DSL100

Tony_M · Newbie Alert Joined: 26 May 2006 Posts: 1

Hey I have a DSL100 head that had a very loud backround hum. So I brought it in and it got fixed they said it needed to be biased. So I brought it back home and the hum is gone but now I feel like it has lost alot of power. It dosent seem half as loud as it used to be. Before if I turned it up to just 4 the pictures on the wall would be shaken off. Now I need to put it full blast to be that loud. SO what happend? Why such a power loss? I miss the headroom. I also feel the amp has lost it oomph and punch. The tone is still great but what happend to that Marshall kick you in the balls presence?

mccabre · Tadpole Joined: 05 Jun 2006 Posts: 18

Hello matey. The 'problem' you have isn't really a problem at all.

A lot of people get pissed off with the background hum of valve amps, but if rebiasing yours solves the problem, my guess was that it was biased too hot. I don't know the details of this process but the hotter an amp is biased, the louder it will be and the more breakup it will achieve at lower volumes. The colder, the cleaner, if that makes sense.

So what you have is an amp which has been biased colder than before, resulting in this change in tone.

My advice is to go to an amp rempair shop who can explain the process and then you can decide whether you're gonna leave it or just accept the hum!

Chris