Guitar Amp Choices?

The serial no has 2001 in it, so I'm assuming that's the year it was made.

Also, there was a guy not far from me selling a DSL401 for £200 because the sound has dropped from it.
 
The serial no has 2001 in it, so I'm assuming that's the year it was made.

Also, there was a guy not far from me selling a DSL401 for £200 because the sound has dropped from it.

Hehe, offer him £100 because it doesn't work;)

I also had to re tube mine so be aware that a full set of tubes will be around the £70 mark.

I also don't 100% guarantee that the rectifier is the fix but it sounds damn likely.

That said there is little difference between the 201 and 401 even in terms of volume, keep in mind that a 100watt valve amp is only 10% louder than a 10watt valve amp. Don't ask me why, it just is :)
 
Incidentally how would I find out what year my Marshall was made?

Chop it in half and count the rings :)

To address the balance, I have love for Line 6. My Spider III 75w is a fantastic bit of kit. :)

It is a fantastic piece of kit and superb in the studio but live the Marshall is in another dimension (and of course in the studio).
Obviously a Marshall can't pretend its something else which a Line 6 Spider can do.
 
In that case, the Marshall would suit you and your playing very very well. :)


+1

Personally, I can't stand Line 6 hardware. Got buzz?

The DSL401 is a great little amp for the stuff you play, especially for AC/DC. Not so much for Metallica, but then short of buying a Triaxis or Dual Rectifier, you'll struggle to get that particular chug...
 
If you're willing to buy a head and cab and buy second hand you may just be able to afford an ashdown fallen angel and a 2 x 12 cab. I'm currently using a fallen angel head (60 watts tube amp it is VERY loud through the right cab) with a 2 x 12 framus cab (with two celestion vintage 30 speakers) and it's a really versatile setup. I use it mainly for playing metal (check my sig for a link to my band's myspace) and it sounds great. With the gain boost enabled I get a really smooth powerful sound with incredible bass (sounds fantastic for low tuned metal riffs) but I can get a nice clean sound and decent classic-rock crunch as well. It may end being slightly out of your budget, I paid £200 for the head second hand and £200 for the cab but if you can increase your budget a bit you'll have a setup that will be good enough for gigging for years to come.
 
I used to have an Ashdown Fallen Angel 40 and is was decent but not a patch on the Marshall.

Have a look at a Peavey Valveking 1x12 as well Sinny, brand new and still within your price limit.
 
I used to have an Ashdown Fallen Angel 40 and is was decent but not a patch on the Marshall.

Have a look at a Peavey Valveking 1x12 as well Sinny, brand new and still within your price limit.

I currently use the ValveKing VK100 100w head. It's pretty good. I got mine for £200 too...
 
That said there is little difference between the 201 and 401 even in terms of volume, keep in mind that a 100watt valve amp is only 10% louder than a 10watt valve amp. Don't ask me why, it just is :)

I believe it's actually that you need to (approximately) quadruple the wattage to double the perceived volume. Linky

Also, a tube amp will sound louder than an equivalent (wattage) solid state amp. The ohmage of the cab(s) you're using if it's a seperate head will be a factor too.

Loud high wattage amps are usually used to give more clean headroom. Volume itself is hardly necessary. Standing in front of a 100w Fender twin wound up is an ear-splitting experience. Lower wattage valve amps are favoured for the opposite reason, not simply because they are quieter overall, but because they break up into overdrive at more manageable volumes.

Personally I don't think you need more than 30w. In the venue I work in, guitarists insist on running big amps fully wound up and they drown out everything else put together through a 4k PA. No wonder they go deaf.
 
That said there is little difference between the 201 and 401 even in terms of volume, keep in mind that a 100watt valve amp is only 10% louder than a 10watt valve amp. Don't ask me why, it just is :)

I would argue until the cows came home on that one.
My rhythm guitarist uses a 10 watt valve combo in the studio and theres no way in a million years would he be able to take that on stage and it would reach the back of the audience.
 
I would argue until the cows came home on that one.
My rhythm guitarist uses a 10 watt valve combo in the studio and theres no way in a million years would he be able to take that on stage and it would reach the back of the audience.

Is the 100watt a 1x12 combo? Or does he play a stack?

There is more to it than simply wattage.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Guitar/Buying_an_amplifier#Size_and_Wattage

Feel free to argue until the cows come home, you won't be arguing with me though, you are arguing with the laws of physics...good luck :)

The fact remains that there will still be very little practical difference between a DSL 201 and a DSL 401 at domestic levels, the biggest difference is that the 401 has an extra speaker out.

A popular mod for the DSL401 is actually to pull two tubes, re-bias and make it a 20 watt amp. Not sure quite why because there is little difference to start with and they have very effective master volumes.
 
Is the 100watt a 1x12 combo? Or does he play a stack?

There is more to it than simply wattage.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Guitar/Buying_an_amplifier#Size_and_Wattage

Feel free to argue until the cows come home, you won't be arguing with me though, you are arguing with the laws of physics...good luck :)

The 10 watt is a Marshall valve 1x10 valve and the 100 watt is a 2 x 12 valve.

On his amp he has gain on '5 to' and master at 12 o'clock.
There is no way that the 10 watt on full blast will ever get near the volume of his 2 x 12.
In fact we had to use it once and put extension speakers on it but we had to have the majority of his sound coming through the foldback.
Of course the PA would handle the sound out front.
I would agree that theres virtually no difference between a 50 watt and 100 watt.
Virtually every band I went to see in the 70s had their guitarists playing through 50 watt stacks.
 
So that is also a 1x10 vs a 2x12.

As you said there is virtually no difference between a 50watt and a 100watt, exactly the same principal applies to a 20watt DSL201 and a 40watt DSL401.

50 watt stacks.

Stacks are a different ball game although similar laws apply add a second identical speaker and the decibel increase is around the same as doubling the wattage.
 
Also, a tube amp will sound louder than an equivalent (wattage) solid state amp. The ohmage of the cab(s) you're using if it's a seperate head will be a factor too.

This is completely true - my Orange Tiny Terror (15W tube, through a 1x12" Orange cab) is much louder than my housemates 30W solid state Marshall. Sounds a lot nicer too :p
 
Is the 100watt a 1x12 combo? Or does he play a stack?

There is more to it than simply wattage.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Guitar/Buying_an_amplifier#Size_and_Wattage

Feel free to argue until the cows come home, you won't be arguing with me though, you are arguing with the laws of physics...good luck :)

The fact remains that there will still be very little practical difference between a DSL 201 and a DSL 401 at domestic levels, the biggest difference is that the 401 has an extra speaker out.

A popular mod for the DSL401 is actually to pull two tubes, re-bias and make it a 20 watt amp. Not sure quite why because there is little difference to start with and they have very effective master volumes.

100W+: Earthquake and noise pollution. Prepare to deal with the police.
That made me laugh.
 
Also, a tube amp will sound louder than an equivalent (wattage) solid state amp. The ohmage of the cab(s) you're using if it's a seperate head will be a factor too.

The number and size of speakers makes a difference but as far as I'm aware only an ohm mismatch would make a difference to the volume.

eg a 4Ohm output into an 8Ohm cab will reduce the sound output, an 8Ohm load into a 4Ohm cab will probably start a nice toasty fire, handy for marshmallows but not great at a gig.:)
 
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