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Published on 09/30/12 at 01:18Brian Wampler has commanded quite a reputation in recent years for his overdrive effects pedals. The result of tireless prototyping, tweaking, and more tweaking, Wampler pedals are setting new standards for excellence in an area where excellence had been lacking for many years. The struggle has been to produce pedals that faithfully reproduced or enhance tube amp tones without sounding like what they are... a solid state clipping circuit.
Not the least of these struggles has been that to faithfully reproduce the infamous Marshall roar in a small, stompable package. Enter the Plexi-Drive.
UTILIZATION
The Plexi-Drive is built into a heavy-duty creme-colored Hammond enclosure, and is set up basically like any other overdrive pedal. It has Volume, Tone, and Drive controls. However, it does have one extra that is the switchable Bass Boost.
The footswitch itself is a heavy duty Carling 3PDT switch that facilitates true bypass switching as well as switching power to the LED indicator.
SOUND QUALITY
With all the controls set at noon, it's obvious right out of the box that this is no ordinary assembly-line overdrive. Even through something so uncharacteristic as a Twin Reverb, the Plexi-Drive bleeds woody, mid-heavy Marshall tones.
And therein lies a caveat. This is not a pedal for those looking for transparency. It is designed to produce a sound, and it does that.. in many cases all over whatever setup you're using. So let me be clear that this pedal is not a catch-all overdrive. It's designed to produce a specific sound, and that's what it does.
The Plexi-Drive is powerful overdrive, and judicious use of the volume control is encouraged, lest you encounter a scary volume jump when engaging the pedal. There is plenty of gain on tap, and you can actually push it nearly into distortion territory. The tone control is not overly bright, but sufficiently evokes the bright qualities of a stock Marshall circuit with the preamp bright cap. The bass boost is like adding a resonance switch to a Marshall amp, throwing slabs of clean lowend punch under your tone.
OVERALL OPINION
Getting to know the Plex-Drive was a real pleasure. It's dynamic, loud, smooth, shimmery, and versatile all at once. It's just a powerhouse of a pedal, and that , coupled with it's durable design make it well worth the $200 price tag. They can go on Craigslist and Ebay for somewhat less, but purchasing straight from Wampler will give you the lastest revision and tweaks to the circuit.
So if you're a Marshall head looking for a Marshally pedal, check it out. I think you'll be as surprised as I was.
Not the least of these struggles has been that to faithfully reproduce the infamous Marshall roar in a small, stompable package. Enter the Plexi-Drive.
UTILIZATION
The Plexi-Drive is built into a heavy-duty creme-colored Hammond enclosure, and is set up basically like any other overdrive pedal. It has Volume, Tone, and Drive controls. However, it does have one extra that is the switchable Bass Boost.
The footswitch itself is a heavy duty Carling 3PDT switch that facilitates true bypass switching as well as switching power to the LED indicator.
SOUND QUALITY
With all the controls set at noon, it's obvious right out of the box that this is no ordinary assembly-line overdrive. Even through something so uncharacteristic as a Twin Reverb, the Plexi-Drive bleeds woody, mid-heavy Marshall tones.
And therein lies a caveat. This is not a pedal for those looking for transparency. It is designed to produce a sound, and it does that.. in many cases all over whatever setup you're using. So let me be clear that this pedal is not a catch-all overdrive. It's designed to produce a specific sound, and that's what it does.
The Plexi-Drive is powerful overdrive, and judicious use of the volume control is encouraged, lest you encounter a scary volume jump when engaging the pedal. There is plenty of gain on tap, and you can actually push it nearly into distortion territory. The tone control is not overly bright, but sufficiently evokes the bright qualities of a stock Marshall circuit with the preamp bright cap. The bass boost is like adding a resonance switch to a Marshall amp, throwing slabs of clean lowend punch under your tone.
OVERALL OPINION
Getting to know the Plex-Drive was a real pleasure. It's dynamic, loud, smooth, shimmery, and versatile all at once. It's just a powerhouse of a pedal, and that , coupled with it's durable design make it well worth the $200 price tag. They can go on Craigslist and Ebay for somewhat less, but purchasing straight from Wampler will give you the lastest revision and tweaks to the circuit.
So if you're a Marshall head looking for a Marshally pedal, check it out. I think you'll be as surprised as I was.