Nu Amp - JCM2000 TSL 602

Make it loud here.
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Danley
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Nu Amp - JCM2000 TSL 602

Post by Danley » Mon Sep 23, 2019 8:22 pm

Enough of me whining about some random amp I want to bedroom Doom with, couldn't pass up the deal (including footswitch.) The amp I wanted when I was a sophomore in high school (or maybe that was a Mode Four- thank you magazines.) In the loud alleyway did what I wanted, so brought it home. Stock speakers (2x12" Wolverine,) JJ/GT re-tube just completed with paperwork from a tech. Was a block from my guitar lesson, couldn't refuse.

Initial thoughts:
  • It's pretty heavy
  • Sounds best with master dimed & gain/volume for each channel set as-appropriate. Or in other words, sounds not at all as good doing the opposite
  • When I got it home (despite its ability to sound quite loud in the alley I bought it at,) it *wasn't* quite as loud as I thought a sixty watt tube amp ought to be; on inspection, looks like the impedance was set at 8 ohm, using the two speakers in series for 16 ohm. Well, that might be it; will make another attempt at being loud when day breaks
Any other users? Haters? Sheepish to reveal this is my first real amp, I've never had a tube amp greater than five watts (though one of my other amps is a Silverface Champ) and all my other amps have tended to be pretty embarrassing (but not terrible) things like vintage analog solid state, modern modelers (ok, some of those were terrible) and most recently playing through my MacBook/PA. I know it's not the most *awesome* Marshall, but I'm liking it so far; if I get sick of it I can flip it at Guitar Center and make more than what I paid so I'm happy.

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King Buzzo: I love when people come up to me and say “Your guitar sound was better on Stoner Witch, when you used a Les Paul. “...I used a Fender Mustang reissue on that, dumbass!

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Danley
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Re: Nu Amp - JCM2000 TSL 602

Post by Danley » Tue Sep 24, 2019 6:02 am

Update - Didn't get to turn it up, but did switch the impedance (back) from 8 to 16 this AM before work. In the meantime, my google results regarding whether a mis-match could make that much volume difference were between '16 ohm speakers into an 8 ohm amp will be half power' and 'there should only be a mid-shift from a mis-match on a tube amp and no volume drop.'

Between those two statements, I could believe 'half-power' - After flipping the switch to 16 it's where I figured it should be - can't turn any channel volume beyond one for a listening-level/good neighbor sound with the master dimed. :) (On first try getting it home I was worried I'd broken something, and pretty alarmed aka scared the volume knob was tipped so high, without blowing my ears off. Made me assume I wasn't getting a full signal for the guitar, and that if something shifted and I all of a sudden got full output, I could blow up the house. Though still playing at bedroom levels for now, I didn't think the amp sounded any better at 8 ohms so leaving it at 16 .)

Reading up on the speakers (nope, no plans to replace) sounds like varied feedback depending on open/closed cab. I have Celestion Rocket 50s wired to my 100 watt Fender Libra; I may plug them in momentarily for a laugh (curious if they make me appreciate the stock speakers more, or I may actually like them knowing me.) Overall really enjoying it; I don't hate the high gain channel (much better without mid-scoop engaged,) like the clean channel (actually *do* like it with the 'deep' switch, sounds like every recorded clean guitar in 2002 ) and the crunch channel is good - but I'm actually glad to have the higher gain channel as well.
King Buzzo: I love when people come up to me and say “Your guitar sound was better on Stoner Witch, when you used a Les Paul. “...I used a Fender Mustang reissue on that, dumbass!

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Re: Nu Amp - JCM2000 TSL 602

Post by Danley » Tue Sep 24, 2019 6:03 pm

Necrobump just a day in - it is 2019 , and everyone still hates the TSL! Did more detective work, the thing still wasn't as loud in daylight as I thought it should be - swapped out pre-amp tubes till I found the offending Russian Tung Sol (the uh- left-most.) Replaced with a Russian GT, and *now* I need to roll back the Master to avoid shaking the house :D
King Buzzo: I love when people come up to me and say “Your guitar sound was better on Stoner Witch, when you used a Les Paul. “...I used a Fender Mustang reissue on that, dumbass!

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Re: Nu Amp - JCM2000 TSL 602

Post by Unicorn Warrior » Tue Sep 24, 2019 6:09 pm

Never played one but one of my favorite guitarists, Darin Malakian used these 2000s a lot. Loved that sound with his Sg

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Re: Nu Amp - JCM2000 TSL 602

Post by Danley » Tue Sep 24, 2019 6:26 pm

Unicorn Warrior wrote:
Tue Sep 24, 2019 6:09 pm
Never played one but one of my favorite guitarists, Darin Malakian used these 2000s a lot. Loved that sound with his Sg
I mentioned above the Mode 4 - always wanted to try one of these ludicrous things:

Image
King Buzzo: I love when people come up to me and say “Your guitar sound was better on Stoner Witch, when you used a Les Paul. “...I used a Fender Mustang reissue on that, dumbass!

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Re: Nu Amp - JCM2000 TSL 602

Post by Unicorn Warrior » Tue Sep 24, 2019 7:30 pm

Danley wrote:
Tue Sep 24, 2019 6:26 pm
Unicorn Warrior wrote:
Tue Sep 24, 2019 6:09 pm
Never played one but one of my favorite guitarists, Darin Malakian used these 2000s a lot. Loved that sound with his Sg
I mentioned above the Mode 4 - always wanted to try one of these ludicrous things:

Image
He did use those but I don’t think very much. I think he used a 2000 for a lot of his stuff. Those mode 4s are solid state I think. I’ve seen them for sale but never what I would think would be a good deal on one.

EDIT: I can’t find a ton of support where he used the 2000 on the net. So maybe my 16 year old self and limited internet exposure of the time has served me wrong this entire time. He did use Marshall’s a lot though.

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Re: Nu Amp - JCM2000 TSL 602

Post by SAVEStheDAY » Tue Sep 24, 2019 8:14 pm

The other guitarist in my old band had a Mode Four for a while. It was ok for a solid state amp. He was happy with it, but it's not an amp I would have bought. They sold two cabs with that head. You could get V30's or GK100's. If you can find the 4x12 with the GK100's it's probably a steal. Great cab, but people don't know because the MF line didn't do well. Kind of a sleeper.

As for the TSL, I'm not a fan myself, but you're the one playing it. Enjoy!

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Re: Nu Amp - JCM2000 TSL 602

Post by Steadyriot. » Wed Sep 25, 2019 3:07 am

I have a JCM2000 DSL head that I bought as a fixer-upper. These amps tend to get squirrely after a while; on this one the output jack died in a fiery flame. After fixing the pcb and throwing in a new jack chassis the thing roared to life again and was my main amp for a while.

I don't care what people on the internet say, these amps sound great, sound like a Marshall. They won't do plexi, but who wants plexi outside of TGP and blues music?!

I'd buy one of these again in a heartbeat.
"If someone duetted with a Bald Eagle, they could rule the Country charts from here to eternity." ~shadowplay

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Re: Nu Amp - JCM2000 TSL 602

Post by somanytoys » Sun Sep 29, 2019 2:30 pm

Haven’t ever tried or seen one, but it seems like it would be a great amp. It’s a tube Marshall, Super Lead, and you should get all the sounds you want instantly with 3 channels.

Funny, the gain totally up & setting the volume to taste is how Billy Corgan used his op-amp muff on Pumpkins songs. May be a little rough on your power amp tubes (?).

Weird that it isn’t that loud, no matter the ohms - 60 watts of tube goodness should knock your socks off.

I have a couple of 30 watt tube amps where one of the preamps is a Plexi (other side is a Deluxe) and they’re pretty damn loud. In the 2nd amp, a knob pulls and changes the Plexi preamp to a JCM800. Huge difference in sound and volume. I typically use the Deluxe side, it sounds better with the AC15.

I have an attenuator in it and keep it at 1/2 wattage, so my neighbors don’t come after me with a pitchfork. That also makes it right in line to work out perfectly with my AC15, volume-wise.

Yours should be about like a 100 watt on between about 5 or 6, it seems like. A 4x10 cab will make a difference, but the wattage is there.

Anyway, nice amp - enjoy it! You may want something else Lateran, but that seems like a very cool amp.
-David

It's a boost booster, to boost your boost - it makes your tone much muchier.

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Re: Nu Amp - JCM2000 TSL 602

Post by Danley » Wed Oct 09, 2019 7:05 am

I ultimately identified a bad preamp tube that caused the lack lack of volume (and another one that was causing some excess clean channel noise - both Tung Sol. Both replaced and V1 is now an RFT, all is good :D )

I feel qualified to say a bit more about the amp: Considering how many people on the internet complain about fizzy top end, the treble registers on any channel are rock solid on mine. Very smooth, rounded distortion with no fizz, at least where I keep the treble/presence and gain.

That said- As far as my experiments have gone, using the ‘mid-scoop’ switch immediately brings out all the bad things people say about the JCM2000 in general. Only use if you want to make your amp sound like hissy trash or if you’re still wearing baggy jeans. This amp also needs the MV as high as possible, sounds bad if you crank the gain/master low.

It’s pretty much do-it-all, but for say thrash metal the bass is a bit too big to be tight; not *boomy* bass but broad/harmonic if that makes sense, but adding an overdrive in either drive channel adds significant tightness to chug. I’m still on the fence about using the ‘deep’ switch, sometimes it sounds great. On the natural, the darker tonality of the amp is part of what appealed to me anyway.
King Buzzo: I love when people come up to me and say “Your guitar sound was better on Stoner Witch, when you used a Les Paul. “...I used a Fender Mustang reissue on that, dumbass!

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Re: Nu Amp - JCM2000 TSL 602

Post by JSutter » Fri Oct 11, 2019 6:05 pm

I had a DSL100 then a bit later a TSL60. I much prefer the tone of a DSL. The green channel on the DSL is more classic rock. The TSL is just clean. The loop on the DSL is serial and I never had a problem with it. The TSL had phase issues, it would not go 100% wet. The TSL footswitch is fragile.

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Re: Nu Amp - JCM2000 TSL 602

Post by Danley » Fri Oct 11, 2019 6:44 pm

I'm caring for the footswitch; it does seem like having the DSL's slightly gainer crunch setting would be advantageous, I have the yellow TSL channel gained pretty high and the red down pretty low. I'm about to start experimenting with the unusual loop, but I've never had an amp with a loop anyway.
King Buzzo: I love when people come up to me and say “Your guitar sound was better on Stoner Witch, when you used a Les Paul. “...I used a Fender Mustang reissue on that, dumbass!

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