Plexi Power!

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Tue May 11, 2004 7:13 pm

Well, my fellow forumites, I have learned a big lesson tonight. Tonight was another night me and my amp doc were working on my purple plexi. Lately it had been going from fuzzy to fizzy and it was driving me more and more crazy with each gig. At first I thought it was the SoZo's because all this occurred soon after the new caps had been installed. Turns out it was the preamp tubes. Tonight we put in a new JAN 5157 in V1 and two JJ ECC83/12AX7's in V2 and V3 and...BOOM! There was that old familiar Super Bass sound again.

Tonight was actually the first time I could really hear the effect the SoZo caps have on my sound. Since this was an experimental night I had the luxury of 'A/B'ing' the mallory caps that were in my amp before and the new SoZo's as I had my amp doc put the Mallorys back in there and then the SoZo's. [size=24]I AM A SOZO CONVERT![/size] Everything you guys said about these caps is absolutely true. These caps sound organic, warm, and really open up the sound of your amp. Contrary to a previous experience which I posted about in this very thread there's absolutely NO loss of high end. In fact, the highs become less ratty and gain more sparkle. Unfortunately the new caps coincided with my preamp tubes going bad causing me to think the caps needed some serious burning in in order to sound even fairly decent.

Which brings me to another discovery. I'm probably late in discovering this but then better late than never, right? Until tonight I had never tried JJ's in my preamp section. [size=24]I AM A JJ CONVERT![/size] What a great preamp tube the JJ ECC83/12AX7 is! I'm thoroughly impressed. Who said current-production tubes can't hold a candle to NOS ones? That's what I was using prior to JJ's. I had read so many good reports about the JJ's and not being a NOS purist in the first place I decided to go for them. I think the JJ's sound better than all of the NOS tubes I've had in my amps before. The JJ's are often described as a little dark-sounding but to my ears they have a great balance between all frequencies with a little bit more output than most other tubes but with no added distortion. I now have a JJ in one of my Super Reverbs as well and they sound equally impressive in a Fender. I already have a batch underway thru an eBay seller. Great stuff!

Mike

flemingmras · Post by **flemingmras** » Tue May 11, 2004 7:21 pm

I've got about 24 brand new Ruby JJ 12AX7s...IN STOCK!!!

I also have sex quart.......uh...err...uh...I mean SIX quartetes of JJ E34Ls! GREAT TUBES!

Just wait till Guest sees THIS!

Jon

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Tue May 11, 2004 7:35 pm

Yes Jon,

Guest has exposed himself as being a 'Marshall nazi' who does nothing but reject change (Jim Marshall was never like that!). Most Marshall owners are a lot different. They mod away like crazy and then tell about it on the Plexi Palace forum - and get respect for it. I learned a lot from reading their posts. These mods very often included doing stuff the amp was never designed to do. Hell, daisychaining channels on the front panel of an amp was never part of Leo Fender's design either but the shit damn well worked, didn't it? Marshalls sound better for it and they DID include it in their design. Or finding the in-between positions on a strat. That's how five-way switches came about instead of three-way ones. Thank God there are adventurous players out there that just want a cool tone and are willing to experiment in order to achieve THE TONE, which for each player is a different thing.

That's how amps, guitars and pedals evolve. I have a term for people who just want things frozen in time. The scientific term for the phenomenon of freezing things in time is cryonics. Therefore Guest is a 'cryonic' player! Can you imagine how many classic Marshall models we would have missed out on if someone had said to Jim Marshall, "well, that JTM45 of yours is not exactly like a Bassman, now is it?". I rest my case.

Mike

flemingmras · Post by **flemingmras** » Tue May 11, 2004 10:01 pm

And I suppose that's why I opted for MY Marshalls to go to...11 now isn't it?

Now THAT'S Rock n' Fuckin' Roll!!!

Jon

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Tue May 11, 2004 10:25 pm

Or finding the in-between positions on a strat. That's how five-way switches came about instead of three-way ones. Thank God there are adventurous players out there that just want a cool tone and are willing to experiment in order to achieve THE TONE, which for each player is a different thing.

Uh-Oh. I'm the psycho that puts three-ways BACK into my Strats!!!

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Wed May 12, 2004 6:00 am

[quote="Flames1950"]Uh-Oh. I'm the psycho that puts three-ways BACK into my Strats!!!

[/quote]

Whatever works for you, man. I don't belong to the Marshall or Fender police...

Mike

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Wed May 12, 2004 8:49 am

Whatever works for you, man. I don't belong to the Marshall or Fender police...

Oh, good, I don't have to "assume the position".........

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Sat May 15, 2004 8:47 am

Guyz,

This morning at 11:30 I was in our band's rehearsal space with my amp doc yet again listening for the first time to my plexi's final upgrade: a Heyboer PT and a MM 10H choke. OH MY GAWD!!!!!

This amp RAWKS!!!!!

In a post on this forum I inquired about the plate voltage of Heyboer PT's and mentioned my sweet spot of 470v. George replied they're exactly in that range. Well, mine turned out to be 500! I don't know if Heyboer differ a lot in voltage, but what I do know is THIS IS A VERY HAPPY COINCIDENCE!

I get absolutely NO sag from my amp. The amp sounds tighter than ever before and all the frequency ranges are boosted in a very pleasing way. The amp seems to have gained a few watts too but maybe this is down to the increased efficiency of the PT and choke upgrade.

Shane, you gotta do the Heyboer upgrade ASAfuckinP, bro! You're gonna love what it does to your sound. While you're at it you might as well throw in a MM choke as well. After all, they're only 20 bucks so you can't go wrong there. I'm officially declaring my plexi project finished. Wanna know why I'm so sure? Because there's nothing left to upgrade, that's why!

My amp sounds absolutely killer and VERY vintage. Most importantly, it's MY take on the classic Marshall sound. I'm gigging this beaut this Wednesday. Of course I'll report back, gents!

Mike

Country Boy Shane · Post by **Country Boy Shane** » Sun May 16, 2004 10:40 am

I envy you BlueFUZZ!!!! As soon as i refill my bank accounts to a very high amount that i'm comfortable with, i'm gonna definitely go with ordering a Heyboer PT and MM Choke! I can't wait to get them and cream my pants from the new awesome sound. By the way, creaming your pants in excitement is GREAT~!!

Trigger · Post by **Trigger** » Sun May 16, 2004 1:21 pm

Well, thank YOU for the advice on what to do with my cream, Shane.
I'm gonna try it one of these days. It's quite a huge skippy ball in my pants, so I guess it's wise to milk it in excitement. I'll keep y'all informed.

johniss0001 · Post by **johniss0001** » Sun May 16, 2004 4:19 pm

Guy can you help me I am thinking about getting a kit myself from George where I choose the parts. I want to know what choke would be the best for me as I am building a 100watt plexi ?

John Ross

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Sun May 16, 2004 5:41 pm

John,

I opted for the 10H choke after reading up on this on the Plexi Palace forum. I'm no expert on the subject but from what I gathered the higher you go up in Henrys the cleaner and tighter your tone becomes. My RI plexi had a 4H choke in it. There seemed to be a general consensus on PP that 10H is a nice sweet spot so that's what I went for. It is also the choke that George stocks and sells here on his website so there must be a good reason for it. Care to chime in here, George (Jon?), and give us a more detailed explanation?

Mike

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Sun May 16, 2004 5:52 pm

I just wanted to report back about the 500v reading on my Heyboer PT. George mentioned in an email to me that the Heyboers differ only within 5-10v from each other and they're all supposed to be in the 470v range. He mentioned that's on 120v current. That got me thinking. Maybe my PT goes up to 500v because here in Europe we're on 220-230v? I do remember guys mentioning on the Plexi Palace forum their stock RI SLP 100's had plate voltages of 430-440. Mine was always 470v and I remember thinking that's weird.

Is it possible that the fact that we have 230v over here can make for a 30v difference in B+? Does anyone know more about this? Either way, I'm glad it turned out the way it did!

Mike

flemingmras · Post by **flemingmras** » Sun May 16, 2004 8:05 pm

Hey Mike, which wire on the PT primary do you have your mains hooked up to?

I believe for Europe it should be on the orange and the brown. Check this out and let me know. I believe your wall voltage is around 240 Volts. Set your voltmeter on AC volts and stick the probes in the wall socket. If it's closer to 220, use the blue wire. If it's closer to 240 use the brown wire. Either way orange is common and you will always use the orange wire. The blue is the 220V tap and brown is the 240V tap. This information is coming straight from the Heyboer factory just so you know.

Jon

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Sun May 16, 2004 8:33 pm

Jon,

I'll ask my amp doc this as I'm not going anywhere near the guts of my amps! I'm just a geetar player and I'm all thumbs. Although I'm as anxious to hear the answer to your question as you are I'm not having anything changed! I LIKES the way my plexi sounds now!!!

Mike