Marshall 6100 30th annniversary

has a ton of features and all of them are very useful. It effects the tone quite audibly. It can certainly make or break your sound. You'll have to be a bit patient in fiddling with the features from front to back.

The tone is very organic for a marshall multi-channel head. The cleans are excellent. Very warm and vibrant. Certainly one of Marshall's best cleans. Although I like the DSL cleans a bit better. Channel two is classic Marshall but there is something about it no matter which mode I choose there is this fizzy high end and the bass is s bit muddied. The Lead channel has great sustain but lacks clarity and has too much oomph in the low end. For some reason it just didn't sit well with me I wanted to like but i thought it was a bit thin and lacks the balls of the DSL with is voiced closer to a 800 and the 30th anniversary is voiced closer to a 900.

solid as rock

Overall it's a very high quality Marshall 3 channel head with good components. Overall It didn't meet my expectations comparing to my Laney and Mesa. I solid it and have no regrets about it.

I own it since 1993.- Mine is one of the 800 blue limited edition. I`m in Argentina, don't know how could it travel so far from the marshall factory.-
Until now, I'm finding out lots of new amazing sounds. No effects required.- The most versatile I ever heard.-

You have anything you need to play rock roll.- Sounds incredible, I've recently recharged it with Mullard EL34 (the reissues ones) and JJ 12ax7.- Some tung sol 12ax7 are coming soon, just to proove.- Sounds great, even with my american standard fender strat, or my gibson les paul, or my washburn hollowbody

Never broke in theese 15 long years

Never try to contact the company, I guess I'm too far away from them

Listen:
SOME STUPID GUY HAVE STOLEN MY FOOTSWITCH.- CAN'T BUY A NEW ONE HERE.- PLEASE, SOMEONE SEND ME THE FOOTSWITCH SCHEMATIC!!!!!! S.O.S.!!!
I'll thank for ever
My adrees is:
gonzalovinas@redesurbanas.com.ar

loads of features: multi-channel amp,a classic great Marshall sound,brutal and beautiful distortion

sounds really amazing on distortion with my Kramer Baretta. Lots of powerful power amp distortion,even with a crunch sound,the sound is more powerful than most other good amps. And the cleans are beautiful. I plug my Strat in and I am rewarded with beautiful cleans. The distortion is very versatile,you can go from vintage to a more modern Marshall tone,all in a single amp. What I love about it is that 'low power' mode,I can crank the amp up

been using it for 6 years now,never had a problem,very reliable

Mine is the blue 6100 LE ??? YES the"there are only 850 numbered (532) brass logo & inside with a plaquette with number and a certificate signed by all employees that worked on it inluded mr. Jim Marshall himself" one
It simply includes all previous Marshall amps and more between 1962 and 1993 if you tweek the buttons on the 3 channels, if you have to believe the History of Marshall book (and i do!)
On the backside there is even a balanced output, so i use it to re-amp guitar recordings in the studio a lot.
It has everything i want. (except a p**sy)

not a 10, but this one goes up to 20!!!
Forget the bunch made after this one, lots of them were merely mediocrate (that's when Mesa and all other Marshall copiers jumped in the hole Marshall left) use them for stage violence.
I use it with a Gibson Les Pauls Studio, a customized SG (still under construction), or a Jackson Performer wit EMG humbuckers, and for effects: a Boss CE-1 chorus, a Roland AP7 jet phaser, a Lexicon rack reverb, and a Korg SDD 3000.
Yes it is noisy, but that are all tube amps.(if it's not throw it away)
Clean it sounds like Marshall Heaven, and distortion is all Marshall Metal Heaven.
Only Marshall, and nothing but a Marshall

Only one tube had to be replaced, that's all ( the shop i bought it from, was also the one it sold it to the first owner)

Marshall is known for its perfect clientfriendlyness, I adore their company.
E-mail, phone,letters all is handled by them, or by their importeurs

Yhe guy who traded this one in for a JCM 2000 is a foooooooooooooooool, hahahahahahahahahahahahaha SUCKER!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is the story: i walked into the shop i came for almost 15 years to buy my guitarstuff, (i still go there) and saw something blue standing in the corner.
I jumped on it and started drueling, so John (the shop owner) said " you wanna know what it costs for you?"
whe got to a deal with me trading in my JCM 800, but the deal with the previous owner was that he didn't tell anyone who he was. (lucky for him i still don't know who he is, or i would be laughing outside his house every day)
I rolled my new aquired love into my living room, and my wife asked me what it costed me.
My answer was " even if we had to eat only old bread for a year, and got kicked out of my house by the bank i still would have bought it.
Thats its value to me.
If my house caught fire, first i would save my Marshall, then the kids, then my Gibsons, and then my wife and the rest.

blue tolex, el-34 tubes.
same as what everyone else has said.
it's everything you need in one amp.

i've read alot of the reviews. not surprised that there were very few negative remarks about this amp.

6100 blue head. it's a monster. a tone monster!
i found mine online. it needed a good cleaning and re-tubing.

do you want to hear this amp. to really hear and feel this amp
and know what it's capable of.
back off the gains to around 5. push the master volume 1/2 way up or more.
ch.2, i select 'B'.
set individual channel volumes to level that you want.
adjust gains to your liking. less gain for my personal taste.
i prefer the full body sound of power tubes being pushed hard, and letting the guitar's volume (and how hard you hit the strings) control the amount of breakup.

running amp on 100 watts.

this amp does everything that i need it to do. it's very flexible.
just love it!

i have to turn my amp on, off, and on again. otherwise the
footswitch doesn't switch channels. .... odd mishap.

but other than that, no problems.
15 years and still doing it's job. and better than
most or newer production amps.

never dealt with.

i am glad that i purchased this amp.
one of the best i've ever owned or played.

what more could you want, this amp as it all its the most versatile tube amp on the planet,,3 channels of tonal bliss,

channel 1 clean its that its clean no matter were you set it at it stays clean use it on low damping mode and it gets alive and sweet greatest marshall clean ever almost the jtm45 is unbeatable..

channel 2 crunch i use it in c mode and it gives me that 80,s metal tone we all dream about,,i can get satriani vai randy you name it on this channel its a bit more compressed then chanel 3 go figure but i have the lm version but its been modded to use el34,s

channel 3 lead some say that this channel as too much gain and is unusable well this channel on my 6100 as a tad less gain then channel 2 and its less compresed it as that old marshall vibe to it if you know what i mean a bit less bass and more hairy mids and bite its great i still dont know witch one i like best channel 2 or 3 they do sound very different and feel very different as well, i keep switching between both of them and both sound super good in different ways,,but to me channel 3 lead sounds more vintage like an old superlead or plexi thats been modded for more gain and it pulls it off with style..
i like the way the preamp tubes or laid out (7 in total) you can tailor each channel with different tubes super great for tone junkies like me the best power tubes i found so far are svetlana el34 not the C logo ones the normal ones they sound fubuloso in this amp but i would like to get my hands on some NOS TESLA el34,s thats what these amp came with wen they were built these amps were built in the same time as the jcm 900 but they sound nothing like those these are more like the jcm 800 they have more mojo behind them more drive harier the feel is definatly there very organic amp to play you can feel it , it can push allot of air as well very powerfull and dynamic..

allot of poeple complain that these heads break all the time well mine was made in the early 90,s and it still works flawlessly so why complain its built like a rock much better then the newer stuff made today like jcm 2000 and so on..

i owned ,bogner ,soldano,custome audio electronics,demeter,peavey,mesa,various marshalls,splawn,vht,randall,line 6 ,carvin,engl,and more this amp is the one i am keeping it sounds as good as the bootique stuff at a fraction of the cost and it as that beautifull marshall vibe to it..

After owning this amp for 5 months now and really getting to know the features of this amp from the front to back . I've learned to maximize take advantage of the amps full potential that I didn't before. I left out one small, but huge difference maker in the tone. I got the impression on the back of the amp with the " Power and Damping feature that they sorta work the same way....gee was I wrong!!! When I got the amp the " Power" selector was set to low and I didn't shift it to High until carefully reading the manual on this feature again when I was in the toilet. I later went over to my amp and put it on standby and switched it to High and low and behold....it kicked ass!! Wow!! What a difference that made!! For some odd ball reason I thought that the Damping High, Low and Auto selectors correspond to the resonance of the speakers along with the Power switch...duh!!! I then played with the Pentode/triode mode again with full and half power! It sounded great with either one. The triode had a smoother sound but the in Pentode mode...look out!! Has all balls to the wall Marshall Roar!! Full and wicked! Oh by the way I mentioned from my previous review that channel 3 on the bass sounded flubby ...well that was when I had it on Low power setting...That bass just tighten up and sounded focus! I love all channels now and use them all for different applications. This is just an outstanding head!!! Johnny A uses them exclusively and there are clips of him on youtube that you can hear just how great this amp sounds Clean and distorted! I also had a chance to play with the JVM....twice on different occasions and have to say that even though it has more gain than the 6100. The 6100 has more of a organic sound than the JVM and the JVM is very noisy . My vote goes to the 6100!

Well..I have three of these heads. One 1992 6100 (blue tolex) and two 6100LM's (1995 and 1997). This review is for all of them, but I'll note the differences anyway. The 6100's lead channel is lower gain (but still a lot of gain available) compared to the 6100LM's...The other channels are supposedly the same, but they will sound different because of the EL-34's rather than the 5881's in the 6100LM's. The 6100LM sounds slightly scooped on the lead channel. These amps are extremely versatile, they cover just about any type of music..Three channels - clean, crunch, and lead. Two different effects loop modes (series and parallel). The ONE thing that I wish these amps had were a footswitch to switch between mode a, b, and c on the crunch channel, but I guess you can't have it all..but I'm rating it a 10 anyway, as this was probably the most versatile amp at the time. This is an all tube amp. This amp is 100 watts, so it's loud like any 100 watt Marshall tube amp (although you can switch to 50 watt pentode, 50 watt triode, 25 watt triode etc). This amp has tons of features.

It can go from Fender clean on channel 1 (this amp has the best Marshall clean I've heard), to an overdriven plexi, to JCM 800 crunch, to JCM 900 high gain on channel 2, to super-saturated lead tones on channel 3. The clean channel breaks up a little with the volume above 7, but I think it's supposed to do that. The distortion on this amp is great, some people say it's like a modded JCM 900, but I don't hear it. I use channel 3 most of the time for distortion. It doesn't get muddy no matter what. It suits my music style (hard rock) just fine. It is a little noisy, but apparently all of them have a bit of noise..it's normal I guess. I use various guitars with it, Les Pauls, SG's, Strats, etc..They sound great.

Here's the bad part. The blue 6100 only works in triode mode for some reason, and it will probably be a nightmare to troubleshoot. Other than that, it seems to work well..I just don't like the sound of it in triode mode. One 6100LM works, but the previous owner did some stupid things while re-tubing it and nearly blew the power transformer, causing it to buzz loudly on idle..it sounds fine when I play though. The second 6100LM blew up, and it's being repaired right now..I don't even know what happened to it, and the tech doesn't know as of now either. (apparently it's a nightmare working on these). I might depend on these amps, as long as I get them fixed and have them serviced once in a while. But I'll have to see once they get repaired...the first 6100LM has been working relatively OK for almost a year, though.

Bad. I asked them (Korg USA) a few simple questions, and they basically said that I should go to my Marshall dealer and ask them. That's hardly support...As for the warranty, I'm sure it's expired. I was looking all over for an authorized repair center, and even considered sending it a few states over...but it turned out there was one right in town..so I guess that was easy enough. As I said, one of them is being repaired right now.

Been playing for about four years. I own four 30th anniversary amps (one 1992 6101, one 1992 6100, and two 6100LM's) and a load of other gear. I'd buy a replacement IF it works..that's my only issue with them, the reliability. They are great sounding amps though.

I traded one of my Laney VH100R from Bill below . I figure since I have two VH100R and wanted a different sound and always love the Marshall sound as well as Laney...why not huh??? This is a 92 Blue Tolex with EL34's with the Original tubes 4 x El34 Tesla (One of the best El34's out there, second "Winged C"). Anyway, this is one of the most versatile Marshall head that's ever made. Aside from the JVM, the current flagship. Although I haven't played one yet....I've heard mix feelings about them. Some good and some not so good but nothing bad at all. This head is heavy and has alot of components, ribbons and circuitry...not to mention heavy duty transformers. This head has 7 x ECC83 tubes in there! Yikes!! A ton of tube gain stages!! Speaking of gain this head has a ton of gain! More so than you'll ever need! I replace the stock with NOS tubes but some reason the original sounds just as good. I just fine tune to taste by putting a RCA in V1, EI Elite Gold for V2 and Telefunken for PI? Don't ask why its there....It just sounds the best to me in that slot! And the rest the stock Chinese tubes.

It's a three channel switching head. I don't care for the half power switch. It does have a damping 3 way selector low, high and auto...auto sounds best so I keep it that way. Each channel has it's volume to give you more preamp juice. The Master Volume works great! In terms of eq...it's your standard bass, mid treble and gain for only the crunch and lead channel. And of course it comes with a 3 button footswitch. Just a note...the switching is very seamless,quick and smooth. No slight latency like the DSL from my experience!

This amp can produce classic Marshall tones of past to the JCM900. It can get a little bit like the JCM800 if you spend some time tweaking it. The 6100 has the best cleans of any Marshall I've ever heard. It stays clean and has a very nice vibrancy about it. It's warm and shimmery. The crunch channel has a and b buttons for JTM45 and 1959 Plexi Supergroup tones. Sounds great for classic sounds of the past. Push em together for C mode and you get more of the JCM 800/900 tones! Bass tightens up super tight without sounding fake for flubby. And killer distortion! With tons of gain! I had to lower the gain to 10 o 'clock for my taste. And not to mention the presence the same without getting too much bite. It definitely has that Marshall Roar!! The thing I love about Marshall is that they have that magical midrange sound that not many amps have. My VH100R doesn't even have that but that's something only Marshall has. Channel 3 is gain out of this world....best for solo stuff. It can sound flubby because of the way they design the bass more for lead work which is understandable. They have gain boost and contour switch to help get rid of the majority of the flub when you engage it. I personally don't use this channel very much so no biggie. This Marshall sounds fantastic!! I took it out to band practiced one day and it screams! Great string note to note definition and sustain. Of course the more you crank her up the better she sounds. I have to say that the 6100 is dead quiet compare to my VH100R but for live performances. The Laney gets the nod all the time! It's a monster amp and it's the best live amp I've ever used! Never failed on me nor it's performance. I've haven't met an amp that can out perform the VH100R for band rehearsals and gigs. Some amps I've owned in the past sounded great at lower volumes but come crunch time to flex their muscles..the VH100R stands above them. Not to say that the 6100 isn't capable of that. It can with right speakers and cab! I have no doubts about it! It's rocks period!

Well what can I say...it's in great shape first off and it was made around 92 and has worked flawlessly! A workhorse!!

I've been playing for 12 years and I own a Laney VH100R, VC50 2x12 combo with V30's, Orange PPC212 cab(Killer Cab) If it was stolen...I don't know if I would buy it again cause they are expensive and hard to find especially for the EL34 version which I had no idea about these amps until I traded for it. Then I did my homework...kinda sad...lol But if they were in production today..yes I would! This is by far one of the best sounding Marshalls out there possible. I like it better than the DSL/TSL. It has a more organic tone. The DSL and TSL has some kinda diode clipping in the signal path. The 6100 has all Tube signal path!

'92 Blue tolex, EL-34's, with 6960A matching cab.
More features then the TSL (which I've owned 3 of).
Most versital Marshall ever. It can cover any style.
There's a reason people call it the best Marshall ever!

Jackson SL2H -> Boss OD3 -> MXR 10 Band EQ -> 6100 -> 6960A
Efects loop = Roctron Tsunami -> DE7 Echo/Delay

Clean channel is the best I've heard from a Marshall.
"Bright Switch", and "Mid Shift" are nice features.
With a little Chours, and Delay your in 80's Hard Rock intro heaven.

Channel 2 "Crunch" is more then enough for most people.
My "Drive" setting is 5.5, and I like my sound HEAVEY!
A bunch of different Marshall amps here (JTM45, 1959SL, JCM900)

Channel 3 "Lead"..... Sheeut! Awesome tone! Sustain for days! My "Gain" is only at 5.75.
"Gain Boost" engaged. "Contour Switch" which I don't use.

Noisy? This amp is not noisy.
Distortion? Yes it's BRUTAL!

This half stack will punch you in the chest. Very tubey, and 3-D sounding. The Celestion G12T-75's move a lot of air. Very clear, and articulant. If you want to feel your sound this is the rig!

It's a '92 with the original tubes!
I'd say it's reliable ;)

N/A

I've owned a lot of amps. Peavey XXX, and others, Crate Blue Voodoo, DSL50, TSL60, TSL100 (2), JCM900, Laney's, Line6, and a host of others.
I've wanted this amp since the early '90's, and now it's mine, and it's better then I thought it would be!
There's a reason Satch, Weezer, and a bunch of others have owned, and used them.
Trust me....it's not all hype