Guitar amps · owner-verdict comparison

Marshall DSL40CR vs Positive Grid Spark 2: what real owners say

Real owners lean toward the Marshall DSL40CR: 86% of 44 owners recommend it, vs 53% of 85 for the Positive Grid Spark 2.

Verdicts aggregated from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube owner comments — affiliate reviews excluded. Sample sizes differ; judge accordingly. How we score

Marshall DSL40CR

86%of 44 owners recommend
86% recommend · 7% neutral · 7% don't
Owners praise
  • Sounds great, punches above its price
  • Extremely versatile, wide tonal range
  • Excellent clean channel
Owners complain about
  • Loud, low-volume tone divides owners
  • Weak, thin onboard reverb
  • Distortion channel and bass voicing not for everyone
Full owner report →

Positive Grid Spark 2

53%of 85 owners recommend
53% recommend · 18% neutral · 29% don't
Owners praise
  • Massive library of amp models and effects with near-endless tone options
  • Companion app and AI tone creation make dialing in sounds easy
  • Great for practice and jamming, including play-along backing tracks
Owners complain about
  • Buggy app and firmware, including the AI sometimes failing to load
  • Quality and hardware issues for some, like volume dropping out or dead units
  • Stock tones run bass-heavy and need EQ tweaking to clean up
Full owner report →

What Marshall DSL40CR owners say

“Sounds awesome, I’m sick of those digital amps with millions of presets that take hours to go through.”
— @way2sh0rt07grad on YouTube
“When it first arrived, I couldn’t stop playing the CLEAN channel for well over an hour!”
— @michaelyolch on YouTube
“Way too much treble.”
— @marvinmartin3438 on YouTube

What Positive Grid Spark 2 owners say

“The Spark wins all around. Sonically, functionally, the form, the support... the whole ecosystem just works.”
— @ArmandoVegaTV on YouTube
“One can not describe the enormous sound of the Spark without being in the room with it, very amazing, I have let a lot players hear mine and they are genuinely impressed once they hear it in person.”
— @RandyRocker56 on YouTube
“the Spark 2 which had many issues that were eventually fixed through firmware updates... it clearly wasn't ready for prime time when it first rolled out their doors”
— SherbetUnusual199 on Reddit