I'm finding, perhaps a tad late in life - just not too late, that I'm a BIG Plexi fan. 60's Marshalls get my creative juices flowing. Not only are they capable of capturing the 60s/70s riffs, they can generate both face peeling high gain and quaint jazz melodies. The factor I find most appealing is how they wrap every chord and note in an envelope of overtones that dance together in a secondary, complimentary woven blanket of alluring sound.
There's this guy out there building amps. I've been aware of him for ~20years, always with respect to Marshall amps. It hasn't been 'till recently that I dipped my toe into his offerings. That dip has officially changed to full immersion. The guy, George Metropoulos, has apparently cracked the code to the early Marshall DNA. His latest release is the GPM 45-1796. It's his take on the JTM 45 Plexi, and what a take it is! Full disclosure, it's less than a day old yet it kept me up into the wee hours last night running it through the mill. So far the amp has graciously shown it likes the H-137, H-575 and H-150.
My approach to evaluating amps is simple: plug in your guitar, put everything at 12:00 and see if it sounds+feels good. If the answer is yes, spin the knobs. If the answer is yes, go to the extremes -treble up, bass off and every combination imaginable. If it passes all tests, you've found a good amp! Next, search for "useable" tone. How does it feel at low volume? Go to high volume. Feel? Try high and low gain at different volumes; feel good? These are the traits of a worthy amplifier.
The video shows how close the old and new stand. The major difference is the Metropoulos comes with the industry standard effects loop, Proprietary Master Volume that doesn't change the sound or feel at lower volumes, an added gain level that respectfully increases the gain of the amp plus a switchable solid state or tube rectifier option. All in all an homage to 60s Marshall with modern updates.
Check it out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF4IdSgGwv0
There's this guy out there building amps. I've been aware of him for ~20years, always with respect to Marshall amps. It hasn't been 'till recently that I dipped my toe into his offerings. That dip has officially changed to full immersion. The guy, George Metropoulos, has apparently cracked the code to the early Marshall DNA. His latest release is the GPM 45-1796. It's his take on the JTM 45 Plexi, and what a take it is! Full disclosure, it's less than a day old yet it kept me up into the wee hours last night running it through the mill. So far the amp has graciously shown it likes the H-137, H-575 and H-150.
My approach to evaluating amps is simple: plug in your guitar, put everything at 12:00 and see if it sounds+feels good. If the answer is yes, spin the knobs. If the answer is yes, go to the extremes -treble up, bass off and every combination imaginable. If it passes all tests, you've found a good amp! Next, search for "useable" tone. How does it feel at low volume? Go to high volume. Feel? Try high and low gain at different volumes; feel good? These are the traits of a worthy amplifier.
The video shows how close the old and new stand. The major difference is the Metropoulos comes with the industry standard effects loop, Proprietary Master Volume that doesn't change the sound or feel at lower volumes, an added gain level that respectfully increases the gain of the amp plus a switchable solid state or tube rectifier option. All in all an homage to 60s Marshall with modern updates.
Check it out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF4IdSgGwv0
