As described in yesterday’s blog post, there had been new acquisitions for buangruang. I shan’t touch on guitars as each of them deserve their own post, but the most important purchase was that of my new all-valve Marshall DSL15H and a 2×12″ Marshall MX212 cabinet, containing two Celestion Seventy 80’s. This purchase followed from a conversation with one of my friends regarding small valve amps up to 10W. I enjoyed playing my 5W Orange AD5 but following my crash course on tone sculpting using the pedals I have, the lack of an EQ on the amp meant I cannot make my tone any heavier despite tweaking the lower frequencies.

My friend then told me that Marshall does low-wattage amps now and I was delighted to know that the new DSL range (no longer made in the UK but this line pretty much is a continuation of what used to be the JCM2000 DSL range). What was also good about the DSL15H was that it can go from a pentode 15W to the powersoaked triode 7.5W. And another bonus was, my local music store has one in stock. As it was opened on the May Bank Holiday, we decided to descend on the store first thing at 10AM and tried it out. And I was sold. The 2×12″ looked/sounded way better hence the purchase of the MX212, the cheapest 2×12″ in Marshall’s range of extension cabs.

The head was quite light (10 kg) but the 2×12″ cab required a second pair of hands when it came to bringing it into buangruang. As expected, we had to shift the other bits and bobs around a bit to accommodate the new Marshall:

I quickly set it up and the DSL15H sang. It was loud but not that loud. I just don’t know how else to describe it. Here’s a little taster (bear in mind the audio’s directly recorded by the iPhone) of the Marshall DSL using my Fender Jazzmaster, recorded a couple of weeks after the purchase:

I have since made a recording of the DSL, mic-ed and mixed but this will be featured in a later blog post. So, watch this space! In the meantime, as I’m sure the missus would approve, the DSL has been, err… Funassyi-ed. ^^


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For those of you who knows what the typical setup of the now discontinued Roland TD-9KX may have noticed something different in my kit in the first photo above.

The first thing I had done (okay, this wasn’t obvious) but to replace the left CY-8 crash. The trigger was beginning to go a tad wonky and I found a second hand reconditioned unit for like £37 on eBay. Worked like a charm. To hear it, this is a cover of SCANDAL’s 「お願いナビゲーション」 which I did in one shot (lucky) when a friend was recording his drum track for an upcoming band cover project (I have alluded to this in my description of the DSL above). I have done the cover before but I have to say this was way better, thanks to the months of occasional playing this track, utilising the click track during recording and being able to hear the tone of the drums with much clarity on the ATH-M50x. Have a listen:

For a while now, I harboured the desire for the VH-11 hi-hat that comes with the current V-Drums range from the TD-30 onwards. This piece of kit requires an actual hi-hat stand and I was recommended a Gibraltar, series 5 upwards. I ordered a series 5 for about 60-odd squids from a store in Tyneside. However, after one week it didn’t arrive. After making an e-mail enquiry, they apologised for the delay and sent a 6-series the very next day at no extra charge. Result!

I had to result to downloading the VH-11 manual from Roland as well as checking out a couple of YouTube vids on setting up a hi-hat stand (hey, I am no drummer). It looked a tad complicated but after checking out the .pdf manual, it was all sorted pretty quickly. The Gibraltar’s tripod was double-braced and was very stable. I adjusted the height by comparing it with that of the original Roland CY-5 hi-hat. The clutch was taken off as the VH-11 had its own.

The motion sensor was placed and the VH-11 hi-hat was placed on top. One thing I never bargained for was how my older module recognised the newer VH-11. I don’t really care as long as it works. The height of the VH-11 was adjusted using the module’s display as a guide. Once set up, the hi-hat feels really natural to play, just like a real one. I had to make minor adjustments to the V-Drums frame, removing the CY-5 and its mount, and shifting the module more towards the middle of the kit to accommodate the Gibraltar stand. The legs of the Gibraltar had to be rotated a tad to allow the pedal to be close to my dw twin pedal.

Now, the kit is good to go! Having the VH-11 gives a better feel of playing the hi-hat as compared to the CY-5. I have plans to do a drum cover in the immediate feature. So, once again – watch this space.