Yeah,most likely will be a few more weeks.Seems the tubes I ordered are running behind in the mail too.Went with shuagangs,I always liked how they sound.
I see you ordered Sep 15, so that puts his lead time around 16-17 weeks. Yikes. He was quoting 10-14 when I ordered in late Oct, so I’m guessing he won’t make that 14 weeks. Damn.
I've been eyeballing their amps for some time. I got their 50 watt Jubilee and didn't like it at all. This 51 looks really nice although all the switches are a bit off putting. Maybe Ceriatone should be the one to take the idea behind the Vintage Modern, only this time get it right; use the 1987 as a springboard.
I took a clue from Peter Ocsenas and picked up a Fender Engager recently to use with the Plexi 51, which I got around to trying today. You want one of these (or a similar boost/eq pedal...not graphic eq) with this amp. Using it and the amp controls brings it right into 2204 territory to my ears. Not so much a ton more gain like adding a gain stage, but fatter bottom, beefier lower mids, presence, and general flexibility. I have only tested with a strat so far, but I'm digging it for sure. Will tinker more tomorrow with humbuckers. I'm also liking more now than initially with this amp the Digitech Supernatural that I picked up a while back. Work is keeping me too busy lately so I haven't had alot of time to tinker with things or play much, including trying the variax.
Biggest beef I'm seeing on the Ceriatone FB site is controlling the volume.That wont be any issue for me.I'm used to that in any NMV amp.I will try a combination of the 1/2 power switch,ppimv and my hot plate.I'm just hoping for a smooth sounding amp.
I have a 2202 combo coming in a week or two, I added a choke, NFB switch and buff. loop. That amp will come in at about 7 weeks from order. (4-6 was the target) Its in testing right now and should ship next week. I also have a Chupacabra that I love, I think it is the best sounding British style amp I’ve ever played. I’ve been waiting for them to get caught up a bit to order a custom 2ch Chupa in 100w. When I talked to Nik last week he said we could start drawing it up now. Basically I want either 2 full Chupa’s in it, or a Chupa and something like a Plexi 101 in it. I also want a lead boost and separate buffered loops. If I liked collecting amps I would have about 10 from these guys.
17 weeks out now,still no amp.I am not sorry that I ordered,but the wait is very long.One consulation is the fact that the wait is due to a burst of popularity within a relatively small company.They have some really cool amps out,and Nik is one cool guy to work with.Mr Terry Shaffer ran his business in this very personal way,and it is so refreshing in the fast paced times that we live in.So... patient I will be.
It felt like forever and a day waiting on mine. I'm just noticing in your sig that you have a 1987x. Would love to hear your thoughts on how the 51 compares to the 1987x after you get yours.
That Plexi-51 looks to be the "Swiss Army Knife" of Marshall style! I wonder if its a "Jack of all trades, master of none" or actually really good at some of its supposed capabilities? I'd love to see a 20 watt version! Just Sayin' Gene
Wow, sorry to hear that. Mine will be overdue after this week, so I’ll be in the same sad sad boat. I don’t think Nik took any liberties on the design/component values, but instead stayed true to the original circuits. So you truly have several authentic plexi generations in one amp, that you access by flipping the right switches. I think I heard he’s willing to do a Plexi 20, but a “Plexi 21 All Access” would seem unlikely, since he surely couldn’t squeeze all this into his lunchbox chassis. So probably would be their full-size chassis and cost about the same as a Plexi 51.
It's hard to say, never having owned any vintage Marshalls or even reissues of the old stuff. I can get some good sounds out it. A few of the switches I find useful, the rest not so much. Surprisingly to me, I also don't find the tube / solid state rectifier switch useful, since they sound and feel so close. Maybe a NOS rectifier would change my mind here, but after recently wasting some money on some NOS Mullard preamp tubes (they only sound marginally different than current production tubes), I'm not eager to throw money at one. My main motivations in going for this amp were that I wanted a 50 watter for early AC/DC type tone and other 60's/70's sounds, I didn't want an amp that is modern pcb constructed, and I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg for it. I had been keeping an eye out for a decent deal on a vintage Marshall or a 1987x for months without any luck, and so I started looking to see what else is out there. Ceriatone stuff looked to be of excellent construction using good quality parts, although the head cab cosmetics are definitely on the budget side. And when I contacted Nik about what I was looking for he suggested taking a look at the Plexi 51, suggesting that it covered sounds from a JTM45 to early 70's Marshall. After having lived with it for a while I think it's a good quality clone amp for the money, probably not up to par in terms of components as better vintage Marshall examples. But not having owned any vintage Marshalls, I can't really say. I also wonder here if any of the clones are up to par, and if so, at what price point. I have owned and played some special vintage amps over the years (not Marshall though), and this isn't one of them. It is a good amp though, and I think that I couldn't have gotten anything better around this price point.
I hink that isn't exactly true. Each amp probably had different transformers, filtering, and other differences. How much of a difference in sound those differences make is anyone's guess. Some of the switches on the Plexi 51 make more significant differences than others, some for the better one way, some just different but not necessarily better.
If that amps switch’s are anything like my Chupacabra, they are more for getting different sounds at different volumes. Mine do quite a lot at lower volumes, but very little at higher ones. The voice or “era” switch is totally different and you can set the feel of the amp all over the place. (Pussy Timmer works good) But the clipping switches are funny, depending on the volume they can be way too much or very little. Once you learn how to operate them in conjunction with the volume and 2 drive stages the amp is super versatile. Another thing on mine I thought was strange was the resonance and presence make a scratchy sound when you turn them. I called Nik about it and he told me why. It turns out to make this amp sound the way it does they need to do this, weird. I still think the 51 / 101 would be the perfect complement to the Chupa and I’m hoping Nik can provide it.
To be clear, my point was that when you flip all the switches to get (for example) Plexi ‘67 mode (e.g. Rectifier to SS, Cathode to Shared, Tonestack to 56k/250pf, etc.) then you have [almost, subject to small differences like filtering and PI couplers] the actual ‘67 plexi circuit (at least based on the schematics I’ve seen), not somebody’s interpretation of how a ‘67 plexi should sound. Yeah agreed there will be differences in the transformers and who made the components and tubes, but like you said, we’ll never get a definitive answer on their impact.
Most of them aren't. They are component swap switches to match changes in respective year of Marshall circuits from JTM50 to metal panel. The half power switch is the only one specifically to do with volume, which I would say is useful. But it definitely takes away from the full power sound. Half-power switch + PPIMV is much better for volume reduction than say using a solid state or sim amp, keeping alot of the fundamental sound in tact but without the cranked up juice. So if you need to get the volume down for some extended woodshedding (and save some life on your output tubes), it is definitely useful. It is not really a replacement for a good attenuator though. If you don't mind shortening life of the power tubes via long hours of having the amp cranked for practice, a good attenuator is the way to go to better keep the cranked up amp sound.
