Maven Peal Instruments Ganesha Head

reproduces any Plexi Marshall tone. The channels are permantly Jumped so they interact. Can bias your own tubes and will accept different tubes. Power sag, tube vs. solid state rectifier. Power control which contols the power like a volume control. Swithes which allow a plexi sound from each years model. Has a complete affects channel which is totally versatile

Absolutely steller. Quiet operation. Great clean tones and of course the roar of a Marshall. Sounds better than my original 66 50 watt and my 68 100 watt. You can set it up to use 2 output tubes or 4. I have not used my Marshalls in the 3 years I have owned this Amp

Totally reliable. Works flawlessly with great components

Dave Zimmerman talked to me at lengh about tone when I bought this Amp and is a Brilliant Guy

Total 10. The best most versatile amplifier I have ever purchased. You can play full out roaring Marshall Tone from 2 watts to 100 with same tone. Not a Master Volume or attenuated sound. Absolutely the best and only improves with NOS British tubes

The Ganeesha is feature packed. Others have mentioned alot of the features and you can get a comprehensive list by visiting www.mavenpeal.com.

I have been looking for this amp all of my life! This is the first amp that I have had that actually sounds incredible at bedroom volumes and it just gets better as the volume goes up. This was VERY important to me and I am happier than I ever thought I could be with such a "low volume" amp. This is coming from a guy that has used all of the THD Hotplates including the THD Univalve, the Power Brake, the built-in Aiken attenuators on both the Invader and Tomcat, the Fargen Mini-plex and about 10 Master Volume amplifiers all looking for the right tone at low levels. The following is a list of amps that I can remember that I have owned or borrowed:
Dr Z. Maz 18 Jr, Dr. Z Ghia, Carr Rambler, Carr Mercury, Aiken Invader, Aiken Tomcat, Fender Bassman LTD RI, Victoria Deluxe, Victoria 35310, Victoria 35210, Victoria 45410, Victoria Victorilux, Fender Super Reverb RI, Marshall 1987X, Marshall JCM800, Marshall DSL50, Fender '65 Reverb RI, Alessandro Working Dog (1x12), Thd Univalve, Fargen Mini-Plex, Bad Cat Hot Cat 30 and the list could go on.
When I bought the Ganeesha, I had the Carr Rambler, Aiken Invader and the Tomcat. I have since sold all of them. I originally bought the Ganeesha because of it's supposed ability to achieve a great Marshall crunch at low volumes. When I received the head, of course the first thing I did was crank everything up to hear those Marshall tones through my Marshall 4x12, Greenback loaded cab. To say I was blown away is an understatement. All I can say is that I received something better than I expected as far as the Marshall tone goes. It was Marshall but better than any Marshall I have ever experienced. I was blown away. As I played with the controls to bring it down to "bedroom levels" I was more and more impressed. The tone stayed outstanding. I honestly don't ever remember being this happy/shocked after buying a new piece of gear. I had read all the reviews but I had done that with everything I bought. This was the first time the reviews seemed to hit the nail on the head. So after sitting like an idiot for countless hours listening to the crunch of the Ganeesha, I decided I really should at least hear the clean sounds both through the Marshall cab and a 4x10 Fender Bassman cab. Big mistake. I am so blown away by the incredible cleans on this amp that I haven't been able to get myself to crank the damn thing back up! Clean, the notes are just HUGE. I finally understand what people mean when they say "the notes just bloom". That is the only way I can describe the clean sound. It is just beautiful. I have used a Strat through it and my McCarty and clean, neither has ever sounded better. The McCarty typically sounds kinda muddy to me clean but through the Ganeesha it has a beautiful jazz tone. Unbelievable. I went out and bought a pair of 6L6s to put in the second tube section. After installation, the 6l6 side took on a dead-on Bassman tone. This was my goal- 2-EL34s and 2-6l6s so I could get the nice Bassman tone (somewhat clean) and the Marshall crunch by flicking the switch. Well the amp sounded awesome with the 6L6s in it. The problem was that I actually loved the clean with the EL34s just as much (even though it's different) and I REALLY missed the tone of the 4 EL34s running at the same time. I didn't even know there would be a tone difference between running 2 vs. 4 of the same tube but it is definitely noticeable! I thought it would just be a volume difference but the tone changes too. I'm definitely not saying I disliked the 2 EL34s but I just loved the character of the amp with 4 of them running, especially at low volumes! I couldn't believe there was that much of a difference. So I am leaving the amp stock with the 4 EL34s and loving it. The other downside to the Ganeesha is that I had a whole pile of boutique pedals that I was going to ebay. I have plugged most of them into the Ganeesha and although I actually prefer the tone of the amp w/o pedals, most of the

This thing is built like a tank. Aside from replacing tubes, nothing will ever happen to this head. Incredible build quality- the top of the hand-wired companies.

As I mentioned in my long-winded review above- customer support is absolutely the best.

I have found the amp for me in the Ganeesha. The thing is built like a tank, sounds better than anything else I have played- both clean and dirty, takes pedals better than any other amp I have played and sounds great through many different speaker configurations which give the head different characters as well. Feature packed (although I hardly use any of them), great manual, extremely versatile (tube combinations, effects loop which can be eliminated or used as an overdrive, etc) and the best customer service in the business. I'd say an overall rating of 15 would be about right but I can only give a 10, so there you go.

100+ watts, true-bypass effects loop with tons of controls, jumpered channels each with its own volume control, treble boost switches for each channel, power amp boost switch, three position power amp character switch, and of course, the sag and wattage controls.
Each tube can be biased from the rear of the amp without removing anything. The Ganesha even comes with a special bias cable to so all you need is your own meter.
There are also switches for turning off pairs of power tubes to reduce output power and also to allow you to hear the amp with different types of power tubes (6L6 vs. EL34 for example). If you are into tweaking and experimenting, this is the amp for you. One last thing. The Ganesha has very large transformers. This ?big iron? translates into great tone. You won?t find this kind of hardware in mass-production amps.

If you are into the Marshall Superlead, Superbass, or Plexi tones, this is the amp. The Ganesha responds to the brand of pre-amp and power amp tubes you select. I have tried JJ pre-amp tubes that had very little gain. The result was a cleaner overdrive tone with lots of power amp mojo. I have also tried high gain Sovtek pre-amp tubes and the Ganesha turned into a gain monster. It will never do ?modern metal? type of gain, but for a fan of 70s, 80s and 90s rock, you have all of the gain you will ever need. Again, the selection of pre-amp and power amp tubes determine the tone you get from this amp.
The sag and wattage controls really work. I can?t describe what the sag control does. You simply have to hear the difference as you dial in more or less sag. When using higher gain pre-amp tubes, the difference is striking. Personally, I prefer very little sag. Again, try it and see what it does. The wattage control allows you to get working power amp tone at reasonable volumes. It literally sounds like a cranked amp at much lower volume settings. Mind you, I?m not saying the amp sounds ?cranked? at conversational volumes. It does not. I doubt that any amp can do that because of the fact that the speakers simply aren?t being pushed at all. Instead, I?m saying that the amp sounds great at lower volumes. With the wattage set at 4 or above, I can get great tone and live to tell about it. For times when a loud amp (and 4 is loud) isn?t going to work, an attenuator can knock it down to late night levels. If you?re not into attenuators, try the effects loop. It can be configured as a master volume and can even add more gain if necessary.
In short, using the many controls the amp offers and the right pre-amp and power amp tubes, you can get the Marshall-type tone you?re after at family friendly volumes.

No problems yet in the six months I have had it.

Dave Zimmerman, the designer and builder of the Ganesha is available via telephone and email for any necessary support. I can?t say enough about the support he provided to me. I had a couple of very minor issues with the amp after it arrived and Dave responded immediately. He went above and beyond the call of duty to make me a happy customer.

If you get an opportunity to play a Ganesha, please do. Given the many features of the amp, and the great and varied tones it is capable of, I can only give it a rating of 10. I have owned many other boutique amps and this is the first one that sounded fantastic at reasonable volumes. The others only sounded great at high (unreasonable) volumes. If you?re into Marshall tone, and you?re looking for a high quality, feature-rich amp that won?t destroy your ears, you must try a Ganesha.

Mthis summer, and its the most versatile amp I've have ever played. FX loop can be used as a 2nd channel, lots of speaker inputs, Wattage and sag controls are the features I've been needing forever. Amazing 100 watt all tube head that turns down to one watt and still sounds great. Playing with different tubes is a blast, I can easily A/B each pair for differences.

So quiet when turned on that you don't know its on except for the light, even with the Wattage cranked full tilt, best clean I've ever from a plexi style amp and the sag control brings is way beyond your typical distortion.

Can't say, so far it is a tank and plays like one.

Easy to deal with, 5 year warranty, has to be serviced at factory, but don't think I'll be needing to.

Great Amp!

Not sure when it was built, but it's a prototype of the current production head. It has brown tolex covering. It's also HUGE and very heavy. It has a footswitchable FX loop and power amp boost. (Production models have a preamp boost instead). The amp has more than enough power and can use a variety of power and preamp tubes.

I use mostly humbucker or P-90 loaded guitars with this amp. It's perfect for the type of music I play which is based on more classic rock tones. The amp is very quiet even at high settings and will tell you alot about the guitars and effects you plug into it.

The amp came loaded with JJ E34L's and Sovtek 12AX7LP's. While the sound with the stock tubes was very good, it seemed to be lacking something. First I replaced the preamp tubes with a mix of Telefunken, Mullard and Amperex tubes and noticed a huge improvement in the sound. The Sovteks were a little brittle on the top end, where as the vintage tubes smoothed the top end very nicely. The vintage tubes also added conciderably more gain, which I loved.

Next, I swapped the stock power tubes for 2 used Mullard EL34's and 2 used GEC KT66's. What a difference. The amp seemed to take on a completely different character. The Mullards gave the amp a very pronounced grind, with focused mids, while the KT66's handled the top and bottom beautifully. It's nice that you can use tube combinations in this amp. It really makes it that much more versitile. This combo of power tubes and preamp tubes is incredible. The amp sings like, dare I say it, a Trainwreck Express. Especially when you use the FX loop for additional drive. I only use a Boss SD-1 and sometimes a wah or chorus pedal so, I don't need to use the loop for effects. It's nice that Dave added the provision to use the loop for added drive. By using the footswitch, it's like having a 2 channel amp. I can't wait to get a production version, which will give me more options; Normal, Preamp boosted, FX Loop drive with or without the preamp boosted. It's gonna be some serious fun.

The distortion is everything from classic plexi, to modded Marshall mayhem. Also, by using different power tubes, you can completely change the character of the amp.

Dave builds these like brick shithouses surrounded by balistic missiles. I don't think it will breakdown. I always have spares though.

First let me say that, I don't own this amp. It's a loaner. Dave ran into me at an amp post and offered to send me the amp to try out. It's been 2 1/2 months so far and I'm loving it. Dave answers emails and calls very promptly and is extremely helpful in helping to get me the tones I'm seeking. He's an A+ guy and I hope to have a long relationship with him and his amps.

I've been playing for over 30 years. I own ESP, Schecter, Warmoth, Gibson, Ibanez and Taylor guitars. My amps include, Marshall JCM 800, Vox AC15, VHT Pittbull 45, Roland JC120 and a Bruno Bull Dog 45. The Ganesha is in a class by itself. It doesn't sound like any of my other amps and thats a good thing. I plan on using Maven Peals in the studio and live. I'm currently using the Ganesha and VHT together and the sound is insane. If Dave would build a EL84 based amp that had the features of the Ganesha, I'd use that instead of the VHT. HMMM, perhaps I should give Dave a call on that.

One of the first large Ganesha's (brown tolex) with very cool FX loop and very cool biasing. SIMPLY THE MOST VERSATILE AMP ON THE PLANET. You can use different tubes, and then bias them, one by one by yourself from the back panel in about three minutes. You can select between two different sets of tubes by flipping a switch. The FX loop can be easily turned off, has three differnt "modes", including a master volume for "bedroom quiet." But the Wattage control takes care of all other real situations, like playing in a band, recording in the studio or practicing in the basement. Sag control is amazing. I didn't know what power amp distortion really was until I used this knob because I could very rarely crank any of the amps I've owned, and when I could, it was only for a few miliseconds (or so it seemed). If you have never used the Sag control,you havn't ever played a real amplifier. AMAZING SHIT!!! You get all the tone and feel of blasting 100 watts at amazingly quiet levels. GUITARISTS UNITE! WE NO LONGER HAVE TO DAMAGE OUR HEARING TO ENJOY GREAT TONE!!!!!!

Have tried a handful of guitars, and the Ganesha is completely unforgiving. If the guitar sucks, the tone sucks, period. If your guitar screams, your tone screams. NOT NOISY AT ALL, NOT EVEN CRANKED TO 100 WATTS. Again, AMAZING. Have played many high end boutique amps, nothing comes close to the quietitude of this amp. The Ganehsa makes a wider range of tones than any other amp I've played simply because of the Sag control. If an amp doesn't have the Sag control, it's stuck, pure and simple. Sag control opens up tonale possibilities like no other amp---it can be cleaner than any clean I've heard or more distorted than any other amp i've heard. All depends on how I set the dials.

Have had it for about six weeks. Built like a tank. With MP's rep for service, I'm very happy with my investment.

Have been talking to Dave for about 12 weeks. Very busy man but a very kind and helpful guy, works up until 11:00 PM EST to keep up with west coasters (I actually caught him at 11:15 one night!). Warranty is for five years.

Been playing for 20 years or more in and out of bands, studios and clubs. Tried a slew of expensive amps (Komet, Carlson, Aiken, /13, Carr, London Power, Rocaforte and a goodly number of vintage prizes),and while they all sound and felt great, not one of them justified the price because they're all the same old thing. Only the Ganesha justifies the price because it sounds and feels amazing, AND gives more control and tonal range than any other amp on the planet. Keep an eye on Maven Peal they're the only company with anything new to offer.If they had stock, I'd buy it. I don't know why anyone would consider any other amp after expericning this one.

Very cool plexi style one to one hundred watt head that gives amazingly cranked tones at very low volumes (although not as quiet as my Hotplate, but sounding oh soooo much better). FX loop is gives different flavors of gain, acts like a second channel and is easily turned off for authentic plexi tones (again at loud or quiet volumes). Very very cool back panel biasing system (BiaSmart) lets me easily bias each tube (I did need to buy my own voltage meter, but it was only $40 and well worth the investment), so I can now easily experiment with different tubes and tube combinations without needing a tech or even taking the amp apart.

Authentic vintage plexi and much more, again at both loud and quiet volumes, (which really was kind of strange at first). I'm easily getting sweet singing killer sustain at one watt. With the naked 2x12 cab loaded with G12Hs, even I sound like a guitar god, and for the first time, my family agrees! (mainly because I'm not blasting them out of the house anymore).

Have had my Ganesha about five months. No problems to date, but if I had any, I'm sure it would be taken care of from what I've heard.

The amp and cab arrived as promised and on time in perfect condition in the a maroon flight cases, which Maven Peal had UPS pick up two days later. Very smooth purchase.

An outstanding amplifier. I am really having fun with it (and I find it hard to believe that my family is too). My wife loves the naked pine, which I'm allowed to keep in the family room, and I can twiddle and sustain away without pissing everybody off, the kids aren't scattering when I plug in. Very cool concept. Unless you're playing out in large arenas, I doubt you're enjoying the tones I am in my living room, and I'm not deafening myself in the process!

Made in 2003. Plexi based with Sag Circuit produces tones identical to my plexi (which I no longer will use and most likely sell) because I don't have to blast the Ganesha to get them. I can get more high gain tones as well. Has bypassable effects loop that I can use for as different channel. Very very cool external biasing system makes switching tubes without removing the chassis simple. The only thing this head doesn't have is reverb.

Excellent. When I first turned it on, I didn't think it was, it was so quiet. But with a touch of the strings, away I went. This is a great sounding plexi and much more. I'm really getting loud tones at reasonable volumes. It has an incredible openess and dynamic range that I can't describe. Very touch senstive at low volumes, which takes a little getting used to.

Just had it over three months. Works great.

David Zimmerman is a great guy. I understand Maven Peal will go out of their way for you. I'm glad that I haven't had to ask them to.

I've been playing for over 25 years and have never enjoyed these tones at these volumes. No attenuator (and I played most of them) come close. This amp is not only a crowd pleaser, my wife likes it too, mostly because she can talk on the phone in the next room now while I'm playing. I imagine if I were still playing with my band, they would like me a lot better with my Ganesha too.

Wattage Control - You truly can get the sound of overdriven output tubes (4 EL34's) at any volume, anywhere from 1 to 100 watts. This is essential for those of us who don't play in colliseums.

Sag Control - I love this. You can set the power supply sag to match that of any other amp out there, and then some. The fixed bias makes this feature a lot more pronounced than on the Zeeta.

DualQuadFX - I don't use this feature, but it has to be the best effects loop out there with 12AX7's for both send and return. There also is a tone control and levels for mixing wet and dry. Check the website to see what else this can do.

BiasSmart - I biased my own amp in about 3 minutes without having to worry about having matched tubes or putting my amp back together. You have to wonder why this has never been done before.

General Features - This amp is similar to a Plexi with a permanent jumper between the normal and bright channels. The Ganesha adds a couple of pull pots to alter the brightness and one to alter the tightness of the bottom end. It also includes switches for both a preamp and a power amp boost. You should be able dial in whatever sound you are looking for.

It's serious crunch time with this thing. The bass is deep, powerful and articulate. The highs are off the scale. Just like the old Plexi's, placing the right pedal in front of this amp will create that magical combination of odd and even order distortion that just can't be emulated any other way. But unlike the old Plexi's, modern technology and the highest quality components take this amp to the next level. I don't know if God plays guitar, but if he does, this would be the amp.

I have only had it a short time, but I am not worried. When you see the massive torroidal transformer, you will realize just how overbuilt this thing is. Always keep some extra tubes and an ammeter with you, just in case. Remember, this amp can be biased on the fly.

I got the first Ganesha to ship out, so there were a few birth pains. I worked personally with David Zimmerman, the owner and designer, on several occasions. He is a great guy who will do what it takes to keep his customers happy.

It makes me mad when I realize how much time I have wasted playing on equipment that just doesn't have the magic. And don't get me started on modeling amps. I know, it is a lot of money to spend, but hearing is believing. Rock & Roll is as much about tone as talent. The Ganesha will take care of the tone. The rest is up to you.