Marshall tsl crapped out

-=al=-

happened yesterday, its been making funny nosies for some time!


I think it needs a service and new tubes, where do i go to do this? i know martin nolan but thats about it, ive never got new tubes in it before and no idea what ones to get and all that re-biasing melarky,

its a tsl100, and usually on the vpr, giged a few times about 3-4 years old, when the amp is muted u can very slightly still hear the gutiar, when its played i dontk now what thats about,

anyone know what the deal is with it?

Voodu Child

I'd just replace the valves yourself , don't even bias it just yet.

Then, if everything is aok, just take it to someone to check and fine-tune the bias. There's lots of guys who can do this.

I wouldnt start worrying about it being broken or needing a service until you've replaced the valves first, 90% of problems are related to bad valves.

-=al=-

its been a litle ****ed for a few months, but now its just lower volume and a lot mroe harsh sounding, and the output mute isnt muting the sound fully

i had it on 100watts on witht he volume on 10, and it sounded like a 10 watt solid state amp full

its mad

but it was cool looking at the tubes go all bluey

but i dont know how to do any of the retubing or anything! i dont wana go electricuiting myself here, i had to jam today with a pod pluged into a jcm800, it was a disaster had to cut it short, i need it fixed asap, jamin 3 days next week with diff bands

NeMiSiS

Pull the tubes out and reseat them first, maybe it got a bang and they are loose.
Biasing a TSL is very easy all you need is a multimetre and a small screw driver and you are set. There's video guides on the net about how to do it. I've biased mine.. no problems yet anyway.. and I have been gigging the **** out of it.. getting a custom made flight case too.. which will be nice..

TK

Karl Hungus

-=al=- wrote: »

but i dont know how to do any of the retubing or anything! i dont wana go electricuiting myself here

Absolutely simple as hell. You won't go electrucuting yourself either.

Basically just pull out old tubes, put new tubes in. The only thing is, use a cloth when handling the tubes, don't handle them with your bare hands, and that's all there is to it.

-=al=-

yeah ive heard that cloth thing, that any substance gets on em is bad for em,

i was goin to use rubber gloves jus in case!


Ok so i just gota pull out the tubes no twisting or anything involved? jus pull the 4 tubes out and shove new ones in?


now for another question... what tubes to get!? and where to get the best ones, i hope this is a simple prob related to the tubes, save a lota hassle, im off colelge for a week, so i can sort it out quick and handy enough

Fingers Mcginty

try this dude ....you might be caught for time though....

https://ssl.eurotubes.com/cart/index.php?page=view_products&category_id=9&sub_category_id=47

-=al=-

is it just 4 tubes ive to replace? or is it 4 of those other things in the amp too?

Description: A full retube with a matched quad of the JJ E34L's for an aggressive and punchy, but smooth sound along with four ECC83S's with one balanced for the phase inverter in V4.

all i recognise there is E34l's


is there much difference in the tubes? id like to get a smoother warm sound

Fingers Mcginty

dunno in your case. When i was retubing my hot rod deluxe i just changed everythin...ie preamp valves and power valves and the inverter...much nicer sound for about 50 Euro. I was only referring you to where you could buy decent tubes should you need them ....not diagnose your problems:)

Voodu Child

-=al=- wrote: »

is it just 4 tubes ive to replace? or is it 4 of those other things in the amp too?

Replace them all Al, whether you need them or not.

If you're a gigging musician with a valve amp, you NEED to have a full set of spare valves at hand. And plenty of fuses. Absolutely 100% essential. So just go and buy full set, i'd advise that even if there WASNT a problem with the amp.

The first port of call for you right now is to check the preamp valves. Alls you need is take a single spare one, swap it in each position one by one, turn the amp on, check it, turn it off.

Next thing to do is swap the four power valves. A straight swap, old for new. If it fixes the problem, great, all you have to do is get it biased, and you should have no trouble playing a few gigs with a mis-biased amp.

If it doesnt fix the problem, then youre SOL, but at least you tried. Take it to an amp tech. Like i said before, 90% of the time you dont get that far, it turns out to be a simple dud valve.

-=al=-

i dont have any spare ones! i never done this before so this is all new to me, the preamps are the one on the left right?




theres a very slight little burned type mark on one of the tubes, the 4 on the left look ok, i thought it was just the 4 ones on the right you replace, i didnt know about fuses or anythin, where do u replace them?


http://www.marshallamps.com/resources/secret_life_of_valves/valve_life_replacement.asp thres a link explaining a little bit

http://www.marshallamps.com/resources/secret_life_of_valves/top_tips.asp

Voodu Child

The preamp tubes are the small ones, theres 3 visible, and one with a shielding cover beside the transformer. The big ones are the power tubes, four EL34s in your case.

I'm not saying you have a blown fuse, im just saying you should keep spare fuses as a matter of course. And spare valves. You wouldnt be a gigging guitarist without a spare set of strings in your case, and your amp should be no different.

Edit - I also notice you're running a 4ohm output, are you running a 4ohm cab?

-=al=-

yeah i think so i had it this way for 3 years or so, goin from the 4&8ohm speaker output on the head



into the 4x12 1960a Lead cab...

that right? and where would the fuse go if it was to be replaced?

Voodu Child

-=al=- wrote: »

that right?

Yeah, i presumed your cab was 8ohms but i guess it's 4 ohms mono. Just pointed it out out of curiousity more than anything else.

Anyways, not to go off topic, forget what i said about fuses, that seems to be confusing you. I was just pointing out that any gigging guitarist should have spares handy for his amp, and that includes fuses as well as tubes. It's nothing to do with your problem here.

-=al=-

why is there any particular way thats better for a head and cab to be set up?? i remember asking when i first got it what settings to have ti at and it was at that since! so i figure its ok =/


Ok so i need to get 4 pre and power amp tubes???

anywhere in town thats good for this kinda stuff or shud i jus get them off of that eurotubes site...


gota go in tomorrow too to get a guitar looked at, my strats electronics also just stoped workin yesterday...

what a crappy week!

Voodu Child

-=al=- wrote: »

Ok so i need to get 4 pre and power amp tubes???

Well, that's what you want for a full set of spares, which is a good idea.

I couldnt tell you what you want for this particular problem (assuming it's valve related). For all you know, it could be a single preamp valve gone. Or you could need the whole shebang of power tubes. And there's no guarantee that it IS a valve problem.

Have you not tried to narrow down the problem? ie run the preamp in the return of another amp....and vice versa, run another amps effects out into the TSL effects in?

-=al=-

Nope i have not, ill prob **** it up if i do somethin, friends comin over 2mo to jam and try out a few new pedals he got, he owns the jcm800 in the backround iof the pic above ill troubleshoot a bit with him, i see what you mean though by swapping the outputs, ill try a different cab to, the settings are different too,


it needs new valves though anyways, they've been the same for 3-4 years, so there due a replacement, so now is probably a good time better than any to do it i guess

anyone wana do it for me

Voodu Child

Nothing to f*ck up unless you do somthing silly.

Just plug your guitar into your POD, and your pod straight into the f/x return. If everything is AOK, then your power section is probably fine.

Then do the opposite, plug the guitar into the amp as normal, and the f/x send into something that will take a line level signal.

-=al=-

voodoo_child wrote: »

Just plug your guitar into your POD, and your pod straight into the f/x return. If everything is AOK, then your power section is probably fine.

Then do the opposite, plug the guitar into the amp as normal, and the f/x send into something that will take a line level signal.

te first thing i done there seemed to be workin aok i pluged the guitar > pod > fx return and i got a good bit of volume and it seemed ok BUT there was a little faint type of whistle sound also, but only slight


the second thing, didnt work just got a big hum when i tried that


So does it sounds like its the preamp tubes now or what?

Voodu Child

-=al=- wrote: »

So does it sounds like its the preamp tubes now or what?

Yep, and probably just one of the preamp tubes.

So what i'd suggest is get ahold of 1 good preamp tube (might as well buy a couple, they're cheap) and swap it into each position one by one to narrow down which one is gone bad.

Hopefully that'll get you up and running again. You can worry about the full re-valve at some other time; it'll be necessary at some stage anyhow.

-=al=-

cool im back in college tomorrow,

Ill pick one up then... So for now i just need 1 E34L?


and when i am swapping then i dont touch the valve, just pull them out, gently and thats that? anything else i need to know by swapping them around


of will i jus get 4 full swaps? or even that tihng on eurotubes, full replacement for 87 euro

Voodu Child

-=al=- wrote: »

cool im back in college tomorrow,

Ill pick one up then... So for now i just need 1 E34L?

No, that's a power valve. You're looking for 12ax7 or eec83 (same thing)

of will i jus get 4 full swaps? or even that tihng on eurotubes, full replacement for 87 euro

I'd recommend a full re-valve anyway - if your marshall has the factory stock tubes, they're probably not the best anyhow.

BUT, if you are just trying to get the amp up and running again asap, hopefully a preamp tube swap will sort you out for now.

That's the whole idea of keeping spares Al, so you can check these obvious things straight away. There's no guarantee a preamp swap will fix it, but if you'd had a couple of spares on you, you could have checked it already days/weeks ago

-=al=-

im quite lazy and it never happened before! but now i will keep spares/no what to do if it happens in future, i might get that thing on that eurotubes site, seems to be everything i need in one little package... untill it comes ot the re-biasing bit, or the bit where i electricute myself =/

ill get one of those power valves tomorrow and give it a whirl, jammin twice this week and once on the weekends, its pising me off swapping amps, changing leads and moving stuff around >: (



yay im up in 5 hours and have a test, fantastic!

-=al=-

aced that test :cool:

i got that 12ax7 today. is there any ones in particular that break first? like the one thats covered or the midle ones or the right one etc...


im going to start from the right in (lookin at the amp from the back)

-=al=-

i swaped each valve tried it, and the same thing really, one was worse than the others but in genereal it didnt really fix it, the volume was almost back to normal, but was distorted...


the amp was louder though and at normal volume, sounded very harsh and distorted on every note, so its not fixed, but im sure this means it needs a full new set of everything to get this sorted?

Voodu Child

-=al=- wrote: »

i swaped each valve tried it, and the same thing really, one was worse than the others but in genereal it didnt really fix it, the volume was almost back to normal, but was distorted...


the amp was louder though and at normal volume, sounded very harsh and distorted on every note, so its not fixed, but im sure this means it needs a full new set of everything to get this sorted?

If you put the good eec83 in all 4 position's and no good, then it's probably not the preamp valves. And if you checked the power section and it was aok, then its not the power valves.

Meaning it's worst case scenario - you've done all you can do and it's time to take it to an amp tech.

-=al=-

aww nuts.... I mean,



Aww nuts,


But once was substancially worse than the others, and the pins on it where rahter discouloured to compared to the others....


any recomends then? will i jus send it in to musicmaker where i got it? they took one of my friends in a while back and done what needed to be done =/


i dont have clue where the receipt is, my cousin was workin there at the time when i got it, i got the head and cab brand new for 1200EU, nto bad eh.... BUT that doesnt really solve my problem

this is quite frustrating to be frank, and im al

Voodu Child

If you think more than one preamp valve might be dud, then by all means check before you send it away anywhere. Just borrow the full set from the DSL you have there FFS.

I don't even know if musicmaker have their own amp tech in Ireland or if they send it back to marshall uk. Ring and find out. If it's out of warranty you're looking at a hefty enough bill to just get someone to look at it (hence the importance of learning to check the very obvious things like valves yourself).

The only amp tech I have experience of here is Alladins amps (contact info in the resources). afaik, he hates working on modern Marshalls, most techs do.

-=al=-

well they better get used to it!+ its was a JCM 800 and its not here anymore

Only guy i know of is martin nolan, he fixed my podxt for me while back, I'll check swap the pre amp valves, from the 800 though and check, it shud be here tomorow and thursday, but ive no idea whats gona happen, its pretty freakin annoying havin no amp and not much of a clue what to do (that rhymes) :mad:

Eoin Madsen

-=al=- wrote: »

But once was substancially worse than the others, and the pins on it where rahter discouloured to compared to the others....

Could be that the valve failed (or partially failed) and took something else out with it. In which case the damage is done, and some components likely need to be replaced. The discolouration might not mean anything either.

Grolschevik

voodoo_child wrote: »

I don't even know if musicmaker have their own amp tech in Ireland or if they send it back to marshall uk. Ring and find out. If it's out of warranty you're looking at a hefty enough bill to just get someone to look at it (hence the importance of learning to check the very obvious things like valves yourself).

The only amp tech I have experience of here is Alladins amps (contact info in the resources). afaik, he hates working on modern Marshalls, most techs do.

As far as I know, Musicmaker send all their stuff to Martin Nolan, and he's the tech guy for a rake of other places, which means he's very, very busy. He is, however, according to Marshall, the only Marshall-authorised tech in Ireland.

As well as Alladins, which I've never used, Musician Inc have the number of another guy who has started up recently in Dublin, Ronan Burns.