Marshall Dsl 40c Vs Blackstar Ht-40 - My Perspective

[renips]

My brother is considering the both amps mentioned in this thread. He is just starting to play again. I am a Marshall fan and those are the only amps I own. My brother asked my opinion and of course I started helping him do some research. A couple of Marshall engineers started Blackstar. So the apple does not fall far from the tree. Let me say that both amps have their own sound and voicing and are able to be manipulated to give some very nice tones. I always look toward the future and after years of experience when looking to buy gear. Both amps have an effects loop. This very important. Even if a person does not know how to use it or they choose not to it is there. As a person gets more involved in playing and wants to add pedals , racks whatever an effects loop is important. Both score on that. They both score on tone manipulation.

Here is where I think Marshall dropped the ball. The blackstar comes with an emulated speaker out. The Marshall does not. My HAZE 40C has this. Why did Marshall not move this over to the DSL 40C? What if I wanted to go direct into the board and mic the cab with a Neumann TLM 102? I can't. Now to many people this does not matter. But if you record like I do having the option of going direct into a recording console while miking the cab and mixing them is awesome. If you play live and want to have a mix going to the sound board and having a mix from the speaker you can. Most people will not even think about this so for that reason to many it is a moot point. But if you are forward looking and want the best bang for the buck I think I have to say that Blackstar is giving it here. I love Marshalls and will always play them but I have to say that I am advising my brother to go with the blackstar with all things being considered.

 

[gary moore]

. I bought the Marshall.

hope its more reliable than the two I had?

 

[BanditPanda]

My brother is considering the both amps mentioned in this thread. He is just starting to play again. I am a Marshall fan and those are the only amps I own. My brother asked my opinion and of course I started helping him do some research. A couple of Marshall engineers started Blackstar. So the apple does not fall far from the tree. Let me say that both amps have their own sound and voicing and are able to be manipulated to give some very nice tones. I always look toward the future and after years of experience when looking to buy gear. Both amps have an effects loop. This very important. Even if a person does not know how to use it or they choose not to it is there. As a person gets more involved in playing and wants to add pedals , racks whatever an effects loop is important. Both score on that. They both score on tone manipulation.

Here is where I think Marshall dropped the ball. The blackstar comes with an emulated speaker out. The Marshall does not. My HAZE 40C has this. Why did Marshall not move this over to the DSL 40C? What if I wanted to go direct into the board and mic the cab with a Neumann TLM 102? I can't. Now to many people this does not matter. But if you record like I do having the option of going direct into a recording console while miking the cab and mixing them is awesome. If you play live and want to have a mix going to the sound board and having a mix from the speaker you can. Most people will not even think about this so for that reason to many it is a moot point. But if you are forward looking and want the best bang for the buck I think I have to say that Blackstar is giving it here. I love Marshalls and will always play them but I have to say that I am advising my brother to go with the blackstar with all things being considered.

Hi nips. Being new to this I do not understand what is preventing you from micing the cab and go straight into the board?
BP
ps. Jeesh,the bloody thread is 3 years old !!!

 

[marshallmellowed]

Most emulated outputs are not that great sounding, which is probably why most don't care much about them. There could be exceptions, of course.

 

[solarburn]

I've had my DSL40C for over 3 yrs.

Straight in except a bit of delay. Phone recording.



These 2 are OD boosted. Mildly on the Green channel.

 

[Tripp912]

I have a DSL40C and a Blackstar HT-5R (I do like me some verb). I am not doggin the HT-5R, but in my opinion, the DSL does have a better overall sound.

 

[crossy67]

A lot of people here are comparing Blackstars ht range with great Marshall’s. Don’t get me wrong the ht range is ok but the series ones are so much superior! I have both Marshall and Blackstar and while the Blackstar sounds great you just can’t beat a great Marshall.

 

[johncart]

Hi, I recently placed an order for a Marshall DSL 40C and wanted to share my perspective of why I did it and why I chose it over the Blackstar HT-40

 

[johncart]

my experience with a blackstar 40w a bit strange...first trial was a brand new BS ht40 amp in person at a store...at low volumes...nice look and at bedroom levels I thought it was pretty good...two weeks later coming back to buy that amp found it gone...so online i went, for $599 I found a Blackstar 40 SE....bought it,,,and for the next month tried to like it....sounded sterile...too bright thin and buzzy...sold it fo a huge loss. ended up getting a used blues deluxe ri with a ts-9 it had the gain i liked and a warmer clean...since then I have purchased a couple of traynors(YBa-1a and a ycv50B)...then came the mojotone JTM45....then what I call my "Codebreaker 50"...which has become my go to amp..its a code50 amp in a single 12 Bluesbreaker cabinet...i have modded a dozen presets in it to have my fender cleans to my Montrose crunch. Its light, looks gorgeous and is loud enough to do those sunday open mike jams...just went to a Quinn Sullivan show and the opening act had a very thin/harsh lead guitar sound that stood out from the warm chords of the rythym player. guess what it was?...a Blackstar40.....sigh) ..In my opinion,Blackstar 40 with the el34's is a gorgeous looking amp..but sounding more like a bad solid state amp....moral?....cant go wrong with the right Marshall, theres a model to please every ear.

 

[Bill Fetter]

I've had the dsl40c for about a week now. I paid $399 from Sweetwater. I really like it. I had a DSL 401, maybe 3 or 4 years ago, but it was way too loud for home use.

I noticed two open holes on the chassis next to the el34s... Does anyone know what that's all about?

I run my new dsl40c on 20 watts... At that level it almost blew the doors off my house!!!

I guess Jim Marshall truly is the Godfather of loud!!

 

[ken361]

same chassis for the 100 watt head that uses 4 el34's