Musicians Roadhouse

Bluesburst wrote:

Slashwannabe1 wrote:How does the VM stack up against the AFD100? Whats your opinion on the two? :)

Hmmm... now here's where I get into potentially rocky ground :scared

Ha-ha! Aint that the truth. As someone else said, you're inviting a shitstorm.

You lucky dawg. I sure wouldn't mind borrowing that for a few days to try out (and then never return it just like the namesake, heh-heh). Between that and the YJM100 there's a lot to drool over and save up for. I'll just have to muddle along with my old JCM800 to get those '80s sounds. It's been slightly modded for a bit more crunch (replaced 10k w/ a 6.8k on the second stage). Sounds great. Hmmm, power scaling maybe not a bad idea?

Anyway, lucky you. :wasted

AFD equals rock tone nirvana with a Les Paul plus really cool power scaling, VM equals tone nirvana with both a Strat and Les Paul with the benefit of the KT66 sound. There I said it.

surfnorthwest wrote:AFD equals rock tone nirvana with a Les Paul plus really cool power scaling, VM equals tone nirvana with both a Strat and Les Paul with the benefit of the KT66 sound. There I said it.

I was moreless getting at the bite of each amp, I've gotten close to some AFD like tones on my VM, I was just wonder the texure differences between KT66s & 6550s and the overall crunch.

I was just wonder the texure differences between KT66s & 6550s and the overall crunch.

I am about the last person on this board is amp technical but I have ears. The gain structure (voice) of the AFD when I heard it in person was very different then the VM, harsher in a good way I guess. I wouldn't say it had more gain but it had a lot of it and sounded very good if you like that hotrod 800 sound. 6550 tubes are sweet.

surfnorthwest wrote:AFD equals rock tone nirvana with a Les Paul plus really cool power scaling, VM equals tone nirvana with both a Strat and Les Paul with the benefit of the KT66 sound. There I said it.

Oooh!, almost agree Surf, have you tried a Strat with the AFD? My 57 reissue Strat (i.e low powered / old school pickups) sing through the AFD like no other amp I've had with a nice underlying warmth and fullness without losing the single coil bite.

Agree, both amps are wonderful. I can't wait to try some KT66's in the AFD. The main point I keep coming back to is the power scaling. If Marshall do nothing else to the VM, they need to at least add the power scaling.

surfnorthwest wrote:

I was just wonder the texure differences between KT66s & 6550s and the overall crunch.

I am about the last person on this board is amp technical but I have ears. The gain structure (voice) of the AFD when I heard it in person was very different then the VM, harsher in a good way I guess. I wouldn't say it had more gain but it had a lot of it and sounded very good if you like that hotrod 800 sound. 6550 tubes are sweet.

Interesting how we hear thing a little differently. For me the 2 gain modes of the AFD sits between the gain modes of the VM. The big plus of the AFD is how smooth it is through the gain and volume ranges in the amp. The VM to me was way too harsh in the High dynamic range and rather unfriendly with pedals where the Low range was really nice and very pedal friendly.

As I said prior, the one change I would make to a future AFD style amp is to incorporate the Body and Detail of the VM. Effectively both amps are classic rock machines and I wouldn't be surprised to see the best of both incorporated into a single standard range.

Now I have a bit of experience with the AFD, I would love my old VM back to run as my clean amp. The AFD and VM together would be a really nice pairing.

They haven't hit Canada either, my local dealer looked into getting one for me before I bought my VM. His supplier had one but it sold within a day. I am not sure why Marshall made only 2300, I would have figured at least 5000 would have been made and distributed evenly throughout the world. There is ebay but I don't trust them when it comes to spending that kind of money.