Great tube amp. The Clean Channel sounds amazing especially for a Marshall. Can get a lot of different soundings by changing the gain and Middle amount for the Clean Channel, from totally clear to bluesy and crunchy sounds. The overdrive channel sounds pretty fat, creamy, warm. Specially the 20db boost provides good lead sounds. You should always use a little reverb but not too much (4-6). Both extrems (too much or too less) aren`t a pleasure to hear. I use an Ibanez JEM 7 VHW and an Ibanez Blazer both Strat Types + Ibanez TS9 Screamer + Dunlop CryBaby or Morley Bad Horsie Wah. Works all good on the amp. I`m interested in a lot of different kinds of music styles and this amp enables me a lot of different soundings. But actually you need an additional 2((4))X12" Cabinet for live gigs. Some people change the Celestio Speaker and replace it with a Vintage Speaker. Don`t do that!!!

Gain, Middle, Treble, Bass, Reverb, Volume enalble to create 1001 different soundings (for a tube amp). The Foot-Switch for Channel selection is fairly bad. I am no Rambo on Stage but I am always afraid of terminating this thinny something. FX-Loop and Speaker Emulated D.I. work as supposed.

I own this amp for 2 years now and I never had a prob. I play it a lot but even the tubes are still alright. (But I was really supprised that Marshall uses some cheaply plastic parts for this amp.)

It`s worth its price. You need a tube amp for those wounderful sounds and tube amps are never cheap.

It might be luck but I never had problems with my DSL.

I tried a lot of different tube amps and I had to buy this cause of the warm sound.

Rock, Blues, Jazz

I bought this amp about 5 years ago and have used for gigging about 4 years. I has exactly what you're looking for if you're looking for the "Marshall" tone...ie AC/DC, Slash, Aerosmith, Zepplin etc. I picked up a Line 6 Spider II 75 watt about a year ago and was blown away. I used the Line 6 for the past year...and just recently in the past few weeks started playing the DSL 401...I must say the Line 6 is louder and has its points but the DSL gets EXACTLY that Marshall tone that the Line 6 tries to get. Like it or not, Tubes have their unique tone that can't be replicated. Now the Line 6 has great tone too and is louder than the DSL but still...if you wanna do a true Sweet Child of Mine solo and lead...the DSL does it to perfection. I actually use both amps for gigging because the DSL doesn't evrerything I want.....for clean/chorous type stuff..the Line 6 nails it...for Heavy metal shredding...again the Line 6...but for classic Marshall tones .... you can only get that throught a Marshall. I gave it a 9 because I think the clean channel could use a separate volume.

Not much on features just basically a plug n play amp. You can really get different tones by little tweaks here and there with the EQ. I like to hit my main volume high and my channel volume low and push the tubes for saturation. I'm really not too crazy about the effects loop. I can't get the same sounds from some of my pedals as I do when I run direct. My delay and chorous are almost non-existent through the loop but come alive direct.

Not much of a learning curve except you need to realize that little changes to EQ/reverb/gain affect tubes different. Small changes can make big differences in you tone.

On my second foot pedal....I think this is a prob with many....and probably something Marshall should not be proud of. My Line 6 controller (which did cost extra by the way) is rock solid. But this should not take away from the DSL 401 which is a quality piece of equipment.

I would say this amp is more expensive than comparable amps...but it is a Marshall.

I have not used them...so I can only assume they are good.

Of course it has the I want it factor....it's a tight little amp with a big bite.

20 years

Rock, Metal, Blues, Alternative

Playing for 30+ years, club band and solo gigs

Rock, classic rock, heavy rock, blues, folk

excellent amp. for something with average wattage it packs a great punch, the valves just kick in to boost the amp to another level, sounds more like a 60-80 watt amplifier, Marshalls', what more can i say.

features are good, but when you have it on clean it sounds great when volume button is low but when you turn it up on clean channel it loses it's clean sound and starts sounding a little dirty and i don't know why?... but when in overdrive it's fantastic, a little disappointed with the clean tone though.

play's beautifully with a fender strat and boss metal-zone pedal, really cuts through with the tools i use.

great build quality, strong and sturdy, no static sound just nice and raw, no problems at all, typical Marshall build.

hobbyist

hard rock, blues, metal, jazz, funk. etc.

Very good clean tone, excellent OD1, but OD2 is too much for my style of playing. Adequate reverb.

I wish it had dual reverb and contour controls and a footswitch for the reverb.

Negotiate for the best price possible, otherwise I feel that these amps are overpriced.

Hobbyist

Blues, classic rock

the sound is just perfect. Super distortion, and clean isn't bad.

2 channel + boost on OD-channel. Boost is very usefull for solos.

just good...

not very expensive

never needed

just a small combo, not very beutifull to see,

hobbyist

Punk, metal, hardrock, rock,

The sound is alright, the reverb isn't that good, and the stock speaker is crap. To get a good dirty sound, you have to put the reverb on about 4.

I wish there was dual reverb, an independant volume knob for the clean channel, a real FX loop that puts out 100%.

After 2 months of owning it, 1 power tube and 2 preamp tubes crapped out. I've also heard other stories of poor construction and bad reliability. Not the typical "Brick wall" construction Marshalls are known for

Pretty good value for only $700

Don't know, never delt with them.

Looks like a regular amp, sounds alright.

Metal and Shred

This is THE classic rock amp. (Although, I am sure that a jcm900 100w 1960a/b cab would be more of the same and better) The main selling point is surely the distortion. The cleans are good but no Fender. The OD2 channel may be a but much with humbuckers, but may be ok with something like a single-coil strat. Ultimately, this thing is great sans pedals. It need no aid.

Stand-by button on front where it should be.

A little pricey, but ultimately...yeah, it really is better.

Clean Channel: has three basic styles. When the gain is low it is very clean and very beutiful superior tone. Mid gain- semi clean semi crunch. This is great for rythm guitar especially for classic styles. When the gain is high, very meaty crunch great for classic blues. Although i dont think clean will cut it for a solo so you go on to OD1. YES. So at low gain OD1 is similar to clean channel. Turn it up just a speck and your good to go for your lead playing. With the footswitch and volume/tone knobs on my guitar i can get almost every sound i want while playing with the band. OD2 just boosts OD1 to a more saturated distortion NOTE: that on highoutput pickups that not much of a difference is heard between OD1, OD2. I think this amp is great if your looking for vintage tones.

You have emulated speaker out reverb, footswitch, 3 channels, all the necessities.

I bought this amp six years old, it plays like it was new! I trust marshall and i think they try to make quality products.

You know, i am sort of bitter i bought a marshall mg100dfx before this amp i wish i just saved my money for the dsl. If you search for a good priced dsl401 maybe a couple years old than i dont see any reason not to save up for this.

this is probably the best sounding small combo i have ever heard. the clean channel has wonderful lows, mids, and highs and the louder it gets the better it sounds. strats sound fabulous and agressive. the overdrive channels have more than enough crunch and the boost in od2 is a great feature. this is a very versatile amp, great for blues, jazz, metal, classic rock, whatever kind of music you want. it sounds great through and through. the marshall engineers have outdone themselves with this 40 watt, celestion equipped combo. listed at 1,025 dollars (usually sold for much less however), this hot marshall is a great peice of equipment for guitarists of all levels.

the footswitch is great, the two overdrive's and the boost sound really good, and it comes celestion equipped

this amp is superior in quality to any similar models from peavey or fender

its a bargain

i have had one problem, which was that one of the knobs came off. i called marshall and they sent me a new one free of charge.

this amp is awesome

rock and blues