Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: sambo on February 24, 2008, 02:34:33 PM
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Ok as part of my long-term amp plans, looking into the possibility of Marshall clones after many people have recommended me an old JCM/JMP for what I want.
So to get the ball rolling, Ceriatone!
The model I'm most interested in would be the '87 Plexi50 Lead. Not as a kit mind- complete amp.
http://www.ceriatone.com/productSubPages/BSPlexi50Lead/BSPlexi50.htm
Now if I've got my calculations correct, including shipping and customs e.t.c. from the states, it should be around £600.
So, are they the real deal? Am I better hunting around for a second-hand old Marshall in the hope of the saving some cash and getting the 'authentic' amp?
I know Dave (that's Twinfan dave), ordered a kit a while ago, any news?
Any opinions much appreciated as usual,
Sam.
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Why would you want to get one from the states :P I think they are somewhere in the Eastern land.
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:oops:
Are they!?
I just saw all the prices in USD and assumed the States. Oopsies.
EDIT: ah yes indeed:
"Nik Shazwan Nik Azam
1206, Blok D, Rustica Condo,
Persiaran Meranti, Bandar Sri Damansara
52200 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia"
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I've never built or used a Ceriatone amp, but they have a reputation as good value for money and Nik provides excellent service.
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:D Heres some clips people have posted of there amps worth checking out. Check out the Plexi 50 sounds they sound good to me. It might be cheaper to get the parts shipped as opposed to getting the amp put together then shipped [ just a thought ]
:D 8)
http://www.ceriatone.com/tlbrBorderSub/sound_clips_youtube.htm
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Now if I've got my calculations correct, including shipping and customs e.t.c. from the states, it should be around £600.
If you ask me, I'd pay 50 GBP more and get the Marshall reissue instead.
Or if top end, Cornell, V-Plex, Makoamp or sth like that.
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Have you ever played a Ceriatone, Hunter? I find them to have a superior tone to the Marshall reissues, plus they're hand wired and cheaper.
My JTM45 and JTM45/10 are both Ceriatone based but assembled by Martin of Martamp. Great value for money amps, top spec components, great tone, mods available for tiny extra cost (a master volume is $15 or something daft!) etc. They're assembled in Malaysia and Nik uses locally made transformers and other components, hence the low cost.
If you're after a good sounding old Marshall, Ceriatone is a great 'new' option and they're very cost effective. They won't have the resale of a Marshall, but I'm not planning on selling mine so that's not an issue to me :)
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I don't know if you factored in customs duty in your calculations, which might be as much as 25-30% of the cost. In the States it is different, that's why I can't give you a good number.
I think it might be worth talking to Martin at Martamps (and now Matamp too), to see how much he would charge to put one together. You can also get the cabinet from him I think, which might save money too.
I've just ordered 2 amps from Nik. One is the Overtone Special and the other is a custom amp, which is something I was after for a while. Basically it is the 18W EF86 TMB preamp with a JTM45 power amp. For both of them I got the cabinets built here to save on the shipping.
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Cheers, chaps. Thanks for the links to the sound clips Jt! Listening now.
Hunter by Marshall re-issue do you mean the ones with 'x' at the end of the model name? I'm not really familiar with modern Marshalls at all.
Dave, interesting stuff. Especially the ability to add options for such little extra cost. That makes it uber-muchly more attractive for some reason.
Just out of interest, how much does Martin charge to assemble an amp?
Cheers,
Sam.
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Thanks Phil, missed your post.
I thought I had calculated shipping + customs/VAT roughly but wouldn't be surprised if I had messed it up! :oops: Will be sure to go over that again.
And when you say cabinet- you mean the enclosure for the head right? (Even though I will actually need a speaker cab in the future anyway!) I hadn't thought about doing that, as I assumed it would be too expensive to get one built elsewhere. Thanks for the suggestion- that's something else I will have to get a quote for! Might have to have a word with Martin.
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keep looking at them and also some others would love to build...
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Sam,
Martin's prices depend on the amp because the work involved varies. Give him a shout via his website, he'll be more than happy to talk to you about the options :)
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^Will do! :)
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As I'm passing... :wink:
My price is about £850 for either a JTM45 or a Plexi 50, in completely standard trim, supplied with a high quality birch ply cab, and with 12 months warranty.
Nik's prices don't include whatever import duties (and don't forget 17.5% VAT) you get hit with. his amps are very well built, but his cabs are not as good as my Matamp souced ones.
There's also the issue of warranty backup.
I don't buy the complete kits from Nik, only the chassis, front and rear plates, trannies and board. The rest I have in stock, or can get.
I also offer matching speaker cabs. :)
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Hi! :)
Thanks for all the info, that's fantastic.
I've already sent you an e-mail, but just out of interest while you're here;
What about extra options? For instance- a different colour cab, adding a master volume, reverb? It depends on the mod of course, but is anything other than bog-standard going to take the price up substantially? And a master volume for example, would you order that as part of the kit from Nik or do you mod/customise the kits yourself?
Getting tempted already! Eek.
Cheers,
Sam.
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Have you ever played a Ceriatone, Hunter? I find them to have a superior tone to the Marshall reissues, plus they're hand wired and cheaper.
hmm, nope not played one. Surely trust you there Dave.
I was thinking about brand/resale value ... and then as you know I am a bit Marshall hyped these days :wink:
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Hi! :)
What about extra options? For instance- a different colour cab, adding a master volume, reverb? It depends on the mod of course, but is anything other than bog-standard going to take the price up substantially? And a master volume for example, would you order that as part of the kit from Nik or do you mod/customise the kits yourself?
Master Volume is £20 extra. Reverb is a no-no, as it involves a fairly major redesign. Other mods priced according to parts and work involved. I do the mods myself to stock circuit boards.
I can do custom colours at no extra cost, depending on availability of materials. You can have Black-on-white or white-on-black trafolite panels (rather than gold plexiglass) for an extra £30. Different knobs, handles, corners Etc etc.
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Here are some recent amps FYI:
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ohhhhhhhhh a tweed '45! Holy hell I think I might have to sell some stuff and save some money.
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That 18 looks sweet
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Sam,
Martin's prices depend on the amp because the work involved varies. Give him a shout via his website, he'll be more than happy to talk to you about the options :)
What does Martin think of them?
The price puts me off it a bit.
Edit: Spent so long reading that I forgot to refresh and missed Martin's posts!!!
Either way - Same question - Do you think they're good amps, or are they just good for the price?
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Master Volume is £20 extra. Reverb is a no-no, as it involves a fairly major redesign. Other mods priced according to parts and work involved. I do the mods myself to stock circuit boards.
I can do custom colours at no extra cost, depending on availability of materials. You can have Black-on-white or white-on-black trafolite panels (rather than gold plexiglass) for an extra £30. Different knobs, handles, corners Etc etc.
Brilliant, thanks.
I have to say, that tweed is absolutely GORGEOUS.
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You should see the matching tweed 2x12 ;)
Are they good, or just good for the price? Put it this way, I haven't played any new amp that sounds better than my Ceriatone based JTM45 built by Martin. Martin himself will also tell you that the JTM45s he's built sound superb for clean, crunchy and blues/rock tones.
Anyone local to me is welcome to try my amps out and form their own opinion :)
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As one of the few people offering opinions here who have actually owned a Ceriatone or Ceriatone-based amp here (see the top picture of the MartinW post above !), I would say that the amps are not just good for the price, but "good", period !!
If you can cope with the extra time it might take for Martin to build you the amp, I would advise anyone in the UK who wants a fully built amp to let him build it. He does a great job, and you get a 12 warranty, which is worth a lot in my book.
if you are desperate for the amp NOW then the quickest way is to get the amp fully assembled from Nik in Malaysia. But Global shipping on an amp is not often kind, and it's much more difficult to sort out after-sales problems when you live several thousand miles away from the builder.
If you look around the www for opinions from people who have actually bought and owned Ceriatone amps (as opposed to opinions from people who just have opinions) then you will struggle to find a bad word about the company, or their products.
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So hamfist, yours is the Plexi50 Ceriatone model right?
And it looks like you've had some kind of mod on it where the bottom right of the 4 inputs is?
It looks beautiful!
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It was a JTM45 with master volume and power scaling ;)
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Oops I must be blind today- it says JTM right there! :oops:
Deary me. :?
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And it looks like you've had some kind of mod on it where the bottom right of the 4 inputs is?
The dial in one of the input positions is a Pre-PI MV, part of the power-scaling mod that Martin did.
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I got a mate who built a ceriatione 50w plexi head and he creams himself talking about how good it is...thing is he can't crank the bugger because the amp quote "would take the f*cking roof off"...
he is a huge amp nut so I reckon that says a lot.
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:D To those that watched the clips on the Ceratone site the 2nd clip of the plexi 50. Did the guy have a pedal in front of the amp ? Because he was sure getting a great serious overdriven sound out of it.
Sounds more and more tempting doesn`t it sambo :D
Heres a link to customer reviews on Harmony Central for you guys to read and check out.
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp/brand/CeriaTone
:D 8)
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Mike
err, do you mean "Martin" ? ... or am on the wrong track.
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:)
Well if he does, the short answer is no.
FX loops can be a minefield, ditto emulated outputs. Both can require time consuming r&d to get right.
At the moment I haven't got time to do anything other than straightforward builds, other than adding an MV, voicing and gain mods.
Even that may end shortly. :?
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Mike
err, do you mean "Martin" ? ... or am on the wrong track.
He probably meant Nik from Ceriatone. Nik does indeed do FX loop mod as an option but I don't know about direct outputs.
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:D Errr........Oops ! Sorry i meant Martin :oops:
I just checked back do you have a Email ad or a web site as i just realised it would be easier to talk to you directly !!
What i want would be a "Suped Up" Plexi. ie EVH can this be done ?
or how about the Randy rhoads mod that he had done on his Marshall JCM 800 i think its called "Cascade"
Once again sorry for getting name wrong if we get to meet you can slap me for it !! :lol:
You should put a link to yourself as part of your profile ie Feline etc just a thought.
:D 8)
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:D Errr........Oops ! Sorry i meant Martin :oops:
You should put a link to yourself as part of your profile ie Feline etc just a thought.
8)
I have! :wink:
:D Also,the www at the bottom of my posts goes to my site.
I can add more gain to Marshalls if required, and cascade those amps that don't have it.
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Sounds more and more tempting doesn`t it sambo :D
Definitely does!
Reading reviews now. :)
And cheers for the anecdote Ted. :)