Class 5 Settings

[Cousin Muely]

I have finally found a good setting for this amp that works for me. Keep in mind though I use 2 heads, 2 combos & 2 ext cabs ( mini C5 wall). Vol: 4, Treb: 3, Mid: 6, Bass: 10. I got this off the Bohnamasa forum. Sounded rediculous to me after reading at first because the tendancy for me and from what I've read is to dime the amp somewhat and keep the bass at 9:00 or below. I run my usual Treble Boost, Wah, Phase 90 and have now added an MXR Micro Amp at the end of the chain for a lead boost. It has been a little bit of a struggle for me to get a tone I am happy with with my Goldtop Les Paul to the point of considering changing out the Burstbucker 1 & 2s. Just seemed fat as hell but no bite. Now, with these settings, I have a tone that is very 70's rock, has more headroom, is not overly compressed and has clarity even with the TB and MA on. Also, the perceived volume is the same as just diming the amp but is much more pleasant sounding. Just seems to go against what you'd think it would be based on the amp settings. I use the TB for crunch and when I want a little more I step on the MA. I can back the volume off on the LP just a hair and it really cleans up quick. Maybe later on when I roll new tubes in them these settings may change but with the stock tubes this is it IMO. Just wanted to pass this one along. Been playing the 50ths so much I went back on a mission to find the spot for the C5 and the LP. My Strat sounds excellent as well.

[ClassicRock88]

That's really interesting. I will definitely have to try that. My Les Paul has an Ebony board so it is a bit snappier sounding than the rosewood boards. My pedals are volume, wah, MXR M77 overdrive, Boss OS2 overdrive/distortion. I have the MXR set for a clean boost with a slight gain and bass boost, with the mid switch on. The Boss is set as a low gain grit pedal and then I cascade them for a hot signal. I have always been told to roll the bass back on the C5 but it has always sounded spikey so I may have to try these settings. I like a smooth yet driven heavy bluesrock tone.

[Cousin Muely]

It was said that is what Bonamasa set his C5s at when he did the launch gig for Marshall. I dont know how true that is. I can say this works well with drive pedals when using the combos. Also, the combos were used when Joe did the gig. When using the heads and matching cabs I dont care for that setting. Thers a huge difference anyway in tone between the heads with the ext cabs vs the combos when using the same settings. At this point of ownership I still find the tone of the combos to be bettter than the ext cabs reguardless of settings. Try it and tell me what you think.

[ClassicRock88]

Well I just tried the settings. I liked the core tone of it but it didn't work well with my pedal board. Like I said my guitar has a dark, snappy tone though, so it was a bit too bassy for me. I played around with it though and ended up with Bass 7, Mid 7, Treble 6 with the volume on 5. That gave a decent Clapton-esque tone that was very friendly to my overdrives. It could even go and do some Van Halen when I hit them both at the same time.

[Cousin Muely]

Cool, well I am using a Treble Boost which does put the amp back to a more high end friendly.tone. Glad it got you to twistin some nobs though and hope it helped. I think the lesson I am learning is I just like the amps set more clean or just a slight breakup. Cranked sounds great but with this it just allows me to cascade some drive pedals together to act like filters which I do like to do. Just seems more versital drive wise and I get a great clean tone without having to just about turn the guitar off like i have to do when the amps are almost dimed. Plus with all 4 amps runnin there's very little noise but the gain level reminds me of some Lizzy, Kiss, etc. 70's Marshall/Les Paul. Brite and makes you want to bang those bar chords.

[ClassicRock88]

Oh, definitely. The amps that are tougher to set have taught me a lot more about "tone" than the plug and play ones. I used to be a "I want three channels and I set all the knobs on my guitar on 10" player. The past three or four years I have gotten much more into using simple rigs (channel switching amps I usually set high volume low drive on a dirt channel and then do what you say) and playing with my pedalboard and the knobs on the guitar to get different sounds. My JCM 800 used to be set on 8 all the time. Now I run it at 4.5 and boost the front end when I want a solo. Guess what? I dig the sound that greets my ears SO much more than when I was just stomping on a channel footswitch.