Long time kids... Time for a crappy old amp demo.. PLUSH Super 450

[kevlar3000]

An old old old Plush amp I rescued from the dirt piles.... Essentially a Fender Twin clone. Was barely working when I got it, tossed in filter caps, upped some signal cap values, replaced some toobz, and ended up with a cool vintage grinder.... Using a trusty n rusty 83 Ibanez Roadstar with a Super 70. I think the best build Ibanez ever had was the old RS line. This is an 83... Just my typical riffing...

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: Long time kids... Time for a crappy old amp demo.. PLUSH Super 450

Sounds more than serviceable. Nice playing too.

[tone4days]

Re: Long time kids... Time for a crappy old amp demo.. PLUSH Super 450

great to see you, Kev

gets the kevlar approved grind , indeed

when's the next CD release?

t4d

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Long time kids... Time for a crappy old amp demo.. PLUSH Super 450

Aw....that thing is heaps of fun
Sounds great!

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Long time kids... Time for a crappy old amp demo.. PLUSH Super 450

Haha, awesome.

[everdrone]

Re: Long time kids... Time for a crappy old amp demo.. PLUSH Super 450

awesome! your amp safari quest crusade is bar none!!!







one awesome amp basement there no doubt

[TheLivingDead]

Re: Long time kids... Time for a crappy old amp demo.. PLUSH Super 450

So awesome.

I really enjoy watching your vids, man. Always a gritty groovy fun time.

[kevlar3000]

Re: Long time kids... Time for a crappy old amp demo.. PLUSH Super 450

Many thanks Kids! It is a cool machine, my perfect kind of junk....

T4D, the tunes are just sitting, in an odd, yet peaceful purgatory... Still have a lot of ideas, but can't quite hit record... yet....

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: Long time kids... Time for a crappy old amp demo.. PLUSH Super 450

Very fat sound!

Roadstar ftw .

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Long time kids... Time for a crappy old amp demo.. PLUSH Super 450

Beautiful mess. Love it.

[kevlar3000]

Re: Long time kids... Time for a crappy old amp demo.. PLUSH Super 450

Yes it is, chassis barely sits in it, I dread that every time I open her up, I will never get it back in.... It is the Milenium Falcon of beater amps.

[ESI]

Re: Long time kids... Time for a crappy old amp demo.. PLUSH Super 450

Yo,

Long time no speak...

We had quite a few conversations back and forth regarding Risson (and a little bit of Plush) back when I was still living in St. Louis...I forget which year it was but I think you had just picked up the Plush Super 450...2008? 2009? I forget now.

If you ever need any guidance on the Plush, I can help.

Regarding it being old...yep, that it is. Crappy? Well, judging on the use and abuse that may be the case but that circuit is 98% pure Fender AB763 and the Northlake Iron bolted to the heavy duty steel chassis was made by Northlake and is considerably higher quality than anything Fender ever originally installed. In other words, the potential of one of these amps is at least that of a Blackface era Showman or Twin...but with the superior iron, if you get the amp fully healthy, you've got yourself a phenomenal amplifier.

Depending on what year your 450 is...it may have some really nice, heavy duty fiberglass tag boards...a very nice upgrade over the Vulcanized Fiber that Fender, Traynor, Risson and others utilized back then. 40 years later, the Forbon is warped causing all sorts of fun and mysterious issues...the HD Fiberglass Plush used? nice and flat. If it is a 1972 model it will likely have PCB's...but one never knows, the beauty of Plush, you have to look and see...their mantra was that of inconsistency. The filter cap's will be Sprague or Mallory, the 1/2 watt, 1 watt and 2 watt resistors Allen Bradley, The pots either CTS or Centralab. Any higher wattage resistors will be Ohmmite. The switches will be Carling. Tube sockets are Cinch brand...all of this as good as it got back in the day.

The B+ will be right around 450 VDC and the screens a smidgeon less...just like a Fender. The bias network will likely need some tweaking in order for the grids to see the proper negative voltage. There are some very obvious lead dress issues in all of these amps that require revisions...if you know what you are doing, you can get these amps to be dead quiet.

You do not need a footswitch for the reverb and vibrato to function...they should function when plugged into either two inputs on channel 2. The reverb can be transformer/tube driven like an AB763 or it might be tube/transistor driven...probably the latter. Depending on the reverb circuit depends on which reverb pan is used. Plush used a 13", 2-spring unit...could be Hammond or Gibbs stamped on the housing...doesn't matter, they are the same basic unit...only the transducers used varies depending on the impedances required. The vibrato is easy to fix if broken...not much to the circuit really. Both sound great when healthy.

One thing you'll need to fix for sure are the midrange controls. Plush used a pair of 100K pots with a resistor in parallel to approximate the function of a 10K pot. What you get is a useless midrange control...it only works on the extreme ends of the pot travel. Yank them and slap in a pair of 10K's and you'll be treated to functional midrange controls. These are important because the midrange setting really dictate how much growl you can get out of the amp.

You'll note that the way V1 & V2 are wired up is different when compared to an AB763. This is good because it gives you more options on pre-amp tube selection and how it impacts the voice of the amp...resist the urge to use 12AX7's in all 9-pin sockets...unless you want to kill the clean headroom.

Regarding the output...

Plush claimed 110 watts RMS...that was a lie. In a healthy state of tune they are good for between 80-90 watts RMS...no problems if pumping into 8 ohms off the 8 ohm tap. The 4 ohm tap into a 4 ohm load is going to be more like 75 watts. Of course, you never know which tap Plush wired your amp with...you'll need to investigate. Most 450's have both a 4 ohm and 8 ohm taps on the OT. The output jacks may be wired straight parallel or set up for auto impedance switching...I always recommend switching to the auto impedance switching setup which requires a proper switching output jack along with a standard jack.

For power tubes...look no further than JJ's. The price is right and they sound better than any of the Russian or Chinese 6L6GC variants with this circuit. You can bias them hot or cold...but the amp will sound basically the same...so I always go cold. You might want to install a bias trim pot...as these amps otherwise used discrete components to set the grid voltage.

The drivers in the crappy void-filled plywood cabinet were originally either CTS or Eminence parts. They were junk when new and are only junkier at this point in the game. Depending on what you are after sonically, there are many better options. Personally, I don't like cone break-up...I like efficiency so I'm all about the EV's, JBL's, Altec's (Now Great Plains Audio), Cerwin Vega's and Gauss drivers. The only issue with this is that they make an already heavy combo that much heavier.

Personally, I love these amps...most folks don't know what they are and/or confuse them with Earth amps (which used lesser quality iron) or even Kustom's which obviously were solid-state. You can acquire them for a pittance and with a modest investment, you have yourself an amp equal to or better than what some regard as the finest vintage tube amps ever produced. Like a Showman or Twin, they respond well to OD pedals...or really, any pedals for that matter. A great warm and sparkling clean tone is a great place to start with any amp...

And that's what these amps deliver in spades, if you take the time, skill and patience to get them healthy.

[kevlar3000]

Re: Long time kids... Time for a crappy old amp demo.. PLUSH Super 450

Yo,

Long time no speak...

We had quite a few conversations back and forth regarding Risson (and a little bit of Plush) back when I was still living in St. Louis...I forget which year it was but I think you had just picked up the Plush Super 450...2008? 2009? I forget now.

If you ever need any guidance on the Plush, I can help.

Regarding it being old...yep, that it is. Crappy? Well, judging on the use and abuse that may be the case but that circuit is 98% pure Fender AB763 and the Northlake Iron bolted to the heavy duty steel chassis was made by Northlake and is considerably higher quality than anything Fender ever originally installed. In other words, the potential of one of these amps is at least that of a Blackface era Showman or Twin...but with the superior iron, if you get the amp fully healthy, you've got yourself a phenomenal amplifier.

Depending on what year your 450 is...it may have some really nice, heavy duty fiberglass tag boards...a very nice upgrade over the Vulcanized Fiber that Fender, Traynor, Risson and others utilized back then. 40 years later, the Forbon is warped causing all sorts of fun and mysterious issues...the HD Fiberglass Plush used? nice and flat. If it is a 1972 model it will likely have PCB's...but one never knows, the beauty of Plush, you have to look and see...their mantra was that of inconsistency. The filter cap's will be Sprague or Mallory, the 1/2 watt, 1 watt and 2 watt resistors Allen Bradley, The pots either CTS or Centralab. Any higher wattage resistors will be Ohmmite. The switches will be Carling. Tube sockets are Cinch brand...all of this as good as it got back in the day.

The B+ will be right around 450 VDC and the screens a smidgeon less...just like a Fender. The bias network will likely need some tweaking in order for the grids to see the proper negative voltage. There are some very obvious lead dress issues in all of these amps that require revisions...if you know what you are doing, you can get these amps to be dead quiet.

You do not need a footswitch for the reverb and vibrato to function...they should function when plugged into either two inputs on channel 2. The reverb can be transformer/tube driven like an AB763 or it might be tube/transistor driven...probably the latter. Depending on the reverb circuit depends on which reverb pan is used. Plush used a 13", 2-spring unit...could be Hammond or Gibbs stamped on the housing...doesn't matter, they are the same basic unit...only the transducers used varies depending on the impedances required. The vibrato is easy to fix if broken...not much to the circuit really. Both sound great when healthy.

One thing you'll need to fix for sure are the midrange controls. Plush used a pair of 100K pots with a resistor in parallel to approximate the function of a 10K pot. What you get is a useless midrange control...it only works on the extreme ends of the pot travel. Yank them and slap in a pair of 10K's and you'll be treated to functional midrange controls. These are important because the midrange setting really dictate how much growl you can get out of the amp.

You'll note that the way V1 & V2 are wired up is different when compared to an AB763. This is good because it gives you more options on pre-amp tube selection and how it impacts the voice of the amp...resist the urge to use 12AX7's in all 9-pin sockets...unless you want to kill the clean headroom.

Regarding the output...

Plush claimed 110 watts RMS...that was a lie. In a healthy state of tune they are good for between 80-90 watts RMS...no problems if pumping into 8 ohms off the 8 ohm tap. The 4 ohm tap into a 4 ohm load is going to be more like 75 watts. Of course, you never know which tap Plush wired your amp with...you'll need to investigate. Most 450's have both a 4 ohm and 8 ohm taps on the OT. The output jacks may be wired straight parallel or set up for auto impedance switching...I always recommend switching to the auto impedance switching setup which requires a proper switching output jack along with a standard jack.

For power tubes...look no further than JJ's. The price is right and they sound better than any of the Russian or Chinese 6L6GC variants with this circuit. You can bias them hot or cold...but the amp will sound basically the same...so I always go cold. You might want to install a bias trim pot...as these amps otherwise used discrete components to set the grid voltage.

The drivers in the crappy void-filled plywood cabinet were originally either CTS or Eminence parts. They were junk when new and are only junkier at this point in the game. Depending on what you are after sonically, there are many better options. Personally, I don't like cone break-up...I like efficiency so I'm all about the EV's, JBL's, Altec's (Now Great Plains Audio), Cerwin Vega's and Gauss drivers. The only issue with this is that they make an already heavy combo that much heavier.

Personally, I love these amps...most folks don't know what they are and/or confuse them with Earth amps (which used lesser quality iron) or even Kustom's which obviously were solid-state. You can acquire them for a pittance and with a modest investment, you have yourself an amp equal to or better than what some regard as the finest vintage tube amps ever produced. Like a Showman or Twin, they respond well to OD pedals...or really, any pedals for that matter. A great warm and sparkling clean tone is a great place to start with any amp...

And that's what these amps deliver in spades, if you take the time, skill and patience to get them healthy.

You got me workin way too hard. I like where she roars right now, verb and trem are not really a passion of mine. This amp is beat to hell, tuck n roll good and scruffy, chassis beat up, wooden mounts all chewed up, ect. All the pots were dirty, couple knobs didn't turn ect... I have owned a few Plush amps ( 2 heads), but this one is a keeper. These tend to be what I seek out., scruffy oddballs.... Right now, the thing grunts, which is exactly what I wanted it to do...

Fabulous breakdown on the specifics, still loving my Risson...

[ESI]

Re: Long time kids... Time for a crappy old amp demo.. PLUSH Super 450

Hey Kevin,

I hear what you are saying...and the amp surely sounds OK in your clip. The upholstery (proper description is diamond tufting) doesn't hold up all that well if a previous owner was dragging it around to gigs. Underneath you'll find an uber cheap cabinet with no proper joinery. Plush used the cheapest 3/4" void filled plywood that money could buy (Just like Kustom). There are only butt joints held together with wood glue and staples!!! No lie, but hey, if you are hiding all this with fancy upholstery, why bother? right? Worked for Kustom too...so why not Plush? It doesn't impact the way the amp sounds in any way, shape or form. But you know this already.

The plywood mounting ears...they were not well executed or engineered. On top are some too small/light duty for the mass of the chassis and the little wooden cleats that hold the whole mess up are stapled in place...they often come loose. I'm certain that the chassis itself is probably just fine other than crusty and rusty...the faceplates on the silverface models tend to not hold up well...I can see that in your pix...somebody with long fingernails had that amp for a lot of years. Again, zero impact on the tones you'll get out of the amp.

All this stuff matters not...

It is all about the circuit design, the iron, the components and the solder joints that hold them all together. All this stuff is great...as good or better than the Fender they copied meaning you really cannot lose unless you've got a blown tranny...then you might have to invest a little coin. Dirty or stuck pots? Hell, those are fixed in minutes...maybe a 1/2 hour if you have to take a few apart, clean them up and re-grease them.

Seriously though, you should heed my advice on the midrange controls...you'll be able to dial in a lot more cool tones very easily if you simply swap in some proper 10K linear pots.

Switching gears to Risson's...

Another diamond in the rough product...the tube stuff at least. The Transonic solid state Ricky he designed is cool as far as solid-state goes but the CTA, LTA and ETA's are really cool. Bob Rissi doesn't get the credit he deserves. He was hands-on with everything Fender was building from 1961-1967 and had a heavy influence on the legendary blackface era products. He was also without question, a pioneer in the circuits that would later become what Mesa Boogie, Dumble and numerous others brought to market with their cascading pre-amp gain stages. Bob's work pre-dates Randall Smith and H.A. Dumble...but his stuff never had the notoriety or exposure the others had.
Since I've moved out here to SoCal, I've had the chance to sit and hang with Bob...he's a really interesting character...more interesting than the cool line of tube amps he had built in the 70's and early 80's.

I've still got a Risson ETA and a CTA...love them both. I especially love how little I had to pay for them! The ETA is one of those amps you've got to spend a lot of time messing around with before you figure out all the sweet spots. It can sound awful if you don't put the effort into it...

[75lespaul]

Re: Long time kids... Time for a crappy old amp demo.. PLUSH Super 450

Is it really the amp...or is it your freaking playing that's full of soul and tone in them fingers that makes the amp sound great? Holy smack, that sounds incredible. It sounds like you really get a pump from playing that amp, and for me, the sound can drive my playing. Now I gotta look for a Plush, lol. I'm no tekkie, so can you give a hint (my way of saying full details ) as to what you did? I'd love to get into modding amps to get a fuller sound. Got any tips for my 1971 Univox U-1246 B? Great stuff man, both the sound and playing. Thanks for posting.