Matamp GTL 140 Head

Very simple amp....the difference between many of these Matamp's is entirely up to you since each amp is made to order. When I ordered I wasn't at all specific about what I wanted on the back of the amp so they installed an effects loop...in retrospect I probably would have been happier with a line out so I could eventually run a slave amp. You could look the features on this amp in two ways...1) it doesn't have all the features guitarists need today like channel switching, multiple eq bands, built in effects or whatever or 2) other amps have too many features and this is all you need. If you're considering a Matamp you're probably in category number 2. Hell this amp might have too many features....I run half of the knobs at 10 all the time anyways so they might has well not even be there. Versatility here is placed where it should be...in your hands as a player. I'm giving it a 10 but that's because I believe amps should be simple and players should be versatile....we seem to have a lot of the reverse going around today.

Matamp's (and vintage Orange's) have such a unique tone to them....it's hard to describe but it's just bigger sounding...more open yet not at all hollow sounding. When you get a Matamp cranked up with the power tubes saturating this is where they shine and honestly they can sound a bit flat at lower volume levels but you don't want a GTL140 for lower volume levels...get the C7 for that. This amp is all about havin the master volume on 10 and 10 only.

The distortion here is unbelievably heavy but not in a death metal sort of sound. This amp is all about the stoner/doom fuzz of Sleep, High On Fire, YOB, The Worship of Silence (personal plug) but can also do a super sweet blusey crunch tone too that would make Billy Gibbons quite happy. For clean tones I simply use my volume control on my gutiar and my neck pickup and I can go from smokey clean to wall o' doom in the flick of the wrist.

Nothing sounds like a Matamp. Marshall's are great and so are Hiwatt's and so on but Matamp just does something different. There's a sort of sag or tiny delay when the amp is cranked that gives it a dense, lush feel to it that is a joy to play. I've also found that my GTL140 loves my baritones. Some amps don't work well with the lower tunings and high output but this one does. Speaking of high output...this amp is also very sensitive to input volume so it's very dynamic. Volume wise it's pretty loud but if you're used to playing with cranked 100-watters it's not going to be much louder if at all. It's in the JCM 800 range for volume....I have a modded Sovtek MIG100H that is a freak of nature and just the loudest amp I've ever heard but the GTL140 puts out plenty of volume.

I'm limited to a 10 here...but this amp is so much more.

I've had this amp over a year and haven't had problem one with it. It's goes through tubes pretty quickly but I have the master on 10 all the time so that's to be expected....no problems.

Joel and co are good people here in the US as are Dave and the folks in the UK. My only gripe is that sometimes they're a bit slow to respond to my questions and such but that' just because they're busy and not because they're apathetic. I've never had a problem with the amp so I've never had to really rely on their customer support but I've dealt with a few folks like Trace from Voodoo Amps that have just set the bar for customer service to absurd levels...I don't even know the guy but I'd run through a wall for him :)

I love this amp. I have a "Black" GTL140 with a matching 4x12 and 2x15 cab (which I loaded with Weber speakers because I'm not a big fan of Celestion) and I plan on purchasing a C7 and another GTL140 4x12/2x15 stack probably in "White" sometime next year (hopefully soon) so I can run them together and make sure my band is banned from any and all bay area clubs :)

2003 Matamp GTL covered in burgandy rexine, Matamp cinemascope logo, white faceplate + a mathing 4*12, the best looking amp I've ever seen.
Knobwise it's pretty basic but who needs 100 knobs when they merely serve to fine tune this amps amazing sound. Everyone else has said all the features so I won't bother. I'll give it a 10 because its features are great + they can do anything you like to it for you be it adding more knobs, tune sounds, loads of colours, engraving etc. etc.

This amp has a massive meaty, earthshaking sound, interested? People always go on about the volume which is quite huge but prehaps not 'that' loud. When I turned it on for the first time and whacked it up I expected it to blow my bedroom windows out based upon what has been said, maybe not but things flew off shelves certainly. A friend of mine was playing bass through it with an Ibanez distortion pedal at mid volume downstairs in my house just recently and I got tinatus through several closed doors and on a different floor, and it isn't half as loud with a bass. Very very loud yes, but don't be suprised when you get a reasonable bedroom volume out of it. My musical style? I couldn't name it, kinda king crimson mixed with the doors like but a bit more modern. Very brutal distortion.

Invincible, I damage things with it accidentally all the time.

The best service you could possibly wish for, with cool Yorkshire accents.

Amazing, gotta go

My Green GTL was made for me by the guys in huddersfield circa 2003. Green tolex, black faceplate, w/ round knobs. They even engraved custom built with my name on it. Which makes this amp a one of a kind. The MATAMP GTL is an awesome amp, simple but very versitile. From left to right the settings go like this. Input, voice, gain, boost, bass, mid,treble, presence, master, standby switch and on/off switch. This baby cranks out 140 watts of pure tone powered by 4 el34's. On the back it has a pentode/triode switch, and bias test points so you can safely bias the amp without having to open her up and risk death. The GTL will eat your soul if you dare fire it up past 7. If you can't handle the sheer volume the amp has a pentode/triode switch on the back that cuts the 140 watts in half so you can run it at 70 watts. Which is plenty loud enough for most humans. The voice knob from left to right goes super low end bass to a more high end marshall tone. I personally turn that all the way to the left bass all the way up, boost and gain cranked to 10 and back the treble, mid, and presence off and you get a great foggy fuzz. I play any where from punk, grunge, heavy indie rock, and this amp pretty much can handle what ever I throw at it. It responds very well to pick dynamics. The harder you strum the louder and dirtier it gets. Each string shines through but it still has a muddy feel to it. You throw a distortion box in front of it and gets real grungy. But back off the volume knob on the guitar and it cleans up really well.

I play mostly gibson guitars. An SG jr w/P90's, and an old merauder with duncans, and an LTD viper 301. Each guitar sounds completely different through the amp. The amp is super quiet, even when pushed up to 6 or 7 you get a nice suprise when you let loose. It's pretty scary. The distortion the amp makes is pretty much a fuzzy dark fog. It's not full on cover up everything distortion. It's a low end heavy chunk distortion. Thick but still allowing you quality of the strings and instrument shine through.

So far so good, I don't see any problems in the near future. The amp has a lot of great features like fuse lights, on off lights that don't go off until all the power is out of the amp. So when you turn the amp off yes there is still juice running through it and the light let's you know this. Bias test points on the back panel so you don't have to take the amp apart to check it.

Joel at MATAMP was great and answered all my questions when ordering and through the whole process. I actually ordered two half stack off of him and although it took twice as long as the web site said it would take I was totally satisfied with the final product.

I've always wanted an ORANGE amp and I ended up getting a GREEN instead. It's a touch of old with a new feel. I also own a GTVtc green half stack, and a 1970 MARSHALL 100 watt superlead. I love the tone of all three amps. I've been playing for around 14 years now, and these amps simply rule. I figure if I'm going to dump some cash into something like this, hell they make it brand new when you order it. Custom done to the bone, you get what you pay for. Hand made, not off of some assembly line in a huge factory. If it were stolen I'd hunt the fucker down, and ritually kill him and spew his blood into the GTL hence fusing his soul with the amplifier. Everytime the amp is played it would rape the bastards soul with atomic low end death...... I mean I would call the cops and hope they find my stuff.