PRS MT100 Amplifier | Electric Factory | RRP: $3699
If I were to begin this review by summarising it, I would do it like this: I recorded a metal album’s worth of guitars on the weekend and the PRS MT100 beat a Peavey 5150II in a shootout. While ultimately I ended up recording both, the MT100 reigns supreme as the leading role while the Peavey’s familiar tone supports.
Mark Tremonti
The PRS MT100 is the signature amplifier of Mark Tremonti, of solo work, Alter Bridge, and perhaps most famous of all: Creed. The MT100 is the big brother of multiple amps falling under the MT umbrella, the MT100 being a 100-watt, three channel head powered by twelve vacuum tubes. With independent controls across the Lead, Overdrive and Clean channels, the MT100 could be the last amp you ever buy.
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As mentioned, the MT100 is a 100-watt amplifier head. This is powered by four 6L6GC tubes, characterised by their big and open sound, allowing the grit of the driven preamp section to be amplified with high headroom and clarity, perfect for both metal and rock, as well as cleaner styles where breakup at high volumes isn’t always optimal.
12AX7
The preamp section features eight 12AX7 tubes, the effects loops also being tube driven. With three speaker connection jacks, for both parallel and series connection to multiple cabinets, the MT100 has versatility in spades, even before the footswitch is mentioned! The footswitch, connected via 8-pin DIN connector, included, allows you to switch between any of the three channels.
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Each channel includes three band EQ with High, Middle and Low control, as well as Gain and Master controls. Maybe most exciting of all, each channel has its own Presence control, for total tonal control, even down to subtly shaping and refining your dialled sounds with Presence. Besides that – the Mt100 is all tone. Simple enough dials, as well Bias controls on the back panel, keep you focused on the great sounds.
Jumping between channels on the MT100 offers a quick glimpse into the capabilities of this amp. The clean channel selected when I flicked the amp from Standby into On (all on one switch – how handy!) was full, balanced, clear and ‘tubey’ if I can borrow a word from Mixdown’s own glossary of audio terms.
There’s a character to ‘tubey’ that’s bolstered without being boisterous, and the MT100’s clean channels had this. The Low EQ control introduced weight and depth without any mud, and the Mid control helped bring the guitar forward without any honk, harshness or ruining the dynamic of the player.
The Overdrive serves as a pushed tone, retaining the character of the Clean channel, but adding some grit, more weight and presence, even before I was reaching for the Presence control itself!
For my purposes on this album, I was most focused on the Lead channel, traditionally used as a boost for Lead parts, solos and more, we wouldnt’ deviate from this channel for the day no matter what we were playing!
The Lead channel adds a lot of gain, being a far greater jump than the difference between Clean and Overdrive, but still all the while retaining clarity. The choice of 6L6GC power tubes allows this to feel big and open, uncompressed and dynamic while having as much gain as you might need. We didn’t even opt for additional overdrive pedals, commonly used to push things even further in extreme music, yet here we were content after dialling the EQ a little and pushing the Presence control up.
The low end of the MT100 is clean and dynamic, allowing for the precision of controlled picking to shine through, hopefully you’ve picked the right cabinet! Through a straight fronted cab the low was balanced and clear without overwhelming other areas of the mix like kick drum or bass. The headroom and openness of the MT100 on any channel must be applauded that even when pushed to its absolute limits, the MT100’s tone doesn’t feel overly compressed or crushed, balanced yes, but not compressed per se. This is a stage where a lot of amplifiers fall apart, the fine line between harnessing the warmth of the power tube stage and the amplifier sounding like it’s folding in on itself.
Overall, the MT100 is a home run. Building on the MT15 and expanding into the MT100, with more power and more versatility. From the moment I flicked on the amp, I was taken aback at its crystal clear response no matter how far we pushed it. The PRS MT100 didn’t miss a beat, and while the musicians I was recording might have missed a couple, we were overall impressed with the MT100 and it’s helped to shape a record for a band that’ll be shared, performed, hopefully loved and revered. No I just need to raise my rates enough to make the money to buy an MT100 to keep!
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