Marshall DSL 401 vs 201

[Vince]

Better at bedroom levels? I currently have the DSL 15C (Greenback heritage speaker). But I'm starting to miss an effects loop. So anyone with any experience of the 401/201 at low volume levels. The advantage of the 201 would be that I can throw the greenback in there as it's 20w. I never bother with clean channels so they're not a concern.

[PStevenson]

I have the DSL401 - it sounds fine at bedroom levels however the reason I have one is because it was a broken (massively) and the person just gave up on it and it's a common issue with this range of amps. I eventually got it working by resoldering everything and changing the bridge rectifier in it.

I don't want to put you off because it is a great sounding amp but there is a great chance that you may have to fix it alot because it runs far too hot

[Vince]

I've read a lot about the heating issues suffered by the 401, not so much by the 201 (less tubes,less heat maybe) . But the 401's seem a lot more available than the 201's. Good to know that 401 can be used at low volume though. I shall keep a look out for either at a good price.

Cheers.

[Ross]

You could always throw one of these into the 401:
http://www.scumbackspeakers.com/m_series.html

They're identical to the Greenbacks, but have higher power handling.

[PStevenson]

well if it works when you get it you could put some fans in it and that's supposed to help.

the problems it gets are usually only cracked solder joints and the rectifier bridge - both of which are very easy to fix because it's all single board.

so if you can get one for a good price it is a really nice sounding amp because you can crank up the master volume but have the channel volume low so you get good sounds at low volumes

but NEVER get a TSL122 because if that breaks (and it probably will) you have no hope in hell of fixing one of those