Hey guitargeeks,

I usualy don't need advice like this, but figured it would be good to get some firsthand advice from you guys.

I have recently joined a rather talented singer to start a rather commercial pop/rock group. The guy has VERY strong sense of musical structure for pop music. Because of this, he is looking for 3 distinct flavors of sound from me. A clean, light crunch and heavy lead/crunch for dynamics in his music.

Since I play a jubilee now, I have perfect heavy lead/crunch..and a decent clean. but am unable to create the 3 sounds with just this head.

Since I do not want to use any overdrive pedals for my sound, I am an need of a two-amp head setup. I COULD use my twin reverb for cleans and a pedal for overdrive for the first two sounds, but want it all to come out of hte same cab for consistancy.

SO... to the question. In ALL honesty, how good is the Marshall DSL 100 to be used as the head that will produce my cleans and mild overdriven tones when used an a A/B setup with my jubilee head? I am looking for an amp that will deliver a sound that will meld seamlessly with my jubilee so that if you close your eyes, steps 1, 2, 3 would sound like they are all coming from the same head.

Is there another 2 channel head option that can do cleans, and then a great mild overdrive that will compliment my jubilee?

again, keep in mind. its VERY important that the sounds are Marshall in nature. I don't want a mesa overdrive, and then kick in my Jubilee for leads/heavy playing. the sounds will change too much and will sound amature.

THANKS guys! I know theres a lot of JCM2000 users out there, and I'm confident there will be more than a few other options brought up.

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Tyler

Guitar rig with recording samples.

Youtube Sample of My Sound

Other folks will pipe in (doubtless) with opposite opinions - but the only time i've ever heard the DSL series sound good was a heavy crunch sound, the Wylde overdrive into the classic gain side.

it sounded incredible, sure, but it sounds like you've already got that end of the spectrum down.

Why are you against using an overdrive pedal?

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*knew I was gonna get asked this

Couple of reasons:

1st: this may sound picky, but with a two amp setup with one of the amps needing an additional pedal to push into drive means switching between the 3 can get complicated on stage. I'm not an idiot, but I might get flustered with stage performing and forget to turn the pedal off when switching back to the clean amp, or whatever. Not a huge deal, but its definitly unattractive. A pedalbaord with 3 separate switches indipendent from each other clearly marked is far easier.

2nd: pedal overdrive has never been up to snuff to my ears. There has always been some sort of tonal characteristic that suffered. Either it be the pedal's inherit shortcomings or the drastic voicing difference from clean to dirty when switching it on. An amp made for channel switching will voice the clean and mildly overdriven channels closer together and therefore would not be such a sonic jump. I'm very picky about that jump. I'm actualy bothered a bit about how big of a jump I currently have between the Twin and jubilee, but I have no solution to that yet.

3rd: There MAY be a pedal or two out there that may work for me... but once you start relying on footpedals for your tone, the more likely you'll run into problems down the road like bumping the pedal's settings, pedals breaking, batteries dieing, AC adaptors not reaching, ...etc.

..hope I make a good case.

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Tyler

Guitar rig with recording samples.

Youtube Sample of My Sound

i would HIGHLY suggest getting a passive volume pedal to run before your jubilee. i'm into ernieball.

by using it before the preamp, it acts as a gain control, not really adjusting your actual volume levels.(if you want it to adjust the volume levels, run it in the fx loop)
set up your jubilee for the super heavy lead sound, and just roll the volume pedal down to your liking for the light crunch. and use your other amp for clean cleans.

it's like a backwards boost. you're still using the mojo and gain of the jubilee, just giving yourself the ability to turn the gain down with your foot.

i also like this because it sounds smoother to "roll" between gain levels, rather than the click of a footswitch and a completely different sound. instantly.

it also serves as a tuner mute if you want to kick your tuner out of your signal. and you don't have to worry about batteries and power supplies because it's passive.

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friends don't let friends play krank

Q: How many Bush Administration officials does it take to change a light bulb?

A: None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; it's conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are delusional spin from the liberal media. That light bulb has served honorably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom? Why don't you support our troops?

MSI-Brat:

interesting solution, but I foresee some problems:

I HATE the sound of the jubilee with my guitar's volume knob turned down. In theory, thats the exact same effect as a volume Pedal. The overdrive becomes weak and raspy and doesn't have that fullness that a mildly driven amp at full volume input has.

Secondly, without preset levels, its far easier to 'miss' the sweet spot that I would be looking for, not to mention hitting it accidentally while moving around on stage. (think how bad it would sound to accidentally bump it in the middle of a ripping solo). Also, the same problem applies, as in an overdrive pedal. For instance, if I went form mild overdrive to clean then to Heavy Lead... I might forget to bring the volume pedal up to max and punch into lead to find myself really weak until I can quickly rush to my volume knob....

I do appreciate the ideas, but I'm basically asking for a 2 channel amp head that has both great clean and great MILD overdriven tones in a similar voicing as a jubilee...

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Tyler

Guitar rig with recording samples.

Youtube Sample of My Sound

*flame suit on*

what are your thoughts on the Peavey Classic series?

lol... I doubt you'll be flamed for peavey classic series amps. I personally have nothing against them.

Problem is, they are more targeted for the overdriven fender type sounds which would probably not meld with the jubilee like I want.

But I could be wrong, are they more "marshally" in sound?

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Tyler

Guitar rig with recording samples.

Youtube Sample of My Sound

I think the sweetest 'British' cleans come from an EL84 power section.

Maybe check out one of those 20w hand-wired Marshalls, or even something in a Vox...

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"The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People is sacredly obligatory upon all." - George Washington.

...need it to be a 2 channel switch head. I don't really need TOP notch cleans or anything. Just "good" cleans. the 20w heads would breakup too soon. besides, I still own the '71 super trem so I i've already though of using that as my cleans and using a pedal... but we've already discussed that.

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Tyler

Guitar rig with recording samples.

Youtube Sample of My Sound

Last suggestion and now I'll shut up:

Dr Z '6545'. Two channels, old-school Marshall-esque. There are clips on his website. Only other thing I can think of is the Framus Dragon. Damn! That's two suggestions. Sorry...

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"The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People is sacredly obligatory upon all." - George Washington.

why shut up!? I need as much advice as possible...

Dr Z...hmm....might be a good option.

Isn't the framus' second channel a bit too ...high-gain modern sounding?

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Tyler

Guitar rig with recording samples.

Youtube Sample of My Sound

ever played a splawn?

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friends don't let friends play krank

Q: How many Bush Administration officials does it take to change a light bulb?

A: None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; it's conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are delusional spin from the liberal media. That light bulb has served honorably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom? Why don't you support our troops?

I think it has 3 channels. I was figuring there would be something usable in the middle channel...

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"The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People is sacredly obligatory upon all." - George Washington.

if you want a real tight commercial power-pop sound the DSL100 is definately the amp for you.

Otherwise you can do the whole Mesa thing...but i wouldn't.

Bogner Shiva's are also really nice.

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Gibson SG 61 reissue(57's)/Epiphone Les Paul LTD (both PRS Dragon II)->-1982 DOD 280 compressor ->- Dunlop Crybaby Wah ->- Marshall Jcm2000 TSL100 (Sovtek power/GT pre's) Marshall 1960 cab(FX-loop = Boss GT-3 w/ ext. CTL pedal)

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