The Official Marshall DSL40c Information Thread

[MarshallDog]

You are correct Dog, it is darker which is fine for the dirty channel but I miss my cleans. What tube would you suggest in V1 to clean it up a little. Will order today and bias a little lower when it comes in. BTW my plate voltage was 449.

The Tube Store 7025 is bright and clean and low noise. Check it out maybe you will like it.

 

[MarshallDog]

Hello everybody, long time reader, first time posting (except the introducing myself post). I started out reading this thread back in Oct. 2015. I was doing research on the DSL40c and found this. After reading off an on for about a month, I pulled the trigger and ordered one from Sweetwater. Came with the Creamback 65 already installed.

After about a month and a half of owning the amp, it started making popping noises and was really staticky and just didn't sound right. Being new to tube amps I wasn't sure what was wrong with it. After more reading of this thread, decided that I should change out the tubes and see if that helped. A lot of you had posted your tube choices, so I made a decision and bought these:



TAD-EL34B-STR Power tubes, TAD-7025WA in the first slot, Ruby 12AX7HG+ in the second, Mullard 12ax7 reissue in the third, and a Sovtek LPS in the fourth. When I first installed the power tubes and checked the bias (thanks for the info on doing that), they were way hot at like 58. Set them back to around 38.

Doing more reading on this thread, I learned that this amp sounds really good plugged into an external speaker. So I decided to build another cabinet for it. Doing some research on speakers, I settled on a Celestian Creamback 75 for the extension Cabinet. This is what I set out to do.



Well I had some wood left over wood from making that cabinet, so I thought what the heck, lets just make a small stack.



Here is the head cabinet:



And here is the finished product:



About a month and a half ago, switched it over to half power and turned it on and it just squealed like crazy. Turned it right back off and switched back to full power. Turned it back on an it was fine. Pulled out the chassis to check the bias. Checked the plate voltage first, one tube had no reading at all, other was in the 450 range. So doing some more research, settled on a pair of Svetlanas. Biased them again to 38 and put it back together. Decided last night to check the bias as it wasn't sounding right again. Plate voltage was 428, both tubes. Bias was at 32, both. Weber bias calculator said to bias them at 40.8. Tried that for bit, but lowered back to 38. Then as I was looking at the circuit board, I decided to try the C19 mod. WOW, what a difference it makes. Thanks to all who suggested it. I really enjoy this amp, makes playing that much more fun. Oh and by the way, I have read this whole thread from start to finish. Actually just finished it about 3 weeks ago. So those are my mods to this great amp, sorry for the long post.

Dam man, if you play guitar as good as you work with wood, look out. That is awesome!!! You mush have some serious woodworking tools, how long did all this take to do??

 

[ken361]

post some clips

 

[Screamin Willie]

Hello everybody, long time reader, first time posting (except the introducing myself post). I started out reading this thread back in Oct. 2015. I was doing research on the DSL40c and found this. After reading off an on for about a month, I pulled the trigger and ordered one from Sweetwater. Came with the Creamback 65 already installed.

After about a month and a half of owning the amp, it started making popping noises and was really staticky and just didn't sound right. Being new to tube amps I wasn't sure what was wrong with it. After more reading of this thread, decided that I should change out the tubes and see if that helped. A lot of you had posted your tube choices, so I made a decision and bought these:



TAD-EL34B-STR Power tubes, TAD-7025WA in the first slot, Ruby 12AX7HG+ in the second, Mullard 12ax7 reissue in the third, and a Sovtek LPS in the fourth. When I first installed the power tubes and checked the bias (thanks for the info on doing that), they were way hot at like 58. Set them back to around 38.

Doing more reading on this thread, I learned that this amp sounds really good plugged into an external speaker. So I decided to build another cabinet for it. Doing some research on speakers, I settled on a Celestian Creamback 75 for the extension Cabinet. This is what I set out to do.



Well I had some wood left over wood from making that cabinet, so I thought what the heck, lets just make a small stack.



Here is the head cabinet:



And here is the finished product:



About a month and a half ago, switched it over to half power and turned it on and it just squealed like crazy. Turned it right back off and switched back to full power. Turned it back on an it was fine. Pulled out the chassis to check the bias. Checked the plate voltage first, one tube had no reading at all, other was in the 450 range. So doing some more research, settled on a pair of Svetlanas. Biased them again to 38 and put it back together. Decided last night to check the bias as it wasn't sounding right again. Plate voltage was 428, both tubes. Bias was at 32, both. Weber bias calculator said to bias them at 40.8. Tried that for bit, but lowered back to 38. Then as I was looking at the circuit board, I decided to try the C19 mod. WOW, what a difference it makes. Thanks to all who suggested it. I really enjoy this amp, makes playing that much more fun. Oh and by the way, I have read this whole thread from start to finish. Actually just finished it about 3 weeks ago. So those are my mods to this great amp, sorry for the long post.

That is an awesome badass setup, man. Very nice. And nice work.

FWIW, when I had my head cabinet built, the front grill is "flow through" for the purpose of cooling.

Willie

 

[68nova]

MarshallDog, unfortunately, my wood working skills are better than my playing. I am a carpenters assistant working for a remodeling firm. I really can't say how long it took to do, cause I would work on it here and there, ordering stuff as I went along.

Ken, since my playing skills aren't that great, I will not be posting any clips unless I can get my brother-in-law over to play. He is a very good player.

Willie, that is what I was thinking also for more ventilation. Need to check if I have any grill cloth left over before I make any modifications to the front though.

 

[ken361]

c19 make any difference cut if the volume is high? or gain pass 5

 

[Bownse]

Are the dual cabs wired for the proper resistance match to the amp? I'm asking because I'm wondering if 8ohm plugged into the 16ohm jack (or some such) might be causing the squeel.

 

[ken361]

c19 make any difference cut if the volume is high? or gain pass 5

thanks for the ZERO answers!

 

[Screamin Willie]

Easy, man. It's the weekend.

C19 only affects the OD channel. The effect is not affected by the volume. The effect is affected by the gain. The higher the gain the less the effect. It is pretty much unnoticeable with the gain past 50%.

Of course, you would already know this if you had done your homework.

Willie

 

[68nova]

Ken, I haven't had a chance to turn it up much yet. I do know that I have the volume and gain set the exact same on both channels, and the c19 mod makes the red channel much more useable to me. I can switch channels and not have to turn down the red channel. That is not to say they are the same volume, but more useable, if that makes sense. I guess it acts like a boost. Red channel is way less harsh. But like I said, haven't been able to really test it out at volumes.

Bownse, both speakers are 16 ohm. The squeel was caused by the dead power tube. When I put the originals back in it was fine.

 

[ken361]

After watching Pete thorn's new video on running the delay up front like the old school days I decided to try it. I always find running straight in sounds best

Adding the loop some amps sound better then other's by beeing more transparent. The dsl is pretty good but I was loosing a tad of gain and dynamics. With low output of single coils it was noticeable.

I using it for a slight echo only keep in mind.Delays are much more dominant running straight in keep in mine and this is the only pedal I have but the tone rings out better and not BRIGHT!

 

[Bownse]

Interesting observation about SIDS tubes. I went through several when I first got the DSL40C. I always had the Marshall's (JJs) as backup but even with biasing every swap, I think tubes were lasting about 2 months at first. One or the other would die (IMO) far too soon.

The last set I got have been cruising along fine for many months (9/8/2015) now and are acting more like the tubes I had in my Fender Bassman back in the 70s.

Pulling my log, I see that the biggest difference was taking it to an amp pro and letting him check everything (and not just the bias).

 

[Snow and Steel]

If mine ate tubes every 2 months I'd be royally peeved. I biased my own amp, so I know exactly how well it was biased and I bought good tubes. If I find myself sinking $100 into it every 2 months I'll be getting rid of it.

My previous Marshall I replaced the tubes in it when I got it, then did 2 tours and never replaced the tubes ONCE. It was getting played 3-4 hours a night, 5 nights a week for several months on end! I checked them before I sold the amp and they were still showing excellent life.

There is no reason for the amp t be eating through the tubes that fast unless;
-the tubes themselves are bad - this might happen once but not all the time
-there is something wrong with the amp [bias drift, parts out of tolerance, etc etc]

 

[MarshallDog]

c19 make any difference cut if the volume is high? or gain pass 5

Sorry, I guess I read this and thought of it as a statement, not a question.

For me...no!! IMHO, this is one dam ass brite aggressive sounding amp stock. All I do is raise the tone knob on my LPS's from 6 to 7/8 when playing at lower volumes, its the best mod available for this amp IMO.

 

[tman]

I just ordered a new op trans and choke for my DSL40c. Did anybody else do this??Does it change the tone at all?

 

[MarshallDog]

I just ordered a new op trans and choke for my DSL40c. Did anybody else do this??Does it change the tone at all?

ClassicTone?

I put the ClassicTone choke in mine and thought it helped the low end and punch of the bass freq. Not that big a deal!!!

 

[Micky]

I just ordered a new op trans and choke for my DSL40c. Did anybody else do this??Does it change the tone at all?

You obviously have not read this thread...

 

[tman]

You obviously have not read this thread...

No I really didnt take the time to read all of it just wanted to say I ordered one and Im excited to put it in the amp. I like the tone I have but if it makes it that much better I was just curious.

 

[Micky]

No I really didnt take the time to read all of it just wanted to say I ordered one and Im excited to put it in the amp. I like the tone I have but if it makes it that much better I was just curious.

If you had taken the time to start at the beginning of the thread, you would realize that there are many others who have already done your homework for you. I am not saying this because I started the thread, but because there have been so many EXCELLENT contributors it is a travesty to have ignored them on purpose. There are many great photos as well, and you may actually find the read kinda interesting.

It is a tribute to all those who came before you, and required reading if you own a DSL40c...

 

[ken361]

Sorry, I guess I read this and thought of it as a statement, not a question.

For me...no!! IMHO, this is one dam ass brite aggressive sounding amp stock. All I do is raise the tone knob on my LPS's from 6 to 7/8 when playing at lower volumes, its the best mod available for this amp IMO.

Im not cutting it mine sounded great over the weekend and taking the delay out of the loop its not as bright! RCA v1 v2 RFT v3 Slyvania v4 Sovtek LPS Gold lions and the Tungsols work just fine in the v1 though