Marshall VS30R

For those of you who have followed my previous reviews on this amp, I will be creating a webpage, based on complete teardowns and complete modification of the electronics. So, why would I invest time in performing these tests? 1) The V30 is the warmest sounding amp of all the valvestates; 2) because of the inferior parts used in the manufacturing process, this amp deserves better; and 3) small combos from a recording perspective offer enormous possibility (remember the Fender Champ?). Miking a cranked 100 watt stack in the studio is not only misleading, but it will overdrive your dynamic mics or condenser mics, depending on whether or not your using a combination of close (dynamic mic) and distant (condenser mic) techniques during the recording process. Conversely, using a small combo that is pushed will often produce remarkable results. Features: This is a solid state amp with two channels: clean + overdrive. EQs on clean comprise Volume, Bass & Treble. Bass has two spots where EQ curve shifts, as does the Treble which has an 8K ear piercing presence. Both can be modified to create a more parametric curve. Unlike all solid state amps, the V30 does demonstrates unique harmonic intervals (as opposed to dissonant harmonic intervals). Further the V30 does not overly compress the the source signal, allowing an airyness allowing for headroom. Apart from the awful partical board cabinet, undeserving of this unique amp, I chose to construct a cabinet out of solid birch. However, for those who play metal and are seeking a dark sound, solid mahogany would be the way to go, as it is a less dense hardwood, easy to work with, and absorbs sound, as opposed to birch, which is extremely dense. Dense wood will naturally cause sound to reverberate creating sound waves to project. Ideally, this is what you want in a small combo. Channel 2 on the V30 likewise can be tweaked creating more controlled EQ points. But the added contour may not necesitate modification nor changing resistant values, only because the distortion channel on this amp sounds fantastic. Line out (pre amp out) has to go. It sounds sterile and artificial and, as this is the source signal you'll be directing to another amp or PA, it has to be replaced with a preamp capable of uncolored transfer of signal. Likewise reverb has to go. It is quite simply the noisiest reverb I've ever heard in any amp - awful. In designing the birch cabinet I was faced with one problem: 1) the amp is a combo and transfers sound to the brain, i.e., the electronics, resulting in vibration from the driver. Thus, in designing the cabinet, I ran a half inch bead of clear silicon on all metal edges, and after it was dry, fitted the electronics in the cabinet. This acts as a shock absorber and I have experienced no vibration even when the amp is dimed at full volume. The hard plastic boots that the amp originally came with were replaced with soft rubber, so when the amp is resting on a hard surface there is no transfer of vibration. Likewise speaker was re-fitted with Loctite so it would not spin loose from vibration. Because the pots are made of cheap plastic, my cabinet was designed to position them so they would be ressesed, thus affording full protection of the pots. The ultimate stack! By following the preceding guidelines and using a transparent line out (pre amp out), you could build 4 of these units and run them together, creating 4 synched units totally independant of the other units with regard to EQ mods, and cabinet material. The end result would be blending 4 unique amps together, for an unprecedented sound.
Should one amp blow up during a performance, one would simply disconnect the line out, and 3 other amps would be up and running. The possibility of blending these combos, in my view would be the ultimate, especially, if one performed various tweaks with each amp.
This principal could extend to other small combos, such as vintage Voxes, Gibsons, Fenders, even digital amps. Get the pic

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This is a brand new 2000 model. The sound is awesome! I like to play metal and rock, so the natural overdrive of the amp is perfect -- I don't need a pedal. This amp has a clean and overdrive channel that is footswitch selected or panel button selected. 30 watts is plenty of power to practice, plug into a board, or mic at a gig. the 10" Marshall speaker is a ditto Celestion -- prime preformer. The clean channel, however, is not that bright. If you want a good clean amp, get a Roland JC or a Fender.

I use a Epi LP-90 with humbuckers diectly through the amp. I am fully satisfied with the Iron Maiden-like sound this produces. I do, however, expect to purchase an EQ to stabilize the sound. The Bass/Contor/Treble EQ is limited in its control of highs, mids, and lows.

Marshall is known for their reliability. Just look at all of the professionals that use their products and all of the vintage amps that are still on the market working well. I have only had the amp for 2 months; it has not given me any problems.

Ihave not dealt with their customer support.

Ihave been playing for 6 years on and off. Playing through Crates, Laneys, Fenders, ADAs, and Boogies, I can say one thing -- Marshalls are second to none. The VS30R is every bit a Marshall and totally what I am looking for in a metal/rock sound.

Please refer to my other reviews below. I've been very hard on Marshall's because of the inferior materials they use on their amps. This amp was purchased because of its unique sound. Warmer and not as tinny sounding as the V65. This amp was purchased specifically for a recording project I had to produce and mix. I built a solid birch cabinet for it, installed a neve preamp with power supply replacing the line out, and finally tweaked this amp by changing resistant values. The recording project was with mega-platinum songwriter Al Lancellotti. Studio equipment: vintage BCM 10 Neve Sidecar synched into an SSL 400 G series computer with Total Recall (10 channels had
the vintage E modules). Used a stereo miking pattern on the VS30R. One mic close to the speaker cone and slightly off axis, and the other a condenser mic at a distance of 10 feet with a cardiod pattern pointing directly at the amp and 10 db pad activated. Both tracks went direct to the Neve BCM 10 sidecar, I also used two vintage TeleTronix compressors 5:1 ratio and quick release (very mild just to smooth things out) signal was then directed to Amperex 499 2". Tracks were then doubled via an SSL, with a little Pultec EQH2, and sent to an 8 track ADAT slave synched with the 2". ((((Wow!)))) the chorus on the song SuperGlide sounds like a vintage stack of Marshalls! We even
tracked an FX SuperGlide in the intro on this R&B/Pop Rock tune. Lead
guitar was tracked on a vintage Alamo amp with a 12" speaker. You'd never believe that a Marshall VS 30 could kick out this sound, but it did. Any non-believers, feel free to contact me direct and I'll send you a CD single ($3 to burn one). The Marshall was never turned off during the entire two weeks of the recording project. No problems, save for the cheapo plastic crap. THIS AMP DELIVERED AND KICKS OUT SOME SERIOUS SOUND IF YOU DON'T MIND MAKING A FEW MODS. The Neve 1272 is class A discreet pre and is used as a line out to other vintage combos (runs about $500 and up with power module and quarter inch ins and outs), and by-passes the Marshall stock line out. You
can then run your Marshall direct into other vintage combos. Unless,
you know what your doing, don't mess around with electronics, take it
to a tech.

SOUNDS LIKE A VINTAGE STACK. DON'T BELIEVE IT? I'LL BURN YOU A CD SINGLE OF SUPERGLIDE AND YOU LISTEN TO THE CHORUS!

See my other reviews below.

Corresponded with UK main office about the shoddy cabinet. Corporate attitude. Read my reviews below.

As a pro producer and mixing engineer, this is the first time I've used a small combo to create the sound of a stack. I got lucky and
pulled it off. Apart from the cheap plastic pots, knobs, input, line out, etc, this is a GREAT SOUNDING AMP. For a small combo it has a warmer sound than the other valvestates I've heard, which is why I worked on it. So, if you build a decent cabinet, by-pass the line out and use a good preamp, tweak it up, this is a GREAT SOUNDING AMP. On the recording it sounds like a very high dollar amp, 'nuff said.

For its price this amp does quite well in the features department. Not many amps in this range haves reverb. This amp has 2 channels (normaI and overdrive) it has an optional footswitch socket for changing channel quickly, which you can add later if you wish (pity its not included in the package). It has a line out socket which, if you wish to play on stage with, for an amp this size is vital. Headphone socket is also included but i havent got aorund to trying it out. If i could ask for one thing extra it would be delay.

I use a fender strat, always, and i think it sounds great out of whatever your amp is. This amp does a fair job of it, as long as you keep it low. As soon as you turn it up on normal channel it sounds brash and ugly, even on the overdrive channel its a bit jumpy and not too sure of itself. However for a 30 watt amp you get amazing thumping bass, my mum can feel it upstairs in her bedroom when im in the cellar

I have had the amp for over a year and i cant say i have had any problems, only i am fairly careful with my equipment. I never use it for a gig, it isn't loud enough over the drums but its only meant to be a practice amp

Year long warranty ( I think). Never dealt with Marshall

I've been playing for about 5 years now, as I said earlier I use a fender strat and when ever im gigging i nick my friends amp. Overall, its a good liitle practice amp, good value for money and I would recommend it to beginers and those on a small budget. The only thing that lets it down is the sound at high volume.

Two separates channels, with separate controls, reverb. You can activate the channels with a footswitch (not included).

I use a Strat Plus, and I tell you, this amp really sucks. The clean channel is very week and poor, it has no feeling, if you really want clean sound, buy a Fender and you'll hear what's clean sound. The overdrive... it's not as bad as the clean channel, but still sucks. It has no punch, no force, no sustain. Even if you add reverb this amps sucks. When I play live at high volume, this thing gets weeker and weeker, you can't use it for live playing. The only thing that I could tell you is... NEVER try to buy a Valvestate model (VS15,VS15R,VS30R,VS65 and the others models...) because you'll be wasting your money

I've been playing for 15 years and I don't know why I bought this amp... a very big error. I'd not buy it again if it gets lost. I hate the way it sounds.

bought mine in 1996, at a frickin' cheap price. features...30 watt solid state amp with 2 channels and spring reverb,gold anodized front panel,looks real classy compared to what shite Peavy gives ya. best of all, a British Celestion Goldback speaker, 10'...nice spec on a solid state practice amp. 9, 'cos its what i paid for.

guitars...first used it with my mex strat, now im using it with a '57 RI strat and a '72RI thinline tele. tried amplifying my yamaha acoustic-electric with it, sounds decent with some reverb. even tried amplfying vocals...quite okay.

okay, to put it short, the clean channel ain't your pristine fender clean, but it's alright. pretty clean, though you need to turn up the treble sometimes. when driven with a TS-9 Tubescreamer, it sounds *almost*like a tube amp breaking up.

the reverb's decent for the price, but it won't do Dick Dale. sigh...

the overdrive channel is really versatile. the gain knob at 9 o'clock (the rest at 12) is bluesy overdrive, not really tubey, but still good. hell, it's a solid state yeah? at 12 o'clock, it's your really classic rock sound. turning the contour up and down with the gain maxed can produce great sucked-mids rock crunch all the way to really heavy shite... damn versatile amp.

the line out is pretty weird for recording, it brings out the acoustic 'click' of yer pick going tru the strings...makes my strat sound like a parker fly bridge...heh but i guess that's alright.

an 8 rating for a solid state amp. won't compare it to a tube amp.

damn this one's tough, banged it around, dropped it a few times, kicked it, and it still sounds the same after 4 years! okay, the covering's peeled off abit, but heck, the covering doesn't make the sound. the amp does. one tough cookie.
hell, i even play slap bass on my fender jazz bass tru this, and the speaker cone hasn't flinched!
this is the amp i do all my shite on, from guitars to sequencers to bass...
hasn't broken down on me whatsoever in 4 years. still sounds the same.

nah, cant be bothered, prolly won't be needing it. i'm in Singapore anyway,think the lads over at Milton Keys would give a shit?
don't see anything blowing up on me...maybe only the speaker cone...heh

gee, i love this amp, this is my bring anywhere, play anything-tru-it amp. it'd outlast my Marshall JTM tube amp anytime. maybe i'll wait'll all that covering wore off, then i'd redo it with tweed..haha just kidding.
anything i wish it had? uhm..yeah..one more input.
anyway...take a look at this amp if you're in the market for a reliable solid state practice amp.

Bought this amp new, summer of '99, along with a Standard Strat (my first guitar & amp, so far a killer combo for the money).
-Two channels:Clean, w/ volume, bass and treble knobs & OD w/ gain, treble, bass, contour, and volume, as well as a spring reverb for both channels. Also has a headphone jack (the only source of trouble) The channels are footswitch-able, though it would be nice to have said footswitch included with the amp. The clean channel suits me fine, I don't use it much so I can't really say too much for it anyway. THe OD pretty much blows away everything else I've seen in this price range. Between the gain and countour, in addition to the pickup selector/tone/volume on my guitar, I can squeeze out a pretty wide range of sounds w/out any pedals or effects. As for power, it's only 30 watts, but for playing along to CD's and jamming with my friends it does just fine. For a beginner like me this is a sweet deal.

I play (or at least attempt to play) a pretty wide range of stuff, from blues to metal to punk to psychedelic shit. My tastes lean more towards the heavier stuff, which this puppy serves up with pleasure. Getting a mellower oversdrive is a little harder, as anything past about 1 or 2 on the gain will really start to crunch things up, though adjusting the guitar's volume compensates pretty well. It is a little noisy, but that's to be expected with my Strat's sing coils, but I think that the Strat's sound really complements this amps. With the contour left of center you get a really bright punk rock sort of distortion, move farther to the right and it starts getting much heavier. I'm not going to comment on the clean channel, like I said I don't use it very much, only for tuning up and practicing riffs so I can get the notes down. Again, excellent value for the money.

THis is where I've run into a problem. I hooked up some headphones through the headphone jack (duh), because I wanted to crank it up enough to get some feedback, but without pissing off my folks -too- much (past about 3 or 4 on the OD volume, 5 or 6 on clean, is plenty for just playing in my room). I hit a chord, the headphones short out and poof, smoke is coming out of the headphone jack. I took it back to the dealer for repairs (which didn't happen for a good month, very unpleasant), got it back, plugged it in and poof again, it's dead. Now, the first time was definitely a product flaw, anyone else had this happen to them? AS for the second incident, it could be another flaw in the amp, but it could just be a result of shoddy work on behalf of whoever made the repairs to it. So far I haven't been in contact with Marshall about this, it's just been between me, Mars, and wherever they send amps to be serviced. I don't think it would be very good for gigging in the first place, so a backup isn't really an issue.

Never dealt with Marshall yet, a 7 for a fair warranty

I've barely been playing for a year, so I'm hardly an expert, but I know what I like and I like what I hear. If it were stolen I'd probably beat the SOB with a tire iron and replace the amp, or possibly step up to a VS65. The business with the headphone jack brings the score down some, but lots of that bad experience was due to a dealer which didn't give a shit, and a crappy repair job, I can' t blame Marshall for that. WHen working it's a great amp for the money and for what I do, I'd reccomend it to anyone in the market for a good amp in the $200-300 range.

This is my final update concerning this amp. I bought this amp because
I liked the sound and use a variety of vintage and new amps when I produce and mix in the studio. I have now replaced the awful particle
board cabinet with a real birch cabinet - WONDERFUL! I have by-passed
the line out and am running it through a Neve preamp module that is attached to the inside of the birch cabinet with its own power supply - REMARKABLE! Feeding the signal via the Neve to a vintage tube amp is
FANTASTIC, as the Marshall adds a unique sonic dimension to this set-up. The reverb on this amp is NOISY and I recommend that it not
be used. Oddly enough, my 1965 Gibson Skylark is quieter than the Marshall. Only mods are a grounded cord, new 22uf Xicon 450 VDC caps on the power side, and orange drops from .0047 400 VDC .022 600 VDC throughout. Thus, the noise of the Marshall is UNACCEPTABLE, considering that the Gibson is 35 years old. The electrical components used in the production of the Marshall are cheap, including the plastic input, line out, headphones, pots, corners and cabinet material. This extends to the other Valvestate combos. The birch cabinet has improved the sound of this amp significantly, as the bass and treble response is balanced and has greater dimension. Distortion channel is more definitive - not so muddy. I now give it a 9!

With my Gibson SG this amp comes to life, especially with the 500T super ceramic humbucker in the bridge position. Incredible punch,
dimension and feedback that is quite pleasant to the ears. Buy a
top of the line guitar with great pickups and you'll be able to
play just about anything, especially if you run the VS30R through
another vintage combo - it will really sizzle, sparkle and bite.
If you're prepared to build a good cabinet and perform a few other
modifications, then this amp delivers.

Because the components are cheap I don't expect this amp to last. Extremely noisy gain and reverb. Line out can be compensated by using a good quality preamp to feed another combo, etc. Original cabinet is
the worse I have ever seen. Definately not Jim Marshall's work - it's the result of corporate clones managing the company - they don't care.
On contacting Marshall direct about the shoddy cabinet, I was told that they can count the number of complaints they have received on one
hand. Please! I suggest that Mr. Steve Yelding read the other opinions relating to the Valvestate combos, as there are NUMEROUS complaints about the shoddy construction and workmanship by those other than myself.

ZERO

I've been a profession musician, producer and mixer for nearly three decades. When you've been around for a while you begin to form opinions based on experience. My opinion is that many companies built
great reputations years ago in connection with their product. Today,
however, the vast majority are living on reputations and producing junk. I imagine if Jim Marshall took control of the Valvstate line, you would see at the very least plywood cabinets [ At the rate they buy wood it would cost US 10 bucks for the plywood]; metal corners; metal imput, pots, line out, etc. The end result would be QUALITY. Unfortunately, over the past 30 years or so, there has been steady decline in the quality of electrical components, workmanship and
overall pride. The only established company that continues to produce
quality merchandise is Gibson USA. Despite incredible advances in technology, I feel bad for many of the young players out there that have never experienced a quality piece of merchandise, as they live in a music industry run by big corporate mentality. Any amp made out of glued sawdust is a discrace. And any amp with a reverb turned up midway that is noisy is a discrace, regardless of the price. I like Valvestate but it needs IMPROVEMENT.

I got this amp just a couple days ago, it was probably made in 1999, because I got this in early 2000. It is a significantly lower-end all-solid state amp, but if I heard this baby without knowing it was a lower-end, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. The only thing I wish I could do is blast this fine piece of machinery. I live with a brother, a sister, and my parents, so for now, blasting this amp is not something I'm allowed. I wish this amp came with the footswitch, now I have to go out and buy one.

I use a Squier Strat with this amp, and I like to play punk rock and also just any kind of rock really. The clean channel really sounds great, and since I came from a really crappy amp, I think it's awesome for an amp to have separate volume settings for each channel. The distortion, however, is really only three ways, from light distortion to punk distortion to metal distortion. If I played metal I would love this equipment. But I don't, and since the distortion won't get that much versatile, I'm saving up for a RP3 or a RP7 (probably the RP7, because it has a 12AX7 valve in it). Overall, I don't think this amp is that versatile, but it will be soon, when I get an effects box. But I can make this baby sound like Blink182 and he uses Mesa Boogies and JCM900s. :)

The casing I'm not proud of, as a fellow reviewer said (particle board). I'm not in any situation to make a cabinet for this thing, but I don't care, this thing would probably survive a fall down the stairs (at least the amp and speaker would, the cab would probably be mutilated).

It's Marshall, but I don't expect to call them up unless I drop it down the stairs, and I don't think their 5-year warranty would help me there.

If it were stolen or lost I would probably buy a VS65R ... but I don't know. This amp overall kicks tail, but really ... if you are a beginner and want good distortion, for a low price, buy this baby from Sam Ash. I told them I found a cheaper price and saved over $25. But the normal price there is $259.99.

I really like the overdrive. It's pretty good for heavy metal and blues. The clean channel isn't that good though... It really is clean.

This amp has great distortion, I love it. But then again the clean channel has no mids, and there is no EQ.

It's a Marshall!

Great warranty and service!

This is a great amp, it has volume and is great for what I am playing (Metallica, Nirvana, Hendrix, and My Band). I am really impressed with the overdrive channel but the clean channel was a real dissapointment. And no footswich INCLUDED.