Review of the Mariner Flagship Amp at The Amp Shop

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Since 2000, THE AMP SHOP has been a reputable electronics repair shop in Western North Carolina. What started as a hobby in 1960 has grown into a full-fledged business offering the highest quality repairs at affordable prices. Their passion for fixing broken things has brought them to the top of the repair industry. It is run by John Schuske along with super amp designer Jashun Uberoi (Josh). They have now entered the custom amp market.

The Mariner flagship amplifier

I know, I know what you’re thinking, another expensive amp, but in this case, far from it. I was walking around Guitar Expo 2024 in Orlando, Florida this year, eager to see if I could get another great deal or trade. I passed by The Amp Shop booth, and Josh came up to me, thinking he recognized me, and said, “Hey man, please try out my amp and give me your feedback.” Being a real fan of gear, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try out a new amp. So he gave me a Gibson Les Paul, and I was good to go. But what stunned me was the sound coming out of the speakers. It was incredible. I’m a real amp connoisseur and a very discerning guitar tone geek. In fact, I wrote a published book called “Guitar Amplifier Encyclopedia” (Allworth Press), and I wish I had included this amp in it. Josh and I hit it off and he was kind enough to let me use this amp to test it out in the studio and use it on new recordings for my upcoming release featuring Joe Satriani, Stu Hamm, Gus G (Ozzy) and a few other special guests.

I have to say, as you can imagine, I have a lot of amps, from solid state amps to high end tube amps. But “The Mariner” is in a class of its own. The original design is based on the Marshall JCM 800, the holy grail of amps, of which I have had a few over the years. I also have a Marshall Plexi with the famous Cameron modification, but “The Mariner” is a step above them all. The clarity and focus are fantastic without the need for additional EQ in the mix, and stands out clearly from other instruments. This is due to the two stage gain sequence of potentiometers. Stage 1 is the stock JCM 800 with a gain control and stage 2 “Boost Gain” also with a separate gain control so you can blend the two stages together. There is also a toggle switch above the input jack that activates stage 2 (see picture 1). You can find my video review of “The Mariner” under the following link.

Video review:

Diploma

So how should I describe “The Mariner”? Well, it’s a combination of the sound of the Soldano Colosseum, John Syke’s EVH 5150 and the clarity of the Fender Prosonic’s overdrive sound. For me, there is no rival out of the box. It also has an auto-resonance feature built in, so the louder the amp gets, the less resonance is used. The lower the volume, the more resonance is used. This is similar to the design of the EVH 5150, but the 5150 has a resonance knob on the back of the amp that you can manually adjust. This MF is loud and will bring the house down – 100 watts of pure guitar testosterone will blow your mind sonically! I’d like to thank Josh & John from The Amp Shop for their exceptional work!