PRODUCT REVIEW By JoRDAn WAGnER
Haze 40
Combo
MaRsHall
Never a company to be behind the cutting
edge, Marshall’s two newest lower-powered
amplifiers are all-tube little monsters that
have been designed to satiate fans of the
current trend toward “smaller is better”—or
rather, the demand for lower wattage tube
amps that can roar with the best of them at a
reasonable volume. To boot, Marshall’s new
Haze Series—with a 15-watt mini stack and
40-watt combo as its inaugural members—
come complete with built-in effects.
The look of the new Haze 40 shares a lot in
common with JMP combos of yesteryear. The
salt-and-pepper grille cloth is classy, and is
set off quite well by the smaller dimensions
of the amplifier. It utilizes a pair of EL34 tubes
for power, and a specially-voiced Celestion
G12T- 66 12" speaker strapped into a closed-back enclosure with four portholes in the
lower portion of the rear panel. Its two channels share a common three-band EQ section, each with its own dedicated switchable
volume boost. It also has a Presence control,
which the Haze 15 head lacks. Figuring
that players would like to spice up their
experience with a few effects, Marshall also
included three different built-in effects, which
are selectable from a momentary button on
the faceplate. These are: Echo, Chorus and
Vibrato. Each can be adjusted with the Effect
Depth and Adjust controls, which are located
next to the Reverb Level knob.
Plugging In
With a name like Marshall on the grille cloth,
I figured a good Les Paul would be the right
tool for this job. I used a 1978 Gibson Les
Paul Custom with Tom Anderson pickups to
put the amp through its paces. Starting with
a basic clean (and all of the tone knobs at
noon) and just a hint of reverb, the Haze 40
produced a great clean tone right off of the
bat. It’s not that I had any doubt it would
sound good, but I was startled at how easy
it was to achieve a great shimmering tone.
Some more tweaking and a 2008 Fender
American Stratocaster helped even more. The
amp has a generous bass response (probably
due to the closed-back construction), so I
had to be careful not to go overboard with
that control. The portholes, which are a common design addition in bass cabinets, give
the Haze combo an extended bass response,
allowing the tone a wider, more focused low
end instead of a boomy one. For such a small
combo, the Haze 40 had an unexpectedly
three-dimensional feel to it, especially with
the boost engaged. The boost raised the
volume, of course, but it also caused all of
the right frequencies to shine through without any sort of ice-pick highs (or the dreaded
“jump out of the chair” effect).
Since a good clean tone is essential to testing
effects, I left the Haze still set in this glistening, transparent clean to give the built-in
ones a listen to hear how detailed and useful
they could be. Easily the most impressive was
the Echo effect. I’ve always liked Marshall’s
delay pedals (I think they’re highly underrated), and the Haze’s Echo effect shares a
lot of the common traits of those effects;
smooth top end, clear but not harsh repeats
and great decay. The Vibe effect performed
admirably well, but had a very digital edge
to it. It’s certainly usable, but no replacement
for a good dedicated pedal. Lastly, I found
that the Chorus is a little too shallow for me.
164 PREMIER GUITAR DECEMBER 2009
