I m lookin for a new amp and i really like these two heads. I ve played them both and they sounded awesome, the marshall dsl100 had such a stunning tone, i nailed some old skool thrash tones in seconds. Whilst the crate shockwave had such a tight distortion and solid state grind to it.

My problem is , i dont know which one to get. The marshalls a bit out of my budget to buy new, so id have to buy it second hand, whilst the crate, i could easily afford now. I'm also wondering wat i'd do for cabs aswell, prob get second hand. cheers

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i like the marshall, but i like the crate more.
I own the crate, and i am very happy with it.
i'd suggest the crate. the crate is perfect for death metal, but can do most metal.

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In my humble opinion save up get the Marshall with a Marshall Cab.
the crate is a nice amp , but IMHO The Marshall will outlast the Crate.
ive played both and I own the DSL. So I would get the marshall.
But then again Im not a Death Metal Dude. More Old school Thrash .

Outlast the Crate


I think they're both built about equally, I've never heard of any maintenance problem with a Crate GT350h, ever. If you like Cannibal Corpse/Dying Fetus/Suffocation's tone, this is a surefire. Not to mention its cheaper, and you have no tubes to replace.

But be warned : You MUST have either one 2 ohm cab, or two 4 ohm cabs, or four 8 ohm cabs to push this beast the way it was meant to : 350 watts RMS at 2 ohms ( currently I'm using two 8 ohm cabs linked together with a 4 ohm 1x15 ---- total setup is a 4x10 w/active tweeter, Genz Benz 2x12 and a Peavey Black Widow 1x15 ). Any ohms higher than 2 and you'll have speaker clipping higher than 50% volume. Get the correct ohms and this amp will push enough pant-shaking decibels at 50% volume to compete directly with acoustic drums --- which incidently is the "sweet spot" of solid-state amps ( and of course you can push it more if you like, and it does just fine ).

An odd thing about the amp is that it articulates through bass cabinets just as well as guitar cabinets, and pairing a bass cab with a guitar cab is an excellent way to achieve a unique and expansive tone.

And if you want a single 4x12 sized stack, then I suggest getting two Vader 2x12's that run at 4 ohms each, or some other 4 ohm 2x12.

Johnny , How are u dude , what Up

I'm good, posting a bit more.

To stay on topic : The DSL is a good one too. If you like Nile/Morbid Angel/Slayer tone its a good buy. Then again, everyone associates the Crate with the scoopy/sizzly sound, and to be truthful Crate has their own version of a parametric mid function ( the "Shape" knob ), meaning you can get your mids anywhere you want them. From scooped Pantera razor tone to that "honk" Slayer tone.

CRATE!!!

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I'd say the DSL because I didn't like the Crate from when I tried it. I think all of the SS Crate's with those Flexwave 5 preamps or whatever, sound too similar.

makes sense seeing how they all have the same preamp...

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You are very idiot....

AM NOT

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as far as fox's "outlast the crate" comment... they're both pretty much assembly line built amps... the marshall just costs more and has tubes... i'd actually say the crate has a better chance of "outlasting" just because it's solid state.
tube amps need to be maintained. some people just don't realize this and don't change tubes, re bias, anything. and thats bad.

so it really comes down to sound. i'd probably go with the dsl in terms of "my sound" because it hits closer to home. but what are you wanting to get out of it tonally? slayer or pantera?

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SLAYER DE PANTURA

See we agree on something Hehe
as far as outlast I would venture to say Marshall been around since the 60s I doubt Crates will duplicate that. maybe Im wrong .
Im not knocking the Crate because when I played it ,its pretty bad ass for the money. So if you can only get the shockwave because of funds, you will do ok with it.

It doesn't really matter how long marshall has been around. Crate has seen several decades.

I'm more concerned about how it sounds and how well it's built. And well, these days I'm not so sure about how "well built" marshall is.

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Damn straight brotha, I used to have a Marshall, not a DSL or anything, but a Mg 2x12, and I remember the fan broke on it 2 days after I bought it.

How can you compare the Crate ,in which head and bottom I can get for $800.00 with a DSL , Not any other marshall , Im talking a DSL that goes for like $1500 for just the head .
Im not knocking the Crate . I think its a kick ass amp for a S/S and its price. But you have to admit you do get what you pay for.
Im not saying the DSL is the be all end all but compared to that particular amp. Ill take the Marshall DSL ,thank you. And this is just my opinion.

you're speaking numbers man. i'm speaking sound.

a krank revolution costs like $1,600 and i could get the same tones from a marshall mg100 costing literally just under 1/4 the price.

another thing. s.s. is alot cheaper to build and with marshall you're paying alot for the name. a dsl100 costs $1,500 now, when several months ago they were going for like $1,200... serious overnight price increase. same product, higher price tag... where as with crate, they don't get a dime for the name on there amps... in fact they'd probably sell better without the crate logos. they charge you for the amp you're buying.

once again it really just depends on the sound you want. i find the dsl gets more of the tones i'm into.

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See at the the end of the day we agree . So cheers.

You're looking the same way at their high-end line as you look at their "made in india" line?

No, but I'm looking at you as a Fucking dumbass.....j/k anyways, it doesn't matter, that amp costs like $500 and shouldn't break down in a matter of 2 days.

No 3 days .

i personally dislike the dsl koz its lame. itried it beside a jcm900 and i got a fuller sound from the shitty 900. the deepswitch or whatever button on the dsl was useless koz the 900 still pummeled it. the only thing going for the dsl is that its got a bit more gain than the older marshalls. i did however like the tsl for some reason, but it still sounded like shit.

as for the 350h, dunno, ive never tried it but will shortly koz i like suffocation, and its cheap.

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I thought i'd update this thread. I got the Dsl in the end and it fucking owns, probably the best amp i ve ever played through, its so defined and sounds so warm when you crank it its the sound i ve been waiting for

I got the dsl 100 head and two 1960 cabs, all second hand for £680 which is a badass bargain, anyways the pics are below, enjoy

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Nice rig Dude

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Very fucking cool man....

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Can i have one of your cabs?

Very neat setup dude, must sound killer!

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Sexy stack!

I just heard something from the marshall amp forums about lowering the bias on DSLs a little bit and that it would improve the sound quite a bit, it seemed like a fairly easily done modification.. look it up!

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That little guy in the red mask pwnes.

hhaha , yea , its a little nomb that i found, its badass gonna put it on the top of my stack lol

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Good choice the DSL is a cool amp.The crate wasnt too bad but Id go for the DSL.