At this week's Winter NAMM show, Marshall Amplification is showing off its new Class5 ($560 MSRP), a combo guitar amplifier that offers all-valve tone in a simple-to-operate layout.

Featuring a traditional top-loaded format, the Class5 has a very accessible panel offering a single Volume knob and tone controls for Bass, Middle, and Treble. With the Class5, volume is more than just soft or loud; adjust the volume knob to get a full range of tones, from the low point's sweet and clean tone for lyrical playing, to the midpoint's valve-amp crunch, to the highest point of the dial's super crunch tones for soloing and heavy rhythm playing.

The Class5 features a 2 x ECC83 double triode preamp stage, a single EL84 pentode offering 5W of power, and a Class A tone that's said to deliver a natural, warm sound. The unit is housed in a hand-built, birch-ply cabinet with interlocking finger construction. Its traditional design is accompanied by a Black Levant covering and fret cloth (grille cloth).

Designed especially for the Class5, the 10-inch Celestion G10F-15 loudspeaker provides a solid low-end with a nice, open sound. The 16-ohm speaker can be bypassed to hook up an external cabinet, and use of the headphone jack also bypasses the internal speaker for private practicing.

The Class5 is available now. For more details, visit marshallamps.com.