Plexi volume boost for leads?

[ledvedder]

I think Gene Ballzz was going to be making some.

If you are reasonably handy with a soldering iron, they aren't hard to make.

I am. I've built a few of my amps.

 

[Dutallee]

Well, rehearsal is gonna be hard to cut throught ....you'e confined and loud , things just get lost

Back in the old days I used an EH LPB-2 , worked great . Then I used an old DOD 250 forever , before anybody ever heard Malmsteen

Nowdays I prefer a TC Spark , although last weekend I used a TS-9 tube screamer and it was perfect .....

I guess a lot depends on settings

I used a 70's gray DOD 250 to help cut through the mix. Great pedal.

 

[David Rivers]

I played my Plexi for the first time last night at band rehearsal. Overall, it sounded ok. I'm still trying to get it dialed in to where I have a good overdrive tone with a good amount of cleanup when I roll back the guitar volume. It also seemed like a constant fight between too bassy and not enough bass. But my biggest issue is that leads just seemed to disappear in the mix. I've always boosted the lead volume through an effects loop, but the Plexi obviously doesn't have one. I had both a Boss SD1 with level up, gain down, and an EQ pedal set to frown with level up. I also tried using the guitar volume, but since I already have the amp dialed in with overdrive, raising the guitar volume just seemed to increase gain, not volume. Nothing seemed to really cut my leads up in the mix. Looking for some suggestions.

is it a 50 or 100 watt plexi? ...if its a 50 and your where you need to be except can get louder without distorting going to a 100 watt would give you a little more overhead in terms of being cleaner at a louder volume..just a thought

 

[Nev]

I jam with a guy who often uses 4 holed plexis. He has a boost pedal at the end of his pedal chain which gives him a big boost for solos.
So whatever order your pedals are, try a boost last and go from the out of that boost into the front of the head.
It works for him.

 

[Mats1A]

Sounds like the canonical use-case for a treble booster!

Edit: this is really good advice though:



Even if you have the same amps/guitars, there are useful tricks. Gorham and Robbo both used LPs and Marshalls in Thin Lizzy, so they'd do the "cocked wah" thing to differentiate.

They didn’t use the wah wah cocked only when they used it as a regular wah wah. Also they usually turned down the volume on the guitar a bit for rythm and turned it up for solos their soudman turned up the volume for solos.

 

[GlideOn]

Can't believe no one has mentioned or pointed out if there's a cap on the V2 820ohm cathode to ground.

Putting a .68uf or higher there will fill the mids considerably and drive the PI a bit harder.

Scaling back the guitar volume (especially with treble bleed) will still retain the fullness and get some sparkle back for rhythm

 

[danielguitar79]

I know this is an unpopular opinion because everybody wants to use their marshall at 10. But i have being using a zvex box of rock for the past 10 years w wonderful results. Its meant to be a jtm45 in a box but to me its a just a plexi favored pedal that cleans up beautifully. If you need more gain you can add a ts style pedal. But the real kicker is the boost part of the circuit. You just have to set up the amp as clean as you can, leave the gain for the bor (yest it crackels but who cares). Set the volume lower than noon and boost aroung 10/11 and tone at a high setting if you want to get rid of the extra bass the pedal adds, it also sounds better this way. Solos will be so loud your bandmates are gonna start to ask you to turn it down

 

[ledvedder]

I jam with a guy who often uses 4 holed plexis. He has a boost pedal at the end of his pedal chain which gives him a big boost for solos.
So whatever order your pedals are, try a boost last and go from the out of that boost into the front of the head.
It works for him.

I already have it pretty gained up. Around 7 on the treble channel and 2-3 on the normal channel. Everything I've tried into the front of the amp only seems to add more gain, not volume.

 

[Mats1A]

If you play a plexi loud so it distorts there isn’t much you can do to increase the volume level going out. Any boost on the input will only give you more distortion. I play a Plexi with a stock effects loop that can be bypassed and taken out of the circuitry. It also has a modded master volume. If a need a volume boost i plug a pedal in that my brother built that works as a volume control. I put it in the effects loop and set the volume on it so it decreases the volume. Then when i need a volume boost i turn it off and it gets louder.

 

[Greg Rogers]

Maybe try cutting for rhythm instead of boosting for leads. Like get everything where you want it for leads and then use the EQ to cut back the volume for rhythm.

I played my Plexi for the first time last night at band rehearsal. Overall, it sounded ok. I'm still trying to get it dialed in to where I have a good overdrive tone with a good amount of cleanup when I roll back the guitar volume. It also seemed like a constant fight between too bassy and not enough bass. But my biggest issue is that leads just seemed to disappear in the mix. I've always boosted the lead volume through an effects loop, but the Plexi obviously doesn't have one. I had both a Boss SD1 with level up, gain down, and an EQ pedal set to frown with level up. I also tried using the guitar volume, but since I already have the amp dialed in with overdrive, raising the guitar volume just seemed to increase gain, not volume. Nothing seemed to really cut my leads up in the mix. Looking for some suggestions.

Try a treble booster. The Beano side of my SunLion sounds amazing thru my SV20. It shapeds the frequencies beautifully, pushing upper mids. It doesn’t feel or sound like you’re using a pedal.

 

[ssolo8]

Maybe try cutting for rhythm instead of boosting for leads. Like get everything where you want it for leads and then use the EQ to cut back the volume for rhythm.

Whaddaya, tryina tink outside the box, er suttin ??
Well I say that's a great idea. Paul Gilbert uses an EQ set to negatives so he can tame the monster tone down when he needs.
We always tend to run flat out, and then end up needing more.

 

[MJ Slaughter]

OP, is there a reason your other guitarist can't or won't use dynamics better when it comes to sharing sonic space with you? I know I'm not telling you anything new but everyone in bands should be cooperating for the best band sound and if baffles me when this doesn't happen. I pull way back on rhythm when another guitar, keys or horn player has the spotlight or playing an important hook that needs to be more dominant.

In the early-mid 80's I used a 4 hole Plexi with an attenuator and a Boss EQ pedal in a 2 guitar band. We were young and stupid loud but I never had a problem hearing solos. I might be because of my double stack of Marshal cabinets next to me though. Those were the days!

Currently I use a Frenzel with their spin on a Plexi circuit but it has a master volume and FX loop. It may not be authentic "Plexi" but it sounds good to me and having the FX loop makes it possible to boost solos very easily. Since you built the amp, would it be that much trouble to put the loop in and just remove it if you don't like the results?

 

[Salty Rose]

Playing without pedals is an art form unto itself........one I struggle to master as I am not a fan of most pedals (Strymon's Lex pretty much the only exception). With the amp setup to deliver a desired lead tone, a combination of volume and tone control manipulation on the guitar can dial that back to a solid rhythm tone......but dialing both of those efficiently in a live setting can be tricky. A second guitarist certainly helps in this regard, filling the space/time it takes to make quick adjustments on the fly. Much depends on what you're playing as some musical styles almost demand some kind of boost/overdrive. If you're pleased with the amps' soloing tone, a good clean boost pedal should suffice to bump your volume to 'cut through' levels.

For rock, that’s my go to. 1959SLP, with a PB100 attenuator. Using the guitar controls for boosting and cutting. And green back speakers are a big part of the formula.

 

[msgdp]

Check out the Pete Thorn video on Youtube for the Room#40 pedal by Tsakalis. Amazing pedal & well worth the $300 .

 

[ledvedder]

OP, is there a reason your other guitarist can't or won't use dynamics better when it comes to sharing sonic space with you? I know I'm not telling you anything new but everyone in bands should be cooperating for the best band sound and if baffles me when this doesn't happen. I pull way back on rhythm when another guitar, keys or horn player has the spotlight or playing an important hook that needs to be more dominant.

In the early-mid 80's I used a 4 hole Plexi with an attenuator and a Boss EQ pedal in a 2 guitar band. We were young and stupid loud but I never had a problem hearing solos. I might be because of my double stack of Marshal cabinets next to me though. Those were the days!

Currently I use a Frenzel with their spin on a Plexi circuit but it has a master volume and FX loop. It may not be authentic "Plexi" but it sounds good to me and having the FX loop makes it possible to boost solos very easily. Since you built the amp, would it be that much trouble to put the loop in and just remove it if you don't like the results?

Since my build has a ppimv, I'm considering adding the zero loss effects loop into it. I've just always heard that effects loops don't work well in a plexi circuit, due to power amp distortion. But maybe the ppimv dialed back would alleviate that?

 

[Thepartyprogram]

i use an EQ (like the old Boss, mxr,etc..) as a boost. Almost all overdrive/distortion pedals are not transparant and simply suck the tone away. The secret to the plexi is the sweet spot. I dial mine to about noon on the volume where the amp starts to roll over in gentle feedback, to me that's my tone. An amp is much more than a tone control. For leads it just needs a gentle push and that's where the EQ kicks in. If the amp sounds good you don't need pedals.

 

[EC Strat]

Like others have mentioned, if youre pushing the amp to natural overdrive there's not much left for a boost in volume. You'll need to dial it back a bit for more headroom. If you do that, most any clean boost pedal will work wonders. I use the Wampler db+ booster - it adds 25 db of clean volume. I also have a Greer Sure Shot - it's a clipping boost and LOUD. So it adds a little gain / grit to the boost. that might be what you're after.

The JohnH attentuator is AWESOME! I have one and it's incredible. If you have one made, the footswitch option should also work well for your 4 holer.

 

[ledvedder]

Like others have mentioned, if youre pushing the amp to natural overdrive there's not much left for a boost in volume. You'll need to dial it back a bit for more headroom. If you do that, most any clean boost pedal will work wonders. I use the Wampler db+ booster - it adds 25 db of clean volume. I also have a Greer Sure Shot - it's a clipping boost and LOUD. So it adds a little gain / grit to the boost. that might be what you're after.

The JohnH attentuator is AWESOME! I have one and it's incredible. If you have one made, the footswitch option should also work well for your 4 holer.

I sent JohnH a message asking about his attenuator. I also bought an Xotic Super Clean pedal to try.

 

[Verminator25]

I use a variac. I run my amp on full blast, even the eq knobs (presence to taste though). Hendrix/early EVH tone for days, gets the power tubes cooking. But the problem is it’s too loud! That’s where the variac comes in. I adjust the voltage to the amp down—same tone but less than half the volume. Very manageable. So then I rigged a very long bolt on the knob of the variac so I can adjust the volume with my foot while playing. I’m in a 2 guitar band. I need a volume boost for my solo? Kick the voltage up. I have a whole lot of volume at my disposal now and I don’t have to sacrifice tone in any way.

 

[Bodhi F. Dharma]