Marshall Mode Four

Updated
zerosk8r900
I went to Russo's(guitar store)today and messed around with some amps because I'm trying to get a new one. After one of the employee's stopped trying to sell me a Mesa/Boogie Lonestar Special in a weird, cheap looking gold and silver vinyl:\, I went and tried out a Peavy Windsor half stack:x:x, a Marshall Valvestate halfstack:x, and then a Marshall MF350. It was mostly what I was looking for and the power was awesome. The 4 channels are very useful, and the solo boost is pretty cool. The price for the head was $807 which sort of surprised me. Is there anyone here who owns/has owned this amp and what are the pro's and con's of it and is there any other amps that someone could reccomend me that would be better and in the same price range?
Blake

Cons: Actually garbage, your ears are broken. My single speaker combo practice amp sounds better.

Pros: You don't own one yet, thank god.

TheDevilHimself

Well in theory its about the high headroom for the low tunings, not just in volume.
So the theory is good, the only problem with teh MF is that the thing still sounds crap, ironically especially in a band setting.

The Sloth

ESPKH4 - there are no power amp tubes so there is not the same need to crank it to get the most from it. Therefor 350 watts is not a waste because as 'thedevil' says you get the benefit of having a loud clear sound that hasn't turned mushy...BUT if my memory serves me the mode four sounds mushy to start with so thats that theory screwed haha.

Ramses1134

wyldeweasil has or had one i think. he liked it.

Mr Pigwalk

I've played one and it does the job. Splitting gear at a show, it was the m4 or a 30 watt vox combo. I think I made the right choice.

Metalmilitia306

the only good thing ive heard from the mode four was the cab. but i dont even know how well those sound.

Robotsatemygrandma

the only good thing ive heard from the mode four was the cab. but i dont even know how well those sound.

I agree. I played with a band that was using a Mode Four rig. He sounded like shit. I tried the cab with a TSL100 and a 5150 it had an obscene amount of bass response, and piercing good highs but the mids were muddy if I remember right. Great for metal but not so much for anything else.

DarkKnight369

Band I played with using the Mode 4 had crap tone. I played one and although I liked the response of the hybrid, I thought the tone was absolute shit.

Metalmilitia306

i think the mode four cab was like a marshall version of the mesa cabs. cuz the size and speakers are the same i believe.

esp_gaijin

modefour cab came in 2 types i'm aware of, a v30 one and yeah i'd say is probably comparable in size and such to mesa rec cab,

and another cheaper one with i don't know what speakers, but would hate for someone to overpay for this cheaper variant; exterior i don't know if there's anything to show a diff.

$800 for a modefour head doesn't sound that bad to me. i ony heard the amp at low vols in a store but it sounded okay; better than mg's and way better than the fender MH which was unbeilevably bad imo and so much noise you thought it had a white noise generator like a synth has!
what i hated on the modefour head when it was out was the price was so high as if it had tube power sect., it was a jip, i think $1500 streetprice back in its day? nuts.

and i always liked the cosmetics of the modefour and its cab, really wish marshall just hadn't screwed the pooch on this amp; it coulda been a killer amp, instead marshall killed the amp in their stupid boardroom meetings.

"Marshall: we make a cool recognizable logo"

zerosk8r900

I ended up buying the Mode Four Head, and I was about to get the 400 watt MF cab, but I came across a brand new Mesa Rectifier 4X12 cab that was on sale for $659 that sounded lots better than the MF cab. Over all, I'm pleased with the results that I'm getting espically with lots of gain and the scooped mids and the clean sounds decent with a good single coil in the neck position.

Harvest

I play the MF, and i think it sounds pretty good, considering the price. Of course you could get better, but i like the "Muddy" gain tone it has. The clean channel works nice too. But that's just my opninion

zerosk8r900

I finally had band practice today, and the MF did awesome. I'm going to definately need a noise suppressor or something like that because there's way too much feedback at high volumes. Can anyone recommend me a good noise suppressor thats under $100? I'm sort of leaning towards the Boss one.

TheDevilHimself

and another cheaper one with i don't know what speakers, but would hate for someone to overpay for this cheaper variant;

It's not a "cheaper" cab, just a little price difference afaik. It's the 400Watt one and it will handle even the lowest tunings without problems. Checked it out with my Ibby RG tuned to B when I still had that guitar.

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