Plexis

[SixStringSuicide]

Ive been interested in plexis lately, but a lot of the stuff i hear when i read up about em confuses me. Are different plexis made in different years going to give me a different sound? Are the originals or reissues better? What if i have one modded for high gain, can it then handle any style? Could someone clear some of this stuff up for me?

[Chuckracer]

Re: Plexis

Ahh, the Plexi bug. There is more hubbub and hullabaloo about these amps than there is about Charvels, I think.
Marshall Super Lead 100 watt heads built between 1966 and 1969 (roughly-for the anal types, yes I know these years are not exact or set in stone...chill) acheived legendary status due to the use by guitarists such as Hendrix, Page, Clapton, etc. In the years since, many players have sought out these heads thinking they will help them acheive the same sounds. If you want that sound, great, thats the best way to get it.

But listen carefully: Are you a high gain player or a blues rocker? If you're the latter, you MAY* love it. Otherwise, you're gonna hate it unless you have an arena to crank it in every night, and even then, you may still hate it. They distort, yes, but not at all in the same way as a VHT, SLO, Bogner, Mesa, etc does. You can run an armada of pedals in front of it, but then whats the point? You can have it modded, but then again, whats the point? There is nothing magical about Plexis and for the price, there are a TON of better choices out there UNLESS you worship at the alter of Hendrix, et al, and need to build a shrine.

*Personal knowledge here, folks. I've owned a few over the years. One was killer and several were hounds. Just because its a plexi don't make it cool! They all sound different because manufacturing tolerances were so sloppy back in the day.

The reissues have very little to do with the originals, despite Marshall ad copy saying otherwise.

I think the more important question is what kind of player are you?

[SixStringSuicide]

Re: Plexis

Certainly not a blues rocker [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Lordofgain]

Re: Plexis

My friend Rob Schnapf explained it to me like this.

If you could crank the almighty Plexi to high heaven getting that holy grail of tone i.e. power tube distortion from hell then yes the plexi is certainly worthy.

Unfortunately nost of us have to rely more these days on preamp distortion as opposed to the power tube type.

Rob has always thought that power tube distortion sounds better, warmer and creamier and more natural but as Chuck said if you cant crank the snot out of the plexi you will not have anything remotely resembling a high gain saturated sound.

[wfhawk007]

Re: Plexis

plexi's rule. just hook it up to a variac or get it modded. Cameron or Splawn mods sound great. i tried the variac, and it sounded good, but it wasnt consistant and burned tubes quickly. i have a splawn mod and it sounds great. another good amp that is similar in sound is the mojave peacemaker.

[Chuckracer]

Re: Plexis

Then we get into the whole modded vs. stock discussion. Would a plexi modded by Splawn, Cameron, etc. be any better than an SLO, a Peacemaker, a VHT, and so on? My opinion, my 2 cents, I've been down both roads and I'll take the SLO (in my case) over the modded plexi.
Power tube saturation and preamp distortion are two very different things. High gain players, modern shredders, are accustomed to preamp distortion. Its way tighter.
Again, just my opinion, but I've owned LOTS of high end high gain heads, and also done the plexis with all sorts of stuff plugged into the front end and the back. Stick with the modern high gain stuff.

[DerekB]

Re: Plexis

Originally posted by Chuckracer:
Then we get into the whole modded vs. stock discussion. Would a plexi modded by Splawn, Cameron, etc. be any better than an SLO, a Peacemaker, a VHT, and so on? My opinion, my 2 cents, I've been down both roads and I'll take the SLO (in my case) over the modded plexi.
Power tube saturation and preamp distortion are two very different things. High gain players, modern shredders, are accustomed to preamp distortion. Its way tighter.
Again, just my opinion, but I've owned LOTS of high end high gain heads, and also done the plexis with all sorts of stuff plugged into the front end and the back. Stick with the modern high gain stuff.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Alot of what you say is true but regardless the Splawn and Cameron modded plexi's and 800's have their own classic flavor that the Modern stuff just doesnt do as well and they sound awesome. I own modern high gainers and have a Splawn Modded 800 which is an absolutely killer sounding amp The old school type of Metal tones great from it.

Derek

[speed monkey]

Re: Plexis

I agree with Chuck, and I agree with Derek....

I've got a modded Splawn that sounds insane (one that Chuck would've traded me for his SLO had I come up with a few extra $'s to match [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] )

What's the best solution? Who knows....my friend Jason Wallis, who qualifies as one of the Top Ten Amp Sluts of All Time (and who has owned more high end - high gain amps than most of this boards members combined)has sold off his Bogner 100b, 101b's (5 of them...), 3 Shivas, 2 VHT Pitbulls and his most recent SLO ( in a string of 4...) and is in love with his current Splawn modded 800....thinks it's one of the best amps he's ever owned.

Leave the vintage plexis alone - get yourself a modded 1987x Splawn, or if you can come up with another $800 get an SLO...either way you'll be kicking a stock Marshalls ass at the volume you can comfortably play at.

Go here to check out sound clips of Scott's work, he's a total 80's Metal Head - you'll like the examples Splawn clips

Steve E