Marshall MG10CD Guitar Combo Amplifier (10 Watts, 1x6.5 in.)

Feature:
More than you deserve for $70

Quality:
Truly Marshall

Value:
Best value of all of my equipment

Desirability:
Buy this!

Sound:
Too small to be a "10", but WOW!

Support:
Didn't need any

Overall:
Ok, let's face it - your not going to play a concert hall with a $70 amp - but this amp will have you thinking about it. I've got about every gadget a guitar player or keyboard player could ask for and this thing is by far the best value of them all. I played with it for three hours after I pulled it out of the box. I have played everything I own through it and it handles it all surprizingly well - acoustic, electric, keyboard - even bass, but not as well. Everything sounds clean at volumes that stand up to an un-amplified Drum Kit (don't forget we're talking about a $70 amp here!) The first thing you notice is that it's built like tank and has the classy signature "Marshall" look that every high school guitar player dreams of owning. Then you plug it in and with the first pluck notice that this is not your average portable guitar amp. The clean setting is crisp at very high volumes and the distortion setting has a bassy quality that rivals much larger amps. I can play just about any style of music with it and be happy with the sound. You could probably use it for a gig in a medium sized room or church. Ok, Enough Hype: This is truly a great value. It features a single input with a switch to select between clean and distortion. It has a really neat "CD input" jack that allows you to play along with anything that has a line-level output (including a keyboard or sound module). This is carried through to the headphone port, along with an emulated speaker signal so you can listen with full guitar fuzz. Four knobs allow you to control Volume, Distortion/Gain and Tone. These level controls are very clean - they don't suffer from the adjustment noise that plaque many amps in this price range. Best of all the sound is all "Marshall" - they really hit a homerun with this one. If you play electric guitar, get one of these NOW before Marshall decides to start selling them for what their truly worth - a lot more.

Feature:
It doesn't have a heck of a lot of features, especially for a transistor amp. You get two channels, clean and distortion. That's it. I doubt most people really need more than that, though; this is the purist's practice amp. But it does mean you probably don't want this amp if the Marshall sound isn't what you're after.

Quality:
It seems very solid for the most part. Only thing I'm a little worried about is the carry handle - there is a *lot* of play before it "catches" when you pick it up. I'm used to amps and amp heads with handles that don't have a lot of give. It's probably just paranoia, but it kind of feels like the handle's going to come off whenever I pick this thing up.

Value:
There are cheaper practice amps out there, and I haven't tried them all. Some of them do modeling and have other modes that this amp lacks. But this amp has the Marshall sound. If that's what you want, it's totally worth it.

Desirability:
Honestly, just seeing that big "Marshall" logo on it makes it look good. Those classic Marshall knobs and gold backplate don't hurt its aesthetics either. And it's just so small and cute otherwise. I think it looks great for a practice amp.

Sound:
A bunch of years ago one of my bandmates had a Marshall stack with a tube head. This little amp honestly has that same sound, at least as I remember it. It really does have that Marshall sound. Of course, that means it's not going to appeal to everybody - it's kind of a dirty distortion and a twangy clean. The manual that comes with the amp claims Marshall is using some sort of proprietary technology that forces the preamp to interact with the amp in the same way a tube would. It seems to be more than just a gimmick.

Ease of Use:
It really doesn't get much easier. Power button, overdrive button, tone, volume and gain controls. If you can't work this interface, then you're not ready to own an amp of any kind.

Support:
This is really n/a, but I can't fault Marshall for a service I haven't used, so I'm not taking any points off.

Overall:
If I were going to buy a practice amp again, I might at least *try* some of the other modeling amps in its price range or even cheaper. There are also a couple of cheap practice amps out there that have real tube preamps. But I love the Marshall sound, so it would take a real amp of distinction to beat this thing out for me, and I don't know that there really are any amps like that in this price range.