player opinions

Marshall DSL 401

Marshall DSL 401

  1. Name: Kenny

  2. Band: Unpossibles

  3. Model Year: I dunno.

  4. Price Paid: $499

  5. Performance

  6. Easy to use. Clean channel, 2 distortion channels, reverb, basic EQ. All 3 Channels sounds great. I can get that “bite” on every channel.

  7. Performance Rating: 10

  8. Sound Quality

  9. This little 40 watt amp packs a punch. It’s very loud for 40 Watts. It’s louder than the VS265. It’s louder than the AVT150. It’s even louder than my old JCM900 dual reverb 50 watt head/half stack. The 1st overdrive channel is awesome. I can play chords and hear every note detailed. The second distortion would make death metal guitar players proud. Clean channel — I can get any tone I want. I’ll never buy another solid state amp again. Tube amps rule. This is the best sounding amp I’ve owned in over 18 years of playing!

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. Seems pretty reliable. I haven’t had any problems. Cabinet seems pretty sturdy.

  13. Construction Rating: 8

  1. Name: Danny

  2. Model Year: 2001

  3. Price Paid: $700

  4. Performance

  5. Great amp. Probably one of the best amps for the money. Very easy to use. They call it a 3 channel amp, but really I would say it is 2 1/2. It has a clean channel, and then od/1 and od/2, all footswitchable. However, the two overdrive channels are kind of one. The od/2 is just a “more drive” type thing. Such as found on Fender Hot Rods. When you kick it in, it just adds more drive to the od/1 channel, and uses the same eq settings. I give it a 7 because of the footswitch thing I will mention later, and the fact that the 2 overdrive channels share an eq.

  6. Performance Rating: 7

  7. Sound Quality

  8. Sounds great. If you play rock guitar, you need an all-tube marshall. If you can’t afford the big boys, this is what you get. Still plenty loud for anybody. The only thing I would change is the stock speaker. It comes with a speaker that has a 17 oz. magnet, and with small magnets, you can’t really get a lot of bottom end. I plan to switch to a 50 oz. magnet speaker in the future. But still sounds like a dream with the stock speaker anyway. Just about any eq combination will give you a great sound.

  9. Sound Quality Rating: 9

  10. Construction

  11. I have had a couple of problems, but nothing major at all. First off, sometimes I can hear the reverb spring vibrating when I’m playing real loud. But that’s an easy fix, so no big deal. The other thing is that when I switch from the clean channel to either of the dirty channels, the sound cuts out for a split second before the dirty kicks in. This isn’t good for seamless clean-to-dirty changes. It doesn’t do it between dirty channels or when I go from dirty to clean. I’m not sure if its the amp or the footswitch, but either way its kind of irritating. Other than that, its built solid. It IS a tube amp so it can only take so much abuse. But so far, so good.

  12. Construction Rating: 8

  1. Name: Larry C

  2. Band: Wiggle, Flash (USA)

  3. Price Paid: $577 (special deal, down from $729)

  4. Performance

  5. The controls are typical for a Marshall, simple and potent. The knob action is fluent and the range of control is pleasantly predictable. Half-knob gives half-crunch, etc.

  6. Performance Rating: 10

  7. Sound Quality

  8. The tonal range of the amp is incredible. It’s all tube bite. My Strat goes from crying to screaming with no rough places in between. And for a 1x12, this thing is a volume monster. I find that even at loud stage volumes, I still need no guitar in my monitor. With the help of a good mic, I won’t need to buy the larger DSL head.

  9. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  10. Construction

  11. The construction is tough enough to gig with, but I typically road-case my amps anyway. The cab itself is very solid, but, as with any Marshall, it’s a good idea to protect the protruding knobs from lateral impact.

  12. Construction Rating: 9

  1. Name: Alan Robertson

  2. Price Paid: £400

  3. Performance

  4. Exceeded my expectations. Was bought as a replacement for a 10 year old combo. Range of sounds is great.

  5. Performance Rating: 10

  6. Sound Quality

  7. Perfect match for my Strats. DI is V Good, but needs padded at the desk to avoid clipping. Sound is classic Marshall and I intend to move up to the DSL head and 4x12 for bigger gigs.

  8. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  9. Construction

  10. It’s a Marshall, solid as a rock, although I probably will flight case it to prevent knob damage.

  11. Construction Rating: 10

  1. tmingle: $000

  2. Performance

  3. Works well.

  4. Performance Rating: 8

  5. Sound Quality

  6. Clean channel goes form clean to dirty. Responds well to guitar volume control. Overdrive channel has some amazing sounds when cranked up. The best amp I have ever owned.

  7. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  8. Construction

  9. So far so good.

  10. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: matrixman

  2. Price Paid: $645

  3. Performance

  4. Tone is two dimensional and synthetic. Uninspiring. The direct out is noisy and distorts. I couldn’t even live with it for the evening. It was too trebly. Full bass is the only way to play it. Don’t bother with this one.

  5. Performance Rating: 2

  6. Sound Quality

  7. Can’t get any of my three strats to sound present. The distortion is fake sounding. Like a bad pedal.

  8. Sound Quality Rating: 2

  9. Construction

  10. Controls feel cheap. Poor fit. Some knobs took effort to turn. Some wiggled.

  11. Construction Rating: 4

stats

  1. Average Ratings
  2. Performance: 7.8
  3. Sound Quality: 8.6
  4. Construction: 8
  5. Ratings Key
  6. 10: Excellent
  7. 0: Useless
  8. Company
  9. Marshall

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