Marshall DSL401 Combo - any opinions?

[holgaguy]

I have a friend who is selling one and said he'd give me a good deal (yet to be determined). I haven't played through it or even seen it yet.

This has EL84s and was wondering if it sounds at all like a VOX? Being a Marshall I'm sure it does crunch but what about the cleans?

I love the AC30 sound but my wallet does not.

[popthree]

you might like this amp. the cleans are good.. (not fender, of course..but good). a buddy of mine has one... his amp is very versitile and sounds killer... and is capable of getting very loud. i think you could get pretty close to AC30 tone with it.

he paid 450ish for his.. not minty but not abused either. probably a 7 out of 10 condition wise. he ended up retubing soon after purchase.. so he got another 100 bucks in it real quick.

[601 Blues]

Very Nice amp, can't go wrong the resale on marshall tube amps are good,

[Ben Harmless]

If it's a couple/few years old, then it's great. I've heard of reliability issues with that model, but they usually crop up pretty quick. If it's got a few miles on it, and it's still going, it'll probably keep going.

As far as tone goes, I wouldn't put it in the Vox camp really at all. EL84s are just a power tube like any other, and the preamp is night and day different from anything Vox. That being said, I've played with a few in the shops, comparing them to the JCM800s and '900s I've owned. The first one gave up a really nice, expressive dirt along with some pretty darn good cleans (especially for a Marshall, but good anyway). The second one just wouldn't give me those tones. The third gave me some good stuff, but not enough to convince me that I wasn't making up the good memories from the first one.

Long story short: Play the thing. You like? You buy!

For a channel-switching Marshall, it's probably the way to go these days, though I haven't tried either the JVM or the other new series they've put out. I'm personally more than happy to stick with my single-channel '800 and hot-rodded '800 clone.

[marshman]

Not to digress, but I never understood why Marshall went the 4xEL84 route with those amps. I cannot for the life of me imagine what advantage that could possibly have given them that a 2xEL34 power section would not have done for them. Parts costs pretty much average out (sockets and tubes), so it's not a big diff at retube time, or at build time in cost for sockets, etc, and the iron is probably about the same.

I guess I just feel like so much of the Marshall sound is centered around the EL34, it seemed odd to me. Yeah, I know, KT66, 6550, 18 watts, etc...

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

[Bluesbob]

I used one at the MidLife Crisis practice facility (Vinny's basement) for about a year. The three channels were usable to an extent and the first actually sounded pretty good. Good touch sensitivity, but nothing like my 2X10 Bassman combo. I've been inside one though and the construction is similar to most of the mid-priced amps around, with thin circuit-boards and pots and tube sockets soldered directly to the boards, just waiting to snap. They go for around $1100 new, half that (or less, maybe?) used. Used is probably the better deal, especially if you're handy with a soldering iron. For $1100 (new price) there are better choices. JMHO and YMMV, of course.

[eddiewagner]

i just sold one, because the clean was nothing compared to a fender tubeamp. very good crunch though! the stock tubes are really not good.

[holgaguy]

I'll have to drive an hour to try it out so maybe I'll do that.

The problem is finding an amp with really good cleans (like a Deluxe Reverb) and really good distortion without spending huge amounts of money.

[rotren]

I tried one recently, and I was very impressed. Nice clean tones, and the gain tones are just awesome. This amp put a big grin of my face from the moment I plugged in. In fact, I'm on a hunt for a brother to this amp- the DSL100.

[2tone60thAsh]

I guess I got one of the early "lemons".

It was my first good amp, and I bought it brand new. After about 4 months of playing, no shows/bouncing around in a car, etc., it would get a weird intermittent power cut, and you could do nothing to get it back on. I used to hit the top of the amp and that would get it to come back on.

BUt like others have said, if it's been problem-free 'til now, should be fine!

And yes, the tone is pretty nice, great crunch, but the clean would breakup pretty quickly. I used to jam with a loud drummer and truth be told, it would get a little tough to be heard over him, but it cut through most of the time.

Good luck!

[popthree]

the early ones supposedly had some sort of overheating problem. you could probably read all up about it on a marshall forum.

[2tone60thAsh]

That makes sense, you could cook an egg on the top of mine!

Oh well, this was about... 5 years ago as a wee lad of 17 years

[red57strat]

I played one and wasn't impressed with the tone or the build quality. The clean sound was good, the reverb wasn't so good and the dirty sound wasn't impressive at all.
Along with that the amp has a less than great reputation (which leads to it's relatively low resale value).

I ended up buying a MESA/Boogie 5:50 1 X 12 combo because it sounded a lot better (great cleans, awesome reverb, great dirty sound, though it doesn't sound like a Fender or a Marshall). It was also built like a tank and cost about the same.

On the other hand, I have a friend who gigs with one with great results and loves it.

[OaklandA]

I, too, have heard about some overheating issues. But the ones I've heard sounded really good....everything a Marshall is supposed to do for sure. Plenty loud.

The 201's are the same thing in a lower output package, though I've heard the same overheating rap on those as well.

[tripletremolo]

+1 on the overheating problem. I bought mine 8 years ago and its been to the shop twice. On the positive side, my 201 has nice clean and good od tones. Dirt boxes sound great pushing the clean channel. I'd buy a 401 if the price is right.