Marshall DSL 201.

longi

Are these Marshall's any good? I've seen a couple come up locally to me and I'm intrigued a little bit. What sort of issues do they have and more importantly are they reliable or would they happen to be a dog? I'm Aassing for a cheapie (new to me) amp. They look interesting.

ICBM

They're OK, but with some issues…

A speaker upgrade is essential if it still has the original G12E-50. It makes the amp sound tinny and weak, worse on the overdrive channel than the clean. Luckily, if you just put a Greenback into it it sounds really pretty good on both channels. It also makes the OD channel seem less buzzy - a lot of people complain that it has too much gain (it's the same as OD2 on the DSL401, not OD1), but it's much less of an issue with a good speaker.

It has the same overheating bridge rectifier problem as the well-known fault with the DSL401 - they're actually the same amp inside, the 201 is just fitted with slightly fewer components. It's not a particularly difficult repair and if done properly won't fail again.

I've seen a few with blown output transformers. The stock part is really weedy and they don't seem to like being thrashed flat-out. You can fit a DSL401 transformer, but only just and it's a fair amount of work involving cutting the chassis… not really an easy DIY job.

On the earlier ones, the holes in the chassis for the power valves are slightly too small and many EL84s with fatter bottles won't fit. (Really!) You can ream them out easily enough, but you have to take the whole amp apart to get at it.

I would consider one if it's a lot cheaper than a DSL401, but not otherwise - the 401 is really a much better amp. Hope that helps!

longi

Cheers ICBM! I see it also has a parallel effects loop too, not so good for 4cm which is what I use. Maybe I'll be keeping my money in my pocket then!

thermionic

ICBM said:

 a lot of people complain that it has too much gain (it's the same as OD2 on the DSL401, not OD1), but it's much less of an issue with a good speaker.

This is exactly the reason I sold mine. Clean channel was pretty decent but sounded horrible with the gain turned up, the drive channel was fine but far too driven at the low end of the gain pot. Nothing in between clean and classic Marshall. If I knew what I'd need to mod to get OD1 rather than OD2 (surely only a resistor or two?) I'd fancy getting another one and putting a Greenback in it.

ICBM

thermionic said:

This is exactly the reason I sold mine. Clean channel was pretty decent but sounded horrible with the gain turned up, the drive channel was fine but far too driven at the low end of the gain pot. Nothing in between clean and classic Marshall. If I knew what I'd need to mod to get OD1 rather than OD2 (surely only a resistor or two?) I'd fancy getting another one and putting a Greenback in it.

From what I remember, the 201 actually has the circuit and the resistor in place, just without the extra switch to operate it! Talk about unnecessary hobbling to differentiate a product at a price point… if so you could simply jumper over the unused switching transistor and that would do it.

The speaker upgrade really does make a difference to the apparent 'gain' though, by making the dirty channel so much less fizzy and buzzy.

thermionic

Hmmm... If I see a cheap one locally at some point, I might be picking your brains!

longi

Is the OD2 channel that buzzy?