Marshall Guv'Nor Plus

echelon

Just got a Marshall Guv'Nor Plus for cheap off ebay. Basically i got it cos i want an easy pedal to cart around to gigs to recreate my Marshall sound with whatever amps im using on that night. From the reviews ive read i thought i would do that.

This pedal is a strange one. First of all it's VERY bass-heavy - i guess that's meant to make it sound warm? It has Bass, middle and treble controls and also a deep (bass boost) control that i ahve to keep at 0 to even use this thing. But even with treble maxed out it's isnt very bright.

Next..it doesnt add a lot of distortion/chrunch sound. I think this pedal is mainly meant to drive a tube amp to disortion, and give a little bit of colour to the sound.

But it certainly doesnt create a great huge crunchy distortion, even with the gain maxed out. In fact the drive channels on my Marshall Valvestate sound a lot nicer..but that could be because im used to their sound, or because i use my amp on VERY low volume.

Not 100% sure whether to keep it. I'm wondering how it compares to the older Marshall Guv'Nor.

Anyone else got any thoughts on this pedal??

SawaotheBuster

I heard that these pedals were meant to go with MArshalls and otherwise it is useless.

BanditGuitarist1

I wanted a Guv'Nor for my Plexi so I can get a vintage overdrive withouth cranking it up. But I have yet to try one out.

Doog

SawaotheBuster said: I heard that these pedals were meant to go with MArshalls and otherwise it is useless.

Nah, not at all.

I used to have a Guvnor Plus/II whatever it's called, it's definately on the more smooth side. I only even used it on a tube amp, so have no idea how it sounded on a solidstate amp. I don't remember it being super bassy though.

Have you tried messing with your amps EQ? Or is it generally just too bassy/muddy compared to your clean tone? What guitar are you using it with? Stupid question, but have you tried it with a high treble and mid setting, and low deep and bass settings?

I thought it had a fair bit of gain, but bear in mind its an OVERDRIVE pedal and not a distortion pedal. The Jackhammer might be more up your street if you want a more agressive sound.

I guess it's possible you've got a faulty unit but without hearing it in action, it's impossible to say.

Rick

i've never used a real guvnor pedal. but the emulated version of it on the GT-6 is my favourite distortion. nice and gritty

Dunxy

I have one, was my main means of gain when i only had and uber clean amp .I do think it is a very bass heavy pedal, it is still very cpable fo creating a good sound with a good clean tube amp though,a mate uses one as his main pedal with an old AC50 as well. I did try it once through my current main rig, and it dosent work at all with my high gain amp,its not that i would want to anyway, but i tried one day and it was absolutly impossible to get any usable sound out of it, i think it was just pushing the pre amp far to hard and clipping very harshly. So they defenatly dont work with every amp.

Ive heard nicer pedals, but for the money the guv'nor pluss isnt to bad a pedal.

BlackTie

The Marshall Guv'nor II and plus or whatever they are can't compare with the original Guv'nor. That thing is a work horse. The absolute best distortion/overdrive pedal I've ever used.

Doog

The old Marshall pedals are great, I used those ol' black Bluesbreaker OD boxes for years.