All posts by David Szabados

THD Electronics Flexi 50 Amp Head

Amplifier Reviews, Amplifiers, , ,

"Wait a minute, this amp isn’t a clone of a plexi Marshall?!"

THD Flexi-50That was my initial thought when plugging into this amp for the very first time. And that’s actually a good thing for many users who will enjoy the added flexibility of the many tonal options presented by THD Electronic’s new Flexi 50 amplifier. Though my initial idea really was to pit a ’68 50 watt Marshall against the THD Flexi-50 amplifier head, it was clear from both looking at and listening to the Flexi-50 that this would have been an apples to oranges type of comparison. The Flexi-50 offers quite a bit of tonal and feature-set variety and it would be inappropriate to simply compare it to one single amplifier.

Perhaps I subconsciously took the name "Flexi" and associated it mostly with a 1960’s plexi-era Marshall. In any case, Andy Marshall, THD’s President explained it best: "It’s named the Flexi-50 because of its flexibility in being able to capture vintage British and American tones."
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Mojave Ampworks Scorpion 50 Watt Amplifier Head

Amplifier Reviews, Amplifiers, ,

Mojave Ampworks impressed us last year with its Peacemaker, a powerhouse of an amp head running EL34s in its power section and providing tones that aim to please a range of rock guitarists. With its 100 watts of output, the Peacemaker was designed for, and best used in, a full-band environment, and preferably those with loud drummers – otherwise consider an attenuator a "must have" device when wanting to get the most out of the Peacemaker.
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Metropoulos Amplification ’68 12000-Series Plexi 100 Watt head

Amplifier Reviews, Amplifiers, , , ,

Introduction

"I want an amp that can nail the early Van Halen tone 100% but I don’t have $5,000+ (at the time of this writing – 11/05) for an original Marshall ’67-’68 era plexi." This is what many of you have written to us and asked for in the past. "What should I use?"

Some of you have even had more demanding requirements for your amplifier citing that in addition to the Van Halen tone, you ALSO wanted the ability for the amp to respond and produce tones as diverse as Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and AC/DC, among others.
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Mercury Magnetics Epiphone Valve Junior Mod

Amplifier Reviews, Amplifiers, , ,

The Epiphone Valve Junior is a small 5W amp head that is first most noteworthy because it is, well, cheap. Especially considering it is a tube amplifier, selling for $129 is frankly a bargain. Because of its simplicity and price, it has had a bit of an underground following being a pure-tube circuit with a single 12AX7 in the preamp stage and an EL84 as its output tube running Class A. The amp has 4,8, and 16 ohm output jacks to enable a wide use of cabinets.
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All About Ohms

Amplifier Features, Amplifiers, , ,

Electrical resistance within speakers, amplifiers, as well as all basic electrical connections, is expressed in ohms, named after George Simon Ohm, a German physicist. While we needn’t go into the background of him and his achievements, or even the heavy details about resistance, ohms, or impedance, this is an area that is often confusing to people. The following is a primer all about ohms and how it relates to speakers and amplifiers. My hope is that very simply, any confusion on the topic will be eliminated.
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100 Watt Marshall Super Lead

Amplifier Features, Amplifiers, ,

The 100 Watt Marshall Super Lead was THE amp that started it all for the greatest rock and roll tones achieved – or I should say, the greatest LOUD rock and roll tones of the 60’s. Yes, the Vox AC 30, Fender Bassman, and even the Marshall JTM 45 came well before Marshall’s famous 100-watter, but it was the Super Lead that upped the ante for high-powered rock performances and really is the standard by which all rock guitar tone is judged. With generations of guitar greats such as Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Edward Van Halen, and countless others all using the Super Lead with stacks of 4 x 12 cabinets, there is no wonder why this amplifier is legendary; especially the very earliest models, known as the "plexi" heads.
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The Hiwatt Custom 100 DR103

Amplifier Features, Amplifiers, ,

The Hiwatt Custom 100 DR103When Marshall amplifiers became wildly popular on the music scene in the mid 60’s, clone and copy makers soon followed with their own versions of the famous Marshall Super Lead design. It needs to be noted that Hiwatt was NOT one of these companies. In fact, what may appear at first as a simple variation and copy on the Marshall SuperLead in what was the form of the Hiwatt Custom 100 DR103 head, further examination quickly reveals that the design itself was actually far from it.
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The Marshall Shopper’s Guide Part 2: Metal Panel JMP to the JCM 2000

Amplifier Features, Amplifiers, , , , , , , , , , , ,

"Vertical Input" Master Volume MarshallsWe love our Marshall amps! The purpose of this article is to recognize the various changes in the amplifiers from the “metal panel” era of the JMPs from to the JCM 2000 series so that the potential buyer can be better educated. Some deliver the goods better than others and I’ve owned many Marshall amps over the years and had to learn the hard way after plenty of dollars spent. Ultimately though — use your own ears and compare. Enjoy the next installment of our Marshall Shopper’s Guide.
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