Caved and got the Marshall DSL402- but it has a couple of (hopefully very minor) problems

57Deluxe

Dave_Mc said:

Some good news on the missing button- I thought I'd better look in the box again, just in case I'd missed it. I found it in the bottom of the box- a bit squashed, 

...did you find the missing Reverb in the bottom of the box too??

Dave_Mc

57Deluxe said:

Dave_Mc said:

Some good news on the missing button- I thought I'd better look in the box again, just in case I'd missed it. I found it in the bottom of the box- a bit squashed, 

...did you find the missing Reverb in the bottom of the box too??

LOL unfortunately not!

It is pretty subtle... up full is about where I'd want it to be at about 3!

ICBM

Marshall make some odd choices with their digital reverbs - it’s almost as if they deliberately make them crap so they’re an accurate reproduction of the spring reverbs they used to use.

Yorkie

There’s spring, room, hall, church, canyon… Marshall does space. As in a vacuum. 

noisepolluter

Yorkie said:

There’s spring, room, hall, church, canyon… Marshall does space. As in a vacuum. 

Their Reflector pedal has good sounds in it - shame they didn’t stick a simplified version in the DSL, one knob with hall, plate spring etc each sharing a fraction of the sweep like on the Roland cubes etc

The JVM reverb seems to be the same algorithm but with more of it on tap. 

Yorkie

If they were going to increase prices to improve aspects of their DSL line, I would suggest they start with the speaker. 

noisepolluter

Yorkie said:

If they were going to increase prices to improve aspects of their DSL line, I would suggest they start with the speaker. 

I thought the v-type in the current one was OK - Creambacks obviously an improvement to a lot of folks’ ears but you don’t tend to see them as a stock speaker till you’re spending a grand or so E.g. the new ST20 combo/cabs

Yorkie

Well, the 40 does have a V-type, but the rest don't. The 20 model goes for not much less money than the 40 and has a cheapo 70/80.

ICBM

I'd rather have a Seventy/80 than a V-Type... really.

But rather a Creamback - or Greenback in the 20-watter - than either. Or a Creamback Neo.

Yorkie

I’ve played a Greenback in the 20 and I think it’s the natural speaker for that amp. 

ICBM

Yorkie said:

I’ve played a Greenback in the 20 and I think it’s the natural speaker for that amp. 

It was in the old DSL201 too - so much so that I think it may have been prototyped with one, until the company beancounters said no - with the stock G12E-50, the clean channel was shrill and the dirty channel hollow, and to get anything vaguely good and similar out of both, the EQ had to be set to extremes and very differently on each channel. Put a Greenback in, set all the knobs to noon, and immediately it sounded great on both channels and like the dirty channel was an extension of the clean... I find it hard to believe that’s a coincidence.

Dave_Mc

Yorkie said:

If they were going to increase prices to improve aspects of their DSL line, I would suggest they start with the speaker. 

Yeah probably. Unless the amp already comes with a good speaker which suits the amp, that's the biggest bottleneck on the tone usually.

Or maybe a plywood cab, though the speaker probably makes a more obvious difference that's easier to market!

Regarding the reverb, it's not that the reverb is bad as such, there's just nowhere near enough of it... so it's kind of pointless. Maybe it doesn't cost much to add it once they've designed the algorithms or however they work, but it's still two extra knobs for nothing, you've got to figure that adds a bit of cost.

I put a greenback and g12h30 in mine. I had all these plans of how I was going to try a bunch of my unused speakers, but I couldn't be bothered after all the troubleshooting. (To be fair, I did try most of my speakers which were already in cabs with it.) I just went with the combo I thought was most likely to do what I wanted. I may at some point try some other ones, if I can gather up the inclination again!

I've never tried a V-type yet... word on the net seems to be it's somewhere between a greenback and a v30?

ICBM

Dave_Mc said:

I've never tried a V-type yet... word on the net seems to be it's somewhere between a greenback and a v30?

Not really, it doesn’t have any of the character of either. I think it’s a terrible speaker, all fuzzy mids and no depth. Genuinely, I prefer the Seventy/80, which at least sounds boring rather than bad.

Dave_Mc

ICBM said:

Dave_Mc said:

I've never tried a V-type yet... word on the net seems to be it's somewhere between a greenback and a v30?

Not really, it doesn’t have any of the character of either. I think it’s a terrible speaker, all fuzzy mids and no depth. Genuinely, I prefer the Seventy/80, which at least sounds boring rather than bad.

Wow! I have to admit I don't think any of the (very few) soundclips I've heard of the V-Type have impressed me...

rockmonster

Play em loud and the V types come alive. I have a 4x12 with them in and they beat the pants off another 4x12 I have with V30’s in the bottom and greenbacks in the top! Go figure!

Yorkie

rockmonster said:

Play em loud and the V types come alive. I have a 4x12 with them in and they beat the pants off another 4x12 I have with V30’s in the bottom and greenbacks in the top! Go figure!

The 2x12 doesn't come with V-types as far as I know, but I think Dave has already put some quality stuff in there. Like, green stuff.

Dave_Mc

Yorkie said:

rockmonster said:

Play em loud and the V types come alive. I have a 4x12 with them in and they beat the pants off another 4x12 I have with V30’s in the bottom and greenbacks in the top! Go figure!

The 2x12 doesn't come with V-types as far as I know, but I think Dave has already put some quality stuff in there. Like, green stuff.

Yeah. I'm going on memory here but IIRC the stock ones were 25W and had a very small magnet. They felt more like Jensens when you lifted them! I put a G12M greenback and G12H30 into mine (just the standard ones, not Heritage).