Marshall DSL20HR & Boss SD-1: To BOOST Or Not To BOOST Budget Edition! 

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I'll always be a fan of boosted Marshalls! There's nothing like that satisfying chunky, tight brutal crunch that a boosted Marshall offers for high gain mixes. Great demo as always Jon! Glad you enjoy your DSL20! Can't wait to see more content featuring it in the future!

For the first time ever I preferred the amp without. It had a nice sag and chew to it that marshall does so well!

What do you guys think? To BOOST or not to BOOST? Let me know! Wanna see more of these? Check out this playlist: ru-vid.com/group/PLjXwY-qW_dJTmJEMKASIjmBedEZ0SUVcp

I am always biased toward the boosted and this is no different. I like how the mids come forward and the lows sort of clean up. It's like butter and pasta.

I am 51 now and we are coming back to what we came from.Marshall.I think it fits to any metal music and hard rock.

That boosted tone is insane!! Sounds super tight and aggresive 🤘😈🤘

A great sound engineer is like a great chef. They not only know how to make an instrument and,or amplifier sound great,but,also,why certain formulas and mixtures work. I truly believe that you are so good at what you do,you could play a hello kitty guitar plugged into the turd of a dog and make it sound good.

I just got my dsl20hr about 3 days ago. Love it!!

I love boosted amps, however I have to agree that the genre and certain song parts or even full songs don't always need a boost pedal. Great content, man.

I like it boosted, very gnarly. But for these riffs, it would be better somewhere halfway, mabye with a bit less level on the sd-1.

That dsl20 is a beast . I don’t blame you , you could put pedals but with out the ,the sounds coming out of that thing is too rich in soothing

Jon, by playing awesome riffs and solos you are sabotaging the very purpose of this channel.. everything sounds amazing, there's no noticeable difference in terms of awesomeness. Happy new year mate! :)

I have the DLS100HR and love it! The 50 watt side is great for lower playing, but I also use love the 100 watt side since its louder and more crisp to me and natural. But I have the SD1 BOSS and its great for tightening up that flubby bass when jammin fast, making it sound a bit thinner though. It seems every time to add something to the amp, it takes a little away from the amp. I didn't wan that so I kept looking for something to be better. I found the Caline Boost pedal where it boosts the level up perfectly without losing great sound, but also making it easier for solo boosting too. Its a cheap pedal, but I love it.

If you like that Boosted sound then try putting a Wampler Tumnus in front of it.... Really brings the amp alive!

If the SD-1 is the answer, the question doesn't matter.

I play through a Marshall DSL 100 and put the SD-1 in front and love it, sounds AMAZING all the way around whether it's on the Clean/Crunch channel or the Super OD side!!!

I preferred it without boost, possible because the emf's are so tight already. Maybe with a muddier passive pickup the boost would be better.

100% for this style of playing, adds such better low end response and tightness while enhancing the mids and highs nicely without being piercing. Definitely in a mix context, the unboost 20hr kinda gets lost a bit in the mix especially when your doing low string chugs.

You can also lower the bass and increase the treble on the amp. Gets very similar results

Boosted sounds great but it really depends on what you're playing. This amp will do lots of harder stuff without a boost. It's a great pedal to have in front when you need it. I don't think you need it all the time. This is a nice affordable head.

Please don't ever change your intro greeting - it's perfect

+1 for the boosted. MUCH improved tone. To be honest, you're one of the few reviewers that I've heard a good tone that isn't super birght from this amp. So the non-boosted was fine. But the boosted was just amazing. Perfect for a recording and layering...

That's one reason why I like the Line 6 HX FX. There are well over a dozen different drive pedals you can use to alter the tone. Some have more mids (a la Tube Screamer), some have less (Boss SD-1, Klon, etc..) It's surprising how much of an effect different od pedals can have. Also, depending on which od pedal you use, you may have to dial back the gain on your amp. If you like the effect the SD-1 had, you'd REALLY like the MXR M77 Custom Badass Modified o.d pedal. I'd really reccomend you try that one out with some of your other amps as well.

I actually think that SD1 sounds awesome boosting the classic gain channel on this amp!!

The SD-1 is a great boost but very compressed. I prefer my original ts808 or for chuggy the maxon 808. More natural to me

Marshall + SD1 = Gain Goodness ❤️

I liked it boosted. The boost pedal does sound like it's adding some gain so it might make sense to dial back the gain slightly when using the pedal, even though it makes sense to keep settings exactly the same in the comparison video. When paired with the EMGs it does sound pretty tight even without the pedal,.

As always, your riffs are so sick, that I almost forgot the real reason I'm here, that's boost or not. Another killer video Jon.

SD-1 yes please. I love that thing in front of almost anything.

Although my ears weren`t sensitive enough to distinguish the difference between booster and not boosted, thanks for the review!

I've never been able to get enough gain straight into a Marshall. Regardless of which one. Great for rock, but for metal? Depending on how heavy of metal, pickups, etc., but as for me, I've always had to (and still do) use a pedal in front of it. Just needs a little boost and wham!! Does the job for me 😁

Awesome video, Jon! In my opinion the difference is so slight, that I would rather keep my rig simplified and not add the pedal but that is just my opinion. I am notorious for not using any peddles. If you have a second, take a look at the most recent cover I posted! Not quite as much gain, but you really get a feel for the clean tones the JVM410H can put out 😁🎸

Euge valovirta would be proud

Best value for money value amp out there. I have that exact same amp and it's awesome.

I liked both with this amp. Thanks for some of the best amp reviews on You Tube..... 'Tube' being the key word here. Have a Rockin' 2022!

I like how it sits in the mix better when unboosted. Gets out of the way of the cymbals.

I really like it with a TS808, tone all the way down. It tightens the low end without loosing the "thump".

I Used GE-7 Eq in fx loop. Scooped some trebs and boosted some mids. It became Slayer South of heaven and Seasons in the abyss tone. Which are my favorite.

Dude your vids, playing and sound is killer the way they r man !!!!!!

I use the DSL 40 from the same series and as it happens I also use a Boss SD1 for my boost. I always find the low end to be a bit flubby when it hasn't got a boost in front of it so for me its always boosted.

Excellent service to the community! Great format too. I would encourage you to expand this series, and maybe revisit amps for which you used other (I.e. less revealing formats). Cheers!

Sounds awesome. I'm boosting my DSL20 with Ibanez TS-5 (basically TS-9) and now I might have to try SD-1 also :D

SD-1 all day. I use the exact set up all the time for tracking. Mix that with my Orange or Laney....sounds awesome.

I've been using a Keely comp pedal as a boost with my ENGL Powerball 25, and I like it better than an OD with that amp. Happy New Year! Def' my fav' demonstrator of amps on ye' ol' You Tube.

I really love this little head...it definitely takes boost pedals well. I recently paired it with my new Dirty Tree. Thank you for posting Jon. Cheers from Texas. Happy New Year!

To boost! Just gives it an overall more aggressive sound and I like that.

I do love my Blackstar Ht Club 40 Studio

I'll be honest, that little Marshall sounds good! Great vid like always :) \m/

I am firmly in the camp of riff dependent. Sounded awesome both ways.

Boosted! But it sounds good without as well. My dsl 20 is on the way and I already have an sd1. I’m set. Sounds good,thanks for the video.

Once again great video. I'll get an SD1 for my marshall, I agree with you, I like both sounds overall

I love the boosted version. Sits much better in the mix too.

Great video! It would also be cool to see a 3rd take at the end for like an “optimized” boost tone.

Having watched many of the new reviews of the EVH Iconic amp...boosted this 20HR reminds me of that amp, which is great because I own the 20HR and OD1 but not the Iconic....yet, lol

I love my Boss SD1 but the Black Country TI boost is also a nice flavor into my Marshall.

Would be nice if you could do a video with standard tuning and perhaps with a strat? EVERY video now days is with lower tuning, that metal thing! It would be nice to know how a high gain amp react to a strat for exampel. Cheers from Sweden!

I agree that a hybrid approach for recording should be implemented. However, as I'm primarily concerned with jamming I prefer boosted for the tight tone and feel on almost any amp. The Orange Rockerverb m3 being the exception.

While a lot of people seem to like boosted amps, I always find it thins out the sound quite a lot, which is not something that I like at all. The natural distortion coming from the amp seems a lot fuller, with thick low end. A lot of metal guys like to have that thick and ballsy low end, but all the boost and overdrive pedals just seem to cut the nuts off the amp.

SD-1 should be implemented permanently in all Marshalls!!

Super helpful for my tone chasing

To be fair, you could probably dial in the unboosted tone a bit brighter and tighter. Keeping treble at like 11 o'clock, fine tuning with presense and then finding a good balance with the bass and resonance knobs. I mean having everything dialed at 12:00 is not going to be optimal for boosted or unboosted. But yeah, Marshalls boosted with an SD1 has been a standard for so many years. I know that is what Sepultura used on both Beneath the Remains and Arise.

I wonder how it sounds with the gain up on the pedal going through the clean channel? I might try it later as I have both the head and the pedal.

I love this serie, and the answer is always TO BOOST!!! ahahah

I find with my dsl40cr it's a little loose in the bottom. My sd1 tightens that up but I think an eq pedal would cut that flub but not change slightly the character of the amp.

Vintage 30's or Greenbacks for this Marshall DSL20 amp?

I think this one overall had more clarity and definition with the boost engaged.

Hi Jon, happy newyear and thanks for the video. Just wondering, why did you move to York Audio whereas you previously seemed to favour Ownhammer ??

Great video SDS. Im thinking of either this, the Prs mt15, or a 5150iii lbx. Im also planning on boosting with a Fortin Blade, or maybe a horizon devises PO. Any thoughts?

With boost all day long baby!

What speaker/cab would you recommend for this amp, I have the combo version and I want to get a closed back speaker cab, probably 2×12, but I am not sure what direction to go in.

I'm not really a metal guy, while I appreciate some metal, Classic Rock is more my thing. I like the sound of this DSL20HR. I wonder if they sound that good in real life without all your studio equipment and average playing. The amp does sound very warm and crunchy all by itself but the SD1 definitely adds an edge to it. I prefer the Hybrid approach, as I think the amp really sounds good by itself, the bottom is nice and thick and not that flabby imho. The SD1 would be great to boost leads or heavy aggressive rhythm's though. So yea, the Hybrid approach, but I also would like to hear it with some of the SD1 DRIVE turned up. Guys always just use these with the level at about 1 or 2 Oclock and the drive turned off, if you're gonna boost it, let's give it a little more crunch too. Just sayin'............I'd like to hear one with some drive. Great demo of this amp too, I also watched your DSL20HR Demo, you do a great Job.

Great vid. Cheers!!!

Both sounded excellent, but boosting the amp is my choice.

Just my opinion but scooped mids hide deficiencies in an amp's tone. I mean, if you like scoopy tone more power to you but the difference in running an OD vs no pedal in front of what is already a scoopy mid amp isn't as noticeable as running a dist pedal in front of the DSL's clean channel. Granted a big part of that is the difference in gain but the problem w the DSL is that the mids are WAY too scooped to begin with - even with the mid knob dimed. This is why the DSL is a bit of a one trick pony because the clean channel sounds thin and tinsley with no pedal in front of it - precisely because the mids are too scooped. What Marshall should have done was to either add a mid boost switch to the amp or designed the mid knob with a greater sweep or put two mid knobs on it. The Origin 20 has better mids but you have to push it a lot harder than the DSL to get it into to true JMP crunch territory and it doesn't quite get there without a significant amp mod (they should have made the gain on the Origin HOTTER). The other problem w the DSL's high gain channel is that it doesn't clean up well when you back your guitar volume down. The DSL's clean channel pushed w a dist pedal instead of an OD pedal, is pretty good dynamically in that way but it still needs more extended mids to get you into true JMP crunch.

one of my fav sounds is the od2 red channel on my dsl40 with an sd1, do you think the od channel on the dsl20 is the same circuit ?sounds like it......... and in this case YES to boosting,...lol

I liked it with the Boss Boost

I'm always a boosted guy, however the SD-1 brightens it up too much, especially with active EMG'S. I think a Maxon 808 may have been better here, as SD-1 adds too much bite and removes a lot of low end. Be Interested to hear this same comparison with passive pickups to see if it balances out. Great content here though 👍🏻

There’s no need for a gain pedal on the DSL range. The ultra gain channel is fine. But if you want to go from a great over boosted tone to a chainsaw then get er done......

Would love a Dad Rock version of this review.

With the boost ! Also, for me, an amp feels better to play with a boost.

Having owned one…. Boosted for bedroom levels sure, but dimed this little powerhouse didnt need boost. Especially after putting a tung-sol in v1

This kinda reinforced my love for this amp, especially for metal. Now I need a 6505mh to compliment it

noob question: Does the RedSeven Amplification Amp and the York Audio Impulse Response change the sound of the amp then rather playing on a cabinet?

Wish i could see the amp settings easier bud! Im gettn old lol

SD1 more aggro but loses some tubey goodness and is replaced w/ transistor not-so-goodness. A clearer way to boost is by using a clean boost infront

Out of curiosity, have you ever considered a video on the EMG After Burner?

The original sounded just fine IMO.

Sounds better boosted. Low end is a tad loose without and you hear the low end overtones in the mix.

Maybe it's just my ears but even the drums sound less dark because of the overdrive compressing the guitar.

But I've always been told a Ibanez Tube Screamer is the best thing with a Marshall amp

Sounds killer boosted!!!

I use a booster just for solos

In this case, for this amp, I like it better without boost. How good is an OCD o clone of the OCD, to boost and amp?

Pretty sure deron miller of cky uses a dsl with sd1 and oc2

In the mix it was hard to tell the difference

How do you get your kick drum to sound that big holy moley 😂

Whenever I boost I always roll off gain on the amp

Hey man, how does this amp compare to the jcm 800 20 watt studio tone and gain wize? Have a groovey day!

I like no boost