used.

30 plus years of playing. Two Statocasters, JCM 2000 DSL 100 half stack. MG100HDFX full stack..I like Marshall. If it were lost/stolen I might try to get another but only for the excellent sound it makes at really low volume. You can practice with complete privacy with this amp and still get a really excellent sound coming out of it. Thats the thing I like the best about it. Love the tonal versatility/Hate the reverb at any high setting. I don't remember what I compared it to. I knock off one point for the reverb

I bought this amp used in 2006. Payed 1100 DKK = 200 USD.

The amp is perfect for my needs: I don't play guitar in a band. I only use at home in my studio. But I'm sure it's loud enough for a small gig. I play Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, The Band and some blues. My guitar is a Fender Highway One Texas Tele.

The sound controls does not really help you, if you want to change the sound. It's Marshall-sound - and that's what you get. However the distortion channel has a quite useful "contour".

As I wrote above: This amp gives me the sounds, that I want.

But let me give you some advice: Change the crappy Celestion G12L that comes from the factory. You can have a problem getting a 4 ohm 12 inch speaker, but just look for an 8 ohm speaker with a sensitivity around 100 db. The Celestion G12L is around 95-96 db.

I've just changed the speaker to a Celestion Vintage 30 - and it really improved the sound. Before the trebles could be terrible and the lows not existing. The new speaker (USD 145) really changed that.

When I bought the amp I had some problem for a while. The sound from the distortion channel suddenly died. I changed the tube (USD 30) and have had no problem after that. I've read a Danish review on this amp. An engineer wrote, that the problem not is the tube but the "power amp in" plug. It should be cleaned, if the sound suddenly dies.

Some of the controls are a bit noisy - and I've tried to clean them.

I wrote to Marshall, when I was looking for at new speaker. The never answered my questions.

I've been playing guitar for 30 years. I've owned many amps (and many guitars). This is the most versalite amp I've owned. Offcourse you can get better (and more expensive) amps. But the Marshall 8040 really offers you value for money. But look for the noisy controls - and let the amp stay switched on for a while, before you decide to buy one.

Made Around 1998. I play alot of Neil Young and obviously he doesnt use a Marshall but I play alot of other classic rock and this amp really does justice for most Rock Bands of that era. With this amp you really havto get warm with it. I found I spent about an hour trying to find just how I like it. Once you find that happy sound your looking for then you're well on your way. Haven't played a gigs a long time but is great for jamming with a band or whatnot. Great pre amp tube amp.

This amp has an alright clean sound nothing great in a previous review said it would of been better with a master knob that would be a great addition to the amp. The boost channel is the one I use most. The settings I use most on the boost channel is quarter gain and more volume. If you crank the volume loud enough you can play the gain/distortion off of that. My pedals are Ibanez TS10, NADY PS-013(chorus), solid gold soundlabs custom formula 69'(fuzz face) and cry baby wah modded GCB-95. If your looking to hit those crazy tones that can only be heard from barn animals this is a sweet set up and a great amp to reach it.

The footswitch jack just cacked out on me a bit back. Doesnt really matter to me I didnt use it much anyways. The gain pot had been fixed by previous owner. Thats about it though.

Ive been playing for a quite a while and have had my fare share of happenings in my life time. I normally plug in my telecaster which is a real beauty out of the amp. Believe it or not I prefer the sound of the Tele out of the amp as supposed to my Les Paul. Im not going to lie im more of a fender amp guy. This marshall for the price I payed is something special and ive really had time to connect to it. When writing this review ive realized this amp is a keeper and a great home amp for jam sessions and would advise anyone who likes the classic rock era to purchase it.

I've owned this for over 10 years.
Gear is a MIM Fat Strat with a Dimarzio Air Zone HB into a Marshall Jackhammer pedal, EQ (recent), chorus, delay.
The boost channel has a tube pre-amp, the clean channel doesn't. solid state power amp. The clean channel coulda done with a master volume so as to get more versatility out of the gain control, otherwise a basic all-you-need type of setup.....just realised it has an effects loop, will check if it works....
Not really loud enough for jamming, it struggles at volumes above half for both channels. Suitable for mic to PA.
The clean channel is meant to get crunchy above half, not so good if you already have a sound dialed in on your pedal, so you need to figure out two different settings for your pedal, one low volume, one high volume.
That said, never been happy with the clean channel.

The "Boost" channel can produce some really good sounds, Deep Purple, Bad Religion, Stevie Ray Vaughan, etc, but doesn't really have the bottom end for anything more extreme. These sounds are achieved by having the Contour on Low and adjusting volume/gain to suit, depends on how bright and trebly you like it.
I've used the obvious EQ set up on both channels for all this time (Bass up, treble mid to high, contour low, etc).
After being unhappy with the 'flatness' of the clean channel (at low volumes, harshness at high volumes) for a decade I decided to completely rethink my set-up. Now I'm not really talking about the amp itself anymore, more of what you can do to tweak a sound out of it....
The boost channel always sounded good because of the added warmth of the tube in the pre-amp, but it couldn't give me the bottom end I wanted so I never used it for anything except those listed above.
So I thought about spending a lot of money for a new all tube practice amp.......but what about the EQ pedal?
Instead of using the clean channel for my clean sound I've started to use the boost channel. Reduce the Gain (9pm), increase the volume, brighten up the Contour (12pm), Bass up, treble up and voila! A whole new way of looking at it. A nice bluesy clean sound , the Marshall Jackhammer set to achieve a fairly classic rock sound and then the EQ pedal as the bass boost and tone shaper to get more of that Metallica Load era (ie. Trouble) type sound.
Now I have to fiddle with the effects loop to see if that provides any other options.
For the clean channel I reduced the Bass and mids to zero and the treble to half. The reduced volume meant I could increase the gain/volume to get more of a crunchy bright sound from this channel at low volumes, still not great but ok.
Time will tell if I am happy with this new setup....

I think I replaced a tube once, the pots also go scratchy but I fixed that with some lubricant.

Playing for 20 years if you include all the months/years when I don't even touch the guitar or when I want to give the neighbours a break. Can't stop playing Iron Maiden or blues though...
I picked this over a JCM 50W all tube because I preferred the overdrive sound and it was cheaper. I'd probably rethink that now.
The clean channel just sounds harsh or dead, even with the new settings.
Use the boost channel, it works good.

2 channels: one Normal (Clean), one Boost (British for "Over Drive"). Clean channel has Gain, Bass/Middle/Treble EQ controls. Boost channel has Gain, Bass/Treble...and Contour (which is a Mid scoop control), Volume (output volume for the Boost channel only). It also has a spring reverb. Preamp out, Power amp in (which together work as an Effects Send/Return loop), Line Out, and finally a Footswitch input for the channel switching pedal. Single tube in the preamp (EXX 83/12 AX7)--where it gets its GREAT sound from! The sound is made in the preamp (not the power amp)--especially in THIS unit. Solid state power amp (making it lighter weight, less expensive, and more reliable).

I have owned this amp for 8 years and have used it for bar gigs and for home practice. It is very versatile (if you know what to expect from it). I have played smooth jazz, blues, and rock...all the way up to Heavy Metal.

The Reverb is 'global' so that you cannot have different reverb settings for each channel. There is only one reverb for the entire amp. It does NOT have a headphone output which I would have appreciated. Because of these 2 faults, I give it a lower feature score.

Reading the other reviews, it's OBVIOUS that most of the other guys didn't bother to download the Handbook (owner's manual) off the Internet. If they had, their reviews probably wouldn't have been so negative--and wouldn't have made the look so silly.

The clean channel DOES overdrive and get a LITTLE BIT crunchy when the Gain is at higher volumes. IT'S DESIGNED TO DO THAT...READ THE HANDBOOK! And if you want to lessen that, replace the tube with a lower gain tube--just realize that you only have ONE tube in this amp so you'll be messing up your overdrive channel too! Or you could simply read the book and learn how to use this amp!
By controlling the volume of your guitar going into the amp--with the guitar's volume knob AND the Normal channel Gain--you can get a good clean sound for Jazz (George Benson/Norman Brown-like). THEN, you can add as little or as much dirt as you like to your clean (if you want a 60's Jazz sound or a Blues sound, for example).

The Boost channel is just AWESOME! It's a Marshall with a tube preamp for crying out loud! It sounds like a Marshall! All that nasty, distorted overdrive tone that your guitar heros had...you can dial up! Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Eric Clapton, Zepplin, Guns & Roses (Slash), whoever! The real magical secret to the Boost channel is the Contour dial--THAT'S where you can REALLY shape your crunch from the lighter Santana/blues sound to a thick '80s Heavy Metal or whatever.
But keep in mind that you don't get your tone from ONE piece of gear. They all work together: guitar, amp, and effects. If you have a peace of shit guitar or piece of shit pickups in it...well...you're going to sound like your playing a piece of shit! A Marshall amp isn't going to rescue you if the rest of your set up is shit...sorry.

I've had it for 8 years. I've gigged with it. I carry it out every weekend to teach guitar lessons. I don't abuse it. I have the cover for it. I think as long as you don't act like Pete Townsend, it should last you long enough

I've never had to deal with Marshall. I bought this amp used. I hope I never had to deal with them. Since they're based in England, I imagine resolving any issues could take awhile--but I don't know.

I think this amp has gotten a bad rap because too many people didn't bother to find out that the clean channel is DESIGNED to overdrive. It's too bad...this is a great little amp.

I use a Fender Strat through this thing and it sounds marvelous. I can play smooth jazz, rock, whatever...but with my Strat (being what it is), it really sounds best if I'm playing Blues or Santana-style.

You can only get these used now. The 'newer' version of this is the Marshall AVT50. It's a 50 watt Valvestate amp with some much needed features (like headphone jack, etc.). Even so, if you can find one of these and you buy it, you'll be glad you did.

Get the owner's manual for it (online) and take your time experimenting with it and you will be surprised at what you can pull out of this 40 watter.

Too many people just want things to be Plug & Play. Musical instruments just aren't that way! Take your time, read the book, mess with the amp for awhile and you'll find it has MANY sweet spots!

Made in 90's, with two channel. Has a two channel switch pedals, effect loop insert, and a line out. I would like a headphone output for playing at home. It has a reverb, a tube for preamp.

Clean: Not very good but it is ok for playing in a band

Overdrive: Very good, typically Marsall sound especially when I changed the tube from Marshall to Mesa Boogie. With my Ibanez S 470, i can have sound from Clapton (cocaine...) to Metallica.

It had to be repaired because the solder were not very well done. But Since no problem

I must say that is my amp to play live and it does its work well. Plug and Play!!!

Dual Channel Amp - Clean and Boost Channel; Reverb and footswitch; Tube preamp.

Ok, I had the some other best amps in the world (Mesa Boogie, other models of Marshall, Roland Jazz Chorus and Fender) and none has the versatility and the sound of this little bastard. I play everything from rock to fusion, and I can get any sound from it. The boost channel is amazing and you can get any kind of distortion sound from it. It has that Larry Carlton oriented guitar sound, with lots of sustain, and when used at middle gain settings with single coils, you get that hot strat blues sound, like Scott Henderson. The other guys, the ones who didn't like it, probably are using the wrong guitars or the wrong pickups, because it is hard to get a bad sound from it (sorry guys).

Even when I play jazz, it sounds great too. It is not noisy, but the clean channel at high volumes get a little bit crunchy, which I think that is good in some cases.

My guitars are: luthier guitar called WOOD/EMG pickups, modified Ibanez 540 Saber and Cort LC-1500.

Effects: pedal board; Pod XT and DG Stomp are used only for recording.

OK, mine had a cicuitry problem few years ago, but after fixing it has the same sound. I took it to Authorized Repair Services here in BRAZIL, and thanks GOD, it survived!

I used it in two big gigs without a backup (my Mesa Boogie is heavy and you know, its all tube and very fragile) and I had no problem. As today it is very difficult to find one of them in good conditions to buy, I use mine only at home, together with my Mesa. For gigs I use a POD XT or a DG Stomp.