All user reviews of 4/5 for the Marshall DSL401

Been playing in a punk band for quite some time now

paid $1600 in adelaide, south australia

i love the sound it makes, other reviews of this unit note how dirty the OD2 channel is and thats why i like this amp. OD1 is good for some darker tones and the clean channel sounds sweet accourding to anybody who plays it.

after 2 - 3 years of on off flat out jamming the amp started cutting in and out. i got it repaired new valves, that did not solve the problem. it was as tho the unit did not have a constant power supply. over a month of backwards and forwards getting repaired a broken fuse holder, How the hell does that break.

ok i beleive it could be better, having the valves hanging cant be the best thing, when transporting it makes a fair few disturbing noises, dunno how fuse holder packs up??

i love it except for its fault, being my first quality valve amp if thought it would be constructed a little better.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I got this off reidys.com for £388 because I wanted some good built in distortion in my amp...

I like the sturdyness of this and the way you can have loads of different distortions and clean tones. I play punk/emo which it is good for however its good for pretty much anything.

I dont like the fact its only 40 watts and that the palm muting sounds weak in the full on distortion mode but i'm getting a 1936 marshall cabinet for it and probably a boss gt-6 to back up the distortion.

This thing seems very sturdy I mean I havent properly tested it but I trust Matt Bellamy in that marshall are built like a brick and Ive seen him stand on the 1960 cabinet and still play through it and im sure they're all built to pretty much the same standard.

I would suggest getting this but if you have any extra cash maybe get the dsl50 head as its not too much more and you can get a smaller cabinet for £200

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I purchased this amp in December 2000 from Reno's music for $600 USD. I had an old Kustom solid state 130W head and 412 cabinet, but it was getting on in years and started to hum (probably a large cap failing). I was never able to get a good distortion sound out of it, and so I went after an all tube amp that I could try without investing a huge amount of money, in case I didn't get the sound I wanted.

I like the full tube sound, both clean and distortion channels are good. When running through my powered mixer witht the DI line out, I can really make it as big as I want. I have two 15" black widow wedge monitors that give this amp a huge bottom end, and I can use the mixer to adjust the highs through the crossover. It's like having any size amp you need for any gig. If you haven't used the DI, be sure to do so at some point. It's easier than using a close mic, and avoids the clutter.

I have had to have this unit serviced twice now for heat related cold solder joints caused by the lack of good ventilation to let the heat out of the chassis. I also have discovered that the additional spring can on the first preamp tube places an extreme amount of upward pressure and traps addtional heat on this tube which will cause it to go microphonic or decay after about an hour of heavy playing. This is most noticeable when I switch back to clean, the sound surges from thin and brittle to full and smooth, then back to thin and brittle. I removed the can to see if this will go away, and so far it has helped, but some tweaking of the controls is needed to get back some of the mid punch. This can also places a lot of pressure on the IC board that the tube socket is attached to. The spring could be about one third it's size and still work. I am considering installing both a fan and a top grill like the big heads have, to let the heat out. Probably will wait until the warranty runs out to make this mod, will use a remote fan until then.

Overall, the construction is acceptable and it's easy to tote around to gigs. I believe the speaker is a little thin, a greenback would probably give it a nicer edge, especially when running OD2 for heavy metal songs. I think Marshall should have done a better job of anticipating heat related issues and made better ventilation arrangements to the cabinet or chassis. The chassis is open at the top, so to put a vent in the top of the cabinet would have helped, but then dust and moisture intrusion has to be monitored (no brews on top of the amp!) I'm not big on using my amp as a drink holder anyway, it warms the beer to quick!

Overall, I think this is a great amp for it's price and size. I have a Marshall MG30FX backup practice amp, but I prefer the all tube sound. I've tried a lot of amplifiers and processors, but ultimately "I hear dead people" in those things! I can literally hear the processor doing it's thing and it's like listening to someone on a digital cell phone, it's real close but it's not the natural voice of analog cell signal.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Ebay purchase about a year ago.

It gets a good approximation of the classic marshall sound in a light, one-handed format that my original 1967 plexi half stack can't keep up with. No one I know brings a half-stack to little gigs any more, so the tiny combo is convenient.

It is cheaply built and not entirely reliable. Particle board construction and hard plastic feet that crack and fall off when bumped. Internally I have had the amp serviced several times for little things that broke or shook loose, which is a shame for the high line model of such a famous name amp as marshall.

I have never had a problem wiht the tubes or the reverb tank, but loose wiring on input jack was annoying, and one plastic foot has already broken off despite very careful use. All the feet are still on my 1967 Marshall and my 1963 Vox, so what's the excuse? Particle board cabinet and cheesy circuit board construction are too bad.

The sund is right but the reliability is low and the price is high for the poor construction techniques employed on an otherwise wonderful amp.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com