Marshall JCM-2000 TSL 100

2004 model of the TSL 100 head. Features everyone knows about now, 3 independent channels, mute button, VPR etc. The amp is amazingly versatile, anyone who says the tone is weak or it sounds shit or there's no balls to it obviously is either deaf, a complete idiot, or listening to some bullshit band using mesa/boogie amps that just muddy everything up to cover up the lack of talent. The amp is loud as fuck, at band practise i run it at 25w on volume 7 and that's loud enough to cut through loud drums, a 300w bass amp and a PA system for the vocals. I ran it on 100w just to see the difference on the same volume of 7 and the floor was shaking. The amp loses no guts or clarity played on 25w, and has the advantage of allowing you to drive the valves harder to get that sweet tone Marshall are renowned for. The back panel has 3 output sockets, 1 for a single cab at 16ohm to run in mono, and a separate 2 to allow you to run a full stack at either 4 or 8 ohm. Also has 2 effects loops, one for clean channel and one for crunch/lead

I use a Tanglewood Strat copy, a 1994 USA 40th anniversary Fender Strat and a BC Rich NJ Classic Mockingbird, and this amp suits them all. The first 2 guitars can go from nice sweet bluesy sounds, crystal cleans, to balls out roar. The Mockingbird really brings out the rock-side of this amp, the twin humbuckers give that balls-to-the-wall Marshall slam you want, and roll back the volume on the guitar and it cleans up nicely. There's nothing this amp can't achieve, except for muddy fucked up sounds, which is great. Whatever your style of music, this amp is for you

Built like a tank, typical Marshall. I wouldn't gig without backups with any amps because anything can happen, from a blown fuse to a loose connection to a blown valve, so whatever my amp i always have a backup, but i have no problem is this amp on its own if i really had to, and at practises i only use the single one, and i trust it implicitly

Warranty is 90 days for valves, 3 years for parts. No problems yet so haven't had to deal with them, but i hear Marshall are great with customer support

I've been playing for 10 years, and i own a Marshall mg250dfx which muddied up when i turned it up, lacked any sound clarity, and was basically no good for a regular guitarist, but good for beginners or as a practise amp. If it were stolen i'd hunt the fucker down who did it and smash it over his head (because it weighs a ton) and then make him buy me a new one. I love everything about the amp, the only thing i dislike about it is that you can't switch from crunch to lead using the footswitch, you need to unplug the footswitch and use the button on the front of the amp. It's not a big deal because i won't use both channels in one song. Maybe it can be done another way and i just haven't figured it out yet, i haven't spent much time trying to figure it out to be honest. Overall the amp gets 10 out of 10 for having wads of features that allows you to do anything, being as solid as a rock and having the nicest sound you can imagine, no matter what your style of music

2004 Model.
It has three channels - Clean, Crunch and Lead - These are more than just channels though as each has it's own volume and tone controls with no master volume.
One great feature is the power reduction switch which reduces the output from 100 to 25 Watts for more manageable practice levels. A Much improved footswitch (an expensive extra on my beloved Engl Screamer) and bucket loads of classic rock tone.

All of my guitars sound great through this amp from the jangle of my Ric 330, to the growl of my SG and my Les Paul Doublecut with P90s. They all sound just as they should through all three channels. This amp does exactly what I wanted it to. I bought it because my Engl combo just couldn't cut through with a live band. I love the tone of the Engls, but couldn't afford an Engl half stack. Have not been dissapointed with the Marshall, It is not better or worse than the Engl - just different. The only improvement over the Engl is the volume level - this thing is LOUD (but it is 100 Watts compared to 50 Watts from the Engl - having said that, the Marshall manual claims 125 Watts). I play classic rock and that is the sound that this amp was built to make - perfection. It might not suit everybody, so shred heads should go and buy a Line 6 or some such modern monstrocity.

Seems solidly built.
Was worried about the foot pedal due to previous reviews, but that seems to have been fixed in late 2003 / early 2004 - the power of the people!!
Marshall are offering a 3 year warranty on the amp, so it must be reliable - they wouldn't do that unless they were confident in the product.
Hope I never need to find out how good the warranty is.
My only worry is the loud rattle that the reverb springs make when you move it.

Don't know - hope I never need to find out.

Have been playing for about 15 years. I use 3 Gibsons (LP Custom, LP Doublecut and SG Standard), Ric 330, Fender Highway Strat and an Ibanez EDR 470 (hate it). MOst of these are rock classic which suit the music I play (The Who, The Stones, The Darkness etc). This amp sounds exactly as I need it to. It lacks some of the warmth that my beloved Engl Screamer has, but is still an excellent amp. I have connected them both to the stereo inputs of my cab and invented a whole new tone - a blend of the best of both amps.
The best feature of the lot is the fact that each channel is TOTALLY separate - tone controls, volume, the lot. The Engl has different gain settings, but all of the channels use the same master volume and tone controls. Marshall have delivered the goods with this one. When I bought the Engl, I tried the Valvestate range which sounded like crap - I was pleasantly surprised by this amp and will cheerfully grind anyone who steals or damages this amp into pate.

By now, you guys know all the features but here is a quick rundown. It has 3 channels-Clean/Crunch/Lead. Independent Bass, Mid, Treble, Gain, and M-Volume for each of the 3. And 2 of each of the following that is shared betweeen the clean channel and the Crunch/Lead channels; Presence, FX Mix Level(2), Reverb, ToneShift, Deep Switch and on the back, 2 seperate send & return effect loop connections. There is also a "Mid Boost" button on the clean channel only. This monster has 100 Fu****n Huge Watts of power. There is a "VPR"-(virtual power reduction) button, that lets you cut the wattage down from 100 to 25 watts, to have the tubes being driven hard but at lower volume levels to get that, you know, "being pushed and punched" sound. They're a lot more features, but that is for another day. I HAD A DSL-100, the 2 channel model, but I disliked the fact that both channels shared the sam EQ, amongst other things. I definitley didn't have a problem with the DSL's tone or the sound, but the TSL looked more attractive with it's features, so I wanted to trade up. Plus the 2 seperate effect loops caught my ear also. The Triple version, has twice as many features as it's brother-the DSL, and before my 30 day trade-in policy was up, I went for it. I play and love several types of music such as Blues, Metal, HardRock, Classical, Jazz. I grew up with the Priests, Testaments, Maidens, etc, etc, on the Metal side. Older 80's stuff rules. IMO, there are no more good guitar players in this arena. Even Metallica's last album, didn't include any lead work! I think the hard rock and so called Nu-Metal of today suck. Nothing I hear presently floats my boat like the old shit. As far as other types, I love the master himself, HENDRIX, and he taught me (didn't he teach everybody?) the beauty of learning the blues as well as many other things. Anyone can wail and play fast, like that Swedish guy. But if you don't have any soul or "feeling", you don't have shit. "One night in San Fransisco" is one of my favorite albums to date, with Dimeola, McGloclin, and Paco DeLuca. Some of those tracks still give me the chills, and make me want to practice until my fingers bleed. They were really "in the zone" on that night. I like to blend all of my musical tastes, including jazz, and classical, and write or play my own Metalish, hard rockin type of stuff. That is not to say I won't play some classical or really cool jazz from time to time. And I am alway into playing some form of the blues. Whether it's BB King-ish, or Albert Lee-ish, or even Red House-ish! As most of you guys know, it usually depends on what kind of mood your in at the time.
This amp is capable of helping me achieve all my styles of music. But for my old Judas Priest older Metal type stuff, this thing RULES! KICKS MAJOR ASS!! Hey, even the new Pantera and/or DamagePlan stuff isn't to bad either on this thing. THE TONE IS GRADE "A" PURE MARSHALL. And I'm talking guitar-cable-amp, straight into the unit, nothing in between the signal, no processors or stomp boxes, nothing. The bottom line is that this amp can dial in ANY nasty/heavy distortions or hard rock Metal sound you can come up with. I think the clean channel is pretty good, good enough for me anyway, but I'm sure there are better "clean" sounding amps out there. In fact, duh, of course there is. Surprisingly though, I thought the clean channel was excellent for a Marshall. But if you're getting a Marshall, you're getting it for a reason. Especially with a Marshall 100 watt head! There is no other feeling in the world than plugging straight into a 100w Marshall head, (at least one M4X12cab)and feeling the hairs on your back and arms when you're power chording, wailing it, or just in your own zone. It's up there with sex. Not as good, but up there!

What can I say, FREAKIN AWSOME! I was very happy with the tone of the DSL before it, but like I said, the Triple model seemed to have more bells and whistles. On the DSL, I'd get a good sound on one channel, but when I changed the channel, I'd have to play around with the EQ again because both channels shared the EQ's. Not so with this, you can setup all 3 channels like you wish, and switch between them. One thing I was scared of with the TSL compared to the DSL was the tone. The DSL had awsome tone, and most people (including myself), thought the TSL model wasn't as good tone wise. Everyone said that the TSL's didn't give that "Marshall Roar" like the DSL could. I kind of agreed, because every time I tried a the TSL in the stores, the hi-gain sounded "grainy" and saturated, kind of digital-like compared to the DSL. Not as good Marshall growl with its destinctive tone and punch. Even a guy at Marshall told me that most people tell him that the DSL has more of a bite to it. Plus the "cleans" weren't that nice and sounded twangy to me on that channel. So I took the safe bet, and bought the DSL, beause I knew I wanted the best all-valve amp for the money. With the tones I was getting out of it, I couldn't go wrong with it. Classic & Mordern Marshall tones and worth my investment-(cause I'm not going to have the $ for another one). So, after playing the DSL for about a month, and dealing with it's annoyences, (not the sound), I took a chance and traded up for the TSL. I really wanted the 2 seperate effect loops because I figured I can put either my GT3 or POD LIVE on the clean channel, and be able to switch to either the Crunch or Lead channels for the staight no nonsense Marshall tones. Oh yeah, the 5 button footswitch vs. the 1 button the DSL had, was another point.
Well, when I got this thing home, I was very, very, happily surprised that I made the right choice. I thought I'd be bringing it back because the tone wasn't as good as the DSL, but boy was I wrong. I am so happy that I took this risk and love the TSL. The clean I think is great. I had it pretty cranked, and it still kept it's tonal characteristics, and sounded close to the Fender family line of amps. The reverbs could be a little better, but their not that bad. In the short time I've had it, I have to say that the Crunch and Lead channels are excellent. Marshall tone all the way. I can dial in differnt gain and EQ settings and get pretty much any sound I am looking for. From Metallica, Priest, the new crappy metal and anything in between. So far though, the Crunch and Lead channels sound pretty much the same to me. But the distortion is brutal, not "fuzzy" sounding like I thought. I don't know what I was listening to on the floor models I tried, maybe they were bad or something, but I wasn't at all disappointed with the gains, and tones of the TSL compared to the DSL. Now I'm saying all this, and I really haven't "cranked or pushed" the amp yet, so this opinion could change, but I don't think for the bad. You can get ANY Marshall sound from the past in this thing. From Plexi, to Super Lead jumpered, to a cranked JCM800-2203. Plus get Mesa/Solodanish, to a nice fender like cleans too! I absolutely love this thing and am so glad I made the right choice.

I heard some horror stories and that they had problems with the footswitches in the past on the TSL's. Before I got it, I called Marshall in NY. The guy told me that they fixed that in the later 2003, and 2004 models. So it was very important to me to make sure my serial number started with the 2004 numbers in which it did. Haven't had any problems yet-(knock, knock), but Marshalls have been around a pretty long time and I wouldn't think reliablitly is a problem.

So far, So good. Every time I needed to talk to a live person, I got one on the phone within 5 minutes. And the guy was always ready to answer any questions I might have. In fact, when I talked to him before trading up to the TSL, he told me that many people have told him, and feel the same way, that the DSL's have more of a Marshall roar and bite to them than the TSL's. But he also said that is a matter of opinion, for many top Metal players use TSL's in their rig, and by no means, is there a problem getting the most nastiest and brutal distortions from the TSL, as many Metal and Thrash players already do.

I've been playing for 24 years now, and I've been around a little. Guitar wise, I have Gibson Ace Frehley, Fender Voodoo, Jackson RR1, original-(early 80's) Charvel, Gibson Ionmi SG, original Ibanez Destroyer, and a couple of others including I think my fav, a Washburn Dimebag model. I have the Vetta head which in my opinion is one of the best setups money can buy, especially solid state wise. But I wanted the "best" tube amp to have the best of both worlds, and the TSL wins that competition hands down. This amp rocks and is so versitile for a tube amp. I can't wait till the wifey goes out for a couple of hours so I can crank this thing and see what it can really do. WFO-WideFu**nOpen baby! Like all valve amps, the harder they are pushed, the better tone and sound you get. Bottom line is this; The Marshall JCM2000 TSL-100 RULES! I would get another one in a hearbeat. If it were stolen, I'd shoot the guy with my Bushmaster or AK, and then play my little Marsall practice amp in my cell until I get out.

SORRY FOR WRITING SUCH A LONG AND BORING REVIEW, IT'S MY FIRST. I JUST FIGURED I'D WRITE CAUSE I READ THESE ALL THE TIME. I THINK THAT HC IS THE PLACE TO BE WHEN YOU'R LOOKING FOR ADVICE, RESOURCES, HC RULES!

You know what this amp has! 3 channels, each with independant eq, volume and gain. 100 watts of power. dual effects loops. 55 lbs, 22 kg... its fairly heavy, and the strap on the top is a practically useless feature, if you want to NOT bump it into doorways on the way through.

This is the tallest marshall head I've ever seen, and the only one I've seen that has vents in the top.

This is a newer one than my old one and the red power switch is pretty lame on this one. Instead of the deep red my last one had, it's kinda orangey and is my only gripe about this amp.

I was ROBBED about 7 months ago and was pissed off. Insurance reimbursed me and I have a new one. It doesn't sound the same. It sounds awesome, but not the same. Using the same guitar and pickups. I play every style concievable (like acoustic rock, rock, hard rock etc.) and play on many recordings both studio and live. I alsways get good tone with this amp.

this amp is reliable. I have used it on gigs without a backup, but since I have a halfstack I usually just take my combo mesa dc-5 for live stuff and use this for recording. It's live, so I'm not worried about having the best tone in thbe world although the mesa is a decent amp.

For recording the amp's DI is very useable, although I prefer micing it up.

The Marshall Distributer here in Canada which is Yorkville helps me with anything to do with this amp. When I bought my new 4x12 to replace the stolen one it just said 1960 lead in the corner, not jcm900 lead series so I asked them about it and they shipped me the older (and better looking) badge.

When I have contacted Marshall in the past they have sent me magazines, speaker cables, handwritten letters, they are just awesome.

I have been playing 11 years now. This amp really does it for me. I have heard bad reviews about it and I did have a problem with my old footswitch like other people did but it's a great amp. I really wish that the eq said what frequencies they controlled and the Q instead of "low mid high" because that doesn't really help when trying to use it in conjunction with a graphic eq.

this amp has the best features on the market today, save for anything by crate or peavey. i like to use the jcm (which stands for Juicy Crunch Machine) as a means to amplify my guitar (Samick all the way baby!!!) but i am sure it can be used for other things (i'm thinking of running my car stereo through it)
alls i can say is if you like rock n roll, look no further or maybe look further.

this is where the amp truly shines. it's sound. it's soundful without being too "soundy." you jewish guitar players no what i'm talking about. this amp makes my peavey sound like a crate when i a-b'd them. im not sure what a-b means and the manual that came with the amp didnt say anything. but i made up my own method of a-b, which i am submitting to the government for an authorized patent.
this amp snarls with a lick and a promise.

this amp has completely unreliable. but then again, so are mexicans, and we still use them right?

the customer support is Indian, like DELL.

i used this amp until it broke and then i used my peavey crate combo monster thing i built in shop class.
i'd buy another one though because i'm a shop-a-holic!

1998 year of make (or so it says), bought used (no user's guide or floorboard), this is my first all-valve amp. You'd know the drill by now: 3 channels with 2 separate eq's, scoops and spring reverb. A welcome feature is the valve-saturation button. 2 effects loops and emulated line out.
I feed it with Gibson and Fender electrics, and the sound flavour fits hand-in-glove with that of my Gibson acoustics. I've got a Boss/ Roland GT-6 that adds some sweet choruses and distortions that work immaculately with the amp. EQs and effects loops separate for each channel would have made it a 10.

A few words say it all: rich vanilla icecream. Now all of you who assume that a Marshall equals Plexi-style heavy and aggressive distortion are gravely misstaken. I use mine with a vintage 1960A that delivers a smooth, bell-like valve sound. Think old-school rock and blues. Yes it has to handle some sound volume to ring out fully, but I must say the VPR does a good job adding valve saturation at lower volumes. It never sounds harsh, just different degrees of sweet.
When distortion is turned on full lead, the sound really gets messed up, but the sweetness never dies.
Suppose I'd want some overpowering dist I'd buy an aggressive top. Another genre, another amp - if you want a plexi, buy a plexi.

It's currently awaiting a change of valves as the pre-amp has begun making klicks and noices when slightly pushed. I've only used it about a year and it has worked impecably thus far (apart from the worn out valves). Never had it on a gig, but it's clearly built to last.

As above, no problem so far.

I would not sell this piece of tubing for all the whisky in Scotland. If I was to part from it I'd buy another one just like it.
I compared it with some U.S. made tops and the Marshall Mode 4 top, but the JCM 2000s were above the competition.
I wouldn't say metal is a suitable field of use for it. However, if a sweet, warm, fuzzy and likable valve-sound is what you're looking for, a JCM 2000 will do it for you.

everyone should know by now what this thing has!

This thing is bone crushing!! if you can't get it to sound good; you simply don't know how to set up a guitar amp.
I've had this for 3yrs now and i'm blown away each time i turn it on.
i'm playing this with an Engl vintage 4x12 and it's huge

footswitch died on me too, but that's ok coz i'm now using midi :)

have had no probs with the actual amp itself though

overall this amp is great for hard rock, jazz.. you name it.
If you like the sound of marshall you'll love the tsl100.
it kicks absolute ass!!

Mine is made in 2002 I think. Very versatile, can do any sound you wanted to. 3 Channels, like the other reviews msut be great to have the EQ separated on the crunch and lead channels. I'm a weekender and the power is enough. All pure tubes sound. I think Marshall is gaining their reputation on this one.

Humbuckers are married with Marshalls everybody knows that. So for this Baby I use Les Paul Customs. Although Strats with Lace sensors works fine too.I play variety but right now we are in Classic Rock (from cream to G&R). Its the cleanest Marshall sound I heard and I own JCM800 1959 and JCM800 2203.They are all good amps but not as quite and clean like this one. The lead channel can carry all metal sounds. The distortion is amazing just lower the mid for those alternative and grunge sound.

I just had this for 2 months bought it second hand in Japan from a recording studio that used it 3 times total of 16 hours. No comment yet

Never dealt with them . I'm in Japan

I've been playing profesionally since 1975. I'm 47 yrs old now. about 28-29 years. From 1976 to 1983 I play 5 days a week at least cause it's my Job. I'm a Filipino Band playing 6 months contracts in Japan. I think I'll beat most of the guys if you talk about experience. Music is Bread and Butter for me. I'm a real musician. I love this amp for it's versatility. I also have Peavey Classic 120 amp with Rockmaster Pre amp , Mesa DC-5 which is also versatile. JCM800 1959, JCM800 2203, Musicman HD130 I have a 2 Parker fly, 2 American Standard strats one is stock and one is Jeff Beck style Ultra , 2 Les Paul Customs and for Cabinet I have 2 Marshall 1960A,one with G12M & one with Vintage 30. But here's the secret since I love this site I will share this. This amp came with crappy EL34 stock tubes and it sounds Bity and harsh that's why the Studio sold it. I happen to have spare tubes in my house for backup and one day i decided to experiment and change the tube. I switch the tubes to Groovetubes C and I was amazed. It sounded fantastic Do this and you will be surprised!! I did not re-biased the tube yet but it sound excellent now. marshall should change the stock tubes to Groovetubes. I am not working with groove tubes. In fact these tubes were just my spare cause they sound bad on my other Marshalls. Also they are quads I bought from Musiciansfriend a couple of years ago. If you have one of this amp you should replace the tube. This amp is a keeper for me and it sounds good at Bedroom levels unlike my other amps. All amps are good if you take time tweaking them. It took me 3 years to appreciate my Mesa DC5 I almost sold it. The bottom line is "Know your Gear" buy professional stuff, do not use digital pre-amps they sound like computer sound cards beleive me cause I had a couple of them when I was doing solo gigs with a sequencer. But thats another review.

Head is a TSL 100, 2004, 3 channel, Great clean, Sweet and low Crunch and Lead channels.More than enough Power.

Use a Gibson Les Paul and SG through it. What can I say but Great sound. The Higher the volume, the better is sounds. That Marshall Roar sounds great through the 1960TV cab. Yes it does have a THD hot plate. Would tell you to buy one.Clean is fabulous, and the crunch and Lead channel are all Marshall.

HOPE the foot switch does'nt break from other reviews.No problems yet after a week or so, 20 hours runnin.

Recommended a hot plate, bought a THD,Thanx ED.

It's the sound I've air guitar'd for. Only a Marshall. Now its me. Go buy one and set yourself Free.

One of the best sounding amps i've ever heard. I play rock, metal and blues and this amps covers every style perfectly. I also play some jazz (very little) and it sounds amazing aswell. The clean channel produces a very large sound and fuck it's clean. The crunch sound is more for a tradition blues sound and the lead is for a full on blues. The fx loop is really handy for soloist because u can adjust the volume so when u turn it off it goes back to full volume and u can break out into a sexy solo. The amp has a xlr line output which run into my comp to record. The virtual power reduction is very usefull for bedroom usage aswell.

I use an Ibanez RG570 with IBZ v7, v8 and s1 pickups. A vantage with god knows what pickups and a Franpton with seymore duncan lil 59's and JB JNR pickups. I use a korg AX1500G and a morley bad horsie 2 wah. The ibanez through this amp sounds just like steve vais on an album. The louder u crank it, the better sounding it gets. Persnally i use it with the gain around 5/6 and the master volume around 8 while jammin. It sounds so sweat yet dealdy and is perfect for jaw dropping solos. The vantage sounds soo grunty and with a pair of Zakk Wylde extra low strings u get the best sound Godsmack/Black Label Society sound from it. It has alot of deliveramce which is important when playing with a loud drummer.

I would never think about taking a backup amp to a gig. It has never let me down and i don't think it will. The only problem i've had was with the footswitch, the crunch channel button stopped working but the warrinty covered that. No problems besides that.

Everyone knows marshall and would probably deal with marshall. Customer support is not hard to find.

I have used olid state amps b4 this amp and the difference between solid state and an all valve amp is breath taking. Valve is alot more clearer and has a lot more grunt, more balls. I compared the amp to some other amps such as Ashton, Peavy, Laney, Randall and other Marshall all valve amps. This amp was the right value and had the sound i wanted. I wouldn't buy another type amp ever i don't think. It sounded great and looked sweet. If it says marshall on it, ur only gonna get quality.

see other reviews

it sounds amazing...i play a fender strat with SD hotrails in the bridge..SD classic stack(middle)...SD lil 59(neck)...this amp lets u hear the differances between pups, woods, technique better then any other amp...it sounds so alive...the clean channel is super clean and warm...the crunch channel is perfect for classic rock(AC/DC) or turn up the gain and u got a very dave mustaine like tone....the lead channel....o dear god..insanity..perfect for grunge,hard rock, metal...anything..this amp can reproduce any tone uve ever heard and it also lets u come up with any tone u can imagine


btw i use a marshall 1936 cab

when i first pluged the footswitch in it didnt work right..then i unpluged it and plugged it back in and it works great

marshall customer support is ok\

amazing...the best amp marshall makes by far....go play/buy one

Alright, I already subitted a review for this amp but I completely screwed it up, so here is a new good review.

The amp was produced in 2003. The amp is extremely versatile for what I play, I play anything from Deftones-ish metal (lead channel) or any type of Weezer sound after the Blue Album (crunch channel). The amp has 3 channels which are Clean, Crunch and Lead. All which are footswitchable and they have all got separete EQs. The clean channel has reverb/presence/loop level controls and Crunch and Lead have got their own controls also. (same as clean) It has two effects loops, effects loop one is global when not used with the other one or you can use effects loop one for clean and effects loop two for crunch/lead. It does not have a headphone jack but it does have a V.P.R. switch which is good for playing at low volumes, but I don't like it all that much I'd much rather turn up to 5-6 and get the full feel, the V.P.R. switch is too fake. to be precise this switch is a 25-watt valve powered amp emulator. I wish the amp had a master volume control and separete presence controls for the crunch and lead channels. But what it has now is good enough for me. I use this amp in my basement, practice basements for two different bands and I have gigged with it. It has more than enough power for me. I usually practice with the amp volume at about 4-5. Gig with it at about 6-7. Don't need to mic it but I prefer to mic it. The amp also has a XLR output but I have not tried that yet. 100 watts all tube - 4 x EL34 and 4 x 12AX7. 16 ohm single cab or 4 or 8 ohm parallel speaker outputs. Reverb and effects loop are footswitchable. The Clean and Crunch/Lead channels also have a deep switch that adds a resonant bass boost. I have them both on, much more bass with these on. Also, the Crunch and Lead channels have a tone shift button for reconfiguring the mids for more metal tones. The clean channel has a mid boost switch that makes it sound very warm and mid-rangey.

I play a Mexican Strat with a Blue Lace Sensor in the neck Gold Lace Sensor in the middle and Seymour Duncan Hot Rails in Bridge, Brass Nut, 12-68 guage Elixer Baritone strings. This guitar is tuned to C G C F A D. It sounds fantastic with this amp on any setting. Amazing crunch and chunk from the Hot Rails, if you have a Strat but need a humbucker sound get one now, it's a great pickup. I also have a recently purchased new American Telecaster. This guitar sounds very nice for rock, not a metal guitar, period. That's what my strat is for. The Tele is a bit too bright for me, mainly the bridge but I love the neck pickup but I can't stand the hum but I am about to correct that with the purchase of a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails or a Little 59 for the bridge of that and a Vintage Lead Stack for the neck. Because I need hum cancellation. The lead channel suits my style perfectly with both guitars, but I really cant speak for the Tele until I get the new pickups. So, so far the strat suits me perfectly on the Lead Channel. For this channel I have a searing high-gain, metal, deep resonant crunch. The settings are as follows:

Gain: 8.5
Bass: 9
Mid: 2
Tone shift switch: on
Treb: 8
Presence: 7.5
Reverb: I dont use reverb that much but I have it set at 6 and use the footswitch to activate it when needed.

As for the crunch channel, I have a very gruff, heavy, mid-rangey, smooth, buttery overdrive setting:

Gain: 10
Bass: 8.5
Mid: 6.5
Tone shift switch: off
Treb: 7
Presence: Same control as Lead Channel
Reverb: Same control as Lead Channel

The Clean channel has a very, very nice Clean sound. Many have said that they hate the clean on this amp. I love it. Very bassy room-filling clean I have it slightly dirty:

Gain: 8
Bass: 7.5
Mid: 4.5
Mid-Boost switch: off
Treb: 8.5
Presence: 8
Reverb: 6

The clean channel is mainly set to suit my overdrive pedal which is an SIB! Varidrive. This pedal is amazing by the way, the most, tearing, saturated, chunkiest metal overdrive I have ever heard, knocks down a Triple Rectifier. No joke. This is not a metal pedal though. Most play it through a Fender Twin or other non-distorted amps. But the way I tweaked my clean settings makes it metal sounding. Aside from unholy metal. I like the Lead channel more than this pedal, it's good for once in a while use, thats why. I usually don't play stuff THAT heavy. Anyway, back to the Clean channel, the setting for the pedal sound is very, very nice when not used with the pedal, in other words like I said before, Very nice clean. This amp is not noisy at all, whoever thinks it is is an idiot or they care way too much about minor noise, it is perfectly quiet for me. I already named all the sounds (I'm sure there's more.) Like said before, clean channel distorts, very saturated distorton, not a Recto or anything that heavy but it is still perfect for me.

Heres the thing, the footswitch broke after a months use. That seems to be the case with all of the TSL 100s. The amp also came with awful tubes. I retubed with Ruby Svetlana EL34s and Sovtek pre-amp tubes that I ordered from Mesaboogie.com and lo and behold it sounds 100% better. The footswitch is the big downer though. Bad tubes was expected with an amp shipped from England then ordered online.

I called about the footswitch. They were very nice and covered it under warranty, I sent my faulty one in and they sent me a new one in 3 days. It has not broken yet, and I got it from them almost 5 months ago.

I have been playing for 5 years. I also own a Marshall AVT 20. If it was stolen I would get a Marshall JMP-1 preamp and a 9200 or EL34 100/100 poweramp. But I don't have the funds for that right now so I'm all set and perfectly happy. I am going to get a used Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier for some heavy metal tones because thats practically all that they're good for from what I've heard. I have heard horror stories about Mesas breaking down and sounding muddy. The Triple Rectifier that I played sounded great, all metal, nothing else, kind of disappointing at that. I'm not worried about it breaking down as long as I have the TSL100 with me. anyway, I'll use the Dual Rec for some metal tones and keep the TSL 100 for the crunch that I get now. Overall after my footswitch and tube replacement the amp is fantastic and delivers a fantastic sound.

I got this amp brand new this past January; Jan 3, 2004 to be exact. The stock tubes that came with this amp were awful. I re-tubed the amp with Sovtek preamp tubes and Ruby Svetlana power tubes I and had it professionally re-biased and now it sounds fantastic, you can really get some extreme volume out of it not to mention that unmistakable Marshall crunch/roar. The amp has 3 channels, Crunch/Lead/Clean. You can go from crunchy warm overdrive on the Crunch channel to searing high-gain on the Lead channel. Both channels sound like two different amps which is fantastic, both with a "tone shift" button which reconfigures the mids for more metal tones, I use this switch on the Lead channel, and it sounds very, very heavy when activated. The Clean channel provides some very glassy, smooth tones and the Clean channel has a "mid boost" switch, but I never use that because it makes the sound too warm and high-mid for me. I use one overdrive/distortion pedal and it is an S.I.B. Varidrive and the Clean channel compliments it extremely well, the bass is huge on this channel when used with outboard distortion, which is perfect for what I play, it is a very heavy-metal sounding pedal. The amp has reverb/presence/FX mix controls for the Clean and Crunch/Lead channels, I wish that the Crunch and Lead channels had separate reverb/presense/FX mix controls but it's not really that major of an issue with me. The amp has 2 effects loops, Effects Loop 1 is for the Clean channel and Effects Loop 2 is for the Crunch/Lead channels. If you use only Effects Loop one then it will act as the Effects Loop for both the Clean, Crunch, and Lead channels. Each loop has a loop level switch which should be depressed when using pedals and depressed when using rack gear. It has 3 speaker outputs, 2 of them can be switched between 4 or 8 ohms and one is solely reserved for use with one 16 ohm speaker cabinet. The amp definitely has more power than I need. I can play an unmiced gig with the amp at about 4.5 - 5 so it definitely is loud enough. A master volume would be nice though.

I use this amp mainly with a Fender Mexican Stratocaster with a Seymour Duncan Hot-Rails in the Bridge, Fender Blue Lace Sensor in the neck, and a Fender Gold Lace Sensor in the middle tuned to C G C F A D, despite the fact that it is a Mexican guitar it can still rock really hard. I also use a Fender American Telecaster with stock pickups, the clean channel on the amp really needs to be turned up for the Tele though. I play anything from Deftones ish metal to Weezer rock. The amp like I said above can do just about anything from warm crunch to searing metal to glassy clean. The Clean channel distorts when you turn the gain up to about 7 and it can really distort when you turn the volume up to about 7 - 8. The amp overall is perfect for what I play. One time I used the effects loop and there was a slight decrease in volume, but that could probably be corrected with some sort of pedal similar to the "MXR Micro-Amp."

When I got the amp like i said before the tunes were awful, but and I fixed that problem, it is kind of inevitable to get a tune amp off of an online company and have the tubes be shot, I was kind of expecting that. Anoother thing, about a month after I got the amp my footswitch failed, I was supplied with a new one under warranty and it has not failed on me yet. Other than those two things I have not had one problem with the amp.

I called about the footswitch and I sent in the faulty one and they sent me a new one in 3 days. They were really nice about it too.

I have been playing for about 5 years. This is the only amp I own besides a Marshall AVT20. If it was lost or stolen I would probably aim for a Marshall JMP-1 with an EL34 100/100 power amp, I would also be pretty upset that it was stolen but I think that the Marshall rack gear is the next step up from my amp because the TSL 100 is just about the biggest all-valve head that Marshall makes. I compared it to a Mesa Triple Rectifier which when I played the rectifier I was very pleased with it's tone, but I later decided that it was a far bit to heavy sounding for me so I decided to stick with the Marshall, a much more versatile amp. There is really nothing at all that I dislike about this amp.

Packed with features

The best sounding amp I've ever owned.

The clean is beautiful. The middle channel is very smooth. The red channel is nothing short of raw power.

This is where the amp flops. Marshall blew it here. The footswitch jack is mounted directly to the printed circuit board. There is nothing else supporting it. Mine was in the shop about 3 times before I gave up on it. When I got rid of it the fx loop no longer worked and could not be repaired by my local service cinter. Someone offered me a Les Paul Standard in trade and I took it.

Any amp that doesn't last is worthless.

2003. PROBABLY AS VERSATILE AS YOU CAN GO. FROM BACH TO PUDDLE OF MUD.
CLEAN CRUNCH AND LEAD, FOOT SWITCHABLE, 2FX LOOPS. USE AT HOME AND IN THE STUDIO. VERY POWERFULL, PLAY THROUGH 1960 4x12 CABINET. A WIRELESS
FOOT SWITCH MIGHT BE COOL.

USE A 20 YEAR OLD CUSTOM SHOP LES PAUL STANDARD, 500T BRIDGE AND CLASSIC NECK PICKUPS. THIS IS THE MATCH. THIS MUST BE THE BEST MARSHALL HEAD AT THE MOMENT. DOES EVERYTHING ANY OF THE OTHERS CAN DO.
THE DSL AND MORE. THE REISSUES THEY MAKE ARE EXPENSIVE AND REALLY
FOR GUYS THAT LIVE IN THE PAST AS THIS CAN DO EVERYTHING THEY DO AND MORE.THERE IS ENOUGH DISTORTION FOR THE DISCERNING EAR ALTHOUGH MORE REVERB ON THE CLEAN CHANNEL MIGHT BE NICE. THE CRUNCH CHANNEL IS MY FAVOURITE,THE TRADITIONAL MARSHALL SOUND. SOUND IMPROVES WITH VOLUME.

SO FAR SO GOOD

BEEN PLAYING GUITARS OF ONE KIND OR ANOTHER FOR OVER 40 YEARS.
ALSO OWN A FENDER DUAL REVERB. I WOULD BUY IT AGAIN IF IT WERE STOLEN.

blah blah blah NOT VERY SIMPLE AT ALL!!!!!! im not an idiot, but lemme tell ya, it sure aint easy havin all them damn knobs and buttons when youre already half blind.

hmm...where to begin?
1. Overpriced sounding...what i mean is, it isnt THAT versatile. sure its got three channels, but...they all sound the same (except clean)...thin...sterile. not very...nice.
2. not very marshall sounding to me. to me, marshall sounds...green. like a green british sound. but...the clean does i quite nicely. i was impressed as usual. i borrowed this amp from the store. hahah. i haggled, and got to take it home for the weekend. the distortions to me werent all that...great. i never buy an amp for distortion in the first place. i look for amps that project sounds nicely, and truely. as opposed to the usual "nu-metal meets bluegrass with a hint of in-your-face folk grunge". i get myself a nice modded overdrive, and darn near fry them tubes. its the fact of projecting sound im looking for, they sound worse loud. mine also had this weird swelling thing going on. not too cool if that would have happened during a gig. not that bad sounding...just not that good. i play iron maiden, vai, becker, SRV, megadeth, satriani, malmsteen, and ritchie blackmore. distortion was weak, and very much uncalledfor. i stick to plexis. 1987, or 1959. keep em clean, work on them fingers...

eh...its alright...but still i wouldnt trust it for a gig without a couple backups. shouldnt have to have back ups in the first place.

i dont know, never called em...

WAAAAAY too much. at this point, youre paying for all the knobs and the label. kids dont know the difference, thats mainly who they market to. all the "gunslingers" of guitarists in the early days of metal kept it simple. well...sort of. alot of slps, alot of cabs, and a couple of guitars. as opposed to hundreds of dummys, and a crap load of guitars. but, its all opinions. so...dont take this too much to heart. i love marshall, theyre my number ones! but, this amp didnt do me any justice. just not a good model. give marshall time, maybe they might come up with something better than an slp!

Superb, what more do you need? clean, crunch, lead and reverb.
(reverb could be a bit better i suppose) but hey the other features more than make up for that.
ROCK!

I have a Gibson SG Standard (which will die with me), boss DS2, NS, CE5, CS3, Vox Wah Clyde Mccoy, and an Ibanez Tube Screamer.
My first amp was a marshall mg100hdfx, i know, i'm sorry but i did'nt have enough money for a REAL amp.
First time i used my TSL in the studio i sat it on top of 4x12 and plugged my guitar straight into it, i tried all 3 channels, WOW.
Clean was superb, bright, clear with a gain knob to give more edge, but it was the crunch and lead channels that really did it for me.
I mainly use the crunch channel for my distortion and the lead for a bit of soloing.
From then on i decided to take the DS2 and Tube Screamer out my loop, i may try them later but i feel i have no need just now.
I play any sort of rock music i like and am able to do, acdc, thin lizzy, jimi hendrix, stereophonics, oasis etc...
This Amp ROCKS

No problems so far.
ROCK solid

Never dealt with them.

I was almost put off this amp by other reviews on this page i wish people would have the patience to work on their sound. i find i hard to belive you cant get what your looking for from this amp.
i on the other hand like marshall and have the patience to work on my sound, if i wanted a mesa, vox fender etc.. amp i would go buy one and work on it. If you dont want a marshall amp then dont buy it, easy.

All guitar players know that patience is the key to success, please, work with amp and you will not be dissapointed.
If this amp does'nt ROCK its because you not ROCKING it.
End of story.

TSL 100 - 2001
I play in an original giging band that mixes up our sound alot. Our styles range from alternative to metal to punk to grunge to classic rock to pseudo-jazz (basically all types of rock music). Obviously the three channels with independent EQs are a great for the types of music we play. The amp has all the features that I was looking for; it is a great amp. I personally think the VPR is great, because how many unsigned musicians playing club venues need 100 watts? Of course the VPR forces an adjustment of the EQ so don't expect it to sound the same with VPR and with out.

I play a Gibson Les Paul Studio and a 57 Fender strat re-issue. Since we play thick distorted drop-D songs and then switch to a jazzy-loungy sounding song the amp needs to be malleable. The TSL suits this need greatly. If you don't like playing around with EQ at all don't buy this amp. Just go out and buy a foot switch then you can just press a button and imitate your favorite guitarist.

The marshal crunch channel is excellent and the Lead channel is great - yes you metal heads can pull back the mids on the lead channel some to get you know ... that sound (but obviously you don't want to kill the more traditionally marshall crunch sound). I think the clean channel is pretty good (you can get alot of different sounds with adjusting the gain, mids, and highs) but the reverb is only average. I really think the thing that often sets the sound of amp's clean channel apart is the reverb and for some reason nothing has ever compared to the reverb of my old Fender Amp. So yeah I'd like a better reverb for the clean channel.

I've upgraded the preamp tubes and thought it improved the overall sound, but I thought the svetlana power tubes were fine.

I have a major problem with the foot switch and also the build quality and design methodology of the TSL head. I could make a big list but the one that tops the list for now is why have the 6 pin din connector for the footswitch in the head free floating on the circuit board. Absolute madness. Spend an extra buck and bolt it on to the housing. I'm sure that they had to make some cost tradeoffs to get the amp sorta-reasonably priced, but come on that is such a ridiculous excuse.

Anyway I determined (for now) that the 6 pin din connector on the amp was fine - clearly I will need to put in a better connector at some point but I left it as is for now. So I checked the foot switch and found out that it was problem (note: the circuit board in the foot switch is silly thin - it is meant to be stepped on right?). To make a long story short I ended up cutting a larger hole in my footswitch putting in a 6 din receptacle (I am so thankful for companies like mouser : http://www.mouser.com search for 6 pin DIN) and making a few of my own cables (I used switch craft 6 pin DIN plugs and CAT5 cable which has 8 wires and is kind of thin, but I couldn't find a lower gage flexible wire with 6 inside) for my foot switch. For those who gig often I would seriously recommend considering improving the foot switch and making your own cables. How many of us has never had to replace our qrt-instrument cables???? Maybe you are more careful than me, but in reality it is only a matter of time.

Also a side issue is that I find I need to rebias the tubes more often that I have with other tube amps that I've owned.

Aside from the build quality issues and the typical foot switch problem it is a truly great amp. If you need 3 different sounds and you want almost complete control over those sounds this amp really is tough to beat.

Mine s a 2002 model. You know all the effects. Too many too list! The only feature that's stupid is the VPR "power reduction". I don't know about you guys but I don't like "simulated" sounds on my all-tube amps. Maybe on a MG-series...but why waste your time with that garbage. Yuck.

I used mine with either a 2000 Gibson SG Special or a 2001 Gibson Les Paul Classic. I had it for about 4 months and I did not enjoy it. First of all I play metal, like Iron Maiden, System of a Down, Killswitch Engage, the Agony Scene, etc. Overall, the sounds I got were thin and lifeless. My lead tones my okay but only if I used the rythm pickup. But still, the leads were buzzy and not pleasent. Not like a Mesa Mark IV which just plain SINGS. The clean was actually very nice. The reverb was also great. But bottom line, this amp didn't cut it for metal .Not ballsy enough. And waaaaaayy overpriced. Do yourself a favor and get an older JCM 800, Mesa Mark IV, Peavey 5150, Engl Powerball, or Peavey Triple XXX. Those are all EXCELLENT amps.

It worked fine for me...it got REALLY hot though...I could see where all the complaints about them overheating and dying come from.

Don't Know

Don't get it. The distortion sounds (if yu play metal like me) don't cut it. I always had the gain dimed on the lead channel with all the tone shift buttons in, and with the bass and treble maxed, and only then was I able to obtain a "brutal" distortion. That just didn't seem right to me. I don't like paying nearly two grand for an amp a feeling like I can't touch the contrlols because it will sound awful. That just sucked. Overall, the sounds were too thin, buzzy, lifeless, and lacked dynamics. It certainly doesn't have the power of that Mesa/Peavey XXX or 5150/ Engl "wall of sound" that is so savage and just puts a smile across your face. THAT'S what metal is supposed to sound like!

I paid $1350.00 for this head and love it. It sits on top of a four speaker Marshall 1960 cab. Wow!

Had a DSL prior to the TSL. The DSL crapped out on me so I upgraded to the TSL. Am not sorry that I did. I have played Les Pauls through it, SG's and Strats. I get all the rock sound I need and the clean channel really gets along well with the neck pickup on the Strat. I love that "Fender" blues tone and the Marshall satisfies me.

Like the others before me, I replaced two of the pre-amps 'cause they crapped out on me after about a years playing. I replaced them with Groove Tubes and holy cow can you tell a difference! The sound quality was instantly noticeable. MUCH better. The amp was hotter, louder, had more tone, more crispness and so forth. Whatever it was before when I had to old original tubes was multiplied several times over when I put in the Groove Tubes. Other than that, it's held up okay.

I've only been playing for about 6 years but I have had many guitars. If it were lost or stolen, I'd get another one tomorrow...and replace the tubes. I like the flexability and the tone from all three channels. There's not much I do not like about this amp. Hauling the thing around is a pain but that goes with the territory. It's a bit on the pricey side but so are the Mesa's and others.

Made in 2004 All tube, 100 watts, 3 channels, 2 reverbs ( one for clean & 1 for Crunch and Lead channels, 2 effects loops, separate eq for each channel, deep switch, mid boost on clean channel, tone shift/mid scoop on crunch and lead channels. Plenty of power.

This amp sounds great on each channel. I play everything from jazz to blues to classic rock, hard rock, metal this thing covers it all. Not noisy at all unless you max out the gain on the lead channel which is normal. Retubed with JJ E34L's and ECC83S pre amp tubes. This really makes the amp shine. The stock tubes are crap and are not biased correctly from the factory. Mine were at 117 mv per side, they should have been at 85- 90mv. After biasing it sounded better, but after the retube the amp sounds like it should... a friggin' Monster. Been trying an old RCA 12ax7a from the early 1960's in the V1 position and this really makes the amp more robust and increases the sustain even more. Bottom line is that this amp rules.

No problems at all. Gets a little hot on the top due to the tubes, but that's all normal. I never gig without a backup so it's not an issue for me.

Got a response from Marshall tech support same day.. maybe I'm just lucky.

I've owned plenty of tube amps, digital, and solid state. I only own tube amps now. This amp absolutely rules. Buy one now.

You have read the features elsewhere, but here it is again!
4 power amp tubes, 5 preamp tubes
3 seperate channels, each with gain, volume, treb, mid, bass
Reverb and Presence knobs (one each for clean, one for both dirty channels)
100 watts, 120 watt rms output.
Dual effects loops, with an fx mix knob going from completely series to entirely parralell, and even a combination of the 2.

This is my second review, the first was probably 3 or 4 years ago.

I am just checking up to say it still kicks ass!

The clean isn't the cleanest, but it has enough headroom to break through in a live situation (a bar, woodstock etc)

The best part about the clean is the fact that if you crank the gain, it's like you are playing through a JCM800!!! Awesome ac/dc style crunch. A/B with a better clean amp, and there you go, everything you need.

I used to find that the eq wasn't versatile, but since I traded my effects unbit away I have been forced to use the eq on the amp and I must say that I probably didn't realize that the gain controls are interactive. Very nice smooth eq.

The crunch channel = rock heaven
lead = metal or lead. I keep the gain around 4 on this one and still get that "bark at the moon" sound.

Only problem I have ever had was a blown tube. I replaced them with some groove tubes and the sound was way better. Those stock tubes are the devil. I still haul my little mesa dc-5 around for a backup, however it has only ever been a spectator at gigs.

They are on and off. If I go to my local Marshall Dealer, I get great service, but if I contact them directly they either respond right away or so late I forget what the question was.

I have been playing for 11-13 years or something like that. I use a gibson flying V and occasionally some other guitars.

I'm giving this amp a 9 here because I am a firm believer in the KISS method (keep it simple Stupid!) True is has many features, but it doesn't have you scratching your head to get a good sound out of it like other model amps such as Mesa.

One thing you need to know about this amp....IT IS VERY SENSITIVE TO THE GUITAR AND MODS YOU USE. Things like condition of strings, quality pickups, tubes, etc. all take a role in the sound. I have an Ernie Ball Luke guitar with stock EMG 85 in the bridge and it sounds awsome. People have complained about the clean but it's good enough for me. My style of music is mainly fast, agressive modern rock, and this amp suits my style fine. The lead channel is very brutal with the right guitar setup...so keep in mind you may have to upgrade your gear to get the best sound out of this amp.

I can't really give this amp an opinion here. Let's just say that one time it fell from the cabinet and it wasn't smashed and still worked for a little while....and the fottswtich never gave me problems....but friends of mine who have this amp tell a different story...so good luck if you own one.

Haven't dealt with them...yet.

great amp, great features, and very simple for me.....it is my first tube amp to own, but I have played many others. This is my favorite and suits my sound perfectly.

the only thing marshall should have added to this head is a switchable boost for the channels (yes you can use the loops but then you cant use effects), a fourth channel and then you would have to give a 10

this is what I wanted to add too, I've played the TSL100 in both the US and the UK and the US. You need to do a couple of things out of the box to this amp just to get it right.Change the preamp tubes!!Marshall dont seem to get good grade preamp tubes, go for JJs they are excellent. Also have a tech check the bias and make sure nothing has come loose inside. Yeah you shouldnt have to do that but I found a number of loose items needed sorting to the US model but none to the UK model.
Like other reviews the bias is key though I think the svetlanas are great tubes.
After all this work these things sound great (though when recording I use a fender twin for clean, TSL for dirty,a mesa mk3 and VHT for layering) and the three channels cover most things.
I used a mesa dual rec head for a while but found it didnt cut through in a live environment and wanted more of a classic rock sound.I'll give it an 8 as it doesnt sound as good as using single amps but does a great job

I've gig these heavily and had them check out straight from the box. They are flight cased straight away and I re tube after about 50 hours of use. I always have a second amp but have never had a problem with this amp. Like I said, get it checked out ASAP as in the US the model I got (brand new) had a few loose itms. I'll give this an 9 though that is because they are checked out first

having lived 1 hour from Marshall in the UK I have to admit I've found them great. In the US I have a tech in Milwaukee who can manage anything and have not used a marshall service center. Anyhow I'll go with the UK rating as I've delt with them direct on a number of vintage stuff and they have been top notch. You can also have a factory tour whilst your amp being serviced (though you have to book this)

I gig alot so this is a tool of the trade, I look after my kit (you have to if you want it to survive tours!!) and this gives me the sound I need. I'm not saying this is the best amp in the world but it suits me fine, has been reliable, is easy to get a hold of and has the versitility and tone I'm looking for

- 4x EL34 output valves and 4x ECC83 preamp valves

- Footswitchable Accutronics Spring Reverb with Dual controls (one for Clean, one for Crunch/Lead)

- Individual Presence controls and Deep switches for Clean and Crunch/Lead channels

- Two Parallel FX loops (footswitchable)

- XLR DI output featuring Marshall's acclaimed speaker emulation, allowing direct connection to recording or PA mixing desks without the need for microphones or DI boxes

- A Power Amp Mute facility for silent recording via the built-in DI

- A ruggedly built, 5-way LED footcontroller which gives you the ability to switch between the three individual channels, plus switch the Reverb and the two FX Loops on/off

- An innovative Virtual Power Reduction (VPR) switch which, when engaged, emulates the sound and feel of a 25 Watt valve power amp

This was copied from the Marshall site. This amp has everything i could ever need. I could've done with a headphone socket just to put the icing on the cake, but what's here is all good!

I am using this with a Charvel Predator with Seymour Duncans through a wah pedal into the input socket. My main style is definitely metal, but i mess around with others all the time, never had a problem getting a tone i want. I have the clean channel set up with a warm, smooth clean tone, the rhythm channel with a sabbath/zeppelin/acdc tone, and the lead channel is total megadeth/dream theater. It is noisy, but i'm sure this is my choice of pickups and lack of noise gate, as i've played through this with a BC Rich Beast with two EMG pickups with no noise gate and it sounded fine. It sounds okish on low volumes, you won't feel it smack you in the face till it's past 3, but thats just what valve amps are like. The clean channel can dirty up with a change of settings, i can basically get any tone i'm after somewhere on one of the channels. There are many features to tweak your sound, the deep switch and tone shift switches can really metal up your sound, but can also be used to fill out your tone at low levels. The rhythm channel has enough distortion for most, i'm not most! You decide!

There's mixed opinions on here i've seen, it's strange because all the good reviews have come from the UK, and the bad ones from the USA, i dunno what they're like over in America i've never been, but here in the UK these things work fine. God knows why this is i can't say, but mine hasn't broken yet, i dunno who deals Marshall in America, Korg i think i've heard, but mines all good. Buy your Marshall from the UK!

Never dealt with them, although i've heard similar things about this as i have reliability issues, with a USA/UK division of opinion.

I have been playing for 5-6 years, and this is my first and only guitar head i've owned, so i can't really compare, but it sounds good to my ears anyhow. If it was stolen, i'd be gutted, i'd buy it again definitely. I'm thinking of buying some rack gear as well, but the head will always come first. It is annoying about the headphone socket absense, as if you want this thing to really hit you, be prepared for angry neighbours. Still though, this thing screams with my charvel and wah pedal, it is the exact tone in my head, which is a rare discovery as most guitarists know! I compared this to a hughes and kettner warp 7, and a peavey xxx, and chose this from pure versatility, i wasn't disappointed in the slightest. Anyone who thinks Marshalls can't do low end or metal without pedals, you're clueless!

Its a beautiful amp with so much versatility. the clean channel is totally un-Marshall-y, which is why i bought it - i'm more of a fender-sound freak, and the amp does that beautifully! the gain channels (both of them!) are absolutely incredible for sheer gain and volume.

hmmm... the only thing here is, dont even try using it quietly! its one of those amps that will NEVER sound good until cranked (and i live in a block of flats... :( !) but once you get it up there, it is unmatchable! the 1/4 power switch is a cool feature. i only gave it 8 for this section cos i mainly have to practice quietly.

ive actually had quite a bit of trouble with this one. its very temperamental, but other people are well and truly impressed with the reliability of their own tsl. from time to time, it won't even switch on, which is a pain in the butt.

the guy from rock dog amps did the servicing for me. he's brilliant, its the best service ive had of anywhere! he was the sort of guy who you can tell loves his job! of course, not all amp techs will be like that...

ive been playing 13 yrs, and its the best sounding amp ive had to date. its my first stack, and will probably be the last, as im a small bloke and i cant carry a quad around particularly easily. i wish i'd got the 2x12 combo! other than that, the amp is beaut, but i think anyone considering their first stack should think carfully about size and weight. i didnt, and ive had heaps of trouble! basically, the size/weight and reliability lose it the marks.

Mr "Apple" (below) says that he measured the amps output to be 49 watts (VPR mode) and 117watts (full power mode) using a "watt meter".
This method is flawed for a few reasons:
First he "cranked the amp" for the measurement.
When you do a load test on an amp you measure it at the point of clipping or at a certain %THD (Total Harmoic Distortion) -%5 is a common value used. All amps put out signifcantly more power when driven into clipping (distorted) than when they are run linear ("clean" tones).
Second the signal has a power factor by it's nature (speaker load) and this also has to be factored in when using a Watt meter hooked up to a speaker load. However this isn't as big an error factor as running an amp into it's non linear regon (distortion) when measuring out put power.
The proper way to measure output power is to supply the amp with a 1khz sine wave, turn the tone controls to their most linear position, hook the output to a resistive load, and measure the voltage across the (known) resitive load using a Scope. Adjust the gains and master till you reach clipping or a %THD to get the amps maximum "Clean" output voltage across the load. Then you do the math (using the rms voltage and resistive load value).
If "Mr Apple" had used this method I think he would have found that the amp does produce power close to what Marshall claims for both modes of operation...

Il suono e 1. Se ti piace Marshall ok altrimenti evita. Non punterei molto sulla versatilita.
Per quanto riguarda switch/loop/jacks e completo.

Suonato con Peavey Wolfang EVH. Genere A-Rock.
Nessuno dei tre suoni eccelle per qualita e potenza sonora, il crunch e il peggio dei 3.
In generale, secondo il mio parere, manca molto di pienezza/sustain

Nessun problema avuto. Minimo!!

Nessuna esperienza di riparazione.

L'ho suonato per 1 anno per poi passare ad Orange.
Se adori marshall ok altrimenti con i soldi comprati qualcosa di diverso. Per qualsiasi genere.

This is the latest of this amp I got it in may of 2003 and I think I have been playing with it long enough to talk about it with others. First of all I choose to use a super modified Mexican Stratocaster because Americans are too bright for me. I enjoy all of the features of this amp. It would be nice if the amp had a separate reverb for each channel but oh well what can you do. I enjoy the stock tubes on this amp. I wonder if i will ever change them, I honestly kind of enjoy the sound of a tube that has been played through too long. It?s almost been a year and they still sound great.

I combine the neck and middle pickups on my Stratocaster and go through the crunch channel and I believe I have the Hendrix tone with out any fancy compressor?s, limiters, gates, maximizes or any of those goodies. Though I will say you should try this amp playing with the PB100 power break and really crank those tubes. Because I play in a mellow indie band I feel I am the only person posting here who is not 30 years old or older and loves those 80's ripping solos. I am 15 years old but I am not spoiled getting this amp. I have played for 9 years and I got into one of the best music schools in the world for guitar The North Carolina School of the Arts. But I live in San Francisco now and play in a band called Go Go Nasty come check us out www.gogonasty.com, back to the amp, here are some tips for the amp. I like turning the trebles down and the mids up. I don?t really like the deep switch but it?s a cool feature. The VPR really doesn?t cut it for me. Everyone says it cuts your amp to 25 watts but I cranked the amp and put a wattage tester in. with the VPR (virtual power reduction) on and the volume all the way up the amp was running at 49 watts and 117 without the VPR on. Maybe I have an exceptionally louder amp and a off scale VPR but I believe it switches the amp from 50/100. This would be great for when you record and really want to turn it up to get the tubes warm.

Well I can say this amp is a tank but the footswitch broke 2 weeks after I bought it. And for all of you that don?t know why and decide to spend weeks calling Marshall I can tell you HOW TO TEMPORARILY FIX THE FOOTSWITCH! Here is what the problem is. Open up the footswitch and you will see the long green rectangle panel with 5 black boxes solder to it. You will notice where the black box connects to the metal button by a very flimsy piece of metal with two teeth on opposite sides. What happens is if you press the button two hard this piece of metal detaches itself from the button and you might notice it does not make the "click" a button does when you push it down. Before one gig I stuffed a t-shirt I ripped up and stuffed it in with the footswitch under the buttons not in-between them. That will break them. This will help you for a while but you will eventually have to replace it. Just don?t step down to hard and you wont have a problem. Also the cord attaching to the footswitch is not a good cable. It is one of the cables Marshall uses for wiring their amps and it is just shrink wrapped. If you ever cut it open you will even see there is an extra brown wire that is there for nothing. When I pulled this out I noticed a lot of buzzing left. Maybe you should try it. Just cut the cable (I thought the cord was too Long) and pull it out. I am researching other footswitches that may be compatible. I have heard a mesa 3 channels may work because they have 6 prong inputs as well. I will inform everyone if they do though I doubt it. To those of you that hear that cowbell noise when moving the amp around, IT IS OKAY it?s just the reverb not the tubes. But the reverb is a problem on this amp. You may notice it does not work sometimes. Here is what to do. Open up the reverb unit. (Take off the two RCA cables first one is black and one is red) and you will see 4 springs behind a box (I forgot where it is just look for yourself) when the 4 springs are all not touching each other the reverb does not work. Simply setting the amp down can detach them. I usually just tap the grill in the front because that is where the reverb unit is a big rectangle in the front behind the tubes. YOU CANT MISS IT its the only thing made in the USA. Hitting the two ll's in Marshall seems to do the trick for me. I also believe in Re biasing this amp. When I got it the biasing was really off. I wish that Marshall would take the time to correct them considering there the ones making the amp and they are also giving the recommended levels you would assume they would be sure to put those into place (90 mv).

I definitely have to give a 1 on this. I have called korg usa and left so many messages. They close at 5 and out here on the west coast that is 2 in the afternoon. And they are not open weekends, which put?s a big hassle on me to get in touch with them. I have left a total of 7 messages, 2 letters. I did call one day I was sick and not in school. I got a machine and they put me on hold for 20 minutes, then I talked to someone and they told me the footswitch had a 6-month warranty. Thanks Marshall and Korg usa I CANT WAIT TO BUY ANOTHER PRODUCT FROM YOU!

You know I gave some 8's 9's and 1's but ill have to say this amp really does do the trick for me. I have played on most Marshall amps in production and I believe the only other amp that comes close is the 1959 that amp is pretty cool. Feel free to email me guys I am a pretty knowledgeable guy on this amp. I have been studying and playing on it every day since I got it. I can honestly say that I am really happy that I bought this amp. I have a secret too I bought it from musician?s friend without playing it just because I had heard how amazing it was. I also knew Marshall was closing down the British factory and making the ?super factory? in Korea too keep up with the supply and demand. You should hold on to this amp or any British made Marshall head now because they will have significant value later. British amps being made in sweatshops by needy Asian kids. HMM I predict some quality and tone going away.

It's got everything you could want feature wise. If you want FX then there are two loops that can be set for rack or stomp box levels. I've rated it a nine as a global master volume would be very useful.

Prior to this amp I gigged extensively with the combo version the TSL122. Obviously the 4 x 12 cab makes a difference but even I was surprised at how different this amp sounds to the combo. My cab has V30 speakers whereas the combo has one V30 and one heritage. Maybe this is why?? Anyway this amp can do most things except a great clean tone. The clean channel is very warm but if you are after blackface type tones then look elsewhere. If you wanna rock however then just flick to the crunch channel. Angus Young? No prob. Blackmore? Page? Hendrix? It's all there if you look hard enough. This amp does the just breaking up thing really well. Sweet.

The tone controls are effective without being severe. The lead channel is a beaut. Loads of gain and not much noise. I use a Strat with a Dimarzio VV Solo pickup in the bridge and this is a great halfway house between single coil and humbucker tones. I've noticed that there is more reverb available on the crunch and lead channels than there is on the clean. I don't know why this should be but it was the same on the combo.

I have noticed a vibration on these amps. It seems to come from the transformer. I'm not sure if it is the mains or the output tranny. It is a physical vibration rather than anything that comes through the speakers. Not really a problem unless you play very quietly in which case you bought the wrong amp.

The 1/4 power switch (VPR) is useful but if I were to be picky I would point out that wbhen you engage the VPR the tone loses a touch of top end. Similar to turning down the presence. The tone shift feature gives a scooped tone if thats when you like but to me it seems too processed sounding. I prefer a balanced tone for classic rock anyway.

My amp has the original valves still in place after nearly four years of use. They will not get changed in the near future unless one blows as I've noticed that the amp seems to have "matured" ie the tone has just got sweeter and sweeter as time has passed and right now it is really in the zone. I know that I risk a failure and it could convievably take the tranny out when it goes but I'm not losing these sounds for anyone. I've tried the Line 6 amps and the Roland / Boss amp sims and nothing that I have tried comes close. Maybe in 5 - 10 years when the sampling rates are much higher they will get it - maybe. For now valves are the only way to get the tone. I have rated it at eight for this category due to the mediocre clean channel. If I was rating only crunch and lead channels it would be a nine or even a ten.

I've read the remarks about the footswitches here. I have not had any problems in this respect with either this unit or the combo version. Hint - do not wind the cable around the footswitch when packing down. This will put a strain on the cable where it runs into the footswitch itself. Zigzag the cable in the same way it was originally packed loosley. The socket is weak but if you know this then treat it accordingly.

People who rate valve amps low for reliability due to issues with the valves themselves are, in my opinion, misguided. If you buy quality valves and treat your amp with care it should be reliable. Nothing is 100% in this respect but look at the alternatives.

Never had cause to complain so I can only gues what their customer support is like. Generally it seems to be something that we don't do very well in the UK.

You know pretty much what you are going to get with a Marshall. Everyone knows the tone so you either love it or you dont. If Marshall could improve the clean channel then this amp would be all you would need. EL34s are not known for their clean tones so I don't really know if Marshall could do much better with the traditional "brit" valve. As it is the bottom end is always a bit "woolly" on this channel and the reverb lacks depth compared to the crunch and lead channels. In fact a bit more available reverb would be a good thing anyway.

A head and 4 x 12 cab takes some shifting around but you just can't get the same tone from a combo. OK the TSL122 is close. The Boogie F50 is a great amp but neither of these amps sounds as "big" in a live situation. I'm not just talking about volume but the way the bottom E hits you in the chest, the way the tone spreads around the room, the effortless delivery. The midrange seems to blend in better. The combos that I have mentioned are not boxy sounding as such but that is the closest analogy can come up with. You dont get this with the big cab. Even the top end seems sweeter. Is this the V30s? I don't know. I rate it at an eight overall, points being knocked off for the clean channel tone and the weak clean channel reverb as well as the absence of a global master volume.

Plenty of versatilty here

Modern Marshall all the way

Foot switch cable seems to be the problem here. I have replaced the conector once and still had a problem, so I change out the connector and the 7 wire cable and WOW no more problems.If you are going to do this make sure that you use a quality cable and connector, I used a 6 wire shielded cable @ $.23 per foot and a $3.29 connector, Marshall doesn't seam to think they need to do this. I cut appart the old connector and to my supprise I found cold solder joints and bear wire on all 6 connections......BAD NEWS and the wire looked like somthing you would find in a cheep toy. Now I just cant figure it out, even if you get this amp at a deal new your still going to pay around $1,100 U.S. why can't they spend $10.00 more on materails and do away with this issue...? Hey Marshall where is your R&D department I think some firing is in order.

I didn't even bother with it so I'm not going to rate it.

This is a update on a post that I made back on 12/10/03 I think I have had this amp long enough to make a fair posting. On avarge I use this amp 6 hours a week. Over all this amp has a good fundemental tone, cuts well and has great versatilty. How ever if you had to rely on this amp to make a living I think you would go broke, or at the very least pull you hair out. I think untill Marshall makes some improvments on there design, there are better amps out there for the money.

This is an addendum to the review I submitted before. If you recall, I bought this amp brand new. It died 3 weeks later with gewd aweful sounds coming out of the thing whenever I hit a note. I returned it and bought a Mesa Dual Rectifier. At first I loved it. It was solid. It had features, so many features. I played out with it for one gig. I hated it. I guess I'm just a Marshall guy at heart. I could not get rid of the heavy bass of the Mesa. It had way too much bass and the amp didn't cut through the mix like the Marshall had. I brought it back to Guitar Center and had their guitar techs try everything they could to tone down the bass (it was on zero). We tried 3 more Mesa heads, 3 other cabinets, a different guitar, etc. I couldn't get a good "chunk" out of it when palm muting. Very muddy.

So, they brought out my VooDoo Marshall and said they couldn't get it to fail. Hmmm. I plugged it in and it started cracklin' again. Gee, that didn't take long. I plugged in, hit a chord and it went nuts again. "See!" I told the guitar tech, "I'm not crazy! Listen to that!" I stopped playing and he immediately went over and pounded his fist on the amp (not too hard). The amp went nuts. The more he pounded, the worse it sounded. He said, "It's a loose tube. Good thing we caught that before we sold it to someone else, because we couldn't get it to fail. Someone played it for 4 hours and it never failed once." So, they boxed it up and sent it right back to Marshall for repair.

I guess I just happened to buy a lemon. Must be rare because all these artists out there wouldn't be using Marshall if they all broke down like that!

So, he ordered a brand new one from Marshall and it arrived in about 8 days. I unwrapped it myself, opened the box, plugged it in and it sounds fantastic! I even pounded on the top of it, just to see what would happen. Nothing but a little reverb noise, which is expected.

So, I'm back to the Marshall and loving it.

In fairness, however, I still stick to my original review that the Boogie offers more options and more features. But in all honesty, once you select the sound you want, those features are useless. You flip one switch this way, another that way and you leave them for the lifetime of the amp. Even though the boogie has more features, I would personally not use them after the original setup.

I do wish Marshall would include a cover for the amp (like Mesa does) and a footswitch case (like Mesa does) and a more adequate manual (like Mesa does).

Because I realized I wouldn't use all the features of the Mesa, I'm bumping Marshall's score up 2 notches on this category.

It sounds like a Marshall. I still don't think the clean is as clean as it could be (breaks up when you turn up). But Marshall isn't known for clean and it is by far the cleanest I've ever heard a Marshall. If you need to be *that* loud, then mic the damn thing (which we do). I still say the built in Powerbrake (VPR) stinks. Good for bedroom levels but sucky live. The clean is a joke in that mode if you want volume.

If you like Marshall sound, then you won't be disappointed.

Considering my first one died in 3 weeks, I gave this a low score originally, on a sample of one. Now I have another one and so far it's fine. The guitar center said that they haven't had any returns (except mine). I guess mine was a fluke. At least they took care of me. Oh, and there's a 5 year manufacturer's warrantee on them now. Even if the footswitch flakes out like people have stated, it's all covered. I'm increasing the rating for this category since the new amp hasn't failed and all my past Marshalls have been solid. But, I always carry a backup amp to gigs, just in case.

Same as my last review. Customer Support was excellent.

Been playing 16 years. Overall, I'm bumping up the score again since the one that died was a fluke. I'm so much happier now with this amp than with the Mesa. It sounds great, it cuts through the mix and the band members like its sound a lot better than the Mesa.

It was made in 2004. Has all the bells and whistles... you guys know anyway...Loud loud all tube marshall power

I use a Les paul, a 7 string Ibanez with tone zone 7 and air norton 7 ( check'em out, they rule ! ), a custom warmoth and plan on getting more. It sounds great in every style I had a change to put it against...rock, blues, metal, funk, pop...you name it...I did sessions a couple of months ago with it and it really got well. I also have a flextone IIHD which is good, but it's a different animal, this one's got "THE" tone, the one everyone's looking for. Once it is correctly biased and setup of course. YOU MUST BIAS IT RIGHT !!!! I just plug a G-major in the loop and I'm all set...I used to have racks and stuff but now it's just those two and a pedal board ( GCpro voodoolabs ) and an expression pedal+ a wha ( either the good'ole Dunlop or a charlie stringer Whine- O )

I always gig with a backup ( usually a POD or a line6 amp ) but so far so good, never forget murphy's law though...

never dealt with them, probably won't. Customer service is not dependant on MarshallInc in my area

I've played for 18 years ( 10 as a pro on & off ), It's the best marshall head I've had so far and it's the 6th ! None has broken down on me ( except for tubes, to be expected IMO ), all sounded good but this one stands on its own ground. No need for a small analog comp od OD to smooth it out, just a good multi FX in the loop and off you go !

Bought it in February of 2002. The most versitile amp I'VE EVER PLAYED. Period. I play everything (classical, bluegrass, jazz, rock, blues, metal, shred, you name it) and this amp handles all the electic guitar stylings I can throw at it. 3 fully independent chennels with switching. 2 FX loops, emulated line out, deep switch, mid-shift switch, VPR ('virtually' cuts the wattage from 100 to 25 watts), the whole 9 yards here. I use all the features except for the 2nd FX loop and the reverb . . . and that lousy VPR. The VPR is good if you want to play in your bedroom by yourself. However, the VPR sucks tone like you wouldn't believe and I have no use for a device that sucks tone. Marshall can leave that at home. More on the reverb later. I only use this amp for gigging and occasionally at rehersals. More power and features (100 LOUD-AZZ watts) than anyone could possibly need. I sort of wish it had a master volume or some sort of internal attenuator (VPR is close to this, but kills tone) 'cause this beast gets really loud - but sounds best with the volume knob over 5.

LP Custom>>morley bad horsie>>boss tu-2>>ibanez turbo TS>>rocktron deep blue chorus>>boss dd-6>>jcm2000 tsl100>>4x12 w/Celestion v30s. I cannot say enough about how much I love this amp. The bands I am currently in play classic rock/hard rock/modern rock/80s-shred metal/nu-metal. OK, OK, rock and metal. This head absolutely RIPS the skin of faces (mine, the audience, the sound guy, the club owner, bouncers, bar tenders, everyone).
Lemme say this however; When I first bought this amp, I hated it. The floor model that I tried out at the shop was rippin'. I played it along with the DSL100, Mesa Double and Triple Recs. In the store, this was the best amp. Hands down. But when I took mine out of the box and fired it up, it sounded awful. Thin/buzzy/no bottom/too middy (not muddy)/and no ballz. I thought maybe because it was so new, the tubes needed to break in a little and the sound would improve. No such luck. I tried attenuators, o/d pedals, different cabs, different guitars. Nothing helped. I was about to throw in the towel. Then, after a little research, I decided to replace the stock tubes (pre and power). Took it to my tech who also replaced some transformers and caps. It's like he shoved godzilla in my amp now. This amp is the nastiest (nastiest meaning best . . . like Janet Jackson nasty) thing I've ever heard. The only noise (minimal) I get is from my signal chain. I can deal with that. I've never had a complaint from any sound guys so . . . we're cool there.
Clean channel= sounds like a heavy'd-up twin. I can dial in full/warm or bright/chimey. Just fiddle with the EQ a bit. Toss a little chorus in there and I nail that British 'stone roses' clean sound. Before my tech worked on it, the clean was weak with not much character. Now I love it. Clean stays true even at high volumes. I attribute it to the re-tubin'.
Crunch channel= sounds like a modified plexi married with a jcm800. This channel really shines. The overdrive is oh-so organic and punchy. Think early Joe Perry meets Angus Young gets mugged by Adam Jones here. By far my favorite channel and most versatile. Can go from mildly broken up plexi-type warmth to all out "cornbread-fed" marshall chaos. Throughout the entire gain spectrum on this channel, the sound is just awesome. I usually keep the gain around 4 or so to get that mid 70's/early 90's type dirt. Again, sounded like a wool blanket was over my amp before the retubings. Now, I can't get enough of this channel. Without a doubt, the most articulate amp I've heard when gained and pushed as hard as I push those el34's. The decay on it make me weak in the knees. Falls out nicely with great over/under tones. Perhaps the LP has a lot to do with that though.
Lead channel= You want to melt faces? Well, here you go. Hold on tight players! The lead channel absolutely SCREAMS. Harmonics fly out of this channel. Like a pissed off spitting cobra . . . or something. I've watched people pee themselves when they get hit with my lead channel LOL!! Seriously though, with the deep switch in you can dial in anyone's nu-metal tone (if that's what you dig). Doesn't sound like a Dual Rec (all that headroom) as the marshall is a touch more compressed (el34s here) and smooth however, the TSL has ballz to spare in this channel. I set the gain to about 6 to 7 and I've got Kerry King, meets Kurt Hammet, jams with Dave Navarro ('Nothing Shocking' days [he's kind of lame now]) on demand. The palm mutes on this channel hit you right in the focking sternum. Feels good ya know? Not to beat a dead horse, but this channel sucked until my tech got a hold of it. Dig into an open E chord and point to the sky!!

Sorry, but this thing has crapped out on me during live performances. I gigged ONCE without a backup and it fried that night. I was ready to smash it through the floor. I do not leave home without a back-up you better believe that. I've heard other owners have had reliability problems. However, I've also heard others have had no problems at all. I let it warm up and cool down properly and always handle it with care. But I've blown tubes and have fried trannys and fuses a handful of times . . . always at the worst possible moments. Maybe I don't get it rebiased as often as I should, but blowin' thangs every 6 months? C'mon! I had never run into this problem with the other amps i've owned. Also, the reverb tank stopped working after a few weeks. I didn't like the reverb anyway, so insted of getting it fixed, I just threw a EH holy grail in the FX loop. Perfect. If the amp did not sound as good as it does, I'd buy another amp. But it just sounds too good to let go. This amp gets about 10 - 15 hours a week on it. Yeah, the footswitch is as bad as everyone says. Out of the box, the fx loop button didn't not work. BUT, my tech fixed it up and said that the problem was with the cord and not the switches. The switches are actually very modern and high quality. But the cord is shite and that's where all the problems happen. Pretty soon I'll need to buy another footswitch 'cause the cord is starting to get a little short with all of the dead spots that need to be cut out of it. Again, sorry . . . but every time I turn this thing on, I'm praying it doesn't die on me. Because of the footswitch and my anxiety, reliability gets a 5. It really hurts me to say that.

I called them once about a perceived problem with my footswitch. They never called me back. I'm leaving this rating blank because I cannot go on this 1 experience alone.

I've been playing for 24 of my 33 years here. I've owned a lot of marshalls in the past (800's, 900's, reissue plexi's) but this one is by far my favorite. If it were stolen or lost, I'd either get another or look into a 3 channel Dual Rect. I love the sound because it sounds like the tones that I've heard in my head for so long. You can honestly dial in any marshall sound that you've ever heard . . . except for Eddie's brownsound . . . but hey, do you know any amp that can? I also love the features, I use about 90% of them. Only someone like Fripp or Belew could use or need ALL of the features. I love the responsiveness of the EQs and gain knob. Sit down with it and mess around with the EQs to learn it's sweet spots. Thay are in there, you've just got to cull them out. Those that say "this amp sucks", I question the amount of time they've spent with it and what they are trying to accomplish musically. I HATE the fact that I feel that this thing will blow at any minute. Perhaps I need to be better on the maintenance. So take that for what it's worth. This is a great amp for rock. This is a great amp for metal. You better be an accurate player 'cause this thing is articulate as hell. If you flub a note, your audience will hear it. If you are an accurate player, this amp will make you SHINE!
Bottom line; Best sounding amp I've ever played - after the retubings. It acutally inspires me to play and has made me a better player. I'm not kidding. Because of my opinions on it's reliability, I cannot give it a 10. So it's gets a 9. Hurts to only give it a 9. Listen, get one, swap out the stock tubes, put on your safty harness and helmet, and stand back. You will love it. If you "love it loud".

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I use a japanese ibanez with emg pickups and an LTD esp v 250 with emg hz pickups.
I think that it's very suitable for my taste....
I can play different styles without adding effects....
From jazz to rock I found it perfect...

mmmm....

I can't say.....

Reading other reviews I'm waiting something.....

I bought it in 09/2004.. I hope they fixed everything...

The warranty in Italy last 2 years.
I've never needed to call them.

Very gooooood head!!!!!

I like it very much.

I think I could buy another one if lost.

Read all the other reviews for features. I was always a Marshall guy, but after comparing this to the Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, I think Marshall is lacking...

What can I say? It has the Marshall sound, which I do love. It's not quite the same as the older Marshalls, but you can definitely tell it's a Marshall. The clean channel isn't quite so clean at volume, however. If you play live and want to match levels without mic'ing, then your clean isn't going to be very clean. Forget about the built in Power Attenuator. No way you'll ever get a good clean using that option, unless you play at very low volumes. But if you like that Marshall overdrive sound, you should be happy.

This is where it falls apart, unfortunately. After 3 weeks of using it (6 hours a week), it started to do volume swells. Then it stopped and went back to normal. Also, upon powering up in standby mode, a nasty crackling (like a dirty pot or someone plugging in their guitar while the amp is on) came out the speakers. But it was in standby! Nothing should be coming out of the speakers! Okay, so maybe it's just a design fluke. But, upon powering OFF (i.e. amp unplugged from wall) I would get the same crackling out of the speakers. Doesn't sound good. Well, I had a gig 4 weeks after buying it, so I didn't want to return it just yet. All it had to do was get me through the gig. It never got me through the next practice. That's correct. It died. It was making these god aweful sounds every time I hit a chord. I thought the speakers were gonna blow out (4 x 12 1960A cab)! I eliminated all but my guitar and a cable (no pedals, etc) and it still did it. I switched cables and it still did it. I switched guitars and it still did it. I had a gig in 2 days. :-( I returned it to guitar center and bought the Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier instead. Yes, it has a different sound, but it can come close to Marshall's sound. But the options on the thing are amazing! And, the clean is clean at volume. ;-) And it got me through the gig. I've had Marshalls my whole life, but I think I'm gonna keep this Boogie and see how it pans out. Spending $1500 on an amp that dies in 3 weeks is just ridiculous.

I called Marshall on 2 seperate occasions to inquire about the crackling noises, to inquire about the footswitch problems everyone talks about and to ask about biasing. My call was answered very quickly each time and the tech spent as much time as needed to fully answer my questions. He said if the footswitch ever fails, they will replace it no questions asked. He also told me the amp should not crackle like that and to bring it back for an exchange. All in all, I can't complain about the customer support. By the way, the Marshall I called was located in NY.

Well, I have to give this a low score. What good is an amp if it's unreliable. Perhaps I just bought a lemon. Perhaps not. All I know is that I don't trust the JCM 2000 series anymore and am not trying the Mesa Boogie to see how it delivers.

This amp has plenty of features....maybe to many at some times. but everything a normal guitarist would ever need to tackle a situation.

Ok....I've had this amp for over a year now.
I use a Gibson Les Paul Studio Plus with the stock pickups. I also use Monster rock performer cables. (they do make a huge difference)
I Morley wah and thats it. I play hard rock/ punk....like Jimmy eat world, RelientK, Finch, All american rejects, Lifehouse, and original material.
There are a few things you have to know when playing this amp.
(Mind you....i still have the stock power tubes in the amp, and these things still made a big improvement. in the preamp i have GT-12AX7-C's in the V1 and V2 positions, with the stock preamp tubes in the V3 and phase inverter.
one is...the bias can be off when you buy it brand new, cause mine was. Get a good multimeter and check the bias and set em around 80mV per side. I find anything lower than 80mV, it makes the treble response really high, and you'll find yourself turning down the treble, Unless thats what you want...thankfully your able to experament with the bias and use your ears and you'll get it where you like it. Also keep in mind when finding the right bias setting, leave all eQ knobs at 12:00, that way your getting a default signal, nothing increased or cut. This way you'll be able to tell the difference in highs and lows. The bias pot is located on the bottom of the tube bay. no risk of shock or having to go inside the amp.
Second...you HAVE to know how to EQ properly...sometimes it takes just moving knobs, but you gotta know some basics, that atleast work for me. I find that when you want to get the proper setting for the presence...you should set the treb, mid, and bass at 12:00 or 5. Then while playing some chords increase the treble from 0 on up and stop it when it sounds good. I always find that the presence should be adjusted first, then you can cut or increase the other EQ's. Presence has a strong role with this amp. too much of it will sound weird and too less makes it sound like somthings missing...you'll be able to find the middle.
This is really not an amp for the person whos buying their first tube amp...unless you know a lot of how tube amps work and you already know their soemtimes quirky actions.
Overall this amp sounds AWESOME when you bias properly and then EQ properly. Also...the stock preamp tubes SUCK atleast switch out V1 and V2...you should be able to hear a better tone...if you dont use a sovtek 12AX7WA, or GT-12AX7-R cause these are really bright and i hate them in high gain amps. Get some chinese 9th generation.
I also believe this amp needs a good guitar to go with it with good pickups.

It hasnt given me grief yet....except the stock preamp tubes went microphonic with noise and pops and crackling. The footswitch is still good, no problems there.
BTW, i bought this amp brand new, not used and I bought it Sept. 2002.

Their alright....if you get the right person. Slow response time...but they will get back to ya....sooner or later.

been playing for 3 years. great amp for rock...i cant see it being used for anything else. but for what it does, it does it best.
The only thing i dislike is maybe....how heavy it is (not heavy as in tone, but heavy as in weight.)...and maybe get rid of the mid boost, cause i find no need for it, atleast for me.
I've learned a lot about this amp...I believe every guitar and amp has a weird quirk that makes you say, "why the crap does it do that?!" You gotta get to know guitars and amps...it's like a relationship, except the amp wont kick you out of the house for any reason. yes weird theory, i know, but i've had my share of experiences...so i know what i'm talking about to some extent.
Great amp can highly reccomend it. just gotta know what your doing when it comes to tube amps.

Wow....so many features....you can read other posts.

Okay....I use a powerbrake so that I can crank this amp to at least 5 or 6 volume wise, and if you really want to hear what this amps sounds like, I would suggest you do the same. I use a lot of different top of the line guitars, from an ESP m-ii to a Wolfgang standard to a Les Paul. This amp "sings."

Okay, so after owning it for three and a half years, and gigging with it heavily, I have finally had to bring it to my tech to have the footswitch input jack tightened up. Oh well,,,not much to ask for after using this amp and moving it extensively. Otherwise, never even a remote flaw.

I have called them quite a few times,,,,, mostly to confirm that the 2000 Marshalls don't use any diode clipping in the preamp. So glad that they gave in and added the extra 12ax7. Always friendly and polite. Next on my wish list,,,,,a DSL 100 head.

Wow, what a killer amp. For the first year and a half that I owned this thing, I gigged extensively, playing 4 hour a night gigs every weekend. This amp performed flawlessly. Over the last year and a half , I have mostly used it at home,,,and finally the footswitch jack in the back began to act up....but after the numerous times that I have pulled that plug in and out over 3 years, that is to be expected. My tech is fixing it ( very minor repair) All I can say is,,,,don't judge this amp until you get the volume over 4 or 5. That's when you get to hear what the distortion really sounds like. And I'll tell you, It has massive tone. I really love the powerbrake , besides what anyone says. It brings on the tone....which this amp has in spades. It is a known fact that preamp tube distortion has a bit of fizz to it....in any modern high gain amp....so get those Marshall power valves working so that they also have a role in your distorted tone. Compared to the many 5150 amps I have played through, which were the extreme of fizzy fuzz, the Marshalls still rule. Hey, don't doubt the best company in the world,,,they do their homework, you just have to know how to use em. I also have a JCM600 combo amp which sounds absolutely amazing and I will have it forever. Like I said,,,,I just want a DSL100 to complete my collection.,

This amp has to be up there in terms of features.
3 Independant channels which are footswitchable (1st reason why I bought the amp)
XLR Speaker Emulated Out (2nd reason why I bought the amp)
VPR Power Reduction
FX Mix controls for Clean/Dirty channels
Deep Switches for Clean/Dirty channels
Reverb settings for Clean/Dirty channels
Footswitchable Reverb & FX

Guitars: 1987 Ibanez JEM with Dimarzio Norton/Tone Zone - Neck/Bridge
1997 Godin LGX Re-wired with EMG-85/81 - Neck/Bridge
Occasionally, Strat Ultra with std Fender neck PU instead of
the blue lace sensor.

I've had this amp for more than 2 years now. Biased it as it was off from the factory.

This amp basically covers it all. From the honky tele through a Fender Champ sound to nice clean lead sounds to Ozzy, Maiden, Halen and to a certain extent Metallica, but I'm not a huge fan of the Metallica scooped mids sounds. This amp does it, but probably not as well as the Mesa.

Distorted sounds: This amp has a modern feel to the sound that the DSL doesn't have. The TSL series has slightly more gain but also more "buzzyness" to its sound. The DSL line is definitely sweeter sounding and seem to have less compression and more attack. The TSL isn't as open sounding as the DSL. I have both at home and compared them extensively. I guess a good way to describe the DSL would be "Classic Rock sound" ala JCM 800 whereas the TSL is the one with a bit more attitude and aggressiveness.

Clean Sound: This amp will in no way, shape of form give you a sound even remotely close to that of a Fender. With that being said, the clean sound has its applications. I really like it for lead lines but for chordal work, it can lose a bit a definition if the gain is set too high and lose presence if the gain is too low - You'll definitely have to find the sweet spot. Has a lot of clarity to it but there's something missing in the upper midrange that I cannot quite dial in with the amp's EQ. I'm sure an external EQ could fix that but that's just another thing to lug around at gigs. The DSL's clean, in comparison, is a little more compressed, breaks up earlier but very smoothely, unlike the TSL which has more of an edge to the breakup but the TSL will stay cleaner more easily. I tend to prefer the DSL for Hendrixy chordal work. I don't think the DSL is necessarily better or vice versa... Just different applications.

Emulated XLR Out: This is my favorite feature I love this thing and use it all almost exclusively, strainght into the PA with the output mute switch in for practicing at lower volumes. Sound great!

Noise wise, it really good. Can't complain - One of the quietest amps I've owned.

Had no problems with it but I haven't plugged in/out the footswitch very much so I'm crossing my fingers.

Been playing since 1984. I've owned a 5150, Peavey Classic 50, Marshall 75w Reverb, 1964 Fender Bassman, Line 6 POD Pro. My main amp is a Marshall DSL 50w and I have played through a number of different Fender amps (twins, hot rods, princeton ...)
If it were stolen, I would seriously look at the Hughes & Kettner 3 channel amp or maybe a JCM2000DSL 100w/JCM 800 re-issue with a marshall speaker emulator for direct recording/practicing.
I wish it had better mids on the clean channel so it wouldn't sound as if a veil was in front of the speakers.
Overall, I really like the amp but I'm not in love with it or anything.

Mine's a 2001 model I bought in late 2003. Same spec's and features everyone else described.

I use Gibson guitars and a Marshall 1960A 4x12 speaker cabinet, and play styles like Metal, Hard Rock, Classic Rock, Punk, Blues, and Jazz. This has been my main gigging amp for over a year now.

CLEAN: Very nice; round, warm top end, very full sounding, with your choice of either ballsy low end or deep Fender-like punch. The Mid Boost and Deep switches are nice features. This channel can be very clean or very dirty like an old Plexi, depending on how you set it up. Has separate effects loop and Reverb/Presence controls.

CRUNCH: Has a very wide tonal range. The low end can sound very broad and full when set higher, or can tighten up when set lower. The gain control will bring you from Blues territory when set low, all the way up to Metal when maxed out. This channel's voicing sounds slightly scooped normally, but has an additional Scoop switch to notch out the Mids altogether. With the switch out and the Midrange set high, it can lend itself more toward classic Marshall tones. In my opinion this is the most complex channel of the three.

LEAD: This is where the amp kicks major ass! This channel is naturally bright and has a lot of presence to cut through live mixes. Has a more "modern" sound than the JCM800 series, although at times it can approach those tones. It's basically what you'd expect in a high-gain Marshall rhythm or lead tone. This channel also has a Mid Scoop switch for those who prefer this channel for chunky rhythms and cutting leads. A "Deep" switch is shared by the Crunch and Lead channels, and really adds a ton of low-end bottom, depth, and punch. There's more gain on tap than anyone could possibly need, so you won't be needing those pedals.

100% reliable in the past 14 months I've owned, operated, and gigged with this amp. Never a hiccup. I keep the bias set properly and check the tubes before every gig. It's a great amp!

I had 3 Mesa Rectos, the last one being the 3 channel Dual. Those are very nice amps, but the TSL really cuts through live mixes much better for me. I'd buy another one right away if anything ever happened to it. Best amp I've ever owned.

I purchased this amp in May of 2003 and submited a review that shows up here on date 7/04/2003. This is still a great sounding amp and I stand behind my review along those matters, however, serious reliability issues have surfaced since then that caused me to reconsider ever buying a Marshall again. By September of 2003, the footswitch failed completely and by October it started having sound problems in the form of volume surges. While playing the amp with the volume set on 3 it would sporadically and at random surge to a very low volume level along with changing its inherrent sound to that of a TV with a guitar pluged into it. Cycling the standby swich would rectify the problem temporarily. I took the amp to an authorized Marshall repair shop only to find out that Marshall would not replace the footswitch due to it being out of its 90 day warranty period and would not cover the repair due to a possible tube problem. (Marshall does not warranty tubes). The shop replaced the power tubes and rebiased the amp. I elected not to get a new footswitch because I have zero confidence that that it will be any better than the original or last any longer. Two weeks later the volume surge began again. So now I will have to take the amp back and start this fiasco all over. Marshall was and is no help and assumes no responsibility while hiding behind their 90 day warranty. The only glimmer of hope is that it may not be a tube problem and Marshall will have to pick up the tab. I have since purchased a Peavy 5150II which sounds better and works for more than five minutes at a time.

Lousy

1999 Model
Extreemly versatile. However it falls a bit short of the Mesa Boogie Mark IV, with respects to the 5 band EQ that the Mesa comes with. But it does have three completely seperate channels, where the Boogie's channel 1 and 2 both use the same mid and bass controls. It also has "boost buttons" for each channel, which are nice, and add a lot to the amp.
100 Watts - Plenty loud.

I play a Fender American Special Strat, with a DiMarzio DP100 in the bridge, Virtual Blues humbucking single coil in the middle, and a FRED in the neck position. I also play a standard strat with a Seymour Duncan lil '59 in the bridge and stock pickups in the middle and neck positions.
The head is over a 1960 Lead 4x12 and can get all the sounds that I need, and more. From classic Marshall, to the warmest blues sounds, to the perfect distortion.
I play old school metal to hard rock to the blues, and this amp does the job and more.
However - please read the reliability and CS sections below. It sounds awesome, in fact it sounds perfect, when it works!!!!!
So if it were not for the problems that I put down below, it would have been a 10 in the category.

I bought it 1 month ago, and I already have a tube problem. Granted its a 1999 model, but it had been at the store for that long and it was purchased new, now I have a tube issue.
It makes me nervous to gig with it without a backup, so thats a problem.
The sounds varies because of the tube problem. For a bit it sounds great then sundenly it sounds like someone put a pillow over the speakers, then it goes back and forth.

Okay, this is where I have a problem. I live in Protland, OR and there is only 1 authorized service center here. The site lists three, but after calling all three, only one actually is. The first time I called CS they said "take it to one of these three and they'll take care of you." The only one that does the work is only open when I'm at work so getting it there is difficult, not to mention the 1 week work time they require. So I have to do without it for at least a week.
So I called CS again, and again they said they had three service centers and it took some convincing to get them to realize that there is only one. And getting the amp to them is difficult with their hours of operation. Needless to say, Marshall were unwilling to do anything else.
So I tried to take the amp to them (service center) yesterday, took time off work and everything. I got there at 1:30 to find out that they close at 1:00 on Monday's. So this was getting crazy. I paid so much for the amp, have to do without it for a week, take time off work, and still cant get it fixed.
So I called CS a third time. I got all the way up to management. They will not have someone come pick it up. They will not call another local dealer and work out an exchange (I bought it in CA, live in OR). They will not do anything to help me out in this situation.
I told them to "sell me the amp then. Why should I buy one?" They said, "Marshall has been around since 1960 and is number one in quality." To which I replied, "but I have a broken one, so qualtiy is no reason to buy one." They said "Marshalls sound is second to none." "But mine is having a power tube issue, and therefore sounds terrible 1/2 the time, so sound quality is nothing to rely on" I said. "Marhsall provides outstanding customer service." Yet they will take no action to assist me in my situation.
To get my amp fixed I have to take more time off work and do without it for at least a week, or box it up myself and ship it somewhere to have it fixed, obviously doing without it for a longer period of time, taking the risk of damage due to shipping and obsorbing the cost of shipping and packaging.
CS is no help at all.

I've been playing over 15 years. I sold a Mesa Boogie Mark IV after buying this amp. Man do I regret that. If this amp were lost or stolen I would replace it with a Mark IV Long Head over a Mesa 4x12 recto cab. Plain and simple. In fact, last night I went down to a local dealer and talked about an exchange of all my marshall gear (the head, the 4x12 and an extra 1936 2x12) for the Mark IV I spoke of before. They would only give me $1000.00 for all of it, leaving another $1200.00 to come out of my pocket. Time to sell it all myself.

This review is a PSA that addresses the footswitch problems.

This review is a PSA that addresses the footswitch problems.

The 5-pin DIN jack for the footswitch on the back of the amp is soldered directly to a circuit board. There is absolutely ZERO reinforcement or strain relief on this jack. So after plugging/unplugging the footswitch a bunch of times, those solder joints crack and make intermittent or no connection. No connections means the footswitch doesn't work and intermittent connections means that the amp acts like it's possesed (changes channels for no reason). Sound familiar? I'm not an amp tech but I piddle with amps and this problem took me about 20 minutes to complete, start to finish. All I did was touch up those solder connections (which means the problem is likely to return). But many of these people replacing the footswitches are not fixing the true problem I don't think.

Also; if you need to limp through a gig or something, try draping the footswitch cable over the top of the head so that the weight of the cable is not pulling down on that jack. Then gently jiggle the connector until you get a good connection (look at the LEDs on the footswitch), then DON'T TOUCH IT! Haha.

This review is a PSA that addresses the footswitch problems.

My Amp i purchased was a 2003 model. The amp is plenty versatile for my styles having 3 footswitchable channels. I mainly play hard / rock punk so covers everything for me. FX loop which is quite quiet so thats cool. Pfffft headphone jack... LOL dont by this amp to use headphones. I wish they made a Class A version of this head but oh well cant have everything. plenty loud at 100W, you wont need more.

I play mainly humbucker guitars. LPs PRSs and Ibanez' so it covers them really well. never tried single coils with it but i am buying an American Deluxe strat in may so i will let you know. Its not really noisy and its good cuz you can get some mad controllable feedback through it.

Ive gigged with this amp and had it around a year now and never had one problem with it so im happy, though i have heard some horror reviews of marshall amps in the new ranges its perfect

Ive never dealt with them so couldnt give an opinion.

Ive been playing around 8 years now. I own/owned tons of gear, at the moment i use this with an ibanez SZ a PRS custom 22 a les paul from the late 70s and some oldschool 80s ibanez rip off that is getting ripped apart and replaced with all new shit. i compared this to a mesa dual recto and it was all over it in price value and sound for me. It wont suit everyone cuz its a rock amp but if you want versatility go buy one. best value on the market and hell yeah i would buy another one. It gets an 8 overall for me. i like Class A amps in particular and the clean isnt fantastic but its hell versatile and the distortion is high gain brit tone i was after so its pretty damned close to perfect.

I bought this amp new from a shop in London, I have it rigged through a power break into a 1960a 4x12" cabinet. It's completely valve based. Sporting three totally independent channels Clean, Crunch and Lead all with their own gain, vol, treble, middle, bass controls. It has two independent fx loops - one for the clean channel and one for the cruch/lead channels. I think the versatility of this amp is totally unmatched by any other Marshall Head, with the exception of possibly the Mode Four - but if you want true valve with this many options it's the only head for the job. I will mainly use it for touring, but also for studio work. My set-up is Gibson SG into Crybaby into TSL - pure tone heaven.

I have mainly used this amp with my Gibson SG and it kicks out. If you're using it to rehearse or at small venues you will definately need a Power Break. Without the break vol 2 is painful!!! :-) With the break on it's lowest setting (most attenuation) I can get it to around 5/6 and the power this provides to the power amp stage valves is 'that valve sound'. It's awesome. Even with the lead channel on the (Nigel Tuffnal approved) max gain setting you can clearly hear each and every note. The clean channel is clean even at massive volume and the crunch/lead channels react exactly as you'd expect a Marshall to. Goodbye 'wasp in a jam jar' tm distortion. If you just want metal get the Mode Four, but if you want a true rock sound this is the head.

Build like a brick. The head alone is heavier than most combos I have used in the past because of the solid construction. I'll have no worries about touring this one. As with all valve amps I will have it regularly serviced though.

Marshall are excellent and they're based in the UK. I will continue to use them for many years to come.

Pure Marshall Valve tone. I've dreamed about owning one of these since I was a kid playing Nirvana covers. I worked at my music and eventually got to this goal. I highly recommend this amp to anyone's whose serious about there tone but needs the versatility of channel switching. If you're not fussed about channel switching go for a vintage every time.

Marshall TSL 100 head 2003.
This amp has loads of features. It may confuse you when you first see it but in fact its very simple- you just have separate equaliser, reverb and gain settings for each channel thats why theres so many knobs. I play a lot of 80-90s rock (slash/metallica etc.) and some earlier stuff like Hendrix. The VPR (virtual power reduction feature) is superb as you can drive the valves at maximum without having to have the amp cranked to full. It emulates a 25w amp according to the manual (although its a lot louder with the VPR on than any 25-30w amp I've ever played)

I now play a Gibson Les Paul standard and find the amp well suited to this guitar. I find the amp is very well suited to the 80s and 90's stuff and not too bad for the vintage tones, I've stopped playing a lot of this though so haven't tested it fully yet, however I also have a MKII JMP 100w superlead head from the 70's which obviously sounds better for the hendrix type stuff. See my review under JMP MKII head. Also this amp isn't as loud for lower output settings as the vintage head but I haven't really cranked it yet so can't say like for like if they were both at max volumes. There's a lot less interference than other amps I've used [the hum or buzzing](and yes I still get some interference even with humbuckers). The sounds available are very versatile, the clean channel doesn't seem to break up at all even at full gain, the middle setting is slightly crunchy and more vintage, also very good for soloing and the full distortion setting has loads of gain available for metal or whatever.

I've owned this amp around a month so can't say/

No idea yet.

A very good amp, highly recommended.

two FX loops, 2 distortions, read the other posts...

ok, this thing sounds ok sometimes... keep in mind i want bass response and clarity...

this amp hums in between channels all the time... the distortion is thin, and for what i play almost usless... it does have an amazing clean channel... and if you want that Deftones Stephen Carpenter lead sound you can get it with some work....

it sounds great for green day weezer stuff... no really depth to the distortion though....

so far so good

no probs yet...

After owning a '65 Fender Blackface, an '83 Mesa Boogie MarkIIC, and other misc. amps over the past 20 years, I finally purchased a Marshall. The amp is wonderful. Just play through one.....especially the clean channel! Great overdrive tones that you would expect.

Now for the foot controller..............beware! These footswitches are defective. I have owned this amp for 30 days and I am now placing my 2nd footswitch with another "warranty" controller. The switches themselves are bad as well as the midi cord.

Will keep you posted....just remember to purchase an extra one for the soundman to bring with him to the gig!

- 3 channels
- Independent Gain, Volume and EQ for all 3 channels.
- 2 FX Loops
- Emulated Output
- Virtual Power Reduction which cuts the power to 25 watts.
- Tone Shift
- Deep Switch

Extremely powerful and versatile tube amp. A real pro piece of gear.

I play mainly shred and metal. Not detuned Nu Metal, but the 80's variety. I'm using an Ibanez 3120 with a DiMarzio Tonezone and PAF Pro. The amp suits many different styles. From jazz(I'm not kidding!) to metal. It can handle anything. It does perform better for some styles than others. It can get pretty much any classic Marshall sound you're after. It excels at blues, classic rock and 80's metal. But its certainly not limited to that. By engaging the tone shift button and raising the gain a bit, you can have some great modern metal sounds. If you play around with the EQ you can get some great chunk for palm muted riffs.

This perhaps the MOST complicated amp Marshall has ever made. That being said, its not hard to get great sounds out of it. Its just not as plug-and-play as a JCM 800, but it also has ALOT more versatility.

I initially went in and played a couple of Dual Rectifiers. They're great amps, but they were not for me. I couldn't get my sound. Every sound I got felt awkward. The feel of the Rectifiers really didn't work for me. I went over to the Marshalls, plugged into a DSL100 and within 30 seconds, I had MY tone and I was wailin'. I then decided to try the DSL100 next to the TSL100 and to me, both sounded practically identical. I went with the TSL100 simply because of all the features. Its just a more versatile amp. But if you don't need all the bells and whistles of the TSL, I would highly recommend the DSL100. The thing I really liked about these amps is that they really had a vibe and personality all their own. You can get a JCM800, JMP or SLP sound out of it, but these amps really have their own mojo.

This amp is also VERY sensitive to guitar and pickup changes. I auditioned this amp with 5 different guitars. The sound ranged from mediocre to absolutely jaw-dropping and everything in between. The best guitars out of the 5 were the Les Paul Standard with Burst Buckers and an Ibanez Jem DNA with Breeds. Both guitars sound different. Both sounded absolutely INCREDIBLE!! The cheap Ibanez with the stock pickups sounded mediocre. The Ernie Ball Petrucci guitar was a bit better. The Ernie Ball Axis sounded pretty good, but the Les Paul and the Jem were phenomenal.

I think that you see negative reviews of this amp because people don't know how to tweak. This thing has ALOT of knobs and buttons. It can seem overwhelming at first, but once you get used to the amp, its a snap. One thing I found with this amp is that the Volume and Gain control complement one another. The ratios of those 2 controls can yield a very wide palette of tones. On the lead channel for example, I turned the volume to around 4 (no VPR) and the gain around 5 and this thing had searing gain and sustain. If you go past 8 or 9 then you have too much gain. So the sweet spot is somewhere between 6-9. Each channel has its own sweet spot. I bet alot of people that gave this amp a bad review just cranked the gain, scooped the mids, engaged the deep and tone shift switches and then complained about the buzz and fuzz they heard. Thats NOT the way this amp should be tuned.

The stock preamp tubes the amp comes with are somewhat shrill sounding. I changed the tubes to Svetlana EL34's and Electro Harmonix 12AX7EH's and rebiased the amp. Rebiasing this amp is a snap. You don't have to take anything apart. All you need is a DMM and a small screwdriver. When I checked the bias before retubing, I noticed that the values have drifted considerably. Needless to say, the amp was not properly tuned. With new tubes and a proper bias, the amp came alive. It didn't sound bad at all when I first got it, but it sounds incredible now.

Haven't had any problems. It doesn't leave my house so I can't attest to its road-worthiness.

I haven't had any problems with the footswitch either. I believe Marshall replaced the footswitch buttons for more durable ones. I must have one of those, because the footswitch is built really well.

Haven't had to contact them for anything.

Overall this is a great amp. As good as anything in this price-range or higher. Its very very versatile and has a wealth of excellent Marshall tones. I've been playing the guitar for almost 20 years and this is one of the finest pieces of gear I've owned. The only amp I've ever played that I liked as much was the Bogner Ecstasy. The Marshall just works for me. It fits me like a glove.

I honestly dont understand the negative reviews for this head. This amp and its 3 channels are to me all that anyone, regardless of particular style will EVER need. Its capable of sooooo much. The only things about this amp I can even think to be critical of is the tendency I have for turning it up so loud I anger the neighbors and the noise I am experiencing throught the effects loop(i have yet to determine the cause here), which by the way is really nice, you can choose whether you want to go through just the clean or just the overdrive, or all 3. Ive used the VPR button a limited number of times and personally think It changes the sonic characterisitcs of the amp when driven hard so...I dont use it if I dont have to. All 3 channels are of course footswitch enabled.

I play primarily death metal and hard core with A 79 The Paul, a ESP LTD MV-200 and a recently acquired Les Paul Studio, all of them dropped a whole step then detuned to C. I play it through a Marshall 212 1936 for home applications and a 412 1960A for live applications. Simply put, it has yet not amaze me with the output and fullness. The clean channel can be adjested depending on the guitar for belltone clarity to dirty AC/DC style groovin, then make the walls crumble on Channels 2 and 3. If it were just a LITTLE tighter at high volumes Id give it a 10.

I have had this amp for a while now and it has yet to let me down.

Aside from my local guitar shop helping me out tremedously, ive had no need for support.

Ive been playing for about 11 years, I now own my dream set-up. After playing Mesas, Peaveys, Laney's and Crates, the Marshall has bar-none spanked them all.