Guitar amps · owner-verdict comparison

Marshall DSL40CR vs Positive Grid Spark 40: what real owners say

Real owners lean toward the Marshall DSL40CR: 86% of 44 owners recommend it, vs 54% of 52 for the Positive Grid Spark 40.

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 40

54%of 52 owners recommend
54% recommend · 4% neutral · 42% don't
Owners praise
  • Excellent value practice amp
  • Huge tone variety via app
  • Fun for jamming and learning songs
Owners complain about
  • Reliability issues, hiss or cutout
  • Not loud enough to gig
  • Thin, digital sound versus tube amps
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 40 owners say

“What I love most about Spark is when I want to learn a song, I search the cloud for the song.”
— @jrigwald on YouTube
“The best practice amp I have ever owned. Full stop.”
— @l-Libertine on YouTube
“The first built-in practise pattern I tried has got wrong chord positions in the grid - pretty much useless for a beginner, who *depends* on the practise material to be _correct._”
— @Noone-of-your-Business on YouTube