dsl50

[alagow]

What do you think about the dsl50? I play jazz, blues, classic rock, and modern rock. It doesn't have to do all of that, but it would be nice if it could do a good bit of it.

 

[pmb]

Not a bad amp at all, especially for classic rock it's very nice. I think it all depends on what your budget is and where you live. If you live in the united states it's much better to go for a mesa/boogie, but here in europe it's a very expensive brand.

 

[alagow]

pmb,

what qualities do you think are going to be better with a mesa? (tone, versatility, reliabilitiy, etc.) and which mesa would you suggest?

 

[eltrain858]

The Mark IV is the only Mesa I can speak for, but it is extremely versatile and would perform well for all the genres you listed, although it might be a little more tweak than you need.

It has a 6L6 power tube section so you get those beautiful Fender-esque cleans, but also has a lead channel to die for... it can nail anything from smooth fat bluesy leads to raw aggressive rock solos.

The only downside is that it takes some time to read the manual and properly dial in your tones, so if you don't like experimenting and refining your settings and want to be able to just plug-and-play immediately it's probably going to be frustrating.

 

[ToneAddictJon]

The DSL50 can be a sweet amp, but with newer marshall's there seems to be a lack QC. I've heard some that sound amazing (especially classic/hard rock), but half of the players I know that own them have issues that constantly come up. If you get one, get a used one that you can go and play on for a bit. I would recommend trying to find an older JCM 800 or 900, they seem to be more reliable than the newer ones. As far as Mesa's for that stuff...... take your pick. With enough tweaking and time (and the right guitar/pickups/strings/tubes/etc..) any amp can sound amazing.

 

[pmb]

pmb,

what qualities do you think are going to be better with a mesa? (tone, versatility, reliabilitiy, etc.) and which mesa would you suggest?

I think mesa will give you a much better tone when it comes to modern rock, metal and clean stuff (that for the markIV), the rectifier is more for nu-metal and not tight sounding metal stuff and doesn't have amazing clean, but still very acceptable. In my opinion a rectifier sounds more vintage.
Mesa will also be more reliable, I think.
Everything they make is built like a tank.
But when you want a mesa, you pay for it, especially here in europe.
Marshall will be better for more classic rock. But Marshall is not really tight.
Where do you live and how much money do you want to spend on an amp. And what kind of tones are you after.

 

[alagow]

I live in the states, and I will spend more if I'm happy with what I'm getting. As for tones: warm rich cleans for jazz, various types of dirty sounds for bluesy things, and various types of crunch for classic and modern rock.

 

[pmb]

I don't really know the amp well, but I would say, look for a nomad by mesa. I think those are really nice and very versatile amps. Otherwise a mark IV, but I think the classic rock stuff wouldn't sound very amazing on it.
Or you could go for a mark I, greats cleans, nice blues, and I think it can do classic rock very good, like santana

 

[Botch]

The DSL50 will do all of those things and will do them well. Like a previous poster said, buy it used, put some JJs in it (power AND pre) and you'll have a good sounding amp for all those genres for not a great deal of money.

Just to add - I had one of these amp for 18 months, playing it extensively and didn't encounter one reliability issue with it (although Marshall footswitches do tend to break a lot).