Guitar Amp Blog

I first came across this amp at Shannocks in King, NC while browsing around for a vintage Fender Princeton. I’ve only owned one Marshall, had a pretty bad experience with it and have never really thought about buying another one. Prior to checking the Marshall DSL 401, I thought Marshall amps were overpowered, overpriced and ridiculosuly overrated, but this little amp has definitely changed my mind. Running 4xEL84 power tubes generating 40 watts into a single 12″ Celestion, this lightweight combo creates an overdrive tone that definitely will turn a few heads.

I like the full tube sound, both clean and distortion channels are good. When running through my powered mixer witht the DI line out, I can really make it as big as I want. I have two 15″ black widow wedge monitors that give this amp a huge bottom end, and I can use the mixer to adjust the highs through the crossover. It’s like having any size amp you need for any gig. If you haven’t used the DI, be sure to do so at some point. It’s easier than using a close mic, and avoids the clutter.

Although this amp sounds great, there is one issue that has got a lot of discussion and it’s completely valid - heat. The heat this little combo generates is not properly ventilated and can lead to problems like bad solder joints. The heat that tube amps generate is unavoidable, you just have to give it a place to go where it won’t do any harm. I am considering installing both a fan and a top grill like the big heads have, to let the heat out. Probably will wait until the warranty runs out to make this mod, will use a remote fan until then.

Overall, the construction is acceptable and it’s easy to tote around to gigs. I believe the speaker is a little thin, a greenback would probably give it a nicer edge, especially when running OD2 for heavy metal songs. I think Marshall should have done a better job of anticipating heat related issues and made better ventilation arrangements to the cabinet or chassis. The chassis is open at the top, so to put a vent in the top of the cabinet would have helped, but then dust and moisture intrusion has to be monitored (no brews on top of the amp!) I’m not big on using my amp as a drink holder anyway, it warms the beer to quick!

Overall, I think this is a great amp for it’s price and size. I have a Marshall MG30FX backup practice amp, but I prefer the all tube sound. I’ve tried a lot of amplifiers and processors, but ultimately “I hear dead people” in those things! I can literally hear the processor doing it’s thing and it’s like listening to someone on a digital cell phone, it’s real close but it’s not the natural voice of analog cell signal.