Marshall JCM-2000 DSL 201

20 watts, 2 channel, footswitchable, seperate treble/mid/bass controls for both channels, gain control on both channels, preamp vol on 2nd channel, reverb, fx-loop, master volume & that's it.
About all you'd really want from a tube amp except for 'mid cut', 'bass boost' or the 'marshall bright' switch (each of which i'd only take 0.5 off for not having, as you don't particularly need or notice these missing after a while).

about 8.5-9/10

This thing sounds better with single coils (telecaster specifically) at room-practice volumes, but you can get some nice loud AC/DC tones when cranked up using humbuckers (335 specifically) on the second channel, or a great Motorhead-like tone when you scoop the mids completely (also 2nd channel) & give it a slight boost.

But back to the single-coils; the first channel is great for pedals, in fact its probably the best channel you can find for those people with large, expensive pedal boards (replicates each guitar's sound exactly, plenty of clean headroom, much louder than the 2nd 'overdrive' channel believe it or not) & is just an all around good clean channel for straight jamming.

I generally have my tele set up for Keith Richards tuning (i.e. open G, but instead of just 5 strings I use my heavy 'e' string even lower to produce rock chords on the top 2 strings, very hard-rock/bordering on metal) & on the 2nd channel this is partiularly effective with the gain at around 3:00, the preamp vol at full & the eq full treble, mids at 4.5 & bass at 7.
If you stick a meastro-fuzz clone infront of this you'll get 'Satisfaction' all the way.

This is not a perfect-tone amp however, it is very specifically a bright, dirty-marshall sound & will refuse to be anything else. Very limited if you're a 'tone-searcher' but not if you're an actual guitar-player. In fact, if you're the type of person to spend more time actually playing the guitar than tuning the amp for tone (i.e. like most wankers on the HM forums) then you'll get a lot more enjoyment out of this amp.

For me, my search for an amp stops here.
Its not perfect, but its 'my tone'; very dirty, sometimes unpredictable, but you can get a wide variety of textures out of it (sometimes just by switching from neck to bridge, or even alternate tunings on the guitar, definatrly try a tele with KR's open g style) & it can be a rewarding rock/blues/jazz & even nearly heavy metal amp (though not quite, the limits of this amp lying somewhere between the hard-rock/heavy metal divide, like i said the closest you'll ever get to metal is with humbuckers, turning the beast up to about 12:00 on the master, knocking the mids down on the 2nd channel & playing some motorhead).

The only two pedals i use with this are a turbo rat & a cheap tubescreamer 808 clone.
With humbuckers the tubescreamer is mostly unnecessary on both channels, but with the turbo-rat on channel 1 you can get an amazing replication of the 2nd channel, except much louder (as the first channel is louder) & with a flat-EQ, though you will get more tube-like expression out of the 2nd channel.

The tubescreamer-copy works best with the Telecaster, both on clean & 2nd channel; turn drive up full, tone fairly high (3:00) & level at 12:00 & its all bluesy-grainy crunchy in a dirty & marshally way. The better your Tubescreamer clone, the better it'll sound. The second channel just set it with 12:00 level & cut the rest, a slight boost is all this channel needs (you might be able to do the same thing with a compressor).

For the best sound-bites of this amp, try looking up a band called the 'Street Brats' & their first album Dead End Kids, & thats the straight, stock-sound of the amp, with full mids & high gain.
Its not too bad, very loud, very brash, but very Marshall.
If its marshall tone you're after, marshall tone is all its got (& plenty of it).

When i first got it it haf some power-tube dropping out issues (many have, which is why i tihnk this version is discontinued).

I found a local amp tech, he did some dry-soldering work which cost only ??24, haven't had any troubles since.
No volume dropping out, no funny noises, no excess hum, not even had to replace the tubes that came with it (which i think are not the stock originals as i got this 2nd hand, JJ's if i recall rightly).

If there's any mods you'd want to do with this amp i'd say you'd only need to change the speaker to something more suiting your needs, if there was a way to make it sound more like an Orange that'd be great, as it would have the smoothness of an orange without the darkness, & it already has the playability/tube-responsive dynamics built-in.

~

I really can't be bothered buying & selling equipment like other people looking for 'that' tone, rather spending my time actually playing the guitar & not wasting my money on trivial things.
I have settled for this amp despite its limitations & am quite happy with it; its better than any SS amp you care to mention (so is the perfect 'my first tube amp' for any young player)& it cost just about the same as one aswell.
Its a practice tube-amp (because of the master volume), a gigging amp (because of the 20 watts, though for higher volumes ALL settings need to be re-adjusted, not everything that works in the bedroom/studio will get fully translated in a live situation) & it looks pretty f***en cool too.

Mostly recommended for people who already have a vox ac30/15 or a Fender deluxe reverb (one of those perfect, expensive & versatile amps) but just want to get a marshall to see what all the fuss is about OR, like i mentioed earlier, someone making that big transition form their ss/floor modelling prcessors to their first proper Tuibe amp (& this is a Proper Marshall amp, make no mistake, & at bedroom volumes you can even get feedback if you stick some gain-heavy pedals infront of it).
Its a great 'just rockin out' amp for proper players, not tone-seekers & knob-tweakers.

Versatile if you like Marshall tone, but you can do most anything with it; jazz (channel one, plug straight-in), blues (channel one with TS settings described above, or channel two with slight boost), rock (humbuckers into channel 2 or a turbo-rat into channel 1) & heavy-rock/borderline metal (humbuckers into channel 2, completely cut the mids & give it a slight boost).

If you have expensive gear but no amp, this woukd be the perfect cheap-option for you; replicates guitars & pedals so damn well on the first channel, takes boosts with ease on the 2nd.

Most everyone else covered the features but I would like to add one thing: This amp is simply amazing, with my Les Paul and Fulltone Fulldrive Mosfet pedal, I can sound exactly like anyone I want from the early 90's back to the beginning of good music as we know it 60's & 70's inc.
I did change the speaker to a Celestion Heritage greenback 20 watter and I have to say that speaker is made for this amp...HUGE difference
And put a Jan Phillips in v1 next to the output tubes which made it sound sweeter yet.

Some reviewers have talked about the 20 db gain boost as a problem but here is an idea, turn the gain down or your volume on your guitar. I find that my guitar sounds its best with fairly high gain and guitar volume way low, that way you can have clean crunch and solo right at your fingertip.
This amp by itself sounds very good and I have owned some great amps over the years (Budda sd 18 & sd 30, Soldano hr50+, Victoria, many Marshalls jcm600, 800, slpx reissues, Laney) and many more but this amp has one of the best sounds I have ever heard.
At 20 watts, you can actually turn the master up ( I have mine on 7.5-8 )
I Used to play everything from the 80's (metallica, skid row, dio, acdc, all the cool stoner rock and hard rockin blues) but now i just dabble with that and I am playing some county and older 60's and 70's music. This amp covers more music than any other amp I have owned (with the fulldrive mosfet).
I will describe its available distortion: It can sound like Dio, Ratt the 1st two albums of Metallica, ozzy, dokken, acdc, everything from the 80's, but if you turn the gain down to 1 or 2 and crank the master and channel volume it has a very nice plexi or hiwatt/orange sound and since it is only 20 watts it wont scare everyone away at the club....it is still pretty loud and can easily mess with the neighborhood if I wanted to.
This is just the distortion channel now lets get into the clean side: The clean with my Heritage les Paul is wonderful but a touch bass heavy with humbuckers so I knew right away my Fulldive Mosfet is going to sound great through this clean Marshall.
The clean on its own is very nice with a little bounce kind of Princetonish or a slightly louder/fuller pro jr.
Mushes up past 7 but sounds great all the way to there.
Now the clean with the FT Mosfet is truly amazing, it instantly reminds me of my Budda twinmaster and a badcat i had the priveledge of playing a few hours. Very touch responsive, loud clear and full...
So now basically I can play any music that a Badcat, Fender, Marshall, budda can but I can sound like all those amps at rehearsals and small clubs and to boot, I can carry my amp, pedal & cords and guitar in one hand and open the door with the other hand.

should be fine if you not an idiot.

I have been playing 22 years. Owned way too much to list as my music style keeps changing.
This really is one of the best amps I have ever owned....They didn't make nearly as many of these 201's as the did the 401's and I love the 20 watt version much better anyway so I am keeping mine until someone offers me a huge amount of money.
I would definately buy this amp again if it blows up.
I like the reverb as it is subtle but I wish I could turn it up more like a Fender Reverb
Better buy one of these while you still can The Marshall Studio 15's are selling for 800.00+ and these are way better....

My amp was made in 1999. The model was discontinued years ago. There are two channels, 20 watts, reverb, FX loop, independent EQ's, independent channel volumes, master volume, pre-amp on gain channel. There are a couple of differences between this and the 40 watt dsl401. First, the 40 watt has a high gain swith on channel two. According to what I've read it turns on a transister gain circuit that gives 20decibels of boost in front of the preamp valves. The 201 has this feature running all the time on the gain channel, no switch. Second, the 401 has a second loudspeaker output and can use an 8 ohm cabinet. The 201 has only on speaker jack so you have to unplug the internal 12 inch celestion speaker and it only connects to 16 ohns. Marshall makes one cabinet in 16ohms, the 1960 4x12. That limits versatility. The rest is all tube Marshall (el-84). No presence control on either model.

I play Les pauls and similar guitars. I use this amp for a classic rock and metal sound. I love g-n-r and Metallica. It an authentic Marshall sound, closely mimics Slash's Jubillee sound (which also uses a transistor boost in the gain stage), plenty of extra gain, and cleans up nicely to ac/dc and led zep crunch. It doesn't have enough low end punch to get you a metallica rhythm sound. You really need a Boogie for that. I agree it sounds better as it warms up and the the gain is best around two o'clock with the master on 10. It does sound good at low volume and at only 20 watts it can be driven hard enough for power tube soak at home. It has enough volume cranked to compete with a drummer. Adding a 4x12 makes it as loud as most will ever need in my opinion. It has a line out that can go direct to a board or pa if you are playing the Garden:) By the way, I bought this amp for the dirty channel, what a pleasant surprise the clean channel is! Very warm, not overly bright, never harsh. Decent headroom, clean to about half way. Great all tube crunch for classic rock rhythms when on 10. I find myself playing most of the time on the clean channel volume on 10, master on 3-4 and using the guitar volume for grit. I have never used the clean channel on an amp this much. Good enough to be a one channel amp. I am very pleased.

I bought it used, have changed the preamp tubes myself. No other issues. When I first got it I thought something was wrong with the reverb. Turns out the reverb on these amps are not very good. It works but it doesn't have enough for me. I use a pedal. At higher volume the reverb comes alive more but then I don't need reverb in the mix. There are aftermarket spring reverbs avail for these. It never broke. This is my second Marshall, the other one has always worked as well.

Never had to call them, I generally by used amps and I have a local tech for guitar and amp work. (he did a repair on my Mesa/Boogie)

Overall this amp does exactly what I wanted it for which is Marshall high gain distortion. Sounds like a modded JCM800. I thought $399 was a smoking deal for any all tube Marshall. Mine came with a rip in the grill cloth that kept the price down. This being only twenty watts fits my needs for a lower powered amp. Marshall has only ever made a few low-powered amps. The other amp I use is the boogie I mentioned, a triaxis into a 2:90 simul-class. That is a totally different sound, not better, different. All in all, a very user friendly amp, ie; its low powered but loud enough, excellent clean channel for country to crunch, plenty of extra gain on the boost channel, nothing sounds like a Marshall except the real thing and this amp covers more styles of music than earlier Marshalls can. Excellent amp for the money. Oh, this is a class A/B amp. Many low power amps are class A. That is a smoother spongier sound than I prefer (not very "metal"). Also, class A amps get louder than their ratings suggest, need to be maxed out for high gain sounds and cost a bit more than this amp did. I liked the uni-valve but it was too loud for home and not very british sounding. I still might get one but not to replace my Marshall.

Purchased this amp in 2004. Sounds exellent-BOTH channels. Very versatile amp: Rock, funk, blues espically.
I am in a band with a bassist and an occasional 2nd guitarist. He uses a 100-watt peavy. Yuck! My amp is louder than his and my DSL-201 sounds better of course(the marshall-peavy diffrence).

I play in a classic rock band in my friends basment where the amp sounds fantastic just like allways and never distorts unless i want it too. At high volumes it sounds just as deep as jimi's amps and as bright as any fender ive ever heard.

Very dependable amp. Seems to suck my tubes energy though. i have also blown a power transformer on it once. It seems to hum when the tubes are about to give out...

Ive been playing (seriously) for just over three years now and i do consider myself pretty good and to have a good ear for amps. This amp means alot to me and i would hate to loose it... i do not know if i will ever sell it. This amp has THE BEST clean channel! It is truly an amazing amp.

2 channels, clean and overdrive. Footswitch to change channels. Treble, middle and bass controls for each channel. Gain control on each channel. Reverb.

CRUNCHY overdrive channel and plenty of gain on offer for any style.
The clean channel is trully amazing, I couldn't believe it because I thought Marshall amps were only made for the overdrive but the clean channel is so ballsy and fantastic for bar chords. It's a 20w valve amp so it can be CRANKED to managable volumes and sound CRUNCHTASTIC.

The reverb is faulty, works but makes a buzzing noise when you play loudly either by turning the amp up or hitting the strings hard, I just turn the reverb off. Everything else is fine. All original valves/tubes.

Never tried. Stuff the reverb, I'll get a reverb pedal if I want reverb.

I love this amp. I hate it's reverb. Get this amp if you want to rock. Don't get this amp if you want to rock with reverb. If the reverb worked I would give it an 11.

2 channels, master volume, reverb

i use an 87 mij strat with an emg81 in the bridge position to play old school metal(celtic frost, slayer, d.r.i., s.o.d.). it has more than enough gain in the o.d. channel now that it has jj's highgain preamp tubes. with the stock tubes it had a nice ac/dc sound with the gain on 2, but now it wont do it. these tubes made it into a metal sounding amp which i kind of wanted, though it would be nice to jam some ac/dc sounds too. thats what the stock tubes are for. it could use more bass to get the "chunky muted sound" sound but i hear it is the budget speaker they put in to keep the cost down. it is also a little bright and harsh, but i still like it. i havent really used the clean channel yet, its not my thing. mine came with a broken reverb spring and since i bought it used i cant comment on that. it also fried the bridge rectifier the day i brought it home. then the power tubes took a crap, but its been fine since the retube.

broke the day i bought it, but it was used, and the problem is commen on to these amps and the 401. power tubes shit out after i got it back. its a 1999 modal so they were probably due. i really cant blame that on the amp. not sure if i would trust it completely yet.

i dont know why jim has his name on it. when did he start building amps?

once everything was sorted out i fell back in love with this amp. it does not sound like a dsl 100 or a jmp 50 wich i used to own, but is very nice. it is also loud so dont think your buying a quiet amp cause its only 20 watts. lucky if i can turn it up past 1 with anybody home. sound best turned up. leave the master volume on 10 and use the channel volumes.

The amp was made in England in 1999 and for my Blues and Rock playing, it is very well suited for the small club and pub gig. It is certainly much more than a home practice amp. It has two channels with effects loop, reverb, two gain controls. This is definitely not an amp for an upstart who has purchased one of these babies to make the shift to valve amps.

I use both single coil and humbucker equipped Fender Telecasters and Startocasters. With its wide assortment of tone and overdrive adjustments, it is well suited to my style of play. It is not noisy but I have fitted an auxiliary cooling fan to improve ventilation internally. The distortion is not harsh and is playable throughout the range.

As with any valve amp, more care has to be taken compared to a solid state. Once again, not for an upstart.

Never needed it (touch wood) at this stage. Sufficient repair shops capable of servicing and repairs.

I have been playing for 20 years and use Fender tube amps. This is my first Marshall. I would buy one again anytime. I love evrything about it. It is more flexible for today's modern music compared to a Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue. I suppose, a factory fitted fan would be the only option I would be after.

You know the features, I won't list them all gain here

I use this excusively as a practice amp at home. After reading all of the other reviews, as soon as I got it in the door I replaced all of the tubes withh JJ's and put a Celestion Greenback in replacing the speaker that was in there. Now it sounds pretty damn good, the one thing I noticed about this amp is, that the longer it's on the better it sounds, once it gets real warmed up (should I say hot) it sounds much better. The clean channel is great, it was a pleasant surprise, the overdrive channel needs to be played with to get the sound you're looking for. I use an MXR 10 band eq thru the effects loop and set the amp controls to : master on ten and use the channel volume to control output, I keep the gain at about 1 oclock. this way the distortion isn't as muddy and I get more sutain from the EQ without making it sound muddy. Turn the gain past 1 oclock on this and the distortion gets mushy (Unless you max out both the volume controls on the amp) I play USA Jacksons, San Dimas Charvels and GMW's and let me tell you, I can nail that old 80's brown sound pretty well. Sometimes I actually run this in stereo with a Line 6 Flextone Plus II and they offset each other really well. I give this only an 8 because at low low volumes the distortion is a little mushy, but as you turn it up the distortion gets better. It's also not that versatile but it does what it does pretty well.

so far so good no issues, I've owned it for about a year.

haven't dealt with them and from what I've read, I don't want to.

been playing since the 70's ( I know I'm old) play mostly 80's type metal, Van Halen, Satriani, Vai, Greg Howe, and some Jazz Fusion, lately I've been getting into more real Jazz (Joe Pass etc.) and the clean channel (with the EQ to smooth it out) actually sounds really good.

Made in December 2001. Two channels with bass, mid, treble, early in the gain stages according to manual. Gain controls for both channels.
Output transformer has 8 and 16 ohm lugs, so I'm pushing about 30-35 watts through it. I use every control on the panel, incuding the FX mix knob.

I use a 1965 strat and a 1964 Gibson 335 through it. Very loud at full volume with no rattle, buzz, or screach. Extremely quiet when used with humbuckers. Can produce any sound you want from clean to crunch in clean channel, and fuzz to brutal in channel two. Mine will remain clean all the way to full volume in clean channel. I swapped out the cheesy stock speaker for a Clestion Vinatge 30. Big improvement. Mine gets tons of reverb, well ok maybe not tons but more than enuf. Tubes are Ruby Tubes and Mullards.

Been gigging exactly 3 years now, no problems. It's been dropped several times. Had to replace a tube once. It's always fired up and never once let me down.

Very kind people.

I've been playing 13 years professionally, but all my life off and on. I know there are better amps out there, and I use them once in a while, but I love the tone of this amp, and overall, sounds better than any of the Fender amps I used. I had a Hot Rod Deluxe and sold it after a month, hated that amp. I had Peavey classic, but didn't like that either, so I bought this and couldn't be happier.

I'm breaking a promise here. I promised no more reviews for this amp. Actually, I have to. The amp died again. 3 times in succession. This time it's the power supply and the transformer. I called the music store...I'm getting credit toward a PV XXX 40 watt. I've just had enough fun with this expensive boat anchor. I bought a JSX PV and a XXX 2x12 amp...Did I say GOOD BYE marshall...BANG A GONG1

What sounds? It has none!

Reliability...what the hell is that?? Oh, you mean PV?

They stick their head in the sand and pretend I'm not there.

What a hunk of junk. I wasted all kinds of money changing tubes...shipping...lesson was expensive, but well learned. Hey Korg: Hey Marshall...FYI...FY!