DSL40C Plexi Head Conversion:

Inspector #20

Inspector #20

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I gave away my two DSL40C's to local, working (struggling) full-time musicians earlier this year, when I transitioned to the Origin 50H and custom 2x12 cabinet. These guys had been hammered by the pandemic and music is their only source of income.

One of the recipients of that amp (a vintage trimmed DSL40C I got from @Mitch Pearrow SJMP) is doing much better now financially and asked me to convert his DSL40C to a plexi-style head.

We just received an email from Mission Engineering last night.

Hey, Guys

My name is Erik Boschert and I run the Stagecraft Gear cabinet shop. I'm working on your DSL40C "Plexi" head cabinet and see that you'd like the front valance drilled for a Marshall logo. My question to you...

Are you planning to use the existing Marshall logo from your DSL40C Combo? I think that is a 9" Logo. Typically, I believe actual Marshall "Plexi" heads used the smaller 6" logo. I can drill the valance for either size, but the 9" logo is large enough that it might be good to move the valance cabinet string slot down a little to accommodate the height of the logo a bit better. If you go with a 6" logo, the string can be at center ( top to bottom ). How would you like me to proceed?

Thanks,

ERIK

We've opted to use the small, 'Marshall' 2-Screw nameplate (6" x 2") on this build.

Here's the Mission Engineering Plexi-Style DSL40C Head Cabinet

dsl40c-plexi-front-800-sat-2.jpg

Updates to follow....
 
Robert Herndon said:
I gave away my two DSL40C's to local, working (struggling) full-time musicians earlier this year, when I transitioned to the Origin 50H and custom 2x12 cabinet. These guys had been hammered by the pandemic and music is their only source of income.

One of the recipients of that amp (a vintage trimmed DSL40C I got from @Mitch Pearrow SJMP) is doing much better now financially and asked me to convert his DSL40C to a plexi-style head.

We just received an email from Mission Engineering last night.

Hey, Guys

My name is Erik Boschert and I run the Stagecraft Gear cabinet shop. I'm working on your DSL40C "Plexi" head cabinet and see that you'd like the front valance drilled for a Marshall logo. My question to you...

Are you planning to use the existing Marshall logo from your DSL40C Combo? I think that is a 9" Logo. Typically, I believe actual Marshall "Plexi" heads used the smaller 6" logo. I can drill the valance for either size, but the 9" logo is large enough that it might be good to move the valance cabinet string slot down a little to accommodate the height of the logo a bit better. If you go with a 6" logo, the string can be at center ( top to bottom ). How would you like me to proceed?

Thanks,

ERIK

We've opted to use the small, 'Marshall' 2-Screw nameplate (6" x 2") on this build.

Here's the Mission Engineering Plexi-Style DSL40C Head Cabinet

View attachment 76567

Updates to follow....
Click to expand...

People have done this but they usually increase the air flow.
Like instead of a cabinet with a solid front, use a mesh grill instead to allow more air to circulate.
Some of these conversions wind up with fans in the back of the cabinet.
images

But like that instead of a solid wood piece, which also reduces the cabinet weight.
 
Amp Mad Scientist said:
People have done this but they usually increase the air flow.
Like instead of a cabinet with a solid front, use a mesh grill instead to allow more air to circulate.
Some of these conversions wind up with fans in the back of the cabinet.
images

But like that instead of a solid wood piece, which also reduces the cabinet weight.
Click to expand...

Very Innovative!!!!
 
The DSL40, when tubed correctly, is a really versatile amplifier. Having it in a head version is really a great, space saving feature. I've done several of these for clients now...
 
Robert Herndon said:
I gave away my two DSL40C's to local, working (struggling) full-time musicians earlier this year, when I transitioned to the Origin 50H and custom 2x12 cabinet. These guys had been hammered by the pandemic and music is their only source of income.

One of the recipients of that amp (a vintage trimmed DSL40C I got from @Mitch Pearrow SJMP) is doing much better now financially and asked me to convert his DSL40C to a plexi-style head.

We just received an email from Mission Engineering last night.

Hey, Guys

My name is Erik Boschert and I run the Stagecraft Gear cabinet shop. I'm working on your DSL40C "Plexi" head cabinet and see that you'd like the front valance drilled for a Marshall logo. My question to you...

Are you planning to use the existing Marshall logo from your DSL40C Combo? I think that is a 9" Logo. Typically, I believe actual Marshall "Plexi" heads used the smaller 6" logo. I can drill the valance for either size, but the 9" logo is large enough that it might be good to move the valance cabinet string slot down a little to accommodate the height of the logo a bit better. If you go with a 6" logo, the string can be at center ( top to bottom ). How would you like me to proceed?

Thanks,

ERIK

We've opted to use the small, 'Marshall' 2-Screw nameplate (6" x 2") on this build.

Here's the Mission Engineering Plexi-Style DSL40C Head Cabinet

View attachment 76567

Updates to follow....
Click to expand...

I should do something like that with my DSL-5C.
 
A few more pics sent by Erik @ StageCraft of the Plexi-Style DSL40 Head Cabinet.

DSL40C-Plexi_Jeffery_3.jpeg

DSL40C-Plexi_Jeffery_1.jpeg

DSL40C-Plexi_Jeffery_2.jpeg

This shipped out to me yesterday and I gotta have it ready for a client's NYE performance.
 
Robert Herndon said:
I really like the 'Plexi Option' compared to this 'Modern' version:

View attachment 76679
Click to expand...
I think the plexi version looks better too.
I haven't been here at TTR much of late due to other commitments, so haven't seen this thread before. If I had seen the first post, when it was first posted, I would have recommended asking that the chassis be "bottom mounted" in the head-cab, conventionally, like this
16111859701404709200760034480149.jpg
& advised where to get exact replicas of the front & rear faceplates made up, with all labelling, text etc correctly oriented for this type application (they aren't that costly to have made). With the chassis top mounted as is, I would recommend following AMS's advice in replacing at least the head-cab's rear panel with a full length & width mesh panel to aid cooling. Cheers
 
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