Marshall DSL40CR - Classic Gain Red channel louder than Ultra Gain Channels?

[Crazytrain513]

I had a Marshall DSL40CR a few years back and would go back and forth between the Classic Gain Red channel and the two Ultra Gain Channels (primarily the Green one though) depending on the song being played.

I sold it to fund other purchases but recently, found myself missing it and wanting something a little more portable for practices than my YJM head and 2x12 cab so I recently purchased another.

That one had issues so I exchanged it for what have now.

On the current amp I have now, it seems the Classic Gain Red Channel is noticeably louder than the Ultra Gain channels. Why is this? From my past experience, as well as what I read online here, most state the Classic Gain Red and the two Ultra Gain channels are about the same volume & can all be assigned to the same Master, with the Classic Gain GREEN channel being the one channel which is significantly quieter.

My Ultra Gain channels are not as quiet as the Classic Gain Green channel, but the Classic Gain Red channel is noticeably louder, and enough that switching between both channels requires two different masters to balance the volumes out.

Anyone else have this experience? Is there something wrong with this example? The last two DSL40CR’s I had did not behave this way.

I should note all three examples I speak of were biased to 35mv, but the amp behaved this way prior to me biasing it as well.

Thank you.

 

[Crazytrain513]

Anyone?

 

[SkyMonkey]

Not heard of this problem before @Crazytrain513!
My 40CR behaves as your old one did: Green MV for Classic Clean, Red MV for all the rest.
Do you have any preamp tubes to do a swap and check with.
i.e. one known good tube to try in all ECC83 positions.

 

[Crazytrain513]

Thanks for weighing in, @SkyMonkey.

Unfortunately I do not. I think if it is really an issue I'll probably end up giving it a go with one more exchange...

Are your Classic Gain RED channel and the Ultra Gain channels exactly the same volume or is one still slightly louder than the other? Because from what I remember in the last two examples I owned, they were really about the exact same volume.

I believe I could make the volume discrepancy on this amp work for me utilizing the two master volumes if I must. However if it really is not the norm for anyone else to have the discrepancies I have now, that makes me think there is something wrong with this example and that it could lead to other issues down the line, and in that case, I would probably return the amp rather than mess with tube swaps.

 

[SkyMonkey]

Sorry. I have now re-read your post.

Are your Classic Gain RED channel and the Ultra Gain channels exactly the same volume

No.
The Ultras are the same volume when using the same MV.
But the Classic Red is only the same volume as the Ultras if I set it to be so, using the Channel Volumes, and the same MV (red in my case).
The Classic Green needs to have it's own (Green) MV, only because it's quieter than the Classic Red it shares a Channel Volume with.

It is a slight PITA that you cannot use the MVs for a 'Solo' volume boost.
But that is actually normal for the DSL40CR, and was purportedly so for the DSL40C too (but with no MVs to compensate).
The Classic Green uses one less tetrode than the other channels, and therefore gets less of a gain multiplier.
Hence it's slightly quieter.

So, to re-cap.

Set Classic Red and Ultras to Red MV and balance the volumes at the ambient volume level you want.
Then set Classic Green to Green MV and use only the Green MV to balance the volume to the others.

 

[Crazytrain513]

Thank you again @SkyMonkey for the detailed information. That all makes sense to me.

One more question if I may - with your channel volumes cranked on both the Classic Gain Red channel and the Ultra Gain channel, and with the gain knobs both at 1 o'clock, which channel is louder on your DSL40CR?

 

[thesunship]

i'm back to the 40cr now that I have to do a set of 40 songs with difference sounds. What I'm finding is I like classic red on it's own MV and clean and the ultra gain channels on a boosted MV. Classic Crunch and Clean are now leveled and the Ultra gain channels are boosted for different types of solos. Using the volume knob or foot pedal for refinement.

I guess it depends on how you use it, but this works for me for boosting solos and balancing the green and red classic channels.

 

[Georgiatec]

You can set the clean/crunch channel volume independent of the ultra channels. I think with all the volumes maxed the red crunch is the loudest channel. I have that set on the green master volume lower than the red MV. Then I set the Ultra channels to the red MV. I only use the Ultra channels for solos so when I switch to either of them I get a volume boost as well.
I'm using the 6 button footswitch which remembers which MV was assigned to each channel, so it all works pretty seamlessly for me. I can also hit the MV button on the footswitch if I just want to boost the crunch channel for a bluesy solo....just have to remember to switch it back for rhythm.

 

[Nadir]

[..] On the current amp I have now, it seems the Classic Gain Red Channel is noticeably louder than the Ultra Gain channels. [..]

Is it a brand new or used one ?