Marshall VS30R

This 30W all solid state amp has a single input, two footswitchable channels, master reverb, line out and headphone sockets. The footswitch wasn't included, but was pretty easy to make using stock parts. There is no effects loop or connections for an external speaker which is a shame,but I'm not too dissapointed. When jamming with friends and used for home practice it is quite loud enough, I guess it would be OK for small venues, but is a bit short of grunt for larger ones.
I also use the line-out feature through my PC sound card, this is quite handy for direct recording although the sound quality isn't quite as good as through the speaker.
Overall I think the features are pretty good for an amp in this price range. Mine is fitted with a 10" Celestion Goldback speaker. A friend tells me that this is no longer the case and that the newer ones don't sound so good, so check this out before you buy.

I play mostly blues/rock using an Epiphone Les Paul Special, i.e. like a Junior but with two humbuckers. I think the range of tones possible is quite impressive. I've tried a few other guitars through it (Fender Strats and Tele plus a Washburn) and they all sound pretty good to my ears.
The clean channel is clean and glassy, with good punch. At the same time it's not 'in yer face'. With or without lots of reverb it really does make a nice sound.
The overdrive channel up to about half gain is smooth and valvelike. With the humbuckers it's pretty easy to get that nice creamy blues tones. Crank up the gain and the distortion gets a bit more dirty, which is great for rock, especially if the contour knob is cranked right up too. The distortion isn't as aggresive as some other amps I've heard so I wouldn't recommend it to any thrash metal freaks out there, but for a nice blues and british rock sound, just plug in something resembling a Gibson and away you go.
By the way, I think the reverb is excellent.

Apart from having a slightly damaged corner piece when it arrived in the shop,it has been no problem at all.

Not had any problems to bother about.

I've had the amp since December '96 and it's been spot on. I would buy again as long as it was Celestion equipped.
For the style of music I play, it sounds great (and my friends agree).
I didn't compare it with anything else, because the price, features and name were right. Having listened to other since, I still like the VS30R.
I would like to be able to drive an external speaker.

I got this amp about 3 months ago. I definatly recomend it to anyone I do wish it had a little more power, only because our drummer seems to really beat the heck (I won't swear because I want to be heard). out of his drums. I am a "Nirvana freak" and own a Jag-Stang (great guitar) and it has a great clean and distorted sound, just like Kurt's

It has a crystal clear clean sound to it. But still has a great contour knob so you can get a versitle distorted sound. I wish it came with a footswitch because I'm so broke, but The clean channel sounds great when it's played with a BOSS(or Roland) XTORTION pedal. Great for Nirvana fans, or anyone else. (Good JIMI HENDRIX Sound also)

The VS30R is a 30-watt solid state combo with a 10-inch speaker. Two channels, clean and overdrive, footswitchable (footswitch not included), reverb, headphone jack, line out for hooking up another speaker or to a PA. In my opinion, this amp has all the features a "serious amateur" needs in a combo amp. I use it for practice at home and weekend jams with bass and drums. It has enough power for these purposes. I've even played out with the band in a medium size room and it was quite adequate for this (but we don't play super loud, either). It sounds very good run through a PA, though, if you need more volume.

I play a Fender Squier series strat, mostly Buddy Holly and early to mid '60's rock. So a clean sound is important, and this amp delivers. It is totally quiet when the strat's p/u's are used in combination, and even the famous single coil hiss that is present when an individual p/u is used is kept to a bare, bare minimum. The reverb is very good. For a great clean sound, I use the clean channel (what else?) with the volume control all the way up, then use the strat's volume pot to get the appropriate loudness. I think the overdrive channel is absolutely the best I've ever heard (keeping in mind that my experience is only with solid state amps). The gain control, in conjunction with the guitar's volume pot, can give you any amount of overdrive/distortion you want, and the contour control, which I believe would be more accurately referred to as a "mid range contour control" really does its job. I usually set the gain about 12 o'clock or 2 o'clock, depending on my mood, no reverb, and use the strat volume pot to get a terrific distortion. Just like on those Cream or Aerosmith records!

I've only had it about three months. I'm expecting it to be reliable.

No problems yet. I think it's a three year warranty.

I'm a terrible "second guesser" type person. Should I have bought something else? I've had lots of second guesses about this, but they always come back to, this Marshall is great, and I don't think you could do better. The tone is absolutely great...it's always given me just what I was trying to get. People always equate Marshall with big stacks and lots of distortion, but this compact little amp delivers beautiful clean tone as well as very pleasing distortion for whatever style you like. Besides, it's pretty neat for a guy like me to see my strat propped up against a "Marshall"! I wish the footswitch had been included, or at least that the store had a Marshall f/s to match the amp. If you're into rock n roll for "serious fun", and you want the best solid state guitar amp available, I very highly recommend this Marshall. Now here's a buying tip: the store had it marked at $399.00; I called around and also checked the catalogs for discounters (both published and on-line), found the lowest price available was $259.00, and when I went to buy the amp, told the owner, "XYZ Music sells these for $259, will you match that?" After he played with his calculator for about a minute, he said, "yeah." So definitely do some comparison shopping before you put down the bucks for any piece of musical equipment!

2 channels (clean/distortion) provide a great range of sounds covering the whole spectrum. Have used this amp on a couple of jams and the power came through OK. Wish I had bought the footswitch to go with it, as it is a hassle constantly having to use the channel change switch on the amp panel.

I use a Fender Telacaster and play styles from reggae to blues to Status Quo to heavy. This amp can do it all. The clean channel is amazing - even at full volume there is little or no distortion and the reverb sounds really good. Channel 2 is awesome - use of the gain and contour controls provides a wide range of sounds from subtle chunky rythms to out & out thrash. I have yet to explore all of the tonal combinations - so far my favourite settings for either channel are to set volume at maximum and back off the volume control on my Tele - wonderful!!!

Come on - it's a Marshall!! What do you think????

3 year warranty excellent

It was a toss up between this and the Laney HC25. I'm glad I got the Marshall - I love everything about it. When the time for real gigging comes, I'll definitely be getting a VS100

I had to follow-up on my initial comments, because I've decided to return the amp and get a refund. The big reason is that I need more power in certain situations and feared I'd be outgunned. I also feel I can get a more powerful and better amp for the money (used of course,) If you play at home or small jams, it's a great little amp, but you do only have 30 watts to work with.

Darn good in the sounds dept.

Only had it a couple of weeks. Couldn't get the heaphone jack to come to life.

n/a

No--need more power; needs to be louder. But otherwise it's a good product.

10. Yes, very versatile and and good value for the money. Headphone jack, line out, two channels (clean/dirty) sound shapers. I use the amp for home and jamming with friends. This is a solid state amp--so far tested it at one good sized jam and it cut through OK--I was concerned there may not be enough power. I've only had it a few days, but so far so good. I also played acoustic 12 string thru it with an removable Dean markley pick up and it sounded very good.

Yes it suits my style of playing. Not noisy at all. Great clean sound and the dirty stuff is darn good. I tested it with an ibanez Artist ('81) semi-acoustic elec guitar with stuck humbuckers and it kicked ass. Haven't played my strat thru it yet, but that's a foregone conclusioon. If it can make the Ibanez sound good, I know it's hapnin.

Haven't had it long enuf to say--but Marhsall is supposed to be very reliable product.

n/a

Yes--nothing to hate--lightweight, versatile, loud

I have been looking for a good amp since I destroyed my old amp. This one is nice and cheap yet it has the power to play some heavy stuff. It has two channels one clean and dirty. I have a Fender Strat and it sounds beautiful on both channels. I even try to get a warmmer sound out of my Strat, making it sound like a Gibson Les Paul with two humbuckers. It even does that! This amp is truly a thing of beauty!

This amp does everything I love it. It sounds really nice whatever type of music you are playing with it! Distortion is really dirty if you want it, if not it gives great sustain! It even makes single coil pickups sound extra bright!

It's a Marshall! Need I say more!

Have not had trouble but it's been only 3 hours! Yet, it's a Marshall!

Yes anytime! Nice cheap and plus it's a Marshall!

The VS30R is 2 Channel and is Foot Switcable. Strangely enough the foot switch doesn't come with the amp. I thought that was kind of cheesy for a Marshall. The added feature of a headphone jack makes it a great practice amp. I'll ding it a little here because they didn't include the foot switch. Also, it's probably not loud enough to gig with so you'd have to mike it or run it direct.

The clean channel is incredibly clean. Add some reverb and use the middle pickup on a Strat and you've got a great rockabilly sound. Switch to the Overdirve Channel and you get a variety of sounds. The Contour control varies the sound from a good tight biting to a warm ballsy distortion. Cutting back on the Gain cleans it up a little and gives you more of the Overdriven Tube sound. With a Strat the combinations are endless. In fact, I'm having trouble deciding what sound I like the best. The documentation says the clean channel will distort slightly at high volumes but I haven't seen this. Maybe it would with a Les Paul.
I play many different styles of music and the VS30R suits mne perfectly. My acoustic even sounds pretty good through it.

So far I've had ZERO trouble with the amp. It's a Marshall...I don't expect problems.

Marshall has re-done their standard warranty to 3 years. I don't anticipate ever having to get it serviced. However, if I did I know the store where I bought it is an authorized service center.

When I bought the VS30R I had been looking at a variety of 30 watt amps. I wanted something that was versatile and a good value. I looked at everything from the VS30R to new Ampeg combos to Vox AC15 and AC 30's. The Ampeg sounded great as did the Vox but I felt the price was exorbitant for a 15 to 30 watt amp. I felt the VS30R sounded about as good for a fraction of the price. Of course if you want just straight tube overdrive...buy a tube amp.

Well, after selling my Matrix finally I got this Marshall amp for a pretty low price. Its one step below the VS65R, meaning it has NO tubes in it. Anyway, it has a VERY nice reverb, and 2 channels footswitchable. I like it alot , considering I bought it today and havent had enough time to mess with it.

The clean channel is AMAZING on my neck pickup position, even more so with reverb up all the way. As for distortion, being a distortion freak, and from what I could gather in the few short hours I've had it, it has a pretty good overdrive channel, but why should I care, I have a DOD FX69 GRUNGE, and I'll never use the overdrive channel anyway :) I dont know if its loud enough to gig, but its great for practice and rehearsals. I havent checked if the clean distorts, Ill do it sometime later. All in all, AWSOME!

I've had it for 3 hours, what do you want me to say?

I dont know about warranty, but even if it ever breaks down, (probably never, its a Marshall) then I guess the store I bought it from would probably repair it for me...

If I had 300$ more, I would probably have bought the VS65R, but if you want a great cheap amp with AWSOME clean sound and VERY GOOD distortion, GET THIS ONE!