Picking up my first valve amp today
Discussion
I know the JCM owners will scoff, but its a Marshall MA100 half stack. Quickly got fed up with the crappy, fizzy overdrive on the MG so been scouring the 'bay for something valve powered.
Which leads to my question, Im taking a guitar to test it out - anything I should look out for it doing or not doing?
Cheers gang,
Darren
Which leads to my question, Im taking a guitar to test it out - anything I should look out for it doing or not doing?
Cheers gang,
Darren
It doesn't need to be on standby for long, no longer than it takes to tune your guitar. I find the best way to test is to start with the cleans, then go to OD, then for the fully cranked distortion sound. One of the pecularities of tube amps is that they sound better the longer they've been running, and if the distortion is what you want to hear I'd try and let it warm up for a good 20 minutes while you play the cleans and OD, that way your ears will be fresh to the distortion sound and you'll really get a feel for exactly what it sounds like.
It is a new or used amp? If it's new, the tube will be fresh, and will actually take a little while to bed in, similar to how you'd run an engine in on a new car. If it's used, the tubes could be in any old state, so test all the channels across a range of volumes. Also, as stated, check all the knobs actually work, and don't crackle or hiss when you are turning them.
Also, remember if this your first tube, they do need to be cranked up to work right. You'll probably need to get the output to 4 or higher to hear the "true" tone of the amp. Be sure to test that out because it will be louder than you think and if you live in a flat or whatever you might never get to play it with it working properly.
The Marshall MAs are not bad amps for the price, if you like Marshalls of course. I'm not a big Marshall guy but they still sell to a certain crowd. I'm a big fan of tube amps over solid state. Solid state has it's place, like for playing with headphones on, or if you can't have a loud amp for whatever reason, as they generally work in the opposite fashion of tube amps. Tube amps work best once the output is cranked up a bit, and don't really do their thing properly at low outputs. On the other hand, SS amps generate their tone at any volume, as their computerised tone generation is not affected by the amp output. SS amps do tend to sound fizzy or just downright harsh, and clip more and more as the volumes go up.
It is a new or used amp? If it's new, the tube will be fresh, and will actually take a little while to bed in, similar to how you'd run an engine in on a new car. If it's used, the tubes could be in any old state, so test all the channels across a range of volumes. Also, as stated, check all the knobs actually work, and don't crackle or hiss when you are turning them.
Also, remember if this your first tube, they do need to be cranked up to work right. You'll probably need to get the output to 4 or higher to hear the "true" tone of the amp. Be sure to test that out because it will be louder than you think and if you live in a flat or whatever you might never get to play it with it working properly.
The Marshall MAs are not bad amps for the price, if you like Marshalls of course. I'm not a big Marshall guy but they still sell to a certain crowd. I'm a big fan of tube amps over solid state. Solid state has it's place, like for playing with headphones on, or if you can't have a loud amp for whatever reason, as they generally work in the opposite fashion of tube amps. Tube amps work best once the output is cranked up a bit, and don't really do their thing properly at low outputs. On the other hand, SS amps generate their tone at any volume, as their computerised tone generation is not affected by the amp output. SS amps do tend to sound fizzy or just downright harsh, and clip more and more as the volumes go up.
Mastodon2 said:
It is a new or used amp?
It's a used one described as hardly used, which I can believe as its pristine and the foot switch is still in its packet with the tie around the cable still looking very much like it wasn't done by hand. The bloke said he plays keyboards and tried moving to guitar, bought it on a whim and it was far too loud for his purposes so it never really got played. I played it (somewhat self consciously) for a good half hour up to about 12 or 1 o'clock on the volume and it sounded great. Not a hiss, crackle or pop to be heard. Very pleased.
Mastodon2 said:
I'm not a big Marshall guy but they still sell to a certain crowd.
What are you trying to say??! 
Sounds like it's in working order. If the footswitch was still in it's packets I'd bet the amp itself has probably not even logged 24 hours in use. Expect it to start sounding even better as time goes on! Obviously, tubes don't last forever, and you will need to replace them at some point, but it's not expensive really, nor should it be difficult to find someone to do it.
As for the "certain crowd" comment, don't be offended! Marshalls definitely have a unique tone, they have a characteristic grainy, grittiness, which makes them popular for certain kinds of music. I am pretty picky about what I like in an amp, and while I think a cranked JCM800 or 2000 can be good for an old school death metal-y tone, I like amps with more gain than I could need, as little sag as possible, and a decent sparkle in the tone (Marshalls tend to be quite dark), so that I can go from high gain death metal distortion tone that doesn't flub out on a 7 string, to a bright, gainy OD that let's me do Van Halen style chordal pieces without losing too much note definition.
And I hate open back speaker cabs and combos, give me closed back any day!
As for the "certain crowd" comment, don't be offended! Marshalls definitely have a unique tone, they have a characteristic grainy, grittiness, which makes them popular for certain kinds of music. I am pretty picky about what I like in an amp, and while I think a cranked JCM800 or 2000 can be good for an old school death metal-y tone, I like amps with more gain than I could need, as little sag as possible, and a decent sparkle in the tone (Marshalls tend to be quite dark), so that I can go from high gain death metal distortion tone that doesn't flub out on a 7 string, to a bright, gainy OD that let's me do Van Halen style chordal pieces without losing too much note definition.
And I hate open back speaker cabs and combos, give me closed back any day!
k me its loud at home. 
Attenuators can be a good option for lowering your volume, or at least the point at which the tubes become saturated, for home use. Tone suck is inevitable, like many things in the signal chain it will likely suck some bottom end from your tone, but you can EQ around it to a degree, but you will obviously never get the true, honest tone of the guitar and amp while using one.
One thing I've learned to do in order to get the best from my Peavey 6505+ is watching for my neighbour to take his dog out, then the gloves are off!
One thing I've learned to do in order to get the best from my Peavey 6505+ is watching for my neighbour to take his dog out, then the gloves are off!
LikesBikes said:
Mastodon2 said:
One thing I've learned to do in order to get the best from my Peavey 6505+ is watching for my neighbour to take his dog out, then the gloves are off!
I already know that trick, unfortunately I get carried away and don't realise he's back. His dog isn't very big 
Next door's car is hidden by a hedge, so it's a case of walking up the path, taking a look, if no car then crank it up all the way up to 11
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