Marshall DSL 401- Tubes Question

HI,

I've had this amp for a year now and just started noticing a gradual drop in volume about 2 weeks ago until finally it stopped making any sound all together. I've owned 2 tube amps before this one and never had this happen. Im not entirely sure whether its the tubes or something else.

Has this ever happened with anyone else? Should I go get a new set of tubes or take it in to a tech?

Also I've never owned an amp long enough to have the tubes conk out. Is changing tubes something I can do on my own or something i should get done professionally? (We've all heard of biasing, but I always heard about it from techs who i only assumed were trying to scare me into paying them to do it)

yeah get new tubes. As long as you get the same type of tubes that is in there (EL34s) then you can change them yourself.

Pretty easy job? Just a matter of yanking out the old ones and popping in new ones like batteries? Or more like screwing in light bulbs? Or more than that?

Where do you get replacement tubes?

they push in and pull out. you can get them anywhere online really. Don't know of any sites in America because i am in the UK. i buy mine from www.gak.co.uk

you might want to speak to Bob at www.eurotubes.com. He is a very nice fellow and has a lot of experience with all things tubey. He also sells JJs in US which are very nice !

He can tell you all about biasing your amp which you may well have to do if you replace the tubes.

Hmmmm... "biasing"... yet another term I don't know. Is there some giant massive online tutorial about tube amps (not for being a tech but being a... competent owner, shall we say) that I can peruse?

well there is Lordathestrintgs on this website !

He is very knowledgeable but gets grouchy when asked the same question for the 1000th time, so I'd suggest using the "search" function before bothering him !

If you don't want to be limited to JJ brand tubes, then check out www.dougstubes.com. Doug is a super helpful guy, like Bob at Eurotubes, and has a great selection of tubes to choose from.

JJ's work great in bright sounding amps, because their tone is a tad on the dark side. But they do work well in a wide variety of amps. If you want a set of power tubes that will really give you a punch on the gut, I'd suggest a set of JJ E34L's (no, that's not a typo, they're slightly differen than EL34's). They're a bit hotter than regular EL34's and have a fatter bottom end. You will need to have your amp re-biased with these though, and it would be a good idea to have it done anyway.