Marshall Class 5 - Bonamassa Clip Added!!!

[Plexi Ken]

... and a mo' soul switch for me,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-eNLcerd-U&feature=related

[HTH AMPS]

It sounds alright, very compressed and typically old-school in a SE EL84 way.

With a beefier output transformer it would sound a bit punchier and less compressed.  I'd wager that it doesn't have a choke either - I always use them as I think you get better clarity with the amp cranked.

I'm surprised its taken Marshall this long to get on the small valve amp bandwagon, I'm sure they'll sell VERY well if they're in the £300 range.

I'm just amazed that they didn't do what I have been on about all along
Put the equivalent of a Marshall 2203 (JCM 800) preamp with master volume into a 5W or 10w SE power section and & use big enough transformers and have a legion of home players fall over themselves to buy them
Be ideal for a small studio......

Hey Ian - can you make me something like that ?
Can I have it in the next few weeks :twisted:

+1 but with a range of gain from Plexi through 2203 to SLO and easily biased for a choice of power tubes.  8)

The combo I've built Jonathon goes from clean, through plexi tones to 2203 on steroids.  It hasn't quite got as much gain as a SLO, nor is it that compressed, but it could be made to do so (pix to follow SOON).

The REAL problem is that building such an amp takes as much effort as building a 100w version.  People just won't pay around £800 for a 10w class A combo, though thats how much it'd have to be to make a 10w hand-wired amp worthwhile (unless you're components are of average quality - I prefer to spend the extra rather than compromise on tone).

[Matt77]

I bet that this gets reviewed in guitarist and they give it gold because it's a fix

[HTH AMPS]

With the bulk buying power Marshall have and the amount it costs to build amps in China, I'm surprised they can't do better at that price.

With a better (beefier) output transformer and speaker I bet it'll sound much nicer.

[Gizmo]

I'm not a fan of this sound. it sounds fizzy and compressed.

Im not sure who is in charge of new products like this. A 5w amp cranked is loud and not a home amp. Why would you make an amp for this purpose and not put some form of attenuator like the little VOX amps etc that are being launched now. They understand the market.

It does look great in design but its missing the point.

[Plexi Ken]

I bet that this gets reviewed in guitarist and they give it gold because it's a fix

Close... it got 'Guitarist Choice'  :oops:

There's no master volume or power scaling, not a bedroom guitarist's amp, seems strange   :?

[hunter]

The combo I've built Jonathon goes from clean, through plexi tones to 2203 on steroids.  It hasn't quite got as much gain as a SLO, nor is it that compressed, but it could be made to do so (pix to follow SOON).

The REAL problem is that building such an amp takes as much effort as building a 100w version.  People just won't pay around £800 for a 10w class A combo, though thats how much it'd have to be to make a 10w hand-wired amp worthwhile (unless you're components are of average quality - I prefer to spend the extra rather than compromise on tone).

I don't think this is true. It all depends on the right marketing (as well as the overall demand and competition for sure).

A Carr 8W Mercury is 2,000GBP, a Cornell Plexi 7 is 750GBP, a Soldano Atomic 16 is ... etc

I think what you cannot do is offer the 10W amp in an MDF combo shell of a solid state Marshall. It must appear worthy, then it can cost.

And surely, if you can get Joe B. to play a stack of 10 of them on a public gig which you get on Youtube, that can help as well :oP

[Andrew W]

I bet that this gets reviewed in guitarist and they give it gold because it's a fix

Close... it got 'Guitarist Choice'  :oops:

There's no master volume or power scaling, not a bedroom guitarist's amp, seems strange   :?

I just got the new "Guitarist" issue yesterday and, try as I might, I can't rationalise the magazine review and the sounds on their CD clips.  The amp got nearly 5 stars for sounds but, to me anyway, sounded horribly dry, thin and brittle on the CD.  I appreciate a lot of this may be the way it was recorded, and tone is always a personal thing, but I had to skip to the next track the sounds were so grating.  This is very disappointing to someone who loves the classic single channel, old school, Marshall sound.  If that's a four and half star sound I dread to think what a mere four star one sounds like.  :?

[Plexi Ken]

IMHO the guys at Guitarist don't know how to produce good sound clips. I've never heard anything made by them that was any good, the amps always sound like cr*p. Their DVD the other month on 'tone' was particularly terrible. There was one section in it where they was demonstrating the 'classic Vox sound', it sounded f*ck all like a Vox to me.

BTW I'm not claiming that recording good guitars sounds is easy.

[Plexi Ken]

Fun video about Marshall from Rob Chappers, Class 5 at 3:37
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtFRmlPw3cY

[jpfamps]

I bet that this gets reviewed in guitarist and they give it gold because it's a fix

Close... it got 'Guitarist Choice'  :oops:

There's no master volume or power scaling, not a bedroom guitarist's amp, seems strange   :?

I just got the new "Guitarist" issue yesterday and, try as I might, I can't rationalise the magazine review and the sounds on their CD clips.  The amp got nearly 5 stars for sounds but, to me anyway, sounded horribly dry, thin and brittle on the CD.  I appreciate a lot of this may be the way it was recorded, and tone is always a personal thing, but I had to skip to the next track the sounds were so grating.  This is very disappointing to someone who loves the classic single channel, old school, Marshall sound.  If that's a four and half star sound I dread to think what a mere four star one sounds like.  :?

And of course the fact that Marshall spend a lot of money on advertising in Guitarist is completely irrelevant....

[Alex]

I would love to have one of these! It sounds A LOT like the Peavey JSX Mini Colossal in those vids, just a bit more Marshall and "bigger". Why, oh why, could they not have fitted it with a master volume???

The little JSX, as some might know, is also an EL84 5-Watt amp with a built in powersponge. However, it features no real EQ and - biggest problem for me - only has an 8" speaker.

No if the Marshall had a master volume it would be perfect for me with its 10" speaker!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owxl9zy_vjw

[Philly Q]

I bet that this gets reviewed in guitarist and they give it gold because it's a fix

Close... it got 'Guitarist Choice'  :oops:

There's no master volume or power scaling, not a bedroom guitarist's amp, seems strange   :?

I just got the new "Guitarist" issue yesterday and, try as I might, I can't rationalise the magazine review and the sounds on their CD clips.  The amp got nearly 5 stars for sounds but, to me anyway, sounded horribly dry, thin and brittle on the CD.  I appreciate a lot of this may be the way it was recorded, and tone is always a personal thing, but I had to skip to the next track the sounds were so grating.  This is very disappointing to someone who loves the classic single channel, old school, Marshall sound.  If that's a four and half star sound I dread to think what a mere four star one sounds like.  :?

And of course the fact that Marshall spend a lot of money on advertising in Guitarist is completely irrelevant....

It got a good review in Guitar & Bass too (of course the same arguments about advertising apply).

I'm always careful about commenting on demo clips..... I think there are far too many factors affecting the recorded sound to really be able to judge.   But I haven't liked any clips I've heard of this Class 5.  :?