Best plexi that's not a plexi

[SpiderWars]

For me, plexi always meant "NMV circuit" into the early metals. Just for clarification. I know real plexi's spanned a range of lower gain tones.

Helios? Which Helios?
SL68? SL67?
Germino?
Clone? @RedPlated posted a pretty sick clone tone recently. Vogel (VIC) has made some killer looking clones.
Something else? Morris et al?
Peavey ??? Mississippi Marshall?

I like my clone and would belly crawl a mile thru a minefield for a great deal on a real 68'-'69 100W but I always want to know what really gets there.

 

[dstroud]

I’ve got a ceriatone and Blankenship 1987 type amps. I’ve had a marshall 1959 with fx loop. Blankenship sounds best to my ears and ceriatone is a close 2nd

 

[RaceU4her]

anyone know about blockheads? theres been one of them on my craigslist for a while, i thought they used to be held in high regards

 

[napalmdeath]

For me, plexi always meant "NMV circuit" into the early metals. Just for clarification. I know real plexi's spanned a range of lower gain tones.

Helios? Which Helios?
SL68? SL67?
Germino?
Clone? @RedPlated posted a pretty sick clone tone recently. Vogel (VIC) has made some killer looking clones.
Something else? Morris et al?
Peavey ??? Mississippi Marshall?

I like my clone and would belly crawl a mile thru a minefield for a great deal on a real 68'-'69 100W but I always want to know what really gets there.

Metro-plex.

 

[skoora]

Find a decent deal on a mid 70’s 4 holer and with a couple of tweaks you could make it sound like an older one. Probably a jcm800 4 holer too. Ceriatone may be the best bet if you’re budget minded. Rockit Retro? Old Traynor’s can be plexified. 70’s Univox heads can rip like a Marshall. Get a kit and pay a tech to assemble.

 

[PDC]

Hard to top the Suhr SL68 or the Metro-Plex to replicate that power stage compression - which is a totally different ‘vibe’ than pre-amp and clipping style gain. George’s ability to make the FX Loop play nice with the MV circuit he uses is a big plus.

 

[Racerxrated]

How about an old Bassman? (not the uber expensive 59; late 60s-early 70s) Or, old cheaper Sound City? I see them for 1K from time to time; Partridge transformers. I think like Skoora said, an older vintage amp that can be plexified (other than a real Marshall) can be had for cheap if you know which ones to go for.

 

[Strandberg Junkie]

Germino - call the guy and chat him up on what you're looking for.
No-one does more faithful - and pristine work.

 

[glpg80]

Metro-plex.

They’re more Van Halen oriented. I owned #001. Killer amp, just I liked a modded platform more (I’m a gain addict). Metroplex amps feel great under the fingers.

He has a new superplex II that is a direct sonic copy of a 6V6 JTM-45 that’s just badass. Highly recommend for that true 68 plexi vibe.

 

[jski59]

I'm thrilled with my SL67 and PS2...played a Friedman Marsha for years (which was great) but the NMV feel is where it's at for me.
Need to try a 100w version to see what I'm missing

 

[LPMojoGL]

Out of the ones I've had:
Germino
Marshall
One off handwired
Rockitt

And I'd look hard at Ceriatone

 

[DragonCrestPC]

Owned a Germino headroom 100 before i got my 68 and 71 plexi's. The germino was very close to my 68.

 

[Bxlxaxkxe]

They’re more Van Halen oriented. I owned #001. Killer amp, just I liked a modded platform more (I’m a gain addict). Metroplex amps feel great under the fingers.

He has a new superplex II that is a direct sonic copy of a 6V6 JTM-45 that’s just badass. Highly recommend for that true 68 plexi vibe.

Does the SPII really use 6V6 or is this a typo? Would be KT66 for the 45/100 magic

 

[glpg80]

Does the SPII really use 6V6 or is this a typo? Would be KT66 for the 45/100 magic

Original JTM-45s used 6V6 not KT66. Remember it was basically a modified fender bassman.

They’re badass tubes and play well with the Marshall sweetness crowd.

 

[Bxlxaxkxe]

Original JTM-45s used 6V6 not KT66. Remember it was basically a modified fender bassman.

They’re badass tubes and play well with the Marshall sweetness crowd.

This is news to me. 5F6-A Bassman that the JTM45 was based uses 6L6. Never heard of JTM45s using 6v6.

I agree it’s a tube that actually works quite well for Marshall circuits- closer to EL34 than anything but has its own sweetness.

I’m very surprised George is going with 6v6 though.

 

[Racerxrated]

Original JTM-45s used 6V6 not KT66. Remember it was basically a modified fender bassman.

They’re badass tubes and play well with the Marshall sweetness crowd.

Hmm, gonna disagree with you on this one. Early ones came with 5881s, followed by KT66....afaik.....can't find anything on 6V6 being used on the early first version JTM 45.

 

[Bxlxaxkxe]

Original JTM-45s used 6V6 not KT66. Remember it was basically a modified fender bassman.

They’re badass tubes and play well with the Marshall sweetness crowd.

Had to look into this cause it just didn’t sound right (nothing against you personally- seems like an honest mistake). But he’s using KT66’s on the mkii, just like mki.

 

[Bxlxaxkxe]

And just to clarify for anyone else reading, JTM45 and 45/100 are really their own sound compared to lead spec Plexis. I like them a lot for single coil guitars and vintage rock/blues, but they are a completely different vibe from a late 60s lead spec plexi. Could easily justify owning both, but one does not replace the other in the slightest. Very different sounds between the two

 

[glpg80]

Had to look into this cause it just didn’t sound right (nothing against you personally- seems like an honest mistake). But he’s using KT66’s on the mkii, just like mki.

Yeah there’s no animosity here, we are fine. He’s using KT66 because there’s an active tube shortage and I assume he can’t source 6V6 for production. I’m in the group he was giving teaser clips to back when he was designing it and his prototype was 6V6.

 

[glpg80]

And just to clarify for anyone else reading, JTM45 and 45/100 are really their own sound compared to lead spec Plexis. I like them a lot for single coil guitars and vintage rock/blues, but they are a completely different vibe from a late 60s lead spec plexi. Could easily justify owning both, but one does not replace the other in the slightest. Very different sounds between the two

They sound different but not quite how you’re describing. They have more of what makes an old Marshall great. More sag, squish, sweetness, harmonic complexity, they just sound and feel amazing. Volume roller’s would be welcomed to a sonic playground. They still sound Marshall at their core though.