Combo Front Panel Features; Gain Control; Tone Controls; Input Jack Socket - Marshall Amplification Valvestate 2000 AVT Manual

AVT20 1x10" Combo Front Panel Features
1

Input Jack Socket

This is where you plug your guitar into the
amp. In case you are not aware, you must
always use a screened guitar cable, never use
an unscreened speaker lead. Also, for the best
performance this cable should be one of high
quality. If you are in any doubt regarding this,
your Marshall dealer will be more than happy to
help and advise you further.
2 Clean/Overdrive selection
switch
Your AVT20 has two selectable modes -
Clean and Overdrive. When the switch is 'out'
Clean is selected, when it is pushed 'in'
Overdrive mode is activated.
The Clean mode of the AVT20 has the
warm, responsive action normally associated
with a valve amp, rather than the relatively
sterile, one-dimensional sound that is typical of
many solid-state type guitar amps. At lower
Gain settings this mode remains very clean but
will evolve into a bluesy/rock type crunch at
higher Gain settings.
When Overdrive is selected it will take you
from mild crunch to aggressive 'modern'
distortions and all-points in between. The
many sonic palettes available are dependent
on the exact settings of the front panel controls
for Gain, Volume, Treble, Middle and Bass.
3

Gain Control

This rotary control can best be described
as the sonic 'brains' of the amp. At lower
settings, with the Clean/Overdrive switch set to
Clean, the AVT20 will give you a wide range of
well-defined clean tones. At higher Gain
settings, the amp will start to 'crunch up' into
the aforementioned 'blues/rock' type sounds.
This 'crunching up' is often referred to as
'break-up'. When Overdrive mode is selected
lower Gain settings will give you a vintage
sounding, valve distortion while higher settings
will produce more modern, high-gain tones.
4 Volume Control
As its name suggests, the Volume control
determines how loud your AVT20 will be by
controlling how much signal is transferred from
the preamp to the power amp. Due to the
remarkable realism of our Advanced Valvestate
Technology, once the Volume control is turned-
up past a certain point, the preamp will start to
push the power amp section into creating its
own, desirable distortion mode - just like an all-
valve Marshall amp. When this occurs, the
AVT20's power amp will start to add musical
harmonics, compression and 'break-up' into
your sound.
5

Tone Controls

The AVT20 is equipped with rotary Bass,
Middle, and Treble controls, all of which work
on both the Clean and Overdrive modes. These
three passive EQ controls are designed to
achieve maximum tonal variation from your
AVT20 and, just like our famous all-valve
amps, are highly inter-dependent on each
other. As a result, the way each one functions
depends on the exact position of the other two
controls. This is especially true of the Bass
and Treble controls in relation to the Middle
control. The lower the Middle control, the more
reaction can be obtained from the others. As
tone is very much down to personal taste,
experimentation and experience is probably the
best way of learning how these three controls
will affect your sound. Some suggested
settings are shown later.
Points to remember are:
A) The tone and output level coming out
of the guitar is as widely variable as there are
guitars themselves, all guitars are not designed
(nor intended) to be equal. Therefore, amp
settings will vary to suit your guitar and playing
style, and by necessity, are at your discretion.
Again, if in doubt, consult your Marshall dealer
for advice.
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