Marshall JVM210H

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 210 is one of the simpler models in the JVM range, but it's still more than a good choice for even the most demanding guitarists who need a sonic breakthrough in the rehearsal room or on club stages. The preamplifier features five ECC83's, the final amplifier produces up to 100W of power thanks to four EL34 tubes. You can connect 16, 8 or 4 Ohm speakers to the unit, allowing you to build a stack completely to your liking.

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

In terms of control, the machine is designed very clearly. Each channel has its own Gain, Volume, Bass, Middle and Treble controls, plus a built-in reverb control. Common to these are the Resonance and Presence potentiometers, which you use to specify the behaviour of the bass or upper mids at 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-00045 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 effect 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 boxes.

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