The Official Marshall DSL40c Information Thread

[konrad gibson]

Well now I am officially a cork-sniffer...

Marty put together a HOAD (Hell Of A Deal) for me, and now I am an Official owner of some vintage NOS glass. I hope he will check in here and give an explanation of what I now have installed in my DSL, as I cannot begin to detail what is in there. They arrived last week:

The big part of the deal was the TAD EL34B-STR power tubes. These things are amazing. He was kind enough to allow me to test these tubes as long as I provided a review. These aren't NOS by any means, they are just new. When he measures the transconductance for the pair I got, it was higher than normal. I think this attributed to one of the major features I noticed with these tubes.

New power tubes alone made two slight but definite differences. The first thing I noticed is that the cleans seemed louder. This was the first big thing I noticed. The second thing I noticed was that it 'woke up' my reverb. I have no idea how this could happen, or what could cause this. The reverb seemed deeper and more intense. Normally it is weak and unremarkable, but now it is actually usable.

Here is a photo of one of the TAD's:

Next up would be V1, a vintage Mullard:

I never thought I could afford one of these. Wicked gain, perfect for Classic Rock...

In V2 a Raytheon Black Plate:

V3 is a JAN GE 12AX7WA:

And V4 is a Sylvania Grey Plate:

Anyway, sorry for the long post, but this is one kick-ass combination in the DSL40c. I haven't have a lot of time to test this yet, but initially I can confirm this is an awesome setup. What really sold me was the bit of feedback on OD1 I got at a low volume level, a cool sound I always needed to crank it to obtain. Next post is close-ups of the Marshall-branded tubes I removed...

My TAD tubes in 40 CR
TS-M-DSL40C Röhrenset für Marshall DSL40c 175,20 €
1.1. RT010 7025 HIGHGRADE TAD-Tubes Premium Selected 1,00 piece
1.2. RT003 ECC83-Cz TAD-Tubes Premium Selected 3,00 pieces
1.3. RT122 TAD EL34-STR REDBASE Premium Matched PAIR (2
tubes)

 

[KraftyBob]

I was searching for the schematics for my dsl40c as I am ready to start making some mods to it. Thank you very much for making them very easy to find!

What mods are you thinking of doing?

 

[Sully6790]

To remove the C19 cap makes all the difference in the world!
The OD2 mode on the 2nd channel was pretty much unusable for me as it came from the factory. It may be fine for some as it is stock, but I can only imagine extreme metal being played on hi-gain pointy guitars by angry young punks. (no disrespect) Lots of gain is putting it mildly...

It is a pretty easy mod, I did it without removing the main PC board. Here is a photo:

I basically just touched a lo-powered soldering pencil (33 watts) to one leg and pried up the cap. It will be easy to return it to stock if needed. Here is another photo:

The OD2 mode on the Ultra Gain channel is now my go-to mode for a boost even though I don't play lead. It has a ballsy feel to it now rather than a fizzy buzz.

 

[Sully6790]

Ok, I’m curious all these years later, was the c19 cut the right call? I know it’s easy to put back either way. I’ve read the posts that it makes all the difference, and also the ones that put it back. I’ve recently acquired the Dsl40c, and looking to fix the brightness overload when switching to ultra. I’ve got some new tubes on the way including a Mullard cv4004 RI which I’m hoping can tame it. I’m worried when you do crank it to 10, it will be missing the high end if clipped. Thanks!

 

[Sully6790]

Ok, I’m curious all these years later, was the c19 cut the right call? I know it’s easy to put back either way. I’ve read the posts that it makes all the difference, and also the ones that put it back. I’ve recently acquired the Dsl40c, and looking to fix the brightness overload when switching to ultra. I’ve got some new tubes on the way including a Mullard cv4004 RI which I’m hoping can tame it. I’m worried when you do crank it to 10, it will be missing the high end if clipped. Thanks!

Also it came with a V30 in it.

 

[plexipaul]

I recently picked up a used DSL40C (stock) as well.
The JJ preamp valves produced a irregular rumbling sound so I`ve swapped them for TADs 12AX7A-C. P.I. valve to JAN Philips 12AT7WC.
I like the amp as it is now, Ultra Gain Lead2 in particular with absolute minimum white noise.

Edit: Cloudflare doesn`t allow to post pics anymore, too large. The "oops we run into problems" message is starting to piss me off.

detour

 

[Bownse]

I still have my c19 clipped. But I also moved everything into a mini-stack and added a speaker to the OEM. The combo of the harsh from the OEM and the smoothness of the Creamback works well together.

Modifying A Marshall DSL40C Amp

 

[chillrich]

I've read and/or skimmed the entire thread and now my question...
I would to increase gain on Green/Crunch about 15% I'm considering paralleling plate load resistors in V2A/V2B. Of course I would have to run Red channel gain lower to compensate. Any ideas on a better way to achieve what I'm looking for? Maybe a change in the Clean/Crunch tone stack? In schematic, they way relays are show is Crunch mode, correct?