NAD: Marshall Class 5 combo

[Matthews Guitars]

Tone report later. Scored a pristine condition Class 5 at a pawn shop that has sold me a few other amps in the last couple of years.

The sucker is MINT. I don't use that term lightly. Looks like somebody got it as a gift and wasn't interested.

The price was decent enough already but I negotiated for a hundred bucks less than the asking price. Quite a good deal.

 

[tce63]

Congrats !

 

[maggotspawn]

Congrats!

 

[Gene Ballzz]

Tone report later. Scored a pristine condition Class 5 at a pawn shop that has sold me a few other amps in the last couple of years.

The sucker is MINT. I don't use that term lightly. Looks like somebody got it as a gift and wasn't interested.

The price was decent enough already but I negotiated for a hundred bucks less than the asking price. Quite a good deal.

Congrats and HNAD!

I have a head version and they are what they are and do what they do! While I was never able to warm up the 10"combo. I must implore you though to plug it into a good 4X12 (greenbacks or similar) and be amazed at what it can do! Don't try running the BASS control much above the 9:00 to 10:00 mark! Pretty much dime everything else, except for maybe dialing down the VOLUME a tad, to get a "pseudo" clean sound, to taste! Gigged with mine for over a year, as the core sound, dry amp in a wet dry rig! Cool little units, but I've moved on and have not even turned mine on in a year or more. No effects loop is "no bueno" for me!
Enjoy,
Gene

 

[Matthews Guitars]

It's like you were reading my mind. I STARTED by plugging it into a 1960A full of early 70s Greenbacks. Then tried another 1960A full of G12M65 Creambacks, which to me works a bit better as the C5 is definitely a dark sounding amp.

To me, the C5 is voiced much more like a JTM45 than like a Superlead. It has that dark, rough, gritty overdrive character to it.

Cranked is the wrong setting. Sweet spot for natural overdrive seems to be at about 7 on the dial (0ut of 10) as you suggested.

Clean is nice.

I'll be honest here. The C5 does that thing very well. And I'm not surprised. It's not my first C5 experience. This one sounds the same as the first one. And honestly, it's not quite aligned with my personal tonal preference. I like brighter, tighter, and when overdriven, I really don't like flabby bass at all. It's why I had a JTM45 reissue. HAD. Nice amp, not for me. If I were to try to make it my main amp, I'd have to revoice it tighter and brighter.

However, this seems like it'll be a good match with my strat. The only strat I still own, a cheap Affinity that was left to me by my friend, and local amp guru, who died last year. I guess I kind of have to keep that one, you know? But I'm a Gibson/PRS style, humbucker lover to the bone.

And if I don't bond with the C5, it'll be easy enough to find someone who will want it and who will connect better with it than I.

 

[jcm800gridlock]

Congratulations, I bought a new ‘50th Anniversary Marshall Class-5 combo in 2012. Stupidly sold it a few years ago. About six months ago I found new in-the-box C5H Head and ran it through a 1x12 Greenback cab.

I really liked the .1 watt option. Not sure what year model C5 the OP purchased, but there is an easy trick with head phone jack to be able to use the earlier version C5’s in .1 watt. Plenty of information on this on the web.

 

[scozz]

Congrats man, sweet little amps!

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

Always nice to score a bargain.

Congratulations.

 

[eastwood6]

C5 s are fun little amps. To me, sound better with single coils vs. humbuckers. Congrats on the NAD!