Marshall JCM-2000 DSL 401

Mine was made in 2004, i play rock on it but its got enough balls to pail preist on it
Clean, OD1, OD2 channels, channel switch with footswitch, FX loop, cab output, speaker output, reverb
40W Valve

Nice little combo enough meat for large halls really if you mic this thing up nicely itll do anything up to wembley... wont sound meaty past a large hall tho...
Use it at home bt its a bit loud b4 it starts to sound good and 4 gigs

Using Ibanez 2550 with JB and Paf pro, and a RG 270 with Dimarzio IBZs i nicked from the 2550, they are dual humbuckers.

Play Guns stuff on it and some queen, offpsring it pretty much nails the offspring and tie your mother down by queen, would be great for guns but i dont have a LP with alnico 2 pros!!! gets verrry close to the tone with the 2550 tho.. you could be mine sounds good.
Set the gain on the OD2 to 6, and eqs to the same... treble boosted to about 9 and its amazing.Can be noisy at low volumes but... it blows you away with the master at 10, you can solo forever such a great marshall tone.

Only probs is if you have the channel volume up, and master down you get probs with diference in gain in all channels, eg OD2 changing to OD1 will sound very simmilar and the clean channel starts to break up after gain of bout 4, to solve this rock with 40W of raw power and the master at 10

Uh ive only had it a couple a days, but my mate has one and his is going strong for over a year now, its got tubes so... they are unreliable but only if you dont care of them

Havent dealt with them but got a 3 year warranty so im quite happy

Been playing over 5 years, had a zoom 606 thru a 20watt tranny amp!! needed something with more balls really and 4 gigs. Ive played thru marshall cabs with rack units and various other combos at the same prive this kicks everythings ass, except a vox ac30...
If it was stolen id find the bastard who knicked it and take it back from him! If not id save up 400 pounds 4 a new one
I wish the master went to 11!!

Might fire in some KT88s for the clean channel, cos slash did.

2001 JCM2000 DSL401. 40 watt combo, 1x12 celestions peaker, 3 chanels, yadda yadda yadda -- if you're at all intersted in buying one you know this already i'm sure.
The 40w size is ideal for a semi-pro musician like myself who plays medium to large rooms and clubs. Not only is 100w complete overkill for such a room, but you could never turn up past 3 or 4 with something that large and let's face it: if you know anything about marshalls you know they don't really start to open up and sing and really cook until about 6 or 7. Great, very economical little amp.

I play a few guitars for gigging including a custom built P-90 les paul, a cusotm humbucker les paul, a G&L ASAT Classic Custom, and an all-original '71 Gibson SG Deluxe. I'm a tone nut so I generally don't use too many effects at all - maybe a pickup booster with the ASAT and maybe a delay in the effects loop, but that's it. I play this marshall without the internal speaker and into a 2x12 extension cab with celestion greenbacks in it and play it in an A/B rig with a fender deluxe reverb for cleans -- great setup - does everything i need and then some.
The thing i love about this amp is you can crank it and get it to really sing without blowing out the windows or your ears, for that matter. Not only is it 40w compared to its 100w DSL brother, but it packs a quintet of EL84's as opposed to EL34's -- Difference? The EL84's break up and heat up easier than the 34's making the amp start to sound great and cook at around 5 instead of 6 or 7 like on the others. Unless you own a hotplate or a power brake, this is the best club marshall you could buy; it'll suit your needs volume-wise, nothing more, and surely nothing less as long as you're not playing stadiums.
Nice tone -- truly nice tone. I use the clean channel mainly, turning the gain up to around 8 -- its thickens up nice and is great for crunchy gritty rock - I usually set the gain to 8, trebel to 6, mids to 7, bass to 5.
The lead channel I set the knobs as follows: Volume and gain: 6, Bass: 4, Mids and Trebel: 7.
The second lead channel is just a big boost, so no settings can be changed for it - it just goes off of what you set for the first lead channel.
The reverb is good -- very good -- obviously its not gonna beat out a fender reverb tank, but its admirable - nice spring reverb sound
If you put the master volume on 5 or above you'll see how this amp really performs - below 5 it just sounds 2-dimensional and doesn't have much character, as all class A/B tube amps do - no surprise there. This little package SINGS with quite enough horsepower for any club musician and then some - trust me there.

I ran into one mishap with mine after a month or two of ownership, but not with the amplifier itself. One of the stock tubes proved faulty the verdict was from the amp tech, which in effect caused a resisitor to blow in the amp, but the fuse blew before any other damage could be done, thankfully. The amp itself is fine - i just got caught with one of those one in a million faulty tubes that gets passed through insepection i guess -- lucky me...
Would i play this amp at a gig without a backup? I never play any gig without a backup, so no, but thats the case with any tube amp. I've always got my deluxe reverb with me and i carry an OD pedal just in case somehting happens so i can have my basses covered.

I looked on the website for service centers, found one near me, went to drop the amp off (brought the originaly reciept with me of course) an they took care of it. Got a call a few days later when they got to it, discussed the repair with me, told me exactly what went wrong and how, fixed it, and i got it back under warranty without having to pay another cent.
They were nice, helpful, and efficient.

I've been playing for about 6 years now - i've gotten really into it - i build my own guitars now, am quite frankly a tone nut, and am really just strait up a music guitar geek i guess -- when you find yourself involved in an hour+ conversation about the difference in tone between orange drop, ceramic disc, and paper in oil capacitors, you'll know -- i've been there many times - this has ben a great combo amp to work with - very portable, very useful, and sounds great - $899 isn't exactly cheap, but its oen hell of a bang for your buck - and i still say the reason why this baby shines for me is because you can keep the volume at a reasonable level and have the amp screaming and cooking and really opening up for you at the same time. You think you're gonna buy a 100watt or even 50watt plexi and play clubs? You're kidding yourself. Even a 100watt DSL? No way -- Hey - i'm a musician too - the bigger it is the higher the wattage we all tend to think right off the bat that its that much cooler - well, not if you can't use it and turn it up above mouse-fart volume. Thi amp is plenty for clubs, and soemtimes i'm pressed to not even bein able to turn it above 5 or 5 1/2 wihtout getting too loud. Hey - if you're playing a huge room and need some extra coverage and volume too, heck just throw a mic on the speaker and send it through the PA -- its plenty for everything you'd ever want for a the working musician -- feel free to contact me with any questions - i'd be more than happy to respond.

Purchased in 2002. Great gigging tool. Hit the footswitch for Clean, Edge Distortion and Lead Distortion. No fuss. Ample power and it won't break your back or your pocketbook.

Sounds great with single coils and sings with humbuckers. You can tell at very low volume you're not driving the tubes. But as you do it sounds great. You don't need to wake up the neighbors either. Classic Marshall tone.

Gigging it regularly for three years with no problems. Because of the info I've read here I bought a small battery clip fan to keep the air moving in the back. Not sure if it's been necessay.

Warranty is 5 years. I bought in a store who is an authorized Marshall warranty repair shop.

Playing 25 years. Own several strats and gibsons. It is the best sound for the dollar, portable and easy to use. Can stand up to drums but in most venues you mic now anyway. Would buy it again.

This 40Watt amp has three channels, well two really the drive channel has a 20dB boost giving the third channel. I only use the clean and drive with the 20dB boost. Each channel has its own three band Eq, the clean channel has a drive, and the lead channel drive and volume. There is also a master reverb and volume. There is also a parallel Fx Loop. A footswitch is provided for channel switching. I have the three classic guitars Tele/Strat/LP. OK now some comments, first of all I wish there was a volume control on both channels to help balancing the levels. The amp sounds lovely on both channels with my single coil guitars but the humbuckers on the LP sound dull on the clean channel. Maybe a bright switch is needed? Loudness wise its great for recording and home use but can struggle a little bit in a band situation. I bought an Ibanez TS pedal which compliments the amp very well and gives me that extra bit of power I sometimes need to make myself heard against the other guitarist.

Single Coils sound great on both channels. The Les Paul Humbuckers sound dull through the clean channel. You can get most sounds out of the amp apart from very high gain nu-metal stuff.

the amp seems reliable, however Marshall did a mod on the amp (under warranty) to correct what seems a general fault with some of the earlier DSL 401 amps whereby the generate quite a bit of heat. Since the mod, the amp works fine.

Excellent, 3 year warranty. Being UK based factory is just down the road and as mentioned they fixed the overheat problem very quickly.

I have been playing 10 years, this is the only amp I own, but I have had Line 6 and Fender gear before. I think the tones for my single coils are excellent and for the price with the 3 year warranty this amp is good value for money. Sure there are better sounding amps out there, but most of them are conisderably more expensive.

I bought this amp in 1999. It has a clean channel, and overdrive1 channel and an overdrive2 channel. As for FX loops etc., I never use them anyway. I used the reverb for a while, but then the reverb knob got a short (?) in it and the thing was stuck in full-blown reverb mode. Very annoying; I took it to the shop, and apparently the technician just disconnected the reverb (?). I don't need reverb much anyway: I can get a better sound using my echoplex. I mainly use the OD1 channel and the clean channel. The OD2 channel is a little too gainy sounding for the classic rock that I play, but I suppose it is useful for more modern metal sounds. The amp is plenty loud enough. I took it out to a friend's farm and cranked it up just past the halfway mark and it about deafened me.

I am at present, using a 1960 reissue Gibson Les Paul with the stock humbuckers. Playing through the OD1 channel, with the gain kept low in comparison to the volume, and tweaking the volume and tone knobs on the guitar itself, I can attain Jimmy Page's sound almost to the T.
The same goes for Hendrix, Zappa, Nugent, etc.: with a little tweaking of the gain, volume and tone controls almost any rock guitar sound can be attained. I am very pleased with the sound I can get out of this amplifier.

The amplifier is not noisy under most conditions, however from time to time I can hear a hum coming through that goes away when I touch the strings with my fret hand. I haven't figured out what is causing this (a neighbor with a blow dryer or a mixer perhaps ???)

The amp can go everywhere from clean to super-saturated distortion, but the whole while it still maintains that Marshall tone. I read another review that stated that the amp can only produce one sound. If you like Marshall you will like that sound. In my opinion, Marshall amps sound 1000x better than any Peavy, Mesa Boogie, or any of thos new-fangled boutique amps. But I am an old-timer, so please take that into consideration.

The clean channel does distort at high volumes by turning up the gain on the clean channel.

The distortion on the OD2 channel is utterly brutal. For my musical tastes, it is unusable, but I am sure there are those out there that play the newer styles of music that may find it useful.

Now for the bad news. No, I cannot depend on this amplifier; at least not anymore. I bought the thing in 1999, and I played through it on average about 20-30 hours per week. No problems with it for the first three years, so it was reliable to that point.

Then one day I was playing and the amp just died. I took it to the shop and I never did find out exactly what the problem was. I know it wasn't a fuse because I checked them, but the repair bill was only $30 so I didn't make a deal out of it. Shortly thereafter, the reverb got stuck in the full-blown position, as I mentioned earlier. Within a month I blew the tubes (this can be expected considering the heavy use I suppose), so I had it retubed. Now the thing is popping fuses when I crank the volume up, so it is back in the shop. I believe I paid around $720 for the amp when it was new. I already have spent an additional $300 in repairs and tubes, and the thing is in the shop right now. I love the sound of this amp, but in the past year or so, it has been in the shop three or four times. Not cool!

I never dealt with Marshall. All of my repairs have been done by an amp tech in a local music store.

I have been playing off and on for about 25 years, but heavily for about the past 7 years (due to finally being able to afford decent gear). I own the Gibson Les Paul 1960 reissue, an Epiphone Les Paul, a Fender Stratocaster, two Fender Champ 12's, the Marshall DSL401, a 1974 Marshall JMP SuperLead 100W head, a 1993 Marshall SLP1959 reissue 100W head, and 1960A cabinet. Effects I use occasionally: Vox wah, Echoplex, SmallStone phase, MXR phase, Fuzz-Face(reissue).

If this amp were stolen or lost, I would probably want another one due to the portability of the thing. It is fairly easy to carry around and it does have a hell of a good tone. It can also be played at fairly low volumes and still get a decent sound. I just hate the fact that the amp keeps breaking down on me here lately.

I did compare it to a Mesa-Boogie combo. The Mesa sounded somehow phony and sterile, almost like a solid-state amp would sound, and the overdrive was muddy sounding. But again, I just prefer Marshall sounds because I prefer to play rock music, and I love the live sound.

I wish this amplifier was built like my Marshall 100W heads. They are built like tanks: I have had zero problems with those other than an occasional fuse needing to be replaced.

I would like to say this: If I by another one of these, I would not pay more than $400-$500 dollars for it. I do not feel that the amplifier is worth the $720 I paid for it, and it DAMN sure isn't worth any $1000!!! If someone is going to spend that much money, go ahead and buy a 50 watt head and a 2X12 cabinet or something. One has to consider that the DSL401 is a relatively new amp, and so it is built with cheapo parts.

This is an update on the limited edition review. You already know the features. However build quality is an issue. The amp is made from a pressboard wood fibre like substance that makes it heavier than it needs to be and weaker too.If a korean manufacturer did that we'd jump all over them. Why is it OK for Marshall? It is not.

I use teles and a les paul studio. There is no real clean channel. You set it clean and wait for the tone. What you get is the sonic equivalent of somebody singing with mothballs in their mouth. It is not there. After a few months you just give up. The reverb is also non existant. It is the weakest I have ever heard. I used to owne a JCM800 2205 that had great reverb. How does a company forget how to do things that they were once good at?
The distortion channels are the only redeeming features. But heck for what you boys paid for this piece of cra., you might just want to plug a tubescreamer into the house PA. at least you'd get more than one sound and it would set you back $50.00 I see it like this, you need clean, you can always add gain. Kinda like the Canadian saying, " beer if food - but food is not beer". Figure that out. Back to the amp. It is a statement of arrogance from a manufacturer who has not kept pace. It is a neighborhood bully with a short guy complex who promises if you don't like his sound then his big brothers will be around to see you.

Don't use it live. Can't get more than one sound out of it. Not a players amplifier. one for the bedroom heroes. Rock on yeah, one for the headphone jack crowd.

Who cares? This amp is in the same league as a solid state traynor I bought in the 80's. Forgettable.

35 years. Use good tube amps under $1000.00 to gig with . This is not one.

Probably made in 2003. Clean, crunch and even more crunch channel. Some said 2.5 channels. Lacks headphone jack though. However, versatile enough for most people. 4 pre ECC83 or 12AX7 and 4 power EL84 valve or vaccuum tubes. Stating this as it will be elaborated more below.

Guitar used Japanese Fender EC Strat with Lace Gold and 24db boost, Gibson Classic with '57 Classic humbee. Music style are mainly blues and 70s rocks with some 70's/80's hard rock.

The amplifier out of the box sounds okay. Slightly harsh sound and lack the 3D sound. However, the tone has improved dramatically after some improvement done on the amp.

Reverb is very lacking as compared with some other amp like Laney LC15R. I tried changing the Reverb tank from the Laney (model : 1BB3C1B) to the Marshall (model : 4 BB3C10) and the reverb effect is like heaven and earth. The Laney Reverb is only a 2 spring while the Marshall is a 4 spring. Perhaps this explains the difference but I felt the 2 spring worked better. Another issue with the Reverb tanks is that according to Accutronics specs, the 4BB3C10 unit is supposed to be mounted on a vertical surface. Marshall mount the reverb on a horizontal surface??? Tried mounting the tank on the vertical surface at the back and the effect of reverb had improved. Marshall manufacturer - any comments here???

Valves tubes - as mentioned above, used 4 pre and 4 power tubes. Some comments from other writers have been made on improving the sound by changing to better tube. I definitely can confirm this improvement. Original tubes used has the Marshall marking on the tube itself. To understand more on the importance of tubes affecting the amp tone itself, suggest reader go to "www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com". Changed the 1st and 4th pre tube to Mullard ECC83 and 3rd & 4th tube to JJ/Tesla. The tone is fantastic. I know, the Mullard tubes are expensive but it's gonna last a much longer time and it's worth the money. As for the power tubes, JJ/Tesla EL84 works very well. One last thing on tubes is that not all tubes are exactly the same even for Mullard and not to mention that cheaper tubes. Tried the 1.5ma/1.8mav, didn't like it, the 1.1ma/1.7mav works much better. You've got to try different tube and that's where the fun of owning a tube amp is.

Speaker wires - one other reader mentioned this already and it's true, not a difficult thing to do, worth changing the wire.

Heat - install a fan, doesn't matter if it 220V AC or 12V DC, helps to cool down the heat if mounted an the base and angle it towards the tubes. Even in tropical weather, never had any proplem with overheating.

Pops and click - had some problem here if the master volume is max. However, it is not very frequent and found that effects like TS9 tube screamer contributed to this noise.

After changing and experimenting, the tone of the amp is just fabulous. It is cleaner yet has more sustain and bloom (3D sound) in comparision to the Laney LC15R on the Clean channel.

As for the crunch channel, it is tight and has more bottom oomph. The distortion can be brutal, just dail up the gain to about 7.

Amp is quiet if the gain is not dail all the way up. In fact, I prefer to have a lower pre gain at about 3-5 and max the master volume 8-10, sweet sounding whether on clean or crunch channel.

Last thing, using a patch cable and jacking into the FX send and received does have an effect on the sound, try it, you may like it.

Had it for less than a year, no problem so far. My unit came sealed in the original packing, not a demo unit from the showroom. Having said that, I installed the fan a month after getting the amp and now the amp is just slightly warm to touch.

1 year warrant, hopefully don't have to use it. So far, not problems, finger crossed.

Tried other smaller amp but found the Marshall to be very satisfying. Amp is loud enough for now and would certainly buy it again. As mentioned, wished it had a headphone output jack.

The usual. A 2 channel all tube 1-12 combo. It has an fx loop, extension speaker output, etc. It had enough features to do anything I needed to do live. I gig once or twice a week and I needed Marshall crunch.

It sounds like a Marshall only it has more gain than the older models. It sounds closer to the AVT than the JCM800 due to the very high gain on tap. No matter how you tweak it, it still sounds like a scooped mid Marshall at heart. At the higher gain settings it gets buzzy like a 5150, maybe worse, but I use medium gain anyway. I liked it, but read on.

VERY UNRELIABLE!!! Heres where it all goes to hell in a handbasket. I bought one from Musicians Friend and it arrived in an unopened box that had obviously never been opened since sealed at the factory. I played it the first day and was getting used to the sound and learning to dial the buzzyness out of it, and on the second day it would not fire up. I got the light but it wouldn't come off standby and it smelled like burning plastic. I sent it back for a second one and guess what? It NEVER WORKED! EVER! I never got to hear it! Sent it back and got the charges removed from my MF card. I bought a 601 from my local Marshall dealer and wouldn't you know: SAME ISSUE! WHAT IS MARSHALL DOING! They used to be the most dependable amps made. NOT ANY MORE! I'm buying another Peavey, maybe an XXX. It wont sound like a Marshall but it will work forever!

MF support was very good, and so was my local dealer. It wasn't their fault the amps were crap. Did email Marshall with a nasty note, but was respectful and not vulgar, and they responded that I should have taken it to a service center. THREE NEW AMPS IN THE SERVICE CENTER AND NOT BEING PLAYED! Yeah right. Fat chance. Not even an apology!

I really wanted a Marshall but this was ridiculous. Until they get their quality back where it was I wont touch a Marshall. I should have stayed with my Peavey Triumph. It always worked no matter what I did to it and it sounded decent, if not spectacular. I'm still dumbfounded at Marshall. THREE BAD AMPS! The manager at my local store has told me to bring the 60 watt back too. He said there have been lots of probs with the new Marshall stuff and he has been talking to them about returns at his shop too. He says there are problems with no cooling on the boards and so bad solders are happening and boards are burning up all over the place. He sells Peavey. I think I will be bringing one home tonight!

- 40w, 1x12 all-valve combo

- I think it's a 2003 model

- Just about versatile enough. I like to play in the styles of Oasis, BRMC, Jeff Buckley and Radiohead, amongst others. It works for many of my styles, although my gripes with the reverb (see below) mean it isn't completely ideal for playing Jeff Buckley... but I wouldn't ever expect any Marshall to be anyway.

- 2 dedicated channels (clean & overdrive), although the overdrive channel has a +20dB gain boost switch, which gives the effect of an external overdrive pedal. Getting even volume levels between the two channels is a right pain in the arse, thanks to no post-gain on the clean channel.

- 3 band EQ for each channel, FX loop, DI output, external speaker jack with switchable impedance, channel footswitch, optional reverb footswitch

- I would prefer a more shimmery reverb with a lot more depth - Marshall could learn a thing or two from Fender about making shimmery spring reverbs. A presence control would have been nice as well, as well as an independent post-gain control for the clean channel (like on the OD channel).

- I haven't gigged with it yet; I've just been using it for bedroom practicing so far. It's plenty powerful enough for this purpose, but I'm sure it could do the business in a gig situation.

- I use this amp with an Epiphone Riviera, which has two NY mini-humbuckers. I love the pickups, and they give a fantastic bite with this amp, as I would expect from any Marshall. I can get a great Noel Gallagher-like sound with this setup - a good warm indie tone with fantastic presence and bite.

- Very quiet. Hardly any background noise. Of course, high-gain settings yield some hiss, but even then not very much.

- The master volume and independent channel volumes allow you to get some nice cranked tones at ear-friendly levels, although it sounds even better when fully cranked. The amp is great for bluesy tones but can also deliver some meaty rock and roll tones as well. Pushing up the pre-gain control on the clean channel gives a wonderfully warm, bluesy tone with a little dirt to give it a bit of edge. It does make the clean channel a lot louder than the overdrive channel, however, which is why I would very much love a post-gain control on the clean channel.

- Great distortion. Fantastic bite.

- Now for the problems... the speaker isn't exactly great. In fact, it's not great at all. There is nowhere near enough low end, and it makes the whole thing sound rather raspy. I'll probably be changing it for a Celestion Greenback or a Vintage 30. Also, for some reason bringing up the reverb gives the distortion channel an unhealthy sounding fuzziness. The reverb itself is pretty bad, and it has quite a mind of it's own when switching channels.

- This amp overheats like CRAZY. After 10 minutes, touching the front panel will burn your fingers, and you can feel the heat coming off the thing if you get too close. I don't understand how Marshall could overlook this issue. I've now been resorted to using a desk fan pointing into the back of the amp to keep it cool. It does the trick, but it seems quite a lot of unnecessary effort on my part to correct a pretty big manufacturing fault.

- Now I use a fan to keep the amp cool, I'm pretty sure I could safely gig without it overheating. But I'll use a solid-state Peavey Stereo Chorus 212 alongside my valve setup anyway, so if the valves did fail mid-gig or the amp overheated, I'd just ditch the Marshall and carry on with just the Peavey. Out of principle, I would never gig any valve amp without a backup.

- Never dealt with them

- Although I have a few problems with this amp, I do love the sound I get from it. It is the best amp I personally have ever owned, and I certainly don't see myself replacing it in the near future. Considering I got it as new (and I do mean in impeccable condition) for a great deal less than its RRP, I'm pretty damn happy with what I got.

If you have some way of keeping it cool, and you don't mind replacing the speaker or buying a cab, I would say go for this amp! It really does sound awesome, and I am very happy with it. Otherwise, you might want to consider an alternative.

I really like this amp! There have been many that I have tried and used, but for the money, I think there is no better amp on the market. Reverb could use some more depth but you get what you paid for... I never use the third channel but it's always there if I want an extra 20 dB!

It has that well acclaimed Marshall scream, but is lacking on the low end. Loud, VERY loud but at high levels, you lose a lot of clarity and sometimes there's a hiss, sometimes there isn't. Have thought of replacing the speaker with an 8 ohm instead of a 16 to get the true 40 watts out of it. If you look closely, Marshall rates the amp at 20 watts with a 16 ohm speaker, and 40 watts with an 8 ohm. So needless to say I look forward to that.

I have had NO trouble, have played loud (not cranked) at about 7 for a long time OUTSIDE DURING THE SUMMER. Play live at least once a week and have had no complaints whatsoever. Yes it does get HOT but never hot enought to damage it. But, then again tube amps do have heaters in them so, YES it does get HOT. It lives in a case all week long and is sheltered, so drops and vibrations are kept to a minimal.

Have never had to deal with them but my dealer (Carls Music of Lexington, KY) has never left me complaining!

If you are looking for Marshall scream for cheap, this has your amp! If you are looking for clean channel tube warmth go with a Fender Deluxe. But, if you're looking for a good rock accompanyment for your humbucher axe, crank it up and let the good times roll!!! Oh , and don't forget the skillet to cook your dinner on, cause as everyone has stated and I will too, it gets hot.

This amp is part of the current Marshall catalogue. Standard features.
If you want the specs. check out the marshall website www.marshallamps.com.
My one gripe witht the amp at first was that the boost channel didn't have a large enough volume increase but as time went on I began to realise that with a suitable amount of gain (which i will get on to) it works fine.

Standard but also boost. Availibility for reverb footswitch.
If you think this is just like a 3 channel amp it isn't. It's worth considering if you need 3 channels when choosing an amp.

Using it with my Tele w/Seymour Duncan humbucker in bridge, standard in neck. Played a Gibson SG with p90s in it too. I play a variety of different types of rock, also some bluesy stuff. As you would expect its brilliant for these (typical marshall).
I would also point out that to get the most from this amp you need to learn about the controls. In my opinion there is more than enough gain, and to be honest it sounds bad with the gain past 8. I think it sounds too buzzy.
You can get a nice classic rock sound, also a good metal sound, not too harsh, not too smooth. As they tell you this amp sounds better turned up loud, driving the power amp to get some different tones.

The clean channel isn't so hot. It has a gain control instead of volume which has its good and bad points and can be annoying when changing volumes. I would not recommend this amp if you were going to use it on the clean channel.
I find a much better clean tone can be achieved using the OD1 channel and rolling back the volume on your guitar.

Hmm this is difficult to say. My first one was atop a bass amp and fell off. It needed repeairing because where it had fallen on the input jack with a lead in it, it had broken the PCB board. I had that fixed.
After this the reverb annoingly kept coming on all the time. I sent it back to marshall to fix this. They replaced the reverb parts but it wasnt fixed.
After about 6 months from buying it, it packed up all together one day. (no idea why). Marshall sent me another one, which is going strong now after a year. same problem with reverb but it can be fixed if you use a footswitch for it(which I do).

I'll give it a 9 because the first one had already been damaged and the reverb is a fault rather than a reliability issue.

They were good with repairs (free), and also were very good with a friend of mine.

3 year warranty.

Been playing 3.5 years. Played various other rigs.

If it were stolen I would almost definetly buy this amp again.

Great tone on overdrive channel, not so great on clean but not awful.

I wish it had a volume control on the clean channel.

The features are well stated below. It is a versatile amp. I had to change the speaker based on what I heard and read, but more below. It has channel switching. The 40 watts is plenty loud for any club gig. I always wanted an el 84 tube amp. Sold my JCM 2205 half stack and took it as a trade.

I use a tele custom with noiseless pickups and the combination is good. The boost channel is more modern sounding but I like the #1 O/D best. I play country and old rock and roll. It is easy to lug around, but less so now as i changed to a heavier speaker. Sounds like the 2205 but less bottom end as it has a single 12 speaker. The clean channel is a little sterile but playing with the eq can warm up. usable. Much better than the 2205.

I have read about reliability issues but haven't had any myself, too early to judge. My main amp is no a 40 watt traynor that has a better clean channel ( it sparkles) but this has it licked for overdrive.

I hear Jim Marshall exists but cannot attest to that fact. I've used these amps for 20 years and never had an issue. That says enough i think.

I use a les paul and a tele. That is what I like to hear and this amp responds well to both of them. The les paul can get a little muddy on OD3, but some people like that. I have kept a 1960 cab loaded with 75 watt celestions and think that will solve the bottom end issue. You cannot compare a single 12 with a half stack, simple physics prohibit that. I pulled the gold label whatever and added a g12 H 100 celestion. It is a much more efficient speaker and the audible volume increased. So the amp puts out 40 watts but it sounds like more. It is a cute package, as a limited edition I see a nice grill cloth. Not sure what else is different though. It is light for a combo but build quality will be an issue ( no plywood., excuse me?). Like my 1960 cabinet with white glue sprayed all around the joints, Jim needs to up the quality for the price. I take care of my amps and this one will also be babied. It is now my number two amp behind the new traynor ( also with a g12 h 100 celestion, and better build quality and price/value index). I like it, it is cute and roars. Kinda like an old girlfriend who you've dropped.

Twin channel 40w all-valve 1X12" combo with FX loop, reverb and master volume. Switchable impedance on the external speaker outputs plus direct out for micless recording, adjusted to sound like a cab. A boost function on the overdrive channel makes it a bit like a 3-channel amp but no extra EQ for boosted sounds.
I play in pubs and use an extension 2X12" to warm it up and get a better spread of sound and I've never needed a more powerful amp.

The clean channel is actually quite dirty if you have the volume above 7. If you have the master vol high it sounds really punchy and very full. The overdrive channell has less balls but lots of filth. There isn't a way to set the amount of boost on the overdrive channel, you get 20db. If you have it running flat out and hit the boost very little happens. I find its not really suited to kicking in a higher volume sound for a solo but like all good valve amps it works fine with the volume control on the guitar.
The master volume is supposed to make it sound good at lower volumes but it sounds so much better when its cranked. Balancing the master vol with the channel volumes gets some great sounds with big ballsy round bass or raw distortion
The cabinet-modelled output is very good and hugely useful too.
I'd be interested to hear from other 401 users with regards to the difference in tone of the clean and dirty channels

I've had it for a year, no problems. I've got a Marshall that was made in 1973 and that's had no problems either!

They're good but I never had to talk about the amp, only a T-shirt!

Should have gone straight to valves instead of messing about with MG's and Valvestates. All Marshalls amps sound good to me, but this amp interacts with your playing. The next best amp I ever had was a Line 6, trying to find an amp that did everything but there's no such thing.

As far as basic amp features, this thing was good. I wish it had a serial effects loop like my other amps (preamp out - preamp in) so I could run it through my pedals with less input noise. The reverb sounds fine to me, but I wish they would have included a pedal. Now the rest of the knobs and settings are great. Not too many bells and whistles to get confused with or accidentally bump out of whack, but enough to get the sound you need.

I use a Gibson Studio Lite with '57 classic pickups and a Fender American Strat. Great sounds come from both guitars, but not the full sound you would expect out of its big brothers. Maybe it's the single 12" stock speaker. I guess I shouldn't have expected the sound of a half-stack out of this thing, it's impossible. I do like the idea that this thing is only 40 watts though because if I tried to drive a 100 watt half-stack in my studio like I drive this thing I would probably be deaf by now. This IS Marshall sound though and if I want glassy clean from my Strat it just doesn't do that - that's what a Fender amp is for.

This thing worked great for the first year or so. I have rarely taken it out of the studio though. I think I only gigged with it once. One day an hour before my former drummer showed up (I was trying to get him motivated to get back in the band) and this amp gave up the ghost. It was my only "real" amp and I had to make a decision to take it apart to fix it myself (most likely voiding the warrantee). I found that many of the solder connections had cold jointed (from the intense heat + vibration) and then it quit. I tried to resolder many of these connections, but the pins on the tube sockets were most difficult to resolder because the solder wouldn't stick no matter how much flux I put on them. The solder would just melt around them. I gave up when the other band members were getting impatient and resorted to a 10-watt Squier practice amp. This killed all our creativity and the next hour of playing was a chore. I got it fixed aftwewards and really appreciated the beautiful Marshall sound that much more, but now I don't trust this amp. I especially don't trust it because it quit once more and I had to resolder the joints and replace a fuse that was inside on the circuit board.

I haven't tried to get customer support, but since I most likely voided the warrantee on this amp anyway I'm probably on my own.

I've been playing over 20 years and this amp is definitely the best one I have ever owned, but then again the other ones weren't Marshall tube amps either. Despite the problems, this is an excellent studio amp. It's only been out of the studio once. For the most part I like the sound. You mic it and get great recordings. If I were to go back and get another Marshall amp I wouldn't get this one. I would save up and get a classic half-stack rather than a combo. Unless you know how to fix things you probably had best steer clear of this amp.

Bought in Nov. 03 for 699$ brand new, (the Guitar Center I bought it from just upped the price to 899$. Dont buy this amp for that price!) So I've owned the amp for about 10 months. It's my first tube amp and I'll try my darndest to give you an honest, unbiased review of this baby. I think you know the features so lets get on to the sound...

Here's my setup: MIM Fender Fat Strat (Great Guitar!), to a 535q wah, to Boss TU-2, to amp. I can get a pretty good, heavy, rock n' roll sound. Now before I go on, let me remind you that this is a 40 watt, all tube amp. It begs to be cranked!! So dont seriously think that your gonna have superb tone if you've got the dang thing on 2! And you've got to give the tubes time to warm up. In my experience w/ this amp, I got the best tone after it was on for at least 45 minutes. Not saying you have to wait that long to play it, you'll just start noticing slight changes in your tone (and volume). With that in mind, lets move on...

The stock speaker gave off some pretty good clean tones, but the distorsion channel reeeeallly lacked bottom end punch. It just didn't have that chunk,chunk (think palm-mutted drop-D power chords). Solution: Vintage 30. You probably wont notice a HUGE diffence at first, but once the speaker breaks in, and you crank this amp you're gonna have a smile on your fat face! Stock I give it a 6.

At first I wasnt sure If I'd like the EL84 sound. It definitly grew on me over time though, and I like it because it's different. This amp can crank out some sweeeeeet leads!

The amp hasnt failed be yet (I gig regularly), but listen... if you're going to purchase something that costs over 700$ bucks, you better do your damn homework! I knew this amp had over-heating issues before I bought it, so I wisely had a tech install a fan. No problems! However, the reverb doesnt work (not a big deal, I dont use reverb),but still... point deduction.

Never delt w/ them.

It gets the job done for me. Is your worried about it being loud enough, please, DONT!! If you do the speaker change (which IMO, is a must) It adds even MORE volume. My band mate plays a 2x12 120 watt Crate (SS) and I can easily match his volume. If it were lost or stolen I'd probably shop around for something else. I really wish it had a presence knob. As for the review below me... staight 10's!? Im sorry, and I know thats your opinion, but come on! Thats like saying there arent any amps out there that dont sound better, and I know that isnt true.

Clean channel sounds better than my Fender Bassman - Seriously. This is my first Marshall. I have always had Fenders and Peaveys. I am surprised at how wonderful the clean channel sounds. The crunch channels are fantastic, also. This speaker (Celestion Gold) is perfect - Do not change it!

I use a wide variety of guitars - Les Paul, LP Special (P90's), Strats, ASAT, Ovation, Taylor. This amp has both beautiful clean sounds and smooth distortion.

I have read the reports on overheating and am leaning towards installing a separately switched cooling fan that can be used when necessary. I do not feel that a cooling fan is always necessary. If just playing around in the bedroom the amp does not heat up any more than my Fenders. I have not pushed the amp at high volumes so maybe that is where everyone is experiencing problems. I will use a cooling fan for those special occasions.

I love this amp. As I stated earlier , I am selling my Bassman. I am also selling smoe pedals that I do not need anymore.

Check out this website...I included some of the content...Summary is these tubes soundbest when hot...Deign of amp is to run hot - I amp considering a fan but need to thermostatically control to maintain a temperature instead of just blasting air at the tubes....- Will let everyone know what I come up with...

http://www.vintageguitar.com/brands/details.asp?ID=106

?The early Vox design was very similar to a Mullard-Osram valve company published circuit design for a power amp section,? he said. ?Vox was designing circuits for organs, so they probably experimented with the Mullard design and their own preamp ideas. It was all influenced by available parts, suppliers, and vendors. An engineer might choose a part he can afford rather than the best one made, and that will affect everything else along the chain.?

He detected a construction problem in the AC-30?s plastic input jacks and saw the amp?s lack of ventilation as a serious problem regarding the component longevity.

That said, there?s a positive aspect to the heat generated by Class A amps.

?Those EL84 tubes lose power when they?re not real hot. An AC-30 will typically get a bit louder as the night goes on. Same with a Matchless. We tried a fan on some of the early amps, but it didn?t work very well. In fact, the amps lost power. It got down to about 25 watts by the end of the night. The amps without fans went up to 40 or 42 watts of clean power. We?ve been railed on by a number of our competitors about this issue, and it?s not an accident that we let the our amps run hot.

?I did a lot of homework on this issue, testing different brands of tubes with various rectifiers, plate voltages, different cabinet settings (head or combo). And every time it produced the same results. I came to the conclusion the cathode in the tube has to run at a certain temperature, and lacking the extremely expensive instrument to measure the temperature of the cathode, I accepted the fact that, because it was cooling too efficiently, it was cooling off the cathode and producing an electronic emission inside the tube and affecting the tube?s performance.?

The following is a review of the 40 watt DSL401 combo...Since everyone else has listed the specs, there's no reason for me to belabor the point...Just my couple of cents on the features, though.

- Features provided are adequate for most performing musicians...40 watts are great for small clubs...However, I have found in larger bars, or with a louder band, there is a feeling that you are losing a bit of headroom...But, for a 40 watt 1x12 combo, it does the best that it can...

- I've recently been experimenting with the DI out, and I must say that I am very pleased with the results...I can get a nice sound through the PA, and just use what comes out of the amp as kind of a reference monitor...

I play the following guitars
- Les Paul Classic 1960 reissue
- SG '61 Reissue
- Ibanez JPM 1000
- Ibanez RG520

Music Style: My style is hard rock/blues rock...I play in a cover band that does a pretty wide range of music, from Billy Joel to Kansas, Metallica, and Black Sabbath, with some 80's dance tunes thrown in for good measure...

Noise: For a Marshall, this amp is actually pretty quiet...Not much in the way of buzz or hums or any of those fun things.

Sounds: As far as the music that my band plays, this amp does a pretty decent job of covering the bases...Taking into account that is only a 40 watt 1x12...Some fiddling and diddling with the knobs will be required, but I have found that on the OD channel, running the pre-amp volume high and the master at about half-way is a kind of "sweet spot."

- Clean Sound: I'd give it a 7 out of 10 for clean...Pull out your mids, run the bass at 10, and the treble at around 6 or 7 for best results here...

- OD1/OD 2...OD2 doesn't really do much to the overall sound quality, other than give you a little boost for your solo work...If you want to use the OD2 as a boost, DON'T max the gain...Put the gain at around 8 (or between 2 and 3 o'clock), as there is really NO difference in sound at that level or at 10...This way you can use the OD2 as a boost...Treble at about 8 or 9, Bass up all the way, Mids at 6 or 7 should get ya that classic Marshall sound...

Is the distortion "brutal?" Well, if your definition of brutal is that earth shaking low end rumble, then your answer is "no." It's a 40 watt 1x12 combo! It would be like buying a minivan for its 0 to 60 time...For what it is, sound is definitely not bad...

Amp works well, however the footswitch leaves something to be desired...I've had some problems in the past with the FS not working correctly...Have had it serviced 1x for this problem, and am worried it may soon happen again...Other than that glitch it's always done it's job...

Marshall customer support is not very good...The people that I have experienced seem to be very short with the customers...The warranty center staffs have generally been better to deal with...BTW, if you take it in for warranty service, don't plan on seeing it for a while...

Playing Experience: 17 years now...This amp is my small ammunition...I also own what I call affectionately "Big Bertha," a Crate BV150 stack...Comparing the two is like apples and veal...

If stolen or lost, I probably would NOT replace it...Would probably go with a 2/12 combo, like the Crate VFX5212 with the effects...

Loves: The "Marshall Sound" in a tiny package that I can toss in the trunk of my car...It's not a fancy-shmancy boutique amp that does 55 things...

Hates: No switch for the reverb (that's optional)...Effects through the loop have a tendency to sound out of phase and a little funny...That might be remedied with the addition of a 2x12 cab, but if I want extra speakers I can run it through one of my own cabinets...

I bought this amp new in 2002.
It is a mainly tube 40w amp with 4 EL84s in class AB driving the output stage. The preamp valves are all ECC83(12AX7 or equivalent). The overdrive, however is largely Tranny (owing not a little to the Marshall Guvnor pedal? Nothing wrong with that if you're not a valve purist, and it does not adversely affect the overdriven tones in my opinion)
It is extremely versatile, but the lack of solid bottom end will not satisfy baritone players, I think!
I play blues, a little jazz, country, and 50s and 60s Rock, but will have a go at anything.
The 40W output makes it a perfect stage guitar for medium venues, and it can be mic'd up or DI'd in larger venues. I had a bit of bother competing with the 80 & 100 watt combos of bandmates so I replaced the Celestion Gold Speaker with an old Celestion Sidewinder (avout 5 dB louder) and the problem has gone away.
It is a 2 channel amp that thinks it has 3 channels (2 levels of Overdrive).
I would have liked an on-board tremolo, but otherwise features are fine. The Reverb is particularly good.
I use the amp both at home and in Pub and Theatre venues.

I play many different guitars through this amp, Strats & a Tele & 12 String (Squier), LPs and SGs 335 Dot, and a DeArmond M75T. It is most satisfying with Humbucking pickups in the medium output range (not too hot!), less so (though still good) with Strats and Teles.
Surprisingly, my Squier Venus 12 string sounds absolutely magnificent through the clean channel. Driving the clean channel into distortion can produce a pleasant soft crunchy tone.
The first level of overdrive is quite satisfying, but the upper level is a bit too OTT for me.
The clean channel is quite like a good 60s Vox AC30 but without so much bottom end thump (or hum!). The first overdrive channel is pure Marshall Bluesbreaker, but the tones are all available at controllable volume levels.
This amp is definitely not a one trick pony!

This has been a little less reliable than my old Fender London (Tranny, whic I used for 15 years without breakdown), but sounds more to my liking.
I don't take a spare amp with me - this has let me down only twice in 2 years. The first time was a rectifier failure - the Amp repair tech said that in his opinion the 8A fitted rectifier was underrated for high volumes. He replaced it with a 10A unit - no further probs. He also reamed out the power valve holes to take the larger Sovtek EL84s. one of the output valves failed earlier this year, and I replased the Yugo quartet with Sovteks.

The amp was out of warranty when the rectifier failed, so had the repair done by a local Amp Tech, who was excellent.
I replaced the valves myself, as EL84s do not require rebiasing.
I cannot therefore give an opinion on Marshall's after sales service.

I have been playing since 1959
If the Amp were stolen or Lost, I would wish to replace it, but have concerns about long term sustaiability, given the PCB mounted sockets, etc.
I own 3 guitar Amps, A Zoom Mesia 100W combo (22 yrs old and no longer reliable, but a great sounding super - clean amp), a Fender London Reverb Head (built into a Combo Cab, still going strong, but lacking that indefineable valve tone), and the abve mentioned Marshall DSL401, which sounds best of the bunch. The slightly lower reliability of valve amps (compared to tranny)is something we have to put up with if we want the 'tube sound'.
I have a few effects and pedals, but don't use them much now, preferring to plug straight in and go.

Two channel amp with a 20 db boost on the lead channel. Separate EQ for each channel. Reverb and Parallel EFX loop. 1x12 configuration with a Celestion G12T-100 speaker. 4 ECC83s and 4 EL84s.

Missing a presence control and resonance control. Reverb is weak (by design).

I use PRS, Les Pauls, Strats, Brian Moores, etc. This amp is definitely "Marshall" sounding. The EL84s and small cabinet keep it from having a big low end. Even in a closed back cab, the low end isn't massive, but it is tight and usable. But it does go from a JTM-45/VOXy clean on the clean channel, to a 70's "post-plexi" to modded JCM800 type lead sound. A good sound for classic rock. Probably not great for Nu-Metal due to the lack of a huge low end. I closed back cab and better speaker does help.

Both channels sound good. The Clean channel is more clean Vox than clean Fender, but it is still a good sound. Overall, this amp has that mid focused sound common to EL84 output tubes. Tube quality counts in this amp. With good tubes (GT12AX7Ms) the amp sounds better. The post phase inverter overall amp Master Volume does a pretty good job of allowing full sounds at lower volumes.

My only complaint with the amp is that the EFX loop can't be series in the stock configuration and the reverb and the amp has a ducking feature on the Reverb and FX loop. The Reverb and FX are louder on the lead channel than the clean channel (which is sort of backwards anyway).

The other complaint is that the amp gets really hot.

However I solved both these issues by reworking the FX loop so I can switch between series and parallel and I disabled the ducking features. I added the series/parallel switch because if I'm using the amp with FX in the loop, I wanted to use it parallel. This keeps the amp's audio path entirely tube. With the loop in series, you're running through a couple Op amps. The only 'problem' with the series loop is the FX mix knob becomes a simple FX loop return vol, but that's Ok. I also replaced the speker (which reminds me of a G12T-75) with a Vintage 30 and like the amp better. Not that the stock speaker is bad, I just like V30s and use them in all my gigging combos.

The stock version of this amp gets really hot, so I added a fan to the back to suck the hot air away from the chasis. This helps keep the amp reasonable, heat wise. This is much better built than the JTM-30/60 line which wasn't great at all.

This amp uses modern construction techniques so it's a good thing I can fix it if something breaks. But it looks pretty well built so I don't forsee any issues other than having to replace tubes.

With the addition of the fan I feel that this amp can be trusted.

Don't know personally, but the website is good and there's schematics and resources on the net, so I'm set.

This is a good amp for small to medium rooms. It sounds good and has a decent mix of features.

I wish the footswitch worked like every other on the planet, so I could use the same pedalboard settings as when I'm using my Rivera's but that's more a nuisance than a problem.

With a few mods, it has become very useful. I bought it to have an amp for room too small for my Rivera Fandango and it works well in that role. It isn't as good sounding overall as the Rivera but it does get a nice sound.

If you want a small version of that Marshall sound, this does it well.

i presume this amp was made in 01 as it has a pack testing sticker dated 01 on the back!
the amp itself seems very good... nice distortion channel, and the clean is well, clean!
as u know 2 channels and a 20db boost ont he second channel, reverb and fx loop...
im complacent with the reverb... theres enough there for me... im not big on reverb anyways... i'd rather be playing a staduim and getting real reverb (like thats ever happened :O)
i use this amp in my bedroom at present, only had it a few days but i feel ive had it long enough to rate it! it seems to have well enough power!

Okay - im using a gibson les paul classic 03 with 490 and 500 pickups. - i play classic rock ranging to grungey rock and bits and bobs in between. some blues, some jazz, and stuff like that - (www.edison-glow.com - my band)...
it doesnt seem to hiss like my JCM 900 does... which is a good thing...
this amp can get marshall gfrowl, but only just about - and thats through an extension cab... speaking of that... the stock speaker in this thing is SHIT! PERIOD.
its voiuced for the clean channel as someone else said, and to be honest its a right royal load of dump... its tinny, metallic sounding, and it sounds very raspy on the gain channels... certainly not what it should sound like...
i know its the speaker as i run this thing thru my 4x12 and sounded uber cool,a nd again i run my 900 head through the speaker in this thing and that sounded raspy... NEVER before has my 900 sounded raspy!
i am definately replacing the speaker if i am to keep this amp... probably to a vintage 30, and just sell the other speaker or do something with it... its not worth keeping, sounds too shite...
the clean channel with the stock speaker is good... but im not all up on clean playing anyways... i like my stuff a tad gritty, afterall im a 900 user!
Sounds on distorted channel are pretty pathetic unless using external or upgraded speaker!

when i first got it the sound cut out for about 10 minutes and i was trying to find a fault... nothing happened... it came back on shortly after... i put it down to it having just been transported about 100 miles in the back of a courier van! it musta rattled me tubes :)
i would probably only gig with this in small places.. anywhere bigger and it'd be my 900 all the way, MUCH better sound overall!

never dealt with... although ive sent in a picture of both my amps and tried to get it on thier readers amps page... but still nothing :(

have been playing on and off for about 4-5 years... im not the best guitarist, but i know my tone, and this thing lacks it with the stock speaker... this is my only real niggle with this amp, is the raspy tinny speaker.... i will get it changed as soon as i can!
if it were stolen or lost i would definately not buy another... i'd go back to when jim made quality amps and get one of them, maybe an 800 combo or a 900 combo... definately not another 2000 model!
i didnt compare it to anything, i bought it online (ebay) and took a chance... the other amp i was looking at was a peavey classic tweed... they get good reviews... unlike this amp!
i wish it had a better speaker...
that is all!

This is a very versatile amp with 2 channels; Channel 2 (Lead) has a 20db boost that can be accessed from the footswitch. Of course, as with all valve (tube) Marshalls, the boost channel propel you to outerspace. The clean channel one has a very operative gain letting the muscician get from the glassy clean to crunch by turning the knob.

My guitar is a stock Gibson Les Paul Classic (with 490/500 pups). My style is classic bluesrock (70s). This amp does well for what I need. As with every Marshall amp I've had (plenty) getting loud is NO problem. This amp continues the reputation. At 40watts RMS, it can still shake the floor. My one beef is that I wanted to add the 1912 speaker cab to extend its "sonic capabilites" ; however, these cabs are no longer available in the USA. Bummer.

I can't opine here, it stays in my studio. It looks tough enought, though, to take a road beating. Insofar as trouble with the amp working--No problem!

I did email various Marshall dealers in an attempt to get my hands on one of those 1912 extention cabs (England, Australia). These businesses wrote back explaining that their agreement with Marshall would not let them ship to the USA. I could not find a direct email address to Marshall customer service on their website. I gave up.

I've been playing for thirty years. During that time, I have had the best (Marshall stacks, Fender Twins, etc.). I am content with this setup for now. If I were to start gigging our again, I would likely buy a more powerful amp (Marshall TSL 122?). But this amp could work in a gig setting.

I've been through all the phases of guitar playing, from garage band junk to lusting after ridiculous racks of gear...more gear than amps, that whole 80's shite.

I've come full circle. I play mostly blues-based hard rock . The stuff that lasts is the stuff that comes from inside and from great delivery. I like my LP straight into the amp now. Be a guitar player, not a synth player. Who needs elecronics when you have the Holy Grail of guitar set-ups--an LP into a Marshall.

I've thought about stepping up to the TSL series. Don't really need it though. The clean is just perfect with a bit of warmth going into that early Marshall crunch when pushed, and the OD2 produces a great lead sound. Learn to work the tone controls on this amp at different volume settings. It ain't a head driving a 412, so setting all the tones to 10 IS NOT going to work. Backing off the distortion settings and finding those sweet spots in the tone dials is what its all about.

Simple is often best. An 8 becuase there's not a lot of bells and whistles, but who needs it?

Okay, its got the rock thing down. 40W is realistic for opening up the amp. I see these guys with half stacks, what good are they unless you're AC/DC playing in stadiums? How many people ever turn a 100W up past 6 with any regularity?

You're a lot, lot better off getting a smaller amp that can be brought up to volume in realistic settings. Like most valve amps, its sounds okay on low settings for practice, but you only start to realize what its all about when the volume comes up and you hear the tubes start working.

I might replace the 'verb. I think its a two-spring tank, would like to get a 3 spring tank ($40) to get that a bigger sound when called on. Rhythm and lead usually just need a touch IMO, but I do have a weakness for those blues lines soaked with 'verb from time to time. I'd put it through a processor for a good plate or something, but that would defeat the "simplest is best" philosophy. Processors belong in the studio.

Might experiment with the speaker as well. I think a lot of guys get crazy about revalving stuff before they think of the obvious--the speaker choice is perhaps even more ESSENTIAL to sound. I remember the JCM800 heads didn't appeal to me, but that turned out to be because of the cabs they were mated with. Throw one through a 412 with Greenbacks and you get the best of both worlds--that vintage Celestion sound with enough modern edge to balance it all out, just like a perfect bourbon. That said, the stock speaker does the job. Might play around with others, though.

Another thing--I take and make foam stands to sit my amp on to isolate from the floor. Makes a huge difference in sound, getting it decoupled from the floor. Easy to do, improves sound quite a bit.

Mine just went back in the shop. It was in once before becuase solder joints had failed. I'm waiting for the call on status this time.

It does get hot. I've been around tubes amps long enough to know you probably get a problem a year with playing, and thats what I'm averaging now.

Marshall's website is helpful.

Playing for 15 years. I'm down to my LP and this DSL for electric guitar playing. Have a Martin acoustic, Rick bass, and a Spanish guitar. Again, simple is best. Jimmy Page, who could have had a hangar full of equipment, pretty much played through all of Zeppelin with a handful of guitars and a few amps.

For the money, its an awesome amp. Regardless of money, its a great amp. Someone might get smart some day and hack the insides, package it under a boutique name, charge three times as much, and see if gearheads don't come back with fantastic reviews, far better than what's posted here. IMO this amp sounds better than all the boutique combos I've heard, at a fraction of the price. Remember, great songs from rock history have been recorded on far less. I've stuck a mic in front of this in the studio, and after sitting the track, this baby can sit perfect in the mix. Again, its funny how people have amp-itis, where if they'd read behind their favorite artists and albums, they'd see that a LOT of the greatest stuff comes down to a great axe through a great Marshall.

I'd buy another if it were lost or stolen.

I would not pick any other amp than a Marshall. Out of all the Marshalls, this is the one that makes the most sense for

Bought new, 2 months ago. Everyone knows the features, i won't go into that. 40 watts, plenty for the classic rock act I use this for. I use all 3 channels, clean, crunch and lead... Don't know why it offers a 1/4 inch not XLR DI out. I'd prefer XLR so I marked it down for this.

Been using this with a set of gibson les pauls (1 studio, 1 standard) I'm playing anything from aerosmith to ZZ Topp with some sounthern rock in between and it does the job. I like the clean channel, seems to have a bite and thump to it. The crunch is good and I've been able to use the lead channel as well. I wish it had more bottom end. Sounds thin. I played a peavey classic 30 prior to this and for an amp that is physically smaller, it had more bottom end. Over all, for small gigs, It works for me. I've been able to tweak it to where I'm happy with the sound and fatten up the bottom end when mic'd through the PA. I like the 2 button footswitch but purchased a back-up just in case. The cable to the footswitch could have been thicker/heavy duty but only time will tell if it lasts. I've had the stock footswitch for a dsl 100 for quite awhile and it's still good to go. I don't know what the deal with the effects loop is, It's like my effects aren't even there. I'm going to look into that. For now, I'm running all my effects into the front end until I can figure out if the amp has a problem or the effects loop just stinks. I gotta agree with everyone on how hot this gets.... After a 45 minute set it was extremely hot. I'm a die hard tube guy (Don't own any solid state amps) but this worries me. Yes, tubes get hot but when I can't touch the front of the amp.... I gotta draw the line here. I read every review here before buying this and I will definitely be installing a fan. Can only help. I ran this through a 4 X 12 cab the other nite and was impressed. Definitely all Marshall. I plan on replacing the tubes with JJ teslas and replacing the speaker with a vintage 30, hopefully this will fill out the sound.

After all the scary reviews, I'm going to bring a back up amp to the gig. Still too new to tell if it will be reliable.

Just bought it. Don't know.

Been playing for 32 years and performing regularly for 20 plus... Have had plenty of Marshalls in the past. Still use a Marshall 1/2 stack for the 80's rock band that I'm in. As I said before, it seems like a good amp and I'm happy with what it does for me. But it does get hot and it needs a fan. If it was stolen, I'd probably get a TSL 1X12 combo because it had more features and the price wasn't all that much more.

Not enough reverb, lacks bottom,

Sounds great when not malfunctioning which is not very often

This is the worst amp as far as reliability that I have ever owned. It has been in the shop 4 times and I do not trust it. I finaly sold it as is for $125.00

They repaired it under warranty every time but it never lasted. I am sorry I purchased this amp. This was my first marshall and since I bought a little MG DFX 15 for a little practice amp and I like it a lot better than the DSL 401 because it never broke, has plenty of reverb and sounds great.

I have been playing off and on since 1967. I would never buy this amp again and wish I would have never bought it. I am dissapointed in The Marshall Company for allowing an amp with this design flaw to be marketed and not issuing a recall on it.