NAD: Marshall DSL1CR

[EOengineer]

I’ve been really good avoiding impulse buys lately, but this thing popped up locally in mint condition for $200 today and I just had to.

I’d been looking at katana micro amps trying to find a living room friendly Marshall style amp and this little guy is scratching the itch.

The clean channel gets into medium breakup and compression just before noon and could cover classic rock tones in the full 1w mode as the gain increases. Guitar matters a lot here.

The ultra channel has A LOT of gain. At its minimum it’s a pretty crunchy 800 in terms of gain and goes WAY up from there. It’s not replacing my 2204 but it rips in its own special way. I need some time with it to really dig into this channel, and I’m FOR SURE putting it through my 1960A as soon as I get a chance.

Jury is still out overall, but initially it does some stuff I’m enjoying.

 

[adam]

Nice! Ive got a dsl1hr and think it's an awesome amp for the money. Although I did buy mine from a friend who had modded the crap out of it, so it's voiced more like an slo100.

If your handy with a soldering iron I can send you the schematics of what he did if you're not happy with the stock sounds.

 

[Iron1]

Congrats! $200 is a steal!

I have a DSL1hr too, still stock. Don't totally love the stock tones, but when I hook up a solid OD pedal to the clean channel it roars, just like what I used to do with my JCM900 stack years ago.

Conicidentally, I'm currently contemplating selling it along with the two Marshall 110s I have it sitting on.

 

[EOengineer]

Congrats! $200 is a steal!

I have a DSL1hr too, still stock. Don't totally love the stock tones, but when I hook up a solid OD pedal to the clean channel it roars, just like what I used to do with my JCM900 stack years ago.

Conicidentally, I'm currently contemplating selling it along with the two Marshall 110s I have it sitting on.

That's a killer looking mini stack you’ve got there!

I’ve only futzed with it for ~30 mins or so straight in with a LP and then a Tele, but there are two use cases I’m excited to try.

1. Pedalboard into the clean channel - I love the way Marshalls handle dirt/fuzz pedals and I suspect this amp will be similar.

2. Helix floor into the FX return using the amp as a mini tube power amp and speaker. I’m particularly excited about trying the new 2203 preamp through it all cranked up with some of that special power amp sauce. Could be a great little couch rig.

 

[Iron1]

A Marshall and a Mesa in the same month? Better be some Master of Lightning, Creeping Battery, For Whom The Leper Tolls coming soon.

 

[EOengineer]

A Marshall and a Mesa in the same month? Better be some Master of Lightning, Creeping Battery, For Whom The Leper Tolls coming soon.

Sadly, the DSL was sold earlier this week. It’s a great amp, but ultimately I found that I strongly preferred the circuit with a larger cab - sort of negating the convenience factor. I’ll just use my 2204 - which has a great master volume.

If a head ever pops up for a good price, I might chase. Only time will tell.

 

[Iron1]

Sadly, the DSL was sold earlier this week. It’s a great amp, but ultimately I found that I strongly preferred the circuit with a larger cab - sort of negating the convenience factor. I’ll just use my 2204 - which has a great master volume.

If a head ever pops up for a good price, I might chase. Only time will tell.

Roseville GC has my DSL1 (posted upstream) now, at least they still did this morning.