Getting a good sound out of Marshall Amp

[Pinchy]

Hi, i'm new to the whole guitar thing (about a month) and i'm stumped on how to get a good sound out of my amp. I have a Marshall Valvestate 80V and all these mid, reverb, bass, treble and countour knobs are confusing me. I recently had a decent sound but i messed with the knobs and now i'm lost . Are there any guides out there that have templates for different sounds by indicating what each knob should be set on from 1 to 10?

A lot of the time my sounds are muffled, but i'm also sure that this comes from my playing style. I'm not very good and my inexperience is probably causing that. Any guides to setting up my amp for certain sounds would be helpful as well as any general tips or a push in the right direction.

Thanks in advance

[Manic]

I might start with all your EQ knobs at 12:00, then turn each one a listen to the results. One guys good tone is another guys bad tone. Adjust to Your tastes.

[hellwood]

i would start with bass, treble, and mids all the way up! if it sounds like shards of glass in your ears, turn the treble down. if it sounds flabby, turn the bass down. typically, tone knobs are tone removers. the reverb is to simulate a room size. if you are in a tiny room, turn it up. if you are playing in the grand canyon, i doubt youll need any reverb. as far as contour, you are on your own! good luck pal!

[mykey]

whoops, should have bought an all tube master volume model Marshall, oh well live and learn.

[Chris - CMW amps]

A good sounding Marshall?

About any pre '69 one and some late 70s JMP 2203s

[tele_guitarist]

Hi, i'm new to the whole guitar thing (about a month) and i'm stumped on how to get a good sound out of my amp. I have a Marshall Valvestate 80V and all these mid, reverb, bass, treble and countour knobs are confusing me. I recently had a decent sound but i messed with the knobs and now i'm lost . Are there any guides out there that have templates for different sounds by indicating what each knob should be set on from 1 to 10?

A lot of the time my sounds are muffled, but i'm also sure that this comes from my playing style. I'm not very good and my inexperience is probably causing that. Any guides to setting up my amp for certain sounds would be helpful as well as any general tips or a push in the right direction.

Thanks in advance

Honestly, your asking the wrong forum about such a question. You want to ask around on a forum such as harmony central.com or the like.

The amp you have is JUST FINE for your needs at this stage. When you become more experienced, then you should contemplate on buying a tube amp or something else.

Basically, your unhappiness comes from the fact that your *ear* isn't quite developed yet...i.e. you can't hear the specific differences yet to know what you need to do to make it sound *better* (no offense, we were all there once!)

Try this:

Bass: 75%
Mids: 50%
highs: 50%
Contour: 25% or 75% for a more metal tone

Hope that helps!

bw

[mykey]

[QUOTE=Pinchy;17230]Hi, i'm new to the whole guitar thing (about a month) and i'm stumped on how to get a good sound out of my amp. I have a Marshall Valvestate 80V and all these mid, reverb, bass, treble and countour knobs are confusing me. I recently had a decent sound but i messed with the knobs and now i'm lost . Are there any guides out there that have templates for different sounds by indicating what each knob should be set on from 1 to 10?

the amp believe it or not is set where it sounds good to you only. if you can't set the amp where it sounds good to you, then its time to get another amp that does sound good to you.
many did not like the sound of the valvestate, and decided to use all tube amps, but try all the amps you can until you find one that makes you happy.
i believe that there is no magic setting for the knobs, unless that's where YOU decide to set them.
waiting a while and learning more, developing electric playing skills and listening skills may not be a bad idea either, you will know when it's time to graduate- nobody else knows this time except YOU.

[Joel DC]

The gain knob will give you more "distortion". The master volume knob will give you volume. If you like a "metal" tone turn up your gain and adjust master to the volume you want. The treble,mid,bass knobs are self- explanatory. The contour knob is what some call "the old man knob", it changes your eq. With the contour turned down think of a multi-band equalizer with a big hump in the middle. /\ Lots of mids. Turn up the contour and the hump turns into a big smile. \/ Lots of highs and lows.