Haze 40...which distortion pedal?

[Paulbiz]

Hey Guys this is my first post and I'm new to the forum. I look forward to meeting folks here and learning more about Marshall amps! Im actually not a newbie to music or Marshall. Back in the day" (the early 90s) I had a JCM900 half stack and then later got a 30th anniverary 100 watt head with a Mesa 4x12 cabinet...it was awesome! But anyway Im older now, no longer have half-stacks, a little less wild. Im looking for a small "bedroom" combo that is powerful enough to gig with and sounds great to record with. I ran across a Haze 40 in my local guitar center this afternoon and just loved it. Sure the effects are a little dodgy, sure it was made in India or somewhere, but it was one of the best sounding Marshalls Ive ever played and I loved the tone immediately. So anyway does anyone run a distortion pedal/overdrive to get more extreme tones out of their Haze? I havent bought it yet but figured I'd ask you guys first about what are some solutions for the few times I play punk/metal with this amp? I plan to get an extension speaker as well. Any thoughts on how to make this great amp greater?


Thanks, any suggestions are appreciated, and I look forward to my time here on the Marshall Forum!

 

[357mag]

I prefer the Marshall Guv'nor myself. It's a good sounding distortion pedal with onboard EQ that complements a Marshall nicely. But if you're doing punk/metal you may find something else more to your liking.

 

[DC135er]

If you gotta...Marshall Guv'nor or the Guv'nor2.

 

[pacAir]

One of my favorites is the Boss SD-1 ($40) is one of the cheapest but also has only one tone knob.

The Marshall Guv'nor GV2 has an awesome 4-knob EQ section and usually sells for about double the SD-1's price ($80).

The Ibanez TS808 (or reissue) sounds great with a Marshall, but the reissue currently available costs about $180 (and also only has one tone knob).

For the dollars, the Marshall pedal may be the best bet (if you can still find one, they look like they were discontinued).

Tonight, I am taking my Marshall Haze 40 on its first "live" gig with a band and I will be trying both my TS808 and my Marshall GV-2 to see which one works best with the Haze. Since I usually play a Strat now days (I still have the Les Pauls, though), my Haze appears to lacks a bit in the gain department (compared to my JCM800 combos) for the Boost channel.

I am not sure I can get good cleans AND good boost tone with the Boost button enabled, considering I have only one global set of tone controls to work with. Using a pedal with EQ may be my best option.


Steve

 

[MKB]

+1 on the Boss SD-1, it does for Gibsons and Marshalls what a Tube Screamer does for Strats and Fenders. The SD-1 is a terrific overdrive for Marshalls. Tube Screamers are good too, but seem to work better with Strats.

Another excellent overdrive is the Bad Monkey. It works well as it has bass and treble knobs, so you have more control. Plus it's cheap.

I've had good success using an OCD as a distortion with Marshalls. Very nice.

I've actually got a Haze 40 on the way, when it gets here I'll let you know which of these four work best with it.

 

[(war)thrash5150]

Ibanez Tube King TK999HT !!!!

 

[spikei]

re ext speaker cab, you have to disconnect the internal speaker first, crazy i know but thats what they say in the manual. Marshall really disappointed me with this, love the amp but i have to disconnect the internal speaker before connecting to my 1936 cab, really annoys me this.

 

[JohnH]

re ext speaker cab, you have to disconnect the internal speaker first, crazy i know but thats what they say in the manual. Marshall really disappointed me with this, love the amp but i have to disconnect the internal speaker before connecting to my 1936 cab, really annoys me this.

But but....

It has 16 Ohm internal speaker and 16 Ohm and 8 ohm output jacks? So you can get a Y adapter and plug the 16 Ohm internal and a 16 Ohm external, together through the 8 Ohm output.

John

 

[pacAir]

I tried my Haze 40 (using a Strat) with both the Ibanez TS808 and the Marshall GV-2 Guv'nor pedals and had good luck with both. The GV-2 has a more extensive 4-knob EQ section so it may be more versatile in that way.

I also ran an external 16-ohm cab with it by making a custom "Speaker Y-Cable" so I could use both the internal speaker and the cab (plugged into the amp's 8-ohm speaker output). This was only necessary because my cabinet only had one jack. If you have a 16-ohm cabinet that has two parallel input jacks on it, then you can connect the cab to the amp using the 8-ohm output of the Haze 40, then make a Speaker Extension cable (Female jack to 1/4" plug) and plug into the other cab jack and connect the female end to the Haze's internal speaker jack.

Alternatively, you can make an extra-long internal speaker cable that you pull out to extend to the external 2-jack cabinet instead of using an "extension" cable. It is a hassle but worth it to get a reliable multi-speaker set-up with the Haze 40. It sounded great in this configuration BTW. My 1-12 extension cab has a Celestion Vintage 30 in it.

Steve

 

[ClericZA]

I'm battling to get my GT8's distortion to sound decent through this amp. Every time I go to a decent volume, I lose all my quality, definition and tone.

Does anyone have a recommended setting for the GT8 so that I can get a fairly heavy sound?