"If you are serious about your sound, like classic rock or the blues -don't look any further the TSL602 will do it for you." submitted January 20, 2005
By a customer from hotmail.com
Overall
Sound
Features
Quality
Value
Manufacturer Support
The Wow Factor
Musical Background: Active Musician - 35 years experience
Sound:
The clean channel isn't as sparkling as a Fender tube amp. It has more of a creamy clean sound, very nice, very enjoyable sound. And if you push it a little it has an excellent blues sound. The crunch channel is very usable, you can adjust the level of distortion you want. I adjust the gain level to 4-5 and have a nice classic rock sound. The lead channel is very finicky about letting me get a sound I am happy with. I mainly use the clean channel and the crunch channel. I have two guitars that I bring to the job with me. A 2001 Fender American Deluxe with the noisless vintage pickups and a 1988 Les Paul Cusom Lite with EMG's. Either guitar sounds very nice through the TSL602. I am almost certain I will replace the stock Wolverine speakers with the Celestion Vintage 30 Speakers. This should tighen up the bottom and give the mids a little more sparkle. There is some white noise (which is to be expected from a good tube amp - when it's pushed a little) The white noise isn't excessive and the only time I really notice it - is when we put a microphone in front of it for our large venues.
Feature:
The channel switching buttons seem cheap and weak but so far haven't given me any problems. I leave them alone and use the foot pedal anyway. It is a very very heavy amp. The only item I wish it had was tremelo........that's it just tremelo. I got a SKB case with big wheels to move it around, it's just too heavy to carry any distance.
Quality:
So far, knock on wood, the amp has not failed me. Like I mentioned earlier the channel switching buttons seem weak, but haven't malfunctioned at this point. The amp seems to be road worthy and the fit and finish is exceptional, very nice looking amp.
Value:
You know the saying: You get what you pay for. The higher end Fender Amps are over a $1,000, the higher end Marshall Amps are over $1,000, the Mesa Boogies are even higher. To me it is worth every penny I paid for it.
Manufacturer Support:
I picked 5 for this area only because I haven't had to deal with them. I figure if the product is built right the first time I won't need their support, but not having had any dealings with them I gave them a middle of the road rating.
The Wow Factor:
When I first played through it I knew I was going to buy it. The only thing left to do was haggle over the price.
Overall:
If someone stole this amp I would replace it with the same model. If Marshall came out with a new amp that replaces this model I would definitely look at that, otherwise I would look for a used TSL602. Other amps I considered was the Fender Twin. Around the same price, but I liked that creamy clean sound that this Marshall gives me. It is a more rounded, full sound. Fender Twin was definitely much brighter and cleaner (country twang sound was their specialty), but when you want a classic rock sound (with sustain that lasts forever) the marshall outperformed the Twin).
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Sound:
Tried all Marshalls -- this is by far my favorite for tone. JCM800 on steriods and that clean with a Les Paul, holy cow can you play the blues! I play metal and it just slays...
Feature:
Needs side handles, very heavy..
Quality:
? Marshall's have always been berry, berry good to me -- why would I think this would not be..
Value:
Yeah, you can get cheaper tube combos, but the tone is what this is all about. This is one of those amps that I think they will be raving about in 20 years and will be a classic. This is something you can hand down to your kids (mine would have to pry out of my dead hands).
The Wow Factor:
Played it many times and hope to pick one up this weekend....
Overall:
Best sounding Marshall on the market today. Head with a cab or combo -- I prefer the 2x12 set for practice situations and then plug it into my favorite Marshal 4x12 for live situations... Know your ohms boys and girls before doing that though...
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