The Postman Knocked Just Once...

Mr Grumpy

Mr Grumpy

Ambassador of Comings and Goings
Country flag
...&, I answered the door.

I really shouldn't have, but I sold myself on the idea that I am learning about amps.

DSC_0057.JPG

I don't know anything about those strings, but they seem a bit thick for my SG.

The picks will fit nicely in the wallet, and the key ring is a nice quality.

Now, I do love my DSL5C, and it sounds good but not perfect; I suspect that a lot of that is down to the Celestion ten 30 speaker which is average.

I had a really nice ENGL cab which I shouldn't have sold, and the cab itself sounded really nice with a Celestion G10N-40 speaker in it; this is a really nice sounding speaker at a pretty affordable price - $70 or less. I'm hoping this greenback will sound even better. To give you an indication of the prices here in Korea, taxes and delivery including = $130.

I've never got into an amp and changed a speaker out, so I wanna get my hands dirty and have a go...
 

Attachments

There are a lot of reviews like this one below which swayed me:

Posted on Marshall Forum.

Greetings,

This is my first post to these forums, just signed up. I actually have been reading the extensive post regarding the DSL5C amplifier. As a new purchaser of that amp I wanted to share my recent experience - like right now recent.

First, I do like the amp very much. I have a modded Blues Junior Tweed III with Cannabis Rex speaker and recently sold a Tweaker 15, which essentially funded my DSL5C purchase. The BJr. III and the 5C complement each other nicely. The Blues Junior is very loud so I have a Rivera Rockcrusher on it. Great amp and great attenuator.

But I wanted something that had more gain to learn some of my favorites like Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC etc. The Tweaker was nice but it seemed inconsistent for some reason. I don't know, maybe something was going bad in it - I bought it used. I figured it might be the tubes so I put two new power tubes in - JJ 6V6's. But it still seemed to vary when I used it. So I traded it in and got the DSL5C.

This is my first Marshall in quite some time, my only other being a White 50 watt head I got back in the 90's. In any case I like the 5C very much. BUT, big but, I just put a 10" Celestion Greenback in it and let me tell you, if you get this amp, get this speaker. Holy Cow! I mean the speaker is brand new and will open up even more but what a difference. And there is plenty of bass - I do not feel any need to go 12" whatsoever. I am using a 2015 Gibson Les Paul Traditional with 59 humbuckers and I also have a 2013 HSS American Standard Strat with a Diamondback Humbucker in the bridge and Fat 50's in the other two positions.

I am also running a Seymore Duncan Vapor Trail analog delay and a TC Electronics HOF reverb through the effects loop.

First off, the amp is quieter, which I am very happy with. I play in a townhouse and sound carries throughout the place very easily. Not so much to the neighbors, but internally. So the headphone option is great and works pretty well. But this new Celestion reduced the volume enough, and just changed the character really, that it allowed greater use of the controls, and, by extension, allowed the sound to open up more because I could turn it up more.

Second the really glassy, and fizzy, distortion is gone. It now really sounds like a real amp. Seriously. The tone is more balanced and much less fizzy sounding. A real growl instead of an over emphasized sizzle. I mean I got so excited when I heard it I ended up login in here and writing an excessively long first post ;-).

But seriously. I was reading all the posts about the different mods analyzing everything. But this speaker change, at least with my setup, which I took particular care to describe above, totally changes the sound characteristic of this amp.

Which leads me to my last point. After hearing how this sounds, I am not so sure the amp was not designed with this speaker in mind. Obviously they were building to a price point and putting a $120 speaker in this amp changes that considerably when the original speaker costs $35. But I really think this amp was designed with this speaker in mind.

So I will stop here. But given all the reading I have been doing I thought my experience would be helpful to someone contemplating the purchase of this amp. In its current state I can get a variety of tones on both channels and do so, as one would, by adjusting volume and tone on my guitar. And one other point. Historically I have found it much more difficult to get good tone out my Les Paul then out of single coil guitars. Another reason I sought out this amp. But this amp sounds very very nice with my Paul.

Sorry for the long post but I really wanted to share this.

Take care,
john
 
Mr Grumpy said:
There are a lot of reviews like this one below which swayed me:

Posted on Marshall Forum.

Greetings,

This is my first post to these forums, just signed up. I actually have been reading the extensive post regarding the DSL5C amplifier. As a new purchaser of that amp I wanted to share my recent experience - like right now recent.

First, I do like the amp very much. I have a modded Blues Junior Tweed III with Cannabis Rex speaker and recently sold a Tweaker 15, which essentially funded my DSL5C purchase. The BJr. III and the 5C complement each other nicely. The Blues Junior is very loud so I have a Rivera Rockcrusher on it. Great amp and great attenuator.

But I wanted something that had more gain to learn some of my favorites like Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC etc. The Tweaker was nice but it seemed inconsistent for some reason. I don't know, maybe something was going bad in it - I bought it used. I figured it might be the tubes so I put two new power tubes in - JJ 6V6's. But it still seemed to vary when I used it. So I traded it in and got the DSL5C.

This is my first Marshall in quite some time, my only other being a White 50 watt head I got back in the 90's. In any case I like the 5C very much. BUT, big but, I just put a 10" Celestion Greenback in it and let me tell you, if you get this amp, get this speaker. Holy Cow! I mean the speaker is brand new and will open up even more but what a difference. And there is plenty of bass - I do not feel any need to go 12" whatsoever. I am using a 2015 Gibson Les Paul Traditional with 59 humbuckers and I also have a 2013 HSS American Standard Strat with a Diamondback Humbucker in the bridge and Fat 50's in the other two positions.

I am also running a Seymore Duncan Vapor Trail analog delay and a TC Electronics HOF reverb through the effects loop.

First off, the amp is quieter, which I am very happy with. I play in a townhouse and sound carries throughout the place very easily. Not so much to the neighbors, but internally. So the headphone option is great and works pretty well. But this new Celestion reduced the volume enough, and just changed the character really, that it allowed greater use of the controls, and, by extension, allowed the sound to open up more because I could turn it up more.

Second the really glassy, and fizzy, distortion is gone. It now really sounds like a real amp. Seriously. The tone is more balanced and much less fizzy sounding. A real growl instead of an over emphasized sizzle. I mean I got so excited when I heard it I ended up login in here and writing an excessively long first post ;-).

But seriously. I was reading all the posts about the different mods analyzing everything. But this speaker change, at least with my setup, which I took particular care to describe above, totally changes the sound characteristic of this amp.

Which leads me to my last point. After hearing how this sounds, I am not so sure the amp was not designed with this speaker in mind. Obviously they were building to a price point and putting a $120 speaker in this amp changes that considerably when the original speaker costs $35. But I really think this amp was designed with this speaker in mind.

So I will stop here. But given all the reading I have been doing I thought my experience would be helpful to someone contemplating the purchase of this amp. In its current state I can get a variety of tones on both channels and do so, as one would, by adjusting volume and tone on my guitar. And one other point. Historically I have found it much more difficult to get good tone out my Les Paul then out of single coil guitars. Another reason I sought out this amp. But this amp sounds very very nice with my Paul.

Sorry for the long post but I really wanted to share this.

Take care,
john
Click to expand...

Speakers really do have a big impact on tone. Tubes also have a powerful influence.
 
There are a lot of good speakers out there. For a little Marshall DSL, I've heard that these speakers work really well and even give the full Marshall tone at lower volumes than the speaker they come with - that'll suit me really well if it turns out to be true.
 
Speakers are really interesting because they are about your ears and musical preferences rather than just being good/bad, better/worse.

Here's a short clip that shows 3 speakers - I reckon they all sound equally good; not one could be said to be better than the other two. Nonetheless, I much prefer the Celestion just because it suits the music I've grown up on and that I enjoy hearing. Most of the comments about the video prefer the other two speakers which I can fully understand.

 
Excellent choice. I've used the Greenback 10 in several different amps, and in every case was an enormous upgrade. Not subtle, not "a bit" better, but night-and-day better than any other 10" speaker that I have ever heard. And the tone is tailor-made for a Marshall.

They break in as slow as any 12" Celestion, so be patient. But you will be rewarded.
 
In the unlikely event that anybody here hasn't changed a speaker before (other than me), I'll go step-by-step.

Firstly, the build quality, fit n' finish and quality control on this product is superb - top tier; exceeded my expectation.

8 screws remove the back panel, very easy:

s2.JPG

Inside there's a lot of room to easily access everything:

s3.JPG

The tubes:

s4.JPG

The red and white speaker wires removed (I hope I put them back on the correct way around...), just leaves 4 screws then the speaker is out (very easy), and here's the old and new side-by-side:

s5.JPG

s6.JPG

In she goes, the screw holes lined up perfectly, the screws went in perfectly, and the back panel went on perfectly... Just really well made with quality screws, well drilled holes, everything lining up, very good work by Marshall's Vietnamese workers.

s7.JPG

The wife is still asleep, so I will report back on sounds soon...
 
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Great pictorial, Grumpy.
Been looking for a good speaker for my DSL15. I've grown fond of this amp.
I need a 12" 16 ohm.
Robert hipped me to a WGS Reaper with a 55hz cone. From what I've read, it seems like the ticket.
But I can't find a stocking seller. :confused:
 
SHITE I guess that means Im not trading it out of you Hack!

Stocking seller?
1980-pantyhose-advert.jpg



BUWAHAHAHAHAHAH
 
Hackmaster said:
Robert hipped me to a WGS Reaper with a 55hz cone. From what I've read, it seems like the ticket.
Click to expand...

That does seem like a good speaker although as a first step, with a Marshall amp, it seems unusual to look past a greenback or V30, just because...

Here are some examples (I think the first one is the 40dsl standard speaker, but seems to have similar qualities that the 5w and 15w have - i.e. a tad shrill which makes it sound louder at lower volumes and thus one needs to up the volume more than one might like to).


I always think these comparisons where they obviously leave the eq/volume/guitar settings flat for comparison purposes are silly because you are gonna play around with all the controls to find the best sound for you - this might not be at all inline with the flat eq comparisons.

Here's a comparison with the Reaper and Celestion - but, this is an H which I think stands for heavy magnet which tends to move the midrange focus up; many folks prefer the M option which is what I went for.


This one below sounds just horrible to me when clean, both of the speakers, but that's almost certainly because of the geezer's settings; I don't want a Gibson sounding like a glassy strat... The sounds are much better when overdriven then we're just in the nice Marshall space. Not fond of the Invader on any setting, but again, I suspect that geezer has the treble way too high for my liking.

 
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eSGEe said:
Great job Grump!
HOWS SHE SOUND?!?!?!?!
Click to expand...

The wife hasn't gotten up yet, she has another 1 hour or I'm gonna wake her up with my impression of Mountain (&, it's not a nice impression...).

Just turned the amp on to warm up the tubes...

Observation 1: the amp is quieter at idle.

Observation 2: just low volume/power few plucks seems to show a big drop in trebbly nastiness on both channels.

I will leave the amp for 30 minutes (if I can) before turning up the volume a tad and starting to play.
 
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