Ordered a Marshall Class 5

[Robert]

GAS struck once again. This time, the Marshall Class 5. People I've talked to have told me I will love it. It's an amazing sounding little amp, apparently. So, I figured I need to find out how true this is! :happy

It will be a few weeks before it gets here though.

 

[Jimi75]

Lucky you, lucky you, lucky you! This amph totally rocks! I immediately fell in love with it, but at the moment I've gotta save some money for the cd of my Blues band.

Dime it, play it, take your humbucker equipped Hagstrom and you are in tone heaven.

Looking forward to enjoying your first videoclips.

Congratz Rob.

 

[msteeln]

I heard a few say it's not so hot with single coil guitars. Any thots? I'm not always looking to dime and rip, so maybe it's kinder to singles on lower settings.
Also that it can be modded to be even better than stock, but it's great right out of the box.
But, better than the Blackstar HT5, or the Peavey Valve King Royal 8?

Have fun with your new toy, everybody should probably have one.

 

[oldguy]

Sounds good w/ single coils here, could probably be better w/ some tone control tweaking.

 

[msteeln]

Sounds good w/ single coils here, could probably be better w/ some tone control tweaking.

As it is in the vid, I'm not too thrilled. I'd prefer a more spongy saturation instead of pure grit, which too quickly can turn into a one-trick-pony. But yeah, I'd like to have heard the guitars with the tone knobs dialed down from a bit to 0, then work up the volume on the amp at those various stages. I may be the only one left on the planet that likes 0 on many a guitar's tone dial.

 

[MAXIFUNK]

I tried out this amp briefly and it was just so so to me.
Maybe it was because I was looking for sometime with more wattage at the time
but it just did not leave much of impression.

 

[deeaa]

Sounds pretty much exactly like a Valve Junior does stock IMO.

I really dislike the drive tones of those singles though - great for those lead riffs and runs, but the moment he plays chords it sounds pretty ugly to me.

 

[Jimi75]

I can only say, wait for Robert's clips. This is really a cool amph and it's so easy to make it sound great!

 

[deeaa]

Yeah, I didn't mean the amp might sound bad per se; on the contrary I'm a fan of EL84 type amps, especially the Bluesbreaker is one of my all time faves. My Ceria is basically a modded bluesbreaker too...I'd love one of these as well.

I also liked the way my Valve Jr. sounded, but I do think the drives on these type amps work infinitely better with buckers, as they have very little saturation etc. to make the sound smooth and it tends to be kinda 'cereal crumbly' and lacking clarity with single coil chords, unless a suitable TS pedal or something is used. I suppose it has to do with the simplicity of the tone stack/preamp configuration, there's just not enough harmonic overtones to 'fill' the sound with saturation, but buckers help with that a lot.

Anyway, I really love that clean but sort of crunchy, thick and powerful sound you get from an EL84 bluesbreaker with beefy buckers...very much the same as on ACDC's remastered Powerage album. Very rock, very strong, but hardly any drive or OD.

 

[SuperSwede]

Its a sweet amph Robert, you deserve it!

 

[ZMAN]

I have never really understood the 5 watt amp thing. I have seen many posts about various models. This one at least has tone controls. I guess if you want clean tones they would be OK. They probably will take pedals pretty well and are basically a decent practice amp.
In hearing the Clip I get just about the same tones from my Vox Pathfinder, but it has a reverb and gain controls. I keep that one at my daughters for extended visits. The class 5 IS a portable tube Marshall and I am looking forward to Robert's clips. Wouldn't something like a Blues Junior be more versatile?

 

[Robert]

Check out this video guys...



And this - comparison to a Champ.

 

[oldguy]

Sounds good, Robert!
The guy in that first video's a great player, too. (Although he doesn't quite have the veins you do, hee, hee.)

 

[deeaa]

I have never really understood the 5 watt amp thing. I have seen many posts about various models. This one at least has tone controls. I guess if you want clean tones they would be OK. They probably will take pedals pretty well and are basically a decent practice amp.
In hearing the Clip I get just about the same tones from my Vox Pathfinder, but it has a reverb and gain controls. I keep that one at my daughters for extended visits. The class 5 IS a portable tube Marshall and I am looking forward to Robert's clips. Wouldn't something like a Blues Junior be more versatile?

zure...the 5w allure is the price you get a pure tube tone, nd not terribly loud either. I dunno if anyone uses them in versatile use, just home playing mybe recording.

 

[Katastrophe]

The Marshall enclosure looks bigger than that Champ, and should be less "boxy" sounding...

I can't wait to see the vid on this when it comes in.

 

[Blaze]

Cool small amp ...:socool

Joe playin the Class 5

 

[Jimi75]

Cool small amp ...:socool

Joe playin the Class 5

Joe posted the settings over on his homepage. I remember that treble was pretty low like 3 or 4 only, but as one can see he uses the bridge pu on his LP and so he gets that creamy lead kinda tone. It's amazing how this little thing sounds under Joe's hands.

 

[Duffy]

I played one.

I played this amp a few times and like the bluesbreaker vibe.

I liked the tone a lot. I got a Vox AC15C1 Custom, the new design, a great amp.

I would love to get a small tube Marshall and liked this better than the Haze, combo or stack.

I could see owning this amp with no problem.

I, too, bet Robert will stun us with his rendition of it. With his skills he will be able to show us the versitility of the amp and be able to dig into its secret tonal areas that only a master can reach. All BS aside.

Robert has good taste.

That Class 5 is a great amp, somewhat criticized for cracking and popping noises supposedly coming from the chassis or tube layout, but the one I played, and I cranked it, was silent and I adjusted the top grab handle not to resonate. Cranked it sounded awesome and at lower volumes it sounded good, no problems there, but loud it was LOUD, and I could see a person gigging with it without a slammer drummer, belching out such idiocies as, "Hey, get a real amp!", while he breaks heads and engages in his one trick boogie of full tilt boogie slamming.

Too bad so many talented drummers are so limitted in their dynamism and only know, full blast hammering. I love having a loud amp I can turn up and get them frantically waving for me to turn down while I sometimes "accidentally" fail to see them jesturing wildly.

I am a drummer first and a guitar player second, but have been concentrating on guitar over the last ten years to a great degree. My drums are set up in my dining room and are tuned up and I play them almost daily now that I rearranged my musical accessibility. Just got some of those multistick sticks, alt. to brushes and like them. I got the heavy guage ones butr will probably get some lighter ones with more sticks bundled together. I also play Conga Drums, and have a pro set of three with basket stands: 12, 11.75 and 11 inch heads, chrome rims, antique sunburst Sonars. Really a lot of fun to jam on. Will be mic'ing these into some recording I'm going to post, layering some material onto my JamMan. Try it anyway.

I would say that Marshall is an awesome amp and look forward to hearing it played thru by a real good player.

 

[ZMAN]

Cool small amp ...:socool

Joe playin the Class 5

I saw this clip on the Joe Bonamassa at Royal Albert Hall DVD and at first glance I thought it was a Blues Breaker. I never realized it was a Class 5.
It would be perfect for that application.
I guess for the money it is about the most reasonable all tube amp that Marshall has ever made.

 

[Kestrel]

The Marshall Class 5 is great. Quite impressive for a 5 watt valve amp. At lower volumes you can get some lovely cleaner tones, but it can get plenty loud enough to annoy the neighbours. Love the way it breaks up! Mine is one of the 1's gen models with the one piece back. New ones have a 3 piece cab back which reportedly cuts down on the rattling they were prone to. I absolutely love my Class 5!

 

[Duffy]

Class

The Class 5 I played a few times looks very blues breakerish and has only been in the shop for maybe two months. It had none of the reported rattling or crackling or popping. It was a very excellent tone with a lot of integrity, obviously evident immediately.

I was surprised by the bad reports that I read about the rattling, having not observed any myself and having been really impressed.

I think you have to take these reports with a grain of salt, or maybe even a salt lick block. But, on the other hand, the reports we get are important in disseminating information that we might otherwise largely not get.

I wonder if the reports are consistenly bad on the Class 5? Hopefully we will get some first hand information right here on the Fret. That is the best kind of information, from people we know and trust.

 

[Katastrophe]

Played through one of these little monsters today. I gotta say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The amph does what it does very well. They should change the name of the volume knob to simply, "More." It was plenty loud and just oozed that vintage Marshall tone.

If Marshall would come out with this amph with a 12" speaker and on board reverb, it would be THE small home/studio/small gig amph. I didn't play with any pedals, but a ZYS or a Tube Screamer variant would be all kinds of fun with this thing.

Looking forward to your review and pics when it gets in, Robert! Hope you enjoy it!

 

[Robert]

It's here!

What an awesome little MONSTA!

Sounds wicked!

 

[Radioboy950]

Awesome Robert!
I have not played through one, but I've run across some killer clips.
From what I can tell, it sounds phenominal cranked. And in one clip, the dude ran it through a marshall 4X12 cab and it was mind-blowing.
That would be my only concern...that I would have little if any opportunity to drive the heck out of it to appreciate that classic Marshall tone.
But for a regular gigging player like you, I bet that's not a concern.

 

[Robert]

It's not as loud as I expected, even when cranked. The difference in volume between 3 and 10 is minimal, but what happens is it goes from clean to Plexi crunch. :dude

It's got that classic Plexi tone, which is so fun. Instantly Jimi tone out of the box!

 

[Radioboy950]

what happens is it goes from clean to Plexi crunch. :dude

It's got that classic Plexi tone, which is so fun. Instantly Jimi tone out of the box!

yummy.
Can't wait for your vidsoke
Special request: With humbuckers too, please...pretty please