MHZ15H Realy a perfect head

This is a very very very nice head. It is perfect in my application, which is in a studio environment. I bought the 1X12 cab too and although it is nice too it is no match for a true Marshall 4X12. When attached to a 1960 cab this head is stellar. Two channels are great Reverb is very very nice and the on board effects although good are just a bit of a novelty for me. That crunch sound will have you sold. Definately without a doubt loud enough over drums I am so happy with this purchase!

Pretty good sound

This amp gives a good sound. I played 2 Jacksons through it and it really gave a good classic distortion sound. However, it's a little bit overpriced for it being a 15 watt head. I could buy a half stack from their mg series for about 200 bucks cheaper. if you like the sound and are willing to pay 800 bucks for it, then buy it. You'll like the sound, and it's great for any recording environment.

I like this amp

Marshall has really dived headfirst into the mid priced tube amp world recenly with 3 new ranges of amps and 7 new amp models. I have the Haze 15 and Im very impressed with it. Im not sure what Marshalls Intent was because the Haze 40 watt Combo and the Haze 15 Head are completely different amps. The combo is more like the EL34 driven amps you would expect from Marshall. The Haze 15's 6V6 output section is unique and I think very cool for Marshall. Its performance, pysicallly, reminds me a lot of a JCM600 (the Haze is a 15-20 watt amp but not noticeably less loud than the 40 watt JCM600). Its tone and dynamics/ responsiveness is kind of like a mini-vintage modern. Electrically and sound wise the 6V6GT beam tetrode closely resembles the 6L6G and KT-66 beam tetrodes -in miniature. Its a fun amp to play. The normal channel is very un-compressed and responsive to touch. It has some very nice cleans and even at low volumes you can get some grit playing hard. At higher volumes you can play "clean" with a light tough. Turned up the normal channel has really "brown" great sounding tube OD. It also has an OD channel with a preamp gain knob and when you dime the amp it will do The tight, SS recto - Marshall heavy metal thing, but with slightly less compression and sustain from the 6V6 tubes. The trade off is the 6V6's are a little warmer, browner, better souding purely -tone wise than EL34's. The other cool things are the 6V6's get all wild and OD at lower volumes/ower levels and get hotter faster. Also there are still some really nice 6V6 tubes around fairly cheap - matched pairs of RCA, Sylvania, GE, and Tung -Sol blackplates for 50 dollars and less.. Just try to get a good Pair of Mullard, Telefunken, Seimens or RCA EL34 for under 200 dollars.

Just Rigth for Clubs

The more I play this thing the more I like it. It sounds so good. At 15 watts you can make it work hard and get that sound you love. it's light weight and compact. Looks cool. I want the cabinet but I hate particle board. The effects are good and saves taking a bunch of pedals. I use the delay and chorus. The vibe is good too. The overdrive is just fine, it sounds like a Marshall. A wah and you've got most of the sounds you need. Think about that! A head, a speaker and a wah pedal. Yeah it's loud enough, keeps up with my obnoxious drummer, without breaking a sweet.

Great Amp for the Money

I am very pleased with this amp. Out of the box, it has an outstanding clean tone, which was unexpected. In fact, this has the nicest clean tone that I have heard on a Marshall.

The distortion has a versatile and vintage tone to it, with the bright switch giving two flavors, off for a more vintage sound, and on for a sound more akin to modern hard rock. Although, overall the distortion does not have a ton of presence, and there is no presence knob.

The effects onboard also sound very nice and are 100% usable in live situations and for recording (if you put effects on the initial signal).

The tubes are not bad, but I replaced mine with JJ tubes and that improved the sound quality tremendously, especially on the distortion channel. Interestingly though, it made the bright switch almost irrelevant in terms of changing the sound of the distortion. Both ways the distortion has more presence with the JJ tubes. The sound of the distortion with the JJ tubes and the gain turned up to around 7.5 is almost identical to the 50 watt plexi model on the JMP-1 rack mountable Marshall pre-amp, except it is not as compressed, which is basically exactly what I wanted!

I am playing this amp through a vintage 30 half stack, which I prefer over my regular 1960b Marshall half stack, as the 30's have more mids and break-up really nicely. So, I can not attest to how the amp sounds with it's own cabinet.

The amp is not very high gain, so for singing lead tones and heavy metal it helps to have active pickups or to use a boost pedal. I have been using a TS-808 and and OCD as boost pedals, and both sound great.

Overall, I like this Marshall more than my other two (the JMP and an old valvestate 100 watt combo). Considering it's clean tone and the distortion that ranges from dirty blues to heavy metal with a boost, it is very versatile for a Marshall head. Also, the price is great considering what a good all-tubed Marshall head normally costs.

I gave it a "4" since according to Sweetwater's standards "4" means "Great!"