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Up to now, I have pretty much stubbornly stuck to BF Fender amps, for the cleans and using pedals for filth, and I pretty much know the square root of bugger all about Marshalls, the best models, the ones to avoid, which one has the best clean channel, how they are with mod/delays/reverb, etc.
For my own use, I'm interested in learning about combos, two channels (clean & gain/lead, footswitchable), preferably with an effects loop and possibly with reverb (not essential). Ultimately I would be interested in the one model overall with the best clean and dirt channels, but I appreciate that this is asking the obvious, that tastes will vary, and that looking for this could be a bit of a quest for the holy grail of amps. Grateful for your views. Thanks, all.
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If there was I would use one.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I think you are better off with a good clean channel (Fender Blackface or otherwise) and pedals for dirt.
Trying to get a great clean and drive out of a Marshall is a bit like buying a Transit filling with bags of cement and trying to get it round the Nurburg Ring under 10 mins.......
Look at Eric Johnson, he uses Fender for cleans, Marshalls for gain, playing to each Amps natural strengths.
HTH.
If you put aside any 'valves only' views you might be very pleasantly surprised. As with any amp at this price point, a speaker change will give you a big sonic improvement - so try it through an extension cab too to hear the difference. If I had the space & I didn't already have a DSL401, I'd buy one myself, honestly.
None of them do great cleans and drive though, if you're used to pedal platform amps like the blackface fenders, maybe try a JTM45? A good pedal platform with (obviously) a marshally flavour and great cleans.
PA Hire and Event Management
PA Hire and Event Management
Bear in mind this was Marshall's flagship model for more than ten years...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
The newer Rectoverb 25W combos look good.
The only Marshalls that I can think of that fit this bill are actually solid state or hybrid amps.
The VS65, VS100 and Mosfet (I forget the model).
They look like marshalls, sound like marshalls....
My only other bit of advice is anything made after 1996 will most likely either sound rubbish, set itself on fire or set itself on fire whilst sounding rubbish.
No doubt about it
The DSL401 does have two true channels though.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
It was pretty simple for me: It just felt like four Marshalls in one head. A vintage voiced one (which I liked clean), a crunch classic rock one, and two higher gain models.
I absolutely loved the two master volumes. I had the first set to evenly balance the volume from each of the four channels; the second MV was my boost for solos. And with 100W of Marshall you can boost as much as you like; your ears would break before it ran out of headroom.
The foot controller was great too because you could customise it (and I did!).
Yep, it's up for sale (see sig) but that's because I no longer need it and, of course, it ain't exactly lunch box sized. If I went back to that sort of band band I'd get another JVM in a heartbeat.