REVIEWED
HANDS ON... THIS MONTH: Eric Clapton
& the Marshall Class5
EC has used lots of different amplifier brands but he first made his name using Marshall. The diminutive all-valve Class5 Marshall amps can help you nail those timeless EC tones without breaking the bank or annoying the neighbours!
Eric Clapton has worn plenty of musical hats during nearly five decades as a professional musician: blues/rock pioneer, laid back country rocker, Armani-suited stadium filler or acoustic roots musician. This remarkable ability to blend, chameleon-like, into different musical surroundings has helped to create a certain mystique about EC that makes him hard to pigeonhole, despite the guitar legend remaining very firmly rooted in the blues. Born in London in March 1945, Clapton spearheaded the generation of young British guitarists (virtually all of whom were white, middle class and from the Home Counties) that discovered a love for the music of the original post-war American blues artists, particularly the harder-edged ‘industrial’ electric blues of artists like Howling Wolf, Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters. A naturally gifted guitarist, Clapton’s almost mystical affinity with the blues soon saw him become one of London’s most sought-after blues guitarists during the mid-1960s UK ‘blues boom’ and something of an idol himself to his rapidly growing fan-base.
Eric Clapton established his reputation during the mid 1960s, being one of the first guitarists to discover the thrilling roar of a Marshall amp at full throttle…
Clapton’s guitar work, lyrical, powerful and played through a heavily
overdriven Marshall valve amplifier sounded completely different to anything heard before on these shores. Compared to the clean and slightly stilted guitar work of early British rock and rollers like The Shadows, Bert Weedon and Joe Brown, Clapton’s expressive playing sounded like it came from another universe. Word of Clapton’s reputation soon spread and it wasn’t long before American blues players like Mike Bloomfield and Jimi Hendrix were captivated and inspired by the enigmatic young Englishman’s uniquely expressive playing. Clapton’s restless musical path sometimes makes it difficult for younger players to appreciate exactly why he is still regarded as one of the world’s great blues guitarists but his early work with John Mayall is essential listening. The LP John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers (with Eric Clapton) captures EC during his peak as an emergent guitar hero.
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LEARN THE SECRETS OF MARSHALL USERS’ TONES
Class act: The Marshall Class5 delivers big tones from a compact package.
Marshall Class5
Eric Clapton was probably the first guitarist who was widely known for taking a Marshall valve amp and winding it up to achieve the same singing natural distortion as he heard on recordings by American blues guitarists, particularly Freddie King. For the Bluesbreakers sessions EC used a 45 watt Marshall JTM combo loaded with 212 Celestion speakers, achieving his trademark tone using the powerful PAF humbuckers on his Gibson Les Paul – plus prodigious volume – to overdrive the amp’s output stage. The Marshall Class5 amp uses a similarly pure all-tube signal path that lets the player’s tone shine through. Although this amp is rated at only five watts it can still deliver an impressive amount of volume but what really makes this amp so cool is that it still sounds huge, even at very low volume levels. The low-wattage big-tone is achieved thanks to the amp’s open- ended Class A circuitry that delivers beautiful natural overdrive dripping with musical second-order harmonics. This a pint-sized version of the authentic ‘Plexi’ tone sounds every bit as impressive as the sound EC got by cranking his amp, just without the pain threshold volume levels that sent the Decca studios recording engineers into a frenzy! The Class5 is available as a cute head and separate C110 extension speaker cab or a 110-loaded combo: both versions look so smart and unobtrusive that your missus won’t even mind them occupying their own space in the living room! It is even possible to gig with the Class5 if you stick it through the PA. Joe Bonamassa used it live at the Class5’s official launch at Ronnie Scott’s in London a couple of years ago. You’ve got to hear the Class5 to believe it…check on out at your nearest Marshall dealer now! PM
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