Anybody own a Marshall TSL601?

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Whoopysnorp

Whoopysnorp

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I currently have a Marshall AVT150 head, and I'm thinking about changing my setup to an all-tube combo with an extension cab for playing gigs. I read a lot of Harmony Central reviews, and the Marshall TSL601 sounds like it has the sound I'm after and is reliable. Does anybody here own one? If so, could you give your overall impression of it, and if possible, record a few samples of the basic tones it does (a clean, a dirty, you know)?
 
kind of..........

I own a marshall DSL401 combo. I really love the versatility of my amp. I just got an Avatar custom 2x12 extension cab and now it sounds super nice. I'll work on posting some sounds for ya - if you think hearing some sounds from the DSL series will help. My amps uses the EL84 power tubes rather han the EL34 so the sound will be a little different.

I have heard many howerver who prefer the tone of the DSL series of amps - especially the DSL50 and DSL100 heads. They find them to be more "toneful" than thier TSL big brothers. I've messed around with one a bit at guitar center and really had a hard time dialing in the tone that I was looking for. Check out the DSL series if you don't mind owning a head instead of a combo. THe DSL combos need to so work so I can't really reccomend them unless you willing to put up some $$ for an onboard fan install, some new tubes and a decent speaker- or extesion cab. I'm not sure if the TSL combos have the same problems, but the TSL601 include a "custom voiced speaker" which is probally short for CRAP - like the one in my DSL (which does give a sweet "thinnish" clean tone, by the way)

and seiously check out www.avatarspeakers.com for your extension cab - they have custom built cabs with the same speakers as the high end marshall cabs for literally hundreds of dollars less. Nobody can beat them!! but if anybody can somebody let me know - okay.

Also if your making the move to an all-tube amp be sure you learn how to run your amp so you are utilizing your poweramp tubes for you sound - it will be so lucious compared to your AVT amp that is only capable of Preamp tube distrotion. (The Amp's user manual ought to cover this pretty well....)

Good luck and let me knwo if you'd like to her some tones from my amp.....
 
Yes, I would indeed like to hear some tones from your DSL401. I was looking at that amp too, and I saw a lot of Harmony Central reviews that said the amp was problematic and had a tendency to break. It sounds like the excessive heat is a big part of this. I assume you made the modification to put the fan in. Did this make a big difference?
 
I have a TSL100. It is by far my favorite amp. That's up against a Mesa Trip/Rect and a Fender blues deville. Overall, my Marshall gets about 80% of my playing time (I just like options). It seems more versitle and easier to get the sound I want out of it. The 601 is basically the same thing in a 60W combo.

But go play one. It's the only way to tell!!!
 
my friend recently got one. it sounds good. i dont like the footswitch though. i think it could possibly be the length of the cable on the footswitch, but there's a delay from the time you click the distortion on and when the distortion actually turns on.

he got his used and we thought maybe there was something wrong with it, but we compared it to another tsl60 and it also did it. another friend of mine said that his dads dsl401 (i beleive thats the model number) also did it. he works at a music store and is supposed to be asking the marshall rep about whether or not shortening the cable would solve the problem. i'll try to remember to let you know what i find out.
 
I just checked out that Avatar Speakers website, and damn! Those are some attractive prices. If those are good cabinets, I may not only have to get a 2x12 for my guitar amp but also replace my heavy as hell Peavey 4x10 that I don't think is letting my Ampeg SVT-II live up to its standard.
 
a few comments

The "delay" that you hear when switching from channels is due to the use of a relay (electrically activated mechanical switch) Cable length has nothing to do with it. If you turn the master volume down, unplug your footswitch, and switch the channel on the amp with the pushbuttons on the front panel you can actually hear the switch moving - usually just from clean to dist. Yeah, its a little annoying, but if you're recording you're probally not going to be doing much channel switching, anyway. I've used the DSL401 live and you can get used to compensating for the delay.

As for the fan Mod - I got my amp used so the guy before me had the fan put in - it was done very professionally. I like having it as a safety but it does add fan noise to the amp which can be kind of annoying. I'll work on getting some samples up within the next few days hopefully - I just changed my recording setup and have to re-learn everything!!

I think that comparing the TSL601 and DSL401 - by the time you do all the "upgrades" to get the DSL401 up to par - you'll probally be close to the price of the TSL601. Just play them both if you can and let your ears decide. Be sure you play them through some extension cabs, too. Thats where these amps really shine. THe biggest difference is the power tubes used in the amps, so give them a good listen!!

Heres how to play with Power Amp and Preamp Distortion with the JCM2000 series

Power Amp: Turn down the control knob (volume for distortion, gain for clean) on the channel of your choice- then CRANK the master volume ALL the way. Now raise the volume/gain on the channel until you get the level you want to play at. This runs you preamps tubes wiht very low distortion and cranks you pwer tubes causing them to distort and provide most of the distortion.

Preamp: Turn the Master Volume down low and Krank the volume/gain knob all the way. Raise the master volume until you get the level you want to play at. This will rely mostly on your pre-amp tubes for distortion.

THis will give you the two extremes between preamp/poweramp distorion. You should notice a HUGE difference in tone. Power amp distortion is thick and chunky whereas preamp distortion is more thin and fuzzy. Two different sounds for two different purposes - not to mention all the sounds in beween these two extremes.
 
Thanks for the tips Gus. As I'm unable to try either the DSL or the TSL around here, I just ordered a scratch and dent TSL601 from Music123 last night (a cool $200 off the normal price). It's returnable within 45 days so if I hate it I won't be screwed. I can't wait to try it.
 
gusfinley said:
The "delay" that you hear when switching from channels is due to the use of a relay (electrically activated mechanical switch) Cable length has nothing to do with it. If you turn the master volume down, unplug your footswitch, and switch the channel on the amp with the pushbuttons on the front panel you can actually hear the switch moving - usually just from clean to dist. Yeah, its a little annoying, but if you're recording you're probally not going to be doing much channel switching, anyway. I've used the DSL401 live and you can get used to compensating for the delay.
Click to expand...

well that sucks. we had just hoped that cable length was all it was. in our band we change from distortion to clean a LOT so recording is a pain in the ass. we've just been punching in the clean parts. i dunno why i didn't think of this until now....we could have just done the clean parts and distorted parts on seperate tracks..

he's learning to compensate for the delay.......i guess it's not really a delay....i think the entire signal gets cut for a short time.........but he shouldn't have to compensate for it. it shouldn't do it. my rivera doesn't.

do you know why marshall(or anyone else) uses that kind of switch?

do you think it would be easy to change to a different switch that didn't cause the delay or do you think that's something that if we decide to chang, we should leave to a professional?

i'm glad my rivera is as badass as it is. i love it tone wise and it doesn't do any weird things.
 
yeah, sort of........

I'm not exactly sure why Marshall uses relays. One reason perhaps is that it makes the True Bypass. You guitar signal actually switches between the channels, so you get no leakage of signal into the wrong circuit..

Many moderne effects use transistor swtiches that work like relays, but many tend to believe that this adds a coloration to the tone. You could probally have your amp setup for transistor switching rather easily.


One thing I have tried is turning my amp all the way up and using the distortion channel only. Then I use the volume control on the guitar pickup to designate how much distortion you want. You can set one pickup for clean and one for distrotion quite easily (This is the way Weezer did it in the old days.)

SO there are two options or you could just switch channels the instant befroe you need the next channel and make up for the "cut" in sound you hear while the relay is swtiching
 
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