DSL100H review

[jgcable]

What an outstanding live amp. I am playing a stock DSL100H through a Soldano 4 x 12 straight cab loaded with the stock Eminence Legend speakers. In the loop I have an LPB-1 clean boost for solo's and out in front I have a Boss CH-5 chorus and a Morley switchless optical wah. My guitar is a Gibson Les Paul Gary Moore BFG with a Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge and a P90 in the neck.

Many people (including other guitar players) have come up to me after our shows to tell me how outstanding my guitar tone is and what mods I have done to the amp because the DSL100H stock isn't supposed to sound as good as mine does. I then let them in on the trick. I use the green channel on clean and the red channel on Lead 1 WITH THE GAIN ON NO MORE THAN 5. Usually its at 4.
My band plays everything from Alice in Chains to Tool to Bush to STP to Ted Nugent to AC/DC to Van Halen.
The trick is not dialing up that much gain. It seems that many players tend to dial in "bedroom" amounts of gain and then take that out live. I have found that the DSL100H compresses as you turn the gain up. That forces you to turn the volume up to compensate. At a gain level over 5 in Lead 1 you need the master up pretty darn loud.. usually too loud for a decent sized rock club with a PA.
Now.. on to my review.
Classic Channel Clean. Just outstanding in every way and I just LOVE the new digital reverb. Possibly the best reverb I have ever owned in a high gain amp.
Classic Channel Crunch. Not useable to me with a shared EQ.
Ultra Channel Lead 1. Hot rodded JCM800. Just make sure the gain is dialed down to as little as you could possibly need.
Ultra Channel Lead 2. Too over the top. I don't use it. Its compressed unless the gain is on no more than 2 or 3.
Resonance control is outstanding
Mid shift button is great of you play at home to death metal songs.
50/100 Pentode Triode switch is a great feature. I run my amp on 100 watts. I think it pushes a little more and I like that.
Overall impression. This is a fantastic Marshall amp. Its great for the serious pro gigging musician or the hobbiest who just wants that classic high gain Marshall tone. I have owned Plexi's, 2203, 2204, 2210, Artists, JCM900's, several DSL's and TSL's and the new Vietnam produced DSL100H is my favorite take it out of the box and start ripping Marshall. It really needs nothing.

 

[Rocktane]

Nice review! I use the channels/modes and gain levels in the same manner as you explained.

 

[diesect20022000]

yeah that's how I use the DSL's too.

 

[Rokinroller]

Good review,thanks ! This is what I mean when I say "in the right hands". Someone who knows how to handle gear and makes it work right for them. Also,this man is a pro gigging musician who knows the difference between bedroom and stage requirements. A+

 

[Ken]

I agree that it's easy to dial up too much gain on a DSL. Using too high a level on the EQ (tone stack) makes it worse. On the red channel I have the presence on 10, but treble on 1, mids at 4-5, bass on 1 and the bass boost on. With these settings I can have the gain on 2-3 and it's not too much. Volume at 4.

On my green channel I have the crunch on and gain at 5 which is different from when I played in an all original band. This is a pretty good compromise with the above EQ; I use the green now on about half our songs which are all Cheap Trick covers. As everyone knows, using the same settings for both channels entails a compromise on one or the other and these settings do a pretty good job on both IMHO.

Ken

 

[iron broadsword]

I just finished trying a 40c through a 4x12 w/ v30's, and that is also the way I found the best sounds. Bass 5, Mid up full, treb up to about 5, presence full, resonance full, lil' bit of reverb and gain on less than 5 on lead 1. Sounds magical. These seem to be the EQ settings I keep coming back to when I try the amp.

 

[jgcable]

After 6 months of using the DSL100H live I stand by my original post. IMHO.. the DSL100H is the best DSL Marshall has ever made. Take it out of the box, add a speaker cab and a guitar and start touring. It can handle any genre of music and it can get stadium loud or small club quiet and still have great tone. The reverb is absolutely outstanding.

 

[ken361]

I use the red 1 and its excellent, classic crunch great also with my Les Paul DSL 40 try better tubes it helps!

 

[dreyn77]

awesome! great review thanks

did you swap out the bridge pickup from the gary moore model? what was the original pickup?

Oh yeah the CC spanks butt. seymour was right to offer that pickup for the fans.

once you get your level of gain, there's no need to keep adding more.

you have got a few things which give you a custom sound though.

yeah the reverb should be great.
digital, when it gets going, is real sweet.

cheers!

 

[jgcable]

awesome! great review thanks

did you swap out the bridge pickup from the gary moore model? what was the original pickup?

Oh yeah the CC spanks butt. seymour was right to offer that pickup for the fans.

once you get your level of gain, there's no need to keep adding more.

you have got a few things which give you a custom sound though.

yeah the reverb should be great.
digital, when it gets going, is real sweet.


cheers!

The original pickup was a Zebra colored Gibson Burstbucker 3. Yuck. It sounded thin to me. The Custom Custom is a way better choice for that guitar.

 

[tjulian]

I agree wholeheartedly about this amp. I have done the C19 mod on the red channel...I always thought it too bright, so I dropped the value to 100pf. I tried removing it completely and thought it was a bit too dark after that. 100pf is just right. In order to get the red channel to sound good at high volumes, drop the gain, otherwise it starts to mush out on the bottom end as he stated.
I wish the amp had footswitching between clean and crunch. I use the amp in several cover bands, one of which is an oldies/60's band. I use the clean with the gain all the way and back off my volume to clean it up....it would be nice to switch to crunch for the lead tone...instead I kick in my modded Ibanez TS9, which is great sounding too.
I did perform 2 mods, one of which i feel is absolutely necessary and that is replacing R111 with a 3A 250 Henry choke. I bought mine from Mercury Magnetics for about $40. An easy mod for anyone with amp repair ability. This tightened the bottom end very noticeably, and made the tone more Marshally to my ears. More punch with a pleasing crunch.
I could've left it at that and been happy, but I had to see what a new output transformer would do, so I went ahead and ordered one from Mercury Magnetics again and installed it....another easy install to anyone with experience. The gain actually seemed to drop a bit after this, but the more I've been playing it, the better it has been sounding. I suppose it needs a good break-in period...the tone is richer across the spectrum. I've been playing about 2 weeks now and I'm very happy with this amp...it is versatile. I play oldies, 60's, 70's, 80's...whatever era, and it does it all with great tone. If you want really over the top gain, I would suggest another amp, or experiment with a pedal. On the red channel I set my gain about 5-6 and when I really want to send it into sustain city, I'll kick the TS9 in (no gain boosted level).
I have to say the effects loop works great too...I usually just use a Hardwire Delay in the loop, but it sounds great. I'm actually not too crazy about the reverb. The best reverb in an amp I've heard is from my Egnater Renegade, so I'm comparing it to that amp, and it's not up to that standard. I use my delay more than reverb anyways.
For the money, this amp is a great buy...with the mods it is exactly what I'm looking for soundwise. Just wish the footswitch had clean to crunch ability...and the amp should have come with a choke on it to begin with.
My speaker cabinet is an old 80's Marshall with English V30's (very broken in).

 

[luis henrique]

100pF capacitor how many volts vc put in place the 470? I did not find this information anywhere, grateful

 

[EADGBE]

I think the four preamp tubes and EL34s help too.

 

[ken361]

I have 3 old stock preamp tubes in mine

 

[Rick Lee]

Someone who can make a high gain amp sound great at low gain settings is simply someone who really knows how to play. In the last two years or so I've tried to take the less is more attitude wrt gain. Whatever I think sounds good at home or band practice, I dial the gain back just a bit for gigs. I wasn't gigging during the short time I had a DSL, and have been using my SLO and EVH 100S since then. But all this DSL love is seriously making me want to get another one.

 

[dslman]

Just got a good one today,its a 2014 model,and the Lead 1 is just brutal.
I had one before and now I know it had issues,cause this one is so much fun,
Its very responsive with lots of full bottom end.
My DSL50 is more vintage sounding and has a more focused midrange.
Two totally different sounding amps.
I like the clean better on the 2K DSL

 

[chiliphil1]

Nice review! You have found the secret to live tone and that is, low gain! Too much gain and it's mush, you'll never get out in the mix with that. Lowering the gain brings so much clarity to the sound and with a pedal you can boost from there and a lot of the pedals will add some highs and mids also which will help you punch through even more. I had to learn this lesson by trial and error but finally did get it figured out. The other guitar player in my old band would tell me all the time "you need more gain" I would generally dial in a little but it usually ended up going back out. Funny thing is when I joined the band I was a gain monster and just dimed it on whatever amp I was using, thought it sounded awesome... Man, I have come a long way

I've never gotten on too well with the DSL amps, I think it's just a personal thing but something in the sound just doesn't work for me. I owned a 2k version and have tried out the 40c and the 100h but each time I'm disappointed with it.. Just something I don't like, can't put a finger on it but the tone just doesn't work for me. As someone said above playing a high gain amp at low gain and making it sound good is a hard thing to do and I'm just not that good. I had a 15h and actually loved that amp but any of the bigger ones just don't gel with me.

 

[KCKELLY]

Super versatile amp. I hardly ever use the lead channel. 50 watt mode with gain at 6 or 7, volume at 5. tube screamer for crunch and boss power sack for high gain. mxr micro amp for boost, boss dd3 and boss super chorus is the perfect setup for me , on this amp. don't use effects loop. 1960b cab.

 

[mcblink]

Good review man!
Reflects my ideas about the amp too. Turning that gain down might be sortof counterintuitive, but it yields glorious results.

I also never, ever use lead 2.

Very thorough and well written. Bravo.

 

[JCMDOUG]

Good review on a killer amp. If there is too much gain, tubes amps start sounding solid-state ish. I run all my amps low gain with a bit of a mid push on the EQ, and a boot or TS9 on the front. The big trick is turn up the master volume if you have one so the power amp section can do it's magic.