Marshall 70th DSL40CR BLK

Following a return to occasional gigging in my middle years, I bought this amp as a replacement for the compact digital modelling amp I have been using for the past decade. It wasn't until it arrived that I realised how much I had missed the tube/valve amp of my youth on which I first cut my guitaring teeth. What follows is not a summary of the detailed specs of the amp (which are available on various websites), but rather my own observations of using it since it arrived.

The DSL40 reissue is sweet! Its clean notes are not quite as sparkly as my friend's AC30, but they are more than sparkly enough. Where Marshall amps have always been at their best is on the higher-gain, dirtier, and overdriven sounds--and this is no exception. It is the versatility and response of this that impresses me--the results are uniformly good whether I am playing for vintage notes on a hollow-body with hand-wound P90s, or looking for a more modern sound on a HSH super Strat.

The benefit of this model is that it is possible to use it at 20W (home) or 40W (stage), and there is line out facility for larger stage use. That was one of the reasons I bought it. Perhaps the only downside is that the cabinet is fairly heavy. Whilst the 20W setting gives a good practice amp volume, it is a chunky piece of kit to lug back and forth to a practice. But maybe I am just getting old! Since most users will want to use the amp's own gain for dirtier sounds rather than use a pedal or ME unit, the effects loop is essential as this allows some flexibility in the placing of gain, modulation and ambience when crafting a tone.

Overall, this reissued DSL40 is, in my view, a classic. The slightly 'nostalgic' 70th Anniversary model is slightly sleeker in appearance, though identical in dimensions and performance to the more usual Marshall branding. I bought the anniversary model as it was slightly better value at the time. I am glad I did. I think this may well be the last amp I will ever own!!

Using this amp for gigs and band rehearsal. Can't comment on reliability as haven't owned it long enough. Great sounding super versatile amp. Clean is surprisingly good. Reverb is subtle but sounds great, drive sounds great. Very loud, have master at 10 and channel volume on 1 and easily loud enough to compete with drummer. Quite bright have treble dialed back and sounds warm and smooth now. Looks great as well. Highly recommend especially for the price.

This is a nice entry level and not terribly expensive tube amp with a host of features and options for dialing in your sound and connecting to the rest of your setup. Pair this with a some external pedals or a multi effects unit using the four cable method and you've got yourself a very flexible and formidable rig. The amp takes and responds to pedals really nicely.

The amp is really loud (which is to be expected) and although it has a built-in attenuation to 20W you'll likely want an external adjustable attenuator or a load box to play this at its best in a room setting without disturbing everyone in your neighborhood.

The amp is surprisingly well built for modern standards. It looks great and inspires me to turn it on and play.

There are a couple of downsides.

The first downside is the emulated output which despite the marketing claims sounds dreadful and is almost unusable. Thankfully there's a few options you can go with if you want to play with headphones or record the amp but all of those include buying additional equipment, which is something I specifically wanted to avoid and was hoping the provided emulation would do decently.

The second downside is the reverb effect which is completely underwhelming. You can basically always have it set at max and barely notice it in the sound.

The third downside is they don't provide you with a 4-channel footswitch to switch between all the channels and make you do a separate purchase to get one. This is just Marshall being extremely cheap which I don't appreciate.

Hallo, ich war auf der Suche nach einem Marshall Verstärker, den man auch zu Hause spielen kann, der ordentlich bottom end hat, auch bei niedrigen Lautstärken und der noch ein paar extra Features an Board hat. Wenn man unter 700 Euro bleiben will und Bock auf EL34 Röhren hat landet man zwangsläufig bei der DSL Reihe. Vielleicht besonders interessant für Gitarren-Virtuosen, die noch keine große Ansammlung an Amps zu Hause rumstehen haben. (Anfänger sollten sich den DSL 5 anschauen, der DSL20 hat mich nicht überzeugt)

Was gefällt mir?

- Limited Run Optik und Verarbeitung sind für den Preis grandios
- ordentlich bottom end und detailliertes breakup in den Höhen
- viele Features, 4 Gainvariationen, Sound über Kopfhörer bzw. Boxen Simulation hört sich fett an.

Was gefällt mir oder anderen vielleicht nicht so gut? (Unter Betrachtung des Preises?

-Der Celestion V-Typ Speaker hört sich für mich in den Höhen zeitweise sehr schrill an, erinnert mich an den Celestion Seventy 80. Warum da kein V30 Speaker vom Werk eingebaut wird und das ganze Teil 100 Euro teurer wird, verstehe ich zwar nicht, aber kann man ja selber nachrüsten. (Thomann, das wär bei einem Thomann Limited Run AMP doch mal ne coole Idee gewesen, nen V30 oder einen Creamback einzubauen.

-Der Gril CLoth könnte ne Spur hochwertiger sein, sieht aber sauber verarbeitet aus.

Fazit: Für den Preis und dem Wissen, dass es kein in England gefertigter Marshall sondern das Produktionsland Vietnam ist, bekommt man eine Menge Marshall Sound, ohne dass man sich ein 60 Kg Stack in die Wohnung stellen muss.

Meine Kritik bzgl. des einverbauten Speakers schmälert meine Begeisterung für den AMP nicht, weil ich ihn Über ne Orange 2x 12 Closed Cab spiele, Plumes Padel da vor, dann hebt er fast ab und sieht dabei noch gut an.