Marshall Valvestate ampifiers

I remember years ago, when I was 17, I fell in love with the idea of getting a Marshall amplifier. My auntie had been to a music fair in the GMEX Centre in Manchester. She brought a load of literature and in it, was a brochure for the full Marshall range. Idrooled and drooled over the pictures and then I looked at the prices. S***! I'll never afford one of them! Finally I feasted my eyes upon the Valvestate range. 'Valve preamp with solid state power amp for that authentic tube sound'. Best of both worlds and half the price. I eventually found a Valvestate 80 amp in the local second hand rag 'LOOT'. I purchased it and with my untrained ear, it sounded great. Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to see the tube preamp glowing, so I took the guts out of it with a screw driver. I did a double take. NO TUBES! Not a sausage! I had been fiddled by my favourite company. I plugged it in, still unbelieving, hoping that I could see a faint glow. 'Maybe they are microtubes and I just can't see them' I thought to myself. But nope. Marshall Valvestate is nothing but a con.

I now swear by Fender amplifiers.

Originally posted by jimslyp69
I remember years ago, when I was 17, I fell in love with the idea of getting a Marshall amplifier. My auntie had been to a music fair in the GMEX Centre in Manchester. She brought a load of literature and in it, was a brochure for the full Marshall range. Idrooled and drooled over the pictures and then I looked at the prices. S***! I'll never afford one of ...[text shortened]... But nope. Marshall Valvestate is nothing but a con.

I now swear by Fender amplifiers.

You can also get small tube preamps now, plug your guitar into that and use it as a line output level and feed that to a main amp, solid state and that can sound like the old tubed Marshals.

Originally posted by sonhouse
You can also get small tube preamps now, plug your guitar into that and use it as a line output level and feed that to a main amp, solid state and that can sound like the old tubed Marshals.

Just been looking on Ebay. They have them for microphones and even headphones!

Originally posted by jimslyp69
Just been looking on Ebay. They have them for microphones and even headphones!

I have a few of them for my little home studio. I didn't have much luck, though. I have a Rode N1000 large diaphragm mic and using the tube amp it was totally silibance laden sound, no settings of gain or 'warmth' helped. I just went back to my Mackie mixer which sounds great.