Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have just purchased a 360/6 and am looking to buy a guitar amp to suit it. Has anyone had experience with the Marshall AVT100X (AU$898) 100 watt combo?
As a bass player I dont want to spend huge dollars on a guitar amp but would like something that compliments the 360. Any suggestions, advice and feedback is appreciated.

Go for a tube amp, it's worth it. I had a Marshall valvestate years ago and wasn't too impressed. Look for a used Fender Blues Jr, or maybe a used VOX AC15. Not sure what those are like price wise where you live, but if they're a bit more it's totally worth it.

A friend has a Marshall amp like that, not sure which one. He absolutely loves it for playing metal, but as a classic rock/blues player I prefer my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe tube amp. Just a matter of preference, really.

that new handwired 1x12 ac15 tb can be had for around $900, it is quite a match. and there is always cheaper side of amp selling on ebay so the search window there is your friend. if you are looking for a small one - any champ, vibrochamp, bronco, etc will do nicely. princeton reverb or ampeg reverb-rocket will fill the bigger ticket. but if i were you i'd look for older super reverb it is easy to service and doesn't go for bunch of $$ and it does it all.

I have a Marshall DSL 401 and a 71 Fender Twin with a RAT pedal. They both sound similar with distortion. The two 12 Twin sounds better and fuller. The Marshall does sound great though. I play a 360/6 and a 660/6.

I think Brett's looking for something around $400-500US, so I still say the AC15 or Blues Jr would be best. The Marshall valvestate's distortion channel is harsh, and the cleans aren't very impressive. I'd steer clear if possible.

The AVT100 is also not totally reliable - they're not terrible given how many must have been made, but they do have a tendency to blow power ICs... it's a single-IC power section with forced fan cooling, which are not known for their reliability in general and especially not if the fan gets full of dirt which it does tend to do, and which also makes the fan annoyingly noisy. The DSP modules also occasionally blow.

They're also not very tough, the AVT30 (something like that) enclosure was pretty weak and was constantly getting dented up. Delicious particleboard.

The advice I would give to anyone wanting to buy a Marshall would be to save your money and get one of the all-tube models. You won't be sorry. The all-tube models will not only have the Marshall sound that you are probably expecting, but they are more reliable, easier to find parts for, and they have good resale value to boot. A good friend of mine once had a Valvestate and he had nothing but trouble with it, and he took pretty good care of his gear.

If you're looking for a Marshall with a good clean sound, I suggest the JCM2000 TSL100. I bought one last year and it's the best sounding amp I have ever owned, and worth every penny. I wish I would have just spent the money and bought an amp like this YEARS ago, instead of messing with low-end stuff that never seemed to quite get the job done.

It just so happens that I also play a 360, and it sounds EXCELLENT through the Marshall. Since you bought a high-end guitar, why detract from it's sound by playing through a low-end amp? Since the 360 wasn't exactly inexpensive, I would save up and buy an amp deserving of it.

I currently have one of these, and it SUCKS. I was playing through it today, and it was just awful. Doesn't give any guitar the sound it's supposed to have. I'm selling it for either a Deluxe Reverb, a Twin or a Tweed Deluxe (all reissues).

JakeK wrote:I currently have one of these, and it SUCKS. I was playing through it today, and it was just awful. Doesn't give any guitar the sound it's supposed to have. I'm selling it for either a Deluxe Reverb, a Twin or a Tweed Deluxe (all reissues).

Are you referring to the AVT100 or the JCM2000 TSL100 that I mentioned in my post?

AVT100. I love the all-tube Marshall amps. They're as good as Marshall amps get!

JakeK wrote:AVT100. I love the all-tube Marshall amps. They're as good as Marshall amps get!

You are right about that!

brian_l wrote:

JakeK wrote:AVT100. I love the all-tube Marshall amps. They're as good as Marshall amps get!

You are right about that!

Hmmm... I don't really agree.

The REISSUE amps are about as good as Marshall amps get - both the Hand-Wired series and the standard reissues, but the 'modern' JCM2000 DSL/TSL series (and the older JCM900s and especially the JTM30/60/JCM600s) definitely aren't. They all have reliability problems which are at least as common as the Valvestates, and can be more difficult and expensive to fix.

Example: in the last couple of months alone I've had three TSLs and a DSL to repair with one of the worst common issues - PCB arcing. This occurs where traces and/or components are too close together and the voltage will jump across, burning the board and making repair quite tricky, because you must cut out all the carbonization (or it will occur again) and bridge the burnt trace in some cases. The usual place is below the tips of the metal standoff legs of the screen resistors, which are ridiculously close to the filament supply trace - pure bad design, although easy to fix by bending the legs out of the way if you catch it BEFORE it causes an arc (I do this as a matter of course on any 2000-series I service), but there are other places where I've seen it too. There are also other issues with ****** pots, bad contacts in the speaker jacks (it's always best to use the 16-ohm output on these amps if you have the option because it avoids another design fault where the current to the 4/8-ohm jacks is fed through the switch contact in the 16), overheating bridge rectifiers (particularly in the DSL combos), and so on... and all modern Marshalls (including the reissues and even the HWs, sadly) seem to have a bit of a tendency to blow transformers.

They're not TERRIBLE amps, but they are certainly not perfect and seem to have many more issues than the older amps did, if well maintained. The JCM800s in particular are almost bombproof and really are some of the best amps ever made by any company.

Not trying to upset anyone, just my practical experience as an amp tech. You may also find some techs don't like to work on them, since they are not 'traditionally' built and look more awkward than they actually are with a little experience.

The really good news is that I have yet to see a single problem with the newest (Vintage-Modern and JVM series), although that may be because I don't work for a Marshall dealership and Marshall's warranty is very good - but they do look slightly better built from the pics I've seen.

BlueAngel wrote: They're not TERRIBLE amps, but they are certainly not perfect and seem to have many more issues than the older amps did, if well maintained.

This seems to be the case with almost all modern-day tube amps from the most famous companies of yore. (Vox, Fender, Marshall, etc.)