Absolutely excellent amp. Several times, after gigs, guitarists who use Mesa gear have told me that they were surprised a Marshall could sound so heavy. Out of the box, it sounds pretty good for any type of heavy music. Once I teamed up the head with my Marshall pre-amp and a gate, it was exactly what I was looking for.

Standard features - The AVT50 does not have all the bells and whistles that the 150 has. But, if you are more concerned about tone than effects, this shouldn't be a problem.

Very easy to get a good metal tone from this head. The clean channel is pretty much a standard solid-state sound. However, the tube distortion enhances the tone and warmth of the gain channel.

So far, so good. I have heard horror stories about the Marshall MG series stuff. But, this amp has done well and comes with the standard Marshall warranty. I have used various Marshall equipment over the last 10 years and found it to be reliable (especially considering I drag my gear all over the place to gigs, leave it in an unheated practice space, etc.).

Unbeatable price-value relationship. To be honest, I can not bring myself to spend $1500 on a head. While I have heard bands sound absoultely awesome with Mesa and other higher end gear, I have also heard tons of guitarists sound like absolute s*** using amps that cost three times what mine did.

The only time I had a problem with any Marshall equipment, it was 5 years after the warranty expired and I had no issues finding a music store that repairs marshall equipment.

It looks fine and works fine. Good enough for me.

Active Musician

Metal

Can you say Marshall? It's the quintessential tone that you've grown up on, only it's a bit more "sterile" for lack of a better word. It's got the "bite" of Marshall...and the "thump" of Marshall and as long as you don't do anything stoopid with it, it can actually SOUND like a Marshall! I've had mine for about 1 year now and it is head & shoulders above the Carvin SX300 Head I USED to own, I have a Kustom Quad 200 DFX Head as a standby/backup that I haven't even taken out of the box yet, because this amp is so reliable. I love this amp!

The effects loop is decent, and the Emulated Line Out is a little spooky in that it sounds too good! I'm almost waiting for it to fail me in the most crucial of times, but it hasn't yet!

If you know what an amplifier is then you know how to work this one! The sounds it has inside are incredible, imagine if you will being able to conjure up a smooth, buttery, delta blues tone, then changing to a more modern high-gain sound, THEN being able to throw an effect pedal "on" and diving headfirst into reverb-laden, country clean....yup...it's ALL in there. I pride myself on being a blues/rock player with an ear for great tone, believe me when I say, this baby's got it...in a BIG way!!

The housing was a little "light in the a**" for my liking, but it held together after being thrown (accidentally of course!) out of a 2nd floor apartment window in the Bronx, then it got "pulled" when this lady's foot got tangled in the power cord, and aside from the prongs on the power cabel being bent, it worked / sounded fine!

For those of us who cannot afford the $1,5000.00 - $3,000.00 authentic tube Marshall heads, this is a great fill in. It's got the Marshall look, sound, vibe, and most importantly tone! Give this a try if you need an amp for small to medium sized clubs, churches, stages, etc. Pair it with either a 2x12 or 4x12 cab, and you've got yourself one heck of a showstopper!

I say if you've NEVER had to call the Support Team, then they're doing a GREAT job!

This is something every guitarist should have at his disposal, for the price, you can't get a better head, with a better sound inside!

Active Musician

Blues / Rock

I must admit I'm blown away by this thing, a valve state for such a reasonable price. I tried this thing out at one of my local guitar shops, and I've got a couple of words to describe the sound of this thing. Balls to the wall in your face pissed off metal tone.

simplicity is key you dont need a bunch of effects and this amp dosent have them. All I used was the clean channel and the overdrive. The clean is very solid state sounding but thats because theres no tube pre-amp for the clean it's just a solid state channel only the OD channel has a tube pre-amp

simple flick the power switch wait for the tube pre-amp to warm toss her into overdrive and your kickin' ass

I cant really say because I dont own it but I do have a little Marshall ten watt MG that I've been playing through for a year and it sound just fine and has held up extreamly well. So my thought is this thing would handle all the jamming just as well if not better.

I'd say could be a little less expensive it's vavle not stright tube but for what you get I'd have to admit your getting a seriously kick ass deal

I've never had to deal with support for any of the Marshall stuff I use I dont know what to other than they put out a quality product at a reasonable price. Thats why they're THE largest name in amplification today

Hella bad, it's not stright tube but it gives you more than enough tone to work with and it just sounds flat fricking amazing.

Hobbyist, in a band, spare time shredder

80's rock, thrash, deathmetal, grindcore, metalcore, hardcore, Screamo

Better than a lot of cheap solid state amps, but lacks the warmth of real tubes. The single tube is only in the drive channel, so the clean channel sounds just like the MG series.

Decent enough. Two footswitchable channels gives the minimum flexability required to work with the amp. The efects loop is solid and provides a good routing option. Also, It is nice to have a headphone feature on a 50w head.

It's an amp. You turn it on, and turn it up.

Typical marshall build. Particle board head and cab with standard black tolex. I've never had to worry about getting to a gig and it not working. Verry solid, just seems a bit cheaply made.

I wish I had bought a tube combo. I was a little preocupied with, "I need a half stack."

N.A.

It's a marshall, It looks cool.

Recording Engineer, Active Guitar Player

Mostly "indie" style rock with a good mix of blues and jazz