Class 5 Review

Features wise this amp has very little. It's a one trick pony, but it's trick is sounding good.

Features:	4.5
Sound:	9.5
Reliability:	6.5
Impression:	9
Overall rating:	7.4
Users rating:	9.5
Comments:	18

overall: 8

Reviewed by: Jak Archer, on october 13, 2009

Price paid: £ 299

Purchased from: PMT

Features: This amp was made in 2009 in England. This amp suits the genre's I play (Blues, Classic Rock); that's one of the reasons why I chose it. It is a 1 channel amp with Master Volume, Treble, Middle and Bass. Also comes with a headphone jack and extension cab jack for 16 ohms. I would of like the amp to have reverb. I will be using it for a gig in a couple of weeks and see if it can handle a small theatre. // 6

Sound: I'm currently using a Epiphone Les Paul Classic with stock pickups. This amp has that classic Marshall roar you hear on so many records. It is perfect for classic rock. The amp does get quite noisy when increasing the volume. Paired with my Rothwell Heartbreaker, it's great, I began to play some Van Halen, The lead tone out of this with my heartbreaker is amazing, nice, smooth and thick. As the amp is one channel and has just a master volume when you gradually increase the volume, it starts to break up at around 4. I'm yet to try out the gain on the amp because the amp is loud, so I'm waiting till everyone is out of my house. But I'm going to hopefully be buying a 2x12 to help it out at gigs. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I have only had it a day, so as expected it hasn't died. I'm going to gig with it without a backup. The amp looks very sturdy. It has 4 rubber "feet" on the bottom which look sturdy. Tolex looks good and I'm yet to open it up to have a look inside. The grill cloth is classic Bluesbreaker. // 8

Impression: I play Blues and classic rock and this is a perfect match. I have been playing about 3 years now and I bought this to replace my AC15. If it was lost/stolen I would definately go buy another on because the sound is just what I'm looking for. I compared this with the Blackstar HT-5 and the Class 5 just sounded so much nicer (smoother, more Vintage sounding). // 9

overall: 6.8

Reviewed by: SimplyBen, on october 05, 2009

Features: Features wise this amp has very little. It's a one trick pony, but it's trick is sounding good. All it has to offer is bass, middle & treble controls, the on/off Switch and an input jack. Simplicity at it's best. The lack of a master volume control is the only thing that would really put me off this amp. // 3

Sound: I tested it with a Tokai Love Rock with stock pickups and it sounded wonderful. I would recommend this amp mainly for blues -> classic rock players and all points inbetween, with a boost it could probably hit 80's metal (Metallica & such) but I didn't try it. This amp is really just 5W of Marshall roar, I got the chance to crank it up to full volume and was blown away by just how loud it was. It starts to break up at around 4/5 on the volume knob giving you a fair amount of headroom on such a small amp. The cleans on it sounded very nice as well very glassy Marshall cleans. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I couldn't really comment as I haven't played it for too long but it seemed very solidly built and there's not much that could go wrong with it. (The 5 is just a random number since I don't know what it should be) but from my experience with Marshalls I would imagine it's a pretty reliable solidly built amp. // 5

Impression: For playing rock this amp is amazing, the classic Marshall tone really shines through. I compared it to a Blackstar HT-5 and while the Blackstar is good for metal and has more features, I'd still buy the Marshall. I'd be on the way to get the Blackstar and somehow end up in a store handing over the money for the Marshall because of it's amazing tone. // 9

Comments

[Chrisiphone]

Woop

This is really giving me a headache about this amp now! I REALLY want one! but the Blackstar HT-5 is there too! Ahhhh decisions!

How would this amp sound at lower volume levels being driven hard by a Maxon OD808?

[Anthony1991]

Likes nice etc, good unbias review, it's just a shame about it's price for just 5W and basically little features.

[gunmyle]

should go for an AVT20, has the same price but with 15 more watts and better features

[Slicer666]

gunmyle wrote:

should go for an AVT20, has the same price but with 15 more watts and better features

Do you have any idea what you're talking about?

[Nick184]

OK review but do you actually own this amp? Sounds like you're basing it on a test in a shop.

Gunmyle the AVT20 is not an all valve amp like this one; it's hybrid. Similarly the blackstar ht5 is not all valve as it uses half valve half solid state distortion (or something similar, sorry if that's wrong).

I'd love this amp, but needs a master volume...

[Nick184]

Though I should add that the blackstar HT 5 is still an amazing sounding little amp; the fact that it uses some solid state is because you couldn't get such high levels of distortion from just one valve in each section.

[Mazzakazza]

Did you actually play this amp for very long...it doesn't sound like you own it, or would've had time to get to grips with the product...

[jannick]

cool amp. still. im just looking forward for the AC/DC amp that comes with my ac/dc box set. should have it in a week xD hell yeah!!!

[bananahammock]

LOLOL today was my first day working at a guitar store, and i was testing amps with a tokai love rock LP copy

[SeanX3187]

seems like a decent studio/practice amp.
i'm not sure how much they cost, but i'm assuming they'd be too expensive, but picking up one used wouldn't be a bad idea. i may consider it.

[Zakattak264]

wtf is this, beginner month? do something on a line6 or some good pedals

[und3ad_s4int]

Zakattak264 wrote:

wtf is this, beginner month? do something on a line6 or some good pedals

I just laughed. Line 6 over Marshall? Sorry, but I can't let such blasphemy go unnoticed.

[fretsonfire74]

Good review. I'm not so sure about the amp, and I probably wouldn't get it, but at least it's score reflected that. It wouldn't be a bad bedroom practice amp.

[TOMMYB22]

Nick184 wrote:

OK review but do you actually own this amp? Sounds like you're basing it on a test in a shop.

Gunmyle the AVT20 is not an all valve amp like this one; it's hybrid. Similarly the blackstar ht5 is not all valve as it uses half valve half solid state distortion (or something similar, sorry if that's wrong).

I'd love this amp, but needs a master volume...

Nope, the HT-5 is valve. It's a unique design but it's still a valve amp.

[Jak Archer]

Chrisiphone wrote:

Woop

This is really giving me a headache about this amp now! I REALLY want one! but the Blackstar HT-5 is there too! Ahhhh decisions!

How would this amp sound at lower volume levels being
driven hard by a Maxon OD808?

If you play classic rock I definatelt reccomend it. I also compared the class 5 with the HT-5 and the Class 5 sounded richer and fuller.

[sberube1979]

Zakattak264 wrote:

wtf is this, beginner month? do something on a line6 or some good pedals

LOL, Line 6?

[LJHarris]

I got a gt-10 that I could work in-conjunction with this, with the effect of the gt-10 and tone of this baby

[sberube1979]

fretsonfire74 wrote:

Good review. I'm not so sure about the amp, and I probably wouldn't get it, but at least it's score reflected that. It wouldn't be a bad bedroom practice amp.

Depending on what sound you're looking for this might not make a great bedroom amp. It's a single channel amp so you have to max out the volume to get the speaker to break up (it sounds great though). So unless you're looking to play clean (which again sounds great), you need a OD or distortion pedal to get any distortion.