Found the Speaker for Marshall DSL 15C

After several tries, I finally found the speaker for my Marshall DSL 15C. Speakers I tried include a Celestion G12H30 Anniversary and a Celestion Vintage 30. I also tried a WGS ET65 and WGS HM75. None of those speakers nailed it, for me.

I recently bought a used WGS Reaper (the standard 30 watt version) that had about 10 hours of use. OMG! It is perfect!

I had a tone in my head that I was looking for and the WGS Reaper turned out to be spot on. No high spike. The highs are there, but not ear piercing. No overdone mids (nice sweet mids). Bass that is there without being too much. Just the right amount of break up when driven. Very responsive to touch and attack. Very responsive to the guitar volume being turned down (less drive, without the bottom dropping out of the volume).

I can hardly freaking believe it.

I was able to stop using the mid-scoop and the bass boost buttons on the DSL 15C. Plus, I was able to turn the treble and the mid tone controls on the amp up a little.

A bit about the amp. I modified the Ultra-gain red channel to decrease the gain. I use tung-sol 12ax7 pre-amp tubes, a balanced Ruby 12ax7 in the phase inverter slot, and Tung-Sol 6v6 tubes (tried JJ 6V6s, but they were a little too sparkly for my taste).

The WGS Reaper provides the exact tone I heard in my head. No longer do I have to be careful about high notes screeching or low notes farting.

The WGS HM75 found a home in my DSL 40C, and the ET65 is paired with the G12H30 Anniversary in a 2x12 cab that I use with a point-to-point hand-wired head modeled after a 50watt Marshall JCM800. The Vintage 30 is relegated to a shelf, for now.

Bottom line, the DSL 15C with the Reaper is my go-to amp now.