Many vintage Plexi owners (myself included) will say that when cranking the amp, it’s common to keep the bass on 2 or even all the way off. There will still be *plenty* of bass, but it will tighten the amp up considerably. Blend in the normal channel if you need more low end grunt. The two channels in the Friedman Plex are internally jumped so you can blend the channels. Thanks for the great content as always, Bea!
I agree, but not just with a plexi Marshall- with all cranked amps! I use a 60’s Bassman, and the bass knob stays on 0. Especially with the matching 2x12 cab, there’s so much damn low end just from the cab. Nothing bothers me more than flubby low end. I understand why someone might want more bass if they’re mostly playing single note lead stuff. But I play strictly rhythm guitar, and I’m pretty heavy handed, so bass gotta be barely on.
Hmm... It seems that ever since George Metropoulos of Metropoulos Amplification cracked the nut on the ultimate '68 Plexi amp, the Metro-Plex MKII, other high-end builders are on the band wagon. You GOTTA try something killer! Try a Metro-Plex MKII! I've got 6 Metro amps. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Everytime i see Rabea i can't keep thinking of the MC5! Lol! Am i the only one to think it's a mix of the MC5 singer Rob Tyner with his guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred Sonic Smith??? Especially in this video because of the sound of RnRoll!!!Nice job Rabea! I Love those classic sounds!
Like most of us gear junkies, I’ve listened to a zillion vids of amps and whatnot. All subjective of course but this is the best sound I can recall hearing on RU-vid. Wasn’t planning on getting this but have to go after it after hearing this.
the idea is to blend the channels and create the eq that way, one bright and one dark channel. Surprised you didn't try this, but otherwise excellent tones!
Great video Rabea! How would you compare the Vintage Plex to the clean/plexi channel of the BE100 Deluxe? I know you really enjoyed the clean channel on the BE100 Deluxe. Cheers, Steve
What is the deal with the the light freaking blinking??? Add reverb/delay please....sounds really weird without typical room ambience. Noise gates are great if used with very noisy hiss in the background, but this soundproof room demo is too, too dry! IMHO Nevermind, now at the twenty minute mark it is getting ambient! Respect to the great guitar playing, great LPCustom, and Marshall '68 clone!!! The end of the video sounds superb with amp cranked and a great guitarist making this gear sing!!! Thumbs up, great demo!!!
I have the Marshall 1987x and when I have my iPhone camera pointed at the power light it doesn’t blink, but on that model it slowly pulsates. But looking at it with my eyes and no camera it is solid with no blink of any kind.
Always a treat too hear your play. Think this must be the 5th review of the Plex I watched today. Interesting how each reviewer goes about covering an amp. I may have missed it but I didn't see you blend volumes 1 and 2 to get a tone. Since its internally jumped I would think that's most commonly done. You certainly got some great tones out of channel 1 even without blending though .
This amp sounds really good. I really like the careful thought that was given for the different tweak-able tone options. This amp sounds mean but I think I would like to get my hands a Jake E Lee model.
Great review,.the amp sounds really good. However for the money I am curious as to how it compares to a PRS Tremonti or a 5150 or even an original vintage Plexi.
Sounds great. The lack of effects loop writes this off as a gigging amp for me. As a studio tool, you could have two original (used) plexis for that price, or reissues. With a pedal or two there’s nothing here the Smallbox can’t do with the advantage of footswitchable channels and effects loop
I agree on the FX loop. For me I need an FX loop for live and generally for the tones I like to get with FX. BUT, this amp sounds insane in the room, it’s a real experience. Also the thing with the design of a plexi amp means you just couldn’t put an FX loop in it and achieve the sound this amp inherently has. Due to the vintage design topology of the Plex, the distortion is mainly from the phase inverter which is part of the poweramp. FX loop would be before the poweramp and so for before the distortion… would be useless in a sense, would be the same as sticking FX before the amplifier, which was done back in the day.
Undeniably an amazing sound! I’m just a sucker for the Smallbox. The PLEX is covering ground between the Smallbox and an original plexi, which for me is a very, very small gap. Great job with this vid, the best mic’d sounds on RU-vid as always!
Wet/dry maybe using a Suhr iso line out (or the like?). I know means another cab and another amp (solid state/light weight?)…..or maybe just a smallbox 😂
@@bobo19910I have worked my way up to the wildwood guitars spec’d smallbox with the extra gain. It’s like a 3rd channel but it’s really a micro amp Dave added. It’s perfect. I got it when he was handwiring it himself. Off white. It doesn’t need any pedals but can take anything you do throw at it. But I would not be able to afford it today. It was too expensive back when I got it. Guitars and amps as you probably know have gone way up in prices. So just wanted to agree with you. Smallbox is it for me. Had the pink taco sold it. The regular smallbox which was great. But I was in a bad place with both parents passing away, out of work, health crisis, stuck inside. I went a little gear crazy. If they had the synergy modules then I would get that instead because we live in a major city and maintaining the amps are not only expensive but they’re so big to transport. Anyway, cheers and enjoy your amp.
Crystal clear sound! Hey dude, please tell us how organized grounding in your studios. You always have a very clean sound with no interference. And new tours of your studios would be nice to see too! Thanks in advance!!! And maybe someone else knows whether a DI Box (passive or active) for example Radial J48 or other, can help reduce noise & interference? Thank you in advance!!!
It just sounds good! Never sounded bad. Every turn of the knob, low voltage, high voltage, cab with mics, load box and IR etc.. It just sounded sooo good! Due in no small part to your guitar playing skills!
If you lower the voltage you can get the "same" tone out of the amp with a low volume, for instance volume at 8 with high voltage, should be like volume 4 with low voltage (according to the ratio that it is used). I remember seen an interview of EVH saying that he used that trick to get nice tones with low volume in some small venue gigs. Am I right? I'm open to hear if someone knows more about this hehe
My understanding is that the low voltage sounds and feels different than the normal voltage. It's a little more aggressive, compressed, etc. and a lower volume.
I still think you should try the Marshall JMP50 2x12 combo. They are tha bizznizz. Then there is an amp I would really love to hear what you think of it. Since it is an unique design. Due to the special tremolo. The Carlsbro TR100. It has the best transformers.... And it is a pedal platform. One of the best amplifiers out there. (In my humble opinion.)
I love Friedman stuff, but every one I've owned and tried has too much bottom end. Its nice to be able to achieve that much bottom end, but not so nice when you can't dial it out when you want to.
@@gdawgs101 I definitely hear it in this Demo. Not in Pete Thorns though. I didn't notice it in most demos until I tried the BE-100D and Twin Sister in person.
It’s because Pete knew to lower the bass which you tend to do on pre 69/70 circuits when cranking them. I have a ‘75, lead & bass Marshall that I usually have the bass near zero. Plus these demo guys keep saying you put the volume on 10 which in my experience with a Gibson is not ideal. On 10 is too hairy. 6-7 is the sweet spot for tight rhythms but enough to play leads with and also good cleans with volume roll off.
@@Skoora Can't argue with you there, but I still find that you just can't roll off the bottom end with Friedmans. Its a shame that their interpretation of 0 is the same as Marshalls 8, if you get what I mean.
@@BionicSammich The Dirty Shirley is bass heavy for sure but I haven’t experienced any Friedman where turning down the bass didn’t work fine. If anything, I have trouble getting a raw enough midrange and top end out of them.
Thats a good plexi Amp. marshall was hit and miss with the differant parts used, but this is all the good part values, and some selection between some values. me new favorite Freedman amp.
Love your content as always Rabea and bro you’re looking fantastic!!! All of your hard work in the gym and with your food intake is paying off hugely brother! Keep at it and keep doing what you love buddy. It’s great to see you smiling man.
Reducing incoming voltage reduces all voltages in the amp. Mostly, it causes lower plate voltage on the power tubes, causing them to distort earlier. That and earlier breakup of the preamp causes both to distort earlier. This combination causes the rich overdrive/distortion everyone loves. With the normal voltage, the power tubes don't contribute to the distortion until you crank up the amp to almost full. Old Plexis are NOT the high gain monsters everyone thinks they are.
@@RG-yz8ov There are several attenuators on the market and not all are created equal. Some say it's fine to use them and some say they are hard on a real Plexi. Dave Friedman is a wealth of knowledge, so I would start with his opinion to see if there are videos of his on this. Also to consider is if you use a variac, then you will also reduce the 6.3 volt heater supply. I'm sure Dave accounted for this in his design of the Plex. Visit his channel since he designed this amp.
@@ampman5863 thank you for the reply. Guess I'm really just wanting to compare this amp with say a marshall sv20h and ironman-ii-mini-attenuator. I'll check out Dave's content seems like an interesting amp few more $$ however
Also last year November I bought a Runt 50 Head new and sadly it came with some issues. Brand new the bright switches were useless and very bass heavy some issues I had to get a replacement but they were not available at the time so I had a decent replacement so to speak, but it was very nice the lead channel had a very nice crunch so I still have my 1994 plexi head but this one is gonna be a winner way cool
thanks for the great demo and all the work u put into it. my question is, im hearing a delay effect and a processed tone. but u dont have an effect listed. what effects are u using in this demo?
