Metropoulos Forum

Where have I been all these years? I have own some of the best when it comes to Fender, Dr Z, Fuchs, and a few others. I dipped my toes into the lake of Marshall a couple of times but I never really "jumped in" completely.

Well this 50 watt plexi RI has changed that for me. I can't believe how good it sounds. I removed the 4700pf bright cap from the bright channel. I bridged the two channels together and plugged it in.

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's all in there. Sparkling cleans, thick chewy overdrive, searing crunch.

I couldn't get a bad sound out of it.

Loud? It felt like a train was in the room with me. It shook the room so loud that one of the tube retainers vibrated off of my Fuchs Overdrive Supreme! Earplugs do nothing when your in the same room with this carnivorous beast.

Lower volume gigs will have to be done with inefficient speakers, and a powerbrake.

I played it through a 1x12 cab loaded with a Celestion g12h30 at half volume and it sounded enormous.

I played it through a 1x12 Eminence Red, White and Blue and it was more enormous. The RWB can handle 75 watts so I cranked it. Absolutely beautiful! But I couldn't stand to be in the same room with it.

Pedals? They all seem to change the tone and character of the amp, no big surprise here. A couple of them sounded useful with the amp, but none of them made the amp sound better! The amp sounded better by simply turning it up. I have one pedal that is a simple pickup booster by Seymour Duncan which seemed to color the tone the least amount.

So now I need a decent cab. Boy, vintage cabs are a lot of money. I probably can't go that way. Anyone have opinions on the Avatar vintage style cabs?

Do you already have the speakers that you want ?

I have one of avatar's specials (2 x greenbacks), it's not his vintage style but it's built fairly well, and I'd recomend him. Good prices too.

Dave at Avatar has great prices and really good service, I've never been disappointed dealing with him. I've gotten raw speakers and also a bass cabinet -- the cab was packed really solidly.

benjoi wrote:I have one of avatar's specials (2 x greenbacks), it's not his vintage style but it's built fairly well, and I'd recomend him. Good prices too.

Do you recommend a couple of greenbacks with this head?

I was also thinking 1 G12H30 and one greenback

or

1 g12H30 and 1 Red, white and blue.

I'd recommend Avatar as well. Dave is top-notch in the customer service department. We recently redid our backline w/ four of the vintage 4x12's, and it sounds great, not to mention it looks pretty cool as well.

As far as speakers, check out the Avatar Hellatone 30s and 60s, which are essentially g12h30s and Vintage 30s, respectively, that are already a bit broken in.

I have one of Dave's Vintage 212 cabs. I bought it with 2 G12H30s, but since put 2 Alnico Golds in it. I'm driving it with a Metro JTM 45. If you want to see the inside construction, let me know and I'll post some pics.

Pat

Tell us more about the Golds.

We Need to know

I'll start a new thread for that. Here's an open-back pic.

http://webpages.charter.net/pk46/100_2411a.jpg

Pat

LeftyStrat wrote:I'll start a new thread for that. Here's an open-back pic.

http://webpages.charter.net/pk46/100_2411a.jpg

Pat

Oh my, that must be a killer cab.

Thanks. I'm pretty happy with it. I really like the G12H30s, but I REALLY like the Golds. They really do the Metro justice. If I can record a decent clip, I'll post it.

I have 2 more Golds to go with the G12H30s. I'm planning on putting them in an old Laney AOR slant that I'm rebuilding. I'm converting it to rear-loaded and replacing the expanded metal grill with grill cloth. I'm really anxious to complete it, but it's a slow process. I've done some woodworking, but never anything on this scale.

As an alternative, I did ok on my taxes (finally) and I'm seriously considering just buying a 412 vintage style cab and loading it with my speakers.

http://webpages.charter.net/pk46/100_2405a.jpg

Yes I have been noodling at home with a pair of 50 watters, each hooked up to a pair of Alnicos (pair of greys & pair of blues, each pair =16ohms) in my stereo cab (actually set up for my JTM45 to run two leads out at 8ohms on the head).

Only low volumes for safety but they do sound good.

Can imagine them at more volume, maybe one head into a pair of G12H30 55s and the other into a pair of Golds..........

Radialaced wrote: Pedals? They all seem to change the tone and character of the amp, no big surprise here. A couple of them sounded useful with the amp, but none of them made the amp sound better! The amp sounded better by simply turning it up.

I've been making up some Marshall "hot Plexi"-type clones for local players lately----- few of them use any kind of distortion/OD pedals with them----- they may start out using their favorites but realize that the amp sounds better by itself when cranked up---- sometimes a delay can be useful for some things or a Holy Grail reverb pedal for clean passages with the guitar vol turned down----- many dist/OD pedals are trying to get the sound/feel of a cranked Marshall anyway---- why use a pedal when you've got the real thing on tap?...............gldtp99

Did this at rehearsal last night.

Only my wah pedal did not kick the tubescreamer in until last song wig out before we all fell about laughing.

Works really well, obviously using the PPIMV and Hotplate on at6 -4dB.