Well, after picking up a used Mesa 5:50 Express 2x12 a few months ago, I gradually realized it wasn't the tone I was looking for. On the crunch or burn channels, it just ended up muddy. So, I started trying to figure out what I DID want to hear. After bouncing some ideas around at TGP, I settled on the Marshall DSL 100 head and started looking to trade out the Mesa.

Finally found someone wiling to trade, but had to drive my giant ass truck (F350 dually) into downtown Toledo. For the record, I fucking HATE driving in cities, especially with this monster of a truck. Ended up with the amp which looks brand new and a Marshall 1960A 4x12 cab. Played around for awhile tonight, and made my ears ring a bit, lol. THIS is the tone I was looking for. That classic Marshall crunch. Pics below.

Question: will a noise gate like the Boss NS-2 help reduce squealing and feedback when I turn up the gain?


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Nice!  I use an ISP Decimator with my Marshall JCM410H to keep the noise down with great success.

That's what I wanted to hear. When I try to play songs like Jerk-Off by Tool, with a bunch of single string riffs, the squealing gets hard to control.

I live in the sticks so noise isn't a problem here.. I only drive to Toledo if my mom has a doctors appointment there. It Sucks but I have driven in worse cities.
Nice amp OP. There is a reason Marshall got the rep it has as the rock star of the hi gain amp world.

I almost bought that amp when it first came out.  I really digged the tone and the Marshall crunch but I ended up getting the Dual Rectifier instead.  Congrats on NAD

Congrats!

ISP noise gates seem to be the go to noise gate pedal for alot of Marshall guys. I used to just use a MXR Noise Clamp. It was cheap and works well, and if I were to use one of my amps in a band situation again, I'd probably use it again.

The local GC just happened to have a used Boss NS-2 for $50, so I grabbed that, can't pick it up until Tuesday though. Been a busy weekend so far, but plan to get so re playing time in tomorrow and Monday.

I usually use an ISP G string but have also used the on-board noise gate of my GT8. That's an emulation of the NS-2, I believe.

Look up the "X pattern" method of connecting it. IIRC, it works like the G-String. You can trigger the gate release with signal from your guitar but run the actual gating of the pedal in your amp's effects loop. It's good for cutting preamp hiss when playing quietly. The squeal is harder to tame, and sometimes results from just having too much gain running at too much volume. That happens to me when I get a really saturated tone at low volume and then crank the master volume.

As an experiment, try playing with the head OFF of the cabinet.  You may have a pre-amp tube that is a little microphonic.  If you do, the amp may be picking up the vibrations of the speakers through contact.

Other than that, high gain in small spaces - you are going to get feedback.