The Marshall Class5 Tube CH5 Head

I have been using various amplifiers in my playing for several years now. I do like a little change every now and then, but I always end up coming back to Marshall and that classic British steel sound they are known for. I actually received this from a friend of mine at cost since I needed a new low wattage practice amp for my house that would not drive my wife wild.

Marshall has been producing the Class5 line of amplifiers for a little over a year now in a combo version. They decided this year to offer the Class5 in a head and cabinet version for people who like the look and sounds of a Marshall stack. First and foremost these are made in England and not china, Vietnam or india like previous lower watt versions. Previously Marshall had made solid-state mini and micro stack amplifiers. There were not bad, but not the quality of a regular tube driven stack. I will say I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality and sound of this amazing little amplifier head.

The Marshall Class5 CH5 Head is a tube driven 5 watt single channel amplifier head. The controls include the three band equalizer with bass, middle, and treble and a volume control. The volume control is how you get the amp into an overdriven mode. Typically when you turn volume past six it will start to get a bit crunchy until fully overdriven at 10. This makes it relatively simple to use. It is also pretty portable 20 inches long and weighing 14.9 lbs. The styling will give you the instant image of the old classic Marshall Plexi with a bit of a modern look. It features two pre-amp tubes and one power amp tube to combine for the 5 watts of Marshall Power. You can find these online for around $350.

Overall it is a really nice amp for practice or small jamming with a band. I personally set it up on a clean tone and mike a 4x12 Celestion cabinet to get the desire volume and get a boost from a Digitech RP-500. The sound comes through very clear and gives a really good sound. Like most Marshall Amplifiers this can be a bit on the high bass side. You will need to tweak the equalizer a little bit in order to get a good sound. Other than that it's a great value in a practice amp or to record.

Thank you for reading.

God Bless you and God Bless America

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Class5HD/

www.marshallamps.com/product_range.asp?productRangeId=29