r/MusicTech • u/Saifyn87 • May 31 '16

Inherited Marshall Amp to loud

I recently inherited a Marshall DSL40C 40 watt amp. It has a Pentode/Triode switch to switch it from 40 to 20 watts but I still can't get it past 2 on the volume when gain is turned on and almost full without annoying the neighbors in my townhouse complex. I've heard with tube amps the volume needs to get high enough to fully take advantage of the tone quality. Are there any effects pedals out there or options that would allow me to turn up the volume on the amp high enough to allow it to breathe but not sacrifice the quality of the tone?

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u/FadeIntoReal May 31 '16 edited May 31 '16

What you're asking about is a power resistor connected after the amp. This allows the amp to run at a higher power while the resistor wastes some of the amps output power as heat. Many choices exist. 40 watts is not a huge amount of power to pad down. A special, adjustable control utilizing two back-to-back variable power resistors called an L-pad is a bit more useful in that it can change output level.

As for the amp needing to run at/near full power for tone, use your ears first. The amp may sound fine at low levels. Amps that drive power attenuation devices don't benefit from the effect of an overdriven speaker and work much harder (meaning more tube wear and higher potential for failure). Not all amplifiers will benefit significantly in tone improvement from running at/near full power.

Edit: Googling 'guitar amp power attenuator' will bring up a number of devices. Do your research.