Well after playing this thing a few weeks... gotta say I'm pretty pleased with my new amp.
I’ve played various rehearsals , one pub/club gig, twice at church and once at a gear sound off we call a 'gearfest' jam with a half dozen other guitarists and their rigs. I'm starting to get the hang of this plexi style amp, and I’m enjoying the new experience, having been raised on switching channel modern stuff. Normally I wouldn’t bother writing a review as I’m weary of general corksniffery and gushing “awesome because it’s mine” reviews about all manner of gear on the net… but with the amount of compliments and questions I've been getting about this amp from both friends and complete strangers who’ve heard me play… I’m starting to think maybe this isn’t just a gear honeymoon after all… maybe this amp really is something special.
There are two musical hats I wear… firstly I’m the lead guitarist for a big band (12 piece with horn section), and we cover 70s 80s 90s pop/blues rock/jazz music, including some really fun stuff for guitarists (Steely Dan!) I need a lot of dynamic control, and good saturation for lead lines. As there are lots of muso’s, I need to be very quiet in some songs and also VERY loud during solos... this amp handles the dynamics well, with pleasing tone at all levels. I also play electric guitar at our church, where we do the popular church music like Hillsong etc, and this amp also works really well… The clean to mild breakup sounds are all really nice… This is where the VRM is a very useful tool to craft the dynamics using the natural compression of the amplifier at reduced levels. I was pleasantly surprised, and perhaps it’s something to consider for church guitarists looking to get away from the AC15 or similar.
The saturation of the cranked Plexi is really something special. Thick & syrupy, fat, yet articulate… with great sustain for lead guitar. Huge bass for a low-watt amp: the nice, tight, thumping kind. I’m playing though a single 12” Scumback H75 speaker in a large open-back cab. I really like the sound, although I haven’t played it through any other drivers yet. Both types of power tubes are nice, I’d be happy with either the EL84s or 6V6 on their own. At a pinch I’d say, cranked I prefer EL84, but for cleaner stuff the 6V6. Both preamp channels are great, slightly different in character, both equally useable. I have enjoyed sculpting tones with the channels jumpered also.
What I’m really enjoying is the re-discovery of the volume & tone controls on my guitar! Things work differently to my previous setups, where I would set the amp on the verge of breakup and use pedals to push it for overdrive or lead. Suddenly, half my pedals feel redundant… as I’m tending to leave the amp set cranked for my lead tone, but I play most of the set with the guitar volume knob turned down! I really love how this amp responds to playing dynamics and to the guitar pots. Mostly I play my PAF humbucker guitar, which is a finely crafted custom built instrument… Through this amp, there are beautiful tones with the neck pickup for Lead, Coil tap combinations for jangle, bridge pickup with a tubescreamer for an aggressive Marshall saturation… for me, it’s all there. Sounded great with a friend’s tele the other day too. Anyway that’s my impression after a few weeks, I will endeavour to record some demos so you can hear the Scumback also. Trinity Plexi kit with V6 and VRM mods, highly recommended. Cheers, Corey
Build pics hereRecordings here