DSL clean/crunch volume

[dannyart]

Hi everyone ...new here dispite owning Marshalls all my life! Anyway, great forum, and I've got loads of useful info off here in the past and thought its about time I registered... so hello all! (I havent had chance to update any of my profile info yet, hopefully later today!)

One of my Marshalls is a DSL 50 from 1998... love this amp, love almost all the sounds I can get with it - but I've always found the massive volume difference between the clean & crunch modes really irritating!

Basically I'd like to know if any of you tech chaps out there know of a mod that can bring the volume of these two modes closer together, as well as giving the clean mode a bit more mid/body??

I'm very proficient with a soldering iron and have done various mods on different amps in the past so let me know if you guys have any ideas!

Cheers dudes

 

[jcmjmp]

There's a mod available to switch between the two modes and have the levels similar. I'll have to find this mod again. I've been wanting to install it on my DSL.

 

[dannyart]

Yeah, I did see that mod somewhere, great idea and looks very useful! I'm more interested in just evening out the volume and tone at this stage to be honest, rather than being able to switch them like an extra channel.

There was one thread which mentioned changing/removing a couple of resistors around the VR1/SW1 part of the circuit which did exactly what I was looking to do... cant find it though

 

[jcmjmp]

That should be simple enough to do. I should look into this.

 

[dannyart]

Appreciate your input mate! Wish I was a little more familiar with some of the later circuits... I can work on JMPs & 800s schematics, much easier, but all the switching options on the later marshals get a bit complicated for me!

 

[solarburn]

Set a pedal up as a clean boost on the clean channel and turn the pedals volume up till it matches the crunch voicing's amp volume. Step on the pedal when you need it and turn it off when you don't. Simple...

 

[jcmjmp]

Set a pedal up as a clean boost on the clean channel and turn the pedals volume up till it matches the crunch voicing's amp volume. Step on the pedal when you need it and turn it off when you don't. Simple...

Yeah, I used to do this using the effect loop with a clean volume boost. The problem is that if you want to go from clean to the lead channel, you have to hit two pedals: 1- channel switch 2- Volume boost

 

[solarburn]

Yeah, I used to do this using the effect loop with a clean volume boost. The problem is that if you want to go from clean to the lead channel, you have to hit two pedals: 1- channel switch 2- Volume boost

Volume boost will be negligible to the lead channel(gain channel)though clean boosting from front the end, not the loop. No need for a hyperactive tap dance if done right.

 

[dannyart]

Set a pedal up as a clean boost on the clean channel and turn the pedals volume up till it matches the crunch voicing's amp volume. Step on the pedal when you need it and turn it off when you don't. Simple...

I've been playing a long time and I understand the concept of clean boosting I've used a couple of clean boosts etc with other amps but I'm not a huge fan of using pedals - I like to keep things as simple as possible.

All I'm simply trying to do is boost the clean - or attenuate the crunch - just a little so I dont have to mess around with the eq & adjust the vol/gain every time I switch the switch. I'm sure it would just be a simple case of changing a few of the resistors in the SW1 switching circuit but my knowledge doesnt quite extend far enough to know/experiment to identify which.....

 

[solarburn]

I've been playing a long time and I understand the concept of clean boosting I've used a couple of clean boosts etc with other amps but I'm not a huge fan of using pedals - I like to keep things as simple as possible.

All I'm simply trying to do is boost the clean - or attenuate the crunch - just a little so I dont have to mess around with the eq & adjust the vol/gain every time I switch the switch. I'm sure it would just be a simple case of changing a few of the resistors in the SW1 switching circuit but my knowledge doesnt quite extend far enough to know/experiment to identify which.....

I have matched the clean channels volume to the crunch channels volume using the pedal as a volume boost. This is such a simple and useful fix I can hardly stand it.

I don't have to adjust eq or mess with volume/gain using the pedal for this. Its seamless once volumes match. Well anyways I can get it to work with no difficulty or extra adjustments like you mentioned.

I can also get a great clean tone using my guitar volume while boosting the crunch channel. Cleans right up but I play classic rock into hardrock stuff. I love the mid crunchy rock tones from the crunch channel.

Do what ya want.

 

[dreyn77]

check that the pre amp valves are the same brand! some of these amp new had different tubes in them. this makes the tones much closer together for switching!