Marshall DSL5CR

To begin with, this thing is built like a tank. I own a Bugera 6262-212 combo and the casing is a lot more thicker on this small 5W Marshall than on the 120W Bugera combo so you can tell just from this that Marshall put some attention into building this sturdy little monster.

The clean channel is very nice, goes from mild, jazzy tones to crunchy stuff with that classic Marshall ring to it.

The lead channel is where I spend most of my time & it's really something to write home about. I play a Jackson Dominion DX2 (Dimarzio pickups) and an ESP LTD Eclipse (EMGs) through it; the mids are very well defined and the bottom end is very very focused so very good attack & note definition. The treble may get a little harsh on the very high gain settings but that can easily be toned down by the tone on the guitar or the Treble switch on the amp itself.

The foot-switch is metal so not plastic which is a BIG + in my book!

The reverb is also nice (nothing to write home about but decent) but it needs to be cranked up to get the best out of it.

Finally, my favorite feature: the "Low-Power" mode switch. 5 Watts can be very loud so having the option to get this thing to play apartment levels with a simple push of a button is awesome.

This thing can easily do live gigs (seeing how nowadays, most engineers mic up the amps), rehearsals (if your drummer is not crazy loud) and even recording.

All in all, I like this amp very much. It's easy to carry around and very versatile.

Good job Marshall & great stuff Thomann!

I received the amp a week ago and after spending some hours with it, these are my considerations:

The amp is heavy: It was very well packaged and delivered two days before the expected date. You should have seen my wife’s face when she saw the box being delivered as I told her I had bought a “small amp”. The amp is heavy and feels very well constructed. Some people may not like the fact it is heavy but for me, it gives a sensation of quality and durability.

The amp is loud!: surprise, it’s a Marshall. The 5W are more than enough to play in your room, record, use it in a rehearsal and I would dare to say, a small gig (with mic). I live in the center of Madrid and won’t be able to play in my apartment above level 3 of the volume in any of the two channels. I’ve spent most of the time using headphones while playing. I don’t feel the reduction button does that much, at least not if you play to a 3 level of volume, so I guess you can feel the difference if the volume is higher.

Sound: I really like the sound. The clean sounds great but is NOT so versatile, I like that, that’s why I went for this Marshall. The ultra gain channel can deliver a wide range of distortion sound. I use the gain knob maximum to level 4 to keep it like a crunch sound. For the lead I use the JCM 800 distortion through the clean channel (sounds wonderful).

Features: The EQ is very sensitive so you can get a pretty good blend of the frequencies you’d prefer.

The digital reverb is ok, it may not be the star of the show but does the job, it is cool that the amp has one.

I can’t say that much about the speaker as I haven’t been able to play the amp loud enough but the emulated out is a huge feature and sounds great, specially to play at home.

Things I would have preferred: I would have preferred the emulated out to have a 3/4 inch out instead of a 3.5 mm. I believe a 3/4 out gives a sense of robustness which would go along with the construction of the amp.

I would have also preferred if the amp would have had a stand by switch.

Overall, I’m very pleased and happy with the purchase. If you like the Marshall sound and want something affordable to play rock at home or at the recording studio, this is your amp.

It's my first Marshall amp and I don't regret buying it. It only has three valves in it, but it delivers 5 glorious watts of beautiful harmonic distortions as I imagined it would. Power chords simply sound delicious :). It is built like a tank, the emulated output is acceptable when you don't want to use its speaker (you'll have to disconnect the speaker before turning the amp on in order to use just the emulated output, otherwise both the emulated output and the speaker will work in simultaneously, as I understand there is an internal load that is engaged when you disconnect the speaker). I think the 5 watts are more than acceptable for my current use in my apartment, I usually keep it on 1 watt power the volume pot somewhere between 3 and 5... no, it does not go to 11. I don't think the amp would manage to be heard in a club gig without putting a mic on it, if that's your objective then go with the 20 watts version.

The only drawback I see, is that at some point I'll have to replace the power valve and I wasn't able to find documentation on how to check and fine-tune the bias of the output valve, but I guess I am supposed to go to a dealer or tech to do this job... right :). We'll see that when that time will come.

I bought this amp after trying it out at my friends, as i wanted small tube amp and simple rig. Before buying this one i also tried DSL1 but it couldn't compare to DSL5. I use it mainly to play metal and AC/DC riffs, and to use clean channel as pedal platform.

The build quality is solid, sounds really good for the money. Clean channel is great and takes pedals well. Ultra gain channel rocks on it own, but if you put tube screamer type pedal in front delivers really good metal tone.

I play it mostly on Ultra gain cannel on 0,5W option volume at 12 O'clock, its loud enough for the room but quiet enough not to trouble my neighbors. I can play it on 5W as well but can't go above 9 O'clock as it gets to loud.

Effects loop and headphones are a cool features and works fine, sound quality on headphones is good, but before using it you need to unplug the speaker.

EQ reacts well to changes, its not to sensitive, and not to wide.

The amp comes with original footswitch one button to select channel and second to turn on /off effects loop which is really good if you need to put some effects after the amp preamp.

On the minus side the only one i can think of it is a bit to heavy, for a smaller combo amp like this.

Conclusion, if you are looking for small tube amp for rock, metal to have one two solid tones and simple rig this is definitely for you, you can play at home and on small gigs.