savant421
Well-known member
I've always been the guy reading reviews and making decisions based on said reviews always promising myself that I'd start writing my own reviews to share/help the rest of the community. I have these four beautiful heads in my possession and decided to stack them up next to each other to see which is "best" (very subjective term). Same guitar & cab used for all four (ESP LTD MH250NT w/Duncan Blackouts thru a Marshall BV412). No stomp boxes. I'm partial to metal tones.
Voodoo modified TSL 100 - Got this on a trade and didn't expect much. Boy was I surprised. Very smooth high gain sound without sounding buzzy. Very throaty. Bass seemed a little heavy at times. Definitely not the highest gain of the four but a solid contender. Mod was a the Deluxe mod. Great clean channel! Wasn't that impressed with the crunch channel. Lead channel is awesome! VBR channel made the volume alot more manageable but doesnt sound as big.
JVM210H - Gain machine! By far the highest gain of the bunch. Very easy to control and all the functions made it very versitile. Yellow overdrive and green clean are the money channels for me at least. Best clean tone out of a Marshall i've ever heard. Biggest complaint is all the others had a very "organic" sound to them and this one slightly missed that sound. The JVM sounded slighty processed at times, compressed maybe. By far the most advanced and versitle of the bunch.
Ceriatone Chupacabra 50w - I remember loving this thing when I first got it. Its still awesome but it definitely sounds like it's trying to be a Marshall while the others are the real deal. The Jose and Plexi eras make it worth buying it alone if you can find it used. Seemed a little boomy at times with not enough mid cut and the highs seemed restrained. Volume deficiency on the Jose channel is a bummer. Plexi channel is just godlike. Wide open sound with not too much gain.
2205 - The only one of the four that I don't own and I must say it's a shame. Had the best depth of the bunch. Bass seemed very smooth and full. Highs were very pleasing and not harsh. Not nearly as much gain as the others but clearer gain if that makes sense. The words that came to mind was "original". Played this one the longest cuz it just sounded so freakin' good. Seemed to have to strike the guitar harder to get the sustain I like.
2205 + Soldano HotMod - For those of you who don't know, the Soldano HotMod is a plug in mod developed by Soldano which plugs into v2 preamp slot (in most Marshalls) to add an extra gain stage. Definitely made the 2205 more aggressive and more modern sounding without sounding like a buzzsaw. Also added a high pitch whine that was extremely annoying. Only noticable when I quit playing. Wonder if this would cripple the amp for recording.
One thing I will say about all these beautiful beasts is they really start to sound amazing at louder volumes (at least above 9 o'clock on the volume) which made all four sound godlike but even with the 50 watters this can be an uncomfortable experience, which was confirmed by my sleeping weiner dog
Tube amps sound better when turned up loud, big shocker I know. 
I've always viewed Marshalls as "blatty" or "not enough gain" but I've started to realize that Marshalls are not bedroom amps. They are made to be played live and loud. When they get the room to open up, they are hard to beat.
Also in closing I will say the negatives I pointed out with each of these amps are very minor. They are all amazing pieces of gear that are very very close to each other that 99% of your audience won't be able to tell the diff or care for that matter.
Biggest thing I've learned is you're playing will sound the best when you personally like the amp. Sounds dumb but....
If you think the TSL slams the other three, you're right! And you're playing will benefit from it.
If you think the JVM slams the other three, you're right! And you're playing will benefit from it.
and so on and so on
I own several boutique amps and some amps that "amp snobs" would laugh at but I don't care cuz I think they sound good. Who's to tell someone else what sounds good? It's all marketing smoke and mirrors people.
Just play baby!
- The Weav
Voodoo modified TSL 100 - Got this on a trade and didn't expect much. Boy was I surprised. Very smooth high gain sound without sounding buzzy. Very throaty. Bass seemed a little heavy at times. Definitely not the highest gain of the four but a solid contender. Mod was a the Deluxe mod. Great clean channel! Wasn't that impressed with the crunch channel. Lead channel is awesome! VBR channel made the volume alot more manageable but doesnt sound as big.
JVM210H - Gain machine! By far the highest gain of the bunch. Very easy to control and all the functions made it very versitile. Yellow overdrive and green clean are the money channels for me at least. Best clean tone out of a Marshall i've ever heard. Biggest complaint is all the others had a very "organic" sound to them and this one slightly missed that sound. The JVM sounded slighty processed at times, compressed maybe. By far the most advanced and versitle of the bunch.
Ceriatone Chupacabra 50w - I remember loving this thing when I first got it. Its still awesome but it definitely sounds like it's trying to be a Marshall while the others are the real deal. The Jose and Plexi eras make it worth buying it alone if you can find it used. Seemed a little boomy at times with not enough mid cut and the highs seemed restrained. Volume deficiency on the Jose channel is a bummer. Plexi channel is just godlike. Wide open sound with not too much gain.
2205 - The only one of the four that I don't own and I must say it's a shame. Had the best depth of the bunch. Bass seemed very smooth and full. Highs were very pleasing and not harsh. Not nearly as much gain as the others but clearer gain if that makes sense. The words that came to mind was "original". Played this one the longest cuz it just sounded so freakin' good. Seemed to have to strike the guitar harder to get the sustain I like.
2205 + Soldano HotMod - For those of you who don't know, the Soldano HotMod is a plug in mod developed by Soldano which plugs into v2 preamp slot (in most Marshalls) to add an extra gain stage. Definitely made the 2205 more aggressive and more modern sounding without sounding like a buzzsaw. Also added a high pitch whine that was extremely annoying. Only noticable when I quit playing. Wonder if this would cripple the amp for recording.
One thing I will say about all these beautiful beasts is they really start to sound amazing at louder volumes (at least above 9 o'clock on the volume) which made all four sound godlike but even with the 50 watters this can be an uncomfortable experience, which was confirmed by my sleeping weiner dog
Tube amps sound better when turned up loud, big shocker I know. I've always viewed Marshalls as "blatty" or "not enough gain" but I've started to realize that Marshalls are not bedroom amps. They are made to be played live and loud. When they get the room to open up, they are hard to beat.
Also in closing I will say the negatives I pointed out with each of these amps are very minor. They are all amazing pieces of gear that are very very close to each other that 99% of your audience won't be able to tell the diff or care for that matter.
Biggest thing I've learned is you're playing will sound the best when you personally like the amp. Sounds dumb but....
If you think the TSL slams the other three, you're right! And you're playing will benefit from it.
If you think the JVM slams the other three, you're right! And you're playing will benefit from it.
and so on and so on
I own several boutique amps and some amps that "amp snobs" would laugh at but I don't care cuz I think they sound good. Who's to tell someone else what sounds good? It's all marketing smoke and mirrors people.
Just play baby!
- The Weav
