MARSHALL JVM410H

The JVM series is essentially the current flagship of modern Marshall instruments, picking up in a way where the JCM 2000 left off. Their strengths are especially their tremendous tonal variability and overall wide range of settings, but at the same time they still offer the classic "Marshall sound" - perhaps just in a slightly more modern guise. Of course, these are instruments that are handmade in the UK.

The 410 is one of the more intricate models in the JVM range, making it the ideal choice for the most demanding guitarists who need a sonic breakthrough in the rehearsal room or on club stages. It's a full-tube unit, with five ECC83s in the preamp, and the final amplifier produces up to 100W of power thanks to four EL34 tubes.

The greatest strength of the JVM lies in its sonic variability - it offers two channels, here labeled Clean, Crunch, OD1 and OD2, within which there are three sound modes. For the first channel, the "green" mode is an absolutely clean sound with the cleanest possible signal path, from which Volume is even removed to preserve the Vintage character, the "orange" mode adds gain and goes into overdrive waters, the "red" mode adds more distortion, but after the EQ, giving it a very interesting colouration. For Crunch, the "green" mode has the same topology as the legendary Plexi, with just maybe a little more gain compared to them, the "orange" mode is based on the legendary JCM 800, and the "red" mode is again based on the JCM800, but in this case kicked up a notch.

Moving on to the OD1, the "green" mode is very similar to the "red" mode of the Crunch, but with a different characteristic, the "orange" mode adds more gain to create a tone ideal for hard rock or heavy metal, and finally the "red" mode - that's a really strong hi-gain. The OD2 channel has modes based on the same principle as OD1, however, it has automatically changed the functional frequency of the Middle driver from 650 to 500 Hz, giving it a completely different colouration.

From the control point of view, the instrument is very clearly designed. Each channel has its own Gain, Volume, Bass, Middle and Treble controls, plus a built-in reverb control. Common then are the Resonance and Presence potentiometers, which you use to specify the behaviour of the bass or upper mids at the end-amp level, and Master Volume 1 and 2, which you can switch between to have a jump on solos, for example. There's then an effects loop bypass switch and a MIDI program controller on the front panel.

On the rear panel you'll find the input for the PEDL-00044 footswitch, which you can use to control everything you need, but you can also control the JVM using the MIDI protocol, hence the MIDI-In and MIDI-Thru connectors. This is followed by an XLR Line-Out and two effects loops - the first is purely serial, can be used as a Preamp-Out or Poweramp-In and can be bypassed, the second is serial/parallel, and can be used to set the FX Mix and input level. The last connectors are outputs for connecting speakers, thanks to their connection it is no problem to connect any imaginable combination of external boxes.

The Marshall JVMs are machines that offer you, in addition to the legendary "Marshall sound", tremendous variability, making them the ideal choice for many musicians.