I remember years ago, when I was 17, I fell in love with the idea of getting a Marshall amplifier. My auntie had been to a music fair in the GMEX Centre in Manchester. She brought a load of literature and in it, was a brochure for the full Marshall range. Idrooled and drooled over the pictures and then I looked at the prices. S***! I'll never afford one of them! Finally I feasted my eyes upon the Valvestate range. 'Valve preamp with solid state power amp for that authentic tube sound'. Best of both worlds and half the price. I eventually found a Valvestate 80 amp in the local second hand rag 'LOOT'. I purchased it and with my untrained ear, it sounded great. Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to see the tube preamp glowing, so I took the guts out of it with a screw driver. I did a double take. NO TUBES! Not a sausage! I had been fiddled by my favourite company. I plugged it in, still unbelieving, hoping that I could see a faint glow. 'Maybe they are microtubes and I just can't see them' I thought to myself. But nope. Marshall Valvestate is nothing but a con.

I now swear by Fender amplifiers.

Originally posted by jimslyp69
I remember years ago, when I was 17, I fell in love with the idea of getting a Marshall amplifier. My auntie had been to a music fair in the GMEX Centre in Manchester. She brought a load of literature and in it, was a brochure for the full Marshall range. Idrooled and drooled over the pictures and then I looked at the prices. S***! I'll never afford one of ...[text shortened]... But nope. Marshall Valvestate is nothing but a con.

I now swear by Fender amplifiers.

Originally posted by sonhouse
You can also get small tube preamps now, plug your guitar into that and use it as a line output level and feed that to a main amp, solid state and that can sound like the old tubed Marshals.

Originally posted by jimslyp69
Just been looking on Ebay. They have them for microphones and even headphones!