Marshall DSL40C

I play mainly progressive rock and fusion however I also amuse myself with classic rock, blues and metal. This DSL40c came after a long string of amps, most of them good in their own right, that for one reason or another did not meet my requirements.

Anyway this is a serious tone monster that has a good enough transformer and power supply to sound very nice played very very quietly at home or tearing the roof off a stadium. It is capable of delicate cleans but can also do the deepest, heaviest most monsterously bassy power chords. At full volume it would drown out the loudest drummer.

It has a lot of versatility and can go from clean to beautifully overdriven and all the way to heavy metal of at least the 90s. With a guitar with humbuckers it can do modern metal as well.

The nice thing is that he tones are all so rich and fully of harmonics. The amp is very touch sensitive and reacts very well to picking intensity.

It took about a month of playing for the amp to really reach its full potential.

About the only cons of this amp are the weak reverb and the fact that it is extremely heavy, probably because of its awesome build quality.

The amp has been completely without any faults since I have had it and this is one beast I am never selling.

It is an all-tube amp
40W, 20W splittable in
An integrated reverb

UTILIZATION

It is easy to get a sound okay but not great. We are pleased with his purchase, but we say that € 715 was not the deal of the century.
That's when I tried to dig all the possibilities of this amp. And I found my happiness.
You have to be a little resourceful!

SOUNDS

This amp is PERFECTLY my style of music!
I play it with a Gibson 70's Tribute GT and a 1956 Epiphone GoldTop.

Clear sound:
It's really good. Not as good a Fender, but for a Marshall he is doing very well. It is perfectible, but really enough! It's not like this is crunch quickly criticized on many Marshalls.

The sound OD1:
This is where I find my account. I play a register Hard Rock Old School (GN'R, Slash, etc.)
So I do not have a very powerful distortion but a crunch on vitamin. Say good good punchy overdrive. I really have a proper definition. But notes cling bind perfectly. It is readable and absolutely no draft. Acute (contrary to what I've read) does not shatter ears. I use a Boss GE-7 Equalizer to refine all that, and I am very satisfied.

The sound OD2:
Here ca pulls the distortion, it's messy. I did not find my account on this channel, it does not convince me. I am descended from one floor and returned to the OD1 channel.

PS: The reverb in clean is good, but a little small. As against the OD channels, it is non-existent.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 5 months now. What I like the most, the OD1 channel, of Old School and many péchus. What I like least, non-existent reverb DO and OD2 channel too rough.
I tried a few models. At the lamps I tested the Fender, the EVH, the Egnacter. This is my first tube Marshall (I had a MG100DFX, who was sick. And Valvestate VS265R, which was good, very good, but below the DSL40C)
I also had a Peavey VYPYR30 before that, I did see the difference! DSL is much better.

Not easy to find a good all-tube amp worthy of the name. I like the Marshall grain but I was not attached to that mark. I found my happiness.

If it again, I will try rather the DSL15C, Because 40W, 20W in even split, that's a lot to my apartment. I do not do more scene.

But anyway I'm not disappointed with the DSL line. At which point I plan to do more than change the amp.

All lamp
Power: 20/40 Watts
1 speaker 12 "Celestion 70/80 Custom
Lamps: 4 x ECC83 and 2 x EL34
2 channels: Classic Gain and Ultra Gain
Volume and Gain controls for the two channels
Clean and Crunch modes of Classic Gain channel
Lead modes 1 and 2 on Ultra Lead channel Gain
3-band EQ (Bass, Mid, Treble)
Presence and Resonance controls (for high and low frequencies) - Adds "powerful."
Tone Shift switch (reduced media for metal)
Switch Pentode / Triode (20/40W)
Digital reverb: one per channel
Loudspeaker connectors: 8 and 16 Ohm
Crank 2 buttons incl. (Channel selection and reverb on / off)
Weight: approx. 23 kg

UTILIZATION

Easy to use, nothing to say. Switch 20-40W rear + on / off switch for the effects loop.
The pedal two buttons: one to switch from clean to saturated, the other to enable / disable the reverb (almost nonexistent), so needless because really hard to hear the difference with or without.



SOUNDS

My style of music between Hendrix and Satriani. With the right pedals DSL 40C is doing well, but I'm still working the foundation for what I want, so complete article.

I play a gibson les paul standard 2012.

I use a Satchurator front, a time machine and reverb Wet V3 (Neunaber) in the loop. The Satchurator is perched in the high (even if it is adjustable), the time machine tends to add shine, so with this amp with the speaker takes a bit in the treble is quite jarring combination for ears, the speaker change is necessary, because at too acute decrease it lost much of its overall wealth.

Youtube and other sites Marshallforum the English speaker (Celestion 70/80 custom) was exchanged with a warmer vintage Celestion V30 (60W). Elsewhere it is a G12T-75 (75W), which has achieved good results. Other choices (synthesis forums): Celestion Creamback (ditto but G12H30 65w), Celestion Greenback, Eminence GB128 (50W Greenback clone), WGS Reaper HP (50W) or WGS Veteran 30 (60W), all listen on youtube. From 75 to 160 €.


The best setting is for me: clean channel EQ levels at 12 h, gain in depth and volume not exceeding 1/3, to get maximum sustain with Satchurator, and now I have very little breath in the preamp.

The reverb is almost zero, there is a limit of not knowing when it is switched depending on settings. So if you buy this amp, expect a premium for a reverb pedal (if needed of course).

Regarding the effects loop: it has no volume control, as its level is constant and high hair, which generates a slight fuzz when the switch of switched loop, but far from being truly disturbing. I do not know if it will eventually disappear with a noise gate.

The overdrive channel (position 1 or 2) is a little too greasy for my taste and trash, sketchy and seems very muffled sound like a phone when compared to Satchurator.




OVERALL OPINION

Bought new beginning in August 2013 at Gear4music just under 680 € (product expo at reduced prices) comes from England to France without problem. Warning 2 year warranty against three Thomann.

I tried to store a Vox AC30, but it has far too metal for me and slammed her, and a big head lamp Marshall (I do not remember the ref.) With a huge cabinet. It was the kind of sound that suited me, but honestly that DSL 40C is much more clear and precise than the monster in question!

I also have a roland microcube which is super long note in full, the funny thing is that I chine to configure a sound channel on the DSL 40C which approximates the modeling of R-flier microcube (modeling a Mesa Boogie Rectifier). The microcube must have an internal compressor, if not possible to sustain this. So next purchase: a compressor.

Summary. What I like most / least: A peach of the devil, a super precise attack, but generally too crystalline due to its speaker. It is anyway a very good amp, but sin slightly extreme: clean channel a little too sharp and channel a little too saturated fat. A small loss: no volume control of the loop.
But generally nothing that can not be settled one way or another.

DSL 40C has a great potential. Value for money, this is certainly one of the best on the market today (September 2013)! With experience, I would integrate directly the cost of a new speaker and I will buy it back. From this perspective it may be considered as a rough diamond polishing than a completely ready (also due to the weak reverb) product.

Slight downside, the front switch that is supposed to cut the mediums snaps into place once in two. But we will not make it back across the handle for so little!

Taking into account the above reservations, it will not be disappointed with the animal.

All lamp
Power: 40 Watts
1 speaker 12 "Celestion 70/80 Custom
Lamps: 4 x ECC83 and 2 x EL34
2 channels: Classic Gain and Ultra Gain
Volume and Gain controls for the two channels
Clean and Crunch modes on Classic Gain channel
Methods Lead 1 and Lead 2-channel Ultra Gain
3-band EQ (Bass, Mid, Treble)
Presence control
Tone Shift switch
Resonance control
Switch Pentode / Triode
Channel digital reverberation
Outputs speakers: 8 and 16 Ohm
2 button footswitch incl. (Channel selection and Reverb on / off)
Weight: approx. 23 kg

UTILIZATION

Plug and play, everything is said.
I did not need the manual, everything is very simple.

Easily obtained provided a very good sound we love Marshall's, of course.

For the record, I compared to its predecessor (I think) DSL 401, I tried with a friend, and I found it better and more successful.

Resonance control I particularly liked, providing the sound side the famous "cron-cron" (yes, I know, I have not found any other term) to expensive fan of AC / DC I am when you attack the strings ...

SOUNDS

This amp is perfect for my style of music that ranges from punk rock to hard rock though strong, even blues.

I like the sound eyeing more towards AC / DC, as I said above, and, of course, we found it full with this kind of amp.

It's bold, it's hot, it's a big but unlike Marshall MG101FX (100 watts Transistor, yes, I know it does not compare lamps and transistors) that I have also, you do not lose all the precision and attack, on the contrary!

The clean sound is far from being disgusting, even if it is not the primary purpose of this amp, but I have not enough experience or valid comparison (Fender Hot Rod or otherwise) to be completely objective.

I use a Gibson Les Paul Special Faded and ben ... Here, what!

OVERALL OPINION

I tried other amps before choosing one: Orange Dual Terror (a tad too runny in the saturated), Peavey Classic 30 (a bit too vintage) and Blackstar HT 40 (not powerful enough! yes, same number of watts, but strangely not the same) ... and the least we can say is that the quality / price it is unbeatable!