The Official Marshall DSL40c Information Thread

[MarshallDog]

The Tube Store at thetubestore.com. Great service, price, delivery and expertise. I believe the original tubes are Shuguang's or at least they were in mine. Here is the link for them: www.thetubestore.com - Shuguang EL34-B Audio Tubes.

 

[Pumpkin88]

Ok thanks. So I assume they are just plug and play, no re-bias needed?

 

[Greatwhitenorth]

Power tubes need re-biasing. Preamp tubes do not. You're also going to need a matched set. I haven't decided on replacements for the stock power tubes just yet so let us know what you pick.

 

[Pumpkin88]

I've never done this before and I don't have an amp tech around me. However I do have a milivolt reader. So what are the steps I need to know for this amp? I tried watching a clip on youtube but its for a completely different amp so it didn't help much.

 

[Micky]

See the very first page of this thread...

 

[Pumpkin88]

Yes, I saw the pictures. I was just wondering what process you take to get from point a to point c. How do I safely remove the head from the cabinet and gain access to the board, what do I unscrew?

 

[Pumpkin88]

Also when I'm taking the readings do I leave it in standby mod?

 

[solarburn]

This is where I learned to bias my amps. Be safe and read the text. Biasing is simple if done right and safely.

I use Amp-heads dual bias probe that checks plate voltage too.

I bias mine around 36mv to 38mv. Not 40mv to 45mv.

There is not much separation in mv's from plate voltages of 450pv to 470pv that is why 36mv to 38mv is a good zone to be in. You can easily look at a bias table with Plate Voltages included and see the bias numbers don't move much.

Eurotubes - Marshall DSL-TSL-JVM "How to" Bias Video

 

[solarburn]

Also when I'm taking the readings do I leave it in standby mod?

Watch the vid.

 

[wangchung]

I had this thing sounding great last week...is it me or does the sound change
day to day? Pedals all sounded like shit through it this wknd. Spikey highs on the
lead channel came back....what a POS. Weeks of work was lipstick on a pig.
I pulled it first break sat nite and plugged my Crate club 20 hd in. I'm done with it.
Good luck with it guys.

 

[solarburn]

Bummer man. I hate when an amp gets so inconsistent you spend more time tweaking or fixing it then playing...plus you constantly wait for the shoe to drop cause you feel its gonna lose itself again.

 

[solarburn]

I've got a pair of JJ 34L's coming for this thing. I already have a set but they are in my JMP and I want them in it. Besides I already like these power tubes.

I really wanted to put some EH 6CA7's in it but I've been having some reliability issues with them. Had one blow out of a set and on another matched pair I had one drift out of bias range. One of my fav power tubes too. Sound and feel great in 2 different Marshall's of mine. dammit!

 

[JEB]

I'm not sure if this is the best place for this question or if it should be in the Cabinet & Speaker forum, but here goes.

I have a Celestion Gold in my DSL40C. I love the way it sounds and haven't had any trouble with it or the amp at all.

However, I was reading that the power rating of an amp is typically evaluated using a clean signal and that a very distorted signal will actually send up to twice the effective power to a speaker.

The Celestion Gold is rated for 50W. Am I at risk of blowing this speaker on the OD2 channel if I have the amp cranked?

Mostly I've had this amp at the 20W setting, but I'm a little worried now of switching over to 40W with this speaker. Do I really have a problem?

 

[Pumpkin88]

I've got a pair of JJ 34L's coming for this thing. I already have a set but they are in my JMP and I want them in it. Besides I already like these power tubes.

I really wanted to put some EH 6CA7's in it but I've been having some reliability issues with them. Had one blow out of a set and on another matched pair I had one drift out of bias range. One of my fav power tubes too. Sound and feel great in 2 different Marshall's of mine. dammit!

I was debating getting these or the regular JJ EL-34's. I play a lot of alternative rock, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, AIC, Weezer, Creed, ect. (hardly any classic rock). Would these be better suited for me than your basic El34's? Mind you both my guitars have humbuckers or humbucker like pick ups so they are fairly hot by themselves.

 

[Pumpkin88]

I'm not sure if this is the best place for this question or if it should be in the Cabinet & Speaker forum, but here goes.

I have a Celestion Gold in my DSL40C. I love the way it sounds and haven't had any trouble with it or the amp at all.

However, I was reading that the power rating of an amp is typically evaluated using a clean signal and that a very distorted signal will actually send up to twice the effective power to a speaker.

The Celestion Gold is rated for 50W. Am I at risk of blowing this speaker on the OD2 channel if I have the amp cranked?

Mostly I've had this amp at the 20W setting, but I'm a little worried now of switching over to 40W with this speaker. Do I really have a problem?

I'm no expert but if it were me I would go with the same rating if not more than the stock speaker just for reliability alone.

 

[Micky]

I'm not sure if this is the best place for this question or if it should be in the Cabinet & Speaker forum, but here goes.

I have a Celestion Gold in my DSL40C. I love the way it sounds and haven't had any trouble with it or the amp at all.

However, I was reading that the power rating of an amp is typically evaluated using a clean signal and that a very distorted signal will actually send up to twice the effective power to a speaker.

The Celestion Gold is rated for 50W. Am I at risk of blowing this speaker on the OD2 channel if I have the amp cranked?

Mostly I've had this amp at the 20W setting, but I'm a little worried now of switching over to 40W with this speaker. Do I really have a problem?

You will be fine.

40 watts clean is 40 watts.
40 watts with distortion is still 40 watts, just distorted.

 

[solarburn]

I was debating getting these or the regular JJ EL-34's. I play a lot of alternative rock, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, AIC, Weezer, Creed, ect. (hardly any classic rock). Would these be better suited for me than your basic El34's? Mind you both my guitars have humbuckers or humbucker like pick ups so they are fairly hot by themselves.

Go by the EQ curve of these tubes which is a tight bottom, warm present mids and restrained top end. I like these tubes over the regular JJ 34's...just a meatier 34 if you will.

I think you would benefit from them playing what you do. I use humbuckers too and they are the Super Distortions. I think in a bright amp the 34L's can help tame some harsh or trebly frequencies.

Don't forget about using your guitar's tone knobs either. I've been getting some good tones using it backed off. Experiment with it too.

 

[solarburn]

By the way I got my 34L's today so I'll be putting them in this weekend.

 

[wangchung]

Bummer man. I hate when an amp gets so inconsistent you spend more time tweaking or fixing it then playing...plus you constantly wait for the shoe to drop cause you feel its gonna lose itself again.

I was playing it constantly. I have nothing else I'd rather do.
It seems to me that there could be mods made to the circut that go beyond the limited tooling around with C19 & C4, toobs and cones.
There seems to be a lot of drifting of component values probably due to the soldering on the boards. No doubt component values could be tweaked
to eliminate the FIZZ with out having to give up mid-range crunch.
Got out the 2000 DSL 50 for rehearsal tonight, Crunch crunch, no fizz, oh
what a relief it is. I played through one of those Peavey 20watt "ValveKing"
heads at GC when I returned the 40c. It was fizzy too. Like diode clipping
almost. Played a Mesa 5/25 too, and a Hughes and Kettner(?) 18. Both
could be made to fizz, but it dialed out. So to fizz or not fizz, that is the
question. Not. I mean is it me or is it Marshall?
But I now have my axes playing w/no fingerboard noise, and a fresh assortment of tubes to keep the DSL50 running for years.

 

[solarburn]

I think for me if I was going to do any mods on mine it would get a better OT and choke for high volume playing so it doesn't mud up.

I don't mind a bit of fizz or hair on my saturation as long as the amp tone is musical. A touch too much is no good though. I admit I'm still having fun playing it. So far just working the Lead 2 voicing. Been finding all kinds of mid gain stuff there. Roll off to cleans too. Dirty cleans. I don't like clean cleans. Need a little break up or hair.

I still don't like how problematic these have been. I'm not going to throw a bunch of money at it to get jus a lil more. Some new iron can make it more durable. The rest will be getting it to sound the way I want using amp, guitar and speaker. might be shit to someone else's ear hehe. If it fails it's got a warranty. I already have killer amps that can take me away. The size and power range of this amp is really attractive to me as far as grab and goes. Execution can be a whole other story...