I hate my DSL40C

[brp]

I took a lot of heat here earlier.

People were just giving you things to consider, trying to help you as a member and new tube amp owner. No one was giving you "heat".
You took their suggestions of factors to consider to make sure you are taking them into consideration way too personally.

 

[cecil1]

Its junk. Read what Quasar Kid said. Now what Marshall to buy?

 

[brp]

Read what Ken said. Confirm yours is biased correctly before ditching your brand new tube amp. It's extremely important to attaining the tone you're after.
Tube amps, especially NEW fixed bias amps are not always "plug n' play".

And a first run of a brand new design at that

 

[paul-e-mann]

Maybe its worth taking to a tech to check what the optimal setting is for bias. Set the bias, then go to your local music store and plug it into a used 2x12 or 4x12 with 75's or V30's or greenbacks and let it rip. If it still sounds like $h!t (I got a feeling it will sound good) then see if you can swap it in for something you like. I bet a music store would do an even trade for your new amp for a used whatever they got.

 

[jwebb1970]

Being that you bought it new, I would consider returning it for a replacement first. Your claim of "mud" contradicts most of what I have heard about this combo - sounds like you may have got a lemon. Confirm this first - If the replacement also sucks, look elsewhere. It is your $$ - you have the right to be happy with the product.

If it has gotta say Marshall on it, consider Craigslist/ebay for future shopping.

I played thru the new DSL 100 head (into a 1960A cab) @ the local GC recently. Both @ low to moderate volumes (got some power tube grind). Thought it sounded....well....like a Marshall, but it does have gobs of gain that those old Marshalls did not have on their own. I would be happy to gig with it - seemed to keep up for the most part with the mid & late 70s Marshalls I've owned/gigged with over the years - just with some modern features & some cheaper components. For the $$, it seems to be a pretty sweet amp if your budget does not allow for a "real" Marshall.

Then again, if looking for a 70s/80s distortion sound (not so high gain & containing actual midrange frequencies), an MXR Custom Badass '78 Distortion ($79) will give you that in the clean channel of just about any amp.

 

[cecil1]

Bottom line is. I am not working on my brand new amp. No way in hell I should have to. Are you kidding me. $700 and I need to work on it? Forget it.

 

[Jammers5]

Bottom line is. I am not working on my brand new amp. No way in hell I should have to. Are you kidding me. $700 and I need to work on it? Forget it.

I understand you not wanting to throw money into a new amp. The cold hard facts are that, in order to maximize profits, new >$1000 tube amps are getting cheap tubes thrown in them, and these amps may not be biased properly.

Here's an idea - I know you bought it online, but is there a guitar shop in your area that is an authorized Marshall repair centre? Maybe they would check the bias under warranty if you tell them you are unhappy with the sound. If so, you may be able to buys some new tubes and have them installed during the warranty repair.

Just a suggestion, up to you what you do. Unfortunately this is the world we live in now, heck try and find a guitar for under a grand that doesn't need a setup!

Good luck in whatever you do!

J5

 

[cecil1]

Let me throw this out. What about pickups? I have a Gibson Les Paul Standard. Original pickups. Will changing them make a difference?

 

[Adrian R]

Bummer...

Oscar the Donkey who cries like a baby - YouTube

 

[brp]

Bottom line is. I am not working on my brand new amp. No way in hell I should have to. Are you kidding me. $700 and I need to work on it? Forget it.

Biasing your amp's tubes is not really "working" on it and is part and parcel of owning a tube amp. It seems you failed to understand that before buying one.
This is NOT a repair or modification. It is standard operating procedure as part of proper setup of a new tube amp.

I can understand you being miffed that it didn't come from the factory set to where it will sound best but that only underscores your lack of understanding of the bias adjustment control and the proper operation of fixed bias tube amps. These things can drift and require recalibrating, that's why there's an adjustment control. The fact that you didn't understand what it was you were getting into and the care, setup and adjustments required when purchasing and operating a fixed bias tube amp is NOT Marshall's nor the DSL40C design's fault.

 

[paul-e-mann]

I like the suggestion to take it in for warranty check repair. Have a pro tell its good or bad. Bottom line youre not happy with its performance.

 

[rmlevasseur]

I apologize if i appeared to be one of the posts that you took as critical. On the other hand, i also said I didn't truly love my soldano until i put NOS RCA tubes in it. You would not even believe how much better some of my vintage stuff sounded when i removed all the crap groove tubes i bought ten years ago.

With that said, PLEASE post a clip. I think everyone now would like to hear this. It's not hard and i bet you will get the best answers then. It's not a matter of whether you can play well or have played long enough. A lot of these guys can hear issues in one chord.

 

[guitargoalie]

Let me throw this out. What about pickups? I have a Gibson Les Paul Standard. Original pickups. Will changing them make a difference?

it would make a difference but it's not a deciding factor in an amps muddy fizzy tone, I have standard burtbucker pros in mine and they are clear

 

[thenoodler]

Let me throw this out. What about pickups? I have a Gibson Les Paul Standard. Original pickups. Will changing them make a difference?

Yes. Your guitar/pickup combo is the basis for your sound. I'm not suggesting changing pickups will make you like the amp any better but it will change your sound. Case in point, I bought a 2012 LP std. I couldn't stand the stock pickups after a couple of days. The sound was way too brite. So I dropped in a couple of SD Alnico Pro II's and bingo, much better. Of course pickups can be a crap shoot too if you don't know what you are getting. I suggest finding a place that will coach you through the selection, and allow you to exchange them until you get exactly the sound you are after.

It may be that you don't like the sound you are getting from the combo enclosure. You should try plugging into a 4x12 cab and see if that doesn't change your mind. ( Haul your amp to Guitar Center and tell them you want to try it out with a Marshall 4x12 cab. At least you will know if its the circuit you don't like or the combo form factor. If you like the sound through a 4x12, then you should look into exchanging or trading the combo for a head, and saving up for a cab.

 

[cecil1]

You are correct. I had no idea about maybe having to have the amp maybe serviced. Seems unreal to me to have to get it worked on.

 

[chuckelator]

Quasar-Kid. Thank you. I just turned the gain down and volume up. It sounded better. But who in the hell can play that loud at home? Also thank you to the previous poster who mentioned trying this. I knew damn well I knew what I was talking about. I took a lot of heat here earlier. Now what Marshall to buy?

This is where I stopped reading the thread. you bought a 40w amp...WAY too loud for home use... That's the problem. You don't get good tones out of a tube amp without pushing it hard, and when you're pushing a 40w amp hard, it's FUCKING LOUD!

You'd be better off with getting a Class 5 or something of that nature. Even that 5w amp is pretty loud, but seems that's going to be the tone you're after, and is manageable for home use.

Either that, or get an Egnater Tweaker, or a H&K Tubemeister if you're looking for versatility.

 

[rmlevasseur]

Don't agree with that last post at all. I have heard many 100 watt Amps with good master volumes that sound far superior to the 15 watt stuff at low volume. Many of these high gain amps today aren't even built for power amp distortion. It's simpy not true that you can't get a good LOUD amp that also sounds good at low volume. That hasn't been the case for a long time.

 

[Sournote]

Let me throw this out. What about pickups? I have a Gibson Les Paul Standard. Original pickups. Will changing them make a difference?

What I'm not getting is why you insist on trying to get the tone you are looking for from the gain channel if classic crunch is what you want. Have you tried the clean channel on crunch mode?

Now I agree with you, that you shouldn't have to change tube's, speakers or circuitry to get great tone out of a new Marshall tube amp. However, this forum is full of people that will tell you thats exactly what you have to do even if you buy a "real" Marshall, which is not what you currently own according to these internet experts. If you are looking for someone eager to tell you your brand new Marshall is a POS you've come to the right place.

You'll also find some here that will genuinely try and help you diagnose your issue and that requires asking some questions about what you've tried and what you haven't.

These are first run amps and it is very possible you have a real issue, but your description of what you are hearing is not consistent with other complaints of the amp being too bright. You basic complaint as far as I can tell is the Ultra Gain channel is just what it says it is. Ultra Gainy, and not great sounding until you crank the volume quite a bit. You are just not gonna get the same sound out of a tube amp at low volume that you can get from a modeling amp. Conversely, you're never gonna' get that organic tube warmth from a solid state modeling amp. I played about 3 hours today and got nice useable tone on the clean with nice grit for blues jamming, Skynyrd, AD/DC and Sabbath tones on Lead 1 with the gain around 2. Its a very different amp than my Classic 30, and doesn't do everything as well, but it does Marshall Crunch and Sabbath tones much better than the PV, but I'm very happy with the amp.

If I were in your shoes, I'd likely advise the retailer you weren't happy and start the dialog about shipping the amp back. If you really want a tube amp (and I've never owned anything but tube amps)you problaby need to look at something 5 watts or less if you are playing only at home so you can push the tubes without rattling the house off the foundation.

Good Luck.

 

[cecil1]

Sournote that is a great response. To get very close to what I am looking for I have to play clean channel crunch with my Metal Muff. Also have the amp in Triode mode. Cuts the watts back to 20. Thanks for your help.

 

[NewReligion]

Get out and play some amps then buy what you like.

$.02