NAD!! - Marshall DBS content! (Who knew?!)

TL;DR - Never even seen Marshall Bass Amps/Cabs, but deal was too good to pass up. Especially love the ability to blend between Tube & Solid State Pre-amp.
Anyone with any experience with these please chime in!

— So, once again I get in trouble perusing local marketplace apps.

I saw this Marshall “Dynamic Bass System” 7400 Head, and 7410 Bass Cab come up for sale at a ridiculous price (around half the price of what I saw just the heads selling for ($200 for entire rig)), and looked to be in great condition.

As I’d never heard of it, I researched it and liked what I saw:
- love the ability to blend between solid state & tube preamp
- built in compressor got good reviews
- option to patch in a 9 band graphic EQ
- head is 400 Watts RMS @ 2 ohms, with peaks capable of 4,000 Watts - a 1:10 ratio as opposed to more standard 1:2 program/peak power.
- Only downside I read, was weight... and this puppy is HEAVY!

Also, it just looked pretty badass.

The trade-off - I’ve had a great 1970’s Peavey 400 Series Head paired with a 1980’s Carvin 2x15 that I got a great deal on a while back - they sounded just great together - huge, earth shaking lows, but great clarity in mids & highs... I really loved the combo, but just never found a time or need to bring such a large rig out.
I figured a 4x10 is a lot more likely to get used, so to save some room I decided to sell off the Peavey/Carvin combo to make room for this. Hurt to sell, but if it hasn’t left the house in over a year, I had to be realistic.

I am really happy with the sounds I’m getting out of this Marshall rig. I’ve only had it hooked up to the 7410 Cab, which is 4ohms, so not yet utilizing all of the power, but it’s plenty loud, has a large diversity of sounds available between preamp, “Deep” & “Bright” boost, hi / low eq, and the footswitchable on/off 9 band eq. Add in the compressor, and I’ve been having a lot of fun exploring this new set up.

Altho it is heavy (head approx 50lbs, Cab approx 80+lbs), the size alone will see that it gets out of the House way more than the 2x15 ever did.

I’m generally very happy with my workhorse Rig - GK 700rbii & GK Neo410, but the sound & size of this Marshall will see that it def pushes its way into some gigs! Plus, have I mentioned it just looks cool?!

I’ll get to the pics in just a minute, but there really isn’t that much about these online.
Luckily I found a digital copy of the manual, but please, anyone with any experience/stories/tips they can share about these Marshall DBS heads & cabs, please chime in.

Now the pics....

 

Thanks for your reply!

Yes, they made 2 models of the amp:

7200 - 200 Watts @ 4 Ohms
7400 - 400 Watts @ 2 Ohms

And something I forgot to mention in my original post, was that these were apparently only manufactured for a couple of years in the Mid-90’s.

I was just starting to play then, and wasn’t as up on all the new gear then, but this seems like a pretty advanced piece of gear for being approx 25 years old

 

Not worth a new thread, but curious if anyone w/ experience with these amps has changed out the tube, and if there was any noticeable change?

Did you find it worth it?
If so what kind of tube did you change to?
Apparently it comes from factory with an ECC83. I’m happy with it, just curious.

Thanks!

 

Thanks for the responses everyone!

Huh, that seems strange that the tube can’t be removed on your Ashdown - what would happen when/if it goes bad? I guess it’s designed to only be worked on by experts?

I asked about changing tubes here because in my research on the amp, I found a long dead thread on another, less active forum, where someone mentioned changing the tube a few times, but didn’t go into much detail. Hopefully someone will be along here who’s familiar w/ these.

 

I’m happy with how it sounds for sure....

You’re probably right, but I haven’t had a chance to plug a Ric into it yet.
(I was kind of kidding, but can actually see that as a great pairing... the relative smoothness of the Marshall having the Ric sound being fed into it... hmm.)

I’ll let you know if I do, ha!

 

Thanks!

Out of curiosity, do you remember what they were priced new, even approximately?

I’ve tried to find an old Marshall price guide but haven’t had any luck.

Not a big deal, but for such a solid rig with the only real downside being weight, I’m surprised that in all my years I’ve never seen one until now. We’re they overpriced?
Just curious....

 

I’ve heard some Muse, even covered some of their songs, but after seeing he uses these Marshalls I have to listen a bit more.

I did look at an interview that had a whole gear run down, and apparently he has 3 separate stacks, each with a 7400 head but different branded cabs.
One runs clean mostly to keep the bottom, then the other 2 are different combinations of Big Muff & other distortions and effects.

Really interested to hear this is the amp he uses, because even in my limited listening it’s hard not to notice the great bass work and tone.

(Easier to have 3 of these if you have other ppl carrying them for you, too! Ha!)

 

Bummer... sorry to hear it got fried.

You don’t have a repairman near you that could take a look, see if he could get it working for you again?

Thanks a lot for the offer, but I’m really a novice when it comes to electronics, and that’s being generous. I’ll keep it mind, but at this point, I don’t think I’d have much use for it, Altho I appreciate the offer.

Thanks again!