Grumpyrocker

Since selling my HT5 and getting a Bugera V22 amp instead there's one thing I've really lacked - a good Marshall-like tone. I love that midrange bark you get from a hot Marshall (or clone) but with no money for a chunk of Northampton's finest, I was at a bit of a loss.

I like the drives on my Line6 M13, you can get a good Duel Rec high gain sound from a couple of them. But nothing in the more British line.

Then a couple of months ago I bought a Marshall Guv'nor 2. Cheap as chips and does a really good impression of Plexi to JCM800 tones. I used it at the hotter end - my V22 will already do a good Plexi impression on the lower gain end of the drive channel.

But there was something I was missing - a really good high gain tone. The Guv'nor didn't quite have all the gain I wanted and pushing the V22's drive channel with it sounded a bit crap. So having toyed with various drive into drive settings on the M13 and gotten pretty close, or at least an idea of the concept, decided what I needed was a cheap Tube Screamer clone - Bad Monkey and the like.

Living in Dorchester means you've got very little choice in buying music gear, but my local shop does at least stock Marshall pedals. So I went and bought a nice and cheap Blues Breaker II pedal. And in doing so have nailed the sound in my head I was looking for - lucky me, Even better by accident I've found the best tone I've ever had.

First the high gain. BB2 in drive mode into the Guv'nor running high gain. Perfect. Lovely chunky Marshall high gain tone with lots of body and mid, yet plenty of top end clarity. I found the tone immediately, love the sound.

But then I tried the BB2 in clean boost mode on its own into the Bugera's clean channel. Oh my goodness, a lovely transparent crunchy tube drive that cleans up beautifully with the guitar's volume pot. It's my perfect tone. From now on the BB2 will be on all the time, with the GV2 kicked in for high gain. What a great happy accident, and a dirt cheap one too.