Probably going to pick up a TSL100 this weekend - any insight?

[zeegler]

There's a good deal on a head and cab locally. I haven't heard much talk about TSLs for a long time. What can I expect? I can't find a decent demo on Youboob.

[Ward]

They seem to get a lot of crap, but I love mine. I've had it about 10 years. No technical issues other than an fx loop wire that needed to be re-soldered.

Very versatile amp. The clean is very nice, the crunch is great for classic rock, and the lead channel can get you nicer more distorted metal tones. Each channel has a deep switch, mid shaping, and the usual bass, mid & hi eq knobs, presence, gain. There is a lot of versatility to be had in those knobs, but it isn't tough to find a good sound. I have been told that they do very well with a boost pedal, but I don't use one.

One nice feature is separate fx loops for clean & dirty channels. Not sure how common this is, but it is nice having different fx set up for your clean & dirty sounds and only have to hit one footswitch to kill distortion and change fx. The loops can be used parallel or series, with a control for fx mix. Separate reverb for clean and dirty channels too.

I can't compare to other amps, because it's the only one I've had for over a decade. The other guitarist in my band is an admitted Marshall hater, but he says he loves the sound I get out of mine.

If you do get one, always turn it on, then before you turn the standby on stomp on the footswitches to change channels a couple times. If you turn standby on then switch channels for the first time with the amp on, you will get a loud pop.

Let me know if there is anything specific you want to know.

[zeegler]

Well, I'm wondering if they have a decent amount of bottom end for a start. Any particular bands or recording that use them that I can listen to?

[jgcable]

They are great. I owned a few of them.

[Ward]

I don't know any bands that record with them.

Depressing the deep switch adds quite a bit of low end, and I also use an eq in the fx loop on the dirty channels to boost the low end some. The other guitarist in my band says that his main problem with Marshalls is the lack of low end, and he was surprised how much thump mine produces.

Again, keep in mind that I don't have experience with other amps, so I can't really compare. He is using a Peavey XXX, and we both agree that I'm getting more low end, if that helps.

[Ward]

Not sure if you play out or at bedroom levels, but another nice feature the TSL has is a VPR (virtual power reduction I think) switch. This cuts the power to about 25W so you can drive the amp harder at low volumes.

If you do any recording, it also has a mute switch so you can cut the speakers and drive the tubes at the level you want for recording without waking the neighbors.

[rattlehead74]

Mine has a good amount of low end but it doesnt seem very tight without running a eq. Great amp for thrash metal with a tube screamer. Not so much for modern metal. Excellent for classic rock though. Just my opinion though. Need to at least give it a try, you may like it. Youtube vids on TSL suck.

[jgcable]

I agree. Its a little loose in the bottom end and doesn't have a ton of bottom. For some reason, the DSL100 seems to have more bottom end than the TSL. Still, excellent amp.

[Rupe]

I was a Marshall dealer when these came out and I thought they sounded awful. The DSL was decent but the TSL was just bad sounding...lacked bottom and had a fizzy, buzzy high end on the dirty tones that couldn't be dialed out. I had 3 of them and they were all similar. I'm not sure if a tube change or other tweaks could have made a difference but they sucked hard right out of the box.

[Ward]

If you get it, I highly recommend trying an eq in the fx loop to boost the low end.