Plexi Style Amp vs Plexi Pedal, can you guess which is which? 

Wow, I had them backwards. That pedal sounds terrific.

Clearly it doesn't matter if you guess right. That is one convincing pedal.

That clean tone with the guitar volume rolled off is the best ad for the pedal. Fantastic job.

Great job matching the tone of the Shaw. If anything, I prefer the pedal, it sounds "tighter". Also, the clean up when you lowered the volume was impressive. Good work, sounds like a winner.

Got them the wrong way around which surprised me. Pedal was much more articulate.

I liked the first clip the best! A tiny bit less "fizz" in the distortion, although the difference is very negligible.

I liked the pedal better, but what Im really impressed with is your guitar playing.....always a class act, muscular hold the flash. Love it.

I didn't even try to guess. Neither did I skip. Just watched to hear some awesome tones. Which is why I watch any Wampler Pedals video.

I got all three right. Clip 2 had a "flubbier" (is that even a word) low end that I've experienced from time to time with Plexi style amps, I actually prefer how the pedal tightened that up slightly. I guessed the pedal into the Bravado mostly when Brian lowered the volume on the guitar it cleaned up (to my ears at least) a little differently than a Plexi would. Fantastic pedal... It's rare you can say this about anything but I can't think of a single Wampler product I've bought or tried that hasn't completely knocked it out of the park. Well done Brian !

Wow I could tell clips 1 and 3 were the same but had no idea if they were the pedal or the plexi amp. I actually liked them a little bit better than clip 2 of the actual plexi (esp on the low end response). Nobody would EVER tell the difference in a mix or live setting. Well done Brian.

I reckon the second is the amp. I personally don’t think either actually sound like a Plexi but the amp was closer in its woody bass notes. And before anyone attacks I own an original 1969 JMP50 and a 1970 JMP50 both go into 1970 2X12 cabs. And yes both sound different!

Yeah, great! The original Plexi-Drive is hands down my favorite dirt pedal! It even kicked my beloved OCD from its throne, and that says a lot! : )

Yep...clip 2 had more rounded transients. The front of the note wasn't as clear as with the pedal. So I will always go with the pedal as it's far more articulate.

Personally, I thought the pedal in Clip 1 sounded better than the actual amp in clip 2. The amp had a bit of a fizz to it whereas the pedal was sculpted frequency-wise perhaps to eliminate some of the sneaky attributes of the amp. I have still yet to hear a Marshall of any kind that sounds better than my ‘78 JMP - of course that is highly subjective and others might not feel that way. Your pedal here sounds very good!

And now we get to hear from the cork-sniffers. There are differences here, but nothing material. Nothing worth fussing about. (Well done, Brian!!)

I think the 2nd example has a little more natural compression so I guessed that was the amp. Both sound great IMO.

Woo hoo! Got it! 1 & 3 were the pedal, and 2 was the amp! Great work, the pedal sounds ace!

Yay! Got them all right, I literally said, "if im wrong and that second track is the pedal, I'm going out and getting a plexi drive stat!". Lol I like the overall sound of the amp a good bit better, but the pedals not too far off! Very cool video as always Brian

At first I thought it was switched - that clip 1 was the amp, not the pedal. That pedal is AMAZING - beautiful grit and dirt tones, but also clean in a weird way.

I thought Clip 1 sounded a bit compressed, so I guessed it was the pedal. I liked Clip 2 for its open sound, and Clip 3 sounded a lot like Clip 2. I enjoy these kinds of videos. Thanks

The first sound was the pedal, because the Shaw amp was powered off. The second sound was the amp, because the amp was powered on in the background. But then I couldn’t guess 3, so I am impressed by how close they sound to each other.

“Corporate wants you find the difference between these two (sounds).”

cork sniffers: "only toobs are good enough!!!" boutique pedal builders: "here's a $200 amalgam of solid state hardware store components that sounds just like a vintage Marshall" cork sniffers: "yes"

clip 2 is the shaw because the sound has more variation and idiosyncrasies in it compared to the first clip, which sounded more consistent throughout

I could not tell the difference at all.... Excellent work Mister Wampler!

I thought the second clip (amp) sounded looser than the first (pedal). But then I couldn't hear any difference between 2 (amp) and 3(pedal). Well done Brian, as usual.

im guessing clip 2 is the Shaw. edit: I guessed clip 2 because I could hear a little more low mids and it sounded less bitey and more boomy

I had guessed that the second clip was the pedal only because it sounded like it had the gain turned up a little higher and with a pedal, turning the gain up a little too high to match the sound of an amp is easy to do. But the top comment mentioned the pedal cleaning up well which spoiled the third clip for me, and I thought that sounded more like the first. Honestly I think the pedal sounds a little smoother. Great job

Woooo Hoo, I got all 3 right. Pedal sounds really good and very close to the amp.

After watching this, I purchased that pedal. WOW, it's great. It cleans up at low volumes and gets dirty with higher ones. Love that. Playing a lot of Cream stuff, which goes well with this pedal. Thank you for a great product!!! Never had a better one.

I got all 3 right. I'm amazed that I could tell the difference. Maybe it was just a lucky guess, but the difference between Sample 1 and Sample 2 was noticeable. That said, the pedal sounds pretty good.

My signal chain is Strat => Dyna Comp => XTS Tejas Boost => Wampler Plexi Drive => Reeves Custom 50 Head => 2 Marshall 2x12 Cabinets. This is the best tone I have ever had. The Plexi Drive is the best sounding distortion pedal I have ever owned. The XTS Tejas Boost kicks it up a bit for that Eric Johnson kind of vibe. The Plexi Drive is the BOMB!

Haha, I can see the power light is off on the Shaw head over your right shoulder during clip 1, so I knew that was the pedal. The pedal sounds great, though, and I honestly wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference from the clips by themselves. Nice work.

Bryan did it again!!! For me the best sound is clip1 . Lot of headroom and big open sound. Second, Clip 3.Winner for me: Plexi Drive Pedal !!! ..

I thought the first clip was the shaw....warmer and a little tighter compared to a little fizziness in the 2nd clip. Pleasantly surprised for sure! Great sounding pedal!!!!

I got it right Brian and I prefer the pedal. Sounds great, and less brittle or harsh.👍👍👍

A treble booster in front would sounds fantastic.

I just bought that pedal today (for Christmas). Can’t wait to try it out!

DAMN.... nice work Brian!! That just has to go on my mini board!

I'm at the third sample, paused and I'm going to stick my neck out making a guess. Third sample is the Wampler plexi pedal and the amp I would say. I am not going by tone. Turning the guitar volume down to clean it up gave it away. It seemed like you were showing how the pedal can do that like an amp. I'll add an edit when he discloses and see if I have egg on my face. Edit. I got it right. No eggs. I suspected the second clip was the Plexi amp because there was that brittle thing in the break up Plexi amps have, but I did not make a call. Nobody will believe I did not cheat. Oh well. I know. P.S. I have a JMP 50 clone. It does not saturate until about 8 on the high treble channel's volume, unless I boost it. This 50 watt amp outputs over 90 watts when I overdrive it that hard, which is around the limits of the Two Notes Captor 8. It overheats my Captor forcing it into overheat protection mode. It gradually shuts down giving me time to turn my amp off before it fries. I am considering solutions. A Plexi style pedal and running the amp cleaner could be one. Others could be a master volume, power reduction mods, or running a second load box to share the power of the amp. Not sure yet, so I am mostly just using plugin amps until I work out what to do. BTW. One thing I wonder about these amp in a box pedals is how they respond to being hit by an overdrive or distortion. My JMP 50 build fully saturates very low on the volume control when hitting it with a maxed out DOD 250. I wonder if the pedal would do similar.

My hats off Mr. Wampler! Very close sound...mind you...in the 2nd clip Shaw light was on and in the first one it wasn't so that might have to give clue to some :-D For me honestly, it was very hard to tell...but I have to admit that clip no.1 was more pleasant to my ears! So you got me right there! Cheers and will look into getting this one!

Had them backways. Would have liked to hear the bravado clean at the end just for context. Sounds amazing though

Glad to see the Plexi Drive make a comeback. One of my fav pedals.

They BOTH sound awesome ... so on one hand I don't even care which is which. BUT I still love these videos. ;) Killer pedal!

The thing that matters is that both capure the plexi vibe. Both sound awesome.

Before knowing which is the pedal or the amp. I do like the first clip.

I liked the thickness and fuzz in the second clip, before I knew the order. but that's personal taste. the pedals also sounded good

Yeah I was right! The pedal has a slight harshness to the top end. A bit more grit. But great job overall mimicking the Shaw amp.

Nice job Brian. Couldn't tell the difference...and I been pickin for 30 years.

That was very good ,I felt the extra ,musical puff of sound in the 2nd clip. Hearing the third clip I could tell 1+3 were the pedal. Now compare price and that little puff of musicality , For every bed room guitarist, it's a no brainier ! Thank you ,a plain and simple straight shooting test.

I got all three right, there's something about the way that amps respond in the highs, it's like a "crispiness" in the presence is the best way I can describe it. The volume knob play was the part that sealed it for me, you can kind of hear the plexi-ish character disappear as it cleans up. All great tones, though.

I had them all right, The second one has more growl that would come from the amp and #3 just sounded like it was a pedal thru an amp. Good demo! I will be getting that pedal soon

I got it right, but cannot say I prefer one over another, all clips sounded great!

stoked for the Plexi Drive Mini! will definitely be picking one up

oh Lord have mercy Brian, now i "need" this plexi pedal, also hear good things about the SL drive pedal.

Pedal was my favourite, great work 👍

I purchased a Plexi-drive after watching one of these videos. Was very excited about it. Returned it the next day. Not that good once I got it home. The Fulltone OCD I already had was far better (IMO).

Tonally similar. The pedal was warmer/richer. I'm a fan. The amp was great and had that tube response that is unmistakable and immediately gave it away (and I didn't see the pilot lights). I don't know what else to call the tube response. Some type of upper or lower frequency compression? I've experimented with compressors to get close, but it's never exactly the same. It's hard to describe. I've built a couple tube amps, one a marshall style amp. Love the simplicity of tube circuits. Not a fan of the heat, inefficiency, reliability, and danger when tweaking on them. I want to learn and experiment with solid state circuits, class D amplification, and join the quest to diy the best solid state amp I can. The added benefit is I'm less likely to electrocute myself, ha!

It was fairly obvious to my ears. No mistaking that bottom end from the Shaw. The bass switch might add some of that. The PD sounds like it would sit in a mix very nicely.

I was wrong ! I tought the plexi amp was the first sound in the video ... I prefer the sound of your plexi drive !!!! Great pedal

I thought 1 was the pedal, 2 & 3 was the amp, so I guess you stumped me! Whatever the result though, the pedal sounds great. I was listening for the way the high end on big chords kinda sounds like glass breaking through a plexi, and sound 3 was totally nailing that, so wow!

I heard the 1 and 3 clips were the same setup, but I got it wrong - because I thought the ptp built boutique amp would beat the pedal soundwise, and the 1 and 3 clips sounded better with more bite, more clarity and better string separation without nasty interference between frequencies. So I guess this is one more pedal I just need to have.

Got them right. The 1st and 3rd clips sounded a tiny bit darker to my ears.

got them right... there's some harmonics when you play they E chord (specially highest G B an E Strings) that to me I associate with tube sound which I think was what gave it away.. but MAN.. that is one really nice sounding plexi pedal... great job... very impressive

I guessed correctly all three. I want to get this pedal, I use a UAD Apollo recording in to my computer and use their amp sims. On my basic pedalboard I have an eq into a Keeley 1962 and a couple reverb and delay. I think this will really up my gain stacking game. I mostly play a homemade Esquire style with one pup. Looking to slightly beef or girth up my sound and to roll back the volume for tonal variety. Go from clean even jazzy style on low volume to balls out on occasion with volume wide open.

I thought #1 and #3 were the amp and #2 was the pedal. That was very impressive. They both sounded great.

I got it! Nice pedal, low end sounds tighter than the amp, clip 3 had hear more sizzle. Good job!

Got it right. I judged it not by sound, but by the way Brian played. It seemed to me he "felt it" more on the 2nd clip. Also, the 3rd example seemed to clean up too much for an amp when he rolled back his volume.

I was wrong which is a good thing for the pedal. Sounds great Brian.

Own the plexidrive deluxe and she is a monster.. great job Brian.

The light on the amp gave it away for me. lol. But i actually like the pedal more. The Shaw has kinda flabby low end. The pedal was much tighter, but had all the right feel. I'd be interested in hearing the volume knob cleanup of the Shaw. The pedal sounded more transistor-y at low input, and was very Plexi cranked. Damn fine work.

I wanted to believe that clip 2 was the pedal because it was less articulate and yet... Wow! Love Brian's videos and all the Wampler stuff I've used

Seen the amp off in clip one, on with clip 2, but my guess was the pedal was the first clip...thought you may have done that on purpose to confuse us brian!.....you make awesome pedals man...

Congrats Brian !!! Honestly, for me the pedal has a much better tone than the amps...

I owned the Wampler Plexi Drive Mine before I watched this video. I thought the first clip sounded like the pedal immediately upon hearing it, but after hearing the second clip I talked myself out of it I did get that 1 and 3 were the same and 2 was different. I found that I preferred 1 and 3 but maybe I'm biased from using the plexi mini.

I guessed wrong! The amp had a little more fizz on the high end, and I'd usually attribute that to silicon vs tubes (or settings?). But they both sound killer. Great job on the pedal, Brian.

I totally knew after one note which was which. Although I admit the third example could have went either way for me. Thanks for the video!

#3 was great IMO. It made the Tele sound great and cleaned up nice with the volume knob.

My guess: Clip 1 = pedal through bravado(deluxe ish amp) Clip 2 = Shaw plexi amp Clip 3 = pedal and tone/presence rolled down Damn ok take my word for it The Plexidrive sounds really close! Killer sound. Thinkin bout buying one I don't know how you get the circuits so similar sounding lol

Great new pedal Brian!!!

that pedal rocks and I think I need one-good job, Brian!

Uh,Holy crap. That pedal is freaking SCARY good!

I got it right. Number 2 had the fullness, complexity & flubby low end when playing chords and it had the real Marshall "quack" on single notes. (I have a few MIAB pedals but they don't have the same fullness or dynamic quack as my Marshall tube amps).

I got them...but damn that wasn't easy. And I had to listen to them multiple times. It's hard to describe, but the pedals seem to have an extra "fizz" on the attack. Like the response is just a micro-fraction faster than on an amp. And if the wind changed direction I could have missed it all entirely. Well done!

I got them right, by the power of guessing. That pedal sounds really good!

Man this guy knows what i am after, before i knew it🥴✌️ = Plexi Pedal + Clean amp

Wow. Definitely prefer the 1st and 3rd clip.

Thank You for showing the amplifier settings/EQ.

got them all right and I have to say love the Shaw.Has some jtm45 tube rectified squish.

So I had a completely backwards but I like it because now I know how good the paddle sounds

The Shaw has the tiniest bit more fizz. My guess was pedal, Shaw, pedal. But if I'd had to say which I preferred... I have no idea.

Aww man...left me hanging without a plexi pedal into the plexi amp! 🥺

great video. I guessed all 3 correctly. To me, isolated like they were the differences were fairly obvious. But I am impressed with the pedal and I think in the middle of a hard driving mix it would be really next to impossible to know which was which. great job.

Honesty didn't know either way! All I though I could hear was a bit more clarity & mids in the 1st clip a bit more low and high end in the 2nd clip. Both sound great!

Sounds great! I figured the third one was the PlexiDrive when you lowered the volume on the guitar!

I actually get a more of a Marshall type tone with my Pantheon than I do my Plexidrive Deluxe through my setup. Plexidrive doesn’t even get used anymore. Would still like to try this pedal anyway.

Logic tells me that if I wanted the sound but I was already plugging into something like a JC120 for my straight-up tone, the pedal would be my choice. As it is, I choose amp modeling and plugging directly into either a PA system when I’m live or DI when I’m recording, so same difference. Gotta go with the pedal.

I got it right. The second sound clip has this extra bit of sizzle that made me think it was the actual plexi.

That little box sounds good!

I got it right because Wampler overdrive pedals usually have a little more bass. I think Brian makes pedals for guys like me who may need a bit more oomph playing at lower volumes. The extra bass was present in both my Pantheon and Tumnus. It’s a convenient boost for my Princeton Reverb to sound fuller at low volume.