Marshall Class 5 (Second Series)...Opinions? Thoughts?

[crunchee]

I've got a line on a used Marshall Class 5 combo (a second series example, where the previous rattling issues were supposedly addressed by Marshall, plus it has a low power setting, too), unfortunately I didn't pay much attention about them when they were being made, but a low-wattage distorto/grindy tube amp is starting to appeal to me as an apartment dweller...plus, my ears are kinda getting weary of my old 4-6 watt (depending who you talk to) silverface Fender Champ. I've checked out reviews and YooToob demos, and the Marshalls seem to be reasonably decent. I looked in the topic archives here, but didn't find any detailed posts about them. So, opinions? Thoughts? Past experience? I'm also kinda curious how they stack up (pun intended) against the Marshall 50th anniversary 1-watt amps, and maybe against even the 5-watt Slash Signature combo, though obviously it'd be a apples/oranges type of comparison. TIA!

[bubs_42]

I played a couple of them new at GC. I liked them and the low setting was usable. Guitar straight to amp tones were great as well as being a great pedal platform. Nice dry husky marshall Non MV tone. The one thing that Marshall does is nail its trademark tones.

[DaveL]

I owned the 1st version of the class 5, got a nice deal, looked cool as hell. just couldn't get anything

resembling a dirty sound without turning it up to non condo friendly levels... also found that with

the marshall anniversary combo JMP-1C (the 70's one) I did try an overdrive (MXR 70's badass) with the

class 5 and just couldn't get a good sound, but with a nicer pedal (say an okko gain plus) it might have worked

better.

I am very happy with my slash combo, the low power 1 watt setting works great. and I have a good

relationship with neighbors, and I would never push that... of course it's only capable of one sound

but it's a good sound. lol

not a huge blackstar guy, but I do think that little lunchbox sized tube amp the HTR-1 is a very apartment

friendly amp.

[Biz Prof]

I've gradually built up interest in a Class 5 head, as my JCM 800 four-holer is just too damn loud for anything smaller than a large club or practice space, plus I find that attenuators tend to suck the life out of the amp at useable volumes. JMP 50-watt heads trade at rather high prices now and still have the issue of needing to be cranked to high decibels to achieve sonic nirvana.

I played around with Class 5 heads when they first came out, and while I really dug the sound, I never seriously considered buying one. Now, I have some excess cash and a lonely 1936 2x12 cab and seem to miss out on every Class 5 head that pops up on the local CL (which is not many). I guess I'll find out if patience really is a virtue!

[gtone]

I find that attenuators tend to suck the life out of the amp at useable volumes. JMP 50-watt heads trade at rather high prices now and still have the issue of needing to be cranked to high decibels to achieve sonic nirvana.

This was my experience with my Marshall 1987 also until I tried the Phaez Brink attenuator. Brutally simple design that uses the an impedance step-up plus some passive loading to shave off the db's. Brought my Marshall down from large room/stadium levels to small club levels, all without choking the sound like a standard attenuator.

[Biz Prof]

I find that attenuators tend to suck the life out of the amp at useable volumes. JMP 50-watt heads trade at rather high prices now and still have the issue of needing to be cranked to high decibels to achieve sonic nirvana.

This was my experience with my Marshall 1987 also until I tried the Phaez Brink attenuator. Brutally simple design that uses the an impedance step-up plus some passive loading to shave off the db's. Brought my Marshall down from large room/stadium levels to small club levels, all without choking the sound like a standard attenuator.

...and it'is only 80 bucks?

[billgelder]

The Marshall Class 5 combo (second series) is a great little amp. It has a 10" speaker that does have some low end, but not as much as a 12". A friend of mine has one, and the other day we did a thorough tone test on it. Here are a few observations that we made. I would have to say it is a one trick pony. It can give you a nice Marshall tone similar to that of an old bluesbreaker. But that is all it can do. You can't really get a clean sound from this amp. It is very loud for a 5 watt amp. Louder then my 69' Fender Princeton. After we dialed in a good tone we engaged the low power switch. The amp sounded the same but at a much low volume. You could definitely use this amp in a small apartment without pissing off the neighbors too much. This amp works great with pedals, the OCD, MXR flanger and phase 90, and a couple of reverb pedals all worked wonderful with this amp. The Paul Cochrane Tim pedal really made it come alive, but it has that effect on all the amps I've plugged it into. We also bypassed the internal speaker and plugged the amp into a 2*12 and a 4*12 Marshall cabinet. The bigger the cab the bigger the sound. You could uses this amp with the 4*12 to play a small bar gig.

[gtone]

I find that attenuators tend to suck the life out of the amp at useable volumes. JMP 50-watt heads trade at rather high prices now and still have the issue of needing to be cranked to high decibels to achieve sonic nirvana.

This was my experience with my Marshall 1987 also until I tried the Phaez Brink attenuator. Brutally simple design that uses the an impedance step-up plus some passive loading to shave off the db's. Brought my Marshall down from large room/stadium levels to small club levels, all without choking the sound like a standard attenuator.

...and it'is only 80 bucks?

Yepper - sometimes the best solutions are the simplest ones. Not surprised about the price either - Randy's designs are well-thought out and based on proven principles, stripped down to the bare essentials. Guess that's why many of his amps were around $400 back in the day.