Ha ha!
They're so different I'm not surprised Alan!
Clean/crunchy and creamy smooth?
or
Loud, biting and rocking?
Dave, the way I set them up, they are surprisingly similar actually.
Firstly, getting a couple of greenbacks in to replace the couple of G12H30's (55Hz) I had in the 4x12 was a huge relief. So the cab is now loaded with 2 x standard G12M re-issues, one Scumback H75 and one Scumback M75. Almost anything would sound nice through this cab, IMO !
OK, back to the amps, whereas the AC30 just gets vague and woolly past about 10-11 o'clock on the dial, the Plexi stays tight and just gets crunchier and rockier ! - really nice ! Somehow I still actually prefer the lower gain sounds of the EF86 channel in the Vox to the same type of sounds in the Plexi. The Vox definately has more bite in that gain range. Think of Pete T's tones in the Who. that's the sort of tones I'm talking about. The Vox's low gain distortion has a more grainy, biting quality about it that really slices through a mix like a knife. But then as you increase the gain on both amps, the situation reverses and the Vox flubs out, whereas the Plexi just does what it's supposed to - stays tight, and crunches more !
The Plexi also made me want to tun my delay off more - just didn't seem to need it as much. The Plexi is also a treat to play the volume knob on. Very responsive. I'm normally a vol knob on 10 kind of guy, but this amp could tempt me to experiment a bit (if I keep it !
).
Volume-wise, I found keeping the PPIMV at 11:00 or above really doesn't affect the tone noticeably at all. ThE PPIMV on it's own would not be enough IMO to get decent tone at living room volumes. You could play it that low, but it would be a bit fizzy and harsh. However, just add in -8dB with a hotplate and all was very good at very amenable home volumes. Also bear in mind that my cab is mostly full of quite low efficiency speakers, so this does help.
I was expecting the amp to be much brighter than it is. I've never played a Plexi in anger (with distortion I mean) before, but their reputation is to be quite a bright, cutting, over harsh amp at times, that defnately needs the treble to be well controlled. I don't actually know what value bright cap Ceriatone put in them - might have something to do with it. Playing on the normal channel was definately not bright enough for me. Playing just the treble channel, was not especially bright and cutting, just a bit thin, without some of the normal channel blended in with it. I suspect I'll uses the amp with both channels blended at about the same level - so voiced pretty ideally for me really.
I really am torn between the two amps at the moment. I think the Plexi is actually more versatile, as it is much more convincing in a higher range of gains than the Vox. However, the Vox still has my heart on those crunchy low gain tones that I love so much. I think I really need to try out the Ceriatone in a band situation, to get a better idea.
unfortunately I haven't got any loud gigs or rehearsals coming up. My band is in need of a drummer so everything has just ground to a halt. I will play the Plexi and the 4x12 at church on sunday, but it's always a bit of a battle to keep my volume low enough to keep all the folks happy. I wonder if our minister will have a coronary when I wheel in the 4x12. he'll learn to love it in the end !!
Oh well, thats' about it for now. I'm sure more bits and pieces will come back to me later. I'll also try to get some clips recorded over the next few days - school holidays are not the easiest time to do that though. I'll do my best.
Alan
