maintenance & upgrades for the DSL100 head

[Adrian R]

Stand down bro. It's the newer 100h, not the 2k...my bad.

They appeared to have all the right answers...anyway...probably with very little experience. Not worth it anymore...lol

 

[GibsonMarshallGuy47]

Stand down bro. It's the newer 100h, not the 2k...my bad.

are you referring to MY Marshall head?? if so, I have to reiterate once again, that what I have is a "DSL100"... not the older JCM2000, or the newer DSL100H.

 

[headcrash]

From my understanding the newest is the DSL100HR, with all four modes footswitchable. I think it came out in 2015/16 or something..
The first "reissue" from like ...2010 or so should be the DSL100H. The original JCM 2000 line was introduced in 1997.

 

[rocker68]

Pic or ,
How many knobs ?

 

[GibsonMarshallGuy47]

Pic or ,
How many knobs ?

for what reason? I don't have a pic of it and I don't know how many knobs. the amp is 8 and a half years old. it says "DSL100"... not JCM2000 or DSL100H, or DSL100HR. can't we determine precisely what amp it is by that info?

 

[mcblink]

No we cannot, based solely on the info you've given. This is why guys are asking for pics or at least a knob count.

There's the JCM2K DSL 100/50
There's the DSL100H
There's the DSL100HR

There are several versions of this amp.
If it's not a JCM2K, and it's not a DSL100HR, and you say it's NOT a DSL100H, then there's a mystery upon us.

Model year? (Bar code stamp on rear of head)
Knob count? (Will have different number of knobs depending on model)
Pics?

I have a hunch that you are indeed dealing with a 100H

 

[GibsonMarshallGuy47]

I

No we cannot, based solely on the info you've given. This is why guys are asking for pics or at least a knob count.

There's the JCM2K DSL 100/50
There's the DSL100H
There's the DSL100HR

There are several versions of this amp.
If it's not a JCM2K, and it's not a DSL100HR, and you say it's NOT a DSL100H, then there's a mystery upon us.

Model year? (Bar code stamp on rear of head)
Knob count? (Will have different number of knobs depending on model)
Pics?

I have a hunch that you are indeed dealing with a 100H

ok, in that case, I will have to check later today when I get home from work, and I will post here when I get a chance.

 

[mcblink]

I

ok, in that case, I will have to check later today when I get home from work, and I will post here when I get a chance.

Cool beans.
I'm following your thread as I've got a 2013 100H that I have never retubed. I haven't had any problems with it, but I figure some new tubes and a rebias couldn't hurt anything after 10 years. Still has the Marshall branded tubes in it.

 

[GibsonMarshallGuy47]

actually, I stand corrected... to my surprise, this is actually a DSL100H after all. my bad. I'm clearly an idiot. my apologies. here is a pic of it, but the very edge of the amp is cut off in the photo. what you can't see is there is only one other knob - a pre-amp volume knob and "clean/crunch" button for the green channel, and the input jack... so, a total of 11 knobs, and 4 tiny black buttons (a mids/scoop switch for the EQ section, a red/green channel switch, a standard/ultra gain switch for the red channel, and a clean/crunch switch for the green channel).

 

[rocker68]

Now, we're cooking with gas !!!!!!!

 

[SkyMonkey]

here's another odd question about tubes - are tubes ok to just sit on a shelf somewhere for months or years at a time?

That is the very definition of New Old Stock: i.e., NOS.
When hauls of old, unused stock surfaces in old shops, workshops and warehouses, they come onto the market as NOS.
Tubes only wear out if they are used, and degrade if stored improperly.

 

[GibsonMarshallGuy47]

That is the very definition of New Old Stock: i.e., NOS.
When hauls of old, unused stock surfaces in old shops, workshops and warehouses, they come onto the market as NOS.
Tubes only wear out if they are used, and degrade if stored improperly.

OK. understood.
that being said, if I do purchase tubes way ahead of when I eventually install them, can you tell me - what is the best way to store tubes for future use?

 

[SkyMonkey]

I am no expert, but room temp and dry would seem sensible to me.
Probably put them in a Tupperware type box.
Out of direct light to preserve the box labels maybe.

 

[Dogs of Doom]

Hello @Cláudio Keppel and welcome to the MF (3 1/2 years ago!)


That is a bit 'Random' to slot into a thread on a completely different subject.
You would be best starting a new thread in the Workbench section.
More answers will come your way if there is a relevant thread title.
And I can't actually supply an answer either. Sorry.

I moved it to it's own thread

 

[Masker of Puppets]

This.

Why change tubes after 8 years, or 18? If they bias up, that means they still have plenty of transductance and replacement is just a waste. And no, you wont change a amplifiers tone by changing tubes.

I have to respectfully, disagree. The stock Marshall labeled,, JJs in my Studio Vintage, sound different than the Mesa str 447 EL 34s, or the Psvane EL-34 C, or the Groovetube 6L6. The JJs have good gain, the Mesa is well balanced, but kind of lame on Gain, the Psvanes are kind of in the middle of the Mesa and JJs and of course is a different animal all together.

 

[GibsonMarshallGuy47]

just to be clear - I'm really not in any hurry to replace the tubes just yet. as long as the amp is functioning perfectly normal (it seems to be running fine, as of right now, anyway), I'm not going to mess with it. hopefully it won't give me any problems anytime soon, however... I just want to be ready and prepared for when the tubes do eventually fail (I'm assuming the power tubes will go first), regardless whether its a few years from now, or a few months from now. that's why I want to buy the replacement tubes NOW, instead of worrying about it when they blow out. that being said, I figure it would be a good time to maybe experiment with different tubes to see if I can find something that I like better than the stock EL34's, and the 12AX7's.

 

[NoelH]

I have a DSL 50 head that I love.
I did have one mod done to it: I have a Classictone choke put in. And yes, it did smooth out the highs slightly and gave the amp a more 'pliable' feel for lack of a better description. It subtly changed the way it responds to the pick attack. Or in my case finger attack. It has Winged 'C' EL34's still, and they have a lot of life left in them. When they die, I too will likely go with JJ KT77's.
Honestly, I sse nothing wrong with making mods to a DSL. They're a good solid anp but they're not 'precious' by any means.

 

[Mrmadd]

You sound Madd about this.

Wait, I am Mr Madd

 

[Mrmadd]

My DSL100 sounds great.
My JCM DSL100 sounds great.

I plan to play them with whatever is under the hood and not look back. They will roll untill a wheel falls off and then even further.

Try to find yourself a Grateful Day

 

[ach91]

8 years? Your tubes are fine. Rebiasing is never a bad idea every few years or so however.

I bought my wife a DSL100HR and if the HR tubes are the same as the H tubes then it comes with TAD EL34Bs in the power amp which are solid tubes. Almost like an actual 6CA7 in terms of low mids and balls. Changing tubes here likely will be a downgrade in quality since they are selected while tone will obviously be subjective. I played around with several EL34 quartets that I already have and decided to stick with them. Marshall has gone to these now since SED is no longer making tubes. They sound better (less bland) than SED EL34s and seem to be almost as reliable.

The preamp tubes, if Marshall red label, are all JJs though. Just dark sounding trash tone but very reliable. Go get some TAD RT001s with maybe their RT010 in V1. They are the same as the Marshall white labels which are honestly the best you can get for high gain saturated tones in current production. Most high gain amps today use these chinese tubes. At least when I bought my JVMs they had these tubes and after many years chasing tone I came back to the TAD versions which is due to lower noise but have the same tone.