Apartment Dwelling Marshall Stack Lovers...

JeffB

Let it B
I have your answer.....

Actually 2 answers.

1st is our very own Neils' Plexitone. If you are after anything Plexi: this mans pedal into the clean amp of your choice will do it like nothing else I've heard. Lush, warm, and just way cool plexi-vibe. Uncanny reproduction even at reasonable volumes.

For those of you like ME however whom LOVE Plexi's but really live for a cranked MF, JMP, or Hotrodded 800 any beyond...THIS

plexitube-slice-w-awards.jpg


Is your answer. I got this bad boy last week, and have been fiddling with it for the past few days. From Live And Dangerous, to Live After Death, to Live In the Shadow of the Blues..this pedal will do it. AT BEDROOM VOLUME.

It's called a Plexitube, but Neil's pedal does a much better Plexi than this. But for everything else, the Plexitube is THERE. The amount of versatility in this pedal is incredible. It's a Gain monster for sure, but you can get JMP crunch all the way up to Soldano and TSL gain and I was even able to coax some AJFA/John Sykes MESA type tone out of it. Way too much gain for my needs on tap, but if you like that 5150 or TSL amount of extreme gain, you're set too.

It will get you a good sound right off the bat, but takes a little fiddling to get a GREAT sound. Once you learn how it interacts with your amp, it becomes pretty intuitive to tweak to what you need. I've been running it into my little Vox AD15VT, on the various models, and for my needs settled on the Fender Twin set clean as can be, with controls basically neutral (12 oclock). Its NOT a goose. Its meant to be a Distortion channel. You've got a rhythm channel (CH1), and a killer boost (CH2) that retains clarity but will give that nearly out of control full stack feel and sound. Even at low volume, notes take off into controlled feedback, with tons of overtones. It cleans up fairly well, but not the best. But turn the thing off and I'm back to sparkly cleans if I need them. It *IS* expensive, but its very much worth it for me because there's not a modelling set up out there I know of that can do what this pedal does. With the extreme amount of tonal control, I can get nasally V30 type sounds, Murky C75 sounds, Clear GB25 sounds. And also dial into the various marshall and similar type amps with taht kind of speaker variation. Or, get something inbetween which is what I have dialed up...somewhere between the clarity of a GB25 and the tightness of a 75. That sound I've been hearing in my head all these years. AND without killing my ears, pissing off the neighbors, or my GF while she's watching "Friends" :laugh2:

I will try to get some clips up in the next week. Its much more difficult for me to do them cos of some compy issues these days, but I'm working on it.

been a good couple of weeks for me, gear-wise..dang...:biglaugh: Happy New Year!
 
Re: Apartment Dwelling Marshall Stack Lovers...

That looks awesome. I would totally dig something like this for my rig.

Is it a real tube pedal?
 
Re: Apartment Dwelling Marshall Stack Lovers...

Very cool. Told ya the Twin model would work well. ;)
 
Re: Apartment Dwelling Marshall Stack Lovers...

I'm totally with you on the PlexiTone. Awesome Marshallesque tone. I've been playing mine into my Tech 21 Power Engine 60 lately and getting some great sounds at neighbor-friendly volume. 70s on the Crunch channel, 80s on the High Gain channel, and a clean volume Boost for either. Fantastic pedal. :fing2:

Haven't heard the Plexitube.
 
Re: Apartment Dwelling Marshall Stack Lovers...

Plexi ?! this this have tons of modern high gain .... I don't say it's bad... But I don't think it's sound like the old marshall
 
Re: Apartment Dwelling Marshall Stack Lovers...

Tell me more about the plexitone,Where can I check one out?Who makes it etc..
Looking forward to soundclips!
 
Re: Apartment Dwelling Marshall Stack Lovers...

Too bad it's $300.

At $150-180 or so, I'd think it's worth while.

If you're just wanting a marshallesque tone at bedroom volumes, find yourself a tiny tube combo and use a marshall jackhammer.

Anyway, I don't think the plexitube was really intended as a bedroom practice pedal.
 
Re: Apartment Dwelling Marshall Stack Lovers...

Plexi ?! this this have tons of modern high gain .... I don't say it's bad... But I don't think it's sound like the old marshall

There are plexi-ish tones to be had in it, but the Plexitone def does a better job. There are also plenty of other Marshall type sounds in it, if you take the time. I've been able to pull of mid 70s Lizzy, early 80's maiden, a nice Joe Perry-esque plexi sound, as well as modern high gain marshall and soldano type tones with it. You need to put some time into it to find the tones, but they are there.

Too bad it's $300. At $150-180 or so, I'd think it's worth while.

Hot British is a single channel version in that price range.

...wanting a marshallesque tone at bedroom volumes, find yourself a tiny tube combo and use a marshall jackhammer.

This thing craps all over any of the Marshall pedals, whether it's a Guv'nor 1/2, JH or BB. I've done the lower wattage tube amp, and pedal thing before. Believe it or not, I actually have spent thousands and thousands of $ doing this over the past 20 some-odd years. With various amps, pedals, amp simulators, modellers, etc etc.

I don't think the plexitube was really intended as a bedroom practice pedal.

Didn't say it was designed to be, nor do I care if it was or wasn't. All I care is that it works really well in that capacity. Best I've found yet.
 
Re: Apartment Dwelling Marshall Stack Lovers...

Cool.

So these sound pretty close to a cranked plexi?I may have to check one out.
I really can't imagine you can engineer a pedal to sound like a cranked Plexi. I've heard both and while great pedals they were still pedals.

Then there's amps - if it sounds like a cranked Plexi through your Mesa/Boogie how is it going to sound like a cranked plexi with my Fender?
 
Re: Apartment Dwelling Marshall Stack Lovers...

It would be great in the studio. Plexis do sound good, but ****! they are heavy and LOUD! The days of the monster stack or even half stack for the working musician are all but over.
One thing bothers me about this "plexi"tube unit tho. The plexis i played back in the day were definitely not scooped mid/wall of crunch hell machines. They were more fat, ballsy and responsive - more like power tube saturated titans.
I am not saying the pedal sounds bad because I have never played one. far from it - the descriptions sound amazing and it seems to offer a wide pallette of 12ax7 driven distortion sounds. Its just that the descriptions of this pedal do not fit with what I remember plexis to sound like.
I would be keen to hear from any plexi users how they think this thing compares.
 
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Re: Apartment Dwelling Marshall Stack Lovers...

I definitely agree - a non master half stack these days is not a very easy thing to do, if you like your dirt.

In a lot of ways I think I can get closer to the feel of a cranked Plexi with my cranked Deluxe Reverb. There's a certain feel with pushed power tubes that you're just not going to get with a pedal.



And for some reason the old worn out Oxford has something to do with it. I put a new Weber in once, the one Ted recommended, and the clean tone was amazing but the cranked tone.. it sucked, for lack of better terms.

I still have that speaker because I'm sure there will be times I'll want the best clean tone out of the amp. Right now I play in a rock band (lead guitar) so, worn out Oxford it is.
 
Re: Apartment Dwelling Marshall Stack Lovers...

Old Marshall(1959 that is) are big clean beasts, very clean!
It has very little in common with a small Fender amp in the sound department!
Even when pushed.....it is glassy, hard on your ears, sounds nasty on its own......hard to control, will make an idiot out of most players....nothing new there!
As they never where easy to use...
The old JTM45 is way more easy to use, as well with the 1987 head, while it is still a very loud mofo!
But nothing has that glassy ring(kraaang) like a 1959.
So the PT is best with a British voiced amp...BF Fenders and Boogies are a no no!
I should know by now:D
 
Re: Apartment Dwelling Marshall Stack Lovers...

The Plexitone even sounds good with a Rivera ;) I actually prefer it on the Fender side too. Its much more open and big there.
 
Re: Apartment Dwelling Marshall Stack Lovers...

....sure....
But a Rivera sounds very little like a marshall....and I have tried alot of those.
Dunno...it is too polite an amp for that tone to me!
 
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