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Marshall Class 5 Combo Amp

The new Marshall Class 5 combo is a Class-A all tube combo with classic Marshall looks and great classic Marshall tone.

Price: $375 to $399

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at 4 stores

Searched Marshall Class 5 Combo Amp in Reviews

great tone from a small amp

Sound	first off, it looks great-nice styling ala bluesbreaker style-i have the creme color. only 4 knobs to tweak-volume, treble, middle and bass. the 10" speaker is a little bassy. this amp is responsive to the eq and you will have to turn a knob or two to get it to your taste. i use a fender american deluxe strat hss. the amp stays clean up till about 4-5 on the volume knob. at 5 it starts to break up into nice overdriven sound. it doesn't seem to get any louder past 7 but gets way grittier. the louder on the volume the more gain it puts out. definitely the marshall crunch. i've dialed in tone like srv,clapton/cream up to led zep, ac/dc crunch. this is not a metal amp-think old school classic rock. it has a nice clean sound at lower volume. speaking of volume this thing is alot louder than you would think. it may be rated at only 5 watts but it can get loud enough to annoy your neighbors. you have to turn it up to get some real tone out of it-but if you can do that-WOW. thats where it really shines-nice compression, sustain and it reacts to your picking attack like only a tube amp can. if you can turn it up no effects pedals are needed-jits tone is awesome on its own. speaking of pedals-it does take pedals very well. using a pedal you can get some nice gain at lower volume along with nice dynamics. i use a delta-lab tube overdrive and digital delay in front of it and it sounds killer. but again if you can turn it up it will naturally break up and give you that marshall tone to die for. and remember to tweak the eq-it is very responsive to adjustment. its housed in a nice cabinet thats bigger than its fender vibrochamp and vox ac4tv counterparts.
Reliability	i had to replace the 2 preamp tubes the first day as i began to hear static coming from the speaker-however i purchased the guitar center floor model so who knows how many hours it had been wailed on at gc. would i bring it to a gig without backup? no but only because it is a tube amp and i always have a backup tube amp since i learned the hard way years ago that tubes go out and never at a convenient time. other than replacing a couple of tubes it has held up well and i have played it for hours at both low volume to totally dimed out and all points in between.
Customer Support	have not dealt with customer support.

Liked about it	i liked its looks and sturdiness of chassis. i liked its loudness for only 5 watts of power. i liked the headphone jack for late night quiet practice.
Didn't like	i would have like the back to have an opening to hold the power chord. i would have really liked to see reverb on this amp. i would have liked to see a standby switch as well.

Overall satisfaction:

4.5

By 59strat
Feb 27, 2011

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Price: $375 to $399

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at 4 stores

Classic Marshall tone, snazzy looks, and all under $500!!

Sound	Ok, so I've been out of the Marshall game for awhile now; but I immediately fell in love with the Bluesbreaker lookalike of the Class 5! It sports the same cosmetics of the classic JTM's from the late 60's that just makes you wanna practically hug this little monster. Powered by a single EL84, and a pair of ECC84s, the controls are laid out like a classic Lead head - a single "Master Volume", and "Treble, Middle, Bass" tone stack. All this is driving a 10" Celestion G10F...VERY nice sounding speaker! For a 5 watt amp...this sucker CRANKS!! I tested this soon-to-be-classic amp out with a Gibson SG (faded) and man...how could one ask for more perfect tone from a $399 Marshall?? All pure tube tone!! The EQ stack worked great; the bass never got flubby, and the midrange sang out like a classic JTM. The treble range was beatiful and pronounced. The BEST feature of the amp is the master volume though; as you crank it, it dials in progressively more gain. About half way, the amp is still clean (and decently bedroom loud!) with just that HINT of gorgeous Plexi breakup. Classic Led Zeppelin blues, AC/DC...its all in this puppy. Cranking the Master higher yields exactly what you expect - big plexi-like tones!! Sustain is very awesome, with really great harmonic overtones. If you want a $400 bedroom plexi in a package that looks like a Bluesbreaker combo...GET ONE WHILE THESE PUPPIES ARE NEW! WOW...!!
Reliability	Its a Marshall...It might catch on fire...it might not...i'm just saying... I used to love Marshall tone, but...Marshall's i've owned sometimes catch on fire.
Customer Support	Marshall has great customer support....but that's because their amps blow up.

Liked about it	1) SWEET classic good looks! 2) AMAZING classic Mashall tone! I wished I'd put a TS9 in front of it... 3) It's only $399!
Didn't like	1) No standy switch... 2) Well...it's a Marshall...sometimes they catch on fire. This thing gets 5 ROCK SOLID stars! It got an extra star because it looks like a Bluesbreaker and its under $500! Good job Marshall! Job well done!