Don't buy these 3 Marshall amps | Marshall amp review 

people bash Marshall amps and buy Marshall Clones i find that hilarious

The new DSL’s are FAR BETTER MADE than the JCM2000’s. I’m an amp tech. The JCM2000’s were one of the worst Marshalls ever made. A nightmare to service, run away bias drift issues due to crap circuit boards. The new DSL’s are VERY well made for the price point and a dream to service. They’re the most serviceable amps Marshall has made since the JCM800’s.

The problem is that anybody can post and opine about anything

Actually you can get the power amp to push on a plexi, get an attenuator

I own a marshall dsl20hr tube head and personally i can tell you that its one of the best amps ive ever tried it gives great tones for many styles especially if youre a more metal guitar player its a GREAT AMP that can give great tones for various types of metal genres all in all its a great budget amp that can rival some of the more famous amps.

I think home/bedroom players who love tube amps and are in the know, have an attenuator. The whole “too loud for home use” thing is really not a thing once you get one. Which again, tube lovers already probably have. I love the studio line from Marshall. I own all 4 and keep the power tubes saturated and the volume down. Life’s good.

When they asked Bonamassa about using dsl2000's he said he used them because the sound was just as good as his vintage Marshalls.......but what does he know.

Marshalls were not meant to be played at bedroom levels to begin with, gerting a marshall to play at home you have to buy a good attenuator, that is the price you have to pay to get a plexi sounds at bedroom levels, the new 20w amps says it all in the name "studio" vintage. my sv20 sounds glorious at home with my rivera rock crusher attenuator, i dont feel the need to own another amp.

You lost everyone at the DSL comment. Just stop.

I honestly think the newest dsl100h and the dsl20hr are the best sounding amps Marshall has made in a long while. And the quality is pretty good for the price. So I pretty harshly disagree with you on that one. The original Jubilees do sound great tho.

I use the sv20 with a rock crusher attenuator and it’s amazing.

Cant say I've ever heard a guitar player say " oh no my amps to loud." It just dont happen.

I have the jvm 410h. Yes it's expensive and way more wattage than I'll ever need, but the master volume allows me to get bedroom volume and the sound is what we all dream off. I have a class 5 for sale

The problem as you mention with Marshall amps is that they were meant for playing large venues like stadiums cranked at max volume to sound decent.

Did you ever think about purchasing an attenuator I can see it’s been mentioned in the comments quite a bit also there’s a few cap changes you can make on any of these studio models. I happened on all four of them currently and honestly, I’ve enjoyed all four of them and I get as good as sounds as what you recorded there at the beginning maybe after 37 years of playing guitar and teaching lessons and a number of years of getting to the point where I could teach the lessons learning myself as learning has been a lifelong experience. I truly am blown away by your comments number one I’ve already mentioned the attenuator but number two to get on here and tell people that amplifiers are no good and that they’re going to be dissatisfied who died and made you king i’m not disagreeing with all of your opinions, but truly, why don’t you give people answers and solutions instead of problems and truly again, I would love to know what besides this RU-vid channel and a few guitar licks qualifies you to tell anybody anything you’re no man and you’re not helping anybody you’re tearing people down on channels that I listen to and the people I know listen to they want positive good information. They don’t want somebody being negative spoken and rude and that’s about all you’ve done so far and not impressed me at all. You’re the not Marshall not Friedman and if you’d ever used the jubilee with the master volume, you don’t even have to use an attenuator to get Bedroom tones with high gain sounds truly man I wonder how much you really have used these amplifiers or any of the other modern convenience is known to guitar players today or for the last 20 years power soaks have been around for much longer than that even really man truly.

1:27 Sorry, that's not how you're going to convince me. LOL!

dont know anyone that iused the JCM 2000 DSL??? there was this guy from Ireland...Gary Moore..he was pretty good on the guitar, well he used them a LOT. Ohhh..and that Jeff Beck guy..he was pretty good. Research is your friend.

I’ve owned a 1987x 50 watt plexi for many years back in the 90s and I can get my dsl 40c to sound very close at low volume on lead 1. The made in Vietnams got nothing to do with it they’re great amps if you know how to dial them in. People listen with their wallets not their ears!!

With the JCM 2000's, I think it's now become like a product recall. To summarise, if yours has the ISS45 board, it may be prone to bias drift etc. Marshall produced a new board, The ISS20. Seems like a faff, but they're great sounding amps.

Just wondering how many of the problems you describe would be cured with a power attenuator?

DSL Series 100 watts are used by Gary Holt when he plays with Slayer. So yeah some big names do use them

2 months ago you loved the Jubilee

I have a 1985 jcm800 50w non master with a 4x12 …and I gig it all the time ! After playing that you just can’t get used to other small amps …helps that I mostly play punk music

As a perennial bedroom/basement guitarist, this is an excellent guide. I have a couple 5 watt tube amps and they are all way too loud to crank and play at home without pissing off the fam. Alternatively, you can get an attenuator, but I've found that most attenuators do roll off some high end.

JCM 2000’s are secret gems, great video awesome playing!

The beauty of the JCM2000 series was that the sound was CONSISTANT, you could always dial in the exact sound no matter where you played and this was important if you were a recording artist trying to recreate your studio sound or just gigged a lot from 100 seat bars to concert halls.

I tend to agree…Jim Marshall listened to musicians in the late 60’s and early 70’s demanding more volume and crunch, and he delivered. The problem is, time marches on, and today’s musician is not that enamored with these loud monsters. Re: Marshall amps…I myself would not buy any Marshall ‘G’ series, they are truly one dimensional. Their tube amps sound best…but are heavy monsters to lug around!

Just got the Origin 50 for the studio. Hope to get a decent tone without going down to the Origin 20. I'll probably buy both cause the 20 fits better on a 2x12 cab!

For the first Marshall - the SV20 - just buy a JHS drive Angry Charlie, JHS AT+, Friedman OD type pedal and put it into the "bass channel" - set the amp clean on 1-2 on the volume and you will have a very very very good Marshall sound. Juicy, liquiddy everything you would want.

Silber Jubilee? I thought they're called Silver Jubilee, no?

If Marshall had added usable power scaling or Captor X like circuitry to SV20h, it would be a stellar amp. At the moment it's still good IF you have an attenuator.

I'm just buying a DSL100HR because it sounds great, and fits my budget, the MX412 cab is excellent and I have a Two Notes - Captor X already. I can drop it 38db.

WTF is this guy talking about??? DSL40CR? Best mid priced amp Marshall has released in years. JCM2000? Yeah, there are issues. But do some homework before you spout nonsense. Also, the DSL40CR sounds great at bedroom levels and cranked. The dual masters just give you so much control.

I bought the SV20h and cab and its true its incredibly loud for 20 Watts. I also got me, or better my wife :-) a Tone King mini attenuator (max.30W and the only attenuator that i know of beside Freyettes that doesn't impact the sound) and its glorious. Lower the Volume on you guitar knob and it beautifully cleans up without losing much of loudness or sounding thin. If you want to get into heavier territory hit it with an OD-3 (Vol max, Drive at 1-2) and you get that juicy hard rock Marshall sound. I don't know if i will keep it forever, because I'm more a Fender Blackface guy but I'm having a hell lot of fun with that thing right now. I've also spent tons of money on modelers, plugins and profilers and was always disappointed but also always wanted to have a real Plexi. However, its out of the question, it just doesn't make any sense to me to own something more powerful than 30 Watt these days and that SV20 thing comes darn close imo.

Wonder if he’s a Gibson basher too?

Hi! I must absolutely disagree with you about the SV20H because: 1. when you buy any plexi style non master volume amp you must buy a power attenuator anyway to play it at home. So saying the SV20H is too loud makes no sense at all. 2. If there is a reason to not buy an SV20H then it’s because it’s not loud enough or better: it lacks dynamics because it’s only 20 watts. And the effects loop works like a charm btw… At the other hand I completely agree with you about the new DSL series: They just sound awful. I would honestly recommend buying a 100W Plexi or any 2203 master volume amp and use it with an attenuator at home. That works perfectly and opens the gates to Marshall heaven. 🎇

DSL40 is a great combo. Tip... run master channels hot and dial in the channel volume. Dont use much gain = pure marshall

I had a Marshal JMD:1 ... 100 watt half stack - Super Amazing

Yeah. I own a Boss Waza TAE. Volume or tone is never an issue.

Silver Jubilee combo has speaker outs, so you can use cabs with it.

the jtm 20 is great for home use, comes stock with the creamback m 65 speaker very soft and mellow if you want more gain the friedman little sister is great.

I sure as hell don't want my Marshall to sound like that opening riff. Sounded like shit.

I saw Jeff Beck playing 2000’ live in Brazil and the guitar sound was amazing…

You said not to buy the sv20 because its to loud for home use. What about gigging??

Never let bro cook again, literally everything je said is 100% wrong.

I use sv20 with ironman attenuator or suhr reactive load ir , volume on 10 , playing at home every mid night.

It's true that even on 5 watt mode, the Studio 20 head series is too loud on it's own to use without an attenuator. Even the JTM, which I have. Though, at least with the JTM it's a beautiful clean(ish) tone, which makes the effects loop worthwhile. And on the 5 watt mode you don't have to crank it that much for a for a warm drive to quickly creep in. If you want to keep it clean at higher volumes, you have to start reigning in the bass, or it blows out (though not in an unpleasant way). And unlike the Plexi, it's doesn't sound harsh, even at very loud volume. But, definitely had to go out and buy a Torpedo Captor 16 to use with it. So worth factoring that into purchase cost. The JTM cab is very nice, really well made, good decently big cab, nicely made and very good sounding Creamback speaker that suits the amp. With my Strat, and a Pedal Pawn fuzz, the ST20H and JTM cab sound great ... albeit with a Captor when using it at home.

Joey you don't need click baits. Cheers.

I think one should buy the Origin 20h! It does not look exactly like the plexi... but it does have 0.5W mode if you're too lazy to hook a reactive load up!!! Plus, it does the 4 inputs plexi magic with one knob called "tilt"! I know 4 inputs look so cool but... it is cheaper too... no wonder it did not make it to this video!

So what you're saying is if you want a Marshall plexi tone ,buy a Marshall plexi clone😂😂😂

Bro, there's smth that was invented a little while ago it's called ATTENUATOR, there's also smth called LOADBOX.. there's multiple ways of cranking your Marshall up without going deaf.... I have the SV20 and it's prob the best amp in my collection, pls stop passing on misinformation, the SV20 is prob the best sounding 20w amp that Marshall has put out, and also the effects loop is great.

I have a DSL5CR which I put a G10 Greenback in and it sounds great for classic rock. Effects loop is handy, reverb isn't terrible, and it's just a great all-round practice amp

I love the sound of the DSL 100 head. I thought the lower cost and it being made in Vietnam would possibly mean a poor quality amp. But I was wrong

What a terrible list. By far not the worst three Marshalls. The SV20H is the best amp I’ve ever owned. Sounds better than original JCM 800. Run your pedals through the FX Loop and use the level knobs for desired volume. I play at bedroom volume nearly daily and it sounds great. Jubilees were voiced to pair with Vintage 30s in a 1960 cab.

I have a SV20H on a 2x12 and it’s perfect for home use if you use an attentuator. Which I don’t have. But I also have neighbours who don’t care. So yeah…I disagree the Sv20 isn’t a home amp. It’s a great home amp! 👍

The Silver Jubilee kombo is awesome.

i run a captor x as a power soak, and this on top of a plexi would create a very usable amp. however, the general build quality of these 20W marshall are ordinary.

I’ve just gone back to using my 2555SL head and 4x12BV after a couple of years trying to gig with a 2525C. I just couldn’t get a great sound out of it, compared to what I was used to anyway. I had comments from the audience too, that my sound wasn’t as good as it used to be and so that’s what broke the camels back in the end. I’ll still use the combo at rehearsal now and again for easiness but I’m done with it for gigs. Regarding paring it up with the right cabinet, you’re spot on and I can definitely tell the difference between running my 2555SL through a bottom BV, which sounds superb, compared to an angled AV with doesn’t sound as good. I guess my back will just have to suffer. 😂 Great video though!

I love the dsl 20 and I use the origin 50 and peavey 5150 together blended

My 2525C at first didn't sound good because of the stock speaker, a Celestion G12M Greenback. I love Greenbacks but not in this amp, unless its a 4x12. Many years ago I bought a pair of 1987 Marshall branded Celestion G12 Vintage, THE original Silver Jubilee speakers. I popped one into my Mini SJ and guesss what? It sounds like the real thing! Also, I use Fryette Power Stations for all my attenuation/boosting up, post-power-amp effects loop, impedance matching and other needs. I can play that little amp anywhere, from bedroom to arena. No problem there. 😎

I have played numerous Marshalls, the JMP2203, Lead 12, JCM800 2205 and the amp that sounds the best is in fact the DSL1 combo into my Peavey 412M with stock Celestion V30s :) Yes, at 10 watts it actually does the business, and it does all the others - like a DSL does!

As somebody who donsnt like Marshall.. the DSL its a really great sounding amp, honestly, very good sound for the price.

I've been trying the new fenders,ive had all the old ones super reverb Bassman twins, but that was 30 years ago the new ones sound and feel crap,so I got a peavy bandit for £45. its ok I'm now looking at hand wired Marshalls ,thanks for video, hay ,your playing that guitar the wrong way round,[or does it sound better than way] what do you think of the 18 w. combo,

Honestly, the DSL 20 Head is good sounding head. It takes pedals very well, I've run a lot of classic vintage Boss and higher end boutique pedals through the Classic Gain Channel, and I can get a solid JCM800/Silver Jubilee tone. However, the Ultra Gain Channel is very compressed sounding and is only suitable for modern rock/metal. Take a look at Ola Englund's review, the amp has some serious low end on the Ultra gain. But it will depend on your cabinet. I've run the DSL 20H through a large full sized cab, 2x12 and a 1x12 PRS MT15; I get great tones out the head with both passive and active pickups.

I disagree with the dsl 2000 vs dsl c/cr argument. Yes the dsl 2000 was made in England, but it had many design flaws, and is very hard to service (mainly overheating problems). Meanwhile the made in china dsl c/cr is perfectly fine, easily servicable and can be moded with ease. I've had both, and the 2000 line really is not good, when it comes to maintainance. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter where they're made, but how they are made. With that said, Muse used marshall 2000 for their tours, so that's that.

@joeyjooones What’s your opinion on the 1987 2553 3/4 stack? And would you change to larger cabinets?

I have the sv20h and for volume I run a jhs little black box in the effects loop. it keeps the decibel level down.

I call it a fever for small amplifiers, which have a lot of problems and the sound is not as you say It's beefy

And where is your playing of these so called no good amps to compare? Dsl40CR is a great amp, Best clean sound out there.

Nuno Bettencourt uses those Marshalls

i have to be honest the only couple of marshalls ive ever really liked playing through is a jvm or a valvestate however im not into vintage or classic tones at all so that might be the reason why lol i find the jvm sounds fine at bedroom volumes [through 2 1960 cabs lol] but i avoid power amp breakup as much as i physically can same with cone breakup I'm purely getting my drive from the preamp but its still interesting to see what guys with a totally different tone goal are doing

I recently tried using volume pedal in effects loop of SV20 and I gotta say, I think the "magic of the tone is overdriving the power stage" is a myth. The crunch still sounds killer at the low range of the volume pedal with the volume on amp around 6. Tone of the gain seems quite similar to when I floor volume pedal.

How many times do people have to be told, that the GEAR does not make the player, the tone or sound its THE PLAYER. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with marshall amps and anywho who says its not any good, IS AN IDIOT and should be IGNORED.

i just bought 2525C and i think it sound decent. i also have bogner 20th anniversary with 4x12 and here the sound is much richer. marshall combo cost me 800 $ refurbished, and bogner with cab was 7000 $. marshall sounds really good to my opinion. and its worth to buy. with bigger cab it will sound better.

LOL anybody buying an SV20 knows what they're getting into, or should anyway. Buy an attenuator.

lynch mod put one of those in the plexi

I totally agree with the 20 Watt Plexi in terms of loudness. But I think it isn't designed for "Playing an Plexi at Bedroomlevels cranked", but for "You play smaller stages and can't Crank an 50 or 100 Watt Plexi? Than go for our 20 watts...!". For me, it is a typically case of "Buyers who doesn't inform themselves about what they buy, until they have bought it." By the way, that's why you always should try musical stuff, before buying it! About the silver Jubilee, I couldn't tell anything... But what I'm totally disagree is the DSL Thing. The new DSL's (CR/HR) are incredible Amps - especially, but not only in terms of the Price! As I tried my Hagström Fantomen in an Guitarshop here in Germany, I tried it with some Amps - also with an DSL1cr and DSL5cr. I was like "hell yeah, that small Amps are rocking like hell!" I mean, you have Marshall-Tube-Sounds in a small package for a price, that's hilarious, so I was thinking about to buy one. A few Weeks later, a Guitar-Student of mine got his DSL20HR and brought it to our session...damn, what an awesome Amp! But I still wanted the DSL 1 or 5 cr...until...I was in another Guitarstore and asked for playing the DSL5cr. They told me, that they will pick it up for me but until it's unboxed and so on, I can try the DSL40CR. I was there with a good friend of mine and hoooooly freakin cow, that thing rocked and gave me a big, fat smile for every tone I played. So it was sure, I'll buy one of them! Regular, I'm playing an Hughes&Kettner Statesman Dual EL34 on a Marshall JCM900 1960 Lead (4x12 G12-T75, made in 1994 for in England). I'm absolutely loving that Setup, but it's heavy and it's too loud for many smaller gigs, because it sounds great with Master on 4/10 or better higher (best from 5.5 and up), but than it gets incredible Loud. I also have an E-Wave DG5-H, that's called a "small JCM800" from many people, also the Epiphone Valve Junior, Fame VS5012 (also Known as Randall RG50C I think) and some other Amps with All-Valve, Hybrid, Solid State and Modeling technologies, so I'm not an "I have to buy an Marshall, just because, but didn't know how to use it". I don't like to play with (many) pedals on stage, so I always just use an Wah and an Tuner, that's it...just because I love the real Tube-Sound and yeah, maybe I am too saturated by all my pedals (was sponsored by an Pedal-Company a few years and have something around 30 - 40 Pedals, I think). So the DSL40CR gave me exactly what I wanted... an transportable, awesome Sounding Amp, that can Handle everything I want - from warm Cleans to High-Gain Metal Sounds, without the need of anything, than the Amp himself. Usable on low Volumes (and also usable in Silent Mode, but don't need this really...) and perfect for Noodling around in my Studio, but also Gigging with it. So yeah, the DSL40cr (and also the other DSL CR/HR's from the actual series) are awesome amps for an absolutely fair price. They Look like a Marshall and they also sound like a Marshall, but with modern features for a lower price because of the "Made in Vietnam" batch at the Back. The only two negative things on that Amp are: They only come with the 2x Footswitch, so you should better buy the 6x for like 100 bucks and the OD2 sounds a little Muddy when turning the Gain much more than 12 o'clock...but if you know how to use (Playing in the OD1/Green on 3/4 gain, only using red for thickening Solo sounds in Combination with an little higher power Master 2) it's an incredible versatile Amplifier! Did you played them before or just talked about what you heard in the internet about them? But anyways, great Video and informative also! :)

This guy seems to have everything backwards. The new dsl's sound a LOT better than the old ones. It's not even close.

Just match the head with the right speaker and you are good. Some heads sounds better with celestion greenbacks than v30 or g12t75. Also try Eminence since they are darker sounding and fits a bright preamp like Marshall. Dont use bright speakers with bright sounding preamp. More boost? Just get a maxon od808 or compressor and increase input gain. The power stage on most Marshalls sounds good. Different tastes and opinions will always be there but there are ways to improve the sound.

Marshally plugins rule nowadays, though. Neural DSP Nolly has a Marshall style amp which sounds the business

Joey, this is a great video. Totally agree with you. I have 3 JCM 2000's, 2 1999's and 1 2002. I mod them and they sound absolutely amazing and I've never had any problems with them. And to my ears they sound way better then the new Vietnam built DSL's.

if the reason to not get a sv20 is because it is too loud, not only should you not get a sv20, but you should not get a Marshall. Even the 2203 or or other master volume amps sound way too thin at low volumes and if you cant play loud, then get a power station.

When i was in the Market for a Marshall 10 years ago, i tried the DSLs and quite frankly, i was disappointed in them. I eventually bought a JVM205 used and i still have it today.

The 3 best Marshall’s are the afd100. Silver jubilee and the Joe satriani jvm. I also own all of them luckily !!! Haha

newer Marshalls are mass produced garbage imho. save yourself the headache and buy or build a 2203 clone.

Totally agree the SV20 is not a bedroom amp. Not meant to be. Show me in it product description …“bedroom amplifier”.

Cringe-mas came early this year I see

Your video is very nice but I think you're wrong about the dsl amps. I have the dsl1 combo at home and the sound is great. I can play cleans rock and metal easily and the sound is good for a tiny combo. I also tried the dsl20 head and it was absolutly insane. But I respect your opinion.

Still getting on with a used hybrid Marshall Valvestate 265 w/ chorus Def a sleeper amp, and actually sold a Marshall 800 and bought a ESP guitar and bunch of pedals i used to drool about owning...(spoiler alert) high end pedals arent all impressive!

Alltogether Now ... Attenuator

My SV20 sounds great...but I have an attenuator (Iron Man II) so I guess that's cheating.

Those zebra bobbin colors (but not the poles) look backwards 🙃

I like the 50th anniversary 1 watt amp heads. But Marshall will never bring them back because nobody is going to pay 20 watt studio series prices for a 1 watt, as rumour was Marshall never made much money on the anniversary amps at the original prices. But a JMP 1 watt when they pop up sells for about same as the 20 watt. I have a problem with cooking up all the tubes in a big amp just to plug it into an OxBox. It just seems silly. But nobody would argue the 100 waters don’t sound the best.

My friend well made video but your facts are veryyyy off, the Jcm2000 was what everyone was using during the 90s and 2000 and currently being used, not my favorite amp but still widely used.

I hated my mini Jubilee combo untill i ran it through some 2 by 12s then it sounded like a Jubilee should . The G12M greenback is a poor choice for an open back combo or semi open back combo especially in a small combo . Greenbacks are already a very nasal and honky mid heavy speaker and that gets exaggerated in an open back situation especially if the combo or cab is open back . Greenbacks excel at closed back applications and are at their best in a closed 4 by 12. The Jubilee incuding the mini do much better with heavy Magnet speakers like the G12H30 anniversary G12H30 heritage 55 Hz and the G12H75 Creamback but my favorite is the Marshall G12 vintage . I have a Jubilee 2 by 12 cab with those speakers and its a proper Jubilee sound .

many comments in the post about people using JCM2000's and other big amps..remember people although tube amps love to be opened up to sound great..most are now leaning towards less power in amps,..and also the ability to play at home at a more comfortable level..bedroom or otherwise and its nice that many manufactures today are making amps with built-in attenuation or the ability to play as low as .01watt..there's no right or wrong here...its all subjective anyways..and sometimes...its nice to have both..a BIG amp and a small amp...just like the singer cheryl crows says..."if it make you happy"

Hey Joey! Really cool channel, love your playing. I am myself addicted to Telecaster as well. I’m considering getting a 20w Marshall origin head. Have you any thought on this one? Keep on rocking!

a good alternative to the SV20 is a 1959. after playing the SLP the SV20 will sound bedroom level

Every review I've seen for the studio amps has been good?

You almost made me lose my mind when you started with the SV20 lmao. I was like "oh hellll no that amp sounds amazing!" but then you went on to explain that it is because it presents itself in a manageable home use package but is way too loud. And I could not agree more lol. I just run mine through my interface and IR's. Only way to use it at home lmao. And agreed the effects loop is very meh.