The first tube amp I owned was Marshall's DSL401. Back then, I've heard how tube-laden amps sounded yummier than the hybrids/ solidstate units, especially after knowing & hearing what a Peavey 5150 could achieve. However, I wasn't looking forward to owning the 5150 because it has Van Halen stamped all over it, that's a direction I'm not heading for. I bought the DSL401 because it's rather affordable ($880 at time of purchase, today, it's beyond $1K) & the tones on offer were something different from the Valvestates (today, these are known as the AVTs) which were more popular & recommended.
In use, the cleans are some of the best Marshall has to offer, this side of the Fender Twin, of course. The light overdrive channel, in its lower drive settings sound very dumble-esque but not a comprehensive take on this theme. I was expecting some ferocious overdrive from the harder drive channel but it lacks the metal girth, pedal utilization was inevitable.
Other fellow owners' gripe with the DSL401 was that of heat- after an hour's play or so, the 401's front panel would get seriously hot. In fact, when the amp was still in my possession, I would face a small table fan at its rear so that the heat would not get out of hand. Surprisingly, this issue didn't affect performance but people are wary of this anomaly.
I eventually sold this amp away because I only used its clean offerings, mainly. I was in search of a more preferred amp drive...
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