TF200-II Review

Anything but entry level, with 65 Watts RMS powering a 12inch Custom Designed Celestion speaker. 3 full channels each with independent 3 band EQ, a global Vibe switch with a Scoop switch on Channels 2 & 3 and a Bright switch on the clean channel and a discrete Reverb with independent levels for Clean and Drive. The TF200-II features a hot running ECC83 preamp valve for that unique Tube Fusion sound and an FX loop with a TF 3 Way Footswitch.

Features:	9
Sound:	9
Reliability:	7.7
Impression:	8.7
Overall rating:	8.6
Users rating:	6.1
Comments:	10

overall: 7.8

Reviewed by: unregistered, on october 12, 2007

Purchased from: Gosford Music

Features: Not a whole lot of features. Three channels: 1 clean, 1 mid-distortion, 1 heavy distortion. Bass, mid, treble eq on the clean channel plus "bright" switch which basically gives it lots (too much for me) of top end. Reverb as well but it's a pretty average reverb. The two distortion channels share bass, mid and treble eq however the heavier channel also has "enhance". This seems to just take mids out as you turn it up. Both distortion channels have a "drive" and volume knob. 1 reverb for both distortion channels. Headphones, line out, which I think may be very useful for this amp, effects loop and foot Switch. There is also a "reverb" jack at the back but I'm not really sure what that does. 12 inch celestion. It's stamped with "invader" but the manual says it's a custom. The main feature of this amp I think is the tube pre-amp. It looks tiny but seems to give a nice tone and sustain to the sound. As far as features go there really ain't too many but that's fine for me. I looked at some Line 6 amps in the same price range and they had waaaay too many buttons and dials with lights everywhere. I just wanted something nice and simple with a good sound. Could maybe have used a separate EQ for each distortion channel. // 8

Sound: Using an Ibanez ex140. Not a classically beautiful sounding guitar but it sounds ok for what I'm doing whcih is mainly rock/metal. Ok so there are three main sounds. Clean, medium distortion and heavy distortion. I think this is why it's called the "fusion": the clean channel sounds great. I have no problems with the sound at all for an amp of this size and price. In fact I think it has a very "true" and honest sound. The reverb sucks but that's ok, I have a rack unit for that anyway. "Drive 1" sounds almost like its meant to emulate a Marshall sound. And I think it does a pretty good job for its size. There is a kind of strange mid-range tone that might be my guitar though but it sounds great when eq-ed a little bit. The distortion is very nice and not overly cutting or brutal. Loads of sustain when the Drive knob is up. "Drive 2" is basically "Drive 1" with a Drive knob that goes up to 15. Messa emulation maybe? Pretty much the same sound as Drive 1 but more distorted. Really nice sustain! I think that's the pre-amp but either way it just keeps going and going. Love it. Once again, nice distortion. it's fairly controllable too and again, it doesn't have that really grainy top-end distortion that a lot of modern solid-state amps have. With my guitar it likes a bit of eq though. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I've only had it for a couple of months but I can't see anything going wrong with it. The less bells and whistles the less problems as far as I'm concerned. The one thing I will say is that there seems to be some rattle going on when low end frequencies are more prevalent. Especially when it's up over the 4 or 5 mark on the volume knob. I'm a bit worried about this because I'm using it for home recording mainly and it tends to come through through the mic. Not happy about that but I can take out the offending lows and it's ok but still. // 6

Impression: For the price and for the size of the amp I think it's great. Love the tone (apart from the strange mid-range frequency) and the sustain but the overall sound is great. The rattle is a bit of a worry but I'm pretty sure that can be fixed and I'm seriously considering getting an extra speaker to get the most out of the amp volume wise. That is not to say that it's not loud enough but I think it could use an extra speaker to make it sound a little bigger. Pretty damn happy after a lot of searching around stores for something with a warm tone and in my price range. // 8

overall: 8.8

Reviewed by: will-loves-zep, on march 19, 2007

Purchased from: Fairdeal Music

Features: I mainly play classic/hard rock and I love this amp. It suits my playing style very well and is very versitile, you could use it for pretty much any type of music. The amp is 65 watt and has a built in valve which is brilliant. There are 3 channels (Clean, Overdrive 1 and overdrive 2) they're all great. There is also a adjustable reverb channel which is superb. There is a FX loop and headphone jack on the back. The clean has it's own controls (volume, treble, middle, bass and a bright button) and the overdrive channels have seperate gain, volume and scoop but share the same bass, treble and middle. The overdrive and clean channels have seperate reverb controls. All channels are interchangeable with a foot Switch which also has a button for turning on the reverb. I wouldn't want a more powerful amp for my style but death metalers may want to look elsewhere. // 10

Sound: I am currently using a Fender American Telecaster with the standard single coils and LTD M-200FM with ESP-EMG's with this amp and they both sound great through it. This amp can go up to very high gain settings without getting buzzy. I have not yet gone past 2 on the volume yet in my room on any of the channels so I'm unsure of what may occur on the higher settings. The amp can be used for a variety of sounds especially with the three channels. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I have not gigged with this amp yet but I would easily use it without backup. I have only had the ampo a short while (around a month and a half) and I have had no problems with it at all. I would definatley go and buy this amp again if it was ever stolen. I reefuse to neglect or mistreat this amp in anyway it's too good! // 7

Impression: This amp is brilliant for neraly all music styles. It suits me extremely well. I have been playing for around 3-4 years and have had a borrowed Marshall AVT100dfx in the past but this Laney kicks it's arse! I play with a Fender Tele and Ltd M-200FM and as I have already said this amp makes them sound great. I went shoppinfg looking to but a Marshall MG100DFX and chose this instead. It sounded by far the best out of the two. The valve has a big part to play as it makes the sound 10 times sexier. I don't hate anything about this amp. It could only be better if the two overdrive channels had sperate settings (middle, treble and bass) but not many amps do. // 9

overall: 9.3

Reviewed by: Vokial, on may 09, 2006

Price paid: $ 403.2

Features: I bought this amp new and it's the second version of the Tube Fusion series. It's quite similar to the first one except for the "scoop" button which substitutes the "enhance" knob on the first version. 65W hybrid valve amp, which means it has an ECC83 valve placed in the preamp stage and it has solid state final stage. It has 3 channels (clean, Overdrive, heavy distortion), effect loop and an external speaker connection (in order to connect it to a second speaker), 12" Celestion Rocket 50 speaker. The clean channel has it's own equalization (lo-mid-hi) and a "bright" button which makes the clean sound brighter. The overdrive and the distortion channels share the same equalization (lo-mid-hi again) but have separated volume and gain controls and separated "scoop" control. The scoop button changes slightly the sound by cutting a bit midrange tones and enhancing a bit higher and lower tones, in order to get a more rude sound. It has a reverb with 2 separate amount knobs, one for the clean channel and one for the od/ds ones. It has also a "vibe" button but neither the manual nor the shopkeeper could explain me what exactly this button do.. by ear I can say that it changes a bit the tone to a more valve-amp one. By turning it off you'll get a more modern and solid-state like sound. It comes with a three button footswitch: first one to select the clean channel, second one to select Overdrive or distortion, third one to activate reverb. Every button has its own light in order to check easily which channel is active at the moment. I usually play it in live gigs with my band (little-to-medium pubs in my city and some open-air concerts) and it suits me well with it's power. It's better to get it microphoned though, otherwise audience won't hear your full range of tones but only higher ones. // 9

Sound: My axe is an Epiphone SG with Seymour Duncan pickups (JB in the bridge position and Jazz in the neck). I use a super-cheap Behringer eq pedal (eq700) and I've put it in the effects loop, in order to modify a bit the tone of the distortion and I'm very happy of the results, for a mere J20 more. I usually play a wide variety of music, spacing from jazz to metal, but mainly a sort of Tool-like music with my band. I like also playing Opeth and that kind of music and I think that amp is perfect for my tastes. The clean channel is really quiet, even if turned up to 8 or 9. The Overdrive and distortion channels are quite noisy if you turn the gain really up (let's say between 9 and 10) but I never use so much distortion so to me it's not a big problem. For all of you brutal-grind metal players, I suggest to buy a heavy distortion pedal or to search elsewhere for you grinding Machine. If you play hard rock though, this amp can be a perfect choice. The overall volume of this amp is quite high but I think you won't be using higher volumes than 5 or 6: higher volumes suffer the quite low power of this amp and aren't "fat" as you would expect, but if you keep the volume at midrange and you put a good mic in front of it you'll have a great sound. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I can really depend on it. I used it many times on a gig and it always worked fine. // 10

Impression: This amp is really great. If it were stolen I would buy it again but maybe I would also give a try to the 300 model (which is 120w). Before buying it I also tried a couple of other models, both solid state and hybrid amps (couldn't afford a full valve amp, if I did, I'd probably have bought a Laney VH100R because I used it for a year or so, borrowed from a friend) and I chose this one because of the sound and the features. I really trust Laney, because I also own another solid state amp (an old Hardcore Max 30) and it always worked perfectly. I would recommend it to anyone but mainly to players Who need a great full tone and a lot of versatility. // 9

Comments

[Vokial]

Only a couple of things more: i've paid it 320 euros, not 403,2 (can't understand why happened this mistake) and i've paid the behringer eq pedal 20 euros, not "J20"...

[.:LoCo:.]

i think its an awsome amp

[will-loves-zep]

220

[tomkele]

what happens when you turn the volume past 2? the ****in street shakes, amazing amp

[SquirrelJonGoff]

getting this amp off ebay for £30 or something

[will-loves-zep]

trust me you won't be dissapointed

[royals_rocker]

had one of these amps at school, and i dont know if its jsut because its at a school and used by lots of people, but i absoloutely hated it!

Checked.

[GuitarBoy-IL]

Great amp, but I like the TF300 better.

[TempleOfMonkeys]

apart from the mid boost switch, a few extra watts and the output for an extension cab, they're the same amp...