Marshall Haze 40 Guitar Combo Amplifier (40 Watts, 1x12 in.)

Manufacturer's Description for Marshall MHZ40C Haze Guitar Combo Amplifier (40 Watts, 1x12 in.)

If anybody understands what it takes to make an amp for the gigging musician, it's Marshall. Sure, the Marshall stack is a mainstay on the big arena tours, but we're talking about the everyday rocker; Joe Six-string grinding his way through the local club scene. He puts his heart and soul into every show, often for little more than a couple of drink tickets and a few new names on the fan list. He needs an amp that works just as hard. Marshall's new Haze series was built with Joe in mind.

Marshall Haze 40: Marshall calls 'em Valves

For most guitarists, there's just no substitute for tube tone. Haze amps deliver plenty of it. This Haze 40 combo has a pair of EL34's in the power section, backing your riffs with 40 watts of pure tube goodness. It's all pushed through a 12-inch Celestion Marquee speaker, custom voiced for Haze-series amps. Is there any sweeter combination in rock than Marshall and Celestion?

Top-Loaded Controls and Tons of Tone on the Marshall Haze 40

The Haze 40 is a two-channel amp with plenty of tonal variation. On the clean channel, you get lots of sparkle at low volume, and it breaks up just like you want it to when you push the gain. At about 1/3rd of the way up, you're getting some nice throaty growl. Take it up to 2/3rds, and you can chug-a-chug your way through the nastiest rhythm lines all night long. Dime it out, and hold on to your butt! The tone is nice and meaty without going too far over the top. (That's what the other channel is for!)

For a little extra spank on your clean tone, engage the bright switch. Be careful if you're using single coils; you don't want to get too thin. You can always kick on the channel boost and fatten up the tone a bit. The boost is also great for adding a little extra "oomph" to your overdrive to cut through the mix.

When it's time to play dirty, stomp on the distortion channel and let the legendary Marshall roar hit you like a brick. Use the gain control to dial in the right amount of grit and the master volume to set the proper level. This lets you get all the grind and squeal you want without having to shatter eardrums (unless you want to). This channel has a dedicated boost too, which is just what you need for your solos. You're rocking along with the band and everything is perfectly blended, then you engage the boost and your lead line floats up above the rhythm like the proverbial phoenix rising from the ashes. The three-band EQ and presence control gives even more tone shaping options.

Onboard Effects (Or Not) With the Marshall Haze 40

If this were just another (super awesome) tube amp, we could stop right here, but Marshall gives you so much more. They've paired the sweet tube tone with some killer effects to bring a full palette of colors and textures to the party. The emulated spring reverb has a dedicated level control, adding anything from subtle dynamics to cave-like depth. It sounds fantastic on both channels. No other controls are needed; crank it all the way to the left to turn it off, or back to the right depending on how much 'verb you need.

The Effect button is used to pick from one of three options, each with it's own corresponding color. Press it once and the light turns green, bringing the echo of your dreams to life. The Effect Depth knob lets you set the amount of echo blended into your signal path, and the Adjust knob controls the delay speed. Get super spacey bounce, or dial up some subtle slapback. Press the Effect button again, and you're seeing orange and hearing a nice, washy tremolo. Again, dial in the intensity and frequency with the control knobs to go from surf to chop. Finally, press the Effect button again and you're in the red, with a killer chorus. Sweep from light ambiance to an extreme, almost out of tune character until you've found the proper thickness. Even better, the effect settings are stored for each channel. Dial up a chorus for the clean channel, and when you switch over for your lead that nice tailing delay is right there with you!

For those of you who want nothing to come between you and your tubes, Marshall included true bypass switching to cut the effects altogether. There's also an onboard effects loop ready to handle your favorite pedalboard setup. The Haze 40 comes with a two-button footswitch for changing channels and bringing the effects in or out, or you can add the four-way footpedal (see the related accessories) to change channels, toggle the boost, and handle the effects. Less back and forth to fiddle with your amp means more face time with your fans!

zZounds Expert Marshall Haze 40 Combo Review

At two feet wide by just over a foot and a half tall, the Haze 40 is fairly typical of Marshall's 1x12 tube combo amps. The grille cloth is a little lighter in color than the usual "how much more black" found on their other amps, and I liked the distinctive style.

The rear panel has four custom-tuned ports to let some frequencies through, allowing the amp to be more efficient while still maintaining its closed-back character. The Celestion Marquee speaker is well matched with the power section, and delivers the signature Marshall midrange growl.

At The Helm

The control panel is similar to most two-channel tube amps, with a single volume knob for the clean (Normal) channel and gain and volume knobs for the overdrive (Overdrive) channel. Each channel has a dedicated Boost switch, but the Bright switch and three-band EQ (plus Presence) are shared for both channels. If you set your tone stack up radically differently from one channel to the next, this could be a problem. I was able to find an acceptable middle ground, though. Marshall includes a two-button footswitch to handle channel switching and effects on/off (more on that in a minute), but the optional four-button PEDL10049 controller can toggle the Boost (Overdrive only, unfortunately) and/or the Reverb.

As if the tube tone wasn't enough, the Haze 40 comes with some nice digital effects that complement the bluesy rock vibe nicely. We're not talking some sort of complicated kitchen-sink multieffects processor, but rather a few tasty textures to add some quick and easy tonal variety. A single button cycles through Echo, Vibe(rato), and Chorus settings, with dedicated knobs for depth/level and delay time/modulation speed.

I thought the effects sounded nice, but didn't like that you have to cycle through each effect in order to get to the one you want. Switching from Echo to Chorus, for example, means engaging the Vibe on your way by. It's really only a problem if you're wanting to change effects in the middle of a song. Your effects settings are saved from channel to channel, so this is sort of a workaround. You can set a nice chorus on the clean and a silky echo on your boosted overdrive with no vibrato in the way. One thing to note: the depth and modulation settings are also saved, so the actual knob positions may not accurately reflect what's really happening. Not a huge deal, but something to keep in mind.

The Haze 40 also has a reverb that's saved per channel. It's a little thinner than I'm used to; even with the knob dimed the tone was sounding kind of dry. If the effects and reverb aren't your thing, the control knobs have an Off position to provide an all-tube signal path. Plus, this amp has an effects loop to get your pedalboard in the mix.

Channel Surfing

As you would expect with an amp called Haze, the MHZ40C has a definite Hendrix vibe. A healthy range of rock and blues tones can be coaxed from the two channels, and while the boost gain is fixed, it gives a nice push when you need it. It may be a Marshall, but I wouldn't recommend this amp to the heaviest of metalheads out there unless you've got some pedals to define your tone. To my ears, the dirty channel isn't quite evil enough to get those sounds on its own.

The clean channel sounded very nice, with ample headroom and a nice breakup when pushed hard. I was reminded of the gritty rhythm tone common on Tom Petty songs. Adding boost and rolling off my guitar volume produced a sweet, thick sound perfect for copping Wes Montgomery's jazz licks.

The Overdrive channel had that Marshally midrange throatiness with nice sustain. Digging into power chords was fun, and the tone remained legible even with a lot of gain.

On the downside, there was a noticeable (though brief) delay when changing channels. If you need to change channels at a critical point in a song it could be troublesome, but if you can pause for a beat before kicking into overdrive, you should be ok. I've noticed this same kind of thing with other amps, so if you're familiar with the phenomenon, you should know what to expect.

Overall

In general, I was pleased with this two-channel combo. It didn't take much effort to get a good rock tone, and the digital effects were totally useable, if a little awkward to navigate through. I would have liked a dedicated per-channel EQ and more precise channel switching, but for a mid-priced tube combo, the Haze 40 is a great choice.

zZounds is an authorized dealer of Marshall products.

Specifications
Power (RMS): 40 Watts

Speaker: 1 x 12 inch Celestion G12T-66 Marquee

Speaker Output: 1 x 16 Ohm / 1 x 8 Ohm

Pre-Amp Valves: 3 x ECC83

Power Amp Valves: 2 x EL34

Channels 2

Boost Switch

Bright Switch

Reverb

Effects

2-Button Footswitch (with lead)

Main Guitar - Input Impedance 1M Ohm

Dimensions (W x H x D): 590 x 486 x 254mm

Weight: 20.3 kg