Marshall JCM 2000 DSL50 Opinions?

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Charvel1975

Charvel1975

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So I've been reading reviews and watching YouTube clips of them. Been looking at 50 watters for gigs/practice/recording. Is it reliable & versatile enough to get tones ranging from clean to edge-of-breakup rhythm and lead to hard rockin/heavy & modern metal? My main cab I use is the Marshall 1960 you see in my sig.

Seen a couple vids and it seems like the DigiTech Bad Monkey is a good boost for them. Thoughts?
 
I've been throwing around the idea of picking one of these up myself. Low cost, a lot of good reviews,
but I heard one live last week and it was terrible. Very thin and buzzy sounding. I'm thinking this guy did not
Know what he was doing. :confused: I still want to check one out though.
 
Just be careful of what "year" the amp was built...I can't remember the year they addressed the issue but. Depending..Most of them suffer from "Thermal runaway".
For the first few years of the amp, They used the wrong resistors etc...circuit board is whacked and turns into a big resistor itself after some time. here's a link to some of the problems..

http://music-electronics-forum.com/t28240/
 
The "thermal runaway" issue was addressed and resolved in 2005.
 
jmp1lord":2erqp8mp said:
Just be careful of what "year" the amp was built...I can't remember the year they addressed the issue but. Depending..Most of them suffer from "Thermal runaway".
For the first few years of the amp, They used the wrong resistors etc...circuit board is whacked and turns into a big resistor itself after some time. here's a link to some of the problems..

http://music-electronics-forum.com/t28240/
Click to expand...


marshallmel":2erqp8mp said:
The "thermal runaway" issue was addressed and resolved in 2005.
Click to expand...


Just ran across this archived thread post on the gear page from about 3 years ago:

The early TSL's had a problem in that the resistors in the bias circuit were "negative temperature coefficient" resistors, so the bias would drift like crazy until the tubes red plated and fried.
They also had 220k grid resistors instead of the normal 5.6k.
Replace all that and they will work fine.
Also C46 across the high voltage line to prevent oscillation has a tendency to short, since it's only a 500v cap.
That can be removed or substituted with a 1000v or higher cap.

The DSL's didn't have these problems, and the later TSL's have a beefier board with the correct parts.

You can read about the trials and tribulations some of us had here:

http://www.lynx.bc.ca/~jc/TSL122.html
 
:thumbsdown:
My hatred for DSLs & TSLs has grown worse over the years
Constant tech issues and bee buzz tone
 
Awesome amp

Your only gonna hear bees and Buzztone if you "Improperly" EQ the amp by running the treble and presence too high, which is about 3-5 max (user error)
 
I have one, but it has been modded by Voodoo. I've had it for almost 10 years and have never had an issue with it. I've bought and sold countless amps since getting this and my modded DSL50 is still my #1.
 
Great amps and work great with pedals. I'm able to cover a lot of different styles with a few pedals and the two channels on the amp.
 
Mesa\Kramer":1uibi6f2 said:
Awesome amp

Your only gonna hear bees and Buzztone if you "Improperly" EQ the amp by running the treble and presence too high, which is about 3-5 max (user error)
Click to expand...
Wow, I guess I'll agree to disagree with the masses

Keep in mind that 10 years ago the majority of forums hated on this line.
Ironically, I liked the tones but avoided them due to the non stop trips to the tech

Somehow opinions have reversed- I'm guessing due to the cheap used prices. I'd take a Peavey, but I guess beauty of tone is interpretive
 
I had one of those years ago. Decent but had technical difficulties. However I played a newer one at a GC here and was impressed...through a used marshall vintage cab it sounded very good..better than what I remember my old one to sound like. I think if they are more reliable these days they are a great value, even if they are made in China...the one I played was stock with no boost..I would think it would sound REALLY good with one of my pedals...lots of guys gig with them and leave their boutiques at home.
 
crankyrayhanky":2dlv4gzb said:
Mesa\Kramer":2dlv4gzb said:
Awesome amp

Your only gonna hear bees and Buzztone if you "Improperly" EQ the amp by running the treble and presence too high, which is about 3-5 max (user error)
Click to expand...
Wow, I guess I'll agree to disagree with the masses

Keep in mind that 10 years ago the majority of forums hated on this line.
Ironically, I liked the tones but avoided them due to the non stop trips to the tech

Somehow opinions have reversed- I'm guessing due to the cheap used prices. I'd take a Peavey, but I guess beauty of tone is interpretive
Click to expand...

The main knock on the DSL and TSL amps has always been reliability. Back in the day I saw plenty of TSL and DSL401 dislike, but DSL heads were generally liked.

I think if you get a later model DSL from the UK, that would be the best bet if you are looking for a reliable one.

For some reason I have never owned a DSL head. Started with a DSL401, then went to a 6101 LE, then to my current silver jubilee 2553. I always have liked the tone of the DSL amps when I have demo'ed them.
 
blackba":348lyb3g said:
crankyrayhanky":348lyb3g said:
Mesa\Kramer":348lyb3g said:
Awesome amp

Your only gonna hear bees and Buzztone if you "Improperly" EQ the amp by running the treble and presence too high, which is about 3-5 max (user error)
Click to expand...
Wow, I guess I'll agree to disagree with the masses

Keep in mind that 10 years ago the majority of forums hated on this line.
Ironically, I liked the tones but avoided them due to the non stop trips to the tech

Somehow opinions have reversed- I'm guessing due to the cheap used prices. I'd take a Peavey, but I guess beauty of tone is interpretive
Click to expand...

The main knock on the DSL and TSL amps has always been reliability. Back in the day I saw plenty of TSL and DSL401 dislike, but DSL heads were generally liked.

I think if you get a later model DSL from the UK, that would be the best bet if you are looking for a reliable one.

For some reason I have never owned a DSL head. Started with a DSL401, then went to a 6101 LE, then to my current silver jubilee 2553. I always have liked the tone of the DSL amps when I have demo'ed them.
Click to expand...

In regards to the JCM 2000 DSL 50 heads I haven't seen this "Thermal Runaway" issue on them so far what I've been reading online, it just seems that issue has been with the DSL 100's and the TSL's but I could be wrong?
 
from what Ive read, the bias drift issue, usually only occurs in the 100 watt heads. Ive had to do the mods to fix my first year DSL 100. I got the head for very cheap and its been kind of a fun project actually, learned alot.



Charvel1975":3t68jwo5 said:
blackba":3t68jwo5 said:
crankyrayhanky":3t68jwo5 said:
Mesa\Kramer":3t68jwo5 said:
Awesome amp

Your only gonna hear bees and Buzztone if you "Improperly" EQ the amp by running the treble and presence too high, which is about 3-5 max (user error)
Click to expand...
Wow, I guess I'll agree to disagree with the masses

Keep in mind that 10 years ago the majority of forums hated on this line.
Ironically, I liked the tones but avoided them due to the non stop trips to the tech

Somehow opinions have reversed- I'm guessing due to the cheap used prices. I'd take a Peavey, but I guess beauty of tone is interpretive
Click to expand...

The main knock on the DSL and TSL amps has always been reliability. Back in the day I saw plenty of TSL and DSL401 dislike, but DSL heads were generally liked.

I think if you get a later model DSL from the UK, that would be the best bet if you are looking for a reliable one.

For some reason I have never owned a DSL head. Started with a DSL401, then went to a 6101 LE, then to my current silver jubilee 2553. I always have liked the tone of the DSL amps when I have demo'ed them.
Click to expand...

In regards to the JCM 2000 DSL 50 heads I haven't seen this "Thermal Runaway" issue on them so far what I've been reading online, it just seems that issue has been with the DSL 100's and the TSL's but I could be wrong?
Click to expand...
 
I would not recommend the Bad Monkey. Its not a bad pedal but there are better boosts out there. There was just something about it that sounded fake. I a/b'ed the SD1, OD808, OD9, TS9DX, OS2, Bad Monkey, and others. The TS9, 808, and SD1 are all great. I've kept my SD1 and sold off the rest.
 
Charvel1975":1kknnvka said:
So I've been reading reviews and watching YouTube clips of them. Been looking at 50 watters for gigs/practice/recording. Is it reliable & versatile enough to get tones ranging from clean to edge-of-breakup rhythm and lead to hard rockin/heavy & modern metal? My main cab I use is the Marshall 1960 you see in my sig.

Seen a couple vids and it seems like the DigiTech Bad Monkey is a good boost for them. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I've never played through that particular model.
But, I just played a DSL40 the other day at GC.
I was very disappointed in the high gain. "High" is not what the gain is on that amp.
It's more of a distortion for crunchy rhythm.
The clean tone was actually not that bad, and it was decent for distorted blues tones.

The JCM2000 is claimed to be a very high gain amp, so the DSL40 may not be representative of the JCM.
The JCM800 is legendary, but everyone I know who had/has one uses a pedal to get a really high gain tone.

But, for high gain goodness, you've got a 6505+.
Why bother with the JCM?
 
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