Marshall Class 5

[Jimi75]

Just discovered this little baby.
Click on THEATRE for the video demo.
http://www.marshallamps.com/product.asp?productCode=Class5#

I think it is a great sounding amp that captures the true Marshall character. Most of the 5 watters sound great but they lack a little bit of their big brothers character. This Marshall delivers the goods.

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

Dang cool Jimi!

More info

http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/marshall-reveals-new-class5-combo-214824

 

[tunghaichuan]

Interesting. It looks like Marshall is trying to tap into the low-watt boutique amp market. The amp is made in the UK, which is a nice departure from all the low-watt amps being made in Asia.

The specs say it uses two ECC83 (12AX7) preamp tubes. My guess is that Marshall has mated the classic Marshall preamp to a single ended EL84.

While I think the amp sounded good in the clips, it did sound a bit overly compressed and "blatty." It sounded like the EL84 was being pushed too hard.

I would have liked it if Marshall had used a 12" speaker because I don't think single 10" speakers sound all that great. The amp does have an external cabinet jack, which is cool.

I wonder how much it will cost? Edit: the site tot posted said it will retail for under £300, so about $500US?

tung

Just discovered this little baby.
Click on THEATRE for the video demo.
http://www.marshallamps.com/product.asp?productCode=Class5#

I think it is a great sounding amp that captures the true Marshall character. Most of the 5 watters sound great but they lack a little bit of their big brothers character. This Marshall delivers the goods.

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

I would have liked it if Marshall had used a 12" speaker because I don't think single 10" speakers sound all that great. The amp does have an external cabinet jack, which is cool.

I wonder how much it will cost? Edit: the site tot posted said it will retail for under £300, so about $500US?

tung

A head version would be nice.

 

[MichaelE]

It did sound compressed. Choked is the word I would have used. I didn't hear a lot of ringing highs either.

Decent sound, but I'll stay with VOX.

 

[tunghaichuan]

It did sound compressed. Choked is the word I would have used. I didn't hear a lot of ringing highs either.

Decent sound, but I'll stay with VOX.

I would have liked Marshall to have used an EL34 tube instead. The EL84 is a good sounding, agressive tube but it was developed for hifi use. It is very sensitive to input voltage. Being sensitive, it doesn't take much drive to get full power out of it. The problem is that in a guitar amp, the preamp pushes the EL84 too hard. You get the compressed, choked sound unless the preamp is designed to only push the EL84 hard enough, but not too hard. This was one of the recurring problems with the Valve Junior. You had to tweak the voltage divider in the preamp just right, or it got blatty. And it only had one 12AX7.

A head version would be nice too.

tung

 

[marnold]

Sounded to me, especially at the end, like he had a fuzz pedal in the chain.

 

[ibanezjunkie]

i was about to say 'i bet it costs like a grand' but then Tung said the approximate price, so that shut me up.

but icant understand why anyone would spend so much on these boutique 5 watters when the valve junior and the BH5H (in most cases) sound just as good.

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

It did sound compressed. Choked is the word I would have used. I didn't hear a lot of ringing highs either.

Decent sound, but I'll stay with VOX.

Do you have a VOX AC4TV Michael?

 

[ibanezjunkie]

BTW guys, when someone says the price is 'Under £300' they usually mean its going to be £299.99.

 

[Radioboy950]

Great idea from Marshall.
The demo was pretty good, but I did not like the tone at all.
Need to tweak that EQ...dial out the mud and bring in some highs.

 

[ibanezjunkie]

its pretty strange, because just before i got my blackheart, i emailed marshall and asked them if they were bringing out any low-watt amps in the near future other than the haze, and the answer i got was no.

 

[Radioboy950]

The amp's launch event...pretty cool.

 

[markb]

I think Marshall are trying to get back the customers they've lost to amps like the Cornell Plexi 7 in the UK and the Fargen Mini Plex in the US but at this price point their amp just isn't going to be in that league.

 

[mrmudcat]

i was about to say 'i bet it costs like a grand' but then Tung said the approximate price, so that shut me up.

but icant understand why anyone would spend so much on these boutique 5 watters when the valve junior and the BH5H (in most cases) sound just as good.

Cause they are not made in china would be a good reason for me!!!:thwap:

I do have a vj stack though and im really happy with it!!

 

[ibanezjunkie]

whaddid' i tell ya!

under £300 means its £299

http://www.coda-music.com/product_info.php?products_id=5943&oscsid=6ed3280281359f483d12c751de951806