Who makes an amp that sounds like a '68 -'69 Plexi?

  • Thread starter Thread starter James Lugo
  • Start date Start date
Hi guys. I've been a member for a little while now, but have never really posted anything. I mainly just read threads 'cause I'm a gear nerd.
I have a '67 100 watt that is hands down the best amp I've ever played. I'm also getting more and more apprehensive about taking it to gigs so I've been checking out as many plexi clones as I can as potential replacements. Here's my 2 cents, for what it's worth:
- I was impressed with the Wizard stuff. The Vintage Classic sounds like what I imagine a brand new plexi sounded like in the late 60's. A tad on the bright side, but a ton of balls and had the special midrange bark that makes plexis so cool.
- Germino amps are fantastic as well. They sound old and broken in. Not as aggressive as my Marshall, but have a ton of mojo.
- Personally, I don't care for the Metropoulos stuff. They are very well made and have top notch parts, but every one I've played has this weird fizzy thing on the top end, almost like there is a fuzz pedal on.
- Unfortunately, I recently had to replace the OT in my Marshall. I decided on one of Chris Merren's copies and it is incredible. Almost no discernible difference from the original. After several conversations with Chris, I'm confident that he knows what makes a good plexi. I'm sure if he makes a clone of some sort that it would be amazing and dead on.
- The guys at Plexi Palace (Mojave Ampworks) used to work on my amp when I lived on the West Coast and they certainly know what they are talking about. I thought Victor's Marshall-y amps really nailed the aggressive side of an old plexi. They were really fun to play as well.
- I've heard nothing but good things about the Vari-Plex, but haven't been able to check one out yet.
Those are the ones that really stood out to me. I'm sure I'll think of others later.
Cheers,
Mike
 
Ooops. Almost forgot....
I used a Voodoo Amps V-Plex 50 on tour for almost two years solid. Aside from the occasional re-tube, that amp didn't so much as hiccup the entire time. Built like a tank and was a joy to play every night. It also had that great plexi midrange freak-out. Trace is a die-hard Marshall enthusiast and a really great guy. His amps are remarkably affordable as well.
-mike
 
James Lugo":1jqjvao0 said:
Who makes an amp that sounds like a '68 -'69 unmodded lay down transformer Plexi???
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Marshall :D

All joking aside what would an original 68-69 Plexi go for these days?
 
BIGKAHUNA":1szp395a said:
Marshall :D

All joking aside what would an original 68-69 Plexi go for these days?
Click to expand...

The last ones I saw that were totally original were going for $4500 and up.
 
Mojave Ampworks is pretty much dedicated to hitting the EVH cranked Marshall sound.
 
drburns73":nie51g1k said:
Hi guys. I've been a member for a little while now, but have never really posted anything. I mainly just read threads 'cause I'm a gear nerd.
I have a '67 100 watt that is hands down the best amp I've ever played. I'm also getting more and more apprehensive about taking it to gigs so I've been checking out as many plexi clones as I can as potential replacements. Here's my 2 cents, for what it's worth:
- I was impressed with the Wizard stuff. The Vintage Classic sounds like what I imagine a brand new plexi sounded like in the late 60's. A tad on the bright side, but a ton of balls and had the special midrange bark that makes plexis so cool.
- Germino amps are fantastic as well. They sound old and broken in. Not as aggressive as my Marshall, but have a ton of mojo.
- Personally, I don't care for the Metropoulos stuff. They are very well made and have top notch parts, but every one I've played has this weird fizzy thing on the top end, almost like there is a fuzz pedal on.
- Unfortunately, I recently had to replace the OT in my Marshall. I decided on one of Chris Merren's copies and it is incredible. Almost no discernible difference from the original. After several conversations with Chris, I'm confident that he knows what makes a good plexi. I'm sure if he makes a clone of some sort that it would be amazing and dead on.
- The guys at Plexi Palace (Mojave Ampworks) used to work on my amp when I lived on the West Coast and they certainly know what they are talking about. I thought Victor's Marshall-y amps really nailed the aggressive side of an old plexi. They were really fun to play as well.
- I've heard nothing but good things about the Vari-Plex, but haven't been able to check one out yet.
Those are the ones that really stood out to me. I'm sure I'll think of others later.
Cheers,
Mike
Click to expand...

I have a metro 69 build I did and it sounds great without the fizz but I do agree that a lot of the clips/videos I've heard whether it's George at an amp show or in his shop are very fizzy sometimes. I really think it's how the amp has been set or camera mic positioning. Even though people always say dime the volume I've often found on repro's and originals alike it rarely has the amp at it's best. I find between 10 and 3 O'clock is where it's at. Plus if my Vol 1 is at 12 O'Clock or above I wouldn't even consider adding Vol II and my bass is set very low. But I also don't have the V2A bypass cap in my build which tends to thin the bass and add a little boost in the midrange. After owning my build I would be very confident trying any of Georges kits. I would also love to try Germino's in person though, especially the Filmore or Monterey. Wizard is just stupid expensive for what's basically a well built clone.
 
skoora":30buz0j3 said:
drburns73":30buz0j3 said:
Hi guys. I've been a member for a little while now, but have never really posted anything. I mainly just read threads 'cause I'm a gear nerd.
I have a '67 100 watt that is hands down the best amp I've ever played. I'm also getting more and more apprehensive about taking it to gigs so I've been checking out as many plexi clones as I can as potential replacements. Here's my 2 cents, for what it's worth:
- I was impressed with the Wizard stuff. The Vintage Classic sounds like what I imagine a brand new plexi sounded like in the late 60's. A tad on the bright side, but a ton of balls and had the special midrange bark that makes plexis so cool.
- Germino amps are fantastic as well. They sound old and broken in. Not as aggressive as my Marshall, but have a ton of mojo.
- Personally, I don't care for the Metropoulos stuff. They are very well made and have top notch parts, but every one I've played has this weird fizzy thing on the top end, almost like there is a fuzz pedal on.
- Unfortunately, I recently had to replace the OT in my Marshall. I decided on one of Chris Merren's copies and it is incredible. Almost no discernible difference from the original. After several conversations with Chris, I'm confident that he knows what makes a good plexi. I'm sure if he makes a clone of some sort that it would be amazing and dead on.
- The guys at Plexi Palace (Mojave Ampworks) used to work on my amp when I lived on the West Coast and they certainly know what they are talking about. I thought Victor's Marshall-y amps really nailed the aggressive side of an old plexi. They were really fun to play as well.
- I've heard nothing but good things about the Vari-Plex, but haven't been able to check one out yet.
Those are the ones that really stood out to me. I'm sure I'll think of others later.
Cheers,
Mike
Click to expand...

I have a metro 69 build I did and it sounds great without the fizz but I do agree that a lot of the clips/videos I've heard whether it's George at an amp show or in his shop are very fizzy sometimes. I really think it's how the amp has been set or camera mic positioning. Even though people always say dime the volume I've often found on repro's and originals alike it rarely has the amp at it's best. I find between 10 and 3 O'clock is where it's at. Plus if my Vol 1 is at 12 O'Clock or above I wouldn't even consider adding Vol II and my bass is set very low. But I also don't have the V2A bypass cap in my build which tends to thin the bass and add a little boost in the midrange. After owning my build I would be very confident trying any of Georges kits. I would also love to try Germino's in person though, especially the Filmore or Monterey. Wizard is just stupid expensive for what's basically a well built clone.
Click to expand...

I'm sure George makes a great amp. He seems to know what he's talking about. I've just not really heard what I look for in a plexi from his amps. Here's an example of the fizziness that I'm talking about. This is a clip from MetroAmps.
http://web.me.com/drburns73/amps
The two amps of his that I've played in person have exhibited the same characteristic fizz. It was also present, to some degree, when the amps were running cleaner as well. Maybe these were all early versions of his amps and he's worked it out since then. I'd certainly be willing to check out a newer version.
The Germino Monterey is an incredible amp. I've also heard many great things about the Filmore, but haven't had a chance to check one out in person. I've found Greg Germino to be a VERY helpful and cool guy to boot.
 
I'm gonna go out on a limb, and say that's probably their choice of tubes and possibly the way it was recorded. It sounds like the Mic pre is getting overdriven and compressed a little. The choices of caps, resistors and transformers they offer are pertty standard and are widely used by other amp manufacturers as well and shouldn't cause what you're hearing. I've used some Chinese 12ax7s in the past that added some fizz on the top-end when I really cranked the amp up. I'm not sure what George is using here, but it kind of reminds me of what I heard in my amps with those tubes. There are lots of clips of guys who have built Metro kits where I haven't heard this. However, I agree with you, it's pretty noticeable in this clip.
 
Axe-FX?

party-smiley-004.gif
:D
 
Sixtonoize":2q4jirp0 said:
Mojave Ampworks is pretty much dedicated to hitting the EVH cranked Marshall sound.
Click to expand...


this
:thumbsup:
mojave peacemaker for VH
 
I played some plexi recreations and an original 50 watt '68. My first realization is I like 100 watters better. Out of the recreations I played today the Southbay Ampworks plexi style amp was my fav. Some of the plexi and plexi type amps are to harsh in the top end for my taste.
 
Jim makes nice stuff for sure. I was going to do some work on a Metroamp Superbass I picked up for a friend, that backed out on me after I bought the amp. I just found out I'm headed right back out on another deployment in Aug; it'll be going to Dave Friedman for the full EVH/Plexi treatment, since I won't even have time to crack it open. I think I'll make this my main plexi and send the Mojave back for a hiary brown eye/custom45 workover. Dave's stuff is the shit! :rock:

I think most of the guys building botique plexi's are either using Heyboer or Mercury Magnetics iron. I'm pretty sure Jim Seaval uses a Dagnal clone Heyboer OT and Sozo premium mustard caps. I'm curious, how does his Plexi sound in comparison to some of the other clones you've heard...more aggressive? The Mojave Dave re-did for me has some pretty mild vintage tubes in it and it is still just mean sounding. I put some 12ax7C's in there for shits and giggles, and I was shocked how much gain I was getting out of a plexi...esp with my old MXR 6 band in front.

I gott say, and this isn't to down the Mojave guys, but a Peacemaker in stock form does not do the EVH thing that well. I have had two. It's setup in a parallel triode configuration and is internall jumpered; it's a really dark sounding amp. The "EVH/Brownsound" clips you hear of the PM have the wet side slaved through a tube power amp that has a 3 band EQ. That amp drove me nuts until I sent it to Dave.
 
Yeah I've been talking to Dave about just making one. I've been playing them a lot around town trying to get a handle on the sound I want, they are all different.
 
Yeah, I think that's your best option. You can't go wrong with Dave's stuff + you can always go down to TM and ask him to make minor adjustments if you need, based on how the amp sounds through your rig. It'w weird, because I've heard Plexi clones from the same botique company with the same caps, resistors, etc built to the same specs with the same tubes, and one will invariably sound better to me than the other. At least this way, Dave can dial in the tone you "hear in your head", and you don't have to go off a amp on a website that might not be an accurate representaion of the clip they posted.
 
Yo James

ya have Dave build you one! Marshall is his specialty....

The Variplex was dead nuts on tonally to his old 68 plexi smallbox, and he did that design years ago, so he knows even more now. I'm sure he could build you an awesome 68 era 100 watter.
 
Hi,
did i work on your amp?
Mark
OBGYNkanobi":2dw2d93p said:
What Bray does is very different, and is more of a modded sound. He doesn't cascade the channels, but hey're jumped and it's modded so that there's a lot more gain happening ealier in the gain stage. It's an articulate sound and cleans up well when you roll back the volume, but it's a bit dark for my taste with a sharper edge on the hig-end. It does EVH alright, but I don't think the mod was made with that sound in mind.

Dave and Mark Abrahamian do EVH about as well as anybody. I have a Plexi clone set up by Dave and Mark's Mod5. They're both excellent amps in their own right.
Click to expand...
 
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