Marshall Amps?

I just bought a new amp. It's a Marshall MG50DFX it a serious upgrade from my 10 watt practice amp but the guy at the shop was really pushing the 100 watt amp in the same model. For only 70 dollars more I'm just wondering if I should have took his advice.

well, if you play in a band or you're considering to form one in the near future than you probably should have bought the 100 W version. If not, than you made a right decision, cause that baby is more than a decent amp for practicing at home.:)

Not into MGs myself. The distortion leaves much to be desired. Still, you probably won't need the 100 watt.

I'm a big distortion junkie...so to me, the bigger the better...

I'm a long way from playing in a band, I would like to later on but I have alot to learn first.

Guitarslinger, MGs aren't tube amps so you'll probably get the same amount of distortion with either the 50 or the 100, just the 100 will be louder.

Doz, I've played them both. I know how they sound. I like my distortion louder rather than quieter. I try not to comment about something if i havent a clue what im talking about.

I comment on everything. I just love the sound of my own writing!

Are you saying I don't know what I'm on about GS? I've played MGs aswell... and you just admited in the post that it is just volume differance. If so why didn't you say that in the previous post, that you'r talking volume, not actual distortion level.

Solid State marshalls are crap, especially the 100MG head. If you go for a combo amp, they'll sound slightly better, although they really do rip you off with their crapy speakers... just look at the size of their magnets... what were they thinking?

I'm a fan of Fender's tubed amps, or Messa Boogie. Stick with something small, and 65W should be good. Once you get the ear, start buying tubed amps and follow your heart, they will cost you more, but sound so much better, and be a lot louder then their "equal watt rated" solid state counterparts.

If everything seems liek too much, just trash the place like a real rocker and tell your mom you need new equipment.

Enjoy playing!

no i dont mean to say that you dont know what your talking about. my original comment was my personal opinion about topic....i got slightly annoyed that you would think i would be that ignorant to post something without knowing what i was talking about...and if you didnt mean to come off like that, i'm sorry.

I'm 26 so I think I'm alittle to old for that to work, but thanks for the advice. I do have a rookie question, what is the difference between a solid state amp (which I assume is my amp) and a tubed amp?

I have to agree with GS,I just bought a MG and the distortion is good but I like it loud as well so I use my boss distortion for a little more and I love it!as far as the 100 watts yes I allways wanted one but even when I played my amps were allways miked so it would have been basically for show.

Solid state amps are all transistorized circuitry whereas a 'tube' amp still uses a lot of the 'old fashioned' glass valve technology. In the old days, the early tube amps had to be allowed to cool down before moving them otherwise you might ruin the valves. I don't know if the same holds for the modern tube amps.
Tube amps generally give a warmer, richer tone than solid state.

Probably the most famous example of a tube amp is the old Vox AC 30

The world's best test to see if your amp is a tube amp, "Light it on fire and see if it sounds better!" J/k don't do it. Basicly If you have a standby switch you got a tube amp, most of the time.

Are tube amps more expensive?

Yeah, most of the time they are. The tones you can get with a tube tend to be more desirable amongst guitarists. SS amps often have loads of effects built in, so if you go tube you'll have to also buy pedals. Costly business.

And nah, GS, I just wasn't sure if you were referring to actual volume level of gain level so I wanted to clarify.

Tubed,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valve_amplifier
and
Solid State (SS),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid_state_%28electronics%29

As it has been pointed out, SS will be a lot less money, but for a price of sound(most of the time). It's an opinionated prefrence, where most audiophiles and musicians prefer tubed amps, usually describing them as a "warm" sound. I find I can get a nice round bass and beautiful highs from tubed amps compared to their soilid state offspring.

One thing (which I mentioned quickly before), is the Watt ratings for SS and Tubed are NOT measurements of their voulme.
If you bought a 15Watt Solid state and a 15Watt tubed amp, and turned them all the way up, the Tubed amp would be louder.
For example, my Fender Hot Rod DeVille 410 is given a 60 Watt rating... when I play with a loud drummer, I only need the volume knob between 3 and 4, when I'm alone just under 2. I don't think I've ever cranked it all the way up... yet.

oh and you don't have to ask your parents if you think it's too awkward, ask your significant other, or landlord or... the list can go on and on.

If you think you'll be playing for a long time, for your bnext purchase/upgrade/trade-in, invest in a small tubed amp. Ask a friend for brand names, NOT a salesman/woman.

Absolutely agree with KicknGuitar one that last point. Don't let salespersons have too much of an effect on what you buy. Read about the product online, ask in forums, ask other musicians.

And also, the volume will be a lot louder with Tubes, as was said... but I mean *way* louder in my experience. Also, don't think all tube amps are better than solid state amps, and don't think that there are no good solid state amps. I've heard a few quality solid states.

They arent very much louder anyhow, often it's even better having an amp with a bit lower wattage so you can make the amp sweat a little bit.

OT:
I mean look at Orange's Tiny Terror, 7-15w. I mean it IS loud and with the switch function between the wattage make it easier to adjust maximized volume level. An amplifyer wich 50w doesnt play half as loud as a 100w. THe difference aint that big. To have an amplifyer playing with twice as loud as a 50w you need to multiply the wattage with 10, in other words you need 500 watt to make it twice as loud.

So it aint that much louder.

To be fair tAUG, you're talking about tube amps. The MG is solid state, and although I agree with you a bit - I think that with SS amps you don't really get that same nice sound from pushing it to it's limit like you do with tube amps.

Still though, yeah... it's not like it'll be twice as loud if it's 60watt vs 30watt anyway. Still, it will be louder.

you can always get "mock tube" amps. i have one. my Carvin SX-200C sounds almost as if it were tube. its solid state, but it sounds so bright, almost too bright for me. not to mention it is f***ing loud! i have yet to turn the volume past 2. (and its only 100watts).

I turned my 50 watt Peavey tube amp all the way once in my little studio. I hit one chord and liked to blow my ear drums out. I usually keep it on 3 for practice and my guitars are usually turned pretty low on about 3 or 4, that gives me a real clean tone for what I play, mostly jazz and Praise. If you like to play clean with sweet tone tube amps are the only way to go, and it is my opinion but they are still better with any effects you want to use. They cast more but are worth it in the long run.

Agreed... the sound is so much richer.

What about pedals? Something I haven't looked into at all, what would be a good distortion pedal for my Marshall amp?

Also effects pedals do differnt pedals have differnt effects?

Yeah, different pedals have different effects... some add reverb, some add delay, some add chorus, some give you better EQ control, some do a few things in one. That's loads really.

What sort of music do you play?

rock, blues, not really into metal.

I like 70's rock some of the best music came out of the late 60's and the 70's

pedals are totally a personal preference i think. you'd be better off to go to a guitar shop and try them all.

Yeah, but a good overdrive pedal is the Ibanez Tubescreamer... never heard a bad thing about it. It's technically an overdrive pedal, but that'll suit you. Distortion is more of a metal thing whilst overdrive gives you a rock/classic rock sound. They're both easily confused and sound similar to an untrained ear.

You might make good use of a reverb pedal to give your sound a bit of ambience and to sound more full and but that's up to you really, and I wouldn't put much reverb on so you might consider it a waste of money.

My amp has reverb on it... Do I need a pedal as well?

Ahh, no.. you shouldn't worry about it then. You don't really even *need* reverb... I just think it's suit your type of playing with just a touch of reverb on (and I just mean like... moving the dial to the equivilant of one on a one to ten scale, if not just before one). It'll give you a bit of depth.

No pedals are necessery... but they just give you more options. I've heard it said a few times that the first pedal people get should be an EQ pedal. Like... a 6 band or 10 band EQ (an amp normally has 3: bass, middle, treble and sometimes they have presence which boosts signals above treble). A 6 band could be thought of like this: low bass, high bass, low middle, high middle, low treble, high treble. Nothing official about those names but it just shows you around about what frequancies you'd be messing with.

But as I said, you might not need it.. I'm just passing on information about useful gear.

The reason I ask is I can listen to a piece of music and then play it and I can never get my guitar to match the tone of the one I am listening to. Not a big deal I was just curios, Thanks.

Yeah, try find out what effects and gear they use...then feel free to ask in these forums and I'll try to think of a way to imitate it.

RESURRECTION! well, i found this site
http://www.uberproaudio.com/content/category/6/20/38/

just type in a band or musician and it will have all their guitars, amps, pedals, strings and sometimes pics of their boards. it's awesome.