Marshall VS100 vs Uber-expensive rig live

[jgcable]

Here was the shootout live at a large club. Both amps were mic'd. Club was packed. Band was playing 80's and 90's metal.

Guitar player 1

Marshall VS100 head and a Peavey Sheffield equipd 4 x 12 slant cab. Delay and volume pedal in the loop.
For you newbs.. the VS100 is an el-cheap solid state Marshall head from the early 90's.
Its regarded as a nice sounding budget Marshall and a cheap inexpensive amp head.
This guy was the rhythm player. He was a good solid player.

Guitar player 2

Full rack system. Marshall 9200, TC Electronics G Major, Marshall JMP1, Rocktron intellifex, rack mount Parametric EQ, and a Boss GT10 on the floor.
He was using the 4 cable method and switching between the Boss GT10 and the JMP1. It was a very slick set up. He was also using a Marshall slant 4 x 12 cab.
This guy new his stuff, he was a great player and he had the tones dialed in perfectly for ever song and every solo.

In cost... I would say the VS100 rig topped out at about $450.00 used.
The Marshall 9200 rig was easily $3000.00

The VS100 shit all over the rack system.
It had more presence, it cut through better, it was clearer and it just overall sounded better.

You don't need alot of gear or money to get good sound live.

[markD]

i am not surprised. i know my rig sounds WAY better when i just plug straight into the head. being a one-player band that has a lot of progressive elements kind of sucks because i now need effects that i would never have used before. everything still sounds really good, it is just better with no frills....guitar, cable, amp, cab.

regarding the VS-100....that little amp is a BEAST!!! i got that 3203 from you and it was really sweet, but the VS-100 still ate that thing for lunch in my opinion. i have to get me one of those again, hahaha....

[jgcable]

i am not surprised. i know my rig sounds WAY better when i just plug straight into the head. being a one-player band that has a lot of progressive elements kind of sucks because i now need effects that i would never have used before. everything still sounds really good, it is just better with no frills....guitar, cable, amp, cab.

regarding the VS-100....that little amp is a BEAST!!! i got that 3203 from you and it was really sweet, but the VS-100 still ate that thing for lunch in my opinion. i have to get me one of those again, hahaha....

Yea Mark, that 3203 Artist was a sweety. You gotta hear this Marshall 5213 100w Mosfet 2 x 12 combo I just got. The industry calls it a Split Channel Marshall. Its a 1989 but the board is stamped 1987. This amp rips bigtime. You would never think this amp doesn't have tube in it. It has V30's in it and it kills bugs dead. Straight up high gain Marshall tone. One of the better sounding Marshall amps I have owned and believe me, I have owned almost every one of them.
I owned a few VS100's over the years. I gigged with one for almost a year. Great sounding amp. Makes you wonder whats so great about tubes.

[markD]

i have always liked marshall's valvestate and mosfet amps. i bet that 5213 IS cool. i like the regular marshall "lead mosfet 100" also. some people think i am crazy. i always liked them because they had just enough more gain than the tube heads.

i agree, though, with the way marshall handled SS/hybrid technology in the late 80's-early 90's, what IS so great about tubes? too bad more SS/hybrid companies couldn't get it as right as marshall. then and again, i bet marshall got it so right because during that time period there was that BIG scare about tubes going totally out-of-production....

[horns666]

this is crazy talk..

I'll never forget when my bud in that VH band refused to carry his Peavey 120/120 with JMP-1 because it was too heavy. He always sounded incredible. So he bought a VS poweramp..and that was the last I heard him on stage. Just fizzy incoherent noise blowing out of the moniter.

Cool..ummm no thanks. I'll keep my wall of sonic boom of doom! When you know you have the best..there's no second guess.

[horns666]

This is prolly a perfect example of it's not the gear..it's the player.

But John knows that. Switch gear, dial at home..then try again.

[markD]

this is crazy talk..

I'll never forget when my bud in that VH band refused to carry his Peavey 120/120 with JMP-1 because it was too heavy. He always sounded incredible. So he bought a VS poweramp..and that was the last I heard him on stage. Just fizzy incoherent noise blowing out of the moniter.

Cool..ummm no thanks. I'll keep my wall of sonic boom of doom! When you know you have the best..there's no second guess.

oh, i agree about the 80/80 power amp. total shit. go figure. i used one with my MP-1 rack. tried one show with it and that was it. moved on to a peavy classic 50/50 - which was better - then upgraded to a rivera hammer 120 - which is like a total sledgehammer!!!!

there is no second guess with my rig either. i have been a proud rivera user since 1990. my S120 head has played hundreds (maybe even a little more than a thousand) of shows in that period of time and just keeps on going - AND giving me the tone i have always wanted.

[Corpsegrinder88]

I acutally have 2 of these VS100 amps i picked up 2 full stacks few years ago. ive always like em for solid state punch. Wayne static used for awhile didnt he?

I just picked up a magazine called rigs of the superstars i think,. shows basic setup rig for alot fo guitar players and then it shows there "Main" rig. which i use loosely because they showed Edges rig and it was missing LOTS

but good news is Santanas rig is only 51,000 dollars!

[Rich#6]

years ago I had a marshall vs8100 and I used a stock model 6 and the other guy had an ibanez s470 and a 5150 stack. My tone just killed his and that was according to him and he is a much better player than I am. It was in a basement so we were not cranked-the Marshall does turn to shit past a point. I'm still kicking myself for selling that head a few years ago.

[Twitch]

I acutally have 2 of these VS100 amps i picked up 2 full stacks few years ago. ive always like em for solid state punch. Wayne static used for awhile didnt he?

I just picked up a magazine called rigs of the superstars i think,. shows basic setup rig for alot fo guitar players and then it shows there "Main" rig. which i use loosely because they showed Edges rig and it was missing LOTS

but good news is Santanas rig is only 51,000 dollars!

Believe it or not, it was the MG100HDFX that Wayne used. His argument was they sounded good and if he blew one he could just run to the closest big box guitar store and buy a new at any time.

[jgcable]

this is crazy talk..

I'll never forget when my bud in that VH band refused to carry his Peavey 120/120 with JMP-1 because it was too heavy. He always sounded incredible. So he bought a VS poweramp..and that was the last I heard him on stage. Just fizzy incoherent noise blowing out of the moniter.

Cool..ummm no thanks. I'll keep my wall of sonic boom of doom! When you know you have the best..there's no second guess.

Hey Bill, the VS100 is that little SS 100w Marshall head.
My point in the thread that less is most of the time more when playing live. Guys show up with these incredibly complicated rigs of doom and they just don't sound that great live because of mismatches or just too much schmutz!!
I thought it was interesting that a basic el-cheapo SS Marshall 1/2 stack could smoke a complicated high dollar rig live. It did. I was there.

[horns666]

Well played guys. Do ya know that the VS8100 and 8200 is and always will be Glen Drover, Andy LaRoque, Mike Wead, ande late Chuck Shuldiner's weapon of choice.. They've played other various Marshalls especially live. They do rip! I do like them. But IMO I dial in a fuller version of THAT sound with my 9200/JMP-1.

Same preamp tone but with 200 watts of 5881s drivin' it. Makes sense. Much like Mark's and my old friend example. It's a given really..especially loud.

Glen got his EXACT Marshall VS studio tone by plugging his $40 Boss SD-1 into John's Space Shuttle CAE/VHT rig. Prolly a bigger version of it because there's a VHT2150 pushing a stomp box. That tone ..or most of it is in Glen's hands. Just like Jeff Loomis..he can plug his TS-9 into any amp and sound exactly like him..makes sense. So it's really a good idea to take your sound in a box with you . Especially for guys like me that plug int a Dr Z. Amazing amps,but I can't 'em without a stomp in front. That's why Mike (DR Z) always had a TS-9 , Strat, and LP to demo his amps at his shop.

[horns666]

Hey Bill, the VS100 is that little SS 100w Marshall head.
My point in the thread that less is most of the time more when playing live. Guys show up with these incredibly complicated rigs of doom and they just don't sound that great live because of mismatches or just too much schmutz!!
I thought it was interesting that a basic el-cheapo SS Marshall 1/2 stack could smoke a complicated high dollar rig live. It did. I was there.

No John..those are cool. I'm talking about a night and day difference from running a tube Peavey 120/120 in stereo..to a Marshall SS 80/80 in stereo. That went from ball chatterin' 240 watts of tube that you could feel to 160 watts of incoherent SS white noise. This experience was from that VH band..when you Runnin' at loud volumes over a loud drummer. My Carvin bass stack was always cranked, and never in the monitor. When you're on stage ..your standing on whatever key i'm in. My old silly ass VH guitarist would always be looking at me with a puzzled look..and I'd be laughin'..always sayin'.."yeah, you're fuggin' up again". Then he'd jump back on track. So to be heard on stage is most important IMO. I always required to hear the guitars and voclas, and I'm deaf. The Bass and drums are up everyone's ass. So I demanded that the guitars and vocals were the exact levels. I want it to sound like the record on stage...and at practrice. That's were you find the rig required to do the best job possible. Taste is subjective..volume is not.

Your rig should be at least 25% of a 4 piece band. So I like to have 100% on tap.

Love,

Billz

[Axegrinder87]

I've had my VS100R for many years. Amazing sound. Can do metal with no problem. I've had some quality issues however, but I believe it's just bad luck on my part. I rarely use it anymore, but have had a friend play it along with me on my Spider Valve and it'll hold it's own.

[jgcable]

This is one of my super old threads and I am reviving it. I still have 2 of the VS100H heads. My 80's arena rock metal band rehearses every week. The other guitar player uses an 8100 through a crappy Marshall 4 x 12 and I use the VS100H through a crappy Line 6 4 x 12. Our sound at rehearsal is awesome. We have even done gigs using both of my VS100H heads through some random 2 x 12 cabs. These amps are great. They sound like a Marshall should sound like, they are 3 channels and they have all the features you would need to gig. They are also extremely powerful.
Anyway.... they are great and every time one comes up for sale locally I buy it. I have never paid more than $100 for one and considering I have been using them since they first came out and I have NEVER had a single issue with any of them... I would say they are gig worthy!!!