Marshall JCM-2000 DSL 100

Mine was made in 2004, 2 channels each with 2 modes - crunch (which is basically clean and light overdrive) and ultra (OD1 and OD1, the former being the Marshall distortion, and OD2 being it beefed up. effects loop, reverb, channel switching (between channels only not modes) four EL34 power tubes & four 12ax7 (ECC83) preamp tubes. blah blah blah you know the rest. 100 watts, this thing is LOUD.

For me, this amp is perfect. Why do people whine about the shared EQ? the less the better, a purer signal. if you need seperate EQs check out the TSL100 people, thats what its for!!

The band i'm in plays a brand of hard rock / punk, but aside from that i have also delved into funk, blues etc. The channels available give a large array of tones... it really isnt hard to mess around for a while and dial in a tone you can use. Mine is very responsive to my guitars volume control and playing style, ive read others say its not... strange.

Generally for features its got everything i need. 100 watts is great for the clean headroom, this amp gets LOUD. its a beautiful sound when its cranked.

I give it a 9, as i kinda wish it had a 50/100 watt switch... it would be nice to be able to push those tubes at a lower volume. but im not bitching cuz thats what the DSL50 is for :)

footswitch works fine for me, people have complained about a pop when you change chennels. well i removed the reverb tank from mine (seeing as i never use it*, and hearing it when travelling to gigs clanging away in the van/car is VERY annoying. without it the pop disappeared... there is still a SLIGHT delay, but yeah its not noticeable in a live situation.

deep switch = good.
tone shift = bad.

use the tone shift if you like disappearing into the mix. deep adds a nice thump to the sound, without it, it sounds a little bass thin.

also rebiasing the amp is easy thanks to the mini pot system on the back, always check the bias of the amp, when its set it will sound smooth.

Ive used this amp from small venues to massive venues and this thing always has enough power... but lets be honest, most, if not all places mic you up anyway, so its hardly an issue.

I'll summarise each channel and mode.

Crunch - clean sound - the clean sound on this amp for me was a pleasant suprise. can go from very clean to a lovely breakup clean, to a very mild overdrive if pushed, works perfectly and hasnt been an issue with the shared EQ. Its a nice clean thats perfectly useable.

Crunch - crunch sound - this is the same as clean, but with some balls. This is a lovely mode, really reactive to your playing style, and sounds beautiful cranked. Sounds a little similar to a JMP head i used to own, but easier to manipulate.

Ultra - OD1 - this is THE distortion sound for me. goes anywhere from classic rock to hard rock, and suits my style perfectly, especially when cranked. Very easy to dial a tone, when its cranked its crushing, but can still drop to a decent overdrive if i drop the volume control. Very Marshall tone, i love it.

Ultra - OD2 - now i tried this mode out and tried hard to like it. its like OD1 but far more gainy, and just seems to induce feedback... not the best sound, and the least "Marshall" sounding of all the tones on this amp. Perhaps one for the metallers amongst us.

All in all, suits my style perfectly, but sounds good the higher the volume is set. can sound a little thin at lower volumes... hey this amp is meant to be played LOUD.

Ive been using it regularly (as my only amp) for every gig and practice for the last 3 years. that means being transported to and from gigs, moved around and knocked about with other gear, bumped into things, blah blah you get the idea. Its NEVER (touch wood) broken down on me. ive used Marshalls before, and this one has been the most reliable. Way more reliable than my JMP ever was, although being a tube amp, remember tube life is random, its either working or its not.

i hate gigging without a backup, but when ive got more money, im going to buy a DSL50 as a backup (and to use at small venues, to get those tubes going). Its also wearing well, the tolex is ripped in a few places, but its wearing a lot better than my 1960 cab.

ive rang and emailed Marshall on countless occasions, over the years ive been using their amps. Their staff are always helpful, always ring back if they say they will, and always reply to emails. They sent me a bunch of information packs i asked for as well for free, and are always polite and nice to talk to.

I met Jim Marshall... ok so he has nothing to do with customer support, but hes a top bloke.

Ive been playing guitar seriously for over over 7 years now, i forget when i started properly. I always had a guitar before that, just never got to learning it properly. I also play the drums, piano, and sing, singing and guitar being my duties in the band im in.

My other gear - i use a couple of Fender Strats, through a Boss TU-2 chromatic stage tuner, into the amp, which is running a single Marshall 1960B 4x12 (although i have used a pair of cabs, an A and B at various gigs). That cab is showing its years of being gigged, tolex torn off, replaced the grill cloth once already... love it. Yup simple, quick to set up, and the amp gives me all the tones i need.

Both my Strats are modified with Sperzel locking tuners, Seymour Duncan JB humbuckers in the bridge, and graphtech nuts and saddles. I always mod the guitars this way, i know i can trust them to be played hard at gigs and be reliable.

I own a number of other guitars, mainly Strats and variants of that, although i have owned Les Pauls before as well (never got on with them... im a Strat man).

If it were stolen? wouldnt be hard to identify it. its got my bands logo sprayed all over it, stickers, and UV markings on it to identify it as mine. The bastard that stole it would end up lacking kneecaps as well.

What do i love? the simplicity, the realiability, the tone, the sheer power of it. The image onstage is great as well... What do i hate? nothing!

Before i bought it i directly A/B'd it with both a TSL100 and a TSL60, in a soundproofed room. The TSL60 appealed to me initially due to its lower power (more scope for pushing the tubes) but the yellow (light overdrive) sounded too weak to my ears, and therefore rendered it pretty much pointless.

The TSL100 i was originally going to buy, thinking features = great. The tone of the thing just isnt the same to the DSL... it may have a million features but it just doesnt have the raw sound of the DSL. People needing that 3rd channel, or the fancy doo dahs things should get one. Those needing tone, get the DSL.

Have previously owned a 70s Marshall JMP 50 watt head, which had a beautiful tone, but also a nasty habit of breaking down at inoppurtune times, as well as random volume cuts and other noises... in the end i had to sell it. Previous to that i owned a load of other Marshalls, valvestates (including the AVT50 head), and other amps i forget.

This has, and will be my main amp for a long time yet. Pure tone, power and simplicity yet vast range of tones available.

Check out my band... the amp can be seen in a lot of the pics, and heard in the live recordings (wasnt used for our album, although i wish it had been...)

www.myspace.com/dysfunctionalonline.

thanks for reading.

100w Marshall head, 2 channels, fx loop, reverb. Please read other reviews for more details.

The amp sounds really good. It has more gain than I could ever use, I never needed to set my gain past 6 and I'm not exactly a classic rocker. Clean channel sounds really good too, the shared eq is fine with me since I was able to find a setting I like for both channels. There is a little too much bottom end on the clean channel but I can work around it. Reverb sounds great, by far the best sounding reverb I've ever heard on a Marshall. The loop does its job well too.

Most tube amps will need a backup for gigs because you never know when a tube will fail. But that has nothing to do with the quality of this amp, every tube amp is the same when it comes to that. I just take a POD for a backup though. I never needed to use it

no opinion

Ive been playing for 25 years. I started with Marshalls (jcm800s) then went throuh every amp you can possibly imagine (Fender, Laney, Mesa, Peavey. Soldano etc..) and ended up realizing that all I really need is a good Marshall. I wish I knew that 15 years and 10,000 dollars ago but hey that's life. This Marshall gets extra points for having a real decent clean channel and reverb. That was always the weak point of the brand. The distortion tone is just pure rock n roll.. it really does get that Marshall crunch..
I play a Gibson Les Paul DC as my main guitar and I have other guitars (strats, PRS etc) and at the end of the day the Gibson/Marshall combination really owns them all. I dont use a lot of effects, just a delay and a clean bost for my solos to stand out. I play in a modern hard rock band and I also play some instrumental rock like Eric Johnson, Satch etc. The amp covers all the styles with ease. Not to say it will get a hundred of different tones, it won't, it will always sound like a Marshall no mater what you do.
But the couple tones it does get really work for any rock or blues-based style. Marshall tone is the foundation of rock guitar tone, period. All you need is to learn how to work work your gain knob and your guitar volume knob and you can go from the 50's to the 00's in a nanosecond. You can't go wrong with this amp.

2004' simple design and easy to use. basic features to get the job done.only 10 knobs to worry about. A+ ! less is more IMO. i never use fx loops or line outs. i need clean and dirty and my stomp boxes. i play hard rock with a gibson LP standard.this amp fits the bill for rock music. can be used for small and large venues. ive done it.

awsome! dont believe the bad reviews. a lot of folks here are never happy with their tone no matter what amp it is. some need to see an ear doctor. nothings perfect anyway. shared eq is fine with me. sounds great on both channels all modes. learn to dial in your sound people. dont worry about what number the dial is set on, just as long as it sounds good. one guy said there is no bottom end. he's nuts ! plenty of bottom on both channels. look, this is a simple kick ass rock n roll amp seen on pro stages everywhere.yes, some are modded but this is a good foundation to build your tone on.

2 years same tubes. so far so good

marshalls have been good to me. never a problem unlike fender amps in my experiences.

20 years of gigging in bands and solo work. been through a lot of stuff. this amp is the amp to end all other amps in tone, simplicity, reliability. this is just my opinion and im sure my band mates will agree. they love all my amps. i always have a great sound. how ? Marshall amps,1960A & B, Boss pedals, Gibson les paul standard. that my friend is what i use and im happy with the tone that i hear.

I believe this amp is a 2004 made model. I purchased it in Apr. 2005. Right away I used it for a live Gospel recording. That tells you the versatility it has. I also play Fusion Jazz and rock styles. As mine is the 100watt DSL it has all the power I need and features I like. I've wanted a real Marshall for a long time (I once owned a vs100). I like the way the amp looks.

The sound is good.Of course it sounds better the longer it's played when the tubes get really warm. There was one instance where the gain got away from me and got a bit noisy, but I count that as my bad. I've noticed that with the right settings for the guitar used I don't need any overdrive or distortion pedals. Plus it's cool to come straight from the amp or a wah pedal, but still get amazing sound variations. I use a strat most of the time, but can tell this amp would sound great with a humbucking guitar. I have an old les paul copy my mother gave me back in 1980 and I've installed 85, 81 emg pickups in it. I will also be picking up a custom Gibson les paul soon. With the strat I enjoy using the Pickup Booster pedal made by seymour Duncan. It helps thicken the tone of the guitar to keep up the amp.

So far so good. Because this amp is still relatively new I can rely on it right now and in most situations I'm doing currently I don't use a backup (which is not a great idea).

I've never dealt with the company.

I've playing over 20 years and I am pleased with this amp for the most part. I just feel so blessed to be able to have a Marshall amp of this class. I play through a Fender Twin alot and use a polytone for the straightup Jazz stuff although I have actually played a hollowbody through my DSL100. One important thing people must realize is knowing what the amp does and what your needs are. I don't think it's right for people to complain that one amp doesn't get a Twin, Boogie, Carvin, and Marshall sound all in one. That's not going to happen too often. Sure there things that I know my Marshall don't do all that well, yet for what it does do it does it better than anything else on the planet. It does what I want it to and expect it to. In my opinion there should really never be a totally bad review on an amp (unless it's cheaply made). When reading a negative review I usually think that person simpy purchase the wrong amp for what he or she is trying to do. The JCM2000 DSL100 is a good amp. It's a MARSHALL.

This is a 2003 JCM 2000 DSL100. 2 channel head with 2 modes per channel, effects loop, single 'master' EQ and seperate reverb controls for each channel. Effects loop has a switch in the back for level, and amp has seperate 16ohm and switchable 4/8ohm outputs. Head also features a 'deep' switch to add a punchier bass sound without too much muddiness and a 'tone shift' switch to cut the mids for a more modern or even 'american' amp sound than what Marshall is usually known for.

Would be nice if there was channel switching with mode select for each channel via footswitch. you can only access 2 sounds at a time when there are actually 4 available. that means you can have either clean or crunch *the clean is also a little crunchy unless you drop the pre gain down very low* switchable with either lead1 or lead2.

the deep switch does a nice job of keeping the bottom end punchy without muddy'ing up your low notes. the tone shift button is terrible. it cuts the mids completely and leave you lost in the mix. might work if you think of yourself as a nu metal guy, i dunno. every nu metal show i've ever gone to has undefined guitars that have high end sizzle and low end thump but no distinct frequencies in between. not my thing.

i have gigged with a DSL100 in the past. plenty of power... the extra 'L' is for loud after all.

i use this amp with Les Pauls, SG's, RG's or any other humbucker equipped guitar. i have an array of pickup combinations... too many to list here.

it sounds ok. its very versitile going from respectfully clean to nice AC/DC crunch (channel 1) and beyond to Megadeath and other heavy metal tones (channel 2). responds decently well to picking dynamics for a 'modern' amp.

clean channel is always distored slightly, crunch is similar to a JCM 800 *when the gain is cranked* but lacking in that full range feel of the 800. crunch and lead channels do not clean up when the volume is rolled down on the guitar.

distortion is very classic marshall sounding, but can be tweaked by changing preamp tubes. EQ is very sensitive in the mid range, and the top end can hurt you its so bright on the second channel.

first channel is unusually dark and bass heavy while the second channel tends to be more bright. the deep switch helps keep that thick palm muted sound on the second channel which is good for rehearsals or situations where you aren't mic'ed and eq'ed elsewhere.

compared to many others that i've owned or still own *mesa, traynor, peavey, other marshalls, line6 ect...* it stands up on its own as a versitile workhorse of a stage amp. i can't even compare it to my favorite JCM 800... the 800 blows it out of the water, but for a modern amp made of stacked pcb's and microchips, it doesn't sound half bad.

when i got it, it had a blown output tranny. apparently its pretty common in these amps because they run pretty hot.

Marshall recommends you set the bias voltage to 90mv per side. that seems a little high to me, and will definitely lessen tube life. 80-85 seems more reasonable to me.

whenever we gig, we bring enough gear that there is never more than a 5 minute delay if something fails. its tough to act like a professional band these days, since most clubs wont pay you professional money, but if you gig without a backup you might as well leave your car running in the parking lot too, cuz you will be going home early.

reliablitiy has yet to be proven to me. its a tube amp, with wearable parts *ie. TUBES* so i wouldn't bet my life on it.

i've emailed Marshall about dating an old plexi i have. they were very quick to reply and very polite in their email.

i have an amp tech who is a genius and he solves all my problems for me almost immediately, provided i show up with beer. so 10 out of 10 for my own tech, no comment on Marshall support.

been playing for 20 years, hard rock/classic rock/metal.
i have a ton of gear, and i've owned a ton of gear.

if this amp were stolen, i'd probably buy something else. for a new one of these its $1799 CAD. thats a little crazy. if i found a reasonable priced used one, i'd pick it up.

i read a lot of reviews of people saying the amp 'sucks for metal' ect. they couldn't be more wrong. years of experience live and in the studio has taught me that your favorite metal bands and guitar heroes do NOT use as much gain or distortion as you think they do. that heavy balls out thumping sound you hear on the record is a product of a classic tube amp turned up really loud, some compression, SKILL and 'studio magic'.

people who cut the mids, boost the bass and high and expect to sound like their heroes in a live situation will be sorely disapointed. do yourself a favor and avoid the 'lead 2' and tone shift switches, even keep the deep switch off and get yourself a good sound man. a guitar is a mid range instrument. your PA or soundtech will do the rest.

also the single EQ for both channels is actually a good thing. too many people complain about that, but they dont realize that the more stuff you add to a circuit, the more you change the tone of the amp. that is why simple 1 channel amps are all that get used in the studio 98.9% of the time. i'm willing to bet those who complain about a lack of features spend more time trying to find 'the sound' than they do actually practicing the guitar.

Two channel. With two modes each.
Clean is a Marshall clean. I have a twin reverb. I know what is a clean tone.
But, the clean is good for rock.
If you think that only a channel is enought, this amp has 4 (two modes for two channels).

The best sound quality in an amp, for the last 20 years.
I play rock, heavy, hard rock, pop...
The channel A in crunch mode is the best overdrive sound. Please, volume 4 or higher. Gain 5-7.

For solos channel B mode 1. The second mode of the channel B is as the mode 1 but with more gain. I prefer to use a tube screamer o a booster if i need more sustain. Seymour Duncan booster is exceptional for this amp.

The eq in the channel 2 is different. More mids (mids-high), and less balls. If you put 2 points more of bass, and 2 less in mids, sounds like the channel A. (more or less).

I use:
Gain 5 for both channels.
Volume 4-5.
I use two heads.
EQ: 5 presence, 5 high, 8 mids, 8 bass.

Screams.

Sustain for days. With the booster, more.

You must see the bias, and check it.
Biasing is very easy in this amp, if you know what you are doing. High voltaje, risk..
90 mvolts. The amp has 3 pins in the back. Near to the power tubes. It is very easy. It is your risk, but it is easy.

MARSHALL SERVICE BULLETIN

SUBJECT: Bias Info/Procedure for JCM2000 series Marshall amplifiers

THEORY OF OPERATION: We are setting the bias using the current method instead of cross over distortion method. The Bias PCB assembly is as follows:
PR1: Bias mini-pot adjustment for pin1 which is one side of the push pull amp (two output tubes in a 100watt amp and one output tube in a
50watt amp). Pin1: Connected to the cathode of the output tube(s) which then goes through a 1 ohm resistor then to ground. Pin2: ground reference.
Pin3: Same as pin1 but for the other side of the push/pull amp. PR2: Bias mini-pot adjustment for pin3, the other side of the push/pull amp.


Procedure:
1. Make sure the amp is connected to a load with the proper impedance selected.
2. Power up amp on Standby, and let the circuit stabilize for a couple of minutes.
3. Locate the male three pin molex connector (CON2) with the two mini pots (PR1 and PR2)
(located on each side of the molex connector) on both ends found at the bottom of tube bay.
4. Connect DMM (set to read mV) with alligator leads, reference common lead to center pin (pin2) on molex connector CON2 and positive lead to pin1 on CON2.
5. Take amp off Standby with no signal, adjust mini-pot (PR1) closest to pin that the positive lead from your DMM is connected to and set it to mV voltage that is listed below.
6. Repeat steps 4 & 5 for pin3 mV and until pin1 & pin3 mV readings are the same.

Bias Settings:
DSL50 45 mV
DSL100 90 mV
TSL100/122 90mV
TSL 601&602 80 mV
DSL 401 1.375V
DSL201 .675V

I have JCM900 cabinets. 300 watts. If you use a cabinet with less than 300 w. you will have broken speaker, sure!!! This amp sounds loud.

The Amp Has a clean channel and 2 distortions but it is not foot switchable you can only switch from 1 distortion to clean. It is a little confusing

The Sound Quality is great! The amp is loud and the distortion is heavy. I play with a Les Paul that i customized by putting in seymour duncan pickups so when i play with that guitar the sound is a little better.

My amp has never broken down it is a tube amp and when you take it off make sure you wait for the sound to end then put it on standby. If you dont do that the tubes will fill up with gas.

Never needed to get it repaired and i dont need to talk to marshall

If it was lost i would buy a JCM 800

It's a very basic 100 watt tube amplifier. I only have two complaints about the design of the amp. First is the shared eq sucks. Second, the effects loop should be footswitchable. There is no footswitch jack for this function. Who wants footswitchable reverb? If these two things were changed I would love this amp even more. I find that the Overdrive 2 switch on the Lead channel is pretty useless as the distortion triples in strength but loses harmonic richness and it sounds awfully compressed . I have found the secret to this amp. Throw a Ibanez TS 808 or an Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer in front of the amp on the Classic Gain on the Clean Channel. Sounds ridiculous huge. That's how the lead channel should sound. The only thing is this severely restricts my amps "on the fly" versatility as there is NO FOOTSWITCHABLE EFFECTS LOOP! so to go clean from gain I'd have to hit the footswitch and roll the volume knob on the axe back a bit.

I mainly play a Hamer Standard with EMG 81 in the bridge and an EMG 85 in the neck. Ibanez Tube Screamer pedal in front to boost the classic gain channel. This makes it sound like the best boosted JCM 800 you've ever heard. This is my full on sound. As for a high gain amp it has a really good clean channel and even is able to get that broken up blues sound, especially if you play a strat through it. Very versatile indeed. Better versatility than most other modern high gain amps because the tones are actually usable unlike say a 5150's garbage clean tone or a Dual Rectifier's complete inability to cover any middle ground. Here's another secret too. 100 WATT 4 OHM MUTHERFUCKIN CABINETS. You got to push those speakers to get fat tone. People wonder why they can't get good tone when there pushing their speaker load like 30% or something. You have to monkey with it a bit to get tone but if you put in good power tubes (Tesla JJ's,good preamp tubes (JJ 12ax7 or Winged C ECC83) and a decent guitar (i have found that big pieces of mahogany sound the best with this amp, sorry, no Jackson dinky reverses or schecters here) you should be able to get good tone too. Also practice helps.

The power transformer blew up after I got it used from someone. I figured they were probably ignorant of Ohm impedance rules. But I got this marshall in a straight swap for a Fender 75 head so i figured what the hell, I'll fork over the cash and get a new transformer. They are hard to find though. I would tour with a back up for sure. But then no matter what amp I had I would do this. I also had to replace a tube socket screen filter.. So not the most reliable. But I've taken it to a really good tech and he replaced some of the stock electronics and have had no problems since.

I wouldn't even call Marshall anyways.....

It's a good solid amp. Nothing too flashy. Not too complicated and it's pretty plug and play. Some small features changes would be nice. If it was stolen I'd probably get something else like a Mesa Mark IIC+ or a Mark IV or a JMP MK II or a Peavey 6550+ or a Wizard 200 watt head!!! Just surround it with good gear and it'll sound great....

Right features,maybe too many options.

Set bias 90mA per side ( it's VERY simple operation with its external trim pots and test points ).CLASSIC GAIN : mode CRUNCH; gain pot at 3-4; if it's possible open Master Volume. Great plexi sound ! ULTRA CHANNEL : mode LEAD 1; open Master Volume and gain at 5. Great JCM800 sound ! TONE SHIFT : off. BASS : 10 MIDDLE : 10 TREBLE 0 PRESENCE 5 DEEP : on. If you need more, get a optional clean overdrive for both channels and you'll have available 4 channels !

Never problems. Never brought to assistance center ( through 3 years )

I don't know

It's a mix about Plexi, JCM800 and JCM 900 too. The charge is not too much. Try it with options I explained before and just let me know !

2005, 2 channels, with 2 different voicings. They share the same EQ. Which is limiting, but less features = More tone.

I have previously gigged TSL60's and TSL100's for the last 5/6 years. But I've always been knocked out with the DSL's tone. It is better than the TSL in my opinion. Having less circutry makes it somehow more soulful.

Compared to a lot of other amps it does seem basic, but to be frank. I'd rather have 2 really good sounds than 20 mediocre ones.

I play in a hybrid Shoegaze/Alternative Rock band. We get the dreampop crowd, but elements of our music appeal to metalheads etc.

I only use a Delay and a wah and a Sansamp Tri AC for solo tones and extra Fuzz. But tonally I love the cleans of this amp and I also love the Classic Marshall crunch of this amp.

I play a Fender Ritchie Kotzen Tele, Yamaha SG1300t and a Gibson Les Paul Classic.

I think the thing is. You either love the Marshall sound or you don't. Theres plenty of twats on here who are going on about transformers and Valves and Mods etc. They are usually American and mad. You never see a bad review from a European user. But the Americans want you to buy there amps so I would take all the negative comments with a healthy pinch of salt. It's just economic dominance!

This is quite new to me but I've gigged Marshalls for my entire playing career and have yet to encounter any problems. People slag off the JCM2000. But I've never had one go down on me. Unlike my ealy 70's Artiste and Jubilee 25/50 combo's both of which had transformers die.

I've dealt with them before and they've been fine.

23 years, I own a Kotzen Tele/ Yamaha SG1300t/ Gibson Les Paul Classic.

If it were Stolen I'd buy another

I like its robustness