Huh???
gerald guerrero said:
I recently contacted a Marshall expert and original MArshall engineer from the glory days of Hendrix, Clapton ,etc., and and asked him to modify my Traynor YSR_1 into a Plexi. I was amazed at his responce. He advised against it. As a matter of fact, he advised against getting a Plexi at all. He said those were for arenas and auditoriums only. Anything else, he said, would be an excercise in futility. He said he would modify the Traynor, but it would be like turning, and I quote, a" V.W. into a big block chevy". He told me to get a Master model MKII, or a JCM 800 Marshall.. Both of those have Master volumes. Now I have been led to believe master volumes are for bedroom boys! I am calling on someone with experinece with the 50 watt Plexis to help me here and provide some expertise based on experience. I know the Traynor would sound great with a Fulltone or TS-9 pushing the front end. I seek advise from the amp Swami's on this forum
I don't know where to start! (deep breath)
I dunno what kind of "expert" you were talking to but it sure sounds like he never even looked inside a Traynor! Maybe not that many ever made it all the way to Texas.
" V.W. into a big block chevy" ?? The YSR-1 runs the same output tubes and the same power level as a Plexi! It has a similar amount of gain available from the preamp, the major difference being it has a Baxandall type tone control stack more similar to that of an Ampeg than the typical Fender/Marshall setup. So both amps have the same "big block".
I've modded more old Traynors than I care to remember and actually am in the middle of a YSR-1 project for a player right now.
I don't understand why he would say that the old Plexi style amps were for arenas only and suggest a Mark II MV or a JCM800 when they all run the same power levels!
Maybe this fellow is a younger chap whose formative years were the 80's. That's when the world went all "Yngwie" and master volumes became the rage. You get a totally different kind of tone from a master volume. If that's his taste then fine, he's absolutely entitled to it. If he thinks that everyone else must follow his choice then frankly, who'd want him as a neighbour? Let's hope he doesn't start championing hiphop instead of guitar.
There are two totally separate and different types of distortion in the typical guitar amp. One is the preamp and the other is the power amp. Preamp distortion is more "fizzy" and "crunchy". The power amp when cranked up gives that warm, thick and "ballsy" distortion pioneered during the Golden Years of rock. Think Pete Townsend, Jimmy Page or even Pat Travers. MV's are for Dimebag Darryl clones, IMHO.
Master volumes by necessity are placed in circuit before the output tubes. They let you crank up the input volume (some makers call it "gain") and keep the MV low. This adds crunch while keeping the output volume down. Like most things in life, there's a hidden price. At that low MV setting you CAN'T get any power tube distortion! That MV is keeping the input signal to the EL-34's or whatever too low to let it happen.
That's why Angus Young and his brother only use non-MV Marshalls, "the older the better!". Getting their sound with a JCM series amp would be almost impossible. You can come closer if you leave the master volume on 10. That puts it mostly out of the circuit but the question then becomes: "Why have a MV at all?"
If your amp is too loud for the gig then you should have a lower power amp in your arsenal. Biggest mistake a player can make is to take in a 50 or 100 watt amp to a small club and tell himself "I'll just keep it below 3."
He won't be able to keep it there. The amp will sound "lame-ass" and he'll not be able to resist cranking it up, not to become louder but just because the tone kinda sucks. By maybe the 3rd song of the 1st set he's in trouble. So he lets some salesguy talk him into a MV amp and immediately he can't get a classic rock tone. When he goes back to the store they con him into buying some kind of "POD 6! Guaranteed to sound exactly like any amp ever made!"
He could also have used a smaller speaker cab or done the old trick of turning a closed back cabinet backwards to the wall. Or bought a "Hot Plate Power Soaker".
Does a carpenter keep only one size of hammer or saw in his kit? You need the right sized tool for the job.
If the guitar player for "Marv and the Marvelettes" had been using a MV amp then Jake and Elwood would have left him to rot at that Holiday Inn gig...
There's a whole world out there of 20 watt Marshall-style amps to fill this need. Take in a 20 watt amp and run it on 8 or 9 and you get that power amp distortion that you were missing, without blowing out the walls.
Some boutique guys will build such amps even lower powered. I built one fellow a nice little 10 watt amp Plexi style. Paired with a single 12" Eminence speaker and it works just great in a small club. Often at a larger venue he'll just mike it.
That's my take on it, anyway. As I had said, we're all entitled to our own taste and you have to make your own choice. It just seemed to me from your post that your "expert" was giving you a rather narrow perspective.
