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I need help with my dsl. everytime i put it into a high gain setting and turn up the volume, it just seems to get veryy thin. I have never changed the tubes in it, could this be the problem? Any one have any ideas on how to get a good metal tone from a DSL50?

Vogg from Decapitated gets an insane tone out of his 100 watter... I have the following suggestions:

Try out some JJ poweramp tubes. They have a nice growl to them. EH or 9th generation chinese 12AX7's in the preamp should fair nicely.

Try out a tubescreamer infront of the amp, set up with the level at noon, drive at 9 o clock, and tone at 11 o clock.

That said, I've never been able to get a very thick tone out of DSL's. You might want to look into something like a Rectifier or 5150.

Overdrive pedal ROCK ON!!!

An option would be to turn the gain down... that should thicken the tone up.

Yeah; gain down, but boost the saturation back up with an OD pedal.

agreed with the previous posters.

I just recently saw opeth...they were running a bunch of marshall jcm2000's behind em. Always thought they were laney guys...but...eh.

Anywho...beginning of the set the amps didnt sound too hot. End of the set things were rockin. DSL's might need a bit of warmup time to reach their full potential.

also, what speakers are you using?


Originally Posted by Brian110687I need help with my dsl. everytime i put it into a high gain setting and turn up the volume, it just seems to get veryy thin. I have never changed the tubes in it, could this be the problem? Any one have any ideas on how to get a good metal tone from a DSL50?

put 6550 tubes there instead of el34s, like zakk wylde or the guy from Europe (btw their last dvd is as great as their last album...they are really heavy now)... that guy uses a dsl50 head and gets an amazing distortion out of the amp with that power tubes... and then add some jackhammer or a boss overdrive/distortion pedal if you want


Originally Posted by WaR HeaDput 6550 tubes there instead of el34s, like zakk wylde or the guy from Europe (btw their last dvd is as great as their last album...they are really heavy now)... that guy uses a dsl50 head and gets an amazing distortion out of the amp with that power tubes... and then add some jackhammer or a boss overdrive/distortion pedal if you want

Would putting 6550 tubes in an el34 amp be somewhat bad for it?

You'd just need to have your amp biased if you were to change the tubes. Another thing is to not worry about having your gain up too high. Roll it back and you'll still have plenty of distortion. Also try rolling back your presence knob. I've found that I have both my TSL and my Mesa at about 1 o'clock on the gain and presence. This may not work for you but it thickens it up a bit. If that doesn't work enough for you, I suggest a BBE sonic maximizer instead of a pedal. That will give you a tighter sound with high gain and enough low end to rattle your speaker cab. I don't really use mine any more cause I found it to sound a little polished and artificial. I think the raw sound of a tube amp just sounds better, but I swore by those things until about a month ago. Give one a try and see what you think.

Honestly dude, you've been asking about trying to get this type of tone since February. I don't think it's the right amp for what you're doing.

Getting new tubes and OD pedals and such are just bandaids. You need to this wound healed, not just covered up, you know?

I know of a few people who straight traded a DSL for a Single Recto on other forums, I'd go for it if I were you.

Just get a good OD to fatten things up, when turning up louder you will have to tweak your settings a bit to smoothen things out. Also don't dial in too much bass, it will only muffle the sound, let the OD pedal add the chunk.

Changing tubes makes a big difference and would be the first thing I'd try starting with the Power Tubes first.

If all else fails, trade in the amp for something more hardcore like -indeed- a Mesa. At least that one's tried and true for your genre.

I use the lead channel but not the insane mode (or whatever it's called) on my DSL50. I tend to have the gain around 12 o'clock, volume around 11 o'clock, and prescence around 1 o'clock. Hooked up to a 4x12 it'll get pretty thick so long as you don't crank that gain.

You could have a power tube issue... when was the last time you had them swapped and how often do you play on it? Tubes will make a difference, but not a night and day type difference, so if the tone isn't even close to where you want it you may need to start looking into other options as DSS said.

btw what tunning are you playing?

A friend of mine who plays in a hardcore/metal style band plays the DSL100 through a 1960A marshall cab using an SG and the tone is MONSTROUS. I think that ALOT of the marshall tone is in that cab.

Vintage 30's are great speakers as well, but i dont know how they would sound in that mesa cab vs. the marshall cab. Try rolling your tone knob back a bit, turning the gain down, bass to taste, treble and mids slightly before 12'oclock. Volume up of course!

If the amp just sounds fizzy compared to its normal self, and you've been playing for quite a few months with it, the tubes may need changing. These settings should help though. The cabinet is one of the most important components when it comes to getting a good tone, especially because it is the piece of equipment that undergoes the most vibration/resonance. Maybe the way the marshall cabs are built, eventhough they are smaller than the Mesa cabs, it may contribute to the way that they resonate and contribute to the sound.