DSL resurrected

sahlomonic

sahlomonic

Well-known member
Bought this a few weeks ago for $300. Previous owner said it went whisper quiet all of a sudden. He put new power tubes in it but didn't solve the problem. Didn't want to mess with it and had to pay a bill.

2009 model w/Issue 20 board (no bias drift!)

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At first I thought I was overpaying for a DOA amp, but after I took the chassis out:

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Flipped it over and found the PT and OT installation was an utter mess. Ugly splicing and just a spaghetti bowl of garbage.

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Ended up finding a couple blown resistors between the PT and the heaters going to one of the power tubes.

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Reworked all the PT and OT wiring

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Buttoned it up, slowly brought voltage up with the variac, and now it's making some damn good tone

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Of course you had to make this thread as I’m looking to buy a friends DSL hahaha

Good shit. Glad you fixed yours up 👍🏻👍🏻
 
Hell yeah man! I have been thinking about looking for a DSL. I had a DSL50 a long time ago and loved it.
 
JackBootedThug said:
awesome dude! wish I knew how to fuck with those things.
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Thanks (and also to everyone else)!

To be fair, I don't ever claim I know how to; I'm just curious enough and semi-knowledgeable enough to dive in haha. I've rescued a fair amount of amps locally that folks either don't want to fuss with or fear it's too expensive to take to a tech for repair. Most have been pretty simple fixes, but one amp has a blown PT that I'm patiently waiting to get off my butt and order a new one for, and another amp has a burned up power board (Peavey Ultra Plus head I got for FREE a few months ago) that I'll eventually get around to once my day job slows down a little.

The best and most hilarious score was a Line 6 Spider Valve combo I bought as DOA for $50 several months ago. Guy said it just quit making sound and he didn't want to pay to get it looked at. He even drove 2 hours to sell it to me.

After I get the amp home, I quick once over revealed that one of the speaker cables was simply not plugged in to the speaker. Popped it back on and voila.
 
Great price on that amp. Got a '98 DSL100 that went down 7 years ago due to the bias drift. I let it sit for years while I played other amps. Bought a new board 6 months ago and the thing isn't too far removed from an 800 using the green channel. Rarely use the red channel. Gigged with it last week and it didn't disappoint. I had it biased in the high 60's which was a tad bit cold so I bumped it up 10ma which made a big difference.
 
JLR said:
Great price on that amp. Got a '98 DSL100 that went down 7 years ago due to the bias drift. I let it sit for years while I played other amps. Bought a new board 6 months ago and the thing isn't too far removed from an 800 using the green channel. Rarely use the red channel. Gigged with it last week and it didn't disappoint. I had it biased in the high 60's which was a tad bit cold so I bumped it up 10ma which made a big difference.
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Does anybody have an easy fix for the bias drift problem? I’m looking to buy a ‘98 myself and do some preventive maintenance
 
sahlomonic said:
Thanks (and also to everyone else)!

To be fair, I don't ever claim I know how to; I'm just curious enough and semi-knowledgeable enough to dive in haha. I've rescued a fair amount of amps locally that folks either don't want to fuss with or fear it's too expensive to take to a tech for repair. Most have been pretty simple fixes, but one amp has a blown PT that I'm patiently waiting to get off my butt and order a new one for, and another amp has a burned up power board (Peavey Ultra Plus head I got for FREE a few months ago) that I'll eventually get around to once my day job slows down a little.

The best and most hilarious score was a Line 6 Spider Valve combo I bought as DOA for $50 several months ago. Guy said it just quit making sound and he didn't want to pay to get it looked at. He even drove 2 hours to sell it to me.

After I get the amp home, I quick once over revealed that one of the speaker cables was simply not plugged in to the speaker. Popped it back on and voila.
Click to expand...
He drove 2 hrs for 50 bucks?? Talk about desperate times.......

Congrats on the rescue! Most of the local killer deals involved tubes....a KK 2203 for 700; didn't work but powered up...was just a bad pre tube. lol
 
PurityS.L.G said:
Does anybody have an easy fix for the bias drift problem? I’m looking to buy a ‘98 myself and do some preventive maintenance
Click to expand...
You can purchase a bias board kit from Dr Tube in parts or fully assembled form. You will need to modify your pin 5 position on the power tube sockets using a 5mm hollow drill. I opted to just buy a new mother board as my original board was aged 25 years. Buying used without knowing the amps history I would recommend a new board replacement. Took me 45 min to install. Just take pics and tag all the connectors. Test for bias stability 1st as some boards hold up likely due to the soldermask holding up against the prolonged heat protecting the 1mm trace design flaw on the boards. Once the soldermask breaks down the material becomes conductive and bias drifts due to the high HT voltage increasing the negative grid voltage. One bias side will be stable, one side won't.
 
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