JCM2000 TSL head - opinions

S

Superhuman

Shagaholic
So I'm thinking about trading in some gear for a Marshall JCM2000 TSL head with a 4x12 cab. Anyone here who actually likes the Marshall tone have direct experience with this head?

I'm wondering about the wattage - 50 or 100? I'm thinking 50 seeing as I can benefit from the break up at lower volumes and I just don't need 100 wwatts of tube - are there any features you lose between the 50 and the 100 head (can't seem to nail those specific details on the marshall site).

Also, it says this head has an improved emulated speaker output for DI, how good is it? I have a 100DFX and the emulated out is nothing special - good for late night scratch tracks but that's it.

I play heavy prog instrumental stuff with lots of lead so I think this head pretty much covers all of the tone bases for me - clean, crunch and lead. Is the JCM2000 TSL the way to go or are there any superior alternatives?
 
I have a TSL 601 which is the 60 watt 1x12 version. It's a great amp! I own a lot of tube amps and this is one that I find myself micing up a lot in the studio. It's very versatile. I like that high gain marshall tones.
 
I'd try the DSL..I think a 30 watter?? Played it, great amp. I certainly wouldn't go higher than 50.
 
How about the emulated speaker? Any good? I only ask becuase I end up playing a lot very late at night while the wife and kids are sleeping.
 
TelePaul said:
I'd try the DSL..I think a 30 watter?? Played it, great amp. I certainly wouldn't go higher than 50.
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I have a 100 watt soild state and it's great for jamming with a loud drummer. The tube head is a different beast though, I still need the power of 50 watts becuase the drummer I play with is like Animal from the Muppets, one of the loudest I've ever heard. I'll have a read up on the DSL, what draws me to the TSL is the three channels and the deep settings. Gotta keep things real heavy;-)
 
Superhuman said:
How about the emulated speaker? Any good? I only ask becuase I end up playing a lot very late at night while the wife and kids are sleeping.
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I think the general concensus on this is that D.I outs cant compete with a micd speaker.
 
TelePaul said:
I think the general concensus on this is that D.I outs cant compete with a micd speaker.
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Yea I know but sometimes they can add a nice quality to a track with micd parts especially if you DI off a separate track straight from the pickups then reamp it through a micd amp and track is alongside the emulated DI part.
 
Superhuman said:
How about the emulated speaker? Any good? I only ask becuase I end up playing a lot very late at night while the wife and kids are sleeping.
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Mine has the Wolverine in it. So I can't comment.
 
Micter said:
Mine has the Wolverine in it. So I can't comment.
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Just checked up your model, it has the emulated speaker too and an option to disengage the power amp for ultra quiet DI, looks pretty cool. Have you ever tried it? It's a pity the 60's series don't have the Virtual Power Soak that's in the 100's (allows you to burn the tubes at low volumes) - that's the main reason I'm looking at those over the 601 or 602.

A different question re the options... you can either get them with one or two speakers. I've never micd a two speaker amp, how is it done? One mic or two? Off axis/in the center of the grill?
 
Superhuman said:
I'm wondering about the wattage - 50 or 100? I'm thinking 50 seeing as I can benefit from the break up at lower volumes and I just don't need 100 wwatts of tube
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If you don't need 100 then you won't need 50 either. The "earlier" breakup is BS. Its still going to be every single bit as loud. Not to mention a 412 is driving a ton of air and if you don't think you need 100 watts, you really don't need 4 12" speakers.

Look for a 40 watt combo because I think I recall those having a 20 watt cut switch on the back. That will be reasonably less volume, but still loud enough to really crank it if you feel like it.
 
Superhuman said:
I have a 100 watt soild state and it's great for jamming with a loud drummer. The tube head is a different beast though, I still need the power of 50 watts becuase the drummer I play with is like Animal from the Muppets, one of the loudest I've ever heard. I'll have a read up on the DSL, what draws me to the TSL is the three channels and the deep settings. Gotta keep things real heavy;-)
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Solidstate and tube are two seperate amps. Amp wattage is rated based on the clean wattage. But as the signal compresses (distorts), the overall volume is raised. 100 watt tube amps can easily output closer to 150 or more. Think of it like home recording....you have a track you recorded but you can only raise the volume so far before it clips. Now run it through a limiter...(a tube amp is a natural compressor btw)...you can now get a much louder signal in the same space.

You can always get a 412 to plug into the combo if you really need it later.
 
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I'm in with Outlaws: Go for the lower wattage combo. I speak from experience, I own a DSL 100 watter w/ 4x12, very bleeping LOUD. Too loud in fact. Thank the dude up stairs that I also own a few low wattage amps. As to the emulated output, I have no experience with it. However, cranking up a Marshall 100 watter is a wonderful experience (just wear hearing protection). I used to have a full stack and after jamming for a while my feet would tingle like I had been driving a tractor for hours. LOL.
 
Thurgood said:
I'm in with Outlaws: Go for the lower wattage combo. I speak from experience, I own a DSL 100 watter w/ 4x12, very bleeping LOUD. Too loud in fact. Thank the dude up stairs that I also own a few low wattage amps. As to the emulated output, I have no experience with it. However, cranking up a Marshall 100 watter is a wonderful experience (just wear hearing protection). I used to have a full stack and after jamming for a while my feet would tingle like I had been driving a tractor for hours. LOL.
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I actually run my TSL through 2 15" spearkers, to keep the volume down. You can crank up the tubes then.
 
Hated IT! They suck, dsl tsl. Marshall makes crap nowadays. Get an older marshall like the 800 or 900 . Older boogies rock. Anything before the rectifiers. Any of the mark series or the dual. cal series.
 
Superhuman said:
Just checked up your model, it has the emulated speaker too and an option to disengage the power amp for ultra quiet DI, looks pretty cool. Have you ever tried it? It's a pity the 60's series don't have the Virtual Power Soak that's in the 100's (allows you to burn the tubes at low volumes) - that's the main reason I'm looking at those over the 601 or 602.

A different question re the options... you can either get them with one or two speakers. I've never micd a two speaker amp, how is it done? One mic or two? Off axis/in the center of the grill?
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Normally you work out which is the best speaker and mic that.

I've had both speakers in my combo miced on stage though and felt it gave me a tad more dynamic range.
 
Although I always liked Marshall crunch, I never wanted a Marshall before the TSL/DSL series cause they just never cleaned up enough for me. With this new series however, the clean now kicks just ass much ass as the crunch ever did. Its not sparky and twin like but more a deep, powefull, rich organic warm vibe that has made these one of my all time favorite amps for just the clean alone. Consider the TSL 2x12 combo also has two different speakers (A celection Vintage and Heratage) which further enhances its tone.

As for the direct out, I only have experience with it in sound reinforcement situations where I frequently do sound for a band that has two TSL heads and actually prefer using the direct out over micing the amps which is unusual but speaks highly of thier direct out quality. I wont say its better, just convincingly close enough to the real thing to easily get away with in that application which is exactly what one would want. YMMV recorded direct or run through headphones though.

If you like the channel versitility of the TSL, a great alternative and possibly even better amp you may want to check out is a Peavey JSX head. Three distincty different sounding channels that all sound great and seem to each have the spot on ideal taylored tone for thier individual application. You'll know exactly what I mean once you try it.
 
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