Marshall DSL question

[Chasbo]

Hey guys, I am thinking of buying a DSL 401 combo. I had looked at the AVT series and liked it, but the DSL sounded noticibly better. It seems really small though and I was considering the TSL 122 combo for its 2 x 12 format, although I don't think I need its extra gain. I play primarilly older metal like Purple, Sabbath, UFO on up to Maiden and such. Any thoughts on these 2 amp would be appreciated.

Chuck

[raymo]

Re: Marshall DSL question

Well I owned a TSL 100 for a bit and now I own a DSL 401. The DSL 401 is a great amp. Yes the face of it gets pretty hot to touch after awhile, but only the face none of the buttons. I've heard problems of it overheating as well, but I have never experienced it myself and I play pretty long some days and pretty loud.

Originally after my TSL I wanted a DSL 50 cause I felt it was warmer than the TSL series. I'm sure if you fine tweaked a TSL you could probably get the same tone that you would find in a DSL. It was a really hard decision to go with the DSL 50 or 100, but then I gave the lil 401 a try and my deicision was made pretty much instantaneously.

The DSL 401 has plenty of gain for all types of music in my opinion. The main plus is the master volume, I love it, aswell as the fact that all 3 channels are footswitchable. You can go from clean to OD2 or clean to OD 1 or OD1 to OD2... they're all switchable. Not like the other amps where it goes to whatever distortion channel the main amp is set to.

The EL84's in this amp I feel are more responsive to you attack than EL34's are. The amp is full of gain and you can hear the notes, unlike some amps I've played and heard where its just a big pile o gain and thats it. OD1 is pretty much classic marshall stuff, OD2 is pretty modern heavy stuff I'd say.

Some people might say they dont have enough gain for this or that, but I guess its all in your personal preferences, I dont like play guitar and hear nothing but gain.


Hope this helps you, if you have any more qts maybe I can help.

Raymond

[Chasbo]

Re: Marshall DSL question

Thanks Raymond. That's what I was wondering about, the overheating problem. Have you had to replace tubes at a faster rate due to the higher heat? I am not worried about frying a circuit board. The 5 year warranty seems pretty solid. I will probably go to a halfstack combination down the road a bit anyhow.

After playing the DSL 401 I came away with the feeling that getting that good UFO/Sabbath overdrive would be really easy to do. Plus I liked the clean channel as well. I felt playing the TSL that there was just "too" much gain. I am not a big fan of nu-metal and prefer the cleaner overdrive of the older stuff. The DSL reminded me alot of the older 70's Marshall heads I have played thru before.

I try to keep my affects simple as well. A wah pedal, chorus pedal and eq pedal is all I have ever really used. I guess I will probably go with the DSL for its sound unless someone here has had awful problems with it.

Chuck

[adrenaline junkie]

Re: Marshall DSL question

If you have the means, I'd go for the TSL. Mainly, because I prefer the tone of El34's over EL84's.

I've also heard of a lot of people having problems with the DSL 401 overheating, and melting the circuitboard.

[raymo]

Re: Marshall DSL question

Nope, infact my stock tubes are still perfectly fine. Within the last month or 2 I bought some JJ tubes just to see how they sound, I've only put in the preamp tubes. Either way I havent had to change tubes yet.

I am running my 401 as a head right now. Its powering my Marshall 1960BV cab. Sounds awesome.

[Wizard of Ozz]

Re: Marshall DSL question

Get the TSL122... much better amp. Many of the 401 combos have had problems (poor solder connections, bad heater circuit, etc, etc.) Also as another poster mentioned the TSL122 uses EL34s which are the heart of the signature Marshall crunch tone.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

Re: Marshall DSL question

reading this post makes me want to get a DSL 401 - i prefer the el84's over the 34's. i just like them better.

[Jeremy]

Re: Marshall DSL question

I use a TSL122 as my main rig, with the matched extension cab and I love it to bits. The crunched and lead sound when cranked are awesome. Ive also got a gt6 to the effects loop and im a happy chappy.

Highly Recommended.

[ November 07, 2003, 04:06 PM: Message edited by: Jeremy ]

[raymo]

Re: Marshall DSL question

DSL 401!! DSL 401!! DSL 401!! DSL 401!! DSL 401!!


[img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Like I said, I used to own a TSL 100 and find the DSL's warmer and crunchier. Like Jeremy and Ozz said they find the TSL 122 full of crunch.

However the EL34's being the heart of Marshall crunch... well that might have been true when Marshall got started, and yeah its their main tube selection, but dont knock the EL84's in the lil 401 till ya tried it, they have pleanty of Marshall in them. I know I was a big skeptic to the EL84's instead of EL34's.

[Wizard of Ozz]

Re: Marshall DSL question

Originally posted by Marshall tone:
DSL 401!! DSL 401!! DSL 401!! DSL 401!! DSL 401!!


[img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Like I said, I used to own a TSL 100 and find the DSL's warmer and crunchier. Like Jeremy and Ozz said they find the TSL 122 full of crunch.

However the EL34's being the heart of Marshall crunch... well that might have been true when Marshall got started, and yeah its their main tube selection, but dont knock the EL84's in the lil 401 till ya tried it, they have pleanty of Marshall in them. I know I was a big skeptic to the EL84's instead of EL34's.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I did used to own a 401 combo about 3 years ago... sold it after a month. The main reason was that it didn't have the signature Marshall crunch tone I'm used to. It had plenty of gain for a 40W combo, but the tone was off IMHO. The only EL84 based amp I really like is the Vox AC-30... but that's a whole other kettle of fish.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

Re: Marshall DSL question

i use a boogie .50cal (el-84) ver. and i've used both boogie and marshalls with "their" singnature tubes, and with their rivals tubes (put 34's in boogies and 6l6's on marshalls). and basicaly just got tired of having to play at colosium volumes to achieve the right amount of crunch and warmth. and lets face it, we arn't playing in colosiums. el 84's allow you to get that crunch and warmth at a lower volume and still could handle arenas if needed. and honestly, they just sound sweeter.

[chrisolson]

Re: Marshall DSL question

I'm with Wizard on this one. I had a DSL401 and HATED it like I've never hated any other Marshall. Toneless lifeless suck-box. The only way I could get mine even tolerable was to hook it up to a closed-back 2x12 cab.

Marshall Tone and I have discussed this amp in the past and have agreed to disagree. He really enjoys his, so there you have it -- just like Harmony Central! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Another amp to consider in that class of amps would be the Mesa Rocket 44 - I demoed one of those and it KILLED! But you have to like Mesa to like that amp.

[raymo]

Re: Marshall DSL question

HAHAHA Chris, yeah we agree to disagree. Some people love Marshalls and some people hate em, me... well I love em! haha.


Ozz, that Signature Marshall crunch as you call it, I believe can only be found in vintage Marshalls. I'm a big time Marshall fan, but I think that TRUE Marshall crunch is only found in the vintage amps. Not even the newer JCM 2000's can get it, thats my HONEST opinion. I tried a vintage amp and it has way more girth to it than a new JCM.

I'm not trying to argue with ya bud. Ya just didn't like the DSL 401 thats cool, but I think its kinda wrong to tell someone it doesnt have the signature marshall crunch. EHhhh ok I'll shut up now, I said my peace [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] .

[ November 09, 2003, 01:53 AM: Message edited by: Marshall tone ]