Marsh Amps

[pnutman3k]

I was at a playing last night when my phase inverter tube went out on my Tweaker 40 (is this a sign of things to come?). A guy brought his Marsh Bassman Clone head to let me use. That thing sounded so good. Does anyone have experience with that amp? Do they all sound that good?

[Petimar]

There are precious few reviews of Mike Marsh's amps. I ordered one by seeing the Utube videos of guitar demos from Wolfe guitars. Every one sounded very good to my ears. His prices are lower than most builders, so I figured, why not try one.

He is shipping me his Big Texan (SRV Vibroverb clone). I get it in a couple of weeks. I'll report on it when I get it.

[twangjeff]

I haven't played one of their amps, but I have ordered parts from them before and will say that it was A++ Customer Service.

['56Teleman]

I have no experience with Marsh but haven't read anything negative either. However, just because a tube went on your amp doesn't mean it has problems. Tubes die, it happens. You need spare tubes if you're going to play a tube amp, not having them is like driving your car without a spare tire, you're asking for trouble.

[Petimar]

The Marsh Big Texan sounds GREAT!! I've had it a little over a week and at least in practicing with it, I found a good sound at many lower volume levels. It is everything I wanted so far.

I get a few gigs next week with a Jazz trio and 60s Country band, so we will see how it goes in the band settings, but my guess is very well. I can't wait to try it.

[Martini24x7]

I haven't played an amp that Mike has built himself, but I have bought two amp kits from him that I built myself (Vibro Champ and 5F1 Champ). I've have seen his work, however, and it is top notch. He is great to deal with if you are thinking about building your own amp too. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one of his amps, most of which are clones of classic amps with a few tweaks to fix issues with the original design.

For the price of Fenders current circuit board amps, you can get a handwired amp made like they used to make them in the 50's and 60's.