DSL100H Tone Report and Clip...

[shades of blue]

So I've had the DSL100 long enough to give a tone report...hehe.. and it's...hehe...just a sweet....hehe....

Ok you see the problem here? I can't stop giggling like a little school girl over this amp! I freaking love it. I've shunned Marshall my whole life because I thought you could only get two tones out of them, Slash or AC/DC (ironic with the soundclip I know). They never really "fit" what I wanted to do. But, I've been looking for an amp with nice bluesy cleans and crunch with some high gain tones to rock out with. Think I might be onto something here. I've liked every amp I've owned. My Two Rock was sweet for cleans, the Dr Z Carmen Ghia(and still my favorite amp to date) did the bluesy breakup thing well, and the Mesa amps were SWEET for metal. But, none of them "did it all".

The clean channel on the DSL is "just ok"....alright let me finish and explain. It's boring...I'm getting there I promise. But, it is a great pedal platform. It really meshes nicely with overdrive pedals and then you are like "ok now that sounds nice." It is the weak point of this amp, but I don't use pristine cleans. I use crunch tones and roll the volume back for cleans.

The "Classic Gain" channel is what I use for my cleans on this amp. I run out a good classic rock plexi tone and dial the volume back and presto, nice gritty JB cleans very similar to my Class 5 dialed up halfway. What have I been asking for guys? Yup...an amp that would give me the Class 5 tone with more headroom.

The Ultra Gain channels are great for classic rock tones and metal. Sounds great with the LP and PRS alike, and with the volume knob I wouldn't even need pedals with this amp period for blues stuff. It's a really nice sound.

Overall, I love the amp. It can be overly bright, but I've learned that if an amp isn't overly bright it is overly bassy so you just have to EQ them right. Other than that, it's really cool and the vibe I get is cool too.


So, here is a clip recording with my 57 VOS LP. No effects, using the Ultra Gain Channel and some reverb from the amp. It's a bit sloppy and it was getting late so the volume is very low, but you get the idea

DSL100 and 57 VOS LP - Some good 'ol AC/DC Riffage

 

[Adrian R]

Hey man, sounds cool. You nailed that lick! Sounds allot like the original recording..that's a no shitter man...

Boost the green crunch channel..its awesome...cleans should be superb..they certainly are on my amp...now its all about 'tuning' man..tubes, bias, pickups..etc...

All in all though it sounds nice and Marshally...good and Capt. Crunchy..

 

[grimlyflick]

Sounds to me as if the new DSL sounds as grand as the old.

 

[jvm210guy]

Funny, I find it bright as well... I'm curious to see if a tube change helps this.. The clip sounds good!

 

[BeardedRetroGuy]

Put some JJs in there?

 

[DirtySteve]

First off, excellent review and from what I've experienced with my 40w...dead on!

<snip>
The "Classic Gain" channel is what I use for my cleans on this amp. I run out a good classic rock plexi tone and dial the volume back and presto, nice gritty JB cleans very similar to my Class 5 dialed up halfway. What have I been asking for guys? Yup...an amp that would give me the Class 5 tone with more headroom.
<snip>

I can't tell you how many times I've been on that crunch channel trying different setting or pedals and thought damn, that sounds just like my Class 5...only better!

Pretty awesome and basically makes my C5 obsolete, but the best part is, I can switch over to the red channel lead 1 and get all the sounds I could never quite squeeze out of my class 5...and then some!!

 

[Rocktane]

Sounds great! Having lot's of fun with mine!

 

[shades of blue]

Funny, I find it bright as well... I'm curious to see if a tube change helps this.. The clip sounds good!

That clip is with a tungsol in v1, mullard in v2 and EH in v3 and 4. I might go for JJs though because its still pretty bright.

 

[diesect20022000]

That clip is with a tungsol in v1, mullard in v2 and EH in v3 and 4. I might go for JJs though because its still pretty bright.

yeah you have the wrong tube compliment if you want to tame brightness that's for sure. the EH's are the darkest of those in your amp and they're all pretty toppy.

i like bright. JJ's sound great in DSL's though. what i did was run an RCA 7025 in V1 and V2 then ran JJ's in the rest. but in this case i'd reverse the (preamp) config.

 

[paul-e-mann]

Good clip! Have you fooled with the half power switch? How does that change the sound through your cab? Definitely get some JJ preamp tubes to darken. My DSL is fairly bright and the JJ's make it sound much better. I put KT77's in the power section which added a bunch of low end and more mids. I wonder how they would sound in the new DSL's, and also in those DSL40C's that everyone is saying is overly bright.

Dont forget, DSL's red channel is gonna be brighter. Try experimenting with the green crunch channel with an OD pedal as a clean boost or add more gain to taste. On the older DSL's the higher the gain the thicker the tone gets.

 

[Rocktane]

On the older DSL's the higher the gain the thicker the tone gets.

This is my experience with the new DSL as well.

 

[DirtySteve]

Personally, I like the lows where they are...any more would be too much. The mids are great, I just want to tame (or round out) the highs a little. I thinks it's those highs that give it some chime on the green channel and that's good, just need to take the edge off a bit without changing anything else about the tone. Hopefully that will come with the speaker breaking in, but the bass is going to have to tight up too or I'm going to be looking for a different speaker.

...my 2 pennies.

 

[paul-e-mann]

Try an OD pedal on the green crunch channel and report back. Curious how that works out. Thats how I mainly use my DSL.

 

[diesect20022000]

Personally, I like the lows where they are...any more would be too much. The mids are great, I just want to tame (or round out) the highs a little. I thinks it's those highs that give it some chime on the green channel and that's good, just need to take the edge off a bit without changing anything else about the tone. Hopefully that will come with the speaker breaking in, but the bass is going to have to tight up too or I'm going to be looking for a different speaker.

...my 2 pennies.

lows at 4/11 oclock deep in. pres and treb to taste? i like bright so i would often have the presence WAY up and have the treble at about 5/noon. this with a boost as well though. without a boost the lows were too flubby but almost all amps are too flubby for me lol.

hence my boosting of them. but yeah i would drop the bass/lows down pre noon range and engage the deep switch.

i ran mine with 75's as well. V30's were just a bit too toppy with the DSL.

the other speaker that kicks ass is an eminience wizard or green beret. the green beret's early breakup but the lows are tought.

 

[paul-e-mann]

Thats right! Play around with the deep switch and turn your lows down a bit. Also try turn your presence down will top off the highs.

 

[BeardedRetroGuy]

Personally, I like the lows where they are...any more would be too much. The mids are great, I just want to tame (or round out) the highs a little. I thinks it's those highs that give it some chime on the green channel and that's good, just need to take the edge off a bit without changing anything else about the tone. Hopefully that will come with the speaker breaking in, but the bass is going to have to tight up too or I'm going to be looking for a different speaker.

...my 2 pennies.

Have you tried turning down the Treble knob yet? *sarcastic look*

 

[big dooley]

lows at 4/11 oclock deep in. pres and treb to taste? i like bright so i would often have the presence WAY up and have the treble at about 5/noon. this with a boost as well though. without a boost the lows were too flubby but almost all amps are too flubby for me lol.

hence my boosting of them. but yeah i would drop the bass/lows down pre noon range and engage the deep switch.

i ran mine with 75's as well. V30's were just a bit too toppy with the DSL.

the other speaker that kicks ass is an eminience wizard or green beret. the green beret's early breakup but the lows are tought.

Thats right! Play around with the deep switch and turn your lows down a bit. Also try turn your presence down will top off the highs.

deep switch???? its a resonance control in the new series, guys...

 

[BeardedRetroGuy]

deep switch???? its a resonance control in the new series, guys...

Oh, only about 5% of the people that frequent this forum actually read and retain information, dude. Don't waste your time.

 

[diesect20022000]

deep switch???? its a resonance control in the new series, guys...

i was referencing the old model but way to be anal.

okay adjust the RESONANCE to about 1 oclock.

 

[diesect20022000]

Oh, only about 5% of the people that frequent this forum actually read and retain information, dude. Don't waste your time.

wait what? i already forgot what you said