Nita Strauss uses Marshall amps

[Ivan May]

One of the most sought after female guitarists of recent years, Nita Strauss is a guitarist best known for her work as Alice Cooper's lead guitarist. She replaced Orianthi in order to do that. LA based guitarist Nita Strauss is a force of nature. She first gained notoriety after working with Jermaine Jackson, Femme Fatale and The Iron Maidens, an all female Iron Maiden tribute band, but catapulted to fame when she started touring with Alice Cooper. The prestige that comes with the gig has given her the platform to run sold-out guitar clinics and work on her own music, with her debut ‘Controlled Chaos’ released in 2018. She also makes appearances on WWE and performed alongside Lzzy Hale at WWE Evolution.

 

Nita has been quoted as saying: "I FINALLY FOUND AN AMP THAT CAN KEEP UP WITH ALL THE DIFFERENT NEEDS I HAVE AS A GUITARIST. FROM PRISTINE CLEANS, TO CRUNCHY RHYTHMS AND EARTH SHATTERING LEADS, MARSHALL HAS IT ALL DIALED IN."

 

Pretty cool, right? A lot of hard rock and metal guitarists use Marshall amps. I think the guys in Greta Van Fleet use them, and I know Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys uses them too. 

 

Here are some clips of Nita Strauss with her Ibanez guitars and Marshall amps.

 

 

 

 

And some of her work with the Iron Maidens

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt8nTTz82YI

 

I also really like her work as the lead guitarist for Demi Lovato. Cool to see that Demi's backup band is all female!

 

https://bravewords.com/news/nita-strauss-rips-in-demi-lovato-s-freak-performance-video

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAEFXEWnmiY

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdA79yi3NKE

 

I hope you guys will start using Marshall amps for your guitars now that Nita Strauss uses them. I probably should...

[KuruPrionz]

Marshall amps are very popular for many genres. You'll rarely see a guitarist of note using 1 Marshall. There will usually be several. Tubes die, speakers blow and once in a while the amp just fries. They do have a great rock and roll sound but they are also pretty famous (notorious?) for going south in abundance. 

 

That said, Brian May from Queen always used Vox amps and so did Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. When I saw Rory Gallagher open for Fleetwood Mac and Deep Purple, he used a late 50's Fender Twin (no reverb). He set it on a simple folding chair, cranked it and ate everybody's lunch big time. 

 

Pete Townshend used Marshalls, then Hi-Watt, then Mesa Boogie and lately I think he's using Fender combos. BB King used a solid state Lab amp, sounded great. BB could tell you who he was with one note, something most guitarist fall short on. 

 

David Lindley uses Dumble amps. Dimebag Darrel used solid state Randall amps, he liked the tight, huge low frequencies. 

Carlos Santana gigged Mesa Boogie amps for many years and shows. 

 

And, once I put a much better speaker in it (Peavey Scorpion 10") I am really liking all the different tones I'm getting from a Peavey Vypyr VIP 1, it's really a great little monster. 

I've owned lots of Fender and Mesa tube amps, played quite a few Marshalls and a couple of Hi-Watts. 

 

And I'll never forget watching the stage crew remove the wall of Marshall stacks for the opening band (name escapes me, they were pretty OK for LA metal) for Ronnie James Dio. I saw one stage hand grab two Marshall 4-12" cabs by the corners and carry them off the stage. One of the cabs spun around and we could all see that there were no speakers,  just boxes on stage to try and look impressive. Dio's band had all their gear behind the gigantic castle on a mountain top with a dragon behind it that shot fireworks out of it's mouth. I don't know what Vivian Campbell was playing for an amp but he was a great shredder. 

 

So I'd say shop around and try some amps and use the one you like. That's really what everybody else does. 

[surfergirl]

My first amp was Vox Pathfinder 10, then a Vox VT40+ and a Fender Super Sonic 22 combo. Now I use a Boss Street Cube 2 and occasionally the VT40+. I've never even considered a Marshall. I'll probably sell the Super Sonic. My Grandpa sold his tube amps and bought a Fender solid state Deluxe Reverb. I'm probably done buying amps, but if I did it would probably be the newer model of the Vox VT40. 

[KuruPrionz]

26 minutes ago, surfergirl said:

My first amp was Vox Pathfinder 10, then a Vox VT40+ and a Fender Super Sonic 22 combo. Now I use a Boss Street Cube 2 and occasionally the VT40+. I've never even considered a Marshall. I'll probably sell the Super Sonic. My Grandpa sold his tube amps and bought a Fender solid state Deluxe Reverb. I'm probably done buying amps, but if I did it would probably be the newer model of the Vox VT40. 

The Voxes are good amps, I had one and sold it to my brother since I really didn't need it. 

I also love the Roland Cubes. I had a Cube 40 that I wish I'd kept. LOVE my Boss Katana 50 Mk II - just enough presets -4. 

But my favorite amp is still the Peavey Vypyr VIP 1 that I hot rodded. It feels like I'm playing a really sweet tube amp. Sounds like it too but when you can feel it then its real. 

I have 2, someday I'll hook them both up, small but huge. Fun!

[Sharkman]

My favorite amp is my Epiphone Electar ten watt tube amp.  I replaced the original speaker with a Jensen Mod, and I will not let anyone play through that amp unless it is within my sight at all times.  I don't want to hear "Where did it go?  It was just here a few minutes ago."

[Larryz]

I've always been a Fender tube amp kinda guy.  I'm using a Fender Deluxe solid state Tone Master and a Roland EX4 solid state Street Cube these days...both are very light weight in and out amps.  Not using any heavy or big amps these days.  😎

[desertbluesman]

I had one Marshall amp, a hundred watt plexi Super Lead. It was OK and did some neat stuff but I have been mostly a Fender player over the years. I did have a few Mesa Boogies over the years and they were ok with EVM 12L's. I liked them better than the Marshall and most of the Fenders. I did have 3 stand out Fender amps, a Rivera Era Fender 30, A silver face Pro Reverb with channel switching with 2 JBL K120's in it, the 30 had channel switching with a single JBl in it, and my 2 Super Champ X2's with hemp cone 10" speakers in both.

[CEB]

Stay far away from channel switching Marshalls. They will probably be in the shop more than they will be in use.  Especially channel switching 800s and  2000s. They sound good when they work.    Not much a Marshall guy. I had   a 50 watt bass plexi. A real one. It was dependable but that was before reverb pedals.  I’m addicted to the feel of light reverb. 
 

Good single channel Marshalls are bit of a one trick pony live unless you use them as a pedal platform and they are loud  if you get one with adequate clean headroom to use the guitar volume knob as the old school gain control. This would get you fired from most gigs unless your name is Joe Bonamasa.  But this is what sounds best … turn it the hell up and use the guitar volume knob as the dirt control.  But … the hiss. 

[CEB]

My favorite Marshall is a Boogie Electra Dyne. Just kidding … sort of. 

[KuruPrionz]

2 hours ago, CEB said:

Stay far away from channel switching Marshalls. They will probably be in the shop more than they will be in use.  Especially channel switching 800s and  2000s. They sound good when they work.    Not much a Marshall guy. I had   a 50 watt bass plexi. A real one. It was dependable but that was before reverb pedals.  I’m addicted to the feel of light reverb. 
 

Good single channel Marshalls are bit of a one trick pony live unless you use them as a pedal platform and they are loud  if you get one with adequate clean headroom to use the guitar volume knob as the old school gain control. This would get you fired from most gigs unless your name is Joe Bonamasa.  But this is what sounds best … turn it the hell up and use the guitar volume knob as the dirt control.  But … the hiss. 

I used to dime a Fender Champ running an EV 12L and that was too loud!!!!

I've owned quite a few Mesa amps, bit of a Love/Hate thing for me with tube amps. The Mark III simul-class set to Class A and 15 watts was insanely loud and the output transformer was too big to saturate without causing deafness.  

 

I'd like one that is about 2 or 3 watts with a small output transformer so I can get those tones at lower volumes. 

[CEB]

I gig with the baby Recto. Rectoverb 25. It has power scaling down to 10 watts. It power scales down as well as any tube amp I’ve heard but it doesn’t sound as good. They never do.   These days if I have to play that quiet I just as soon use my Helix rig. After the 3.50 update it sounds decent. 
 

In 2011-13 I gigged with a 5 watt 1-12 combo. It was a one trick pony but it was a good trick. The whole gig was that dirty nasty Brad Paisley Tele thing. 

[KuruPrionz]

19 minutes ago, CEB said:

I gig with the baby Recto. Rectoverb 25. It has power scaling down to 10 watts. It power scales down as well as any tube amp I’ve heard but it doesn’t sound as good. They never do.   These days if I have to play that quiet I just as soon use my Helix rig. After the 3.50 update it sounds decent. 
 

In 2011-13 I gigged with a 5 watt 1-12 combo. It was a one trick pony but it was a good trick. The whole gig was that dirty nasty Brad Paisley Tele thing. 

Helix is really good.

I'm using a Peavey Vypyr VIP 1 with a Peavey Scorpion 10" speaker installed. Once I figured out that "Post Gain" meant "simulated output section gain" instead of "after the gain" I found that Transtube (a solid state emulation of a tube amplifier) is really very good sounding. I'm getting sweet, singing tones at low volumes and it can get loud if needed. I have another of the same amp and another Scorpion, plan is to put that together and there's my rig. 2 small amps, I have 2 of the Sanpera 1 pedal and alll the effects anybody would ever need are built in. Amp sim is analog, effects are all digital, it sounds great and I think they fly under the radar because the 8" speaker that the amp comes with is not real great. That said, Transtube is probably Hartley Peavey's greatest development, I prefer it to the Tech 21 Sansamp stuff, which is really quite good as well. Digital continues to improve, conversion is super fast and I do use plugins with my DAW. I like the attack of analog, there is no conversion lag at all. 

[desertbluesman]

6 hours ago, CEB said:

Stay far away from channel switching Marshalls.

I had the original hundred watt Plexi, one channel. I played it through a sunn 6-12 bass cab. Standing in front of that thing was simply awesome sounding, but super loud.

 

After that amp I never liked el power tubed amps. I am still a 6L6 or 6v6 power tubed amps guy. The 6L6 and 6v6 amps have less "hair/fuzz" in the overdrive sound. so I can get that smooth Santana like overdrive lead sound without the grind.