What is a good subsitute for a Plexi?

Re: What is a good subsitute for a Plexi?

Lewguitar said:
Total 100% agreement! The title of the thread is What's a Good Substitute tho. If a guy's on a $300 budget, the Traynor is a "good" substitute, as Kevlar3000 noted.

Wouldn't be "good" enough for me or you of course! :)

But then again, we know what the real thing thing sounds and feels like! :burnout:

Lew
Click to expand...

No don't be thinkin only old guys know tone. Dem classic sounds were all made by kids in their 20s, a good ear is a good ear.
 
Re: What is a good subsitute for a Plexi?

Lewguitar said:
Total 100% agreement! The title of the thread is What's a Good Substitute tho. If a guy's on a $300 budget, the Traynor is a "good" substitute, as Kevlar3000 noted.

Wouldn't be "good" enough for me or you of course! :)

But then again, we know what the real thing thing sounds and feels like! :burnout:

Lew
Click to expand...

Indeed Lew....If I want a Cadillac,I'll buy one and not a Chevy...But you're right in that this post is about a substitute for a Marshall...Not all of us are fortunate enough to own and early or any expensive tube Marshall... :dance:
 
Re: What is a good subsitute for a Plexi?

kevlar3000 said:
No don't be thinkin only old guys know tone. Dem classic sounds were all made by kids in their 20s, a good ear is a good ear.
Click to expand...

Hey...Ease up on Lew will ya...He's got a few years on ya Kevlar! :smack: I'll send the forum spies out after you if you don't play nicely with others....LOL

:dance: :wink:

John
 
Re: What is a good subsitute for a Plexi?

kevlar3000 said:
I gotta disagree ( I also recognise you are not bashing the amp, but I think they deserve more credit than you give them)the Bassmaster is as close as you can get to a Plexi w/o buying a Plexi and at the price point it is almost foolish not to buy one to find out. It has the same mustard caps and vitually the same circuit all handwired in perhaps the most reliable amp ever made, with a couple simple changes the blindfold test is worth taking. Traynor Bassmasters Tweaked to Plexi specs are jaw droppers, even stock they are among the best of any vintage head out there, tweaked they are every bit as good as any 3000.00 Plexi you could toss my way. They are the real deal and perhaps the best value in vintage amps going. I chuckle at the prices folks are paying, the circuits are all just about the same in many vintage amps, its just the name on the box that people are paying for. I paid 260.00 for the Traynor, changed two volume pots, three caps and had a bias pot installed. I think it would be crazy to change what are among the best transformers ever made in the Hammonds. It is not radical surgery these amps need and they are extremely easy to work on because the circuit is topside. It took more work and more bucks the get my Plexi RI sounding as good as it does now and still my Bassmaster might be the better amp. My stable of misfits :rolleyes: will hang with any amp thrown my way, I owe huge props to Terry Kilgore for showing me the light ( lol ) guy has taught me some amazing stuff over the past few months.
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What model are we talking here? YBA-1, YBA-2, YSR? I've seen a few different ones.
 
Re: What is a good subsitute for a Plexi?

If kevlar3000 says its good, its good....have you ever heard him play? DAMN....... :headbang:
 
Re: What is a good subsitute for a Plexi?

ledzepp29 said:
If kevlar3000 says its good, its good....have you ever heard him play? DAMN....... :headbang:
Click to expand...


A sincere thanks!! LOL, this is all in good fun, and Lew is always honest an well thought out, I'm just making my own points and am confident enough in my ear to make them.

I am talking the YBA-1 the 1A is also an extremely beefy mutha, I prefer the openness of the YBA-1. Mine gets close to the Beck Truth tone.
 
Re: What is a good subsitute for a Plexi?

one question for you kevlar, what mods have you done on your yba-1, if any? How does it compare to your plexi soundwise? And can the yba-1 be modded to sound like a vintage plexi?
 
Re: What is a good subsitute for a Plexi?

ledzepp29 said:
one question for you kevlar, what mods have you done on your yba-1, if any? How does it compare to your plexi soundwise? And can the yba-1 be modded to sound like a vintage plexi?
Click to expand...

I swapped the 4 meg Volume pots for 1 meg pots. Took the spongy respone away and made it much tighter. Added a 330 uf cap across V2, I messed with a .68 and a 220 uF and liked this the best. Plenty of sustain but tons of clarity. Really did wonders for the amp. Took the way too bright 1000 pF ( I think that was the value) off of the bright volume and messed around with caps til I found one I liked. I think it is a 470 but I would have to look to see. The volume cap change was a huge improvement. I had a tech install a bias pot and mess with a couple cap values andthat is about it. The amp sounds so spectacular I decided it needed nothing more. There are some excellent websites devoted to Traynor mods, very easy to find....

Changes that could be done are with the filtering, I see no need, but some like to change them to vintage Marshall specs. The Trannys, I again see absolutley no reason to mess with what are among the best pieces of iron ever made. As I said before these amps are among the most reliable amps ever made, open them up and see the beautiful handwired work. Extremely clean. They have the same coveted mustard caps that any M<arshall of its vintage would ( My amazing 102.00 Hilgen Basso Grande does too, but I will save that for another day lol)

What I ended up with was extreme Plexi flavor with a bit more bottom and a more open gain structure. My Plexi RI set to mostly 1968 specs with vintage spec tranny has more gain but the sustain is a wash. The Traynor is a bit darker, mainly due to my choice in volume caps. If you a/b them they are just a different shade of Plexi IMO, and as far as that goes there are not too many vintage Marshalls that sound identical due to the wide variance of little changes they made in the circuit year to year or amp to amp for that matter.

I hope to record with it soon, just waiting to hit the studio to track a couple tunes.
 
Re: What is a good subsitute for a Plexi?

Dan Torres has been bragging up and modding these Traynors for years. He used to sell a kit for modding them and he devoted a chapter to them in "Inside Tube Amps".

They're easy to find on Ebay.

A cool alternative or substitute for a Marshall Plexi...maybe the best.
 
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