My guitarist picked one of these up, and it's been a great addition to his tone. We played it side by side with a reissue Marshall 2203 JCM800, and though the sound isn't exactly the same, the tonal character is in the same ballpark, and that's with the stock tubes. I actually hear better sound out of this head then some Marshall users achieve on stage. When we tried this out at the store, even the sales guy was blown away by the sound. It was more natural sounding then the Orange heads we tried next to it which were fuzzy by comparison.

Yeah, getting a good clean sound out of this head takes some work, but we never really do anything with clean guitar sound. If we do, we'll probably be looking at other 2 channel heads.

The only problem we had, was a blown fuse, but that was more than likely due to the power supply of the venue we were playing, other than that, it's run flawlessly. If you want great highgain all-tube overdrive sound that has that Marshall character without having to drop at least a grand, this is definitely one to check out. It has more controls then one really needs, but it sounds great with everything at 12 o'clock, and even better when tweaked from there.

I am getting a very killer early fear factory tone out of mine (Dino used a modded jcm800). First of all, I am using a tuned down (to B standard) EMG 81 equipped Jackson Soloist. I am using a distortion box as a boost into the high gain input with gain on the amp set about halfway or a bit lower. I happen to be using an old proco rat but I got very similar results with a TS. I am also using an eq in the loop to take down some harsh upper mids in the 2 and 4k range. Texture on full AB, presence all the way off, resonance about half, bass 8, mid 4, high 10 and boost off. Crank the master up to 3 or more. The tone is pretty incredible for such a cheap rig and is not muddy at all when set up this way. To get these heavy tones does not require as much gain/distortion as a lot of people think, especially for recording. It did take me awhile to get it dialed in but now I could not be more pleased. It has some cool features such as a switchable effects loop and boost. Of course if you have the $$ go buy a 6505 or Mesa or whatever, but this amp can get really heavy for those of us that don't. I did have a problem with the input jack when I got mine but I took it to a local Peavey authorized repair guy who fixed it under warranty in under an hour. This was MUCH less hassle than shipping it back to MF for an exchange. Okay, time to go jam some more...

All I can say is Wow! What a value a 100 watt tube amp for this price? 1st I dont understand why some are down on this amp. What more can you ask for? Nice tone,plenty of volume and a great price. Yes there is no clean channel you can achive clean sounds by plugging in to the low gain input and turning down the volume on your guitar. This is a great amp for blues,rock and older style metal.I was able to get Zakk Wylde like gain out of this amp by using a Boss SD-1 super overdrive pedal to kick this amp into tone heaven. Great Value get one before they are gone!

I have been playing tube amps for many years and it seems to me that you can't match the sound of tubes.compared to solid state.. I bought this amp to mod.!!!THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY!!!!!(may cause injury and/or DEATH)Please do not do this yourself. With that being said, I changed the 12ax7 preamp tubes with tubes of less gain. It did sound a bit muddy with full gain. After doing all of the mods I wanted to do. It sounds like a vintage amp of the past, a true blues amp. Go to your local music store and try before you buy.

I got this a few days ago. I didn't like the gain although it sounded good online (go figure) the leads were ok but chords were too muddy to be use. I like Satriani, Paul Gilbert 80's metal tones. this sounded too much like the peavey classic amp for my taste. On the upside when I plugged my floor pod plus in the input I got a warm, thick, tone that sounded like a Soldano/Bogner type gain. I couldn't believe how great it sounded. It is loud, with the volume on 3 you could shake the roof. Worth the money, but you'll need a distortion pedal.