Marshall DSL15C and DSL40C Combo Amps

[CoreyT]

I have been thinking of getting the DSL15H down the road to try out.

Have watched a few demos online including Marshall's, but a new one was just released by Guitar World.

I was just reading the review yesternight in Guitar Worlds May issue.

 

Paul's playing seems to get better too as time goes by.

 

[69tele]

Thanks for that I've just ordered the combo myself .. so will soon be able to provide an opinion .

[Twang Gang]

Thanks Corey - I like the sound of that little 15 watt. Have to go try one.

[kidblast]

they sound great.

 

I'm not a fan of "shared eq" tho..

 

I've got a JTM602x12, which from this demo, sounds very close to the dsl40,

 

the JTM clean channel didn't have a gain setting, but if you dime it, and use the master volume, you get a delightful old school crunch.

 

the separate EQ I think adds quite a lot, too bad they omitted that on these...

[Ryan H]

The 15 really doesn't sound very "Marshally" to me...the 6V6's were a bad idea. Even though his EQ is partly to blame, the amp had no balls; too thin and nowhere near enough gain. The 40 is a proper Marshall.

 

One other feature they forgot to mention is the half-power switch. The 40 can be dropped to 20 watts and the 15 down to 7. So if you're worried the 40 is too much volume for you, you can get it down to basically the same as the 15, but with that EL34 tone instead of the wimpy 6V6's in the 15's circuit (I'm not saying ALL 6V6 amps are wimpy, just with this circuit).

 

-Ryan

[CoreyT]

I caught that too that the 4) sounds more like a Marshall.

I would have to check if the 40 comes as a head too.

[DiamondJig]

I've had the DSL40C for a couple of weeks. It's a HDF board box, not plywood, better than partical board. The build is very good, it comes with decent tubes. The 40 has 4 modes while the 15 only 2 and it has a resonace control not just a deep switch like the 15. To me the best channel on the amp is the Clean channel Crunch mode, this is classic Marshall tone Plexi thru JCM. The tone controls have a wide range and work as does the presence and the resonace. The resonace is worth getting the 40 over the 15, works great. The 1/2 power switch changes from pentode to triode which does cut the power, but also darkens it a little, the power cut does reduce the volume a little but it's more less head room. The amp is very quite and loud. I think the amp has a bright tone to it, the Clestion 70/80 does a good job. The clean/clean is kinda sterile untill you turn it up and give it some resonce. When you change modes to crunch there is a big jump in volume. The foot switch does not control the modes only channel and reverb, too bad. I think this amp could realy use a Master Volume besides the channel volumes, the effects return has no control straight into the power section, it does have a bypass switch but it too is not foot switchable. The Ultra channel is a beast loud and proud, the lead1 mode is bright and lead2 ups the gain and balls the Ultra channel wants to plyed loud. The amp responds well to diffent guitar/pickups and their volume/tone controls. I can't see getting the 15's and loosing out on the Crunch mode and resonace control. Don't know why they left them off the 15's too bad.

[69tele]

well I've had my DSL15C combo for a few days and love it.

 

Warn tone on cleans and nice crunchy dist, on OD, not too heavy too carry either.

 

full review and pics soon

[CoreyT]

Here is a fresh video just uploaded from NstuffMusic.

I never did get one of these like I planned, I went for the Blackstar HT5R head instead into an Orange 1x12 Celestion cabinet.