Marshall Class 5 Combo - Better clean tone - What to do??

Kinioo · November 2017

Afternoon,

I do have Marshall Class 5 - absolutelly love it when it comes to pure r'n'r, however (as mentioned in my other discussion) we started to play different types of music...
Few (literally few) of them require some open chord strumming plus some simple arpeggios here and there etc.
Now, clean sound on Marshall Class 5 isn't the greatest (I didn't buy it for that purpose, but...it is what it is)
(I play PRS SE Tremonti with Oli City Humbackers)
How I can improve my clean sound ?
At the moment its not that bad but it sounds flat (if you know what I mean) and adding some depth

Im new into pedals, so
Would a chorus pedal* or a reverb pedal* do any good here (dont have any of them at the moment) ??

*don't want to spend fortune on it - would any pedal form Tone City range be good here or maybe any other cheaper (but still good) pedals out there ??

Thank you again chaps!
C.

ICBM · November 2017

Sorry, but there is no way to improve the clean sound of a Class 5 significantly without buying a new amp. The gain structure is simply all wrong to get any kind of headroom or clarity out of it.

The only possible way around it would be to use a much larger, more efficient cabinet with very scooped-sounding speakers to offset the inherent sound of the amp, and at that point you'd probably still be able to achieve more by spending the same amount on a different amp.

Reverb or chorus would almost certainly make things worse since there's no FX loop and the pedals would be in front of the amp.

Kinioo · November 2017

ICBM said:

Sorry, but there is no way to improve the clean sound of a Class 5 significantly without buying a new amp. The gain structure is simply all wrong to get any kind of headroom or clarity out of it.

The only possible way around it would be to use a much larger, more efficient cabinet with very scooped-sounding speakers to offset the inherent sound of the amp, and at that point you'd probably still be able to achieve more by spending the same amount on a different amp.

Reverb or chorus would almost certainly make things worse since there's no FX loop and the pedals would be in front of the amp.

ok, thanks

JMP220478 · November 2017

How hot are your pickups ?

EricTheWeary · November 2017

https://youtu.be/HsXklrgUGbI

Might be some ideas in here, especially from about 21:00 where he uses an overdrive pedal to cut the gain ( he brings some distortion back in from the pedal but you wouldn’t want to do that, although a tone knob might help you dial in the tone you are looking for). Quick google on clean sounds on the C5 suggests it’s a common issue but by the time you’ve changed the valves and the speaker you’ll have spent a lot of money and lost the sound you did like. Probably think about buying something with more clean headroom like a used Peavey Bandit or some of the Line 6 models. Wouldn’t really be that much more expensive than a decent pedal and a two amp set up is sexy.

Kinioo · November 2017

JMP220478 said:

How hot are your pickups ?

Well, it depends how 'hot' is 'hot' to you....

They are
Bridge: Nightfighter A4 (nickel cover)
Neck: Forces Sweetheart (nickel cover)

NEck is mor bassy, with nice warm bottom end;
Bridge has more gain but not too mad;

Chris

p90fool · November 2017

You can give an impression of a clean tone with a scooped but bright, jangly tone from a graphic EQ pedal, even on quite a dirty amp.

You can fake a sort of "strummy" tone with pretty well any amp unless it's running absolutely flat out with gain, and even then it's surprising what you can do with a graphic and the guitar volume rolled back.

It sounds like you're not after clinical authenticity here, just a way of getting through a few numbers with your existing amp.

Kinioo · November 2017

p90fool said:

You can give an impression of a clean tone with a scooped but bright, jangly tone from a graphic EQ pedal, even on quite a dirty amp.

You can fake a sort of "strummy" tone with pretty well any amp unless it's running absolutely flat out with gain, and even then it's surprising what you can do with a graphic and the guitar volume rolled back.

It sounds like you're not after clinical authenticity here, just a way of getting through a few numbers with your existing amp.

Fair said.
Thanks,
C.

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Marshall Class 5 Combo - Better clean tone - What to do??

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