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James... « Marshall in a box »
Published on 12/15/11 at 16:02What we have here is an overdrive box with three settings. You have a clean boost, an overdrive, and a high gain channel. Traditionally I'm not a fan of these kinds of pedals because you usually get one good channel and 2 meh ones. The layout is simple enough. Tone, level, and controls for the three channels gain levels. It's a large footprint but considering what you get it's no big deal. It's supposed to be all your marshall tones in a box plus your clean boost feature.
UTILIZATION
Carl Martin effects are consistently pretty great for the price. The build quality is the highlight though. Handmade in Denmark... Can't beat it. Honestly this isn't a very difficult pedal to figure out how to use. It's a trial and error thing dialing in settings and like most overdrive pedals you have to find the sweet spots.
SOUND QUALITY
I am very very picky about my overdrive pedals. I've tried most of the ones out there at all price ranges. For the most part I think you get what you pay for with some exceptions. These multi-drive pedals like the plexi tone are typically not too impressive even when they are boutiquey. Carl Martin is what I consider the tip of the boutique iceberg. But this pedal is pretty darn good. Most overdrive pedals falter due to tone issues. They always either sound too thin (TS9) or too muddy (digitech anything). The only really good pedals I've found for the most part are the hand wired upper end single switch pedals. But this Plexi Tone is one of the few stand outs in its price range. The tone control has a wide enough usable range that you can actually dial in a good eq. The high gain channel is admittedly a bit much sometimes and can sound bad at high settings, so be careful. The clean boost and overdrive channel though are really great. They do have a marshally flavor and remind me of the catalinbread DLS.
OVERALL OPINION
The value is the real deal maker for this pedal. It's not the best of its kind out there but for the price you are getting a great clean boost and a pretty darn good overdrive in one pedal. A lot of players could buy this and be done for finding an overdrive. It's really that useful and buys your amp another 2 or three channels. A lot of people use the high gain channel as a jumper for the regular channel. I kind of pretend it isn't there but I don't use it for high gain so...
UTILIZATION
Carl Martin effects are consistently pretty great for the price. The build quality is the highlight though. Handmade in Denmark... Can't beat it. Honestly this isn't a very difficult pedal to figure out how to use. It's a trial and error thing dialing in settings and like most overdrive pedals you have to find the sweet spots.
SOUND QUALITY
I am very very picky about my overdrive pedals. I've tried most of the ones out there at all price ranges. For the most part I think you get what you pay for with some exceptions. These multi-drive pedals like the plexi tone are typically not too impressive even when they are boutiquey. Carl Martin is what I consider the tip of the boutique iceberg. But this pedal is pretty darn good. Most overdrive pedals falter due to tone issues. They always either sound too thin (TS9) or too muddy (digitech anything). The only really good pedals I've found for the most part are the hand wired upper end single switch pedals. But this Plexi Tone is one of the few stand outs in its price range. The tone control has a wide enough usable range that you can actually dial in a good eq. The high gain channel is admittedly a bit much sometimes and can sound bad at high settings, so be careful. The clean boost and overdrive channel though are really great. They do have a marshally flavor and remind me of the catalinbread DLS.
OVERALL OPINION
The value is the real deal maker for this pedal. It's not the best of its kind out there but for the price you are getting a great clean boost and a pretty darn good overdrive in one pedal. A lot of players could buy this and be done for finding an overdrive. It's really that useful and buys your amp another 2 or three channels. A lot of people use the high gain channel as a jumper for the regular channel. I kind of pretend it isn't there but I don't use it for high gain so...