Marshall

The Marshall Vintage Modern 2266 is an all tube 50-watt single channel guitar amp. It has a 3-band EQ and Master Volume. It features a two dynamic range input that is switchable by using either a push button or footswitch. The amp allows you to get the sound of the early 60s amps, JTM45 and BluesBreaker, as well as the hard rock (hot rodded) sound of the 70s era Marshalls. It also features a Mid Boost, Digital Reverb, Series FXs loop, and two new controls Body and Detail.

The amp tube complement consists of two KT-66 power tubes and four 12AX7 preamp tubes. It includes a 3-band EQ (Bass, Middle, and Treble) as well as Presence, Master Volume control and two dynamic range channels. The two dynamic channels allow you to switch between two different gain settings each with their own tonal characteristics. You can switch between the two using a push-button located on the front panel as well as a footswitch. The two channels are labeled High and Low. The High channel has an extra preamp tube which gives up to 30dB more of gain. The low range channel has more of the JTM45 and Fender Bassman sound while the High range channel has louder more distorted 70s sound. The two preamp dynamic ranges are designed to react to both the guitar players picking and strumming style as well as volume and tone settings on the guitar. The main idea behind the amp is its ability to react to the volume and tone controls of your guitar in such a way to give you different tones. Turning down the volume to say volume for rhythm playing then turning it up of the way for lead and all the way for even more gain. The tonal characteristics of the amp remain somewhat consistent at different volume and tone setting. Its the dynamics

The Body and Detail controls are used together and arent wired in series. Each control has a very different sound to it with the Body control giving you more bass and drive while the Detail operates on the upper frequencies of the amp. These work in tandem with the 3-Band EQ and its recommended to place all 3-bands at the 12 0clock position and then use the Body and Detail controls.

The Mid Boost that can be used to fatten up single coil pickups or simply boost the mids at the press of a button. It works at frequencies from 500 to around 3 kHz and boosts these frequencies substantially. When used with humbuckers it gives you a more harmonically rich midrange ring.

The Vintage part of the amp comes from the use of the original KT66 power output tubes which were used for a short term in between 1964-65. They operate like most Marshalls in Class A/B. These are the same type of output tubes used in the early 60s BluesBreakers amp. The KT-66 has a smoother midrange sound and was also found on the first 100 watt Marshalls. It has two speaker output jacks that are wired in parallel. Theres also an output impedance selector switch which allows you to select 8 ohms or 16 ohms. Since the output jacks are wired in parallel youll have to calculate the number of ohms if you are using more than one speaker cabinet. If you have two 16 ohm cabinets and plug each into the amp then set the output impedance to 8 ohms. Make sure you know what the correct ohm rating of your cabinet is before turning on the amp.

The amp is housed in a heavy duty metal chassis and uses PCB (Printed Circuit Boards) to hold the preamp and power amp tubes. It also has the digital reverb mounted on it as well. The cabinet is made of plywood.

The reverb is meant to be used to add some depth to your guitar sound and isnt really the greatest sounding reverb but works with this setup. Its great for short plate reverb emulations. Its mixed with the guitar signal and then run through the preamp stages. You can switch the reverb on and off using the footswitch. If there is no footswitch then turning off the reverb is done by turning the reverb knob all the way to left.

Along with the reverb is a series FX loop that has two impedance settings (+4dB, and -10dB). Most guitarists probably will use the -10dB which is used for stomp boxes and TS (Tip Sleeve) type input connectors found on effect boxes and rackmount gear. The +4 setting is meant to be used with low-impedance sources but most rackmount gear will operate correctly connecting to a inch instrument cable at +4dB. There isnt a Send or Return level control so use which ever setting sounds best. As with most FX loops they are meant to be used with effects like reverb and delay or chorus. Other overdrive and distortion pedals sound best when placed in front of the amp but rules are meant to be broken now arent they! ;) One great thing about the FX loop is Marshall added a bypass button on the back of the amp. With it pushed in the FX loop is enabled. If you have nothing connected and the FX loop is enable then the signal simply goes through the send and return jacks because of the internal wiring. The circuit is opened when you plug a inch instrument cable in to the send jack.

Features

50-Watt Output
All Tube Using the Original Type KT-66 power output tubes
Four 12AX7 preamp tubes
Dynamic Input Range Switching (High and Low)
Master Volume
Gain Controls Detail (highs) & Body (lows)
Mid Boost switch
Digital Plate Reverb
Series FX loop with level switch and bypass