Ich spreche Deutsch nicht so gut, ich will im Englisch schreiben, hoffe dass es kein Problem ist
I have bought my Marshall 6100 El34 1992 three years ago (btw it was from Aachim Sauer from Juli kapelle
).
I've compared it to Single Rectifier, Mesa Mark IV a (old model), Rivera Knucklehead(old), Triamp MKI, Engl Savage, Krank Revolution and I am still playing this one
In my opinion this amp is overrated. IMHO there is not enough "punch" and too much "treble" when you are using V30 speakers. And you need overdrive pedal to get tight sound, it sucks.
Anyway, I have tested some tubes :
Rivera EL34 - warm, more highs, treble than Svetlana
Groove Tubes EL34 (s3) - big lows(bass) and pronounced treble
Svetlana Winged C EL34 - balanced tube, less gain than Groove Tubes, but better mids
IMHO Svetlanas are the best - if you are looking for tight, balanced sound. If you need modern, metal sound try Groove Tubes (but there could be too much bass). Rivera - it should be good for lead(solo).
I haven't tried many tubes in preamp, just marshalls 83s, sovtek's 12ax7WB/LPS and JJ 883s. JJ - warm, dark sound, I don't like them, Marshall - nice, crunch tone (but a bit too harsh) and Sovtek - cold,dry sound, I don't like them - and the are not reliable (2 has broken)
If it comes to third channel... I like heavy, but tight and fast distortion(not flubby = big, slow bass) . In my opinion the fastest bass response is on C mode of 2nd channel - but it sounds "fizzy" (strange high frequencies) and it isn't good for palm mutting. So my advice is to run this amp in :
- red channel
- pentode mode (less gain, more open sound, more CRUNCH, less distortion)
- auto dampening
- 100W ( like pentode - more headroom)
- gain boost pushed in (ON)
- gain setting at 10:30 - yeah ...that's the most important thing IMHO - of course it depends on your guitar, but high gain settings on third channel make this amp flubby, bass is too slow, and it's not tight/clear
- presence 11:30, low compensation - depends on your taste, I like to set my amp louder, so compensation is OFF and I use higher volume settings, it sounds more natural
- middle 13:30, treble 13, bass 11
+1960 AV (vintage 30 speakers) ... sounds quite good.
You can boost it with Tubescreamer - I use old (83' silver plate) TS9 and it's good, you don't need to have 808 - in my opinion it's overrated.
( I've tried boss sd-1 it simply sucks - in fact it sucks your bass
and makes your distortion one-dimensional, plain).
If you have too much harsh high frequencies (too much treble "hum" - I mean "bad" treble ) try GT75 speakers. There will be less bass but it won't hurt your ears like with V30's
Anyway I am still playing V30, I love them for their heavy lows and they sound much more alive than other speakers.
I am using my effects processor like that:
6100 line out ->gmajor -> 6100 line in
It sounds better than in effects loop - but there is my question:
could I use it like that way?
My marshall 6100 has blown 2 NEW tubes in
V1 socket (sovteks) when I was playing
third channel, it happened after connecting POD 2.0 into LINE IN and in 2nd case when I connected Gmajor in LINE in (but it could be just a coincidence, because I have played my amp like that for 2 years without problems).
Is it normall? I've thought that 1st tube isn't working on third channel...?
Amp tech has checked my 6100 and he couldn't find the problem (after I changed tubes it sounds OK) , the voltage/currency is OK.
It could be just a bad tube, but I am afraid it could be something else... Marshall redirected my email to distributor in my country and they don't see the problem if it's working (technical support sucks).
Do you know what could be wrong in this amp? Is there any mod which improves this amp? I've heard that midi section from 6100 should be modded, because if you will blow power tube it can "fry", destroy midi...
Have you played any amp like 6100? I am looking for old metal sound, like 2nd channel B mode mixed with third channel
(2nd channel is not heavy enough for me, third channel should be more dynamic and faster ...like engl savage?)
I've seen soldano SLO100 on youtube but I think it's a bit too expensive for me, I liked savage but I can't find one with good price.
I'm really sorry for writing in English but it would be really hard for me to speak about sound in German. Of course I can understand German or just use translator but it's just harder to write something properly
