lonewolfsx
Well-Known Member
Hey all,
I've been thinking of replacing my TSL and had been eyeing a 2205/2210 JCM 800 for a while but ended up with a Splawn QR. It wasn't quite the tone I wanted, so I've started looking around again and on a complete impulse, I bought a 6100LM sight unseen from guitarcenter (price was too good to pass up honestly).
Anyway, I've had it about a week now and wow.. this is a hell of an amp. I did a lot of comparisons with an ABY switcher between the 6100, TSL, Splawn, and my VHT Pittbull and this is definitely my favorite amp now for most things. Short review below:
I played the amps through two close-back 1x12's, one with a G12H30 and the other a G12M65 Creamback (mostly the creamback, great speaker).
While I do miss the glorious spring reverb of the TSL, the clean channel is excellent. I was worried I would miss the mid-boost switch, since I love that thicker jazz tone, but I was able to EQ the 6100 nicely. The bright switch is actually usable, gives a little extra sparkle in a dense mix without piercing my ears. The mid-shift is also usable and feels like it makes it sound a little nicer for strum-and-sing type songs.
The crunch channel is, as reviewed many times before, truly excellent. Mode A makes for an excellent "slightly dirty clean" channel that can get a little grittier if needed, but Mode B is my favorite. I play 70s-80s rock 99% of the time and this is great with the gain a little over halfway for me. It's extremely sensitive to attack and volume as well, so I can use it on a lot of songs. With a tubescreamer or my Joyo UD (fulltone OCD clone) can get into some of the heavier classics. I could probably push up the gain/vol on the pedals and just use this mode by itself for almost anything, but I leave them dialed back a little so I can add a little extra oomph to the lead channel without becoming a mess of feedback.
Mode C has a massive amount of gain, and sounds very similar to the lead channel. I could see situations where this would be useful, perhaps having a high gain scooped rhythm tone in Mode C then switch to lead to add some mids and volume for a solo - or vice versa. I haven't spent a lot of time on here but it feels great.
The lead channel is the biggest surprise to me. Lots of posts online highlight the crunch and clean channels, but rarely do I see someone who really likes this channel. Well, I love this channel. With the gain boost on, it has a ton of gain, so much so that I don't really need a pedal at all. I occasionally add in a tubescreamer for extremely heavy stuff or for a section in a solo. The boost also adds a little extra chunch to palm mutes, and I can really feel it in my chest on this amp... unlike the TSL. The Splawn does have the chunk, but the mids are much more congested than this amp - it's great for a very specific sound but that's all it does, even changing the EQ. The 6100 on the other hand has a LOT of variability in the tone controls - that really impressed me. I can get so many tones from this channel, and it even cleans up nicely under soft picking or volume rolling. Another surprise was the "contour" switch - I tried this both by scooping the mids with it, and even with the mids boosted it just lowers the frequency a bit, and it sounds great for that type of tone either way. I play a few modern heavier songs and I daresay I'd compare this to a 6505/5153 and could get a convincing scooped metal tone from it. With the contour out, it does a great 80s mid-heavy metal tone (my favorite). I also think with the gain rolled off a bit and contour on, it can get pretty brown VH sounding... enough to convince your average audience at least. This is in stark contrast to the mid-shift buttons on the TSL which I found to be completely worthless.
Anyway, I'm very happy with it. The TSL is on its way out now since I have too many amps, but I hope to one day compare this 6100 to a JCM 800 2205/2210 since I liked those so much (but haven't played one in a few years).
Here's a picture:
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention - this came with a quad of Groovetube 6L6's. After taking a closer look at them, they are actually USA made Philips 6L6's... I've never had US made power tubes before, pretty awesome to me. They look original to the amp, which is also in excellent condition. Production date is 1997, so this is a very late model 6100LM.
I'm also using a Boss GT3 as a midi footswitch since it didn't include the original footswitch. I was disappointed at first, but with the GT3 running me about $70, it's hard to justify $100+ for the real footswitch. Plus, now I have my beloved reverb in the fx loop, and a nice headphone practice amp if I need it.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading my small novel. TLDR: amp is great.
Edit: I'm having a slight issue with effects loop on the clean channel. Made a thread here: http://www.marshallforum.com/threads/6100lm-no-fx-loop-on-clean-channel.104165/#post-1759353
I've been thinking of replacing my TSL and had been eyeing a 2205/2210 JCM 800 for a while but ended up with a Splawn QR. It wasn't quite the tone I wanted, so I've started looking around again and on a complete impulse, I bought a 6100LM sight unseen from guitarcenter (price was too good to pass up honestly).
Anyway, I've had it about a week now and wow.. this is a hell of an amp. I did a lot of comparisons with an ABY switcher between the 6100, TSL, Splawn, and my VHT Pittbull and this is definitely my favorite amp now for most things. Short review below:
I played the amps through two close-back 1x12's, one with a G12H30 and the other a G12M65 Creamback (mostly the creamback, great speaker).
While I do miss the glorious spring reverb of the TSL, the clean channel is excellent. I was worried I would miss the mid-boost switch, since I love that thicker jazz tone, but I was able to EQ the 6100 nicely. The bright switch is actually usable, gives a little extra sparkle in a dense mix without piercing my ears. The mid-shift is also usable and feels like it makes it sound a little nicer for strum-and-sing type songs.
The crunch channel is, as reviewed many times before, truly excellent. Mode A makes for an excellent "slightly dirty clean" channel that can get a little grittier if needed, but Mode B is my favorite. I play 70s-80s rock 99% of the time and this is great with the gain a little over halfway for me. It's extremely sensitive to attack and volume as well, so I can use it on a lot of songs. With a tubescreamer or my Joyo UD (fulltone OCD clone) can get into some of the heavier classics. I could probably push up the gain/vol on the pedals and just use this mode by itself for almost anything, but I leave them dialed back a little so I can add a little extra oomph to the lead channel without becoming a mess of feedback.
Mode C has a massive amount of gain, and sounds very similar to the lead channel. I could see situations where this would be useful, perhaps having a high gain scooped rhythm tone in Mode C then switch to lead to add some mids and volume for a solo - or vice versa. I haven't spent a lot of time on here but it feels great.
The lead channel is the biggest surprise to me. Lots of posts online highlight the crunch and clean channels, but rarely do I see someone who really likes this channel. Well, I love this channel. With the gain boost on, it has a ton of gain, so much so that I don't really need a pedal at all. I occasionally add in a tubescreamer for extremely heavy stuff or for a section in a solo. The boost also adds a little extra chunch to palm mutes, and I can really feel it in my chest on this amp... unlike the TSL. The Splawn does have the chunk, but the mids are much more congested than this amp - it's great for a very specific sound but that's all it does, even changing the EQ. The 6100 on the other hand has a LOT of variability in the tone controls - that really impressed me. I can get so many tones from this channel, and it even cleans up nicely under soft picking or volume rolling. Another surprise was the "contour" switch - I tried this both by scooping the mids with it, and even with the mids boosted it just lowers the frequency a bit, and it sounds great for that type of tone either way. I play a few modern heavier songs and I daresay I'd compare this to a 6505/5153 and could get a convincing scooped metal tone from it. With the contour out, it does a great 80s mid-heavy metal tone (my favorite). I also think with the gain rolled off a bit and contour on, it can get pretty brown VH sounding... enough to convince your average audience at least. This is in stark contrast to the mid-shift buttons on the TSL which I found to be completely worthless.
Anyway, I'm very happy with it. The TSL is on its way out now since I have too many amps, but I hope to one day compare this 6100 to a JCM 800 2205/2210 since I liked those so much (but haven't played one in a few years).
Here's a picture:
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention - this came with a quad of Groovetube 6L6's. After taking a closer look at them, they are actually USA made Philips 6L6's... I've never had US made power tubes before, pretty awesome to me. They look original to the amp, which is also in excellent condition. Production date is 1997, so this is a very late model 6100LM.
I'm also using a Boss GT3 as a midi footswitch since it didn't include the original footswitch. I was disappointed at first, but with the GT3 running me about $70, it's hard to justify $100+ for the real footswitch. Plus, now I have my beloved reverb in the fx loop, and a nice headphone practice amp if I need it.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading my small novel. TLDR: amp is great.
Edit: I'm having a slight issue with effects loop on the clean channel. Made a thread here: http://www.marshallforum.com/threads/6100lm-no-fx-loop-on-clean-channel.104165/#post-1759353
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