Marshall Amplification AVT100X Handbook
AdvancedValvestateTechnology
AVT100X
Owners Manual
From Jim Marshall
I would like to thank you personally for selecting one
of our Valvestate AVT amplifiers.
Ever since its initial launch in the early 1990’s, the
original Marshall Valvestate technology received
worldwide acclaim and set a new standard in affordable
quality amplification. However, my dedicated team of
designers are constantly looking for methods to make our
amplifiers sound even better. As they are all guitar players
themselves this process has become a passion within the
design department.
As the name Advanced Valvestate Technology (AVT) suggests,
your new amplifier benefits from their research and utilises their
latest circuit innovations, all of which are totally unique to
Marshall. By emulating the feel and response of an all-valve
amplifier even more closely, the AVT range perform brilliantly
and represent yet another major step forward in guitar sound
technology.
I suggest that you read this manual thoroughly before operating
your new amplifier and keep it in a safe place for future
reference. This will help you to derive maximum enjoyment from
our Advanced Valvestate Technology.
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Wishing you every success.
Yours Sincerely,
1
AVT100X Front Panel FeaturesIntroduction
What is AVT?
Advanced Valvestate Technology, or AVT for short, is a major step forward in hybrid amplifier design
which is exclusive to our Advanced Valvestate Series of amplifiers. It has evolved from the original,
critically acclaimed Marshall Valvestate technology, but is improved so that it emulates even more
closely the feel and response of the classic Marshall all-valve power stage...without using valves.
It is not only the power stage that has been significantly improved in the series either. Much careful
attention to detail and many hours of development have also gone into the preamp section too. As a
result, each AVT channel offers the widest possible range of control and shape to your sound, with an
ECC83 (a.k.a.12AX7) preamp valve adding to the all-important tone and feel of these latest Marshall
creations.
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Valve Drive Preamp
As just stated, each amp in the range boasts a preamp stage equipped with an ECC83 Dual Triode
valve. Drawing on our vast experience in this field, we have gone to great lengths to ensure that this
precious device delivers maximum sonic benefit at all settings and volume levels. As a result, the
clean sounds ring with the ‘bell-like’ harmonics that only a valve preamp can deliver and the break-up
is never harsh or unnatural sounding. Whenever an AVT Overdrive channel is selected the ECC83’s
dual triode is saturated to its limit, providing the dynamics and feel worthy of a place in the Marshall
hall of fame.
Power Amp Delivery
The same sort of toneful care and attention was also focused on the all-important power stages of the
AVT series too. Our goal was to ensure that each one would create the warm, musical feel and 3dimensional sounds that have made our all-valve power amps world renowned. In addition, these AVT
products were designed to deliver the goods in the often hostile and unpredictable environment of the
live performance stage - which is why all the AVT power amps, from the AVT50X upwards, are fan
cooled for optimum reliability.
'Extended Bass Response' Loudspeakers
Knowing how important the relationship between the amplifier and speaker is, this is another area
where we spent a great deal of time and effort when developing the AVT Series. By working extremely
closely with our long-term colleagues at Celestion Loudspeakers, we have successfully developed a
range of speakers which, through radical design, re-define the state-of-the-art in rock guitar
reproduction. In a nutshell, they allow the compact closed back cabinets used in the AVT range, to
maintain the bottom end delivery normally only associated with a full 4 x12 cabinet set-up.
DFX Onboard
At Marshall our aim is to create products that offer our fellow guitarists true inspiration in the practice
and performance of their art. When integrating DFX (Digital Effects) into the tonal topology of AVT, the
greatest care was taken to ensure that the highest level of signal integrity was maintained. Through
careful shaping and mixing of the ‘wet’ (processed) and ‘dry’ (unprocessed) signals, we have ensured
that the onboard effects enhance your tone while adding none of the nasty, artificial ‘grain’ often
associated with DFX. Different effect types can be assigned to the Clean and Overdrive channels and
can, of course, be turned on and off via the sturdy 6-way LED foot controller supplied with your amp.
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I. The Pre-amp Section
Your AVT100X combo amp boasts three
independent channels: Clean, Overdrive 1 and
Overdrive 2. The preamp section is where the
gain, tone and relative volume of these three
channels is determined.
1. Input Jack Socket
This is where you plug your guitar into the amp.
You must always use a screened (shielded)
guitar cable and never use an unscreened
(unshielded) speaker cable. Also, this cable
should be one of good quality. If you are in any
doubt regarding this, your Marshall dealer will be
more than happy to help and advise you.
2. Clean Channel Selector Switch
This allows selection of the Clean channel via
the front panel.
3. Clean Channel Gain Control
This rotary control regulates the drive into the
two cascaded valve stages of the preamp.
Lower settings will give you a wide range of well
defined, warm clean tones.
At higher Gain settings you will pass through
natural, valve-induced compression and into an
increased level of desirable ‘break-up’ (a.k.a.
‘crunch’) which is perfect for subtly overdriven
blues/rock.
4. Bright Switch
Most of the Gain controls in classic Marshall
amps have been fitted with what is known as a
‘treble bleed capacitor’. This device allows extra
high frequencies to be ‘bled’ through to the drive
section when the Gain control is at low settings.
Engaging the Bright Switch will ‘bleed’ extra high
frequencies into the drive stage of the Clean
channel, giving you a bright, clean tone perfect
for many styles, including funk and country.
The higher the Gain control is set, the less effect
the ‘treble bleed capacitor’ has. As a result, at
maximum Gain settings, the bright switch will
have no audible effect at all.
5. Clean Volume Control
As its name suggests, this control determines
the volume of the clean channel. The actual
setting you choose will be dependent on how
loud you want the channel to be, and also on
the type of sound you have selected on the preamp. 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
- just like an all-valve Marshall amp. When this
occurs, the AVT’s power amp will start to add
musical harmonics, compression and ‘break-up’
into your sound.
Note: As each channel has its own volume
control, you can easily balance the levels of all
three channels as you so desire. Once set to
your satisfaction, these controls can be left
alone and you can use the amp’s Master
Volume knob (16) to set your overall volume
level.
6. Clean Tone Controls
The Clean channel is equipped with rotary Bass,
Middle, and Treble controls. These three
passive EQ controls are designed to achieve
maximum tonal variation from your AVT
amplifier. Just like the tone controls on our
famous all-valve amps they are highly interdependent 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. As you will
discover, the lower the Middle control is set, the
more ‘reactive’ the others become.
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. To offer you some
guidance, suggested settings are shown later on
in this manual.
* Points to remember are:
When selecting a sound on any amp:
a) The tone and output level coming out of each
guitar is as widely variable as guitars
themselves. Remember, guitars and also
pickups are not designed (nor intended) to be
equal. Therefore, amp settings will vary to suit
both your guitar and your playing style, and, by
necessity, are at your discretion.
b) The tone of your sound is also dependent on
the way you set-up the Volume, Gain and Tone
controls of your amp. Taking the time to adjust
them to taste will further enhance the sonic
textures of your
As is true of all the best
.
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