Doog's Tedious Amp Adventures

Post by **Doog** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 11:52 am

Hahaha, there was a bidwar in the last minute and it ended up going for 6 quid over the BIN. But it's still mine!

Still a decent price though

Post by **Mike** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:05 pm

haha you're hilarious.

"I'm gonna sell my Marshall first so I can try some amps out and know my budget... ooh shiny... MINE MINE MINE"

Johno · Post by **Johno** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:09 pm

Is the VS100 lighter than the old valvestates? I have a first gen 80watter

MikeG · Post by **MikeG** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:09 pm

Sounds like a good deal!

Post by **Doog** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:58 pm

Mike wrote:haha you're hilarious.

"I'm gonna sell my Marshall first so I can try some amps out and know my budget... ooh shiny... MINE MINE MINE"

Hahaha, guilty as charged. It was too good a price to pass up though, moreso when it was sitting at Â£100. Plus, it's local to me so I don't need to pay no stinkin' Â£15+ postage charges.

Picking it up tomorrow night, and once I'm happy with how it sounds with my gear, the DSL50 and cab will be going up on Ebay.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 1:07 pm

Shame you can't get it today for practise innit

Post by **Doog** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 1:08 pm

I could use the DSL50 if I was so inclined..

Post by **Mike** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 1:10 pm

I didn't realise you had it upstairs boyo

Post by **Doog** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 9:24 pm

Welcome to the family, little guy! Don't get too attached to Grandma, she's leaving soon.

Despite a massively long bus ride through scenic Roadworkington (Peckham) on the way in and some shoulder-dislocating lugging of the new 22kg addition, it was totally worth it. The seller was dead nice, and also happened to be a Daniel Johnston fan (noted my t-shirt); he only bought the amp recently but a new babby in the household meant a downgrade because of it's babby-waking potential.

Sounds good too, the Power Dimension shifts the midrange to make the amp sound a lot less boxy and improves the low end. AB'ing it with it's valve relative, it's certainly a bit more brash but it's doable.

IT'S DOABLE, PEOPLE!

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 9:43 pm

Good news Doog!

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 10:12 pm

reeeeeeeeeeeesult.

MikeG · Post by **MikeG** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 10:50 pm

Doog wrote:
Welcome to the family, little guy! Don't get too attached to Grandma, she's leaving soon.

Despite a massively long bus ride through scenic Roadworkington (Peckham) on the way in and some shoulder-dislocating lugging of the new 22kg addition, it was totally worth it. The seller was dead nice, and also happened to be a Daniel Johnston fan (noted my t-shirt); he only bought the amp recently but a new babby in the household meant a downgrade because of it's babby-waking potential.

Sounds good too, the Power Dimension shifts the midrange to make the amp sound a lot less boxy and improves the low end. AB'ing it with it's valve relative, it's certainly a bit more brash but it's doable.

IT'S DOABLE, PEOPLE!

Nice to see it, at home in the Room of Rock. Around about the same weight as my Laney.

Post by **Mike** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 6:56 am

Nice work!

Post by **Doog** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 11:26 am

A quick A/B of the two Marshalls with a RAT pedal, using the VS100's internal speaker both. DSL50 first then VS100, please excuse the mic clipping, the audio is from my Flip cam):

http://bestnetworx.com/uploader/files/3/dsl50-vs100.mp3

Not a million miles away really, the DSL50 is a bit more "rounded".

Post by **Mike** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 12:17 pm

Sounds so close absolutely noone is going to know the difference.

Post by **Doog** » Fri May 07, 2010 2:16 pm

Right, so I just spent an hour with an A/B pedal and my RAT, switching back and forth between the DSL50 rig with the VS100, making sure I'm making the right decision.

Every time I get the VS100 sounding good and I'm thinking "hey, this really isn't too bad!", I switch back to the DSL50 and realise HOW much nicer it sounds. No amount of EQing or button-pushing on the VS100 can level the playing field, even when running them both into the same cab. EVEN plugging the the VS100 into the 1936 cab and having the DSL into the VS100's internal speaker- the DSL50 always comes out on top. It breaaaks my heeeeeeart to think about getting rid of it when it sounds so good.

I'm currently thinking, like an idiot, "DSL401, eh?"..

Post by **Mike** » Fri May 07, 2010 2:31 pm

The DSL401 was good when I had it but it definitely has drawbacks.

1. Overdrive channel useless with shared EQ as it's bass light, but I guess you don't care about this.
2. It's EL84s so it's not going to sound exactly like your DSL50
3. Not light. It's still a bit of a heavy beast.
4. Not cheap new, especially these days. I got mine for Â£389 but they seem to be Â£550+ new now. Second hand prices will reflect this. I got Â£300 for mine.

However it does have a lovely clean channel.

I came to the conclusion a long time ago that I will always be a head and cab man, and pretty much that head and cab will always be my trusty old 6100 and a 1936 2x12".

Post by **Doog** » Fri May 07, 2010 2:42 pm

Yeah, the clean channel and volume is all I really need. Oddly enough, it's slightly lighter than the VS100 according to the Marshall site.

I definitely dig the sounds (dvschsa's demo is mint) but am somewhat wary of the overheat issue, especially if it does cause powertubes to have a shorter life. I'm not gonna do anything impulsive this time, I swear! I'm having second thoughts on the whole M9 thing (I've read about too many software problems with them recently), so I'm less desperate to downsize and use the cash gained.

Post by **Mike** » Fri May 07, 2010 2:51 pm

I think any made after August 2003 aren't affected by the overheating issue - I certainly never had a single problem with mine beyond struggling with balancing the EQ curve of the two channels.

I used to insert a GE-7 in the Loop and leave it on set to pure bass boost and dial it in using the FX Mix until the Overdrive channel sounded thick enough - generally this would mean the Clean channel was bassier than I wanted but you don't care about that issue.

I reckon have a look for them on ebay, set up a search and ask for serial numbers, and if one of the right age turns up, jump on it.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Fri May 07, 2010 3:07 pm

I had a DSL201 combo once and I thought it sounded great until I blew it up, I did put a Vintage 30 in it though. I thought it had seperate EQ's for both channels but I could be wrong. If so I would've assumed the 401 did as well.