I bought this primarily for writing and tracking heavy music in my apartment studio. We have very thin walls, and I needed a "British" amp with a rich sound at low volume. I already own a Mesa Boogie Recto-Verb 25, and this Marshall is a perfect partner for that. I can crank it to a decent volume (4 - 5), running into a 5150 4-speaker cabinet, without worrying about the neighbors, and the tone is perfect for my needs.
Specifically, I got this amp to get the classic Swedish death metal buzzsaw HM-2 guitar tone, and it delivers that in spades!
It's short on frills, but for the price you shouldn't be expecting any. What it does is delivery a rich Marshall saturated tube tone.