The Official Marshall DSL40c Information Thread

[rlowe]

New to the forum ( not guitar playing 70's-early 80's back playing again). Recently purchased the dsl 40c and dig those Marshall tones. Crunch and od1-od2 sound good for rhythm, leads depending on what type of music you play. I was looking for a good pedal that would increase (strengthen) my gain on leads for a heavy, yet retain that Marshall character and clarity. Will be trying new pedals soon, but open to suggestions!

 

[MarshallDog]

Are you favoring your DSL over all the vintage sick Marshalls you have? Or are those all dialed in a long time ago

My JMPs are all dialed in and stock. They just sound so great as is, just want to try to get the DSL 40C to sound a tad better not that it sounds bad now. I play them all switching around but the DSL is reall convienent seeing as it does have a clean channel and its easy to lug around compared to tge 4x12 and head.

 

[Micky]

New to the forum ( not guitar playing 70's-early 80's back playing again). Recently purchased the dsl 40c and dig those Marshall tones. Crunch and od1-od2 sound good for rhythm, leads depending on what type of music you play. I was looking for a good pedal that would increase (strengthen) my gain on leads for a heavy, yet retain that Marshall character and clarity. Will be trying new pedals soon, but open to suggestions!

Many users will use a clean boost on both channels to get them tone almost like an additional channel. I am certain that some other users will chime in here to let you know what they use.

OH! Many new members post an introductory post in the Member Introductions section to let us all know a little about themselves.

 

[atrox]

New to the forum ( not guitar playing 70's-early 80's back playing again). Recently purchased the dsl 40c and dig those Marshall tones. Crunch and od1-od2 sound good for rhythm, leads depending on what type of music you play. I was looking for a good pedal that would increase (strengthen) my gain on leads for a heavy, yet retain that Marshall character and clarity. Will be trying new pedals soon, but open to suggestions!

My favorite boost for my Marshall's is the Green Rhino. It works well for boosting the Green Crunch channel. Essentially it's a modded Tube screamer with a mid sweep and the ability to add back some low end that a normal Tube Screamer tends to remove.

 

[Len]

New to the forum ( not guitar playing 70's-early 80's back playing again). Recently purchased the dsl 40c and dig those Marshall tones. Crunch and od1-od2 sound good for rhythm, leads depending on what type of music you play. I was looking for a good pedal that would increase (strengthen) my gain on leads for a heavy, yet retain that Marshall character and clarity. Will be trying new pedals soon, but open to suggestions!

I use a Timmy clone for a little increase in gain, and then an MXR Modified OD for get a really full heavy distortion out of the OD1 channel.

 

[wolfpack]

New to the forum ( not guitar playing 70's-early 80's back playing again). Recently purchased the dsl 40c and dig those Marshall tones. Crunch and od1-od2 sound good for rhythm, leads depending on what type of music you play. I was looking for a good pedal that would increase (strengthen) my gain on leads for a heavy, yet retain that Marshall character and clarity. Will be trying new pedals soon, but open to suggestions!

Xotic BB

 

[solarburn]

Rook OD, Bad Monkey

 

[thebowl]

I have been rolling some tubes recently, also. I plugged in an old NOS RCA in V1 and an NOS Sylvania 5751 in V2 the other day. I took both of them out after a couple of days. I couldn't get sounds I liked out of either green channel, which is where I play.

I am very happy with the new JJ tubes. I use their ECC83S in V1, and their 5751 in V2, and I get exactly what I want from the green side.

 

[minerman]

Ok, it's been a few days since I snipped the 2 caps out of my DSL100H, & I've had a little more time to evaluate the sound....

It did have a subtle effect on the high end, but nothing drastic, which is about what I expected, & to be honest, it's almost what I wanted, I would like to tame the highs just a tad more, but not a lot...I'm really on the fence about snipping C19 because I've read both ways on this mod, some like it, some don't, so I suppose the only way I'll know it to try it....may get around to doing that this weekend, & of course, if I don't like it, I can re-solder the leg of the cap...

On the boost to push my DSL, only thing I have that can really be used as a clean boost is my SD-1...Does a good job on tightening it up, but I do lose quite a bit of low end...This can be added back with the bass/resonance knobs though...

I do have a Bogner Ecstasy Red pedal too, but in my experience it doesn't work really well as a clean boost, it's more amp-like to me...

 

[Micky]

So much of this has to do with the pickups in the guitar... I have tried to find the middle ground as far as mods are concerned. I think I am finally at a spot where I can comfortably play ALL my guitars thru this amp and reliably get the tone I want.

The C19 mod ONLY affects the Ultra II mode, and I really don't find myself there a lot. I can get the gain and tone I need in general from Ultra I, although I sometimes do experiment a bit. Especially when I need to cut thru the mix. Ultra II excels at that.

Even my Ovation acoustic (built-in preamp) sounds good with the right EQ.

I have been wanting to try a Boss OD-1x as a boost, just to see what it can do. No real need for it though.

 

[minerman]

Yes, I know the C19 mod only affects the red channel, I'm actually pretty happy with the green channel, other than it being a little bassy/boomy, which can be dialed out with the eq knobs....I can dial out the high end on the red channel like that, but I'm trying to get the amp to have a more balanced sound between the red & green channels...

I would go ahead & try the mod tonight, but I really don't feel like pulling the chassis....Yep, I'm lazy....

Never tried the Boss pedal you mentioned, I've got an SD-1, a JOYO Hot Plexi, & the Bogner Red...I hate the JOYO pedal, to me, it just sucks, & I hope the real version (Carl Martin) of that pedal doesn't sound like that, because I'd never buy one....The Bogner Red is a cool pedal that I like a lot, it's pretty amp-like to me, & kinda gives me another channel on the DSL....But, it's expensive too. I paid full price for mine last summer...

 

[ken361]

Actually the lead 2, I had it sounding pretty decent with the gain at 5 or slight less, good metal riffing. Bass at 5 also, it is thicker then lead 1 with a tad more gain. V3 someone said its the EQ I did like the JJ803 there for more warmth. This amp like old stock tubes a lot so if your not changing caps around like me it works pretty well. Suhr makes good pedals, the KOKO boost works great I hear for a boost.

 

[Jethro Rocker]

On the boost to push my DSL, only thing I have that can really be used as a clean boost is my SD-1...Does a good job on tightening it up, but I do lose quite a bit of low end...This can be added back with the bass/resonance knobs though...

I do have a Bogner Ecstasy Red pedal too, but in my experience it doesn't work really well as a clean boost, it's more amp-like to me...

That's partly why I like the Bad Monkey, the 2 way EQ means you can add bass or treble there and not change amp settings. Sounds real good with it too!!

 

[MarshallDog]

I never really tried boosting clean channels but I have found it can be a bit tricky to make it sound right. Thought it was just me, but it seems it is a common thing based on these post. Is it true that a pedal that boosts a dirty channel may not be a great choice for boosting a clean channel?

 

[mickeydg5]

Ok guys, pulled the chassis

Snipped C15 first, then tried the amp, & I honestly didn't hear much (if any) difference. So, I snipped a leg on C22, & that did seem to change the high end, but just ever so slightly, which is about what I expected...

So, my DSL100H is no longer stock, which is ok

Thanks for the help/input guys, & if there are any more suggestions, please do post 'em!!!!

C15 and C22, are those two 470pF capacitors going to ground?

 

[Greatwhitenorth]

Count me in as another big fan of the Bad Monkey. Killer little OD that's super cheap. I've liked it with other amps but it sounds the best with my DSL.

 

[MarshallDog]

I have been rolling some tubes recently, also. I plugged in an old NOS RCA in V1 and an NOS Sylvania 5751 in V2 the other day. I took both of them out after a couple of days. I couldn't get sounds I liked out of either green channel, which is where I play.

I am very happy with the new JJ tubes. I use their ECC83S in V1, and their 5751 in V2, and I get exactly what I want from the green side.

I've been trying the 12ATY in V2 and I like it, takes some of the gain away from channel 2 and allows me to turn the gain up a bit more with lets say more headroom.

 

[Micky]

I've been trying the 12ATY in V2 and I like it, takes some of the gain away from channel 2 and allows me to turn the gain up a bit more with lets say more headroom.

12AT7 you must mean... And yes, I use an AT7 in my DSL5c, it has only 2 modes/channels so it is a bit more difficult to tame the gain.

With the DSL40c, the seperate gain and volume controls on each channel allow one to adjust the gain to taste much more easily. I have never needed 'more clean headroom' that an AT7 might provide on the Classic channel, I just set my gain where I need it to be and adjust the volume up to where it is comfortable. If I need more like for a lead, I set the volume even higher, leaving the gain alone and use the guitar volume to boost when I need it.

Anyway that is what usually works for me, keeping it simple. But a 12AT7 is V2 is a great way to tame the gain... How does it work on the Ultra channel?

 

[Skylarkpilot]

Hi guys, thanks for the help up to now.
I have a question for someone who understands circuit diagrams....
I was running the test meter across the amp today looking for anything strange.

What I found is that there is a line of blue resistors labelled Brown, Black, Yellow, Gold running up the middle of the board. They all have voltage in and voltage out until you get to R64 which has voltage in but nothing out ? After that R67 R68 R86 and R90 have no voltage reading on either side.
Another couple of large'ish components D10 and D11 also show no voltage either side.

My question is therefore, could R64 have failed, and if so could that cause the problems I am seeing with the Lead channel ?

Sooner or later I will have to give up. But I live in the middle of nowhere (Sweden) and there are no amp techs anywhere nearby.

Any ideas gratefully received on this one. I guess I could just change R64 and see what happens, but as I don't understand the circuit I can't really tell if something upstream or downstream of this component may be causing what I am seeing.

 

[Micky]

Lift one leg of the resistor to test it. If you already have the board out now is the time to do this...