ROB MATH: Hey out there. I’m Rob Math with Marshall, and I’m jamming through the DSL100. This is a 100-watt all-tube head. It’s part of our JCM2000 Series. It’s DSL which stands for two channels.

The DSL100 takes Marshall back to the original voicings of say a Plexi or a JCM800 which were known for having over-the-top, louder than life crunch and roar to them. So, with the DSL100, you’re getting the over-the-top crunch of say a Plexi and a JCM800 with more flexibility and more gain which is needed for today’s styles of music. So, you’re going to get a lot more gain in a JCM800 but we’re having that over-the-top that you’re so familiar with the older Marshalls, the Plexis and the JCM800s.

It’s a very versatile amp. It gives you two channels, and each channel has two modes. So, you got a clean channel here, and then on the clean channel you either have a clean mode or a crunch mode. On the ultra gain channel, you have lead 1 and lead 2. This is an all-tube head. This is the 100-watt brother of the DSL 50. There’s also a 50-watt version. It’s a very organic amplifier, sounds amazing. It’s very responsive to your playing, and I kind of like to think of this as the Harley, you know, of the line. Marshall essentially is like the Harley-Davidson of amplifiers, right? But plug in a guitar into a DSL100, you can’t go wrong. It’s just pure Marshall over-the-top rock & roll crunch, killer high gain, killer rhythm and lead sounds.

One of the things that we did on the clean channel is the engineers really worked to make this clean channel a lot more versatile than some of our older clean channels. We’ve always had more a raunchier, dirtier style clean. With this clean, what you’re going to find is that you can get, you know, pristine real clean guitar sounds great for lots of different style from funk to country to blues or for just if you’re, you know, playing a rock thing and you need a nice clean sound, it sounds great. So, let’s take a listen to this amp.

Some other features before we plug in I just want to talk about, you;ve got the tone shift over here. This is essentially a mid-scoop that’ll scoop you’re your mids instantly, and then we’ve got deep boost. This kicks in an extra low-end boost and tightens up the low end. There’s also a series effects loop on the back here so you can run your own effects processors through here, and there’s spring reverb so you have separate reverb controls for each of the channels.

There’s also a series effects loop on the back which allows you to set levels for the types of effects that you’re using. Whether you’re using stompbox pedals or multi-effects processors, you can easily plug them in which is very cool.

So, just a little recap, this is the DSL100. It’s a 100-watt all-tube head. It uses four 12AX7s and a preamp, four EL34’s and a power amp section. It’s 100 watts, it gives you two channels with two modes per channel. It’s very versatile. It dates -- the voicing goes back to the original Plexis and the JCM800s but it features tons of high gain and the amount of gain that you’d want that today’s players demand for so, but we can get all the vintage tones out of this amplifier that you’d expect from the original Plexis through the JCM800s to now modern to now more of a modern high-gain sound to a great very versatile clean channel over here as well.

This is the ultra gain channel on lead 2.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, ULTRA GAIN CHANNEL, LEAD 2]

So, as you can hear, overdrive 2 or ultra gain has a real creamy lead tone which is real dynamic. It just feels great with like...

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, ULTRA GAIN CHANNEL, LEAD 2]

...tons of sustain, cleans up great.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, ULTRA GAIN CHANNEL, LEAD 2]

Just roll back your volume.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, ULTRA GAIN CHANNEL, LEAD 2]

Let’s take a look at the lead 1 mode here, and let’s bring the gain back a little and let you hear some different tones, okay? If we bring the gain back, we can get more of your vintage style Plexi sound.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, ULTRA GAIN CHANNEL, LEAD 1]

Okay. As we bring the gain up, we’re going to get more into JCM800 land.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, ULTRA GAIN CHANNEL, LEAD 1]

Okay. And one thing to mention is I have the tone shift in. Let’s take that out. The tone shift scoops the mids, so here’s what the tone shift out.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, ULTRA GAIN CHANNEL, LEAD 1, TONE SHIFT DISABLED]

A lot more mids.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, ULTRA GAIN CHANNEL, LEAD 1, TONE SHIFT DISABLED]

Bringing the gain up a little bit more here, and we’re getting to more of a high gain hot-rodded 800 type of a sound.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, ULTRA GAIN CHANNEL, LEAD 1]

Let’s go to lead 2 where it’s going to give you a little bit more gain.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, ULTRA GAIN CHANNEL, LEAD 2]

Again, it cleans up. Okay, so lead 1, lead 2.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, ULTRA GAIN CHANNEL, LEAD 2]

That’s how it cleans up perfectly just by rolling back my volume.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, ULTRA GAIN CHANNEL, LEAD 2]

You can get all sorts of tones out of just this one channel. You can get everything from a high gain lead humbucker crunch sound to more of a Texas blues type of sound.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, ULTRA GAIN CHANNEL, LEAD 2]

Okay. But as I mentioned before, the clean channel is very versatile and is very clean. So, what you’re going to find is that it’s really sweet. It feels great to play, and let’s take a listen. Here’s the clean channel.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, CLEAN CHANNEL]

It’s great for your funk stuff.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, CLEAN CHANNEL]

Notice how the cabinet gives you that real tight response, and with the mids scooped a little bit and the low end, I can get that real twangy kind of slap sound even on my guitar.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, CLEAN CHANNEL]

So, it’s great for that even if you’re playing just country style riffs, you know, rockabilly.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, CLEAN CHANNEL]

It gives you that great twang...,

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, CLEAN CHANNEL]

...or surf type of stuff. So, you can really get some nice variations out here. You can also, you know, if you’re doing your jazzy style thing it’s great.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, CLEAN CHANNEL]

So, bluesier jazz type of thing. Very cool. And then on that clean channel, you can also get more of a vintage crunch, so it’ll take you really into more of that older, the Plexi style organic, you know, distortion sound, which is very cool. It gives, you know, it’s good for those AC/DC sounds or that Jimi Hendrix type of tone. So, we kick in the crunch mode and bring back the volume just a little bit.

[ROB MATH PLAYING GUITAR THROUGH THE MARSHALL DSL100, CLEAN CHANNEL, CRUNCH MODE]

All right. Well, thanks for joining me. I’m Rob Math with Marshall, and you got to check out the DSL100. Plug into one to experience it for yourself, but again it’s part of the JCM2000 line. It’s a great sounding all-tube head, and I’m happy to encourage you guys to all go in there and just jam through one. So, I hope you’ve enjoyed listening. Take care. Thanks.