We all know a good guitar player can make a ratty guitar and amp sound good, but even the best guitar player can struggle with finding the right tone when they are going for the Classics Like many of the famous favorite sounds of the Super bands like the Zep. Sounds Like This: Led Zeppelin Tone Demo played on a plexi 45 SE or you might like another variety of sound, try this demo
For those who are after that “Holy Grail” of tone, there are ways to find it. Many fell most confident with vintage guitars and Guitar Amplifiers. That makes perfect sense in many cases because you are in fact using the exact same gear. Granted the gear today reflects the sound and retains its integrity all these years later. But what about those of us who can’t afford the rare and hard to find? We turn to a more modern solution. The building of the great amps in todays market is all around us. Brands that are becoming well known from stage view and Studio. One way to judge a good amp is by its sound. Even if they are overbuilt and look exactly like the amps of yesteryear, you need to be certain your tone is what comes first and hopefully all the benefits of the upgraded new amp come with it.
Enter the Mojave Plexi 45 Special Edition. Under the unique and privileged opportunity of amassing 26 very rare and excellent condition Marshall JTM45s, so many of the greatest early JTM45s all at once, Mojave Ampworks (Also operating the business known as The Plexi Palace or Vintageamps.com) had the opportunity to build a great and exact likeness of the Marshall JTM45 but do it in its earliest of versions. The close study of these amps gave us a unique and privleged opportunity to truly uncover the exact characteristics that make those old amps sound like they do in such a wonderful way. The Plexi 45, a member of the Mojave Ampworks amp line was already in production. the Special Edition was created from that model.
To help you understand the Special Edition better, think of the Plexi 45 SE as the closer likens of the earliest version which were done late 63/ into 1964. I had some of these amps in a collection I had found and bought up. These were all pristine condition for the most part and of the 26 JTM45s I had acquired, 11 of them were early coffin logo variety. I also had a good number of white faced block logo amps. These were equipped with the Radio Spares Power and Output transformers. They also were originally equipped in the earliest days with 6L6 power tubes, then changed over to the Genelex KT66 power tubes. They also used good preamp (ECC83) and power rectifier tubes (GZ34). Add this up with the 2 watt control pots, you get a number of things which give it a unique sound and flavor. I did a recording with one of the old JTM45s we had at the time. It really displays the great dynamics and good tone they had. Because of this massive “over exposure” for a lack of better words, I had been very motivated to offer this variety of JTM45 in the Mojave Plexi 45 line up. I’ve included the sound demo of that old JTM I recorded. This is representative of the Plexi 45 SE which I have gone to great lengths to make just right and exact to what you hear in this sound demo.
In addition to the the Radio Spares specially made output transformer I have on the Plexi 45, I have included a very unique and expensive high quality switch that enables the Plexi 45 SE to select 4/8 and 16 ohm impedance outputs. That might not seem like a big deal but the truth is the Radio Spares output transformer was only offered with one output impedance because of the complex jumping needed to set the impedance to be used. This was always an internal set of posts on the transformer which were wired up at the time of the build. Even today, most anyone who were to use the RS output transformer will only be able to offer it at one impedance. The switch was a complex challenge for us to figure out but it makes the amp so much more flexible and this means one more level of exploration and use with different speaker arraignments or cabinets. In order to fit the Radio Spares transformer onto the Plexi 45 chassis we had to have a special chassis made specifically for the SE production. We also used a very unique Platinum metallic silver paint that was selected for this project. Even the front and rear control Panels are specially made for this edition.
Beyond all this we had to locate and acquire enough original old stock tubes to equip these amps. Because of this limited tube supply which we were extremely careful in our selection and grading/testing, we have limited this production to a total no more the 16 total pieces to be built. Each unit has its serial number engraved on the back panel and that assures the owner that the amp is authentic and we are logging ownership as well. We believe these will be extremely collectable at some point in the future.
There is also some great benefits such as the
power dampening and
line output with ground lift capability on the
The Mojave Plexi 45 that are very useful and beneficial so your not loosing those super cool features that are normally on our plexi 45. We also have resolved a number of technical problems that were associated with the early JTM45s and caused destruction of rectifier tubes and other sorts of problems. The Plexi 45 is a well refined product of a great sounding amp.
Cheers, good writing.