I got a different one

After Marshall sent me a replacement for the DSL100 that made that horrid shunting sound, the replacement did the same!

When I phoned them again they were a little suspicious and sent me to a tech guy and a large music stire near where I live....

I tried the amp that they had on display (the same model) and guess what? Exactly the same problem... Turns out it is just a fundamental characteristic of the model. It took me a hours worth of arguing my case that although it was a characteristic, it was an undesirable one... I mean, everyone likes a little reverb in their playing don't they? This made a terrible shunting sound that matched the amps volume when switching channels with reverb present.

I told them at the store that I wouldn't like to use this amp live becuase of that sound and that I have lost confidence in the amp and Marshall as a whole....

The store who was a reprasentitive of Marshall was horrified by this statement and immediatley phoned Marshall headquarters and told them what I had said...

They told me I could test any Marshall amp in the whole store (its an old diy warehouse - its huge ) and choose the marshall that I want at no extra cost, within reason....

I wen't straight to the ibanez section, picked up a £2000 Special joe Satriani Signature Model Guitar and proceeded to test every Marshall that they had with a representitive offering me coffee and the like....

At the end of the day, I walked away with the latest Marshall model, the Mode 4.

I know what most of you are thinking - Solid State - Ack! But it is in fact a very nice amp...

I'm very picky about my sound, almost an obsessive compulsive to the point that if a pedal I build changes my tone too much I give it away.

The amp is actually a hybrid of a totally new design of solid state and a valve amp.... The electronics of the amp actually switch from solid state to valve depending on the channel and amp mode selected!

This means that, as the amp 'boots up' in solid state, there is no need for a standby switch and so I can turn it on and off at will, without bothering too much about the valves in there...

The amp boasts about 350 watts and the clean is actually the best I have ever heard.... It stays clean at virtually any volume and I can shape it even more with the added resonance control pot on the front.

I had to make room on my pedalboard because of the footswitch as its about 40-50cms wide becuase of all the controls it has...

you have 2 amp modes, each with 2 channels, then you have the reverb control and an added extra known as the solo switch, it basically boosts your settings by a few decibels for soloing....

The thing I like best about this new amp is the distortion.... The 2nd channel of the 1st amp mode needs a little tweaking to get just right, the 1st channel of the 2nd amp is a very nice responsive overdrive sound and the 2nd channel of the 2nd amp is my favourite, you can set it as you like however the way I have it is heaven.... Its verry bassy distortion that you can really feel, its not harsh or messy, it remains really articulate (think nickleback - mesa boogie) but its got tons of gain....

I know this thing could have been better suited for hrmony central, but I just thought I'd let you guys know where I stand with my amp since I had that problem.. I'd had that amp for nearly a year and got a completely new replacement with a new guarantee so the curstomer service for marshall is there, then they even went as far as to authorise the replacement with a more expensive amp when I wasn't happy....

Oh... the amp looks the business too... Very futuristic....


John...

Wow! I'm quite impressed that Marshall would go to that distance. That says volumes. (no pun intended)

I saw some info a while back about a tube amp a while back that used a single cathode-biased triode to develop the first watt, and a regular pair of fixed-bias pentodes in push-pull to deliver the power as needed. I wonder if Marshall does something similar?

Congrats on your new amp.

Take care,
-Peter

Lucky you!