Marshall JVM410H Review

This is a 100 watt tube head by Marshall. It is very versatile, as it has 4 individual channels, each which has 3 different modes. Almost like having 12 amps in one!

Marshall knows how to build 100 watt heads. They've been doing this for a while, as you may know. When most people think of rock guitar, I can almost guarantee there's a Marshall somewhere in their mental picture.

The Mighty JVM410H

Marshall JVM Series JVM410H Tube Amp Head

The Marshall JVM410H was built with the intention of matching up with the classic amps of the past. Furthermore, it was also designed to provide more flexibility and modern sounds that those classic amps could not do. Behold the mighty JVM - the amp that can give you almost any classic Marshall tone you can imagine, plus provide the type of super clean tone Marshall is not known for.

Features

Features you ask? Yeah, no kidding - this amp is loaded with features! Don't worried though - they are easier to work with than you might think.

The Marshall JVM410H is a 100 watt, all-tube power amplifier head containing five ECC83 preamp tubes and four EL-34 power tubes. The weight of the JVM410H weighs is about 48 lbs and it measures 29.55” x 8.47” and the height is 12.21”.

There 4 channels on this amp - Clean, Crunch, OD1 and OD2. Each Channel includes controls for Volume, Bass, Middle, Treble and Gain. There is also an onboard digital reverb.

For each channel, there is a Mode button, which let you select between 3 different settings. These correspond to different gain stages within each channel. One LED lamp indicates which mode you are using. The modes are color-coded - Green, Orange, and Red, with Green being the cleanest sounding, and Red the most distorted.

All channels provide controls for gain, bass, mid, treble and master volume, as well as separate level controls for the JVM's digital reverb. There are also front panel controls for presence and resonance, which fine tune the power amp's high and low frequency response, and two master volume controls that can be set to different levels.

For each channel, the JVM provides independent level controls for the digital reverb. Furthermore, you can program if the reverb should be on or off, and you can do this for each channel/mode. A brigh LED light will indicate if the reverb is on or off.

Another useful feature on this amp is the Silent Recording Mode. This impressed me a lot. You put the amp on standby, which disconnects the power amp stage of the amp. The rest of the amp is fully functional, so you can now plug straight into your Digital Audio Workstation or into any kind of PA. I expected fizzy, solid state crappy tone, but no - it's sounds very impressive! There is a built-in speaker simulation that kicks in when you hook the amp up this way, and it works oh so well.

The JVM410H has two effects loops. You can choose between Serial/Parallel FX Loop and Power Amp Insert/Serial Loop. There is also an FX Level control button for choosing between +4 dBu and -10 dBu depending on your needs. The amp provides is a very, very useful a Mix control knob for wet/dry level adjustments.

There are plenty of choices for speaker outs too. 5 speaker outputs are available, and you have choices between 16-ohm, 8-ohm and 4-ohm configurations.

The JVM410H also contains MIDI IN and MIDI Thru connections if you would ever need such things.

E Twain