NAD: Marshall DBS

[Bleat]

5 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

I had the gain cranked on full and the valve pre fully engaged. I noticed a nice warmth and thickness to the sound on my fretless. Switching fully over to Solid state I got a nice open clank too which would do very well for some P bass played with a pick. So, pedals for distort, pre amp blend for warmth or clank.

Sounds about right. It's a great amp. I did change my preamp tube to a Sovtek but put the original Marshall valve straight back in as it was simply much better!

 

[PinkMohawk]

On 29/05/2024 at 18:59, James Nada said:

It's funny how the gear we craved as kids never leaves us.

For me these Laney heads in their early nineties catalogue did it for me, and still catch my eye.  Probably best, I never play one and shatter my dreams.

Oh I had one of those before my old bands van got broken into, it was pretty damn good as I remember it. 

[uk_lefty]

Well, that was a LOT of bass!!! First proper gig pushing this amp, scrap that, it never felt pushed at all. Sounded phenomenal.

Edited July 28 by uk_lefty

[Russ]

They were stunningly good amps for the time. Their successors, the MB series, were pretty good too, but had some serious reliability issues. Plus, the didn't have the classic black 'n' gold livery... 

 

Now that Marshall are under new ownership, maybe they could start building bass gear again? After they bought out Eden, they said they didn't need to because they had a sub-brand for bass, but they've long since offloaded them now. 

[uk_lefty]

Agreed! This amp is great, a really full and authoritative sound and headroom to infinity. The MB Series looks very cheap unfortunately, whereas the DBS looks premium. I had mine serviced and really it was just dusty, no issues after twenty five years, ten of those in storage. It doesn't replace my ABM but it's certainly not a bad backup. 

[Lozz196]

Yep I had the MB450 which was actually a very nice sounding amp, but when I bought the DBS7400 it was a clearly superior beast.

[Russ]

I'd like to see a new Marshall bass head with a Class D power section, at least 800W of grunt, and the hybrid preamp section from the DBS heads (although maybe without the graphic, since they're "out" right now). In black and gold, with matching lightweight cabs with the Marshall logo prominently displayed. Do what Trace did with the TE-1200 - retain the classic tone, but modernise and simplify. 

 

They're iconic as a brand. I'd be more than happy to use one, assuming it sounded good and didn't break down like the MB amps used to. 

 

Chris Wolstenholme swore by DBS gear for years, and apparently bought up almost every used one he could find. I think he's switched to Markbass now, but those old Muse albums were all Marshall DBS. 

[Lozz196]

A mate of mine used to work at Marshall, the problems with the MB range were apparently from the initial batches, they’d had production switched to overseas for costs, however from what I understand when they saw how they’d been assembled they literally had to redo them all as the job wasn’t as good as it should have been.

[Downunderwonder]

The DBS stuff was new when I was shopping for my for my first real amp. My mentor had a Jubilee which was an absolute monster, when it was working, which it wasn't far too often so I got the Trace Elliot.

[dudewheresmybass]

My DBS 7400s are phenomenal.  

Wolstenholme used them because of their 'openness' to pedals. 

 

Older Marshall offerings have been awesome, yet woefully) underrepresented on the larger stage. The number of people that ask about my rig when it's out and about is surprising.

I would hope that they do something significant for bass players, and tempting enough to draw people away from the ampegs, ashdowns etc. we usually see.