The Official Marshall DSL40c Information Thread

[c00lkatz]

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.

STOP IT! SERIOUSLY! I DON'T NEED TO SPEND ANYMORE MONEY! Lol

I would hope it sounds better considering it costs about 4 DSLs!

 

[Len]

STOP IT! SERIOUSLY! I DON'T NEED TO SPEND ANYMORE MONEY! Lol

I would hope it sounds better considering it costs about 4 DSLs!

Not to me. The JVM has a different tone/vibe to it than a DSL.

 

[MarshallDog]

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

Interesting...I had a JVM 410H for a few years and I sold it. Love the DSL 40c over the JVM hands done just needs a few cheap and easy tweaks! It was just to modern high gain sounding regardless of what I did to try to tame it. I guess its all personal preferance???

 

[jlinde1973]

STOP IT! SERIOUSLY! I DON'T NEED TO SPEND ANYMORE MONEY! Lol

I would hope it sounds better considering it costs about 4 DSLs!

That's funny...but ya you're right. I just had some extra money laying around so i bought it... the dsl is a great bargin and a great sounding amp. But by the time people swap out trannys, speakers, choke and other mods to their dsls...they could buy the jvm outright. I've seen 410 heads going for under $800 in great shape.

 

[jlinde1973]

Interesting...I had a JVM 410H for a few years and I sold it. Love the DSL 40c over the JVM hands done just needs a few cheap and easy tweaks! It was just to modern high gain sounding regardless of what I did to try to tame it. I guess its all personal preferance???

I hear ya. Od2 is definitely high gain but anywhere from crunch green to od1 orange sounds classic marshall to me. I find it like the dsl, that if you run the gain past noon, the tone gets noticably worse.

 

[Bownse]

My take is it depends on the intended use and that metal would want more crunchity crunch than the DSL might provide.

 

[JiMB]

I know it's short but here's a quick vid of my DSL40C and a Radial JDX into Pro Tools.

 

[ken361]

You dont hear Jim saying oh the amps too bright, fizzy, I need to clip the c19, replace the transformers lolll! you work it and make it work! haha have to vent teasing.

 

[rlowe]

You dont hear Jim saying oh the amps too bright, fizzy, I need to clip the c19, replace the transformers lolll! you work it and make it work! haha have to vent teasing.

After a year of changing speaker, tubes and break-in, yes it does seem to break-in after time it has a darker even tone (no mods). Grant it be, you can benefit by adding certain components, yet after a year it sounds decent!

 

[bolintrucks]

New to the forum, new to Marshall. Played the crap out of a DSL40 at sam Ash, ordered one from AMS that night. the day it arrived was the day I broke my wrist and have been in a cast for six weeks until yesterday. My question; is the need to 'break-in' a speaker really a thing? I've always bought used amps, never had to deal with what I found yesterday.....an amp that sounds very 'not as chewy' as the one I played in the store. I searched the thread and found plent of opinions about changing out the speaker, but I'm curious about the process of breaking one in. Thanks.

 

[rlowe]

New to the forum, new to Marshall. Played the crap out of a DSL40 at sam Ash, ordered one from AMS that night. the day it arrived was the day I broke my wrist and have been in a cast for six weeks until yesterday. My question; is the need to 'break-in' a speaker really a thing? I've always bought used amps, never had to deal with what I found yesterday.....an amp that sounds very 'not as chewy' as the one I played in the store. I searched the thread and found plent of opinions about changing out the speaker, but I'm curious about the process of breaking one in. Thanks.

After a few months, maybe weeks depending on how much you play the 70/80 will lose the sharpness and sound ok after some time( notice I said ok). I eventually purchased a Celestion Vintage 30 tried it and was I amazed at the difference in sound yes, satisfied. and possibly try some new power, preamp tubes the OEM's sometimes do not last long due to maybe an overly high bias setting set in error at the factory. Check your bias!

 

[G the wildman]

New to the forum, new to Marshall. Played the crap out of a DSL40 at sam Ash, ordered one from AMS that night. the day it arrived was the day I broke my wrist and have been in a cast for six weeks until yesterday. My question; is the need to 'break-in' a speaker really a thing? I've always bought used amps, never had to deal with what I found yesterday.....an amp that sounds very 'not as chewy' as the one I played in the store. I searched the thread and found plent of opinions about changing out the speaker, but I'm curious about the process of breaking one in. Thanks.

 

[G the wildman]

Checking bias is essential.

I changed to a 65 Creamback speaker.

Also amp needs to be warm before you play.

I also use clean channel a lot with a blues overdrive pedal.

 

[Greatwhitenorth]

New to the forum, new to Marshall. Played the crap out of a DSL40 at sam Ash, ordered one from AMS that night. the day it arrived was the day I broke my wrist and have been in a cast for six weeks until yesterday. My question; is the need to 'break-in' a speaker really a thing? I've always bought used amps, never had to deal with what I found yesterday.....an amp that sounds very 'not as chewy' as the one I played in the store. I searched the thread and found plent of opinions about changing out the speaker, but I'm curious about the process of breaking one in. Thanks.

Like the others have said, the bias is key. I've had two new DSL40s and on both the bias was way out when I first checked them. Hell, I might even take a look at mine this weekend now that everyone has brought it up.

 

[BanditPanda]

New to the forum, new to Marshall. Played the crap out of a DSL40 at sam Ash, ordered one from AMS that night. the day it arrived was the day I broke my wrist and have been in a cast for six weeks until yesterday. My question; is the need to 'break-in' a speaker really a thing? I've always bought used amps, never had to deal with what I found yesterday.....an amp that sounds very 'not as chewy' as the one I played in the store. I searched the thread and found plent of opinions about changing out the speaker, but I'm curious about the process of breaking one in. Thanks.

Yes a new speaker will require a break in period. Some say 20 hours of playing should do it.

 

[bolintrucks]

Thanks for the feedback folks! I've got 8 hours into both the speaker break-in and the picking hand therapy! Will look at the bias as soon as I can safely get it up on a workbench. If it turns out I look to a new speaker, what are the recommendations for bluesy/classic rock sounds?

 

[Bownse]

Opinions are like... you know the rest.

I considered the 16 Ohm Creamback in both 65w and 75w configuration and with with the 75w for it's extra head room if driven by another amp as well as (imo) the more solid bottom end (bigger magnet? moving more air?).

 

[bolintrucks]

Opinions are like... you know the rest.

I considered the 16 Ohm Creamback in both 65w and 75w configuration and with with the 75w for it's extra head room if driven by another amp as well as (imo) the more solid bottom end (bigger magnet? moving more air?).

Interesting. Thank you

 

[BanditPanda]

Thanks for the feedback folks! I've got 8 hours into both the speaker break-in and the picking hand therapy! Will look at the bias as soon as I can safely get it up on a workbench. If it turns out I look to a new speaker, what are the recommendations for bluesy/classic rock sounds?

Check out the WGS ET65. Many here do recommend it .

 

[rlowe]

Thanks for the feedback folks! I've got 8 hours into both the speaker break-in and the picking hand therapy! Will look at the bias as soon as I can safely get it up on a workbench. If it turns out I look to a new speaker, what are the recommendations for bluesy/classic rock sounds?

Here is a link or video, few speakers comps.