Not loving my tone...

[Demanic]

Re: Not loving my tone...

Have you tried any of the other suggestions yet?
I don't mind how you spend your dough, but I would only be doing tubes and biasing after I tried some of the other things first.

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[Demanic]

Re: Not loving my tone...

Ah ok. I'm a complete noob when it comes to tube stuff lol

They're lightbulbs with more stuff in them. But old school lightbulbs. Although I've heard of these new tubes called Nanotubes. It's the 21st century now, after all.

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[punchlinechar]

Re: Not loving my tone...

Have you tried any of the other suggestions yet?
I don't mind how you spend your dough, but I would only be doing tubes and biasing after I tried some of the other things first.

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I tried running the clean channel loud and that made this awful electronic noise. Every once in a while when I take it off standby it screeches really loud too. I don't know if I need new tubes or if they just need biasing.

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[Demanic]

Re: Not loving my tone...

Well, I suppose you may just be best off taking it to a reputable tech.

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[Gtrjunior]

Re: Not loving my tone...

I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on this set, thought?

https://www.thetubestore.com/marshall-dsl40c-value-package

I found a luthier in my area who will bias amps, so I can take it to him to have it worked on

Don’t buy that...,
Here’s the thing.
Power tubes (the 2 larger ones) need to be replaced and biased on a regular basis depending on how often and how hard you drive your amp. A gigging player can expect to get about a year or so out of a set.
Preamp tubes, on the other hand can and often do last YEARS. I’m talking decades. I have preamp tubes in my Marshall from the 60’s.
Don’t spend $ on preamp tubes just yet.
Also, this is just me but I’d recommend buying from tubedepot.com. They have more brands/variety and they ship really fast. Plus as a bonus, a week or so after you get the tubes they will email you asking to write a review. Once you do they send a 10% code for your next purchase.

If you ask, you’ll get all sorts of recommendations on what brand tubes to get. Ultimately, in the end is a personal preference.
I personally prefer the Chinese EL34B for my Splawn. It’s just my preference.
In my Marshall, I’ve used the JJ tubes you linked to and I liked them just fine too. They are priced right and they sound good and are pretty rugged.

https://tubedepot.com/

Search through the site and read some reviews. I think you’ll do fine with the JJ’s for your first time buying tubes.

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Not loving my tone...

Don’t buy that...,
Here’s the thing.
Power tubes (the 2 larger ones) need to be replaced and biased on a regular basis depending on how often and how hard you drive your amp. A gigging player can expect to get about a year or so out of a set.
Preamp tubes, on the other hand can and often do last YEARS. I’m talking decades. I have preamp tubes in my Marshall from the 60’s.
Don’t spend $ on preamp tubes just yet.
Also, this is just me but I’d recommend buying from tubedepot.com. They have more brands/variety and they ship really fast. Plus as a bonus, a week or so after you get the tubes they will email you asking to write a review. Once you do they send a 10% code for your next purchase.

If you ask, you’ll get all sorts of recommendations on what brand tubes to get. Ultimately, in the end is a personal preference.
I personally prefer the Chinese EL34B for my Splawn. It’s just my preference.
In my Marshall, I’ve used the JJ tubes you linked to and I liked them just fine too. They are priced right and they sound good and are pretty rugged.

https://tubedepot.com/

Search through the site and read some reviews. I think you’ll do fine with the JJ’s for your first time buying tubes.

Edit:

Also, do what demanic said too...exhaust all of the possibilities and if you’re still not happy with what you hear grab a set of tubes. It probably needs them anyway.
And that glow inside the tubes is the heater. It’s normal. And just for knowledge sake even if the tube glows it doesn’t mean that the tube is good...it only means that the heater is working.

[punchlinechar]

Re: Not loving my tone...

Don’t buy that...,
Here’s the thing.
Power tubes (the 2 larger ones) need to be replaced and biased on a regular basis depending on how often and how hard you drive your amp. A gigging player can expect to get about a year or so out of a set.
Preamp tubes, on the other hand can and often do last YEARS. I’m talking decades. I have preamp tubes in my Marshall from the 60’s.
Don’t spend $ on preamp tubes just yet.
Also, this is just me but I’d recommend buying from tubedepot.com. They have more brands/variety and they ship really fast. Plus as a bonus, a week or so after you get the tubes they will email you asking to write a review. Once you do they send a 10% code for your next purchase.

If you ask, you’ll get all sorts of recommendations on what brand tubes to get. Ultimately, in the end is a personal preference.
I personally prefer the Chinese EL34B for my Splawn. It’s just my preference.
In my Marshall, I’ve used the JJ tubes you linked to and I liked them just fine too. They are priced right and they sound good and are pretty rugged.

https://tubedepot.com/

Search through the site and read some reviews. I think you’ll do fine with the JJ’s for your first time buying tubes.

That's super helpful, thank you!

I'll do some looking around for sure. It's nice to know that I don't need to pay that much for all the tubes

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[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Not loving my tone...

For the type sounds your looking for, if you do get tubes, try the Electro Harmonix 6CA7 power tubes.

The tubes that are in the photos are Marshall branded Chinese EL34Bs. Pretty good tubes, but they are probably the original tubes-several years old with probably many hours on them.

[allbutromeo]

Re: Not loving my tone...

I would still suggest setting a couple of preamp tubes. The screeching noises could be from a bad pre tube, so if you change the power tubes and it still makes noise, change the pre amp tubes one at a time until it stops,. Plus it never hurts to have a couple of spares playing around.

[punchlinechar]

Re: Not loving my tone...

I just ordered some JJ EL34's, and also a Mesa 12AX7. Which preamp slot in my amp would have the most impact on the gain?

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Not loving my tone...

Maybe adding a closed-back 112 cab would add the bass your missing. Or a ported cab, like the Mesa 112 Thiele.

Bill

[Gtrjunior]

Not loving my tone...

I just ordered some JJ EL34's, and also a Mesa 12AX7. Which preamp slot in my amp would have the most impact on the gain?

V1...it’s typically the preamp slot closest to the input jack.

I’m not 100% sure with the DSL but in my experience with Marshall amps. V1 and V2 are your gain stages.
V3 (in a JVM) is the cathode follower. If the DSL doesn’t have a cathode follower V3 “may” be used for reverb/Fx loop.
And V4 is the phase inverter.

When you decide to experiment with the preamp tubes...
1) they do not need to be biased. They are plug and play.
2) only change one at a time. This way you can hear exactly what changes happen. You may or may not like the changes. Different brands have different tonal characteristics.
I find EHX to be bright
JJ have good gain and are darker
Etc
The phase inverter slot can have a big impact on how the amp “feels”.

[Darg1911]

Re: Not loving my tone...

Maybe you just aren't a Marshall guy ....

[ken361]

Re: Not loving my tone...

The red dot is a selected preamp tube that supposedly less noise when tested its the V1! when you get the new one replace that on first and see if there is issues. If the amp was never biased yet find someone asap there usually set wayyy to hot and that caused fizzy and messy and less tight sounding.

[devastone]

Re: Not loving my tone...

The first preamp position has the most effect on gain/tone. It sounds like it may need a trip to a tech too based on what you said about the noise when you turn up the clean channel.

On a side note, how do you like the Chapman BEA?