Marshall JCM-2000 TSL 100

You can read it here. This amp is very flexible. I have rated this amp before. You can't ask for much more from a tube amp.

This is an excellent sounding amp covering a variety of tones. I agree with another posting, you want that true vintage tone go buy it. But those people will complain about other things with those amps like a lack of channel switching or something else.

People who claim to have 20 or 30 years experience then say this is a bad sounding amp??? Get real!!! Are you using a shitty guitar or cabinet?

This amp sounds great.

Have had it for a year no problems. I have repaired my share of amps for other people. For those who bought this amp then went to the repair shop, well you should read the instructions first. Use speaker cable to connect the cab. Check the speaker and amp impedances. Don't handle it like a monkey!. From what I have seen, most people that buy an amp like this then shortly after have it in the repair shop have done something supid.

The only issue may be the foot switch but don't be an idot in how you handle it. Don't tightly wrap the cord!. Use care in connecting it to the amp!.

This is actually better built than alot of other amps and modern electronic stuff like TVs, computers ... etc.

Want point to point? THEN GO BUY IT.

Asked for schematics and got them. No problems so far with support. No answer here because I have had no problems.

An outstanding amp. It is pricey but so are other similar amps. I think alot of the complainers are angry about paying alot for a new amp and not getting a JCM800, Plexi or other sound. I agree. If you want it BUY IT. But unless you have the guitar and cabinet and especially, if you don't have the skill you won't find the true vintage sound. How many Jimi Hendrix, Clapton, Van Halen ... etc guitarists are there? I you are rambling on this web site you probably arn't one of those.

Plenty.

Guys, realize something: IF you want a JCM 800 tone, buy a fucking JCM 800. don't get a JCM 2000 thinking one of the channels is going to sound like a JCM 800. Stop it. Get realistic. Vintage brown tone is the hardest tone to replicate. It's even hard to get from most old amps!

I don't own one of these. Just play it at Guitar Center all the time. It is a solid amp. It sounds very good, but I won't rate it until I buy it and own it. Very versatile. I've heard negative things about the craftsmanship.

But again: I've gone through most reviews and people complain about "buzzy" distortion. Oh friggin wah! Listen, the AMP was manufactured from 1999 on. Not 1969. 1969 was thirty years ago. If you want that sound get an amp from that era.

That being said, it is a great amp, it does vintage tones pretty well, but not like a JCM 800. AGAIN, because it isn't one. Thank you for listening to my diatribe.

heard they're built like turd/.

playing for 15+ years. Had some Marshalls, now play a Rocktron Prophesy through a Marshall 9100 dual monobloc. Sounds great.

You should know 'em by now. Three channel amp, can cover a wide variety of music. Its difficult to ask for more unless you want a digital amp.

Awesome tone over a wide range of styles. If you want a 10 you will only get it for one type of music. Note, I tried different tubes with poor luck. I tried several tube substitutions but they were noisy. Now I am of the openion to stick with the Marshall tubes which are really Russian tubes. Definaetly better built that many others. Don't mess with the tubes. I learned a somewhat expensive lesson.

I use a Les Paul Studio (1990 version)and do not need a distortion pedal. The lead channel has enough gain that, except for heavey metal with a fuzz sound (vice crunch or high gain) you shouldn't need one. If you want that fuzzy buzzy metal tone, save yourself alot of money and get a solid state amp and some pedals. Also, a good tone is more than just the amp, like the speaker cabinet, guitar, pickups... etc. You will have to learn to adjust the controls on this amp also.

This amp sounds great with a 1960 AV loaded with V-30s. This is not for beginners or metal kids.

Have not had a problem. I don't wear heavy black boots or big shoes. I don't slam the pedal switches. Be careful and gentle plugging in the footswitch because the connector is soldered directly to the circuit board. It definately should be more sturdy. Also, all the channel switching and associated circuitry makes me nervous. But I have cranked this amp multiple times and no problems so far. I do baby it. I'm sure it cant take alot of physical abuse so be very careful. Don't wrap the connector cable around the footswitch. Take care of the amp like you should a nice expensive sports car and you should be ok.

Also, my amp was manufactured in the UK but I understand they will be built in other places, possibly China or other. What the hell though that may be better than Mexico ( Fender amps).

Bottom line, baby this amp and it will take care of you. Road worthiness in Mack trucks ... etc.? Good luck.

Margional. Support is thru KORG USA. I don't like that. Probably similar to Fender and definately better than Line6 (terrible support).

Overall I give it a 9. You won't find a tube amp as flexible as this one that gives a great tube tone across multiple music types. You can buy an amp that is a 10 for Blues, Jazz, Rock... etc. But it won't have the flexibility you may want.

Alot of un-happy people think the amp alone is a "catch all end all". They will give a bad review for an amp but don't mention the speaker cab, guitar, control settings...etc. The amp alone will not give the desired tone. That "tone" is comprisied of multiple components.

Don't need to repeat it 323 times!

Don't need to repeat it 323 times! but let me just say this, if you want to have a sound similar to the 80s, forget about it! you'll need to buy seperate distortion pedal and a reverb.

changed pedal twice. after 10 months of careful usage with stock everything, it died on me. At the moment it's in the shop, and it will take about 2-3 weeks to fix.

headquarter of marshall for americans is in NEW YORK! i'm in california. The shop is over an hour away! I just wish if marshall would cover the cost for the tubes! Don't even know how much i'll have to pay yet.

doesn't exist. you'll have to deal with independent shops that have techs who are certified with marshall. LAME!

too much money, not satisfied with the tone, poor customer service/satisfaction

Fantastic features. Pretty much all you need for a broad spectrum of tone. Versatile enough to manipulate each channel to hone in on your sound. Channel switching? FOOTPEDAL IS JUNK. I'm not going to harp on about it. There are hundreds if not thousands who feel the same. When it works its great, straight forward and no nonsense; however, the pedal breaks. Not a matter of if, rather when. Just be prepared. I would have expected Marshall to have a pedal that compliments the phenom of the TSL head. Cleans are great, really good. Crunch is mean... don't let if fool you, theres more crunch in there than you could imagine. Lead... out of control... hot is such an understatement. Headroom for days... go ahead crank it up... 10 easily if the pedal was better quality...

Cleans are awesome. Super crisp, and throw in the reverb and its amazing. Cruch, with the drive at about 8/9 and mids at about 2/3 the treble max'd with bass about 5/6, and it's metal mayhem. The lead channel is HOT!!!! mess with the setting all you want. I use a MXR 10 channel EQ, and it brings the sound out like you wouldn't believe. Tons of headroom. My band pratice in a pretty small space with another Marshall full stack, Bass stack, a gagillion piece drum set (my drummer would like that comment) and a ball park PA, and yet I'm at 4 or 5 and it's too loud. Mic this amp if you're playing in a stadium or are afraid of deafening the folks in the small club.

The amp head is solid as a rock... has worked for me all the time everytime! Give it time to heat up and cool down, keep it covered when not in use and try not to bang it around too much (case it if you can). Simple. the footpedal is a different story... NOTE: I'M RATING THE AMP HEAD ON THIS ONE... THE PEDAL GETS A -2 BECAUSE IT IS JUNK!

I really haven't needed it. I live about an hour from the Marshall factory and the one time I did call, they were nice as could be and invited me down for a day at the factory while they fixed my amp. I didin't need it fixed, just had to stop being a dummy with it. Same with the pedal; however, I think I'll just buy another one and try and modify it to be more reliable

I've been playing for about 10 years now. I'm a serious hobbyist, as I'm a full time military member; however, involved as much with bands, guitar playing and music as I can possible muster. I can tell you with my limited knowledge of amp quality that this amp is awesome. I've played a few different types of amps, i.e. mesa-boogie, crate, line 6 and for the money this amp is tops. I wish the footswitch was better quality, but small beans overall. The only thing I would suggest is to run an EQ in line with the head. Man, it's amazing... takes an amazing amp to perfect... in my opinion

It's about as versatile as anyone would ever need. I had a 6100 anniversary before which has similar sounds but I never used half the switches/compensation/damping etc. and it was hassle just checking that they were all where I'd left them and my sound was still intact! This amp is simpler and just gets it right. 2 effects loops could come in handy and the 25W switch is quite useful for a bedroom sound but does lose some clarity. I'd like a voicing switch on the crunch channel though to dial out some of that JCM800 bark and get closer to plexi territory now and then. That's that one feature of my 6100 I miss. You can use the FX footswitch as a solo booster which is nice.

I play in three originals bands across the whole spectrum of rock and do loads of covers work in all styles and eras. I mainly use a standard Strat with Duncan JB jnr. in the bridge and alnico II pro single coils, Gibson SG with Duncan JB and Jazz, and a Peavey Wolfgang for heavier things and as an all-rounder. I play it through a 1936 2x12 which is warm and smooth, and a 1960 4x12 which is more aggressive and has more bass and treble. I actually prefer the 2x12. A 4x12 with 25W Greenbacks would probably be even better.

Clean: Never outstanding. With humbuckers it can get that Guns n Roses clean sound which isn't a bad place to be. If you turn the amp right up and put the gain on 4 (mid boost on) with a Strat it gives a stunning SRV tone but you'll need a Powerbrake/Hotplate to actually use this sound (I use a Hotplate and I think its quite good). I've had compliments on this sound but the clean channel as a whole is just adequate. Really good for a Marshall but lacks compression and chime. Will try a compressor in the fx loop at some point but my setup is complicated already...

Crunch: Again needs to be turned up. At bedroom levels it's muddy. Turned up beyond 3 it starts to come alive. This is the classic rock sound - halfway between a plexi at full tilt and the bark of a JCM800. You can move it closer to either camp with the mid control. Too much treble though - it sounds thin above halfway which means you have to turn the amp up to get any clarity. Sometimes I miss the chimey sound of my 6100's crunch channel but this has more balls and grunt. The louder you go, the better it gets. All the way up and the power stage gets nice and creamy like Parisienne Walkways or 70s Jeff Beck. Use an attentuator with this amp and you won't have to buy a plexi!

Lead: I play some heavy stuff and this is perfect. It's halfway between Marshall and Boogie which is perfect for me. Very similar to the anniversary lead channel but with a but more sizzle (almost like a Soldano). Loads of treble though - even for metal I wouldn't go above halfway, and for a Van Halen or Slash sound, more like a quarter, and gain on 3 or 4. On most amps for these sounds I would want to boost the treble a bit. On this amp too much treble transforms it into a thin, buzzy monster and masks all the bottom end grunt. You have to turn up the volume to make the treble sing though, and some of the juice comes from the speakers working hard too - so even the hotplate is a compromise. I use this channel as a modern/heavy rhythm channel and use an eq pedal in the fx loop for solos. Set up right with just enough mids this is the best heavy sound I've had. Much warmer and more singing than my old 5150 but with 90% of the grunt. Bigger and more aggressive than my Anniversary but just as toneful. Not as fat as a Boogie but minus the mush and much more responsive and dynamic. I think for modern sounds and metal only a Soldano would beat this but I can't afford one! Maybe an ENGL for metal?

It is easy to make this amp sound bad, but with some work it's great. If you're not gonna be able to turn it up, buy a 50W combo or you'll be disappointed.

It seems well made and doesn't produce any strange noises or do anything unusual. It blows a lot of fuses though - perhaps I should retube it? I take spare fuses everywhere. The footswitch is a bad design. The lead is only held to the pedal by the six solder connections inside. I solved this problem by wrapping a huge wad of gaffa tape around the cable, just inside the hole at the back of the pedal.

Never used Marshall customer support but I was able to download a manual easily from their site.

I've been playing fifteen years and I am a professional teacher and guitarist. I have had three different Marshalls and a 5150, and if this was lost or stolen I would get the same again, or possibly another anniversary (but this time an el34 version for that creamy power stage). I do a lot of different things, and this gets me most of the way to all the sounds I need. I'd love a plexi for classic rock, a 2555 jubilee for heavy rock, a Fender for clean, and I'd like to try a Bogner. But this does everything I need for a really good price. Even if I could afford the Soldano I'd still want the TSL.

I've owned three TSL100s in my lifetime, so this is a combined review - same amp!

The first amp was produced in 1999 bought from new. The second was a 2003 model bought new and the third was a second hand one witha 2004 serial.

I love this amp, I really do, I just wish it loved me back! Three seperate channels, clean crunch and lead, the latter being my favourite channel! EL34 power section and 12ax7 preamps, and in english that basically means nice natural saturation and sag and a host of flexible options all in! 100watts! I used these amps at various times through a Marshall 2x12, a 4x12 and for the 2003 and 2004 models, both were used on full stacks with an engl powerball full stack.

I play metal in a fairly big name band and do a lot of venues. The first amp I used with a punk band I used to be in - hey I was young! It sounded good enough for that and had plenty options. It does like to hum at louder volumes so a noise suppressor is an absolute must! I used the Boss NS-2, not the best pedal in the world but at least it got rid of the hum.

The distortion is quite brutal, however this amp really does come alive with JJ preamp tubes! They offer the gain and saturation. A NOS tube is also a good option in the PI slot. I used an old Jan/Phils and its a really really good option!

Stock the amp still does the business! The clean is really chimey and dare I say fender-alike. It takes pedals very well, I couldn't find a pedal it didn't take to. High volumes with the noise suppressor and it still had that good old marshall roar.

However, a mate's DSL50 with a full compliment of Groove Tubes sounded a good bit better! If you want really brutal distortion on a budget, go for the DSL50. The TSL100 is still very good though. I used my own brand of boost with this amplifier!

In the UK, marshall are great with service. OK so we have the advantage of Marshall being a UK company anyway but their service has always been excellent!

I've had three TSL100s and they've all had issues at some point or another. Here's a run down:

TSL #1:

- Crackles and hisses and squeeks coming from the cab: turned out to be a dodgy set of tubes. Retubed for free!

- Intermittent signal, rather like what you're describing: bad HT fuses resultant of bad tubes which was caused by a fault in the cathode follower circuit (Marshall's words, not idea what that means)

- The amp would play fine for two minutes and then cut out totally dead: The DC heaters on the first two tubes had shorted out

Sold the amp after a marshall service


TSL #2:

- Nothing, nowt, zip out of the speakers, not even a hiss: Bad HT fuse due to power valves failure (at three weeks old) caused by a fault with the rectifier circuit

- Smoking heavily at band practise: was first thought to be the power amp tube setting alight some dust on the chassis due to heat. Cleaned chassis, replaced the tubes and off we go

- Two weeks later at gig, same problem and amp cut out almost instantly: mains transformer had developped a fault which was shorting out the amp. Replaced lots of caps, tubes, tranny and various other bits

- Got it to band practise same day I got it back from marshall. Same problem... was told the cabinet must be causing the problem. Drove the lot up there, cab tested fine AOK. They replaced a PCB to deal with the cabinet output section and all tubes and all tested OK

- Amp finally died three weeks later. Strange sound to it, Marshall refunded me the price I paid for the amp as it was only about 4-5 months old... just a bad one I guess


Not deterred, I went for amp #3:

Tsl#3:

- Perfect! Bought it off a guy here and all went really well. Supplied 2 footswitches with it as he said the first developped a fault.

- About a month or 2 later, developped problems with noises and crackles. Repalced the preamp tubes myself, problem solved.
- A week later, amp was making no noise at all and wouldn't switch channels. Marshall said it was a grounding problem with the amp and they replaced both footswitches and the power tubes

- Sold the amp anticipating more problems and happy with my Engl.

The reliability of the TSL just got me in the end, and the fact that marshall are moving production to china which means that there is no more going to the factory to get your problems sorted out easily... time to sell up.

Shame, its a really good amp but just the reliability kills ya! I guess if you are playing in your bedroom for most of your life like I did with my first TSL100, it will serve you well but if you gig regularly, then fuggedaboudit!

Marshall has always been really good with their support! They were always willing to take my amp in at the drop of a hat!

I've been playing since I were a nipper - 8 years old. This was my first tube amp at 15. I'm 24 now so about 9 years of playing various tube amps.

I sold it down to the reliability! That's the only issue I had with the amp - otherwise it would definately have been a keeper!

1999 TSL 1000 Marshall head. 3 channels. Used for live performance, large clubs, outdoor stages

Les Paul standard, Stat Texas Special with humbucker. I play classic rock/pop/blues, I am in my 40's, so everything from Beatles/Badfinger to Journey, Boston, Eagles, ZZ Top in a traveling cover band. Amp is great for live covers, very versatile...

Never a problem except the damn footswitch. ALWAYS have a spare...

Great. They sent me footswitch parts for free, and I installed...

I wanted to add some comments to my earlier reveiw....Played for 35 years, would buy this again, but there are some tricks, and tweaks needed to get "the sound". I explained these in another review, but wanted to add to it...THIS IS A GREAT, VERSATILE, LIVE AMP. That being said, there are many other Marshalls, or smaller tube amps that sound prettier in a living room situation. But live, with vintage 30's or G12H's, these cut through the mix, mic well, and have plenty of clean headroom and punch. And the tone is rather nice, too. Plenty of harmonics and growl at your fingertips.
I need to mention that the treble on both of our TSL's in the band is only up to about 9 o'clock, and the same for the presence. the mid is flat, and the bass is at 2 o'clock....these can be overly bright on the gain channels, especially when using the stock celestion G12 75's, or low output, bright pickups....however, the clean channel treble is full on, with flat mids or the mid boost on(my preference). With JJ tubes, and a hotter bias than factory, you will be very pleased, indeed...Gibson Classic '57 Plus or Seymour duncan Custom pickups work quite well, overall....
Again, there are sweeter, nicer sounding "living room amps" out there....but for live, I have found nothing that compares overall, for classic, fat, harmonically sweet, crunchy rock sounds. A 50 watter won't do it, and we really don't play that deafeningly loud, either.
Without the tube upgrade and re bias, vintage speakers, etc, I am not surprised at some people's less than thrilling reaction to this amp. It is a "made for live" rock and roll amp, in my opinion. Many smaller, sweeter amps get lost on stage, and sound like a big warm fuzzy bumble bee....with less than distinct notes...this one doesn't...

made in 1999, bought it new. Use it for live shows, from medium size clubs to outdoor festivals. Plenty of power. 3 channels. Reverb.

I use a les Paul Standard, with 57 classic and classic plus pickups, and a Fender Texas Special strat with a seymour custom humbucker, and 2 ssl-5 single coils. I only use a boss chorus, a tuner, and an acoustic simulator run to the board. I like it simple. For me, the clean channel is perfect with the mid boost engaged. Nice, warm, chimey. Really nice. The lead channel is also my cup of tea. I play with a lot of vibrato and this thing has balls and tone.
The rythm, or crunch channel is just "ok". Not bad, but a little thin and fuzzy, unless you crank it up. Unfortunately, in a club, that's tough to do. Outdoors, at bigger shows, it's killer.

I have used it for numerous shows for 5 years, never a break down.
Wait a minute. The floor pedal has had the led's and footswitches fixed more than once. I keep it in a SKB suitcase....and the last 3 years no problems. If you play out a lot....have an extra footswitch. We do....you will need it someday. My other guitarist has one of these, too. He loves it. But, is still playing with a burnt led on one of the footpedal switches....someday, I will fix it, too....

Korg was great. They sent me replacement parts for the footpedal right away. Fixed it myself. Worked ever since. 5 year warranty.

First of all, out of the box, this thing was a little dissappointing. Kind of cold and one dimensional, with little feel. I have played Marshalls for 30 years, played since age 10, I am 47, and play mostly classic rock, pop, and heavy blues style riffs. For me, it's always been Marshalls. I travel and play out on weekends. YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THIS AMP UNTIL YOU PUT JJ TUBES IN IT, AND BIAS IT AROUND 40MV (It was 35mv factory) Then, you have a great live rig that has fat, soaring, singing leads, chimey clean channel(with mid boost on), and a reasonable crunch channel. YOU CANNOT GET CLASSIC ROCK TONES OUT OF THIS AMP WITH THE STANDARD 75 WATT CELESTIONS. Been there, tried that. I have a Marshall 4X12 vintage cab (vintage 30's), with the bottom two speakers swapped for Celestion G12H 30's. Yes....it sounds pretty damn good on just about everything "classic rock". We mic the vintage 30's with Audix i5's. Great stuff...
Greenbacks, blackbacks, whatever...the 25 watters are nicer than the 75's, for sure...but for live, nothing sings like the the "30's" G12H, and Vintage, I mean...
I miss having an in between crunch and clean channel. The crunch is a bit much on some things, and the clean is too clean sometimes....you know what I mean..... Wish they made a 35 watt crunch section, and a 100 watt lead section....:)
Overall, it's not everything, but instead of 3 heads, and 3 cabs....this works quite well, has tons of sustain and fatness...and is fun to play if you are a player that likes to dig in and make your vibrato sing! I have thoroughly enjoyed this amp.
If it was stolen, I couldn't replace it...the back is signed by both origonal April Wine guitarists...they used it when we opened a show for them, and their rented dual reverb went south. Brian Greenway loved it, by the way. But I made Myles Goodwin sign it too, as payment for the "backline rental".
Yes, I would buy the same amp again, no question.

Well this the amp with the most knobs i've ever seen. It's got three chanels, clean, crunch and lead, each one with seperate gain master volume and equalizer. It has got a spring reverb and even two fx loops. They are adjustable seperately for the clean channel while the crunch and the lead share share one reverb and fx level knob.
The 4 power amp tubes definately provide an 'acceptable' amount of power! ^^ I can't stand the sound any longer when i turn the volume up to 12 o clock. But for home purpose it has got a virtual power reduce switch, which throttles the power amp down to 25W and i use it very often. At last i have to mention the few other functions i don't use, eg. the mid boost in the clean channel as well as the mid shift in crunch and lead

Mostly I use my Gibson Les Paul Studio on this amp and it really sounds great! This is THE amp for this guitar. Lead channel + bridge pickup provides a great Heavy Metal rythm sound just like BOOOM. I like it. When you play muted powerchords and unmuted chords in turns the it feels just like a little man turns on and of a bass boost switch inside the amp. Great. The Neckpickup + Leadchannel provides a really creamy-screamy lead guitar sound, exacly like the guitar intro of Rainmaker by Iron Maiden. If you play this amp and then switch over to an ordinary transistor amp you will even recognise that your guitar feels different! Suddenly it will get sticky and your brains scream to use the jcm 2000 again!

I used it at 3 gigs yet and i never had a problem with it. I thruthfully trust in this head but i think it is to early to give a comment about it yet.

No experiences yet.

Yip, Great, provides, if adjusted carefully every sound a guitarrist needs, no matter what he plays. At least I experienced a great compartibility to heavy metal, hardrock, crunch, grunge, rock & roll etc. If it were stolen i would definately buy it again, if i had the money :-)

The amp was made in the last quarter of 2004.
This amp is very versatile and can be adjusted to get nice sounds for most types of music. Probably best suited for Rock,Metal and Alternative. Three channels is perfect 1)clean 2) cruch 3) Lead
The marshall website lists all of the features this head has to offer.
I am happy with the features this amp has. I will be using this amp in the studio for recording and possibly an occasional gig. The amp has plenty of power. I was quite suprised with the balls this thing has. I like the deep feature, it might be nice have a deep and reverb for both the cruch and lead channels, but this is no problem.

I am using this amp with a fender USA strat plus with a hotrail in the standard tuning and a Les Paul Gothic tuned to B. This amp works well for Rock, Metal and alternative. The guys playing the Nu-Metal should be very happy with this amp. The amp is fairly quiet compared with other tube amps, a few clicks n pops to be expected. This should cover most styles of electric guitar playing. I am quite pleased with the clean channel, seems to be better than the JCM 800/900 from what I remember?
I think this JCM 2000 can cover the sounds of the JCM 900/800 and beyond, I have no desire for either of those older units when this head covers those two plus even more. This marshall head is being used with a Mesa oversized recto w/ vintage 30's. This setup ROARS in the lead channel with my gothic (les paul) everything on 10 except volume which is a nuclear melt down at about 5. Plenty of distortion for all types of metal.

Seems reliable. I would not do a serious gig without a backup, but that is with any tube amp unless maybe I had a full set of tubes and fuses possibly. I did blow one fuse (1Amp) not sure why it blew?
I would not be happy if this thing breaks down, I do not really want to send it to NY. I give this an 8 because of quality which seems that is a bit less than a few other competitors in the same price range.

Warranty is 5 years! Very nice, I thing the unit should be reliable considering a warranty of 5 years(I hope) I am afraid of service centers and hope I never have to send it to one. I also do not like shipping stuff like this. UPS claim waiting to happen. I have not dealt with Marshall and hope I never have to. If I do I hope I have a pleasant experience.

I have been playing for 17 years. I have a Bogner Ecstacy and a Mesa RoadKing each with the respective cabinet loaded w/ V 30's. I tell you what; those two amps are killer, but I am very happy to say that the TSL 100 is right up there with them. I am not marshall mesa or bogner advocate. I love all 3 amps, just the same as having 3 children they each have there own special qualitys. Well if it came down to it and I had to choose, it would be the Bogner hands down (Duh !!) I am diggin this Marshall and for so many years I wasnt all that excited about them.
I am finally convinced marshall amps kick ass!
Now I gotta save for the next 5 years and check out a Diezel.
If it were stolen (RIP) I would buy another for sure.
I love the way the unit smells when it gets hot, burning Tubes an Iron! I do like the reverb, it is an added bonus. I think Marshall (and some others) has gotten a little greedy on the price increases.
I would give it a 10 , but the price on this thing is going up a bit too fast. Slow down on the price increases, none of us have gotten any decent raises since all the jobs are going to china (no offense) etc. and 9-11 happend.

MARSHALL LAW !

You have seen them. Very flexible for a tube amp.

This amp sounds great!!!. If you are so picky that you are looking for some tone that "exactly" fits your tastes then good luck. I play both a Led Paul and a Strat thru the amp and they are drastically different (surprise!). The Les Paul has alot of gain itself and combined with the amp can sound a bit harsh unless the amp gain is reduced. I use a 1960 AV slant cab. The speakers also affect the final sound so mix and match.

I did replace the marshall tubes with some GT mullard copies for the preamp and a different set of EL34s in the power amp. It definately made a difference. Its still all Marshall but a bit tamer. Of course the most noticable difference was when I replaced the first pre-amp tube. There seem to be more harmonics now very sweet.

The clean channel chimes if you work with the amplifier settings.

The crunch channel can be set from a nice smooth tone to a growl.

The lead channel has high gain. Many seem to associate this with metal sounds but you can get really nice blues leads also. This channel is very responsive and dosn't seem to hide bad playing.

The bottom line for the tone is a combination of guitar, guitar vol and tone settings, amp, amp settings and speaker config. If you want classic Marshall at its finest, go buy it. If you like the "Recto" sound get a Mesa Boogie (excellent amps). Get Fender if clean is your preference. However this amp has incredible flexibility for playing all aspects of Rock and Roll.

With respect to some of the other comments, yes it does sound like a Marshall !!!

Have had no problems myself but baby the amp. With all the channel switching circuitry and other features, be careful!!!. This isn't a classic tube amp that is simple and built like a brick shit house. Anytime you get an amp that is flexible and loaded with features theres more to break.

A tube amp, flexible and alot of features (for a tube amp). Sounds great if you think about the whole rig and not just the amp. It would be nice if it were built for punishment but would probably cost alot more. The price as is should be about $250 less (IMO). But overall a great TUBE amp.

Very good for a 100w valve amp, 3 channels all with EQ - and heaps of other stuff as mentioned below

One incredible amp if you can set it up right!

It can be a bit of a pain (coming from being used to an SL) but after i spent some time with it i've come up with some very savy results.

The clean on this amp is pretty much the only other Marshall i have liked since my SL, it's very clear & with the mid boost engaged your able to conjur up some nice sparkle. turn the volume up otherwise it wont sound that good.

With the crunch i found myself using the volume on 3 o'clock and the gain on very low (say 9 o'clock) - it's quite loud & still quite clean when you back off your guitars volume, but strum harder & it overdrives easy, if you run an SD-1 it's heaven!

Lead channel was probably the least versatile of the three. It's got a fair amount of gain which sounds buzzy unless you have the gain set low. I thought crap until i turned up the volume again on this channel & it came to life! I never thought to turn gain lower before but it just worked so well here. It's not Mesa heavy, it's hot rodded Marshall sound.

Reverb is ok, but one thing i learnt is that unless you can turn this amp up, your not going to get what it can offer.

No probs with mine, service it & it will be fine

Never needed em, but it's got a warranty

Great amp that really shine if you use it well.

Don't use the regular G12T-75 speakers (i.e standard Marshall cab) with this amp cause it'l sound bad. This amp needs V30's , G12H30's or Greenbacks!

Volume is everything with this amp & if it's turned down your not getting anything compared to what it can do at full tilt.

This amp is picky & offers allot of features which means it's not a 'plug in and play' amp. Everything you do will effect the tone from Guitars to tubes used (and esspecially speakers!!)

See below - thre channels, separte EQ, loops, etc. Very versatile.

I was disappointed with this amp. I AM really scared to post things like that about a 1.5K Marshall amp, which wa sprobably designed as Marshall's own reply to Rectifiers, but.. We rented the amp with a 1960A cab for a whole month in the studio as the second / double track amp. Now, step by step:

1. clean channel. It was not bad. Cranking master and gain would turn it into a rather dynamic sounding ACDC crunch, quite nice. with gain low, it's your standard Marshall clean, a bit chimey, with even low end, but, GENERIC. Very generic. I mean, it doesn't distort on high volume settings, and it gets chimey enough for you phunkers, but it is generic. Like electric guitar in Britney's early recordings.

2. Crunch. That was probably the amp's highlight. Goes from clean to early metal, though you can get into the new metal area, too. Generic sounding, Marshall-esque and "cold" overdrive.

3. Lead. Use it for one thing - SLIPKNOT. Not that SK are a bad band. But this channel is made for one thing only - buzz. You get enough gain with the dial on 10 o'clock. I did the overdubs with gain on "2" and master cranked, which helped a little, but it was still too "gainy" because of the channel's voicing.

Deep switches help add some tightness to this otherwise bassless and flabby amp (Mesa Mark IV and Recto Dual are my benchmarks in this comparison)

Well, it's tough. Built well.

It is a very versatile amp, if you want fizzy metal. The overdrive section is cold, the Lead channel is cold and incapable of smooth tones, so it is only okay if you play extreme metal. It is probably a decent amp, why would Marshall put out crtap, but it is for sure cold and generic sounding.

I tried with a Les Paul and EMG equipped fender, and this amp NEVER sounded fat, even with master on 10. Sorry, I did my best to like it, but I couldn't.

The amp comes fully equipped with three channels: A clean, a crunchy, and a power lead. I've been recording and gigging with this amp since I first bought it 3 years ago. I am a typical Van Halen, Rush, Journey, Ozzy, etc. kind of a guitar player. I seek sounds more closer to the rocks of the 70s, 80s, and early part of the 90s. Don't care much for the later 90s and modern sound. I think Marshall designed this model to target those with the same likes as myself. For all those who have negative comments...well, it could be that they're seeking for the type of sound you commonly hear on the radio or perhaps even something along The Beattles(cleaner). A really super cool feature on the amp is, it has a direct simulated lineout to a PA or recorder and it is fantastic. I have always been against connecting my amps direct. As some of you know, this causes your sound quality to drop or change dramatically. I mean, it adds alot of buzzy sounds and takes away its natural roar produced by the cab. But this amp...well, by plugging direct, its sound is transformed directly onto your PA, etc. Ilove this amp dearly. No more micing headaches. Yaa hoo!!! I understand some people say that this amp requires some modification before it can sound like a marshall tube. I think that's just bullony. I love the deep bottom ends, the clearity, the definition, the roar, the sweet sustains, and the full mid section this monster produces with its stocked transformers & tubes. I use a Steve vai Jem guitar and a Gibson Les Paul double cut-away for my setup. The Jem guitar brings out the sweet tones of the 80s with strong sustains, whereas, my Les Paul defines the thick chunky rhythm that of AC/DC or the earlier 70s etc. If the sound appears muddy, it's because it responds to every touch of each fingers on the strings. What this means is that, if you tend to be a rather sloppy player, you're gonna have dirty, muddy-like tones. Not to insult anyone, but if you're good and have good hand controls, the amp will actually work in your favor. This amp is an all-in-one unit. Perfect for playing real solid rock & Blues. Complete Clean players may want to consider other amps.

At low volume, the amp sounds kinda buzzy. At higher vol., like +3 to 5, the amp roars its true sound. There's increased bottom ends and sweet mids with nice sustains. Because I'm a very versatile player...I go from soft, med, hard, to occasionally heavy, I just wish, this amp can produce more reverb. I occasionally need this for songs from Journey & stuff. "A great guitar player can only sound as good as the amp", a great guitarist once told me.

My guitars houses, Dimarzio Evolution & Gibson 489/490T pickups. Two different entities sharing one common amp. Both sets sound awsome.

Great amp. Rocks everytime. I've gone through 3 footswitches though. Terrible design on the wire connections. After a few months, the wires in the footswitch will start to lose contact, etc. and then cause you to have a nightmare during the middle of a set. My third footswitch can no long switch me to the clean channel. In addition, there's always a price to pay for choosing tube amps over a valstate while on stage. You'll never know when one of the tube is gonna give-in, so always remember to bring extras during every performance.

I've gotten so upset about the footswitch ordeal that I emailed a two page complaint over to someone at Marshall and, by surprise, received an apologitic response within the next business day. Other than this, I have yet to call them.

I am 33 years old and have been actively playing for over 24 years. I own quite a few things. I have a marshall accoutic amp, a fender ultimate chorus 2x12, 6 string - 12 string accoustic guitars, an ibanez 560, Ibanez Jem, Gibson Les Paul, Gibson Epiphone Les Paul, Marshall TSL100 stack, full 32 channel PA system with state-of-the-art effects, JBL speakers, McCaully Subs, various guitar pedals, an 8 piece Sonor 2003 fusion drumset, casio keyboard, Roland RS-70 keyboard, Roland VS-1824cd workstation,,..and too many other items to list. Though I have more than one amp, I am tied to the TSL100 sound. My other amps just can't give me all the things I've described. Before making this commitment, I've tried other Marshall amps, Johnsons, LINE 6, Crate (terrible), Ibanez, Fender, Peavy, Randall... I actually liked the Johnson amp (forgot the model) that was going for $1799.99. It had alot alot of different setups to choose from. But ultimately, I didn't buy it because, there's too many things I'm paying for that I probably would never use. Because of the many digital features, I fear of having add-on problems. Besides, it just doesn't rock like the TSL100 (clean,groovy,yet hard).

This is an Extremely versatile amp, if you want to spend some time and work with it. It has 3 separate channels, 3 and a half if you count the gain and the mid-boost on the clean channel. You can get almost any sound out of this amp except for maybe nu-metal (but who wants to play that crap anyway?!).

The sounds I get out of this amp are as follows: Ac/Dc, Zeppelin, Clapton, Hendrix, SRV, Van Halen. The Crunch has the ability to sound close to vintage plexi marshalls,but when cranked sounds like a jcm 800 or 900. About the Mesa vs. Marshall thing I would like to add I tried the mesa and found it was to bassy and It was very muddy and no clear properties at all. I think all the negative reviews on this site are from people that like way over-the-top distortion to hide their really bad playing and I think they should play with no distortion and see how badly they sound.

Seems very reliable, but I've heard the footswitch is bad, but this should be covered by the waranty.

Have not had for long but the customer service cant be worse than, Fender!!!

It is an awesome amp well worth the money,but I'd like to see it a couple hundred dollars cheaper just for all the not so rich people like me! If you have any more questions or unsure of something email me.

You can read all the features. Very flexible for a tube amp. If you want clean, crunch and lead channels, independent eq for each channel, channel, reverb and effects switching its here.

Why not a 10 you say! Well the perfect sound is very subjective. Have I found it yet? No but I am getting very close with this amp. However, having your ultimate tone and the flexibility to play different types of music is not practical unless you have a custom designed and built amp. If you are a brain surgen or sue happy lawyer, go for it. For the rest of us this does the job if you like different types of Marshall sound. I use a 1960 AV cabinet with a Les Paul and Strat copy. The Les Paul roars. I don't use effects anymore, don't need to. Have to work the eq on guitar and amp as well as gain and volume. It takes time. If you need to "plug and chug" good luck with a tube amp. Try a "computer amp" with the proper presets.

To vary the tones you also need to adjust the Gain and Master Vol controls. You can get a nice blues type tone (Clapton, Hendrix.. etc) if you go low on the gain and crank the volume.

Remember, guitar and speakers matter as much to tone as the amp. Also tone is subjective to the individual hearing it.

No problems yet. I have read about the problems others have had. I have seen many amps and Marshall is no worse then Fender, Crate or others. Mesa has quality workmanship but they also can have problems. I take good care of my rig and so far so good. I can't give it a high score because of other problems and I have only owned it for about six months. But I have cranked it and wailed away on the guitar an no problems. Remember to use speaker, not guitar, chord between amp and speaker.

I bought this amp new and have not had problems and have not tried them. If I do have problems Korg better help out. This makes me a bit nervous. Bottom line, with any piece of music gear, buy at your own risk.

This is a great tube amp. Its not cheap but provides all the tones I need. If you want a Marshall amp that can closely "resemble" a vintage or newer Marshall amp this may be for you. You have to play the guitar and tweek the amp for your settings. I have found this to be true of almost all guitar amps.

This is my third review for this amp. This will probably be the final one, because I kept on changing my mind before but this is the final review. The amp has a bunch of features, they're all in other reviews and on the website, etc. Sure, it's versatile. By the way, this amp is not worth $1,400. I'd say it's worth about $500 with the stock sounds that it gives.

Rating of 3 when the amp was stock, Rating of 7-8 if you get the mods. I'm using a Strat and Tele, both with Seymour Duncan Hot Rails. Here's the downfall for this amp and why I would reccommend not buying one ever. When this amp came stock it sounded terrible, high-end that could kill you, even with the presence and treble at 0. The overdrive was thin and bland, boomy undefined low end, really muddy chords. The clean channel was really bland and lifeless, basically what I'm saying here is that is sounded like a joke. Here's where the amp really comes out. If you are willing to spend about $250 extra, here's what you need to do, you need to get rid of the stock Dagnall output transformer and get a better one, you also are going to want to have some circuitry mods/pre-am revoicing if you know any amp technicians who can do this. I had a Mercury Magnetics Axiom output transformer installed for $200. I had some other various circuitry mods which re-voiced the pre-amp etc. And the amp sounds very nice now, it actually sounds like a Marshall and not a solid state amp, which is what a TSL sounds like if you get one stock. I went through 2 full sets of tubes before I got the mods. I just got the mods and a set of JJ E34Ls and Electro Harmonix 12AX7s. Completely different amp. The FX loop makes noise, it's kind of quiet but it's enough to make me not want to use it. It's loud, definitely loud enough. so here's the bottom line with the Marshall TSL 100 head: IF YOU ARENT WILLING TO SPEND $200-$300 ON MODIFICATIONS FOR THIS HEAD THEN DO NOT BUY IT..YOU WILL BE MASSIVELY DISSAPPOINTED WITH IT.

Never broke down on me once. I know they're making these with cheaper parts now but it has been with me for over a year and I haven't had a problem with it. Here's the bad part. The footswitch is junk, an absolute joke. Broke after about a month of light use. They'll send you a new one when it breaks but you shouldn't need to get a new one, you should get all quality parts if you are blowing $1,400 on a head. They sent me a new one and that hasn't broken yet and I've had that one for about 10 months now. Rating of 5 because the amp is reliable but the footswitch is a joke.

Very good, helpful with the footswitch, sent me a new one in 2 days.

The amp is a joke if you don't modify it, bottom line. Even after the mods I'd still like something with a bit more flavour. I don't know what all of these people giving it a rating of 10 for sound quality are thinking, unless they heavily modified it and forgot to mention it.

This amp sounds AWESOME.

When you try this one, make sure of:

- Having the bias set correctly for the power tubes: 80 to 90mv matching each couple of power tubes (the bias is very simple to adjust from the back of the amp).

- Change preamp tubes to Electro Harmonix 12AX7's and power amp tubes to Electro Harmonix EL34's. More tightness, absolutely clear, musical and harmonically rich.

Stock power tubes are nice, but stock preamp tubes are too harsh and brittle (cheap sounding), not a good choice for this amp i think.

I spent 109? changing tubes and now i have a BEAST.

Remember (very important), for solos, use the lead channel with gain NOT ABOVE 5. With the gain at 5 i can NAIL Van Halen tone (think eruption, also the tapping part, very sweet and harmonically full). Keep the mids at least at 7 without the tone shift, the treble at 4-5, bass at 10 is perfectly tight and punchy without loosing definition. If you have not enough bass still, use the deep switch on.

For the crunch, use the gain at 5. For mild overdrive keep the gain at 5 and lower the guitar volume a tad. WONDERFUL crunch. JCM800's sound really good at tremendous volume, this amp can nail their sound at the volume of 2->3 which is quieter than normal band volume even for practising.

With new tubes, it sounds good even with the vpr on, which is awesome for practice by your own or if you are using a greenback cabinet (crank the amp to 7 with the vpr with your band and tell me if it sounds bad).

So, keep fresh tubes and check the bias setting constantly (once a week at least), it's very quick to do.

This amp is AWESOME, the clean is fender twinish, the mid boost make it like a fender twin cranked.

I tried TONS of amp, this is the REAL tone machine. Don't worry about spending 100$ on new tubes and 5 minutes a week to adjust bias settings... you'll be rewarded.

If after doing all these you still think this amp is crap, well, learn to play guitar man!

Feel free to send me any e-mail for any advice about it (settings and any other problem).


Bye and HAVE FUN!

Take care of it, its a tube amp, it's not true it is not reliable if you know how a tube amp must be treated ;-)

3 years, everything perfect, change tubes every 6 months / 1 year maximum. It is worth it. BTW, it depends on use.

Plug and unplug your guitar with the standby on.

All covered previously. I have bought this to replace the combo version which I had all sorts of rattle and resonance problems with.

TSL-100 with 1936 2x12 Cab. Great sounds as covered in my review of the combo. Clean with Rickenbacker 12 is a joy to behold. Crunch with Les Paul (Burstbuckers) is my main sound but this channel also takes my strat tuned to open G for slide. A magnificent sound. Lead has got it nailed for "Still Got the Blues" and Santana type sounds. A versatile rig covering country, blues and rock. It can even handle Fairport type of folk rock. Clean is as good (better) than Fender. The whole rig with 1936 Cab is portable and works well. What else could anybody want?

See my review of the TSL 122. No problems yet but I am glad of the 3 year warranty!!!!

Not great

It's got 3 channels, and a lot of knobs, and a 5 switch pedal.

I'm using my Ibanez Talman TC-420 on this thing and I really like the sound it gives me.

I'm still tweaking around to find the right setting for me, and it definately helps when the amp is turned up.

The clean channel is decent. Not really something to be excited about in my opinion. It's not bad but not good either. I'm also having some dificulty finding the right clean volume to match the crunch channel.

The crunch channel can make anything from a light crunch to a serious overdrive. I play rock music so I have the gain at 10, which some people might frown upon, but I like it like that. It gives a nice Slash type of overdrive. It's ideal for rythm parts. If you punch in the Tone Shift button it gives you added bottom end which is great for metal overdrive.

The lead channel is basically identical to the crunch channel. It's a way to have another channel for different parts. The obvious way to use it is as a boost for solo work. I use it for that and have a higher volume as well as the tone shift button in.

You can also use it as an alternative channel. I sometimes use it as a lo-fi overdrive channel. Just turn the middle up, and treble and bass down and there you have it.

I haven't had any problems with the amp yet.

I like this amp a lot. I don't know if it's "my" amp, I still have a lot of amps to try out before being able to make such a statement. I'd love to compare it to an Engl or Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier head, but I haven't been able to do so.

But so far I enjoy this amp. It has some pretty good sounds for what it's worth.

plenty of power for any gig. only missing feature is a direct slave out, will have to use effect in loop with stereo out to get right levels. xlr out is too hot. also a small fan on the power transformer would be a good idea for those of us who actually turn the vol up for extended use.

strat is ok but lp classic sounds much better, gain does not need to be turned up as much and amp sounds more natural. this tsl 100 will easily cover jazz, classic rock and hard 80's rock with ease. first step is to use mullard pre-amp tubes. 2nd step is new nos el-34 made in germany, biased with o-scope i found the true m volt reading varies alot from quad to quad so if you are not using o-scope to bias and just using the 80-90 ballpark m volt you are compromising sound and tube life. power tranformer also runs cooler when bias is properly set, which is rarely the case with cheap bastards not willing to give their amp the "presidential treatment". with $250 of nos tubes this amp sounds alot better, if you put these crappy stock tubes in a vintage plexi it too would sound stiff and brittle. a/b testing with restored 1974 4-input 100 watt hiwatt vs. tsl 100 on clean channel : tsl 100 sounds warmer and less harsh than my prized hiwatt so i sold the hiwatt for twice what i paid for my tsl 100. this amp also sounds warmer than jcm 800 2203 and 2204 on the yellow channel. kills my 72 jmp 50, once again warmer with more detail. before the extra $250 in nos tubes and o-scope bias i did this amp WAS LACKING smooth tone and i'd give it a 6 with cheap tubes. this amp sounds better than my hiwatt custom 100 i sold and i also sold my 72 marshall for a nice profit. $peakers and cab are critical as is everything, i believe most people are not willing to tweek this amp to near it's potential. marshall 1960a 4x12 cab is required to to achieve rockstar tone. i tried stock 75 watt, greenbacks, vin 30, 70th anniv g1230 celestions as well as weber blue,silver, 1230 ceramics and silver and blue alnicos and they all have their own distinctive tone(none of these do it all for me ). i'm not saying what speakers i have loaded in my marshall 1960a 4x12 cab, this is a trade secret. all the pros say they use what they endorse$$$ the yellow channel will clean up better than a jcm 800 with my lp vol control and has much more range and needs no distortion,od or booster pedals to "help" it along. the red channel is one more reason i sold several pedals, i get better sounds straight in amp than i did with those pricey pedals. reverb is ok, not spectacular. i believe the reverb is all solid state. i'm giving this rating an 8 here. the only way to further improve this great sounding amp would be output transformer r/r and upgraded components which i may do in the future since this is my main amp and i want it to sound better than everyone else's. to give an amp a 9 requires a lap dance feeling and a 10 would require an orgasm. so an 8 is not a low score since 10 is the perfect situation i do not think any amp will ever be "perfect".

i bought used and noticed the reverb on yellow and red channel is %100 no matter where the knob is turned, if i gently pull up on knob it once again works correctly. probably a dry solder joint. there is way too much stuff packed in this chassis to rely on it without a backup. this is the price we pay for having 3 independant channels. i will not do a gig without a backup, that's just for gamblers. i'd like to see a small fan installed on power transformer but i'll have to do that mod myself. ever heard of a reliable 3 channel amp with 8 tubes and stacked circuit boards? there is a trade off here.

korg usa does not have toll-free #, they put you on hold indefinately and they charge an egyptian fortune for parts. this is not customer support it is customer rape pure & simple.

this tsl 100 allowed me to sell 2 vintage amps and put some cash back into my empty wallet. if this amp was made in the 80's it would be a classic today. this amp sounds alot better than 2205 2210 jcm 800 channel switchers and it uses cheap looking undersize transformers. aint technonogy something ? no amp can do it all but this one does alot and it is great for live (real) use where all you have is one take and need spankin' clean and then blast into cutting overdrive with the push of the marshall 5-button footswitch. this amp fails to sound exactly like a vintage amp and thats fine with me since i need a flexable studio quiet amp that i can rely on to take me where ever i feel like going to. my replex delay never sounded better than in it's new home, my tsl 100's effects loop.

Lots of features. Very well thought out it my view. EQ as well as volume and gain for each of the three channels. VPR power reduction button (makes it less noisy also for low volumes, that is good). You can put one set of pedals in the effects loop for the clean channel and another set in for the effects loop for the dirty channnels, and use those pedals when on those channels. OR you can put all your pedals in the main effects loop, not use the dirty channels effects loop, and the pedals will be there for all three channels. Very clever. Pedals in the effects loop let you run just a guitar cable to the amp, and when pedals not in use there is nothing between your guitar and the amp! Nice. Three channels, reverb for the channel you are on, and effects all controllable with the supplied 5 button footswitch, which I swear people, won't break if you don't break it. Just go easy on it.

With all the features, I give it a 10, not much left out that I would use. Has other features I haven't addressed, read the other reviews or look at Marshalls website. All the features seem usable to me.

Clean channel sounds great with both my Gibsons and my Strat. A little darker and not quite as bright as the DSL. I think the clean outshines most of the older Marshall heads. Clean is very good. Has its own volume gain and EQ.

The Crunch channel is classic Marshall overdrive. Sounds best with Humbuckers. Has its own volume and gain as well as EQ.

The Lead channel is more modern sounding, but usable for even a classic rocker like me. Has it's own volume and gain and EQ.

Roll your tone knobs back to 0, and turn the gain up and it makes nice chuncky sounding chords on both the crunch and lead channels.

Reverb sounds good, though not quite as good as the DSL. Footswitch it on and off as you desire.

Push the VPR button and you get almost no noise, nice amp for practice as well as for a large room

I have the 1960 slant cab with the Celestions. A 4x12 cab is mandatory for these big Marshall heads. It sounds so FULL. Even at low volumes the big cab makes it sound better. Small cabs and combos sound boxy to me after playing my Marshall through a Marshall cab. Get a 4x12 Marshall cab!

Most of the music is in the hands, heart and head anyway. Give some of these guys a stick and rubberband and they'd make music. But if you want a great amp, this is one.

Marshall 100 watt head is LOUD AS HELL!

I dunno. No problems so far, but I haven't owned it long. Sort of a complex amp for a tube amp. Has circuit boards. The signal path is ALL TUBE though. Don't let anyone tell you any different. The transistors and diodes on the board are for the channel switching, muting and direct out functions. The 8 tubes handle the main tone signal.

Since if it does break, the techs aren't going to be able to repair much except probably replace the circuit board and such, I'll knock it down to a 9. Its a Marshall so parts will be available. If they can see an obvious burned out resistor or something, they might be able to solder in a new one. The techs are complaining about the difficulty servicing this thing, but I think after a while, they will learn how. It doesn't break often.

If you want ease of repairability get point to point amp, but you wont find them with channel switching. As soon as you get channels, things get too complex for point to point. Anyone can repair a point to point amp. Just take it apart and look for the bad joint or burned component. All generic parts, no proprietary circuit boards.

Easy to set the bias, there are test points. All you need is an ampere meter.

Like any equipment related to gigging, if you start moving it around, you will beat it up more. If you leave it in one place it will last forever.

I don't know. I'm in the USA. I called Marshall USA (korg) and everyone was in LA for NAMM. They sent me a free catalog though. I think Marshall uses local techs for their warranty work. Hope I don't need it.

I've actually been playing quite a while, since I was young, but only seriously in the last year. I'm no rock star, just a yuppie with a guitar really. But I can play. I have some nice equipment, Strat, SG, Johnny A., Fender amp. It sounds good with all my guitars. I think Marshall and Humbuckers go together but my Strat sounds great on the clean channel. I'm not into the Mesa Recto sound, or metal. Other than that, it will cover most stuff. It might cover the metal and Mesa, I dunno. Do your own research elsewhere if you want it for metal or Mesa chunk.

I have a pretty good ear for sound and am an EE.

If you are trying to decide whether to get this or the DSL, I'll tell you , if you want footswitchable channels, this is the one to get. The DSL has good, and maybe even slightly better tone though. It is a "go up to the amp and tweak" channel switcher, not a footswitcher.

I give it a 10. Sounds like a Marshall because it is a Marshall. It is so good it boggles the mind. If you want a Marshall, you have to get a Marshall. They make great amps. I could have afforded a Bogner or a Hughes and Kettner, but frankly, they are a bit much. I show up with one of those and everyone will think I'm a snob. I guess if you're REALLY good, get one of those. I played through a Bogner and it sounded great. Hard to find, expensive, and a bit over the top image wise. Marshall is good enough for me. I've only read about the Hughs and Kettner triamp. It is good too I am sure. Consider one of those, but no one has one for me to demo anywhere I looked.

The other Marshalls are good too, but if you want the footswitchable channels this is one. It may have the best clean sound of all the Marshalls as well, though I hear the JTM has good cleans. Another one I couldn't find to demo. Seems like they just carry these Marshall heads. They have to order everything else.

The small handwired Marshalls look great, but they aren't really available (undetermined delivery time, just go on the waiting list). No demoing those anywhere. How can I order an amp I've never even heard? Whole idea to me is go into the store, play it and then you know.

So, I bought a Marshall JCM-2000 TSL 100. It ROCKS!

The features have been explained, here are what I think are the highlights and drawbacks. Highlights are the crunch channel, reverbs, FX loops, clean channel tone, mid and bass switches. Bummer is the VPR, DI output and clean channel volume level.

I use it with 1980 Les Paul standards, both stock and with SD's. I play americana roots rock and classic rock. Songs with solos and melody where tone is holy. I primarily use the crunch channel set with the power amp sizzling and the preamp not much over 2 or 3. Ends up being a nice cleanish crunch with excellent harmonics, lively and dynamic. I know it cooks tubes, but if you want the tone, you can't be afraid of retubing regularly.

Here's my chain. Les Paul-->Shure wireless-->Cry Baby Wah-->Boss GE7 EQ-->Zinky True Grit Overdrive-->Carl Martin Compressor-->Ernie Ball Volume Pedal-->amp.

In my FX loop (I use one for all channels)I have a 31 band eq, EH deluxe memory man, BBE-332.

I have a Power Brake, but it too is a tone sucker. I don't use it or recommend it.

I have a 1960A cab with the 75 watters and a 1960TV with 25w greenbacks. I typically use the TV.

The crunch channel freakin' sounds beautiful when set as described and eq'd to taste. I usually use my volume knob to clean things up if needed. Think Aerosmith, AC/DC, CCR, Thin Lizzy, Beatles, The Refreshments, etc. With a decent overdrive pedal and prudent use, this channel covers alot of sonic ground. The Zinky True Grit is incredible with this amp.

The clean channel is beautiful sounding, I love it, but my music rarely calls for pure clean. If so, the rhythm player straps on an acoustic. If you are a jazzer or surf guy, you'll love the clean tone and preamp characteristics. Drawback to the clean is that it seriously lacks power amp headroom. (NOTE: Lacks headroom in comparison to the lead and crunch channels, for most any gig, it would usually be more than ample.) Seriously thought it was a problem specific to my amp, surprised Marshall let that slip by.

The lead channel is to gainy for my personal tastes. It can competently cover hi-gain 80's hair metal to the new low-tuned metal. (Note: Use the 1960A for low-tuned stuff. The 1960TV doesn't have the bottom or tightness for this style.) I played a brief stint in a new metal band useing the 1960A cab. The other guitar player had a Mesa dual Recto. After the second rehearsal and some experimenting with the tone switches, I finally had a tone dialed in for that music. Hands down, the marshall smoked the boogie. The boogie guy was stunned, thought Marshalls were only capable of classic tones and textures. Kept insisiting it must have been modded.

If more of the reviewers here had a firmer grip on gain structures, I think they'd be more satisfied with the output and options available on this amp.

On all channels the built in compression installed by Marshall as compensation circuits for both volume and tone is excessive. I prefer to control compression (other than natural tube) myself, so that the amp breathes better. The end result can be an "overly tight" feeling while playing. This usually occurs at low volumes or when the tone switching is deployed. It'd be great if some techy comes up with a mod to bypass this.

Power transformer is generic and weak also. Will be geting this mod performed soon.

I've gigged with it solid for 2 or 3 years with zero problems. Haven't experienced the dreaded footswitch issue here that many have. I'm ordering a spare per the 73 billion recommendations here! I change my tubes regularly and don't usually bring a back-up head. I play a stereo rig (other amp is a JTM 60 2x12 combo), so I inherently have a backup of sorts anyhow.

Run the power amp (volume)hot, 7-10 on the crunch channel. Use the gain knob to adjust your actual listening volume. change your tubes every few months. You'll be surprised, it sings and makes you want to play better. I play so much better and enjoy playing so much better with sweet tone.

Never have and I don't want to from the looks of Marshalls (korgs) support. That's quite a shame, that'll catch up to 'em. Poor business practice. I value customer service and response highly in this field where a hobby can easily cost a person 5k for a decent set-up. So I'm gonna support my fellow musicians who have dealt with Marshall and give 'em a nick for that.

I've been playing 20+ years. I got too much gear to list. Mainly a Marshall/Les Paul player.

If it were stolen or lost, I'd try a Zinky amp. This amp has more features than I need, thought I'd use channel switching more, but the crunch channel is so sweet, it's hard to step on the other 2. Bruce Zinky makes a couple pedals and handmade amps. Never tried his amps but I do use his pedals. The few issues I had with them resulted in a phone call and Bruce himself on the line explaining things and then fixing the pedal for free. Fenders old engineer and a gem of a person. As I said, customer service is everything when it comes to earning my brand loyalty.

So my low rating isn't a reflection of the amp, more of the fact that I bought more amp than I needed.

Bought in March 2005. Amp was built in 2005 also.

The knobs and buttons have been described many times in previous postings. However, after owning this amp for 2 months and experimenting with the controls I have found that the features allow you to adjust to a wide variety of tones. One feature that is not mentioned often is flexibility. Marshall has improved the clean channel. The crunch channel can provide tones from singing vintage to high gain tones sometimes described as "fizzy". You have to work with this amp. If you want a "plug and chug" then look elsewere. Maybe a modeling (ie. "digital") amp. Otherwise work the controls. The amp is part of the instrument. All settings really affect the tone. I am not using any effects right now. All previously used effects were used to obtain a "Marshall" sound, however you wish to define it (Page, Clapton, Hendrix ... etc).

If you are looking for the "heavy mid-crunch" sound of many "modern" bands you may want to try a Mesa Boogie or other for that "recto" sound. This amp is about Rock and Roll. I use a Les Paul Studio and 4x12 1969 A Vintage with V-30s. I really like the very blusey sound I can get with the crunch channel volume at 3-7 with the gain set low. You can bring the gain up to get more pre-amp distortion, referred to by some as the "fizzy" sound. This is a good observation and the tone can be controlled by backing off the treble to low levels.

I backoff the bridge pickup tone control to 5 or 6 to mellow the otherwise punishing high frequency output of the rig when in crunch mode. Again, high volume low gain can provide some great sounds and working with the eq settings you can tame the amp for practice. However, this is not a bedroom amplifier even when using the VPR unless you have a relatively sub-dued 1X12 (or less) cab. However, I intend to try a THD hotplate or power brake at some point. (any openions?).

The sound you get depends on the amp, guitar, speaker and effects. I don't use effects other than the built in reverb at this point. The TSL100 with the 1960 AV cab gives me all the tones I am looking for.

I bought this amp for several reasons:

1. I wanted an all tube guitar amp.

2. Has an excellent clean channel, crunch channel and I really like the gain channel. For me, the sound of the gain channel really provided a third tone to work with. Again, all controls should be dialed in for all channels and this takes time.

3. The reverb often gets compared to those with Fender amps but it sounds fine and has enough depth for my tastes.

I have had fun so far finding different tones from this amp. There maybe many approaches to finding your tone. A couple of examples are:

1. Modeling amps.

2. Use of a solid state or tube amp with effects pedals or processors.

3. Use amplifier control sound.

4. A mix.

The TSL100 with a good cab provides alot of tone flexibility. I have not needed effects other than the spring reverb.

I don't use the effects loop, at least yet, and can't comment on that.

Not sure yet. If you are using this amp in a professional band then I suggest you baby it. Use a case for transport. Be extremely careful with the footswitch, cable and input jack on the amp. Make sure the amp is properly ventilated. Don't place anything on top of it. Use high quality speaker cable.

All tube amps are less reliable than thier solid state counterparts. Also, they are more difficult to repair than, say, a modeling amp in which you can just "shotgun" another circuit board out.

You will have to baby this amp. Its not Military Spec by any means but non of them are.

This is one sour point so far. I called Korg USA to hopefully get a schematic. They promised one but I never got it. However I believe they will honor the 5 year warrenty and perform repairs if necessary. There are several Marshall repair centers here in Arizona.

I have heard good stories and horror stories of customer support from all the mainstream amp makers. So I can't say they would be any better or worse than say Fender.

But they should have sent the schematic because I can work on amps. I think its more a problem with Korg than Marshall.

Biasing the amp is very very easy though, which shows some forethough. You really don't have to pay an amp tech to re-bias if you want to change tubes. You can do it in about 10 minuets total.

I could give the amp a 10 but the footswitch and other problems other people have experienced worries me a bit. However I baby may amp and understand that you have to worry about such details as the type of cable between amp and speaker, coolin the amp, biasing... etc.

My biggest gripe is the cost of this amp. You have to want that Marshall sound or the price isn't worth it. Put this with a suitable 2X12 or 4X12 and you need to have a good job or work alot of hours to but this beast. The price is a real turn-off but I really wanted the tone.

However, this amp does deliver if you work with it as part of your instrument.