Marshall VS2000 AVT50 112 Combo

The amp has the typical features two channel (Clean and Distorted) with volume and gain knobs including EQ and Reverb.

It come with a footswitch and access to effects looping.

The amp is fairly powerful for me. I have only used it for minor
recording and practice.

It gets a nine cause I wish it had a better clean tone

Depending on the type of guitar and pickups you use, you will either love or hate the sound you get.

For example,

I have a Stratocaster with Texas Special pickups. When I play on this guitar, I get a VERY dark tone with very muddy distorted sounds.

But when I play on my strat with Bill Lawerence L-280s and a Dimarzio Fast Track 2 bridge pickup I can get a very clean and crisp tone.

So it shows how different the Marshall sounds with different pickups.

I can get a variety of tones with the marshall: from a lite whispers
to a screamin' lead and if I play with a little reverb great depth for chords.

I haven't had any problems with it. I would gig with this without a backup.

I've been playing for 3 years.

I would definently buy something like this again.

It sounds OK in stock form, especially if used for home practice or band practice with the stock speaker with small magnet. It allows distortion at lower volumes tha nthe best Celestion speakers. I installed an 8 ohm Celestion G12H80 and it now kicks. A G12H30 would also work as going up to 8 ohms from the 4 ohm speaker cuts the power back to where the G12H30 could handle it. The amp is louder in spite of the power loss from the 8 ohm speaker due to the much higher efficiency of the G12H80 with 50 ounce magnet. You can now add on another 8 ohm extension cab to get the impedance back down to 4 ohms for the full 50 watt output. The G12H speaker goes back to the 70's and was used in many of the best Marshall amps of the period. The amp now nails those classic rock tones that you buy a Marshall for.

It should be OK, but not quite a tank although it is fairly heavy.

The price includes the new Celestion G12H speaker. My tube Traynor YCV-40 is better, but it has a lot more tube circuitry. A great point-to point tube amp would be a 10, my Traynor is a 9, and this amp is now an 8 with the speaker upgrade. Still a good grade for an amp you can pick up brand new for $450 and kick up another notch for the price of a $100 speaker upgrade. If you are considering buying it new and upgrading it wit a new speaker, consider that the Traynor YCV-40 will still outperform it in stock form at around $600 and with a tube and speaker upgrade to the YCV-40 the AVT-50 will never touch the YCV-40 no matter what you do to it. I would never buy this amp new because I could get an excellent used YCV-40 for the same price or less, but as a used amp the AVT-50 can be a very good deal if you pay $350 or less, depending on condition. I paid $350 in mint very slightly used condition in original shipping container, and the speaker costs around $100.

This is a 2003 Marshall AVT-50, Valvestate 2000. I play classic rock and metal, and the AVT-50 handles the classic rock better. It has a clean and an overdrive channel, switched by either button or footswitch. The reverb is nice and really is the only effect i expect from an amp of its size. The OD channel is loud enough onstage but the clean is not. The MG-100 preamp is AMAZING for me, because I am playing Iron Maiden.... it is a better choice for metal and it is louder. But for classic rock, this amp kicks.

I use a Fender American Strat with 2 SD Hot Rails in the middle and bridge, and a JB Jr. in the neck to immulate Iron Maiden's sound. I also have a Gibson SG Special. Like I said, the MG-100 is more suitable for metal, but classic rock is great with this amp. It is noisy with lots of distortion, but that can be fixed with the Boss NS-2, Noise Supressor. Any amp needs that. The clean channel is always great as long as the gain is kept below 5. Above 5 you can get good twangy sounds, but it is not really "clean." The clean channel is very versitile and does not get distorted unless you turn the gain up, obviously. The distortion is EXCELLENT, great for classic rock. Again, if classic rock is your boat then this amp is a great buy. Metal.... is still good but not AS good as the less-expensive MG-100.

I would certainly use it without a backup, It's never failed me.

I've been shredding for 7 years now, and this amp and the two guitars mentioned above are basically it, besides a BOSS pedalboard and a Dunlop Crybaby wah. I would buy the MG-100 if this were stolen, due to its loudness, more affordability, and metal-like qualities. I love this amp, but it just doesn't suit me as well as the MG-100. My friend at Guitar Centre recommended this one, and I liked it and bought it. With the Gibson this amp KICKS, but with the metalized strat it is not as good.

Read other reviews for features please. Basic two channel 50 watter with Marshall tone and a great clean.

Listen up. Here is the best way to get great tone from this beast. Take the back panel off and saw 3 or 4 inches off bottom to let speaker open up a little for better cleans. A 3/4 closed back is always the way to go for all around chime and punch on both channels. Next, replace cheesy speaker with an 8 ohm Vintage 30. Even though amp is rated with a 4 ohm,the V30 is so loud and full you will still have more volume than before and is totally safe to run in this amp. I emailed Dr Decible at Celestion and this is his reccomendation. Now fire this sweetie up and you will wet yourself. Remember you will not get that good power tube tone unless master volume is past halfway mark so try master fairly high and slowly work up the preamp control. This is a Classic tone Marshall and will do all the standard Marshall tones not a Triple Rec! As the V30 breaks in you will have better tone than the DSL 201 or 401 series, I know, I have owned them all.

Never had a problem.

Marshall is painfully slow but Dr Decible knows Marshalls.

A very good and reliable Classic toned Marshall that hits all the tones you hear in your head. With above simple mod this is one of the best.

You know the features by now!

Pretty much everything you can ask for on a small practice amp.

I played my friends PRS Custom 24 through it, and i played my mexi strat through it. I plugged this thing into my marshall 1960 lead cab, and it was pretty good. However this thing has too much distortion, and the bad thing about that is that if you actually want meat in the distortion channel you have to turn the gain all the way up. Then you have waaay too much distortion and it sounds kinda muddy. This thing has alot of balls when its at lower volumes, then at the volumes i really care about when i practice and play live it turns into a girl. it looses its girth and becomes a digital distortion pedal like the metal zone...suck. I am used to playing my peavey ultra(older version of triple xxx but much better) and i can say that my tube amp that i bought at around the same price as this eats it for breakfast. The distortion is digital and buzzy sounding...i jammed wityh my friend with my amp and his avt50, omg, you can't hear it through the mix cause its hella buzzy and sounds like a little bee flying around the room...then when he turns it up so i can her him, thats all i hear, and it eats the sound in the room with its crappy ass scooped metal zone tone. For metal this things sucks, for punk its alright, but most anything is for that genre. Clean is awesome however, best marshall clean...omg did i just say marshall and clean in the same sentence. Anyway, its alright for a starter amp, but if you want to share music with other people, get a tube amp.

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nice little PRACTICE amp, if you just want clean and distorted tones for making riffs.

Features on this amp is simple and straitfoward. Not too much but it has good quality and its build sturdy and tough. Theres no useless effects but the reverb is nice. I personaly dont use the other features such as, headphones, fx loop, and DI output. Theres not too many things on this amp so thats why I give a seven.

Right now I'm using a PRS Santana SE. The distortion sound is versitile and can be from classic to metal. However, I wished the amp did have a little more gain onto it because it lacks some "bite" or "crunch." The amp sounds clean, no buzzes (I use a Monster Cable, Jazz). The clean sounds clean. Just clean. This amp is extremely loud and I have to put it under volume 2, otherwise my stinking neighbors will complain...

This amp is a tank. Strong, well built. I read a lot of reviews and it mentioned about the footswitch not working... Your channel on the amp has to be on Overdrive and then the footswitch will work. Common Sense

no problems

this amp is a tad bit pricy but I say its worth it. The amp is reliable.

fairly standard, just what you'd expect really. no bells and whistles, no light up panal, just that famous squigal on the black cover. it definatly looks the part. this is a hybrid amp, and i'm sure the people below can offer better explanations of this than me, but it basically uses a valve in the pre-amp and then solid state in the power section. two channel clean and overdrive with footswitch, head phone and fx loop. 50 watts may seem small, and you can loose your sound in a free-for-all jam, but you're mic'ed up live so it is gigable at small venues. and it has reverb. some may hate that, others will love it. it has all the features i needed, except maybe a mid control for the clean channel. fairly versatile, but more on that later.

this amp was the first i got when i ventured out of practise amp territory, looking to explore sounds and textures. ok, thats a lie, i wanted distortion and lots of it. what can i say, i got this amp when i was 14 or 15 and i wasnt very tonally versed, and i creditt his amp for helping me discover there was more to an amp than the overdrive knob. i got this amp when i was first discovering tone, and it was great at adapting to my tonal demands as i discovered new guitarists and tones and i (almost) always found an acceptable tone for whatever i wanted from the amp. of course i have grown somewhat in the 3 or 4 years i have had this amp, and now have my own ideas for tones and that was what led me to reconsider the amp. nobody lied on this page, the o.d. is awesome, far more than we should expect at this price. MetallicA, anyone? hows bout some megadeth or slayer? we could get some Jimi on the go with some work and Led Zep is there too. this was all great for a while, but when i started trying to come up with a tone of my own, i had problems, the biggest being that it did NOT get on with my Strat at all. with my hot roded epi LP it shines, but when i stick it with single coils and try and get the distortion to 'sing', it just didnt happen. the sound was just all aggro, no majestic soare through the mix, it was too fuzzy and indistinct. so i began to reconsider it as my main amp and eventually upgraded to a gorgues new Fender twin. speaking of Fender brings clean tones to mind, and the clean channel here could use a bit of rethinking. it is a bit generic and lacks its own character. to sum up, the distortion is huge and right for alot of stuff (mostly heavy though) and the clean does what it should, i guess, after all it is a clean channel. but it doesnt shimmer. and since i am less inclined by massive distortion these days, i found myself limited and tonally restriced. thats not to say everyone will feel that was though, and it still it deserves high marks for the disortion alone, which is blissfull with a decent humbuker.

hmmmm. *ahem*. well, this is where you start to realise why this is a sub-500 quid amp. the amp was cool for a good long while, and the one day just arbitrarilly, the footswitch stopped working. not too bad, just a soldering problem, but a real pain, in that this happened another three times and while i was performing. about a year into owning the amp, it started to display more interesting behaviour, such as arbitrarily flickering between the channels. thankfully this never happened live, but it was a big reason that i retired it. it also began picking radio up when combined with a wah in the bass position. basically, it behaved very eratically and gave me one or two headaches. i guess these are problems that can be reparied, but they are there and they are obstacles you do not want to have to worry about, especially live. but still, depending on your experience with amps these may be easily fixable problems, but the fact that they are there is enough to loose marks on.

no experience with them.

i have now been playing 6 years or so. like i mentioned earlier, i got this amp with very little tonal knowledge, and did learn alot about tone from it. it is strong and will deliver the goods, provided you know how to fix little problems here and there. if it had been stolen when it was all i had, i probably would have opted for something else which was slightly more versatile and reliable. having said that, i do believe this is one of the best bargins in existance, and that the problems i descibed could well be to do with my own heavy-handedness at times. if you want distortion, this is your first port of call. i dont think anyone who is all about the clean tone would be considering this amp, and if you are, i would advise you to the Fender section, but i think this has much more than enough going for it to justify the price and will take you close to some of your dream tones for very little money.

Very versatile amp, brand new, no cheesy digital effects, which is why I liked it. It sounded better than all the other amps I tried in the AVT line. Raw clean, and raw crunch, that's about all I need. I'm only giving it an 8 because the clean channel lacks midrange, although you can still get some sweet tones. Has an effects loop, headphone jack, and emulated output for P.A. Great for all styles of music, good clean, and great gain anywhere from blues break up to heavy metal. I also liked the fact that it was very light compared to all tube amps, which is good for gigging with.

Using a few guitars - Ibanez S540fm with EMG 81, SA, and 85, sounds very crisp - SG 61 reissue and Les Paul Custom with 57 classics (very Zeppelinesque), and a Strat plus with a hot rails in the bridge (Great for Deep Purple). The amp emits very little noise, which is a plus, even at some high gain settings, however you need to turn it up a little to get a sweeter sound. Gets some awesome Metallica - Zakk Wylde distortion, sounds great if pushed with an overdrive pedal for leads, but if you roll the gain back a little, you can get some good classic sounds. Perfect for what I was looking for. I've been playing through a hot rod deville 2x12 for years, which is great, but this gives me that extra punch and crunch I've been looking for. Not nearly as loud though. You should mic the amp through a P.A., especially if you play with a powerful drummer.

Only had it for a few weeks, hasn't given me a problem at all. I never gig with a backup, although I probably should.

Never dealt with them.

Been playing for almost 10 years, tried a variety of amps, and I like this one the best! Would definitely purchase it again, great value for the money. Wish it had a little more volume though, and was available in a 2x12 cabinet. Wish it had midrange on the clean, but overall a great sounding amp, especially considering it has a solid state power section. Feel free to contact me by e-mail if you have any questions, always happy to help out a fellow axe-man.

This is a new Marshall AVT 50 Valvestate combo amp. It has two channels, plus reverb. It has an effects loop, and headphone, and CD jack. It has a tube pre amp, and solid state power section.

This amp is amazing!!! Both channels have a gain control on them. It allows you to have "twin reverb" clean, or "blues" break up, on channel 1. Channel 2 can sound like a "plexi", or a "JCM 800", if you increase the gain. You can not tell that it is a "hybrid" amp. This baby sounds like an all tube amp, but without going deaf!! I use a Am. Standard Strat, and a Les Paul Standard, with it. You have to adjust the gain, and EQ depending on which guitar you use. Now let me make this clear . . . this amp sings, and sings, and sings. I've been playing for 30 years, and have heard and played through most of the top brands. I play classic rock, and blues. I love "plexi's", but they're too damn loud for small clubs, and stages. The singer has to hear himself too!! (I sing). This baby is the best hybrid / solid state amp on the market, and sounds like an all tube amp. It is great, and you can get the tones at reasonable volumes. I love it!! And get this . . . I don't like the sound of "modeling", and solid state amps!! This amp is remarkable!

I haven't had the amp long enough, to remark on its reliability. Usually solid state amps are indestructible.

Haven't needed.

Refer to my above remarks. This amp is incredible sounding. I love it. I am using it over my '68 Dual Showman Reverb, my '65 RI Deluxe Reverb, and my Marshall 1987. I would replace it if it was stolen.

2-channel 50w 1x12 Combo with one 12AX7 valve (tube) in the pre-amp and a solid state power stage, built in 2002. Has independent controls for both channels; Clean channel comprises of Gain/Volume/Bass/Treble, Overdrive is the same but has a Mid control. The amp also has proper spring reverb and CD and Headphone inputs on the front panel. On the rear panel it has an FX loop, Footswitch Jack (Footswitch included) and an Emulated Line-out, which is very useful for recording purposes or DI?ing into a PA. The closed back cabinet is covered with textured black vinyl and is fitted with a custom designed 12? Celestion speaker. It looks like a Marshall and sounds like one too.
The only things missing from this amp, for me, would be a footswitchable solo boost and an option of an open back cab. This amp has a very narrow directional volume spread. If you?re standing right in front of it you?re hit with its full force. If you stand off to the side you can struggle to hear it in certain playing situations. If a section of the back panel was screw-fix removable it would allow a little sound to be heard by the rest of the band, and let the speaker breathe a little. The closed back does keep the bass tightly controlled though and aids projection. I always stand this amp off the floor to help with the directional sound anyway.

I use an American Strat with a SD Hotrail at the bridge and an Epi Les Paul Std into a Boss ME-50 then into the front end of the AVT50. I tend to play Rock, Grunge and Blues and the band I play in is kinda in the vein of Pearl Jam, Audioslave and Jane?s Addiction. There doesn?t seem to be a whole lot of bands playing this style in the UK where we?re from?
I use this amp for pretty much everything I do. I practice everyday, rehearse with the band twice a week and play at least 2-3 gigs a month and it takes it all in its stride. It?ll provide really useable tones over a wide range of volumes, from conversation levels up to mid sized club gigs un-mic?ed. If you like the Marshall sound then you?ll love this amp.
Starting with the Clean channel; It?ll go from crystal clear bell like clean tones with single-coils right through to a nice bluesy break-up as you wind on the gain. It breaks up earlier and is less defined with humbuckers due to the nature of this type of pick-up. I have found that at larger gigs you can start to run a little short of headroom with this channel if you want to stay completely clean. You?d really need to start thinking about mic?ing it up if that?s what you wanna do. I only tend to use this channel occasionally at gigs so its not a big problem. It has to be said that it sounds great as the volume gets wound on though. Would be cool if there was a Mid control on the EQ for a little extra tonal tweaking too.
Ah, the Overdrive channel; This is where I spend most of my time? Sounds great pretty much whatever the settings. The gain control is the key here. Set low it?ll give you a nice bluesy vintage type tone. It?s a similar sound to the clean channel when fully wound up, but more rounded. As you wind on a little more gain you start to get into 70?s rock. Then, at ?5? on the dial you get an immense crunch like a JCM 900, this is where I tend to have it set, its huge at volume. I like a fair amount of mid range dialled in to accentuate the growl at this setting. As you go past the halfway point on the dial you start to get into more modern sounding hi-gain tones then into deliciously harmonic fuzz. There?s a large range of gain settings to play with and they?re all usable. The amp does start to get a bit noisy at high volumes and gain levels, but this is only a problem between songs. I tend to just kick it over to the clean channel to silence it, but it?s not a major inconvenience.
Overall this amp has a great range of versatile tones at all volume settings. This is the advantage of the solid state power amp coupled with the valve based pre-amp. You can get great sounding distortion at conversation levels that only improves as the volume?s wound up.
I really hate the scoop and bright switches that Marshall adds to some of their amps; thankfully this one?s free of such gimmicks. It?s a nice simple EQ section, which provides quick access to vintage and modern tones in one portable package.

Now, this was where I was let down a little. I?ve had the amp for over 2yrs now, but after about 8 months it stated to cut out intermittently. Initially it wasn?t often, but after a while it got progressively worse. The only way to get it to work was to flick the channel selector switch, on the front panel, several times until the sound kicked in.
Eventually I had it returned to Marshall in Milton Keynes for repair. Turns out that the valve base on the PCB was cracked and was causing the pre-amp to malfunction.
Since the repair the amp has been an absolute tank. Like I said before, I use this amp for everything from practice to gigs and it hasn?t missed a beat. Its well built and durable, has a great carrying handle and corner protection and stands up to gig abuse well.
Only thing I have a small doubt about are the potentiometers used on the front panel. The overdrive gain pot is starting to get a little scratchy and it?s not easy to get to with contact cleaner without voiding your warranty!
I have actually seen inside this amp. It?s not that impressive inside, two PCB?s, one with the valve on it (pre-amp, obviously), and the world?s smallest fan. All the people out there moaning about a revving noise when they first start this amp up? this little ?? fan is the guilty party! I really can?t see this little thing doing any worthwhile cooling, more like gentle stirring of the warm air inside the cab?

When I started to have trouble with my amp cutting out (see above) I phoned Marshall and spoke to a fairly un-interested lady who told me to contact my local dealer? Bet if my name were Dave Navarro or John Frusciante I?d have had a slightly different response. Politeness is free and they have to remember that kids out there buying Marshall?s will stay loyal to the company if they?re treated well.
Anyway, I emailed the shop that I originally bought the amp from (a considerable distance away) and got no reply. So, I decided that I?d take the amp to my local dealer (ABC Music) who were more than happy to arrange return to Marshall. They kept me informed of what was happening and I had the amp back within a fortnight. Marshall carried out the work under warranty; I just had to pay transportation costs.

I paid #289 for this amp 2yrs ago. In the UK this amp has a rrp of around #350, so I made a killing. All you guys in the States buying these amps will, I?m sure, be a little shocked by this. You have to remember that, here in the UK; we pay a premium on Fender/Gibson/ Mesa Boogie etc?
Initially I was gonna get the AVT20 as a practice amp, but when I saw the price on this AVT50 I thought I?d get it. Glad I did too, ?cos the 20w model wouldn?t have covered all the situations this amp does. I?ve played through the AVT100 Head several times at the rehearsal studio we use and I just prefer AVT50?s sound. It?s something in its tone that the larger amp just doesn?t have. I?ve also compared it to the 100w Head from the MG range (solid state) and it?s the same thing again, although I preferred the MG to the AVT100 Head strangely. The only Marshall I?ve played through that I though was better than the AVT50 was a JCM900, which was perfect for what I play. But the AVT50 gets close enough in an affordable portable combo format that I really can?t complain.
I also own a 1224 Matamp 30w single channel all-valve head and 2x12 cab. This is a great amp but needs to be driven by an OD pedal to get the levels of gain I need. Its more of a blues/classic rock kinda amp. Whereas the Marshall will do that plus a whole range of other tones besides.
Like I?ve said before; the thing I really like about this Marshall is its combination of portability (i.e. not as heavy as an all-valve combo), versatility, tonal range/quality of tone and ease of use. Yes, I?ve experienced problems with it, but I haven?t read about anyone experiencing the same problems here so assume it was a freak problem. Since its repair I have no doubts about its operation and use it constantly. I?ve played for 5yrs and as I mentioned, use this amp for practice, rehearsals and gigs. It handles it all? I?ve had it mic?ed up at larger gigs, played through 4x12?s with it and it always sounds great. It?s worthwhile emphasising how easy it is to dial in your tone quickly and easily. Also, how you can quickly nail a signature Marshall tone, if that?s you?re thing. Actually, I keep meaning to try it through the Matamp 2x12 Cab come to think of it? must do that.
In conclusion, if someone stole it I?d replace it with the same model; it suits me down to the ground. I?ve played gigs and been told I should get a proper amp (all-valve) because my Strat deserves better. Well I?ve never felt that this amp is hindering my guitars at all. Inevitably the people that make these comments come up to me after a gig with a big grin on their face saying how great the guitar tone was! I?ve always liked using equipment that gives you a kind of underdog status, ?cos its always good fun to upset people with really expensive rigs?
I hate having to carry a lot of equipment around, so with this amp, 2 guitars and a Boss ME-50 I can cover a lot of bases with an easily transportable set-up. I?ll always have one of these amps around, I might buy something like a Mesa Boogie F50 in the future to augment this, but for what I do this is perfect.