I always though ****ty playing through high gain sounds even worse then without it.

In the past I've looked elsewhere - anything but Marshall. Also I thought that they suck with gain and didn't understand it properly why you need additional booster or some sort of modification to get into the high gain territory.
But then I've realized that I've always liked that Marshally tone and also almost all my guitar idols were using them.
So I got myself a Marshall 6100 30th Anniversary.
And that amp has lots of gain, good crunch sound and beautiful clean. It's so versatile.
And the best of it all it sounds so amazing when you using it live. Not many amps cut trough the mix like Marshals and that is the fact!

IDK guys. I recently bought a used TSL60. My main amp before was my LANEY VC50 which is a fantastic amp!
Anyway, when I first played through the Marshall I absolutely hated it. The fact of the matter is that my ears were used to the Laney and my ears weren't processing the Marshall sound.
I decided not to give up on the Marshall however and after some eq tweaking and a little time playing through it I have grown to like it somewhat. Sure the louder you crank it the better it sounds, but even at bedroom volumes it doesn't sound bad.
Now is it the the high gain beast that my Laney is? No way. But it does have some very usable sounds even into the high gain / metal territory.

One problem that you guys may be experiencing is that you're buying 100 watt amps and can't ever push the thing hard enough to get to get saturation. Most tube amps have plenty of volume at 50-60 watts unless you're playing large open air venues.

Anyway, that's just my opinion and of course as always, tone is very subjective.

Absolutely. tube amps such as these need to be pushed to sound good. I thought I might be making a mistake the day I bought my Laney AOR. It just didn't sound as good as I recall my OLD one, sounding. then, I started tweaking, and running it, louder, and there it was, the sound I remembered and missed. Power tube drive is where it's at!

well I love mesas !

musicianszoo.com - place to friends talk about music,instruments and......anything !

Yea, Mesa makes a killer amp as well!

That's true to an extent, but it's not all about volume. 100w amps have a different feel than 50w amps (ie - 100w amps have a tighter, more focused low end, etc...)

That's a very good point!!