Anyone Tried a Marshall DSL40?

darthed1981

monquixote said:

I've only gone and ordered one!

Nice one... Don't forget to tell me what you think...

monquixote

Will do chap!

monquixote

Weirdly it seems to be almost impossible to find this Peach Demo of the DSL40CR by doing a Google search.

Shame because it's an absolute cracker:

hessodreamy

Can it do more vintage, lower gain, plexi-type sounds? Hard to tell from vids. 

monquixote

hessodreamy said:

Can it do more vintage, lower gain, plexi-type sounds? Hard to tell from vids. 

This is a comparison against an Origin which is a Plexi style amp.

I think they are running it very loud.

monquixote

Well it's arrived.

First impressions are that the volume is very controllable with the switchable master and it looks good and well made considering the price. It's bloody heavy so a neo creamback would be a good upgrade.

The cleans are impressive for a high gain Marshall and the 4 channels go from sparkling to absolute mayhem, but aren't all that different in the way they sound.

If you crank the gain it does get a bit fizzy, but that's to be expected.

So far I like it.

monquixote

Update 2 the emulated line out is BALLS!

Why can't I switch the emulation off and run the preamp into the IRs on my GT1000? that would be brilliant!

It's quite classic rock sounding. You can go quite full gain, but it never gets all modern metal on you. (At least with a DGT anyway)

Can't wait to get my GT-1000 hooked up.

ICBM

monquixote said:

Update 2 the emulated line out is BALLS!

Why can't I switch the emulation off and run the preamp into the IRs on my GT1000?

You can - use the FX send. At least, I *think* it will... some of their amps (including the older DSL401) have the FX loop in a slightly odd place. What you can't do is run the *power amp* output into your IRs - or not without using an external load box which provides an un-emulated line out. But if you have a load box with one of those...

TTBZ

Yeah I wish there was a button to turn off the emulated output, you can use it for silent recording in standby so that would have been perfect if you could switch the cab sim off.

monquixote

A few more updates on the DSL40

The clean channel is absolutely superb and quite unlike any Marshall I've used. It doesn't crunch up all that nicely and gets a bit woolly which is all the more reason to get the 40 watt so you can use the crunch mode which is apparently designed to be a JCM800 preamp. It does have that similar sound and is a little bit tighter.

It's definitely more like a sweeter JCM800 on channel 1 though so you aren't going to get the plexi sounds you will get from the Origin series.

Channel 2 is much more of a modern smoother gain sound with OD2 being a bit more focussed and mid pushed.

It absolutely loves single coils though which I didn't expect. My AO 50s Tele sounds superb!

I haven't tried the strat with flamethrower DiMarzios yet, but I expect it will be fun

ICBM

monquixote said:

It's definitely more like a sweeter JCM800 on channel 1 though so you aren't going to get the plexi sounds you will get from the Origin series.

I've only tried the Origin 20 but I didn't think it sounded anything like a Plexi. Boxy, weak, and completely lacking in the depth, punch and roar of a real Marshall.

monquixote

ICBM said:

monquixote said:

It's definitely more like a sweeter JCM800 on channel 1 though so you aren't going to get the plexi sounds you will get from the Origin series.

I've only tried the Origin 20 but I didn't think it sounded anything like a Plexi. Boxy, weak, and completely lacking in the depth, punch and roar of a real Marshall.

You can get them to sound good, but you have to hit the front end really hard with a boost and run them quite loud. It's certainly not plug in and sound great at a range of volumes.

I haven't tried a SV20 so I can't say how different they sound.

They definitely have a different style of gain which is not like a JCM. Much rawer and nastier than the DSL which is always quite polite sounding. I think the Origin 20 might have been voiced to go with the 10" combo as it's very bass light.

This video shows the difference quite well although doesn't show the DSL in the best light as the 20 lacks the crunch mode.