The mighty JCM-2K DSL 100

[angelspade]

I've probably owned a DSL 100 from every year and I never had an issue with one of them, other then just replacing tubes, not sure what Marshall was thinking biasing these amps so hot.
Green channel boosted sounds awesome. I like how these amps have a cool roar to the sound and more spongy feel to them when cranked up. Red channel can get a little loose and find the JVM to be better at higher gain more modern tones then the DSL.

Having owned both, I agree with this. The JVM is a better all around amp for many (myself included)...But it does lack some of the higher volume "roar" associated with the DSL and some feel that the DSL retains more of that classic Marshall vibe by comparison to the JVM.

 

[Fiesta Red]

Any JCM 2000 100 watt DSL from 98 to 2004 has the potential for the bias drift problem.
Depends how many hours on the amp.

Did they also change the power transformers at one point?

 

[BABMusic]

I think they did change from Dragnall to Drake. Mine had Dragnall, which were supposed to be the "bad" ones. Some said the Dragnall parts were inferior or made the tone harsh. I don't know -- sounded great to me.

 

[BesaMoogie]

Any JCM 2000 100 watt DSL from 98 to 2004 has the potential for the bias drift problem.
Depends how many hours on the amp.

Mine, a 2001 model, had the conductive PCB aka bias drift. I replaced the board.

I was told that biasing the tubes lower prevents the board to become conductive. Marshall recommends 90mA per side = per two of the power tubes, which is crazy high. Going down to 70mA should help keep the heat under control.

 

[Techdeth]

Any JCM 2000 100 watt DSL from 98 to 2004 has the potential for the bias drift problem.
Depends how many hours on the amp.

Mine does not even take long hours . I’m lucky to get 8 hours before a tube pops .

 

[shar-vell Dan]

Did they also change the power transformers at one point?

They changed everything when they moved offshore to Vietnam.
Dagnall moved to Malta and now Marshall makes the transformers for the $4K JCM 800 2203X in Vietnam also because they don't
want to pay shipping to & fro Malta to keep profits high.
The Vietnam iron is more than 50% smaller than the Dagnalls on the DSL's.

 

[shar-vell Dan]

Mine, a 2001 model, had the conductive PCB aka bias drift. I replaced the board.

I was told that biasing the tubes lower prevents the board to become conductive. Marshall recommends 90mA per side = per two of the power tubes, which is crazy high. Going down to 70mA should help keep the heat under control.

I do between 70 & 80 and no more and its plenty. 90 was crazy high.

 

[BesaMoogie]

Mine does not even take long hours . I’m lucky to get 8 hours before a tube pops .

Did you ever thought of installing a fan for better cooling?

 

[ners]

The combo version of the JCM2000 DSL was my first tube amp back in high school, it wound up dying from an overheating problem and then I lost it in a move before I could get it fixed (for the 2nd time lol). Pretty sure the combo version was notorious for this.

I didn't know shit about amps or tone 20+ years ago but I remember liking it way more than my buddy's JCM 900 half stack. I see them every now and then for relatively cheap and I half want to try one again, but I've got so many Marshall-esque amps already its hard to justify even spending $500 on nostalgia alone.

 

[Techdeth]

Did you ever thought of installing a fan for better cooling?

Never thought of that . Honestly just need the board switched out . I just have not been playing it much and it’s going now thanks to jackbooted

 

[Drew]

I have a 2002 DSL50 that I have used at about 200 gigs since May of 2021. The amp has been a very reliable piece of gear. The only time I thought it was giving me trouble turned out to be a bad cable going to the effect loop in my cable loom.

I also have a 2003 DSL50 I bought as a backup--but I have never used it. I take a BluGuitar Amp1 Mercury as my backup amp to gigs.

 

[SgtThump]

I have a 2002 DSL50 that I have used at about 200 gigs since May of 2021. The amp has been a very reliable piece of gear. The only time I thought it was giving me trouble turned out to be a bad cable going to the effect loop in my cable loom.

I also have a 2003 DSL50 I bought as a backup--but I have never used it. I take a BluGuitar Amp1 Mercury as my backup amp to gigs.

Great video!

According to the Internet, your amps will blow up any second now. Sorry to break that to you. LOL

 

[BABMusic]

I bought a used DSL50 last year in 2025 and it was made in 2004 I think. I was so disappointed when I received it because it was super muddy on all channels. I changed all the tubes thinking it was the tubes, but nope. Something was wrong with that amp. I returned it, and I swear my old DSL100 from 1998 didn't sound like that.

 

[ners]

I think it was the 100w versions that were more prone to issues, and an updated PCB started coming out in 2004

 

[Drew]

I bought a used DSL50 last year in 2025 and it was made in 2004 I think. I was so disappointed when I received it because it was super muddy on all channels. I changed all the tubes thinking it was the tubes, but nope. Something was wrong with that amp. I returned it, and I swear my old DSL100 from 1998 didn't sound like that.

Something was not right. They are not muddy. I run the bass and mids almost all the way up and the presence and treble between all the way off and around 9:00, based on the venue.

 

[Drew]

I think it was the 100w versions that were more prone to issues, and an updated PCB started coming out in 2004

That's what I recall that it was only the DSL100's with the bias drift issue.

I check the bias on my amp every few months and it's always within a number or two of where I initially set it. I set it around 36.