Marshall TSL60 owner's impressions

[atstrother]

Hi,

Just bought a TSL60 head and 1960A cab. The 3 channels and switchable reverb and fx are great . Clean channel sounds good. My problem is I want to play with lower gain - AC/DC , older Def Leppard etc and when I have the gain for either OD channel around 3 it sounds like I'm playing through a nasally middy wah pedal, or like I have rolled my guitar tone down. I can get decent tones with the treble & presence cranked high.
So it seems like this amp is dialed for higher gain, and does good Ratt & Crue tones with preamp gain around 4 or 5.
I guess the tone is post gain so the treble control is less effective the lower the gain is.
For those of you who have or have played this model is this what they sound like?
Also it feels like the higher gain channel has less mids and more highs so presently I use that for crunchy rhythms and use the rhythm channel for middy lead tones which sounds decent. Just put new tubes in. Improved the tone but still weird and middy at lower gain.

 

[fitz]

1960A cab

G12T-75's?

Just put new tubes in

What tubes?

 

[tallcoolone]

Hi,

Just bought a TSL60 head and 1960A cab. The 3 channels and switchable reverb and fx are great . Clean channel sounds good. My problem is I want to play with lower gain - AC/DC , older Def Leppard etc and when I have the gain for either OD channel around 3 it sounds like I'm playing through a nasally middy wah pedal, or like I have rolled my guitar tone down. I can get decent tones with the treble & presence cranked high.
So it seems like this amp is dialed for higher gain, and does good Ratt & Crue tones with preamp gain around 4 or 5.
I guess the tone is post gain so the treble control is less effective the lower the gain is.
For those of you who have or have played this model is this what they sound like?
Also it feels like the higher gain channel has less mids and more highs so presently I use that for crunchy rhythms and use the rhythm channel for middy lead tones which sounds decent. Just put new tubes in. Improved the tone but still weird and middy at lower gain.

No experience with the TSL but I know on a DSL the lower gain magic was on the green channel turned up. I agree I never liked the DSLs with the gain set low. Try the ‘clean’ channel and turn the gain and master up to 7.

 

[paul-e-mann]

Hi,

Just bought a TSL60 head and 1960A cab. The 3 channels and switchable reverb and fx are great . Clean channel sounds good. My problem is I want to play with lower gain - AC/DC , older Def Leppard etc and when I have the gain for either OD channel around 3 it sounds like I'm playing through a nasally middy wah pedal, or like I have rolled my guitar tone down. I can get decent tones with the treble & presence cranked high.
So it seems like this amp is dialed for higher gain, and does good Ratt & Crue tones with preamp gain around 4 or 5.
I guess the tone is post gain so the treble control is less effective the lower the gain is.
For those of you who have or have played this model is this what they sound like?
Also it feels like the higher gain channel has less mids and more highs so presently I use that for crunchy rhythms and use the rhythm channel for middy lead tones which sounds decent. Just put new tubes in. Improved the tone but still weird and middy at lower gain.

I only played a TSL once and put it through its paces and thought it was great! What guitar and pickups do you have, that could be a part of your problem. Also you could put an EQ pedal out front or in the loop to adjust the tone how you want.

 

[atstrother]

thanks for the replies. Yes to G12T75s. Tried it through a greenback cab also, but the relative mid scoop of the 75s seems to work a little better. I play a strat with a hot stacked single Anderson SD2+ mostly which isn't the clearest pickup but it works well with my DSL50
. Clean channel does clean better than crunch with my strat. Hoping to keep the nice clean, and get AC/DC crunch and maybe Queensryche or Def Leppard higher gain without pedals ideally. The amp can do Queensryche higher gain pretty well already as the eq gets more "normal" at higher gains. Mostly TungSol preamp tubes, and a couple of Mullards. Tried a lower gain one in a couple of positions but it didn't clear up the low gain middyness. EH EL34s. Saw a Pete Thorn shootout with EL34s and he thought these were a good choice.

 

[CK_Killinger]

Reviving an old thread (instead of starting a new one)
I bought a used TSL60 off facebook market place last year for $375. shortly after a power tube burned out, shorted, and blew the HT fuse. Took the amp to Greg Leon amp repair up by La Cresenta and he installed new tubes and biased.

This weekend I swapped various preamp tubes and found a combo I really like. (using a 1960AC green back cab)
Keep in mind I am a total rookie when it comes to tube knowledge. JJ eec83 MG in V1 and JJ eec803-S in slot V4.

Can really get a lot of different tones with this head with only slight tweeking of the volume and gain knobs - it has a master volume and master presence. crunch channel has a dedicated volume and gain. lead channel has a dedicated volume and gain. clean channel has a dedicated gain only.

definitely not a one trick pony. Best $375 I spent in a long time.
Post edit: I also replaced the spring reverb unit with a new aftermarket from antique electronic supply and it sounds amazing now.

Thanks to all the users of the forum for freely sharing all this amazing info and knowledge!

Cheers!

 

[Lukas]

Hi,

Just bought a TSL60 head and 1960A cab. The 3 channels and switchable reverb and fx are great . Clean channel sounds good. My problem is I want to play with lower gain - AC/DC , older Def Leppard etc and when I have the gain for either OD channel around 3 it sounds like I'm playing through a nasally middy wah pedal, or like I have rolled my guitar tone down. I can get decent tones with the treble & presence cranked high.
So it seems like this amp is dialed for higher gain, and does good Ratt & Crue tones with preamp gain around 4 or 5.
I guess the tone is post gain so the treble control is less effective the lower the gain is.
For those of you who have or have played this model is this what they sound like?
Also it feels like the higher gain channel has less mids and more highs so presently I use that for crunchy rhythms and use the rhythm channel for middy lead tones which sounds decent. Just put new tubes in. Improved the tone but still weird and middy at lower gain.

Put a TS9 Out front

 

[Jethro Rocker]

Reviving an old thread (instead of starting a new one)
I bought a used TSL60 off facebook market place last year for $375. shortly after a power tube burned out, shorted, and blew the HT fuse. Took the amp to Greg Leon amp repair up by La Cresenta and he installed new tubes and biased.

This weekend I swapped various preamp tubes and found a combo I really like. (using a 1960AC green back cab)
Keep in mind I am a total rookie when it comes to tube knowledge. JJ eec83 MG in V1 and JJ eec803-S in slot V4.

Can really get a lot of different tones with this head with only slight tweeking of the volume and gain knobs - it has a master volume and master presence. crunch channel has a dedicated volume and gain. lead channel has a dedicated volume and gain. clean channel has a dedicated volume.

definitely not a one trick pony. Best $375 I spent in a long time.
Post edit: I also replaced the spring reverb unit with a new aftermarket from antique electronic supply and it sounds amazing now.

Thanks to all the users of the forum for freely sharing all this amazing info and knowledge!

Cheers!

That is a good deal!! Very versatile series.

 

[Mitchell Pearrow]

Reviving an old thread (instead of starting a new one)
I bought a used TSL60 off facebook market place last year for $375. shortly after a power tube burned out, shorted, and blew the HT fuse. Took the amp to Greg Leon amp repair up by La Cresenta and he installed new tubes and biased.

This weekend I swapped various preamp tubes and found a combo I really like. (using a 1960AC green back cab)
Keep in mind I am a total rookie when it comes to tube knowledge. JJ eec83 MG in V1 and JJ eec803-S in slot V4.

Can really get a lot of different tones with this head with only slight tweeking of the volume and gain knobs - it has a master volume and master presence. crunch channel has a dedicated volume and gain. lead channel has a dedicated volume and gain. clean channel has a dedicated volume.

definitely not a one trick pony. Best $375 I spent in a long time.
Post edit: I also replaced the spring reverb unit with a new aftermarket from antique electronic supply and it sounds amazing now.

Thanks to all the users of the forum for freely sharing all this amazing info and knowledge!

Cheers!

Congratulations on getting it the way you like it
HNAD great score by the way.

Cheers
Mitch