Ceriatone Plexi on the way

[PhilKing]

Nik will do pentode/triode switching, I have 2 amps on the way from him at the moment, both with that feature.  One is a stock Overtone Special, the other is a custom build, which I'll save for when it gets here.

[PPPMAT]

can the powerscaling be added to any amp? does it have to be an internal mod?

Martin is the best person to answer your questions but AFAIK yes it can be added to any amp master volume or not. I think the fitting of it would depend on the amp.

If you do a search for jtm45 there are a few clips of a power scaled JTM45 Martin did which will give you an idea of what it can do. Also go on youtube and watch the suhr badger clip - thats very good

[Twinfan]

It's an internal mod as it has to be wired to the 'heart' of the amp.  It also requires two extra pots to be added for the controls of the power scaling - one for the scaling itself and a master volume to help balance the signal properly.  It's quite a labour intensive process and there can be problems with it - it's not a perfect technology.

In my opinion, it's a nice thing to have but it's expensive.  You're looking at around £200ish (from memory, don't quote me!) to have it fitted to an amp, plus the amp itself will need to have space inside to have it installed.  It works best on low powered amps up to around 50w.

It depends what you want to use the amp for.  If you really want control at pretty low volumes, then that's the way to go but you pay for it.  If you just want something to take the edge off the volume at gig levels, then a master volume is cheap, easy to fit and it works great.  I have just a simple master volume on both my JTM45/100 and my Super Lead Klipp.

[martinw]

PS can be fitted to any amp, but I'm not doing it any more.

Firstly, it's very time consuming as each amp is different and requires a fair amount of R&D time, which I no longer have.
Secondly, when I increased prices to go some way towards a more reasonable price (about the same as a good attenuator), all of a sudden no-one wanted to pay that much. Fair enough.  :roll:

[hamfist]

Sounds good Alan!

If after doing the comparisons you decide to sell the Plexi, drop me a line and I'll take it off your hands  :)

Dave, I'll give you first option on it if I come to moving it on ..... and yes getting Martin to mod the Jtm45 to plexi spec was something I thought long and hard about at the time. Martin certainly offered to do it for me for a very reasonable price. In hindsight I probably should have done that.
  That's all water under the bridge now though. I may have another tough decision to make in a few weeks !

[hamfist]

Look forward to hearing some clips - the Vox clip you posted sounded excellent so will be interested in how you get on with a plexi clone :)

Thanks Kevin. Yeah  I am a bit of a clip-meister. I'll certainly be doing some of the Plexi. I wish my chops were a little better, though. I find it amazing how so many people judge an amp clip by the standard of the playing, not by the tone of the amp or the actual recording.

[hamfist]

Actually..... Me too!  :D

I was gonna build it myself but saw a good deal on one that I couldn't pass up. My build may now be an 18W or maybe even a 100W from Metro. I will report on how it sounds once it arrives. Can't wait!

hey Ninja, did you win the Ceriatone Plexi that sold on ebay a couple of days ago ?    If so, it was me you were bidding against !!

[Twinfan]

[Dave, I'll give you first option on it if I come to moving it on .....

Top stuff - thanks matey!  I only need a 50w plexi to round out the collection  ;)

[LazyNinja]

Actually..... Me too!  :D

I was gonna build it myself but saw a good deal on one that I couldn't pass up. My build may now be an 18W or maybe even a 100W from Metro. I will report on how it sounds once it arrives. Can't wait!

hey Ninja, did you win the Ceriatone Plexi that sold on ebay a couple of days ago ?    If so, it was me you were bidding against !!

Yes it was! Sorry mate  :P I seem to be getting into a habit of bidding against fellow forum members from here! :( I got lucky on it because I came home, switched on PC and then there it was, with only 3 minutes to go. I hadn't even seen it before then. I was gonna order one very soon so I thought why not :twisted:

Actually..... Me too!  :D

I was gonna build it myself but saw a good deal on one that I couldn't pass up. My build may now be an 18W or maybe even a 100W from Metro. I will report on how it sounds once it arrives. Can't wait!

Build the 18w TMB then let me know how it sounds, I've been gas'ing for a lower wattage plexi recently :P

I sure will, but it might not happen for a while though!

[LazyNinja]

:o OMG someone won an original handwired Superbass for £450 last night! I thought I got a good deal :?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1973-Marshall-Superbass_W0QQitemZ260219982845QQihZ016QQcategoryZ10171QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[hamfist]

:o OMG someone won an original handwired Superbass for £450 last night! I thought I got a good deal :?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1973-Marshall-Superbass_W0QQitemZ260219982845QQihZ016QQcategoryZ10171QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I think you got a good deal if you don't want a PPIMV on the amp. I didn't bid higher because I knew that paying a tech to install a PPIMV would cost somewhere between £60-£100. Ceriatone will install a PPIMV on a new amp for an extra £8, so for me it made sense to buy new in the end.

  That superbass on ebay was pretty tatty I have to say. Also, when the buyer states that the impedance switch is set on 16 ohms, that strongly indicates to me that it has had a replacement OT at some point. Both those things mark it down pretty heavily.  For a techically-able person it was a pretty good buy I suppose. You got the better amp I'm sure !

[LazyNinja]

Yeah I did think that but it's still a good value for a vintage amp, Musicground would have charged £1500 for it :lol: Quite a risk buying a vintage amp too though I guess, because you could end up with a total lemon. I think our Ceriatones would probably sound equally as good if not better hopefully I'm going to be using mine with a hotplate but may decide to install a master in the future. Are you going to get a half power switch installed on it too?

[hamfist]

Are you going to get a half power switch installed on it too?

No I didnt bother with that. I've heard several folks report that a pentode/triode switch on the output tubes is a fairly useless mod, as the triode circuit changes the tone way too much, and not in a good way.
  For me, if the PPIMV and Hotplate aren't enough, I'll be trying JJ 6V6's, which should bring the wattage down to about 25-30. Apparently you need to use the JJ's because they are the only ones (including NOS) that are robust eanough to handle the plate voltages. They are not a true 6V6, but something similar, really. Once biased, you then need to use double the cab impedance of the amp output (ie. 8 ohm amp output into a 16 ohm cab), to compensate for the impedance mismatch which is generated.  I don't understand it, but I've been told by folks at TGP, who I trust, that it would be fine.

[FernandoDuarte]

Fthe AC30HH I got

So I ordered the Plexi 50W lead 1987 from Nik at Ceriatone yesterday.

One of my biggest problems is that I'm a one amp kind of guy (I'd rather have all my money invested in one amp rather that have TWO CHEAP ONES.

 :rock:
C'mon man!
You have two great amps... stop crying!
Get the two and make them work for you
(and I hope you're not saying that they're cheap... really hope)

[hamfist]

 :rock:
C'mon man!
You have two great amps... stop crying!
Get the two and make them work for you
(and I hope you're not saying that they're cheap... really hope)

I am not complaining at all. Far from it. I am truly blessed to have access to both amps.

   Both amps are truly great amps and, for my budget, they are both quite expensive. The struggle will be to choose between them, as I cannot afford to keep both and will only be able to keep one. There may be some crying then.