Metropoulos Metro-Plex MK-II

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Knowing his attention to detail and having played an actual 12k series super lead, this sounds like it would be a wonderful amp for a VH fan like me!
 
mentoneman said:
Knowing his attention to detail and having played an actual 12k series super lead, this sounds like it would be a wonderful amp for a VH fan like me!
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I know! As a kid, I wore VH-I out when my older brother brought it home. Then I went down the 'more faster - more better' rabbit hole (Yngwie then the Shrapnel Shred Brigade) and only recently came back to those first 4 magical VH albums. Now I can't get enough of that articulation / string separation / lightly muted hammer-ons & pull-offs feel and sound. I could listen to clips of Al Estrada demoing gear and pickups all day - not really copying note-for-note, or even imitating so much as just totally channeling the EVH vibe. I wanted to love the Kruse Disruption - but something always sounded shrill and brittle about it. This amp has 'Must Have' written all over it!!!
 
Longer version:


They sound great, as does the GPM. GAS is high with these amps.
 
Did he get rid of the JTM setting?

I'm only like halfway through listening to the long video but don't think I heard him say anything about it.
 
The more I listen, the more I dig this. It cleans up SO will with the volume knob, it’s almost like having a dedicated clean channel on a ‘dimmer’ switch. If you thought you needed it, you can tell how well a super transparent boost like spark mini would work for leads. All that and the tried and true Zero Loss FX loop to get time effects after the gain stages.
 
I preferred my old original metroplex over the II clips he’s posted. My original 001 had 2203 levels of gain on tap and more than that with the built in boost. It also took boosts well and was loud as hell. I only sold it because it was a 3 gain stage design and I thought my enmity mod was better geared at high gain stuff without the need for a pedal. If I’m using a pedal, the Bogner XTC does that ballgame better too.

This amp just seems to be less 2203 inspired/capable and way more Van Halen oriented. He should have called it something else I think. The original metroplex had the capability of doing Van Halen stuff but it was mostly typical mods discussed back in the day on the metro forum.

Honestly I was hoping he would keep the DVL-1 style EQ capability but in a metroplex channel switcher that could do clean/Van Halen/2203 but not be so artist inspired. I’m kinda bummed at what he’s come up with because it’s a glorified 1959 artist amp again with the same improved master volume and less features than my original one.

Before this was released, Dave flew down to hang out with George on his birthday. The real reason he flew down was probably to talk about all of the mods Dave has seen inside Eddie’s original amp so that George could confirm what to do for that serial number.

EVH fans will like this amp but it’s a niche amp again where he is/was capable of giving it way more features like the original.

TLDR; I don’t regret selling my original and I don’t see the features or want what he’s created with the second iteration. If anything I think his superplex II JTM45 is a more badass amp. YMMV
 
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glpg80 said:
I preferred my old original metroplex over the II clips he’s posted. My original 001 had 2203 levels of gain on tap and more than that with the built in boost. It also took boosts well and was loud as hell. I only sold it because it was a 3 gain stage design and I thought my enmity mod was better geared at high gain stuff without the need for a pedal. If I’m using a pedal, the Bogner XTC does that ballgame better too.

This amp just seems to be less 2203 inspired/capable and way more Van Halen oriented. He should have called it something else I think. The original metroplex had the capability of doing Van Halen stuff but it was mostly typical mods discussed back in the day on the metro forum.

Honestly I was hoping he would keep the DVL-1 style EQ capability but in a metroplex channel switcher that could do clean/Van Halen/2203 but not be so artist inspired. I’m kinda bummed at what he’s come up with because it’s a glorified 1959 artist amp again with the same improved master volume and less features than my original one.

Before this was released, Dave flew down to hang out with George on his birthday. The real reason he flew down was probably to talk about all of the mods Dave has seen inside Eddie’s original amp so that George could confirm what to do for that serial number.

EVH fans will like this amp but it’s a niche amp again where he is/was capable of giving it way more features like the original.

TLDR; I don’t regret selling my original and I don’t see the features or want what he’s created with the second iteration. If anything I think his superplex II JTM45 is a more badass amp. YMMV
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Ok…
 
If he was going for the EVH thing, don’t know why he dropped the variac feature from the original Metroplex
 
glpg80 said:
Before this was released, Dave flew down to hang out with George on his birthday. The real reason he flew down was probably to talk about all of the mods Dave has seen inside Eddie’s original amp so that George could confirm what to do for that serial number.
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What mods though? There’s that video of soldano talking about working on it and it he says it was the most stock Marshall ever
 
RaceU4her said:
What mods though? There’s that video of soldano talking about working on it and it he says it was the most stock Marshall ever
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It’s stock but we know it came with a 50k mid pot instead of a 25k, the latter of which is a stock value, the former is not. More stock not stock substitutes likely exist because Jim and team were out of stock of something else.
journeyman73 said:
If he was going for the EVH thing, don’t know why he dropped the variac feature from the original Metroplex
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It has the half power switch to go from 100W to 50W. George said he plans a 50W model than drop to 25W.
 
I thought it sounded great, there is a DVL at GC used near me, anyone here try that amp? thoughts?
 
jharpersj said:
I thought it sounded great, there is a DVL at GC used near me, anyone here try that amp? thoughts?
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The 68 mode is the same as the metroplex v1. It has the built in FET boost that you can tune the EQ of internally with mini pots. They’re a great amp.
 
Love how George never stops working to improve. Feels like he’s invested a majority of his working life to this amp game which is really impressive. This new one sounds fantastic, wish I could give it a spin. Look forward to hearing thoughts once they get out into the wild
 
I should go see this gentleman. I’m pretty sure he lives within an hour of me.
 
jharpersj said:
I thought it sounded great, there is a DVL at GC used near me, anyone here try that amp? thoughts?
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I had one for a few months. It’s an amazing sounding head, but for some reason I had a hard time cutting through the mix when I took it to band practice. I had to enable the internal boost to get it to poke out of the mix and get the cut I wanted. Otherwise it felt pretty spongey to play. Maybe it was user error? I’m not a novice to dialing in amps, but for some reason the DVL-1 gave me trouble in a mix.

It sounded “holy shit” good on its own. It had a bass bloom to it after you hit a power chord that made my jaw drop. I only really liked the ‘68 and ‘68 mod channels. The 2 lower gain channels were pretty meh in comparison.

George makes amazing stuff.
 
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