Marshall/DSL401?

[Predator1]

Does anyone here have any experience with one of these. I am looking for a new tube combo amp and I found one of these for a good price.

[slayer]

I have heard the tone is good, but they run hot and can break down because of it. I don`t know if they have a fan or not? I loved the tone of the TSL60 combo I played thru!! Jack.

[kmanick]

Slayer is right the early ones overheated, but I believe they fixed that in the later ones.
I used to have a DSL201, and with an EQ in the loop it sounded pretty great for a little 20 watt combo.

[JimmyApollo]

I used to have one (I think I bought it around 2002), and yes, it ran *very* hot - so hot you could barely touch the control panel after a while. I sure hope they fixed it: four board-mounted power tubes in an amp that ran that hot sure seemed like a breakdown waiting to happen. I did like the amp, though...wish I didn't have to sell it!

[owlhead]

I had a DSL201 and also thought it sounded pretty good. The stock speaker needed to be changed and that made a big difference.

[kmanick]

I had a DSL201 and also thought it sounded pretty good. The stock speaker needed to be changed and that made a big difference.

Oh ya I forgot about that, I threw a green back into mine as well. You're right the stock speaker kind of sucked, the grenback made a huge difference.

[mountain dave]

I have an older dsl-401, sounds great but I had to have some cold solder points re-soldered, my cousin fixed it and said the heat probably contributed, started running a cheap "desk" fan behind it and it's ran well for the past year. Without the fan it gets very hot.

[RacerX]

All these little "fixes" should tell you about recent Marshall build quality.

Advise a better amp.

[chrisolson]

I hated mine. Lifeless unless you plug it into a closed back cab. I'm not really a fan of the DSL anyway though. Had the DSL 50 watt head also, which was better, but not enough to keep.

[86mod5]

I like mine. It ran hot, but I've never had a problem. I bought it new in 2001 and still have it. This was my first tube amp and it sounded great compared to the SS Crate that I was using. I like the tone, but was always curious about swapping out for a different Celestion. With the 40 watts, you can really push the EL84s without losing your hearing.