Marshall JCM-2000 TSL 100

Others have described the features of the amp sufficiently. Incredibly versatile. Although I'd prefer that the clean channel go a little higher on the gain scale, like the clean channel in the JCM 900 dual reverb, each of the three channels has several voices depending on the tone controls, gain settings, etc.

I've been playing the head with a standard JCM 900 1960B 4x12 cabinet with 75-watt celestions. I've played it with a Rickenbacker 650 (solid walnut body, oil finish, Rickenbacker humbuckers, gain structure in the neighborhood of P-100's), a Rickenbacker 620 (solid maple body, glossy finish, same Rickenbacker single coils that are in the 360 and 330), and an Epiphone Sheraton II (Es-335 copy) with Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates pickups.
Clean channel: It has the tone controls BEFORE the gain stages, like a Fender, as opposed to having them AFTER the gain stages, like a Marshall (the crunch and lead channels have standard Marshall post-gain stage tone controls). Sparkly, Fender-Twin like tones with the tone controls set with a fair amount of mid and treble. Even with the gain all the way up the tone will go into "bite" territory but won't break up at all until the amp is loud enough to get the power tubes cooking. There's a mid-boost switch which, when pushed in, adds a lot of mid to the sound and removes the midrange tone control from the circuit. It fattens the tone some, and adds a little gain. With the gain all the way up, the mid-boost on, the bass at about 7 and the treble about 4, the clean channel gets very fat with slight breakup with humbuckers- it's like Robby Krieger's tone on the Doors first album.
Crunch and lead channels: The reason I'm writing this because of the unbelievable versatility of the crunch and lead channels. With the crunch channel gain set in the low ranges(up to about 3) and the tone controls set with lots of mid and treble, the tone is almost EXACTLY like my Vox AC-30. I've got lots of Marshall heads of various eras and this is the only one that'll do that as well, though my JMP-era head will come close. At higher gain settings the crunch and lead channels go into standard Marshall territory, which I like a lot. There are slight variations in the voices of the lead and crunch channel (to my ears, the lead channel is slightly less midrangy) and the gain on 10 in the crunch channel is about like the gain on 6 in the lead channel. There's a lot of gain on tap in the lead channel, all usable to my taste. Oddly, my Fender Prosonic head has a bit more gain than this head at the highest settings, though the Prosonic has 6L6 power tubes, which have a higher "center" frequency range than the EL-34's in this Marshall, which are a little more midrangy and warm. There's also a mid-scoop switch on both the crunch and lead channels, which I don't like myself, that makes the amp sound like a fizzy metal machine.
I've only played this in my living room so far, so I'll report again after I've been able to play it loud.

This really will cover blackface Fender, Vox AC-30 and Marshall territory. I've seen other amps cover two of those ranges (the Fender Prosonic head will do AC-30 and blackface and then TOO much distortion, to the point that it's a fuzzy mess). If I was going to have only one amp this is it. It probably makes my AC-30 and my Prosonic unnecessary (except for the coolness factor and those blue speakers in the AC-30, which sound like nothing else).

Ths is the shurely one of the best versatile tube amps i played on! It has 3 seperate pre-amps which have all the features for the more blues/rock and heavy metal players. They really made a smart design at marshall, with only using 4 tubes for all these pre-amps. I only use this amp inhouse but i am convinced off it to make a good performance on stage! It shurely has enough power for that!

I am using a Fernandez Atack II guitar on the amp and i must say that the amp really gives every characteristic of it on every switching position of the pick ups. I like to play a lot of Gary Moore stuff(as good as i can get!) and i have been looking for years for a sound which comes good in his direction for a payable price and finally i have found it with this amp! With the amp switched to the lead channel, gain at 75% and volume on 40-50% its almost like i can hear THE REAL PARISIAN WALKWAYS " in my room. Another nice feature of the amp is the vpr button on which the amp plays at 25 Watts. My neighbours appriciate this and the amp stil keeps producing a good full clean, crunchy and distorted sound! The FX loop is also very good i only use a simple ibanzez chorus and boss digital delay foodpedal on it and they can be mixed very well in the right proportions through the fx loop pot. Worth mentioning is also the included speaker emulator which is activated when you push the output mute button. Finally i can play with my headphone on without using any power soaks on it , and the sound over my mixing pannel via the recording output of the amp even sounds very execptable. This amp is really the most versatile amp for its price i have ever played on! I really believe that for the blues/rock/heay metal player this is the best amp , considering its price, you can Get!

i only use the amp for a week now so i can't give you any indication!

For customer support one has to go to a distributor, in the past i have been looking for service manuals , schematics of marshall amps as an electronic engineer , but its very hard to get them. So i am not so satisfied with them!

I've been using it for some days now but i would shurely buy it again! The only thing i missed is a litlle more reverb in it , but probably all marshall amps have this lack, because i used to have a jcm 900 with the same shortage. I only can compare it with for instance a mesa boogie rectifier amp which is far more expensive , but i wouldn't change it for my tsl-100. So i really believe that for the price i have payd its one of the best you can get and that its the best Marshall Head amp ever Build!

New for 1998, this is an extremely versatile amp. I play rock, blues, fusion etc. This three channel amp has independant eq for each channel and all three are accessable via the footswitch. The clean channel can be dialed in to achieve all ranges of clean to mildly crunchy. Crunch channel voiced like the DSL 100 crunch channel. Great for blues and with the gain all the way up Good AC/DC Rock stuff. The Third Channel Smokes and is really good for rich sounding, high gain stuff. Other features include effect loops with front panel mix controls, Virtual power reduction switch which cuts volume but still uses output from all four EL34's and a direct out.

I use a Custom Shop Strat, Les Paul Custom, and 52 reissue tele. This amp sounds completely different with each guitar. The amp is really quiet as far as buzzes and sounds great at low volumes but at high volumes it sounds even better. The distortion will not get to the same death crunch as a Tremoverb but for what I play it sounds great.

Only had for two months but it works perfectly. No complaints.

Always had good experiece with Korg in the past.

I love this amp and would buy another one in a minute. When I bought it I had played the Tremoverb before the TSL and since I already own a DSL I intended to buy the Tremoverb, but when I tried the TSL I had no choice. I run both the TSL & DSL in stereo and they sound great together. I also run a few pedals and seem to have a very wide variety of tones with this setup. I know this is another one of those rave reviews that I detest on the forum but for me this is the best sounding amp I have ever owned.

This is just a quick update to my last submission. Read old submission for features and sound etc. It shouldn't be too hard to find since i'm the only one to have commented on this amp so far!

Gigged with it for the first time on Friday the 12th June 98. That's approximately three weeks after i bought it. Sounded absolutely fantastic until the footswitch decided it had had enough after about an hour of playing! Great having three channels isn't it? Not much good when you can't change between them though!

Everything you could ever need in an amp in my opinion. Three channels (clean, crunch and lead), all tube circuity, included footswitch with five switches and LEDs, two effects loops (seperate for clean and distortion channels), built in reverb, 100 Watts of power etc. etc.
There are a total of 21 knobs on the front of this amp and 9 push switches so that may give you an idea of the versatility of the thing. The FX loop can be configured to give two footswitchable volume levels if you don't use effects (like me) which gives you a seperate volume setting for rhythm playing and lead playing.
All three channels have individual volume, gain, bass, middle and treble controls. Clean channel has a mid-boost switch. Crunch and Lead channels both have tone shift switches which scoop out the mids.
Back panel includes send and return and level select switches for two effects loops. There is also a XLR output with speaker emulation - as of yet i haven't had chance to try this yet though so i don't know how authentic it sounds.
This amp would appear to have everything that i will ever want (wishful thinking i know but i really do like it) but i've only had it a week so i can't be positive about this yet. I used it for a band practice since then and i'm happy to report it sounded great.
Even sounds good at low volumes in my bedroom! (which is good for a hundred watt amp - especially using the virtual power reduction - there's another useful feature)

Every sound i was ever looking for in an amp. (but i won't really know this for sure of course until i've gigged with it). I play a fender strat plus with lace sensor single coil pickups and a handmade guitar fitted out with dimarzio humbuckers and a floyd rose trem. etc. The different characteristics of the two guitars really come through with this amp. I play a lot of different styles but mainly it's good old blues and rock and for these styles this amp really cuts it. the clean channel is great for anything (blues rhythm, country picking, jazz etc.) it all depends on the settings, the guitar and the way that you play it.
Crunch channel can be almost another darker cleaner channel at low gain settings. At mid-gain it is pure AC-DC style crunchy guitar sounds. At high gain it's got tremendous power and sustain. And this really is high gain - they call it the crunch channel but you could play in a metal band and never touch the lead channel!
The lead channel really sings straight away. Plug in a Les Paul and you will sound like Gary Moore! Of course that's a completely unfair comment to make because it won't at all but it's the closest sound i've ever got to his! My strat will give me some great heavily distorted blues/rock lead tones like Walter Trout whereas my rockier guitar provides me with instant Satriani like sounds through the lead channel.
The amp is also amazingly responsive to changes made on the guitar. The sounds of the different pickups really shine through and turning down the volume on my strat will turn a monstous high gain lead tone into a lovely, warm gently distorted cleanish sound with no problems at all.

Only had it a week so couldn't possibly comment on this. fingers crossed!

3 year warranty on the amp sounds pretty good to me. Never had to deal with them before though.

Well i know this review sounds like something you might read in a Marshall advert but i've just written my opinions on the amp. I only bought the thing a week ago but it just seems to sound better everytime i play it. I'll probably have to write an update to this review in the future when i've gigged with it a few times but i hope i'll still only have good things to say. The only bad thing i can possibly think of is that there's a small delay when switching between the channels using the footswitch but i don't forsee this being a big problem at all. So i feel i have no choice but to give it a ten!