so, after nearly 11 years of playing I've decided to bite the bullet and get myself a tube amp; yep, all this time ive been a solid-state man (i should get kicked out of the guitarists union or something)
Currently i play a Marshall Valvestate VS100R, so the DSL401 seems like an obvious upgrade path, as it's 1) cheap (under £400), 2) low volume (it'll be for bedroom use) and 3) has all the same controls/channels as my current marshall. Except all tube!
so, anyway thoughts / opinions /soundclips on the DSL401? I'm especially looking at you here mike..
I liked mine when I had it, but I discovered I'll always be a head and cab kinda guy, I'm just used to the extra umpf you get, plus I've been spoiled by having a 3 channel amp..
Aaaanywho - if you remind me I can upload the stuff I did with my DSL401 later, I have a few samples kicking around.
Overall I liked it, it was a great amp and they hold their value well. Some plus and minus points:
Pluses
- very cheap in the UK for what it is
- amazing clean channel, that takes pedals really really well
- nice spring reverb
- plenty loud for small/medium gigs but sounds great at low volumes too
- Can get a wide range of overdriven tones, from light crunch to full bore Marshall roar
- Portable, relatively light
- Holds value EXTREMELY well - I sold mine second hand for £25 less than it was new
Minuses
- Overdrive channel a little bass light, voiced in the midrange for a lead tone - can be remedied by putting an EQ set for bass boost in the FX loop and using the Mix control as a Bass control
- Slightly buzzy tone to the Overdrive up the dial, get a £10 12DW7 valve to clear this up and leave the clean channel unaffected
- Slightly slow channel switching - although yuo can get used to the slight delay from clean to drive
- Stock speaker not the best - I reckon this would benefit greatly from a warmer driver like a Vintage30
Overall though I'm not sure you can beat it in the Uk for price and sounds.
I too like the punchiness of a cab, but it's just not realistic for a bedroom player like myself. The DSL401 looks like a really small portable amp.
The shared EQ isn't too much of a probably, nor is the thin voicing of the OD1 channel - cos my valvestate also suffers from both of these "features". I use the OD1 on my current marshall as the clean channel, with gain on 2 - it just sounds great!
You can get this amp for £380 brand new now - how much did you pay?
Also one final thing - i noticed you've owned a Marshall 6100 head? I was looking at the 6100lm / 6101lm as it's the amp Placebo use for all their stuff - i wonder how the 3 channels compare to the DSL401, voicing wise?
The OD1 and OD2 do share a volume gain, the difference is just a 20dB attentuation of OD2 to form OD1, basically I used to use OD2 with gain at around 9'o clock as it's the true open sound of the channel which was a good medium/high overdrive, OD1 I didn't really use all that much. You're right that it's thinner.
I paid £389 for mine and sold it on ebay for £365. Not bad eh?
I still own teh 6100 yeah, I love it. The DSL401 can do a passable impression of the crunch sounds I like about the 6100, or the higher gain Lead channel, obviously not exatcly the same as it's EL84s vs. EL34s but not bad at all - particularly after you upgrade V2 to a 12DW7.
The DSL401 has a more midrange chimey tone Aka Vox AC30 but far more versatile wheras the 6100 is more variable seeing as it has a prescence control and different gain structures.
Gareth has a TSL601 which is not a bad amp but very expensive. With all these amps dime the Master you get your power tubes cooking and keep the channel volumes lower and you'll be laughing.
Mikes description is good. I've used one for two years, for the following reasons...
1/ easily portable
2/ loud enough for most pubs and bigger venues you would mic up through the PA anyway.
3/ classic o/d and distortion sounds available at low volume and up full
The clean settings are a matter of taste but i rarely play clean anyway.
If you want an amp that is bedroom friendly but will go with you to the next level of rehearsing and gigs, the DSL401 is a winner.
