Category: Amps & Effects

This story started with my wish to use both my acoustic and electric guitars on my acoustic Marshall AS100D.
The pedalboard setup started with the  MESA/Boogie V-Twin that would give me the crunch for the E-guitars but it soon began to appear more complicated when I thought about using my Line 6 PODxt Live in the FX loop and ended up replacing it with the Line 6 HX Stomp.

Let’s summarize:
1 amp with 2 guitar channels: Channel #1 for the Line 6 Acoustic Variax + Channel #2 for my electrics (and my Martin electro acoustic to come).

My goal was to set and “build” a pedalboard that would be as efficient and compact as possible.

Continue reading “Pedalboard setup”

I hardly remember my first amp. It was black and green with linear equalizer pots but I totally forgot the brand. It was good enough to learn how to play guitar on my first Aria Pro II (red and black Strat-like) but I ended up selling both because they didn’t pass the gigs test. I replaced the guitar with another Aria Pro II, the TA-60 and later on with the Samick SCM-1B when things got serious. Regarding the amp, I set my sights on the Marshall Valvestate 8240 Stereo Chorus which was working very well with my “pedalboard” (CryBaby and Korg A4).

We were in 1993. Since then, you can imagine the amp aged a lot!

I can’t count the times I carried this amp from smoky rehearsal rooms to my place, friends places, bars, shows and festivals stages. To finish with, my cat puked on it (several times) and so did he on my PODxt live years later…

That’s why I decided to give this amp a “little” refresh and why not start a complete makeover with on my todo-list:
• Ivory tolex
• Brushed silver face plate
• Silver pot buttons
• Black power switch
• Grey grill cloth
• Side handles

Continue reading “New look for my Marshall 8240”

25 years ago or so, I wasn’t surfing on the Internet but received every month the ‘Guitar & Bass’ magazine and one day (1993), I saw this fabulous baby I felt in love with at the first sight: the MESA/Boogie V-Twin.
Of course, I had no idea how it would sound like at the time, but hey, do love need any reason?

These days, I am mostly playing acoustic on my Marshall AS100D and the reason I bought the V-Twin is I wanted to try my LPs and ES-339 with crunchy sound on that amp.

Continue reading “An old dream came true with the MESA/Boogie V-Twin”