TB100H Review

This is a 100 watt head with reverb, two footswitchable discrete channels (clean and crunch), w/independent active 3-band EQ and level controls.

Features:	8.3
Sound:	9.5
Reliability:	8.3
Impression:	9.3
Overall rating:	8.9
Users rating:	5.2
Comments:	17

overall: 10

Reviewed by: Barrier_of_Pain, on february 10, 2009

Purchased from: CraigsList!

Features: I play metal. Dethklok, Randy Rhodes, Black Sabbath, all that. It does have channel switching between the clean and overdrive. One interesting feature is that the controls on this head are exactly backwards compared to the 2x12 combo of this model (TB100R). Effects loop and Headphone jack. Solid State and I'm not ashamed of that. Oh it's got plenty enough power for me this thing is a wall of sound. // 10

Sound: I use a Kramer Voyager when I'm with the band, and an IOMMI SG! and a kkv. I have been known to play my bass through this amp too.I play metal. This amp is LOUD and good for heavy music, but the clean channel gets really loud also with out distorting. I thought that was pretty cool. Head came with a footswitch for +/-20 Db of boost, channel, midshift, and reverb. The head has a cool compartment in the back that you can but the footswitch and chords in. It does feedback like a lot but that actually sounded real good on the recording. Kinda hissy but when you play it's gone. Brutal distortion. Better Than Marshall in my musical opinion. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I use it every friday w/out a backup. Never done me wrong. I was going to go with one of those Marshall Dfx piles, man those things just sound too digital or something, plus I had to sit there dialing in noise to get to a decent sound. My Ibanez sounds agreeable how-ever I set it. // 10

Impression: In conclusion: I owned the 2x12 combo of this head for 6-8 years, then my co-guitarist got a half stack. SO tired of getting drowned out I hit up craigslist to find a halfer and saw one that matched my old Ibanez, So in a way I bought it again with out it even being stolen? I do compare it to other products every chance I get. NOTHING in the same price range can do it justice I'm afraid. I just like the heavy bassy sound I acheive. My friend's Laney half stack has that Vintage sabbath sound and I'm on the other side of it with our future metal sound it works out great because you can really tell whos Who in the recordings. // 10

overall: 7.3

Reviewed by: GuitarFreak1387, on may 16, 2008

Purchased from: Firehouse music

Features: I got this amp around 2006 but the show I got it from had it for a few years so I'm guessing it's an 00 to a 03 model. It has 2 channels, clean and overdrive. Switched by the included footswitch. Features a effects loop in the front panel. I wish the fx loop was in the back cus it looks kinda messy when you got your two cables hangin in front of the amp. Each channel has the standard volume, high, mid, low, gain, and reverb independently on each channel with a shared presance controle. I mainly use this amp for bedroom practice and jammin with my friends and has more than enough power for what I use it for. I'm sure that it could also be used for Live use with no problems. The foot Switch has a Switch for boost, channel, mid boost, and reverb. The only thing that I must tell you befor you get this amp or try it out is the eq is not like most amps. Most amps go from 1 to 10. This amp however is marked in db's. It also has a nifty little compartment in the back of the amp to put the foot Switch and calbes while moveing the amp. // 7

Sound: I'm useing this amp with my Jackson rr3 and Dean Avalanche Ultra 7. Both humbucker guitars. Iv been able to play a lot of styles with this amp. From metal, rock, blues, hard rock ect ect, to contry, alt rock, jazz, and many more. Iv only noticed this amp beeing noisy usein the overdrive with the eq setting high in each 3 ranges. If you need crunch this amp has got it, if you need balls crunchin distortion this amp has it, if you need, the point is this amp has what you need. The only time the clan channel gets distorted is when you use the boost on the foot Switch but this is good for your clean crunch blues sound. And the distortion can range from a light alt rock to a heavy death metal. // 8

Reliability & Durability: since day one that I have had this amp I have depended on this amp and hit has never ever dissapointed me. It has always preformed at it's full potential and them some. I have droped this amp and it has been bumped a few times and has always worked like it alwas have with out a defferance. // 7

Impression: I play a few diferent styles. mainly hard rock and metal and this amp suits it well. iv been playin for nearly 8 and playing this amp for around 2 and a half. I absolutely love this amp, the only thing I hate about it is were the fx loop is placed, realy wish it was in the back like most other amps. I love the boost Switch, when jamming with some friends and about to play a solo the boost helps the solo cut through the other members without drowning them out. At the time I was trying this amp out I was also checking out a Marshall mg (ewww), and a Crate all around the same price. The Ibanez just sounded better than the other two amps. I got it cus it sounded the best in my price range and was perfect for my first "step up" amp from what I was useing (marshal vs 15 combo). // 7

overall: 9

Reviewed by: Guitar Skater, on june 08, 2005

Price paid: $ 600

Purchased from: N/A

Features: This is a solid state half stack by Ibanez, I really like this amp alot because it has the crunch I always wanted. I don't like middle sound so I turn that to about 1 or 2 and it comes with a footswitch and it has boost, channel, midshift and reverb what I figured out is you turn the middle on the overdrive channel way down then stomp on mid shift and its like turning the mid. knob way up. That is a cool feature. // 8

Sound: The sound is excellent but I'm bummed its not as loud as I thought. It fits my style perfectly. It's a half stack so it's meant to be loud so the volumes have to be about 5 to reach good tone. You only get bad feed back when the gain and vol. Are too high and that's reasonavle. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I use this amp daily, I think it may have to be mic'ed when I play a show cause it's not as loud as I thought. // 8

Impression: I'm now in a hardcore/screamo band and this amp does wonderd for our sound. I play through a Ibanez S370 in CGCFAD and a Tom Delonge Strat DADGBE and both those guitars go well with the amp for my ideal sound. I just wish it could be a tad bit louder. // 10

overall: 9

Reviewed by: I AM CAT, on march 26, 2005

Purchased from: loval music store

Features: This amp was made in the year 2003. This is a very versatile amp as I play a wide variety of music. Gets a great Metallica sound when used with heavy distortion and then with lighter settings can get a great blues tone and even a little Hendrix tone but obviously no one can emulate his tone. It has 2 footswitchable channel with an effects loop and it has a headphone jack whihc is great so I can use it at night time when everyone is sleeping. It has 100 watts of solid state amp it has a crunch circuit on clean channel and an independant active 3-band EQ. You can change it from stereo to mono too which is cool and you can change it from 8 to 4 ohms. The only effect it has built inot is reverb which is ok to me because I don't really like to use effects when I'm playing except for a Dunlop Cry Baby Wah. // 8

Sound: I am using a Gibson SG 1961 Reissue with this along with a Carvin 1981 with M-22 pickups in it and let me tell you this has such great bottom end when distortion is cranked up. Can have the gain on 10 and it'll still have a great smooth tone. Sounds great at low volume, medium volumes, and even when cranked way up. Quiet amp with little to no feedback. It fits my style perfectly because I like to get a a heavy distortion with great classic tone and it emulates it perfectly, but this amp is deinately good for all styles of music. My dad who only plays blues music even loves this amp. So it's very versatile. The clean channel is very clean and there's a crunch button that you can use that when cranked up sounds alomost like a '60s early '70s distortion. It is useful when playing along with Ac/Dc because now I can at least have a clean distorion to play with them. The distortion is really good sounding but I do want to get an Ibanez TS9 Reissue Tubescreamer to add to the distortion just because I love the way the ts9's sound especially the way Kirk Hammet sounds with it. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I just bought it so I don't know how reliable it is but I've they are very reliable and so I'm guessing it's reliable. I would use it on a gig without a backup. The front messing on it is fragile so that's one thing to look out for on it but that's not a big deal. // 8

Impression: I play classioc rock, blues and punk and nu metal sometimes, but mostly hard rock and metal and alternatve rock, and this amp is a good match for all of those styles. I have been playing for 2 years and I practice around 4-6 hours a day. I also play on couple of Marshall combo amps that are 90 watts each and this thing can compete with those but I cant play in the band with those cuz those are my dad's amps. I'm very satisfied and happy I bought this halfstack. I would definately buy it again if it were lost stolen, or broken. I love the cabinets the msot about it because they are so good sounding and they are only 300 dollars, if you're looking for a good sounding cheap cab the Iabnez Tone Blaster 100H cabs are the way to go, you can't go wrong.

There's nothing I necessarily hate about it but later on I will upgrade the head to a Marshall or Mesa Boogie or a Randall. The feature that I like that it has is the 4 or 8 ohm setting and the mono and stereo setting but my fav feature is the headphone input where I can play when everyone's asleep. I compared it to some of the Marshall's and Randall's, and pretty everything in it's price range and I liked this one the best over all of the other amps. I chose this one because it suited my style the most and plus because it was the most versatile amp out of all of the other one's that I tried out. For $600 you cannot go wrong or even if you buy just the cab for 300 or the head for 300 you can't go wrong. I love this half stack! // 10

Comments

[ibanezdebest]

yeah sound like a nice amp. id like 2 get 1 of those. its just that im not sure if it loud enough. So if im playin outside or for 200 ppl, is it loud enough???

[Guitar Skater]

i now have the TB100R + TB4x12 its so lound

[pe_666]

its 100 freaking watts of course its loud enoughf :s
and if you're playing a gig it will probably get miced(not shure of spelling) anyway

[xxSTRATxx]

this amp is loud enough for most medium to large venue gigs, and has great tone at low volumes too. I have the TB100H on top of two cabs with celestion vintage in them, it gets great overdrive and is plenty loud enough to play outside.

[prot]

I've got this amp too, and it's great for what I need it for. I'm not actually in a band or anything, but I bought it used, so it's not like I paid a fortune for an something unnecessary. I agree that I don't like the middle channel, so I leave it down at 1 or 2 also. Since I just use it at home, I can barely ever put it up past 2 or 3 on the volume knob cause it's so loud. I haven't ran any effects through it yet either, but I'm hoping that they will sound good also. I would buy one new, and actually Ibanez updated their amps since I bought mine, and since the one in the picture, so I'm sure they've just gotten better.

[Shredmaster42]

I gotta get me one of these, played it the other day, almost sounds like a tube amp! great reviews!

[BADHACKER]

Well, the amp sounds great, but I think it needs a noise gate between the head and the cabinet, not in the fx loop because it doesn't make any difference in there. Then you can't get a digital guitar processor, you need to get single pedals for every effect

[Shredmaster42]

How is the clean channel on this amp? Does it distort at high volumes? Cause I need a solid clean channel for my band and then some heavy distortion.

[ATGreat]

Hey, i've been looking at a head like this one, only it's a TBX 150H, is that a good amp head? metal style \,,/

[Silky Smooth]

The TBX is an ideal metal amp

[rageagainst64]

yeah this amp is good for gigs, indoors or out

[Jairzinski]

Yes, the TBX150H is good for metal. I own a TBX150H and it's amazing. You get a lot of distortion. I have the gain knob at the middle when using my jackson randy rhoads ( Jackson pickups ). When playing in my house, I play with Volume at level 2, and it's still a little bit loud. Last time I played with it in a party, I had the volume at level 5 and it was sooooo loud. Great amp! I heard that the TBX series replased TB series.

[CAMMO202]

will this amp go good with an ESP LTD Viper 400?

[Kada2110]

Im sure this amp is ok, but tube amps are better lol

[hellraiserharry]

when i ran this amp on 8 my neighbors called the cops!!!!!

[Got Metal?]

I dont know bros it sounds like a little shitty starter amp to me m riend bought this thing for 200 bucks and i have yet to hear it?????

[742627000017]

Yeah i played this amp with the Ibanez 4x12 cabinet and it sounded huge,even at low volume...huge!Realy good for Death Metal,Black Metal or any Extreme metal believe me