Marshall DSL5CR

Considering the price/feature ratio this is a must have amp for home/living room use. You get very nice Marshall cleans (although not that loud ones - but perfect for your living room), best tube distortion that only a Marshall can offer, FX loop for your delay pedal, a line in, and an emulated output option for your headphones that has exceeded my expectations (compared with a Bugera V5 emulated output and a Line6 Pocket Pod the DSL5CR's one rocks). The downside in my opinion is that despite the amp's portability you cannot use it in a band mix (acoustic drums included) since it doesn't have the punch for it (it's only a 5W amp with a 10" inch and 95db speaker) unless you have a very light hand on the acoustic drums and you plan to mic your band (so let's say it's enough for recording sessions). Regarding the speaker, I replaced it with a G10 Greenback but the difference it's below my expectations. The Greenback gives you rounder distorted sounds but the stock speaker sounds very good and I bet it sounds even better once is broken in (haven't got to that point yet - still using the G10). Overall I consider this amp the best home tube option that will allow you to practice in silence or even in total silence considering the more than decent sound quality of the emulated output. For small gigs you might want to consider a 15-20W version with a 12" speaker.

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.