# Marshall DSL50



## Andy (Sep 23, 2007)

So, I've heard a lot of mixed opinions on these amps, without having a chance to play one myself in a long time. I got a chance to have a rip through one today, and quite frankly I'm blown away. In all honesty, the crunch channel is 90% there compared to a JCM800, plus some great cleans and leads. I can see how they're easy to dislike -- the Tone Shift and Deep switches sound like kife, and the lead 2 has just too much gain past 11:00. That being said, it's also incredibly easy to get a good tone. I never moved the eq or presence knobs much away from noon, other than to experiment, and the amp retains its clarity and punch at most gain settings.

Conclusion: I'm impressed as hell, and you'll probably be seeing a NAD post from me soon.


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## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

nice! congrats! pics if you do get it!


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

Congrats man. The DSL are very good modern amps, specialy compared to the TLS models and such. Sure you'll enjoy it. is it the combo or head?


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

I've tried the DSL50 here and there and always thought it was pretty decent. If I needed more versatility (like a clean channel, fx loop, etc.) then I would certainly take a look at one, but right now I just need grind, so I just use my JTM45


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

I have my friend's DSL50 halfstack behind me, it happens to be for sale. I like what it has to offer, both boosted and unboosted. The cleans I haven't spent a lot of time with, but now that I actually got to sit with it for more than 5 minuts I dialed in a good distorted tone that I like. I actually run the deep button on, because I'm used to having a recto behind me and I'm pretty sure I'd burry this amp's low end unintentionally *L*.

It's a decent amp, and if I wasn't loving my mesa, I'd consider it. Shared EQ though...


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## jammers5 (Mar 26, 2010)

I have a DSL 50 head and a 1936 caninet. Love the crunch in it. My only beef is the dramatic volume drop off between clean and crunch on the clean channel. It makes this amp not gig-worthy for me. There is a mod on the marshall forums that I will get done after xmas when my brother, the electronics guru, is out of school and able to give me a a few hours to help me out.


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## Wardo1974 (May 31, 2010)

What is the difference between these and the TSL models?


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Wardo1974 said:


> What is the difference between these and the TSL models?


*D* is for *D*ual channel and *T* is for *T*riple channel. The triple channels each have their own EQ, while the Double channel shares an EQ.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

jammers5 said:


> I have a DSL 50 head and a 1936 caninet. Love the crunch in it. My only beef is the dramatic volume drop off between clean and crunch on the clean channel. It makes this amp not gig-worthy for me. There is a mod on the marshall forums that I will get done after xmas when my brother, the electronics guru, is out of school and able to give me a a few hours to help me out.


That's funny, every two channel amp I've played has a louder clean channel then crunch channel.

And usually seperate volumes, so you can match them


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## Andy (Sep 23, 2007)

Pulled the trigger on a new one today, traded my Traynor YCS90 against it. First impression is that the tone is exactly what I've been after, if a little bright (no harshness, though), but I always end up boosting the highs when practicing or recording, so I think it'll cut through great. Definitely not as fizzy as the Mesa Stiletto I wanted to like so much, and it kicks the hell out of the 6505+ IMO.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Congrats!

Personally I'd snag a used one, they're not too expensive.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

I have the real oddball of the family - the DSL401. EL84-based, 40 watts. Poor stock speaker, prone to overheating problems, weak reverb and a parallel effects loop. Having said that, address those issues and you have a near perfect gigging combo - and they sell quite cheap too.

I installed a Veteran 30, added a closed-back extension (with another V30), and added a heatsink to the bridge rectifier to solve the overheating. I use this amp a lot! At our recent outdoor gig, I split my signal between my Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue and the Marshall - it was pretty dang good!


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## Duane (May 11, 2010)

Depending on what sound you are after the Egnater amps are Classic Rock Machines out of the box. Crunch of a Marshall with the chime of a Vox. I have the Rebel 30 which is 2 channel and to me the best amp I have ever played.


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## holyman (Dec 22, 2009)

DSL's are great amps for the price. They will come pretty close to just about any Marshall tone you may want. They are pretty middle of the road in terms of build quality but for the price they are good enough. I am sure I will own one one of these days. They also sound pretty good at low volume for a Marshall as well.


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## jammers5 (Mar 26, 2010)

Budda said:


> That's funny, every two channel amp I've played has a louder clean channel then crunch channel.
> 
> And usually seperate volumes, so you can match them


No no, the clean channel has two modes, clean and crunch. They are in the same channel and thus, controlled by the same volume knob.


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## Andy (Sep 23, 2007)

The crunch is quieter than the clean? That's odd. I'm sure it's an easy fix for a tech to do.

Mine is the opposite -- the crunch is considerably louder than the clean, but I hardly ever switch between them.


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## jammers5 (Mar 26, 2010)

Andy said:


> The crunch is quieter than the clean? That's odd. I'm sure it's an easy fix for a tech to do.
> 
> Mine is the opposite -- the crunch is considerably louder than the clean, but I hardly ever switch between them.


No mine is the same as yours. the clean is considerably quieter that the crunch.

J5


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## jammers5 (Mar 26, 2010)

Duane said:


> Depending on what sound you are after the Egnater amps are Classic Rock Machines out of the box. Crunch of a Marshall with the chime of a Vox. I have the Rebel 30 which is 2 channel and to me the best amp I have ever played.


I have the Egnater Rebel 30 Head, running it through a V30 cabinet. The thing I find about the Eggie is that at lower volumes (practive volumes) the amp sounds ok but at jamming and gigging volumes it sounds incredible. I know a lot of amps are like this but this amp the difference in way more pronunced. Don't get me wrong, when it's cranked there is nothing in the price range that can touch it. Just wondering do you find it the same way? Is yours the combo or the head/cabinet?

I actually sold it a few weeks back, the guy who bought it called me back the next day and said it wasn't the "tone in his head" that he was looking for and asked if I would take it back. I had the worst case of seller's remorse on that amp and gave him his money back gladly.


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## Zman (Nov 20, 2010)

I have both the DSL401 combo and the DSL100 head. The 401 is a later model after they fixed the overheating issues. It is an excellent amp even stock. I use it through my cab as well. The DSL100 is only about 3 DB louder than the 50 but is equally as nice. I use mine through a 2/12 Avatar cab with Eminence Legends in it and it is just sweet. As another poster mentioned, it IS "the tone in my head".
This has to be one of the most versatile heads out there. With the switches and controls you can get just about any Marshall tone you like. The effects loop is great for delay etc. The red channel is really good all by itself. The clean with pedals is completely tweakable. Mine is a 2008 and I will never sell it.
I traded it even for a 2008 Fireburst Gibson Studio that I paid 1099 for new. The guy gave me the original bill for the amp and it was 1799 plus tax. Talk about a score. It was "Start the Car" and get the hell outa town. 
Congrats on your new 50. They are worth every nickel.


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## Rahlstin (Jan 4, 2011)

I bought a DSL100 in 2005. Amp has great tone and covers just about every sound I need very well in a classic rock/top 40. I did make a small mod to the tone stack. Sniped out a cap and also replaced the treb cap with a different value silver mica cap. (Ill have to look way back to see exactly what I did.) It is a working stage amp that I use exclusivly. Ive never once had an issue that wasnt tube related. Ive had a few power tubes start to go on stage but made it through by turining up the vol thankfully the tubes managed to get thru the nite. IT was close though lol. Had a preamp tube go noisy on me, but none of that has to do with the amp itself. I dont use the reverb. I have a 1/4 plug in the jack set to open to disable it. I use the red channel for all my rock tone for 80's and up, normal gain set to 10. I use the clean channnel with the gain button in, set to 5 so I get a not bad crunch with a humbucker, but a nice clean with a bit of hair to it tone with single coils. For 60-70 tone I use a DT Bad Monkey into the front end. For solos I use MXR micro amps thru the FX loop. One for solos on the green channel and one for the red channel, they are set to different levels. This boosts the existing preamp signal to the power amp and dosnt change the preamp tone or gain at the front end. I run JJ El34S in the power section and JJ ECC83S in the preamp. I find the tone is the best to my ear with this set. I tried some tungsol, but the tone was wierd. The amp sounds just amazing at 5-7 on master but, this is beyond excessive volume in just about all the places we play. I run it belive it or not about 2 on the masters. This is plenty of stage reference volume and I have really good tone. I really love this amp. Future: It does have a few areas that can use some inmprovement, OT id like to upgrade to a merc and get the bottom end a bit tighter. There is a guy in the uK that makes a little board for relay switching the green clean and green gain channels and to balance them, id like to get this too. Then the FX loop youll notice when in use takes a wee bit of the tone out, this id like to correct as well. All in good time I guess. I run it through a 1991 (I bought new back then along with a jcm900-4500 amp) JCM900 1960A cab with Gt12-75s. Ive not tried it with anything else. As said prior, they are great great amps for the money and the back line look is priceless. Have fun.


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## Bevo (Nov 24, 2006)

Great review and information!!!


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## jammers5 (Mar 26, 2010)

Rahlstin said:


> I bought a DSL100 in 2005. Amp has great tone and covers just about every sound I need very well in a classic rock/top 40. I did make a small mod to the tone stack. Sniped out a cap and also replaced the treb cap with a different value silver mica cap. (Ill have to look way back to see exactly what I did.) It is a working stage amp that I use exclusivly. Ive never once had an issue that wasnt tube related. Ive had a few power tubes start to go on stage but made it through by turining up the vol thankfully the tubes managed to get thru the nite. IT was close though lol. Had a preamp tube go noisy on me, but none of that has to do with the amp itself. I dont use the reverb. I have a 1/4 plug in the jack set to open to disable it. I use the red channel for all my rock tone for 80's and up, normal gain set to 10. I use the clean channnel with the gain button in, set to 5 so I get a not bad crunch with a humbucker, but a nice clean with a bit of hair to it tone with single coils. For 60-70 tone I use a DT Bad Monkey into the front end. For solos I use MXR micro amps thru the FX loop. One for solos on the green channel and one for the red channel, they are set to different levels. This boosts the existing preamp signal to the power amp and dosnt change the preamp tone or gain at the front end. I run JJ El34S in the power section and JJ ECC83S in the preamp. I find the tone is the best to my ear with this set. I tried some tungsol, but the tone was wierd. The amp sounds just amazing at 5-7 on master but, this is beyond excessive volume in just about all the places we play. I run it belive it or not about 2 on the masters. This is plenty of stage reference volume and I have really good tone. I really love this amp. Future: It does have a few areas that can use some inmprovement, OT id like to upgrade to a merc and get the bottom end a bit tighter. There is a guy in the uK that makes a little board for relay switching the green clean and green gain channels and to balance them, id like to get this too. Then the FX loop youll notice when in use takes a wee bit of the tone out, this id like to correct as well. All in good time I guess. I run it through a 1991 (I bought new back then along with a jcm900-4500 amp) JCM900 1960A cab with Gt12-75s. Ive not tried it with anything else. As said prior, they are great great amps for the money and the back line look is priceless. Have fun.


I'm interested in the Green channel mod - does the guy in the UK have a website?

J5


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## Rahlstin (Jan 4, 2011)

gsharp.co.uk - DSL Footswitch


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