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Gorehog
Active member
Whats the scoop? The good, bad and ugly?
Just came across a used one for $699.
I have a DSL 100/50 and love it.
Just came across a used one for $699.
I have a DSL 100/50 and love it.
marshallmel
Well-known member
Stick with the DSL that you like. TSL is poop.
rabies
New member
I used a TSL 100 head with a marshall 412 cab for about a year in a hard rock band. Usually run JJE34L's so most likely that's what i had in there. Guitar had EMG's was a totally sick hard rock setup. No issues except for the footswitch. Not my favorite amp but the bandmates loved the sounds. It's a pretty good deal for less than $1k.
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severinsteel
New member
The TSL is pretty underrated in my opinion. Overall, it sounds great. As the duder above mentioned, the footswitch sucks. If you already have a DSL, I wouldn't fool with it though.
blackba
Well-known member
I would take a 6100 or jvm over a tsl100 any day.
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Anonymous
Guest
Probably the Marshall tube amp with the worst reputation
sahlomonic
Well-known member
I have heard several in a band context when seeing local bands, and I have yet to gripe about their tone unless it's user error i.e. weird eq settings or sloppy/weak playing.. I have heard about reliability issues and a very long pause between channel switching, but overall I think they are fine sounding amps.
ghosty999
Well-known member
I hated it, I had one for a year, played it and tried to get a good tone out of it, just never happened, very fizzy sounding especially the 100. I sold it and bought a JMP-1 and have been happy ever since.
JTyson
Well-known member
I've had 2 of them, they are my least liked Marshalls. They should be a DSL a step further, but something was lost in the translation 
rlord1974
Active member
Business":1pzh0cfk said:
With the exception of Charveldan's Friedman-modded JMP......
ghosty999
Well-known member
JTyson":3ttoy4cc said:I've had 2 of them, they are my least liked Marshalls. They should be a DSL a step further, but something was lost in the translation
This sums it up, I think they over complicated things, with triple the features you have triple the failure rate. The reverb tank in mine went within a week of playing it and the 3 channels I see as
1 Thin Clean
2 Low Fizz
3 High Fizz
Alex Stanley
Banned
New member
I had a TSL 100, a TSL 60, and a DSL 50. The TSL was the worst sounding of the bunch. Very 'buzzy' and 'fizzy', as mentioned. I really liked the 60 and the 50.
glassjaw7
Well-known member
Alex Stanley":2c11kx75 said:
My exact experience as well. The DSL is much richer, warmer and fuller sounding to me.
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Gorehog
Active member
Thx alot. Think im gonna steer clear of it and get a Ceriatone. Thx everyone.
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JustinG60
New member
glassjaw7":nhhn9tr3 said:
i say the JCM2000 TSL100 suffers from the Krank mentality. for some reason people go into them not wanting to like them, mix that with 1 bad review on a reputable forum by someone who just didn't know how to dial one in and you get this notion that they're all crap.
funny to me how people bash them, yet the JVM410H isn't bashed. it probably will be now that I make this point. I have been a JCM2000 TSL100 owner from the start so i know how to dial the amp in quite quickly. i was recently in a local Guitar Center where a friend is the manager and a customer was bashing the TSL100 they had pretty hard. literally seconds later he was talking about how much he liked how brutal the JVM410H is. so i engage him in a conversation, ask if i could show him something as a comparison and had my manager friend wheel the TSL over to the JVM410H. i asked him to dial in the most "brutal" tone he thinks the TSL100 could not do. so he immediately goes to OD2, red mode and scoops the mids. i have him play it and i give it a quick feel. i then go to the TSL, go to lead/OD2, engage the deep, engage the tone shift (mid cut) and about 10 seconds of finding the magic spot on the mid pot it was ready to roll. the JVM lover was literally left speechless. with out looking at them i guarantee you would not be able to tell the difference between them.
bottom line to me is that the TSL100 falls victim to not understanding the buttons. deep switch is a bass boost, tone is a mid cut, and the VPR is a lower/deeper resonance and a virtual power reduction. the resonance probably wasn't intentional but it can be utilized as such if you want it. it's not the amp you're going to pull up a chair to and find every tone you're looking for in the matter of seconds but when you find them they are every bit awe inspiring as nearly any Marshall. I had mine modded a while back, it's not my work horse amp anymore but i am still finding my old tones just in completely different button configurations. this amp is like a woman, they crave attention and if you spend some good quality time with her, it will put out ...the tones you want...
glassjaw7
Well-known member
JustinG60":3bdpplxx said:
I didn't go in with that mentality at all. I knew hardly anything about gear when I first played a TSL head. I was pretty young and was expecting it sound awesome because it was Marshall, and the DSL and 800 I had recently played sounded great. The TSL was very bright and didn't have the warm and rich tones I was after. Even my Carvin head I owned at the time (still have it) was a much fuller sounding amp.
I'm sure the TSL is capable of some decent tones with tube swaps, the right settings etc but I'm not a fan. I'm not a huge fan of the JVMs either.
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Schaf
New member
ghosty999":3hlcvldu said:JTyson":3hlcvldu said:I've had 2 of them, they are my least liked Marshalls. They should be a DSL a step further, but something was lost in the translation
This sums it up, I think they over complicated things, with triple the features you have triple the failure rate. The reverb tank in mine went within a week of playing it and the 3 channels I see as
1 Thin Clean
2 Low Fizz
3 High Fizz
Tell that to Tommy Shaw. He gots killer tone out of the TSL when I saw him. And didn't Russ Parish use a TSL for years?