The Official Marshall DSL40c Information Thread

[c00lkatz]

Classic Tone 40-18058 3Hy Choke Installed:



Classic Tone 40-18025 OT installed:



All buttoned up:






I did make a new speaker cable out of some 14AWG and an Amphenol 1/4" connector so I can hook it up to my Rivera Rock Crusher power attenuator. Using a Mogami speaker cable to go from amp to input on attenuator, then the new cable plugs into the speaker out on the attenuator. Had to do a new cable, as the old one was too short to reach the attenuator. Nice thing about it is if I do get another head, it will be easy to use the V30 in the DSL as the "cab" either with or without the attenuator. No I don't pay the exorbitant amount of money Mogami wants for their "lifetime warranty" - I buy the cable from Redco and solder on Neutrik or Amphenol connectors - about 1/4 of the price.





I did check the bias again (slight adjustment needed) after all OT/choke/cap swap. I'm not the best at describing the little subtle intricacies of tone, but all I can say is this is now by far the best amp I've owned, hands down. All the others I mentioned before don't compare to this one, especially after the mods. All I've wanted lately is a small variety of guitars, a single amp, and a nice selection of effects. The guitars and effects I have taken care of, but have yet to find that one versatile amp that can do almost anything. Now with this amp, and the combination of mods, I think I can finally sit back and play instead of tinker...for now lol.

 

[BanditPanda]

Thanks for this. I actually had to Google what chokes and OT's do for an amplifier!
So if I understand correctly a choke is an addition to an amp and the OT was a replacement to the existing OT is the DSL40C. So obviously in your opinion the stock OT was an inferior product and the Classic Tone an upgrade, which I have learned can significantly improve an amps tone.

 

[c00lkatz]

I'm not the first to do these mods, earlier in the thread you can find more details about these mods (from Micky, DSMer, MarshallDog, and others), which is where I obtained the inspiration.

Both are replacements. The choke replaces R111 (the large white resistor). Both are upgrades to the existing components and give a more vintage sound and feel to the amp. However, the differences with the cap replacements, choke, and OT are more just icing on the cake (subtle). The speaker swap, C19 mod (play with the value), and tubes were much more noticeable and plenty satisfying. To be honest the only reason I continued with the cap/choke/OT swap after doing "the big three" was because I already bought them, as the amp sounded awesome at that point. But the OT swap is a little louder (50W vs 40W), provides more headroom, and also provides a 4-ohm output if you want to install an additional jack (I didn't, don't currently have a need for it). If I were to do it over again, I would do the speaker, C19, tubes, and maybe the OT swap for the added headroom and 4-ohm out, but probably wouldn't do the choke and caps again. The caps are relatively cheap but the labor makes it not worth the trouble in my opinion, took me about 6 hours to do the caps/choke/OT (with plenty of breaks and taking my time).

 

[kevmoe]

Hello all .I just picked up a brand new DSL 40 c.with the creme back speaker from an online dealer..The locals didn't have the amp with the creme back..i have it about 4 days now trying to as much as possible to break in speaker..so far sounds pretty good with all my guitars,Gibson ,prs,fender,Ibanez ..my only concern or complaint is the amps a bit noisy. Sizzle ..more so on drive channel ..and I am getting some popping ..annoying..my questions Are.what causes the popping.?is the sizzle normal for these amps.?.do I have to take amp in for biasing.?.again amp was shipped..possible a tube loosened ??? Thank you in advance your replies much appreciated

 

[BanditPanda]

I'm not the first to do these mods, earlier in the thread you can find more details about these mods (from Micky, DSMer, MarshallDog, and others), which is where I obtained the inspiration.

Both are replacements. The choke replaces R111 (the large white resistor). Both are upgrades to the existing components and give a more vintage sound and feel to the amp. However, the differences with the cap replacements, choke, and OT are more just icing on the cake (subtle). The speaker swap, C19 mod (play with the value), and tubes were much more noticeable and plenty satisfying. To be honest the only reason I continued with the cap/choke/OT swap after doing "the big three" was because I already bought them, as the amp sounded awesome at that point. But the OT swap is a little louder (50W vs 40W), provides more headroom, and also provides a 4-ohm output if you want to install an additional jack (I didn't, don't currently have a need for it). If I were to do it over again, I would do the speaker, C19, tubes, and maybe the OT swap for the added headroom and 4-ohm out, but probably wouldn't do the choke and caps again. The caps are relatively cheap but the labor makes it not worth the trouble in my opinion, took me about 6 hours to do the caps/choke/OT (with plenty of breaks and taking my time).

Yes indeed huge contributions from the above mentioned. Thank you for clarifying.
One last question about the OT where you say : '....and also provides a 4-ohm output if you want.... " does that mean this would allow the use of 2 x 8 ohm speakers ? ( I/O 2 x 16 ohm speakers )
BP.

 

[c00lkatz]

Hello all .I just picked up a brand new DSL 40 c.with the creme back speaker from an online dealer..The locals didn't have the amp with the creme back..i have it about 4 days now trying to as much as possible to break in speaker..so far sounds pretty good with all my guitars,Gibson ,prs,fender,Ibanez ..my only concern or complaint is the amps a bit noisy. Sizzle ..more so on drive channel ..and I am getting some popping ..annoying..my questions Are.what causes the popping.?is the sizzle normal for these amps.?.do I have to take amp in for biasing.?.again amp was shipped..possible a tube loosened ??? Thank you in advance your replies much appreciated

Always a good idea to check bias and reseat your tubes. Could be a bad tube. If you got it with the creamback, I assume you bought from Sweetwater? If so, I would contact them, they have great customer service, may be willing to send you some replacement tubes to try.

May also try working your pots a bit since they're new, and check to make sure your speaker cable is seated well. Could also be crappy power. But reseating tubes and cables, maybe tube swap if you have them handy, would be the first things I'd try.

Yes indeed huge contributions from the above mentioned. Thank you for clarifying.
One last question about the OT where you say : '....and also provides a 4-ohm output if you want.... " does that mean this would allow the use of 2 x 8 ohm speakers ? ( I/O 2 x 16 ohm speakers )
BP.

Yes with the 4-ohm output you could run two 8 ohm speakers in parallel, but you'll only have one 4-ohm output on the amp so you'd have to have them wired up in the same cab or have 2 cabs daisy chained (which many of them do come with 2 jacks wired in parallel). But if both speakers were in the same cab you could wire them together in series for 16 ohms without the upgraded transformer.

Or I guess you could also install 2 jacks wired in parallel to the 4 ohm out on the new transformer, but you'll have to find room for it.

 

[Bownse]

The easy path would be to pull and reseat your tubes as a first check.

 

[Micky]

Yes indeed huge contributions from the above mentioned. Thank you for clarifying.
One last question about the OT where you say : '....and also provides a 4-ohm output if you want.... " does that mean this would allow the use of 2 x 8 ohm speakers ? ( I/O 2 x 16 ohm speakers )
BP.

Yes. Will require re-wiring or extra wiring.

 

[MarshallDog]

I'm not the first to do these mods, earlier in the thread you can find more details about these mods (from Micky, DSMer, MarshallDog, and others), which is where I obtained the inspiration.

Both are replacements. The choke replaces R111 (the large white resistor). Both are upgrades to the existing components and give a more vintage sound and feel to the amp. However, the differences with the cap replacements, choke, and OT are more just icing on the cake (subtle). The speaker swap, C19 mod (play with the value), and tubes were much more noticeable and plenty satisfying. To be honest the only reason I continued with the cap/choke/OT swap after doing "the big three" was because I already bought them, as the amp sounded awesome at that point. But the OT swap is a little louder (50W vs 40W), provides more headroom, and also provides a 4-ohm output if you want to install an additional jack (I didn't, don't currently have a need for it). If I were to do it over again, I would do the speaker, C19, tubes, and maybe the OT swap for the added headroom and 4-ohm out, but probably wouldn't do the choke and caps again. The caps are relatively cheap but the labor makes it not worth the trouble in my opinion, took me about 6 hours to do the caps/choke/OT (with plenty of breaks and taking my time).

Nice job on the mods. When I changed out my caps, I didnt notice much change if any in tone, have you? Just wondering? Im running no cap in C19 and it will stay like that. I have tried a lot of values and it will sound OK at low volumes but when cranked up...wow look out. That harsh sound returns. I may try the JJ 8803-S tubes in this amp seeing as I have a bunch. I dont have the Sovtek LPS so Ill just try them in all the slots and see what happens. Using Mullards now and Mullard EL34s. Always wanted to replace the OT with a ClassicTone but never got around to it yet. Sounds like you like it???

 

[MarshallDog]

I tried the JJ 8803-s tubes in all 4 slots and I think I like it. Much less gain but still plenty and very less harsh.

I love this amp but why did the phuckheads at Marshall design it to be so harsh, ear piercing, etc??? Its like bad wine in a great bottle?????!!!!

 

[Oldpunk]

Slap a Ruby ac7 hg+ into V1 or V2 and it should smooth things out even more.

 

[Greatwhitenorth]

I have a Ruby in V1, a Tungsol in V2, a Svetlana in V3, and a JJ 5751 in the PI. I got an extra Ruby in my order from the Tubestore to have as a spare, but I may roll it through to see if something interesting happens.

 

[jlinde1973]

Hello all .I just picked up a brand new DSL 40 c.with the creme back speaker from an online dealer..The locals didn't have the amp with the creme back..i have it about 4 days now trying to as much as possible to break in speaker..so far sounds pretty good with all my guitars,Gibson ,prs,fender,Ibanez ..my only concern or complaint is the amps a bit noisy. Sizzle ..more so on drive channel ..and I am getting some popping ..annoying..my questions Are.what causes the popping.?is the sizzle normal for these amps.?.do I have to take amp in for biasing.?.again amp was shipped..possible a tube loosened ??? Thank you in advance your replies much appreciated

Preamp tubes...my dsl is very picky with them. I use vintage sylvania longplates in all of my marshall. Sweet fat tone guarenteed.

 

[c00lkatz]

Nice job on the mods. When I changed out my caps, I didnt notice much change if any in tone, have you? Just wondering? Im running no cap in C19 and it will stay like that. I have tried a lot of values and it will sound OK at low volumes but when cranked up...wow look out. That harsh sound returns. I may try the JJ 8803-S tubes in this amp seeing as I have a bunch. I dont have the Sovtek LPS so Ill just try them in all the slots and see what happens. Using Mullards now and Mullard EL34s. Always wanted to replace the OT with a ClassicTone but never got around to it yet. Sounds like you like it???

Thanks for the compliment. Yeah, I don't think the Mallory/Orange Drop caps and choke did much for the tone. I think I'm going back to no cap in C19 as well, just haven't felt like pulling it apart again. The OT made it louder and increased headroom. I don't find a huge improvement to tone, and honestly my ears (or my brain) liked it better before the OT/choke/caps (after speaker, tubes, C19 delete). I will say it is definitely a touch sensitive amp, more so than I remember. The harder you strum the more aggressive and louder it becomes. I'm a hard strummer and use a heavy pick, so I have to watch my technique more closely for some stuff. This amp is not very forgiving. I would like to A/B a stock amp with mine and get a real before/after comparison. Unfortunately I didn't have the foresight to make any before/after clips, not that I have the equipment (or knowledge) to really pull that off effectively anyway.

For anyone wondering about mods...seriously just play the thing, practice more. Your wallet and/or a soldering iron ain't gonna make you a better player. If you mod this amp, stick to tubes and a speaker if the stockers ain't doing it for ya. Clip C19 if you want to tame the red channel a bit. Not trying to knock anyone, but I feel maybe some may have fell victim to the human condition (i.e. placebo effect) when evaluating the "enhancements" some of this stuff made. This is a great amp to begin with, but the C19 mod, tubes, and a good speaker (let's face it, the 70/80 was a business decision) make a big difference and take it to another level. Anything other than that just leave it be.

 

[jlinde1973]

Nothing personal...just sell the dsl and get a jvm. Problem solved. I own both. I love my dsl with bright cap 200pf and budda phat 12 speaker and long plate sylvanias...but it doesn't hold a prayer against my jvm410....not even in the same ballpark. But for the price u can't go wrong. I'm selling the dsl. $450 with D2f padded cover and will have English Celestion v30 speaker in it. excellent condition..if anybody interested. New preamp tubes...power tubes biased nice and hot at 41ma. Great sounding amp. Pm if interested

 

[jlinde1973]

Thanks for the compliment. Yeah, I don't think the Mallory/Orange Drop caps and choke did much for the tone. I think I'm going back to no cap in C19 as well, just haven't felt like pulling it apart again. The OT made it louder and increased headroom. I don't find a huge improvement to tone, and honestly my ears (or my brain) liked it better before the OT/choke/caps (after speaker, tubes, C19 delete). I will say it is definitely a touch sensitive amp, more so than I remember. The harder you strum the more aggressive and louder it becomes. I'm a hard strummer and use a heavy pick, so I have to watch my technique more closely for some stuff. This amp is not very forgiving. I would like to A/B a stock amp with mine and get a real before/after comparison. Unfortunately I didn't have the foresight to make any before/after clips, not that I have the equipment (or knowledge) to really pull that off effectively anyway.

For anyone wondering about mods...seriously just play the thing, practice more. Your wallet and/or a soldering iron ain't gonna make you a better player. If you mod this amp, stick to tubes and a speaker if the stockers ain't doing it for ya. Clip C19 if you want to tame the red channel a bit. Not trying to knock anyone, but I feel maybe some may have fell victim to the human condition (i.e. placebo effect) when evaluating the "enhancements" some of this stuff made. This is a great amp to begin with, but the C19 mod, tubes, and a good speaker (let's face it, the 70/80 was a business decision) make a big difference and take it to another level. Anything other than that just leave it be.

Don't clip the cap..It'll sound like mush...I tried it. U lose everything by doing that. Just lower the value. I found 200pf to be a happy median from the 470pf original value.

 

[c00lkatz]

Don't clip the cap..It'll sound like mush...I tried it. U lose everything by doing that. Just lower the value. I found 200pf to be a happy median from the 470pf original value.

I clipped it at first, then went to 100pf, didn't like it, down to 22pf, and I think I'm just going to clip it back out. Sounded better to me. To each their own I suppose.

Don't get me wrong, I like the DSL, more so than any of the amps I've listed (in my first post). I just wasn't as awed by the extensive modifications as others were. Out of all the tube amps, modelers, and software I've used, I like the DSL the best. I think it's probably the best you're going to get for under $1k (crazy good used deals excluded). Though my second favorites would be the Orange Dark Terror and Egnater Tweaker, especially if you can get a good price on them. I liked the Dark Terror ease of use and the effects loop had zero issues with any of my pedals (can't say that about the DSL or Tweaker), but it just wasn't versatile enough (tough to get really good clean or crunch tones at a decent volume level). The Egnater I had to modify the loop to work with my analog delay and chorus (switch to drop the send level and bump the return), but got really good clean and crunch tones. However there just wasn't enough gain, even with pedals it just didn't sound very "forward"...kinda muffled the more gain you give it.

The DSL can go from chimey clean to hardcore distortion and everything in between. No it's not "boutique quality" but I didn't pay $1500+ for it either. Though I do have to run my MXR Analog Chorus out front...in the loop causes a volume drop and attenuated treble (overloaded signal), similar to my problem with the Tweaker. Unlike the Tweaker though my MXR Carbon Copy Delay does just fine in the loop.

 

[jlinde1973]

Yes the dsl40c is a great amp. Probably the best bang for the buck out there for sure. I love lead 1 with gain just under noon. Especially with a 10 band eq with mid hump.

 

[ken361]

Preamp tubes...my dsl is very picky with them. I use vintage sylvania longplates in all of my marshall. Sweet fat tone guarenteed.

totally agree I have 2 in mine including the PI which warms it up

 

[jlinde1973]

I know this is a dsl thread...but God damn! I ran my jvm410c on crunch red at about noon on the master for a good couple hours. Oh my god. It is by far the best marshall I've ever heard..period..if you've got the time, go play one at your guitar center. You'll be amazed. Ya they're expensive, but u get what u pay for. Absolutely killer amp. I just cannot believe the tones I'm getting out of it..I've never been so happy in the 25 years of guitar playing...literally.