Marshall JCM-2000 TSL 100

I love the FX loops and 3 channels. Doing a variety of styles, I need options and many sounds. TSL provides what I need. It definitely saves me from hauling 2 amps to gigs.
The delay in sound when switching channels is a bit annoying but, something I have learned to anticipate and work around when channel switching. An overall gain boost / loudness boost that applies to all channels would have been nice (a la the Mesa Road King).

I love each of the channels. The change in sound, gain and colour are amazing. However, the TSL has its own unique sound. I don't expect it to emulate an 800, a Fender or a Mesa, and it doesn't (and I don't care!!!). I have played several Fender amps and the Mesa Road King side by side. I was prepared to pay what ever it cost for the best sound (money was no object) and I chose the TSL hands-down over the MESA. Although I love the Fender sound, I find the Tonemaster too limited - it does one or two sounds REALLY well; the TSL does MANY SOUNDS REALLY WELL. I am concerned, however, with the Lead channel noise.

I have owned the TSL-100 for 3 years now. I have played it on average 12 hours per week in performance in clubs. I have had ZERO problems with the AMP. The footswitch, however, is crap, as has been stated in numerous reviews. However, the problem with the FS has been only the FX switch. There is quite simply a design problem. I have overcome this problem by openning the footswitch case and reinforcing the circuit board.

N/A Never asked; never disappointed. Therefore, I rate highly.

I have been playing for 15 years. I am playing the TSL with several guitars .... Parker Fly, Les Paul & Gretsch White Falcon. Each guitar pulls a distinctly different sound from the TSL. I am using various pedals including Ibanez Tube Screamer (the real one!), Boss Metal Zone, and various real time effects (delay/chorus etc. are through the FX loop and the dist/pre-amp pedals are direct in).
My cabinet is a modified 1960 with 2 Vintage 30s and 2 Greenbacks; all the Marshall "interfering electronics" in the cabinet are removed it's just AMP-CABLE-SPEAKERS.
Overall, I love the amp. I have nothing negative to say. I still like the Fender Tonemaster for that classic Fender sound. I love the TSL for the now classic TSL sound!

I own a Marshall TSL JCM2000 and it serves me well. I mainly play rock and metal and this amp gets the job done for me.

As far as the channels go, i like having three.
The clean is really nice but it takes some time to get everything set for a really smooth tone. I like the crunch, many people say that they don't use it but i like it for more bluesy stuff, and of course the lead is one of the most used channels. It may not have the greatest "metal" sounding gain but it's great for solos.

the clean is good for hybrid picking, and it sounds really nice for tapping with a little delay added. (i use a boss dd3)

the lead is pretty good for fast picking/solos, but as for shredding on this amp, it really depends on what type of guitar or the pickups you use. everythig i have gets a deifferent sound. Right now, i use a fender strat which sounds really nice on the clean channel, and jackson dkmg loaded with emg-hz pickups, the jackson is nice for leads and it has a trubocharger that makes it a little louder on the clean, and adds a little bit more distortion on the crunch and lead channels. But for the lead, i have to turn the gain down to about 3 or 4 to use it because whenit's up to high and the turbocharger is on, it sounds to fuzzy. And finally i have a schecter c-1+, i love this guitar, it sounds like a les paul does through this amp. this guitar sounds great on all channels.

There are better amps out there. but not many can produce a lot of different tones. Don't get me wrong, i've played through a dual rectifier and it sounds great and that solo channel is nice, But no matter what guitar i use, they all sound the same. The tsl is just more versatile.

I've heard a lot of stories about marshalls not holding up but so far mine has had no problems and i've had it about 3 years, andcarted it around for about 2 and a half.

usually when i take it to shows i put my two cabinets (2 1960a lead slant cabs) with a little extra padding and the head rides shotgun with me. I try and be gentle with it cause it's a nice investment

Marshall amazing, i love mine, and i'll always use it,

but if it were stolen, i'd get a Madison,they're like a step up from mesas but they're as versatile as marshalls.

the amp was made probably in 2000.

its not as versatile as i want it to be. it has to be either really heavy or not at all. It doesnt get a very smooth low gain tone.

3 channels. The crunch is pretty nice and the lead is good only when its loud but thats not too surprising for a marshall.

The amp has plenty of power

i run it through a marshall 1960A cab. It's really picky with certain guitars. If you dont have a very well made guitar its not going to sound good.

I play a dean cadillac, a carvin sc90 custom, a les paul, and i just got an endorsement through fernandes and the amp doesnt work well with the fernandes. the clean channel is great. Hasnt distorted for me i dont put it past 5 with the gain matched. any respectable club mics the amps anyways.

the distortion isnt exactly what i would call brutal. I almost wouldnt even call it distortion its just alot of gain. my carvin sounds the best with this amp. I use a duncan JB pickup and the neck varies from a 59, jazz, and a full shred and all are great.

i put the gain at about 6.5 bass at 5 mids at 7 and terble at about 6.5. i dont use the tone switch. prescence at about 5.5 and crank it. with the jb's this gives me the perfect sound. every guitar and room will sound different.

for the first 6 months of having it i had no problems.
I bought it used so when i got it i changed the tubes. i put it in Groove Tubes E34LS and Groove Tubes AX7C's. (this is for heavier players) i get em at about a 5 rating.

if you move this amp around alot you might have to baby it. i dont know if its because it was used or what but the can was busted after about 6 months. i do take it alot and to different places and i dont have a case for it (probably should) but the can busted and the reverb went out. (i use reverb) so i had to get that fixed. and a month later whenever i plugged it in and it gave me a low humming sound that wouldnt go away and was on whether anything was plugged in or not. blew a circuit in the amp. so .. so far im not too pleased with the reliablity but when it works .. it sure works

ive been playing for about 14 years. this is my 4th amp owned. its not a bad amp. it really isnt i guess most old schoolers hate it because they consider the real marshalls to be like the plexis or the jcm 800's. distortion pedals arent too great to run through em because of the clean also having a gain channel so you have to experiment with it alot. if this amp were stolen or lost id probably buy a different kind. the carvin V3 head is what i have my eye on right now.

i love the sound it gets when its just right. not too heavy not too light just enough. its more tone than anything. it really lets your guitar speak. the problem with amps like mesa boogie is every guitar is going to sound about the same through them. The marshall really lets the guitar have its own sound accompanied by that classic marshall tone.

the thing i hate about it is .. its been very picky with some of my guitars.

i really wish the footswitch pedal had a detaching cable. not one that was always stuck to it all the time. it kind of become a pain in the ass.

Almost everything has been said about this amp. I just have to add a remark regarding the preamp valves.

I had two DSL100 heads and traded one of them in to replace it with a TSL100, because I was in need for an additional really clean channel.
Everything was fine with the TSL, except for the crunch channel being not as fat and round as the DSL100 one. As I did with the DSL, I replaced the preamp valves with Groove Tubes 12AX7M, built with the exact specs of the old Mullard ECC83. This helped a lot, but still the treble range sounded a bit harsh. The solution I found was to put a Groove Tubes 12AX7C in the third preamp stage (V3). This valve dampens some of the upper treble range while sounding fat and round in the bottom and midrange. The amp delivers great sound with this setup.

3 channels... you know the drill.

i run this into a marshall 1960a cabinet and use a jackson sl1 soloist, jackson ke2 kelly, esp m-ii deluxe and a gibson les paul standard. it took me a while to come to terms with this amps tone but now i love it. yes its true you MUST turn this amp up for it to sound good but what tube amp do you not have to. the best channel on this amp is easily the lead channel, chrunch is good when it fits what your playing and the clean doesnt wow me too much. this amp has alot of treble and you have to be very careful with this, turning it up past 5 is overwhelming and very hard on your ears. the same applies for the gain, on the lead channel it loses its definition and around 4. my solution to this set the gain at 3, thats my normal tone. when i need a little bit of a push over the edge i just switch on my compressor or seymour duncan pickup booster. the crunch is similar in response to the gain, i use this mostly for very lightly distorted riff or when im in a classic rock mood, it doesnt get the classic rock tone all that well on this channel with my settings in my opinion i just really dont like this channel. the clean seems to respond very well to single coils and terribly to humbuckers and breaks up very quickly, but i like my clean to break up a bit if i dig in so i cant complain. THIS IS NOT A HIGH GAIN AMP, it has the gain there but not much usable gain it gets very fuzzy and muddy very fast, deal with it. i am mainly a lead player and play hard rock/metal and classical. this amp fits me pretty well because i tend to play fast and have excesive gain makes every thing very muddy. if your having trouble finding a good tone with this amp try this on the lead channel:
gain:3
volume:5
treble:3.5
mid:2
bass:6
presence:0
tone shifts: off
deep: off
v.p.r: off (yes this does make a difference)

its really tricky here... when i first got it no problems at all, then it started to blow 3 fuses a week for about 4-5 months then it stopped and has not had a single problem or fuse blow for over a year. these amps are known for having problems and for that simple fact i would recomend getting something else.

havent dealt with them.

i love the tone of this amp but its definatly not for every one. the reliability is the biggest issue, if your considering this amp but are worried about the reliability go with a laney vh100r, they sound very similar but the laney is more reliable and is a good $250 cheaper. this head is not for you modern high gain guitarists; in fact you would hate this amp. this amp is very unforgiving due to its very dry organic voicing. its unlike any marshall ive played. alot of people compare this to the jcm800, not at all like a jcm800 or jcm900 or plexi or jtm45 or any other marshall. if your trying to emulate some one elses tone get the amp they use because its not in here.

dont know what year.brought second hand from a mate.phenominal versatility with its effects loops,mix.play mine in a function band with lots of styles ie.rock,pop,metal,jazz and reggae.

use a usa stock strat and a mex strat.on clean setting it really sparkles(not as good as a fender amp)but hey this isnt a fender.crank up the gain and the clean gets really dirty,in a nice way of course.use a marshall supervibe through the loop system and its sooooooo sweet.od1 emits a typical rip your face crunch,adjustable with a scoop button.od2 is where this amps balls are with even more crunch.find it bewildering how so many people cant get a decent sound from this channel.they must be fxxkwits.this is where i play my lead from,i take off the treble and my strat emits creamy type of notes.lovely.

the only niggles is the god awful footswitch and connection at the back.easily breakable.on me third pedal so far .come on marshall address this problem.apart from that its reliable as fxxk.and its loud..very loud.rips my drummer a new asshole every time.hahaha;-)

dealt with them through my music shop(who were very help full:spending #2000 there also helps)and i got my pedal replaced just like that.

been playing about 26years and ive used fenders laneys and mesas and this amp is the dogs gonnads.take some time on eq and this amp will work for you.the head weighs a bit but its built like a panzer tank,i dont baby it and i dont throw it out of hotel windows either.

price paid - 700 quid - new (a couple of years ago, they are cheaper now i believe)

as im sure you know, three channels, completly independent and foot-switchable, clean, crunch, lead, two effects loops, plate reverb, and the really clever power reduction switch, that lets you turn the large- club gig ready earmelter,into a bedroom practise amp that wont have the neighbours hating you! also has a mute switch which is really usefull for recording that awesome idea late at night without waking anyone up. oh.. and a line-out, which while of couse isn't as good as miking the cab, no matter what some people claim about the emulation, is as good as line-outs get.

i think this is this is the 2003 model, but i have to admit im not a hundred percent sure. this is a fantasticaly versitile amp, i bought it,(along with a 1936 cab) to replace an AVT150 (valvestate) which by the way is an ok amp (ive heard lots of bad reviews for them) its just not professional quality.

anyway the TSL... i play in a punk/ska band (more punk then ska, bits of punky metal to) and this amp does that great, clean channel, is well... the clean sound, crunch... for overdriven rhythm sounds, and lead for the lead work, as well as for the chorus's of some of the ball-sier songs. Before i came to university i played in a hard rock/power pop, band.. (used similier settings to be honest) and the TSL does this really, really well.

also played in a big band back home, TSL does this well to, nice bright cleans, good crunchy (not too much gain) sound for songs like 'power of love' and blue brothers medleys, there are probably better amps for the bigband stuff, fender twin, and sessionette solid-state, spring to mind, but they wouldn't do the heavy rock stuff well, (been there, tried that, looked [and sounded] stupid doing so).

Cuts through the live mix of both rock and big bands really well really good string note definition even at high gain, and i dont care what others have said when comparing this to mesa's, the marshall can DO high.. no wait.. HIGH.. gain... never gets to 'muddy' either really.

incrediby versatile amp, (i've used it for a bit of funk and acid jazz at the odd pub jam night to) and especially for a valve amp has a multitude of features, i know things like the AVT, and laney modeling amps have loads of built in features, effects and stuff, but you dont get that real all tube sound, and no valve amp really has these, (their heavy enough as it is, and its just not feasable). and the footswitchable effects loops (which i havn't used in a while.. amp sounds so good i dont really need to add anything to it, unless i am after an unusual sound for an experimental track) mean this would never really be a problem anyway, you can add extras to it yourself.

i play a custom jackson, with two EMG's and a really nice Semour duncan hot rod loaded on, and also a standard Tele, that i have fitted a 'little 59' hot rod to in the bridge posistion. (incidently this is a really good mod for a telecaster, you guitar retains that great 'twangy' telecaster sound, when clean, but also lets you play high gain without all that squeal and feedback, also adds more bottem end to the overdriven sound, and makes the guitar louder!-- looks cool to!)

the amp does my paticular hard rock/punk sound really well, as well as having been good for everything i have tried (successfully or unsuccsessfully) to do. - i should add that i am not saying this amp will do everything, just that its done everything i want so far- not good for acoustic amplificaton either really, it will do it, just not amazingly well... then again theres no reason why it should, i should really go and by an acoustic amp for that!

the distortion is great i mean REALLY great, the marshall/mesa debate is not one that will ever be solved, and both are great makes, but i think it is important to point out that they have very different sounds, and for people to say one or the other is 'crap' just because they prefer the other is unfair.
its probably fair to say that the TSL doesn't have the same saturation of distortion that the mesa's do... but it has as much as almost anybody could ever possably want or need, i play a fairly heavy very high gain style of music, and i never use all the gain on offer (at least not live, recordings different)cos to much when playing really loud means that the sound becomes muddy, and you cant really hear what the guitarist is playing.. it just gets lost in the sound of the band and doesn't cut through the mix that well if you get silly with the distortion.- just a tip there for inexperianced performers ;) also that classic marshall crunch sound is just so cool.. who couldnt love it? its been the defining sound of rock and roll forever.. from 'Free' to 'The Darkness' and 'Finch'

obviosly the amp is noisier with the Tele then with the Jackson (when overdriven anyway) but no real problems with feed-back or hum, and not too much amp hiss either. only a bit when the lead channel is engaged, and i do have the gain quite high (3 o'clock for the Jackson and 4 o'clock for the Telecaster) and normally set very loud (oh yeah did i mention this thing is LOUD) so that can be excused.

what lets this amp down though is the clean channel, dont get me wrong it sounds great, its just too quiet! the clean channel has this gain setting that lets you get an old school crunch out of the clean channel, but without that turned up a bit the volume on the clean doesent quite compete with the volume of the other two channels, so it can sometimes take a while in sound check to set the amp to a really good completly clean sound. its quite suprising that marshall let this get by them actually, and it lets a great amp down, so 8 not 10 for this. great sounds, somewhat awkward channel balancing.

had the amp since 2003,
regular gigs,
band practise every week,
I run this thing Really Hot,
it gets moved a lot, and probably slides far too much in the back of my car.

and so far no problems at all! (i hope to &^%$ this doesn't jinx it!)

there is apparantly a problem with the footswitch on the TSL's so if you are gigging get a Spare! (not expensive btw) but i've had no problems with my original, so the spare has just sat at the bottem of my flightcase forever.

i have yet to change the tubes! (six to twelve months is standard) but none of mine have blown, and the sound is great so i decided not to mess with it! tubes vary a lot so yours might only last a couple months, but sometimes people get lucky and get a really good batch. (have spares on hand though!)

its smarter to have a back up at gigs, commen sense dictates this, however i don't have, and cannot afford, another amp. so i gig without backup all the time, and so far no problems.

this is a very reliable amp!!

i have never had to deal with marshall, so i cant say. however the amp does come with a three year warranty which is nice!

my local dealer is (or was back home) nevada music (if you live on on the uk southcoast you really should be shopping here!)
and i would probably take the amp here with any problems, the guys at nevada have been great over the years with all sorts that i have bought from there! they can fix pretty much anything and are fairly cheap to!

as i said, this is my only real amp, the only other that i own, is a very battered 15watt park practise amp that my dad got me as a present when i first started to learn, that sits in my room as a plug in and play mess-about amp. (the TSL stack lives downstairs as its such a pain having to cart it up and down the stairs every ten minutes)

as well as the previosly mentioned guitars i own a yamaha apx3 steel string electro-acoustic, and a yamaha nylon strung spanish guitar.

i have playing since school (about 12 years of age) (classical guitar lessons) but only seriously and regually since i put my first rock band together at 15, so about 5 years. (im 20 next month)

i love this amp, the classic sounding marshall distortion really does it for me, and there's enough here that it covers all modern styles while still having that classic sound. the only problem i have with it is that damn volume shortage on the clean channel.

if it were stolen or lost i would cry, and then hunt down and torture the guy who stole it, then steal his credit card and buy a new one!

when looking at this amp i also tried a dual recto, (which i couldn't really afford but was thinking about getting some overtime to pay for), and a laney 100 head, the laney was good, very loud, and had some super sweet singing lead sounds, but while the high gain was good, i didn't like the crunch sounds out of it (in fact i couldn't get a mid range distortion sound that i liked at all) nevertheless the laney amps are worth checking out, nice sound on clean and high gain.

the marshall TSL just did it for me (still does!!) Try these out, especially before you go and lay out #1600 for a recto head, (not that mesa aren't really good, but marshall are too!... and their cheaper, and who knows... you may prefer it!)

9 just cos of the problem with the clean channel really!... that can be a pain setting up for gigs!

Read about the features. How much do you want, especially from a tube amp?

The amp has excellent sounds, depends on your ability to use it. Don't listen to the idiots posting "Wa Wa I want a Mesa Boogie". Its stupid to compare the two because they have different designs. If you don't like the bright sound of EL-34 tubes don't buy a Marshall. This is not a heavy metal amp. Yes you can get the "brown sound" if you have intellengence to adjust the controls, use the right guitar and speakers. If you want that muddy sound get the Mesa. (Mesa does build excellent amps). The sounds are just different.

And speaking of the JCM 800, I have studied the schematics and the TSL-100 sound chain is very similar.

Have not had any problems. The footswitch design is a bit questionable but don't handle it like an ape!!!

Cant say on this one. Havn't had to contact them but I don't like the fact that you have to contact Korg USA. I would prefer a direct Marshall contact. This is one area that Mesa Boogie excels. I had an F-50 and called them and got a real amp tech.

An excellent amp if you like rock and roll. It is a very flexible amp limited only by the person using it. The sound of an amp rig is a function of the amp, speakers, guitar and most of all the person playing it. Again, its a bright sound due to the EL-34 tubes. Want the modern muddy sound get a Mesa with 6L6 tubes (again, also excellent amps).

Very average, doesn't really inspire you to play, I had one previously for a couple of years, but i found that the amp didn't really give me the buzz that i wanted from it. It kinda sounds a bit nasally and scratchy without much definition, and the gain isn't that useable either.
really difficult to dial out the harsh high end, the mids are okay as long as you keep them high, but it doesn't really have much bottom to speak of. Probably not an amp for the pro guitarist who needs a LARGE sound.
This has a small amount of character and a mew where there should have been the roar of the old 70's superleads.

went iffy a few times when gigging and just pissing around at home, although it did get quite a lot of hammer

marshall don't warrant having a customer support section on these reviews.
Crap

I switched amps recently, about 3 years ago, and had my Marshall for a few years before that. Can't say that it inspired me. Left me feeling a little underwhelmed.
The amp that i have now got is a Boogie Dual Rec and to be honest it really IS SO MUCH BETTER, it is in a different league to the Marshall, and it inspires me to play. and before you go ahead and think that "oh, he just plays metal and scoops all the mids out of his tone (even though middle is the single most important frequency on a guitar amp!)" you would be very wrong. I play EVERYTHING from 60's stuff right through to modern stuff seeing as i am in about 3 covers bands! and i am in an originals band that plays hard rock with a melodic punky edge. It is absolutely great for any style i care to play with it (the Mesa, NOT the Marshall!)
It really amuses me how anyone can say any different really unless they are just plain retards that seem to think they are buying into some kind of past heritage or something???!!! (Marshall had their hey day and now it has gone tits up for them practically.)
People who give this amp a good review are only trying to justify dumping a lot of hard earned cash on it.
BTW.
Jim Marshall is a really bitter twisted old man, I have heard some absolute horror stories about how his amps are made, and what he thinks about his employees! thats for another time though...

To sum up. If you are thinking about buying this amplifier, please take my advice and try all different avenues first. There are FAR better amps out there for the sort of money you will be willing to waste on this.

im assuming that everyone has covered the features already.
I really like the footswitchable fx loop and the voicing the lead channel has.

clean i found very nice however my girlfriends fender roc pro 1000 hyrbrid combo has a nicer/tighter clean.

Crunch channel - ROCK...and it does

Lead channel - takes off where the crunch runs out of oomph...very good for metal and leads...watch the amount of gain if ure using this as the rythm channel...i have it on half and crank the mids...scoop the treble and presence(very harsh) and crank that volume

the key is MIDS!...marshalls cut through very nicely in live band setting.

i ran the TSL100 into a Marshall MF400A modefour oversized cab.
line6 dl4,boss NS2noise suppresor and a MXR kerry king 10 band eq (to push mids and get rid of the piercing highs and fizz)

guitars is PRS CE24 with seymour duncan pup's (jazz neck and jb bridge) and jackson professional with EMGs

i love the variety of tones i get from this setup...i play metal/metalcore in my band...but at home i play alot of clean/blues and experiemental.

with the kerry king eq in the loop my rig keeps up with my other guitarists who alternates between 5150 mk1 and 2 thru mesa recto cab.

i give it a 7 on its own but with the eq in loop ill give it an 8.


lead channel distortion is brutal but needs eq to tame the highs.

i bought this amp second hand in mid 2004...the first owner bought it in 1999.
after a month one tube wouldn glow and channel was switching by itself and footswitch lights stopped working...so had to send to tech...he said had to fix a few things and reinforced the footswtich jack and fixed the lights.new tubes were also put in which were koch power tubes and EH preamp

gigged for over a year and a half and no problems.

then one tube died...this time took to same amp tech who said all the biasing was ^%$#@! and fixed it again.
this time he retubed with sveletlanas power tubes and ruby preamp tubes and alsomodded it to put out 140w and wow this thing sounded freaking awesome.

about 6-8months later ... it died again...however all the tubes are glowing.just no sound or amp noise.i opened it up and saw the tubes were burnt out and suspect one of the caps has blown.
it is now in the shop with a diffrent amp tech.

i bought it second hand so no warranty

this was my first all tube amp.i really really like it and dont want to sell it...i even got it signed by jim marshall when he came for an instore.
i love the tones and diversity of this amp but i think that mr.marshall has skimped out in parts due to mass production.
i really really dont want to sell this amp but i just bought a framus cobra which eats this amp alive...but for the price of the TSL i still consider it a really good amp.