
Mars800
€109.00
- Description
Description
VST3 – AU – AAX

The Heritage revives
Mars800 is a faithful software simulation of one of the most iconic amp heads in rock history, capturing the essence of a powerful, single-channel amp with raw, unfiltered tone. Designed with EL34 power tubes, it offers the unmistakable bright, gritty, and punchy sound that defined countless classic rock and metal tracks.
With controls for Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence, and Master Volume, the Mars800 responds well to adjustments, delivering anything from a thick crunch to a searing lead tone. While it’s simple in layout, this amp simulation is powerful in sound, achieving a natural, organic distortion that’s clear and dynamic. Loud and unapologetically bold, Mars800 is the perfect choice for players who crave an authentic rock sound with vintage grit and modern reliability.
Mars800 doesn’t stop at its core sound: two popular mods, called 34 and 36, take its tone even further.
Mod 34: This modification was created at the request of a player seeking more distortion without adding another gain stage. The modification pushes the Mars800 into higher-gain territory, giving it a smooth, compressed tone with more sustain. It tightens the low end and adds extra saturation, perfect for players wanting a boosted rock sound with added bite. This mod was famously used on Use Your Illusion by Guns N’ Roses, providing the thick, powerful crunch that’s both smooth and aggressive. Its ability to compress and sustain made it ideal for the riffs and solos that defined 80s and early 90s rock.
Mod 36: This mod is a refined version of the legendary Mod 39, which evolved from an earlier 1959T amp modification. The original version featured an added gain stage using the tremolo valve, but later iterations simplified the design to make it more streamlined and widely used. Building on this, the Mod 36 was developed to deliver even more gain and depth. This mod was used on Appetite for Destruction and delivers a thicker, more aggressive tone with boosted bass response, making it perfect for players craving a heavier, modern sound while retaining a vintage edge. The Mod 36 is known for its saturated tone, making it a favorite in hard rock and metal.
These mods expand Mars800’s versatility, making it suited for anything from classic rock crunch to high-gain, saturated lead tones.
But that’s not all. The Mod 34 and Mod 36 include three exclusive, recallable circuit presets: Classic, Modern, and Extreme. Each preset is crafted to deliver a unique tonal character, making it easy to shape your sound and refine your creative vision.
Non-Plus-Ultra Preamp
Non-Plus-Ultra Preamp represents the perfect approach to circuit modeling. Mars800 preamp features a built-from-scratch 64-bit engine which is based on general purpose hi-quality algorithms and the most recent non-linear models. Special care has been taken in defining the Non-Linear Solver to ensure maximum quality and realism, without losing details in favor of performances (Double-Precision Non-Linear Computing).
Our Non-Plus-Ultra reproductions bring a completely new philosophy to the table: being able to shape your tone by giving total access to the circuit components. Managing each gain stage level, shaping the tone-stacks or modifying the tubes characteristics: there is virtually no limit to what you can achieve with our plugins!
Power Amp Distortion & Headroom
The HEADROOM section lets you shape the behavior of the power stage, from clean headroom to full saturation.
You can define how and when the power amp starts to distort, choose different clipping characters, and adjust the interaction between pre and post gain stages.
Pwr/Cabs: Non-Linear Convolution
Before describing our solution, let’s talk about what everyone else does: the commonly spread approach of the “single IR” to reproduce a cabinet is nothing more than a digital clean equalizer. Which means: non-linearities are not reproduced at all. Competitors generally model power amps to introduce harmonic distortion, but they totally omit the non-linearities coming from the speaker, the microphone and the mic preamp. While these can be considered somehow negligible for some types of high wattage speakers when dealing high gain sounds, it is essential when the speaker breaks up. Furthermore, sometimes solid state power amps are used to sample cabinet, speakers and mikes, but these power amps, despite being considered “neutral”, have their own “footprints” due to the different impedance, so the interaction with the speaker is noticeably different when compared to a classic tube power-amp.
Another limit of many well-known amp simulations is the complete absence of power amp clipping.
As DiBiQuadro we implemented our own version of Non-Linear Convolution (NLC) to reproduce all the final stages of a miked amplifier. We use to call Pwr/Cab a chain made of:
- a tube power amp
- a cabinet/speaker
- a microphone
- and a high-end studio preamp

Double-Precision Non-Linear Computing and Convolution
Pwr/Cabs List
Mars800_000_100W_EL34
Mars800_001_100W_EL34_60A_1_T75_57_B73
Mars800_002_100W_EL34_60A_1_T75_201_B73
Mars800_003_100W_EL34_60A_1_T75_421_B73
Mars800_004_100W_EL34_60A_4_T75_57_B73
Mars800_005_100W_EL34_60A_4_T75_201_B73
Mars800_006_100W_EL34_60A_4_T75_421_B73
Mars800_007_100W_EL34_60A_2_V30_57_B73
Mars800_008_100W_EL34_60A_2_V30_201_B73
Mars800_009_100W_EL34_60A_2_V30_421_B73
Mars800_010_100W_EL34_60A_3_V30_57_B73_A
Mars800_011_100W_EL34_60A_3_V30_201_B73_A
Mars800_012_100W_EL34_60A_3_V30_421_B73_A
Mars800_013_100W_EL34_60A_3_V30_57_B73_B
Mars800_014_100W_EL34_60A_3_V30_201_B73_B
Mars800_015_100W_EL34_60A_3_V30_421_B73_B
Mars800_016_100W_EL34_60B_1_M25_57_B73
Mars800_017_100W_EL34_60B_1_M25_201_B73
Mars800_018_100W_EL34_60B_1_M25_421_B73
Mars800_019_100W_EL34_60B_3_M25_57_B73
Mars800_020_100W_EL34_60B_3_M25_201_B73
Mars800_021_100W_EL34_60B_3_M25_421_B73
Mars800_022_100W_EL34_60B_2_H30_57_B73
Mars800_023_100W_EL34_60B_2_H30_201_B73
Mars800_024_100W_EL34_60B_2_H30_421_B73
Mars800_031_100W_EL34_60AV_1_MV_57_B73
Mars800_032_100W_EL34_60AV_1_MV_201_B73
Mars800_033_100W_EL34_60AV_1_MV_421_B73
Mars800_034_100W_EL34_60AV_2_MV_57_B73
Mars800_035_100W_EL34_60AV_2_MV_201_B73
Mars800_036_100W_EL34_60AV_2_MV_421_B73
Mars800_037_100W_EL34_60AV_4_MV_57_B73
Mars800_038_100W_EL34_60AV_4_MV_201_B73
Mars800_039_100W_EL34_60AV_4_MV_421_B73
Shaper
The input signal can be processed by activating a shaper before the preamp. This block allows to select one of the following:
- a Low Cut
- a Mid Boost
- a Graphic Equalizer
- a Parametric Equalizer
- a Compressor
- an Overdrive circuit
- a Distortion circuit
Wah, Overdrive & Distortion — Fully Tweakable!
All DiBiQuadro amp simulations include the following effects, fully tweakable at component level:
- A beautifully voiced Wah effect. The frequency parameter can also be automated via your DAW.
- An Overdrive with two modes: TS (symmetric clipping) and SD (asymmetric clipping).
- A Distortion with three modes: MDP (Distortion+ style), and 250/308 (Classic Preamp) modes.
Both Overdrive and Distortion allow to select the type of diode:
- Silicon
- Germanium
The diode characteristic and topology (only positive, only negative, one against one) can also be modified.
Automations
Every knob, button and state of the Preamp and PwrCab sections can be automated in your DAW. This provides a new level of integration of DiBiQuadro plugins with the time-based events of your project.
Audio Samples
We pour our passion into achieving the perfect representation of the hardware. Don’t just take our word for it—let your ears be the judge.
Reverb and delay are not included in the product. They are used for demonstration purposes only.
Mars800 Lo Clean
Mars800 Lo Clean Rev
Mars800 Hi Crunch
Mars800 Hi Crunch Rev
Mars800 Hi34 Classic Crunch
Mars800 Hi34 Classic Crunch Rev
Mars800 Hi34 Modern Crunch
Mars800 Hi34 Modern Crunch Rev
Mars800 36 MidBoost Hard Rock
Mars800 36 Extreme MidBoost Metal
Mars800 36 Extreme MidBoost Metal Stereo
Mars800 Hi HeavilyModded Boost Metal
Mars800 Hi HeavilyModded Boost Metal Stereo
Mars800 36 Extreme SL Lead
Mars800 36 Extreme SL Doubled Lead Rev Delay
Mars800 Hi HeavilyModded SL Lead
Mars800 Hi HeavilyModded SL Doubled Lead Rev Delay
Standalone Application
In addition to using it as a plugin in your favorite DAW, you can also run it as a standalone application and play in real time directly from your operating system, with no DAW required.
The Renderer
The Renderer is another standalone application to process an input wave file in OffLine mode. It can be invoked via command line too. Its purpose is to render long and processing demanding configurations (e.g. high upsampling).
System Requirements
Mars800 is distributed for Windows 64-bit and MacOs 64-bit Intel and Arm (Apple Silicon), in 2 formats:
- Plugin in VST3/AU/AAX 64 bit format;
- Renderer in Windows/macOs executable
We recommend to demo the 15-days trial version before any purchase. Requirements are reported in the tables below.



Formats and operating systems different from the ones specified above are not supported yet.
DAW compatibility
Mars800 can be used on the most popular DAWs (digital audio workstation). Here is a list of tested DAWs:
- Cockos Reaper (Windows/macOs)
- Presonus Studio One (Windows/macOs)
- Steinberg Cubase/Nuendo (Windows/macOs)
- Logic Pro X (macOs)
- Cakewalk Bandlab/Sonar (Windows)
- Avid Pro Tools (Windows/macOs)
- Ableton Live (Windows/macOs)
For Ableton Live on Windows 11 the following action is necessary to display the GUI correctly: right click the Live executable (or shortcut) / Properties / Compatibility / Change high DPI settings / Check “Override high DPI scaling behavior. Scaling performed by:” / change drop down to “Application” / Apply.
In Ableton Live, right-click the plug-in in the browser and disable Auto-Scale Plug-In Window.
Downloads
To install/authorize Mars800 please use DiBiQuadro Center. If you have any issue please contact us.