Just ordered a JCM 2000 DSL 401

[Gen-Xer]

Well I pulled the trigger on a DSL 401. I’ve been doing a lot of research and landed between the 40c/40cr and the 401. It seems like the general consensus is 40cr then 40c then 401. I just found the tone of the 401 in the clips more to my liking than the 40s. It will be a week before it arrives but I’m like a giddy kid waiting for it.

 

[Whizzercone]

I had a 40C for awhile. I just didn't have the need to keep it with a JVM and a full modeling rig. It sounded good as was loud AF though.

 

[NumbSkull]

Great amp, mine has skulls on too.
Cant go wrong with it, sounds killer.

 

[JohnH]

I still have my dsl401 after 18 years. Some things to look forward to:

The green channel is really excellent when pushed with its own gain, or your favourite drive pedal. (better than OD1 IMO)
OD2 is great for a searing high-gain lead tone
You get a real spring reverb.
The DI out is surprisingly good. Its fine for a feed to a PA, or double track with a mic for recording. Or if you have a mixer with phones, itll give you a very acceptable late-night silent-jamming solution.
The FX is parallel, so there's always direct dry signal. So put your loop FX pedals to max wet and max the amp FX knob.

There's a few quirks on these, and they are around 20 years old now, so happy to discuss fixes and mods, but if you have a good one then its a great little amp.

 

[Gen-Xer]

T

I still have my dsl401 after 18 years. Some things to look forward to:

The green channel is really excellent when pushed with its own gain, or your favourite drive pedal. (better than OD1 IMO)
OD2 is great for a searing high-gain lead tone
You get a real spring reverb.
The DI out is surprisingly good. Its fine for a feed to a PA, or double track with a mic for recording. Or if you have a mixer with phones, itll give you a very acceptable late-night silent-jamming solution.
The FX is parallel, so there's always direct dry signal. So put your loop FX pedals to max wet and max the amp FX knob.

There's a few quirks on these, and they are around 20 years old now, so happy to discuss fixes and mods, but if you have a good one then it’s a great little amp.

Thanks. I did do something I never ever do and that’s buy the GC warranty. After reading about some of the issues, I figured it was worth it to tack on a warranty. I’m not afraid of doing my own work. With the help of this forum I brought a 8040 back to life. I just figured that with some of the things I have read about the 401, a warranty wasn’t the worst idea. Regardless, I will be looking to make sure I don’t have to use it so I will probably start working on mods to prevent overheating if it hasn’t already had that done.

 

[tmingle]

I have owned all 3. Besides the well documented quality issues on the 401, I found the 40C(after a speaker change) to be a much better amp than the 401.
The 40CR has a bunch of added features & after adding a bright cap on the gain channel, the 40CR is on a whole other level from the other 2. It is hands down
the best bedroom amp I have ever owned. I got tired of fixing the 401 every 3-6 months & sold it. My 401 was a very early model & was supposedly improved

 

[tmingle]

T

Thanks. I did do something I never ever do and that’s buy the GC warranty. After reading about some of the issues, I figured it was worth it to tack on a warranty. I’m not afraid of doing my own work. With the help of this forum I brought a 8040 back to life. I just figured that with some of the things I have read about the 401, a warranty wasn’t the worst idea. Regardless, I will be looking to make sure I don’t have to use it so I will probably start working on mods to prevent overheating if it hasn’t already had that done.

That was a smart move! FYI, if they can't fix it after a few tries they have to replace it. Please post some pics & include the serial# once you receive it. Also, check to see if it has EI branded tubes.

 

[Gen-Xer]

That was a smart move! FYI, if they can't fix it after a few tries they have to replace it. Please post some pics & include the serial# once you receive it. Also, check to see if it has EI branded tubes.

Will do. This one was so new in the door that it didn’t have a picture yet. It did come with the foot switch which was a bonus.

 

[Doomguy]

I revisited mine recently and had lots of fun playing it. I use a 1x12 closed back cab with a V30 cause I remember not liking the stock speaker a lot.

I see many times people comparing it with the current DSL40s (which I think are pretty fantastic btw) but I think they are very different amps, despite their name.

While the DSL40s are similar in functionality and features with their 100watt big brother, the DSL401 was radically different from the JCM 2000 heads. Different tubes (el84s), knobs, buttons etc. It was its own thing.

While it lacks the 4 "channels" that the current DSLs and the old DSL heads had, it has 3 but actually SWITCHABLE channels with actual separate EQ for the OD ones, which is really useful.

I used it regularly for gigging as a pedal platform since it takes pedals really well.

But i think the OD channels are useable too. You get great sounds from them. As long as you have the master above 5 (6 is the sweet spot) they sound great and not fizzy at all.
I play with it now and forgot how much fun I had using the OD channels.

Keep in mind it can sound really bad (i have seen horrible videos of this amp on YouTube) if not used properly : if it's too loud to play at home with the master beyond 5, DON'T turn the master volume low. Set the volume of the OD channel as low as possible and the master as high as you can (almost all the way up) and you get a great tone. If you do it the other way around, i.e. OD channel volume half way up or more and the master volume at 1-2, you will get a fizzy mess.

In this scenario with the master volume all the way up and the OD volume low, remember to turn the gain of the clean channel down (it works both as gain and volume, the OD channels have different gain and volume knobs) in case you accidentally switch to the green channel so that you don't hurt your ears!

Enjoy the amp

 

[tmingle]

Will do. This one was so new in the door that it didn’t have a picture yet. It did come with the foot switch which was a bonus.

Mine came with EI tubes. My amp was never the same after I replaced them. FYI, when you receive the amp, play it for 45 minutes or so. Carefully touch the front panel to see if it gets extremely hot. Mine got so hot that it was uncomfortable to touch. If it does, return to sender. I may seem negative, but the early JCM2000 amps had serious issues. The heads were addressed with replacement boards, but the 401's were totally ignored by Marshall.

 

[Gen-Xer]

So it finally arrived yesterday evening. The first issue is that even though I paid for the more expensive of the two they had on stock, I did so because the one I ordered came with the foot switch. Unfortunately, they didn’t send the foot switch so I’m calling today.

It’s a year 2000 model so before the cold biasing. After about 45 mins, the plate was warm to the touch. Not too hot but I can see with another half an hour to an hour, it would get there. I checked the speaker in the back and it had been swapped with a Carvin G12 16 Ohm 100 Watt. It sounded surprisingly good. These seem to be an inexpensive version of a v30.

It looks to be in great condition with the exception of a small hole in the tolex at the right corner base of the amp.

Sound was pretty good. It wasn’t quite dialed in as good as some of the sound clips I heard but right now, that probably has more to do with me needing to play around and dial in what I’m looking for.

The big surprise so far was the yellow channel? Everyone talked about the red and green channels but the yellow od was really nice for soloing. It kind of has that “starting to break up” sound.

These are just initial thoughts and I will probably feel totally different as I get initimate with this amp.

My next project will be to work on mods to keep the heat down.

 

[tmingle]

So it finally arrived yesterday evening. The first issue is that even though I paid for the more expensive of the two they had on stock, I did so because the one I ordered came with the foot switch. Unfortunately, they didn’t send the foot switch so I’m calling today.

It’s a year 2000 model so before the cold biasing. After about 45 mins, the plate was warm to the touch. Not too hot but I can see with another half an hour to an hour, it would get there. I checked the speaker in the back and it had been swapped with a Carvin G12 16 Ohm 100 Watt. It sounded surprisingly good. These seem to be an inexpensive version of a v30.

It looks to be in great condition with the exception of a small hole in the tolex at the right corner base of the amp.

Sound was pretty good. It wasn’t quite dialed in as good as some of the sound clips I heard but right now, that probably has more to do with me needing to play around and dial in what I’m looking for.

The big surprise so far was the yellow channel? Everyone talked about the red and green channels but the yellow od was really nice for soloing. It kind of has that “starting to break up” sound.

These are just initial thoughts and I will probably feel totally different as I get initimate with this amp.

My next project will be to work on mods to keep the heat down.

Most people, including me installed a fan. It did not help. EL84's get hot & are mounted upside down on the PCB. The heat & bias the are totally unrelated, the heat comes from the filaments.

 

[GeeJay]

Congrats on getting your DSL.

I’ve had a DSL401 since 2000 (it was made in 1999) and built a matching 1x12 extension cab for it (G12-T75) shortly afterwards. I stil use it at home and for band practice/gigs from 2002-2016. Have always been fairly happy with its tone and have been complimented on tone numerous times at gigs. For the most part it has been reliable.

I changed the power tubes and some of the preamp tubes (left the original Marshall tube in P1) with JJ-Tesla in 2003/4. It had another set of power tubes + phase inverter tube in 2012 or thereabouts and could probably do with another set now, though I played it for and hour today and it sounded fine.

Issues:
- the tube heater rectifier died during the warranty period and was replaced by Marshall FoC and has been fine since. If it went again, I would fix it myself and make sure it’s raised from the board and has a heat sink.
- years ago, the foot switch Jackplug got knocked and this damage a track on the main PCB. Repaired this with a soldering iron and it’s been fine since.
- a small fuse on the circuit board (I can’t remember which one at the moment) has blown two or three times over the last 20-years. I used to carry some spares just in case, but I don’t remember being let down by the amp when it mattered.

… Enjoy!

 

[GeeJay]

PS - This site has some useful information

Marshall JCM2000 DSL Schematics - Dr.Tube

www.drtube.com

Oops, no it doesn’t. Used to though. I’ll have to dig some stuff out and see if I can post it.

 

[Gen-Xer]

PS - This site has some useful information

Marshall JCM2000 DSL Schematics - Dr.Tube

www.drtube.com

Oops, no it doesn’t. Used to though. I’ll have to dig some stuff out and see if I can post it.

Awesome. Thank you!

 

[GeeJay]

Awesome. Thank you!

You’re welcome.

 

[Gen-Xer]

Called GC and they are sending the foot switch. Ran into another problem though. I noticed that some of the lights were out in the house. Finally figured out that the breaker was tripped. I unplugged the 401 and was able to flip the breaker back. I then unplugged the three other amps that were plugged in but when I plug the 401 in it flips the breaker. I should note that all of the amps were off and even the 401 was off so it’s not turning it on that trips the breaker but just being plugged in. Not sure why it was fine to play yesterday but now just plugging it in trips the breaker. Do I just need to find a better place to plug it in or is this an issue with the amp?

 

[tmingle]

Called GC and they are sending the foot switch. Ran into another problem though. I noticed that some of the lights were out in the house. Finally figured out that the breaker was tripped. I unplugged the 401 and was able to flip the breaker back. I then unplugged the three other amps that were plugged in but when I plug the 401 in it flips the breaker. I should note that all of the amps were off and even the 401 was off so it’s not turning it on that trips the breaker but just being plugged in. Not sure why it was fine to play yesterday but now just plugging it in trips the breaker. Do I just need to find a better place to plug it in or is this an issue with the amp?

It sounds like something came loose during shipping.

 

[tmingle]

Probably a screw or something from a previous repair attempt. I would return it.

 

[giblesp]

I have one, its a great little combo. Better than the later DSL's IMO. Lovely cleans.