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When you hear the name Marshall you think of 100 watt stacks of searing overdrive or Hendrix JTM45 crunch at volumes that will make your ears bleed but Marshall are no stranger to low wattage amps either, their 1974 18 Watt Combo (check out the 1974X reissue here) inspired an entire community of hobbyists and builders to create endless clones of this sought after amp. Well Marshall amps have just pulled an amp out of the bag which in my opinion is an incredibly well timed and good move from the British giants, the Marshall Class5 5 Watt Class A Combo amp with a Celestion 10” Speaker. The Combo is styled like the classic 18 Watt amp with the simple and concise control panel located on the top of the amp. The controls consist of just 4 knobs Volume, Treble, Middle and Bass. It has a pair of ECC83s (12AX7) tubes in the preamp and a single EL84 power amp tube to create punchy overdriven tones or sparkling cleans at bedroom volume.

Check out the video demo over at Marshall’s website.

The most important part of this announcement is that according to MusicRadar.com it is expected to retail for under £300 in the UK! Now admittedly once this hits Aussie shores it will be well over a grand and not so much of a bargain, I assume it will be a similar situation for the US but anyone in the UK who have been looking for Marshall tone at reasonable volume your prayers may just have been answered.

UPDATE: click here to see Joe Bonamassa performing at the Class5 launch event. Not sure exactly what his setup was and whether it was a single Class5 or if he was using extension cabs but to be honest I think Joe could make most amps sound great.

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