Looking for a mid sized amp

[Sgrady41]

I am an old guy from the 60-70s and 80s. Started playing the 6 string again after 35 years. Have a fender 15 Watt fender tube and wanting to get Marshall. I am not gigging, play with some friends. I am a bass player.

Have looked at a 40c, oringal 50 Combo and recently a friend is selling a code 100. I have tried to research but things are all over the board.

I have quite a few pedals. Broad range of guitars. Mainly Gibsons and a Tele. Looking for advice on best all around I prefer pedals to get the tones. I guess old school that way.

Thank you in advance.

 

[nickfox]

Welcome to the forum. I would get a DSL40CR. Sounds great quiet or loud and works well with or without pedals. I like to use mine with a treble booster on the crunch channel.

 

[Jethro Rocker]

I second the DSL40CR, I had a 40C and it covers a lot of ground. You can retire a couple pedals, too.
If you want to use pedals to get tones with a clean platform, I personally don't see why you would go to Marshall.

 

[Matthews Guitars]

My vote would be for a 2204, a 1970s/1980s 50 watt master volume model that pretty much defines the Marshall tone + master volume. I had a DSL100H briefly and I could never get a tone out of it that I really liked. But all I have to do is plug into a 2204 or 2203 (50 and 100 watt models, but basically the same amp otherwise) and there's the sound I like. Given your age category, it's likely that you may prefer it, too.

 

[Jethro Rocker]

My vote would be for a 2204, a 1970s/1980s 50 watt master volume model that pretty much defines the Marshall tone + master volume. I had a DSL100H briefly and I could never get a tone out of it that I really liked. But all I have to do is plug into a 2204 or 2203 (50 and 100 watt models, but basically the same amp otherwise) and there's the sound I like. Given your age category, it's likely that you may prefer it, too.

As OP wants a combo, That would be the 4010 or 4104 combos. That would be killer too but can get very loud very fast. Depends what level OP can play at most of the time and how much versatility.
They do embody the sound of the 70s/80s but do sound better louder.

 

[MikiDord smf]

I am an old guy from the 60-70s and 80s. Started playing the 6 string again after 35 years. Have a fender 15 Watt fender tube and wanting to get Marshall. I am not gigging, play with some friends. I am a bass player.

Have looked at a 40c, oringal 50 Combo and recently a friend is selling a code 100. I have tried to research but things are all over the board.

I have quite a few pedals. Broad range of guitars. Mainly Gibsons and a Tele. Looking for advice on best all around I prefer pedals to get the tones. I guess old school that way.

Thank you in advance.

Welcome to the forum. Both 40c and Original 50c are nice amps, very different in terms of sound. Origin is imho great for blues, country and classical hard rock and since you have pedals you can dial a great sounds.
DSL40c is superb and no need for pedals even for high gain for the 1st time, bit it may happen that in the future you would like to change a bit of sound so again you can use pedals.

It is very subjective, IMHO origin is a bit better pedal platform and i like a bit of an old school PCB and components (again subjective opinion). I'm not saying that DSL ain't well made because it is a great amp and well made amp.

For home use and gigs and direct recording DSL40 combo is maybe better. Honestly that is a hard decision.

If i may only say since you are still searching in my opinion it's better to get a smaller head it's easier for caring around, they have nice 20w DSL heads and origin in 50W head also is out there. Maybe some other Marshall 50W head or a tube combo that is that price range.
Marshall Haze 2nd hand are all tube amps and they are cheep 2nd hand, a good sounding amps imho.
(For me personally it is a bit problematic to drag a combo into a car often so that why i mentioned heads and cabinet as separate units)

Also instead code i would rather take a Solid state Marshall, or a valvestate 50 Marshall heads or combos which are excellent and they are in price range of Code or under (valvestate Marshalls) . Then in the future when you can try out well tube marshalls and decide without a rush, with 2nd hand valvestate you can get back money.
I do like to help, but since i had the same decisions to make among those 2 types of amps it was very hard, they are different. Because i have a lot of pedals and other amps i ended up with origin head, but i took 20w and for a small band it's great.
It seems to me that for a gigging musicians 40 DSL is more popular and i know some people who play the blues rock and use that amp as their main one. Plus you can play any type of rock and metal on it and country to, it has a nice clean sound.

Probably i didn't help you much, good luck with what ever you choose.

 

[fitz]

I am an old guy from the 60-70s and 80s. Started playing the 6 string again after 35 years. Have a fender 15 Watt fender tube and wanting to get Marshall. I am not gigging, play with some friends. I am a bass player.

Have looked at a 40c, oringal 50 Combo and recently a friend is selling a code 100. I have tried to research but things are all over the board.

I have quite a few pedals. Broad range of guitars. Mainly Gibsons and a Tele. Looking for advice on best all around I prefer pedals to get the tones. I guess old school that way.

Thank you in advance.

to the forum.
I can only speak for the DSL and the Origin 20w heads.
Very different - love them both because of the difference.
It's hard for me to recommend one over the other.

I've also had the CODE 100H and the 25C.
Not a plug in, fiddle a few knobs, and rock away type of amp.
The new Gateway app is a big improvement over the last few versions.
You'd need to be ok with spending some time setting up presets and saving the set-ups that you want to use.
I still have my 25 modded into a micro-stack and I think it's a great little home use modeler.
Wouldn't recommend a CODE for a main amp.

 

[-BOOGIEMAN-]

You can’t go wrong with either the Origin or DSL combos. I’d play both for comparison and choose which would fit the type of music you play best. When dialed in properly, both will provide the classic rock tones, but the DSL will do 80’s stuff without the need for pedals should you choose at lower volumes.

 

[scozz]

Welcome to the forum.

I agree about the Dsl40cr, that's a good first Marshall I think, not terribly expensive either. Especially when looking at the prices for Made in England Marshall amps.

 

[LPMarshall hack]

If you prefer to get your sounds from pedals…Origin is a great pedal platform…it’s what they were designed for. Plus they sound great on their own.

Look up Mitch’s clips…I’m sure he’ll chime in. He also has DSLs and gets great tones with those, too.

 

[paul-e-mann]

I am an old guy from the 60-70s and 80s. Started playing the 6 string again after 35 years. Have a fender 15 Watt fender tube and wanting to get Marshall. I am not gigging, play with some friends. I am a bass player.

Have looked at a 40c, oringal 50 Combo and recently a friend is selling a code 100. I have tried to research but things are all over the board.

I have quite a few pedals. Broad range of guitars. Mainly Gibsons and a Tele. Looking for advice on best all around I prefer pedals to get the tones. I guess old school that way.

Thank you in advance.

I suggest a 20 watt Origin combo would get you some old school tone and lend itself as a good pedal platform. If the budget allows it I think you'd also enjoy the 20 watt SC20 combo. Welcome!

 

[SkyMonkey]

Simple pedal platform: Origin 50C.

But if you need loud clean tones, maybe the 40CR is a better choice.

 

[Mitchell Pearrow]

@Sgrady41
The Dsl40cr’s, or the Origin 50c will both do what you want, or go down to the 20 watt version’s

To The Forum


Cheers
Mitch

 

[Solid State]

The DSL40C/CR is always the correct choice. It's one of the best combo amps Marshall has ever made.

 

[G the wildman]

Well there is a lot of support here for the DSL40.

I have a 5 watt model a cr and it is a great home amp.

I had an original DSL 40 not the latest model. Sorry if people don’t agree, but I found it brittle.

I had a JVM and liked that a lot.

G

 

[Cal Nevari]

I am an old guy from the 60-70s and 80s. Started playing the 6 string again after 35 years. Have a fender 15 Watt fender tube and wanting to get Marshall. I am not gigging, play with some friends. I am a bass player.

Have looked at a 40c, oringal 50 Combo and recently a friend is selling a code 100. I have tried to research but things are all over the board.

I have quite a few pedals. Broad range of guitars. Mainly Gibsons and a Tele. Looking for advice on best all around I prefer pedals to get the tones. I guess old school that way.

Thank you in advance.

Really like my Origin 20C. It is light, inexpensive, and sounds fantastic, with or without pedals. YMMV.

 

[Cal Nevari]

After reading over the comments, I can second all of the recommendations for the DSL40CR; however, it is heavier and more expensive than the Origin 20C and I never have been able to dial in a distortion that I like on the DSL. That said, the Classic Gain Crunch channel is fantastic. Best to audition both, if possible.

 

[Bull Rock]

I recently sold my 40CR...but it was a great amp, lots of power and played great quiet too...a heavy tank though. I'm a kinda old guy with a bad back so I recently played the 20 watt dsl and the Blackstar ht20mkii side by side for over an hour at all volume settings. I dont gig anymore so the slightly lighter 20 Watters worked better for my back lol. I ended up taking the Blackstar home but.... BOTH WERE FANTASTIC. Can't go wrong either way. You can gig with either, there's enough power. I like the origins, but you've got to really wind them up to get some good grind out of em....unless youre using pedals. The dsl and the Blackstar you just need a cable and a guitar. All good choices. Good luck

 

[Jethro Rocker]

Well there is a lot of support here for the DSL40.

I have a 5 watt model a cr and it is a great home amp.

I had an original DSL 40 not the latest model. Sorry if people don’t agree, but I found it brittle.

I had a JVM and liked that a lot.

G

The CR sounds quite different. The original could be harsh with the stock 70/80 agreed.
JVM is killer if one wants versatility

 

[Bull Rock]

The cr was a great gigging amp for me personally. Ticked all the boxes.