Marshall Studio Classic SC20C

If you are familiar with the JCM800 sound, this combo will not disappoint. For those who have not yet experienced it, it is definitely a worthy investment. First of all, before I ordered it I was reading blogs and worrying myself about the 10" speaker. I want to make this very clear, the speaker is great! Marshall knew what they were doing, and whatever they did with engineering the box and speaker does not disappoint.
I moved and could not take my 100w Marshall with me and I do not feel like this combo is lacking for my current application.
This things is also VERY loud. It makes sound at low volumes, but it may be a bad investment if you are unable to play at above bedroom levels. Once it's plenty loud, the feel of the guitar in relation to the amp is amazing. The breakup is just right and dialing in a tone is very easy. It's a great purchase for those who may want a portable volume monster as well as those who have never experienced a cranked tube amp.
Great job Marshall!!
Oh, and the fx loop volume drop is only noticable at low volumes, and since you are playing it low enough to notice, this shouldn't be a compliant.

Let me start by stating that I have never used the original JCM 800, so this is not going to be a comparison between the two amps.

Starting from its build quality, it looks and feels pretty good. The potentiometers do not feel cheap on use and they are pretty linear. The overall finish is very nice.

How it sounds then? Well, this amp is loud, like really really loud. Do not think of it as a bedroom amp. Do not even think of it as a neighborhood friendly amp. People will know you are playing.
In terms of perceptive loudness, the difference between the 5W and 20W modes is rather small. At 5W the amp will break up past 3 on the preamp setting and putting the master volume past 5 will start hurting your ears if you are sitting next to it. At 20W the amp will break up past 4 on the preamp. In both modes you can use the master volume to control the loudness pretty effectively, although a bedroom level volume can not be achieved with the master volume past 1 or 2.
For your average use, the difference between the 5W and 20W is more of headroom than of loudness.
Here, the high and low sensitivity inputs come to play. The low one is considerably less loud and as a result, the amp will break up in higher settings when using it.

In terms of sound character, this is not a modern high gain amp. You can get considerable saturation, but you need the master volume to be cranked up. The preamp alone is not enough for that.
The cleans sound good, the crunch sounds better and the saturated sounds even better.
That been said, any pedals you enjoy, will work like a charm on this amp. I have tried some overdrives and distortions and the all did sound good. In this sense you can play a lot of different music on this amp. The on board eq and presence controls are very useful indeed. I also find the 10" speaker good enough.

Overall this is a great amp, it sounds great, it has the power and it is well built. The thing is though, it is like owning a fast car. You can enjoy it every day, but you can't really enjoy all of it, all the time.

PS: There is no power cable included! Why?

Le JCM 800 Studio est un combo de 20 watts monocanal et made in UK dont l'ambition est d'obtenir le son d'une tête de 2203 JCM 800 à volume raisonnable tout en étant facilement transportable. Y parvient t'il ? Oui, complètement.
La finition est très bonne, le SC20C est plus grand que prévu : le caisson est surdimensionné par rapport au Celestion V-Type de 10 pouces qui semble tout petit dedans. L'acoustique a clairement été prise en compte et cela s'en ressent immédiatement. Le son saturé est carrément exceptionnel : mordant, tranchant, avec de bons gros cailloux dedans. C'est très réactif et ça ne pardonne aucune erreur. Un régal. J'ai eu beaucoup d'amplis ces 25 dernières années : celui là est vraiment excellent bien que ce soit pourtant l'un des moins chers que j'ai eu.

Le son "clair" est pour sa part vraiment très bon. Toutes les notes ressortent et les basses sont superbes. Le haut parleur s'en sort parfaitement et je comprends au final ce choix étonnant d'un 10 pouces : c'est plus léger, facile à enregistrer mais aussi plus réactif à bas volume qu'un 12 pouces. L'ampli est largement suffisant pour jouer en groupe ou dans un gros bar : très grosse réserve de puissance pour un 20 watts. Le mode 5 watts est bien utile : pas de jeu à domicile sans lui. La quantité de gain est suffisante pour jouer du Thrash Metal. Si l'ampli prends TRES bien les pédales en façade, la boucle d'effet - déconnectable au moyen d'un bouton - est cependant assez mauvaise : perte de son conséquente voire bruit avec certaines pédales qui sonnent néanmoins toutes très bien dedans : c'est l'unique défaut que je vois à ce combo. La remarquable qualité des sonorités délivrées à tous les volumes me pousse à le lui pardonner bien volontiers. Je suis donc très satisfait de cet achat et je le recommande chaudement à tout guitariste cherchant un ampli à forte personnalité pour jouer du Blues, du Hard Rock et du Heavy Metal à domicile ou en groupe.

Genau das was ich erwartet hatte: wie der "Große 100 Watt Bruder" von '81! Rock Sound pur, aber eben auch für's Wohnzimmer. Ein Kanal, sechs Regler,spartanisch kompromißlos; schneidender, druckvoller Klang bis in die Spitzen! Die "neue" Technik zur Leistungsreduzierung (20/5 Watt) macht diesen Amp bei 14,6 kg unglaublich flexibel. Und der V 10" Speaker ist entgegen der Meinung einiger Kritiker vollkommen ausreichend!! Für mich gibt es hier nichts Negatives! Keep on Rockin' ....