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There seem to be some "standards" like Wampler or Twimble that I have actually never heard of. For myself, I'm having a 500mW pico plexy pedal that run on tubes even. Then two Brian May Deacy amp pedals. One based on a 60s 1W Mullard solid state amp circuit and another on the original Deacy wiring scheme build from off the shelf parts. The Deacy outputs about 680mW. I DI all to a mixer and play them through a stereo hifi amp.

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My Lovepedal Purple Plexi SE arrived yesterday and I can say it sounds just like the 70s Plexi tones that we all know and love. I need to spend some serious time with it but my initial response is that it is another Lovepedal home run.

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2 hours ago, Jakeboy said:

My Lovepedal Purple Plexi SE arrived yesterday and I can say it sounds just like the 70s Plexi tones that we all know and love. I need to spend some serious time with it but my initial response is that it is another Lovepedal home run.

I got mine yesterday but unfortunately it did not like my '59 Bassman Reissue.  The sound lacked midrange definition and was vastly inferior to the Power Stack.  However it did work well stacked downstream of the Power Stack when the PS was adjusted for low gain distortion.  The PP was good at taking the PS from crunch to drive without overwriting the great PS tone.

Incidentally - as I try these out and reject them I put them back up for sale.  Right now I have the Wampler Plexi Drive, Mad Professor Twimble and Orange Getaway Driver for sale.

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2 hours ago, Jakeboy said:

My Lovepedal Purple Plexi SE arrived yesterday and I can say it sounds just like the 70s Plexi tones that we all know and love. I need to spend some serious time with it but my initial response is that it is another Lovepedal home run.

I have checked it on Youtube. Actually, it sounds totally different to my plexy pedal that is to be found here.
http://www.edscustomshop.com/edsproducts.htm

Soundsamples direct:

http://www.edscustomshop.com/sounds/PicoPlexiPedalMixdownII.mp3
http://www.edscustomshop.com/sounds/PicoPlexiPedalMixdownI.mp3

I'm not even getting those sounds since I'm running directly into the mixer and miss out on the speaker profile. The sound I'm having is much crispier, not bad at all. Need to record it one day, although, captured here.

 

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Pedals are like that and very rig-dependent. I used it through the Vox and Fender channels in my Mesa TA15.....I will try it through my other amps too.

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59 minutes ago, Jakeboy said:

Pedals are like that and very rig-dependent. I used it through the Vox and Fender channels in my Mesa TA15.....I will try it through my other amps too.

Part of the challenge is picking the best pedal platform for running amps-in-a-box.  From YouTube videos it appears the go-to platform is Blackface Fenders for their clean headroom.  I would think you could make a lot of amps good platforms by replacing the tubes with the Groove Tubes that don't clip at a lower level.

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The Boss Combo Drive arrived today.  Did OK on its own, did not play well with the Power Stack.  Did OK with the Purple Plexi. Also did OK with an old Tech21 Double Drive adjusted for Class A/B distortion. It sounded best with the gain low, gives a chimey tone with a bit of grit.  

I really like the JHS channel on Youtube and I'm going to audition their Charlie Brown pedal (JTM in a box) next.

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Maybe an unpopular choice here (scary digital), but the Hotone Xtomp would give you a ton of options:

http://www.xtomp.com/

I've had one for a couple of years, and Hotone keeps adding to the amp and cabinet models (and other types) for no extra charge. Huge library to choose from, you just can use them one at a time.

I don't use the amp/cabinet simulators, but their distortion/overdrive boxes are great, and the modulation, dynamics, and delay models give you lots of options with one pedal (that you can load from your phone using Bluetooth). Right now their Timmy emulator is getting regular use, but their "Voxy Lady" setup delivers great AC30 tones. Other favorites include the Lovepedal Eternity, OCD, Wampler Plextortion, and Fulltone FullDrive 2. I just ordered the Xtomp mini as well, but if you are going for amp-in-a-box, go for the full sized unit, as it lets you choose between amp only (left output) and cabinet sim for that amp (right output). Or you could get two minis for a little less and have the first do the amp and the second do the cabinet of your choice.

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On 11/13/2019 at 2:50 PM, HamerHokie said:

From YouTube videos it appears the go-to platform is Blackface Fenders for their clean headroom. 

It has more to do with the voicing. 

 

On 11/13/2019 at 2:50 PM, HamerHokie said:

I would think you could make a lot of amps good platforms by replacing the tubes with the Groove Tubes that don't clip at a lower level.

Not so much, a tube swap isn't really going to change the dynamics of the amp enough to change its behavior, while tube swapping could make a very modest difference in clipping, it won't be much different than cold biasing, which effectively does the same thing, but won't drastically alter the amp's clipping behavior. If you require a significant increase in headroom, you should be looking for another amplifier with more power.

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On 11/20/2019 at 1:11 PM, gtrdaddy said:

It has more to do with the voicing. 

 

Not so much, a tube swap isn't really going to change the dynamics of the amp enough to change its behavior, while tube swapping could make a very modest difference in clipping, it won't be much different than cold biasing, which effectively does the same thing, but won't drastically alter the amp's clipping behavior. If you require a significant increase in headroom, you should be looking for another amplifier with more power.

The Lonestar is 100 watts, so power isn't an issue.

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33 minutes ago, HamerHokie said:

The Lonestar is 100 watts, so power isn't an issue.

I owned two of them. The clean channel has incredible headroom. Andy Timmons and John Petrucci don’t have problems with them, in fact they both use Lonestars for the clean channel’s headroom. If you’ve got headroom problems, there’s something else going on. 😉

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On 11/21/2019 at 2:35 PM, gtrdaddy said:

I owned two of them. The clean channel has incredible headroom. Andy Timmons and John Petrucci don’t have problems with them, in fact they both use Lonestars for the clean channel’s headroom. If you’ve got headroom problems, there’s something else going on. 😉

One big issue with the Lonestar is the speaker.  It is dull-sounding compared to the Bassman, lacks sparkle.  I have a 2x12 cabinet with Greenbacks I will try with the Lonestar to see if it brightens up.

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3 hours ago, HamerHokie said:

One big issue with the Lonestar is the speaker.  It is dull-sounding compared to the Bassman, lacks sparkle.  I have a 2x12 cabinet with Greenbacks I will try with the Lonestar to see if it brightens up.

Be careful with that if you’re using the Lonestar as you indicated earlier at its full headroom potential, that 2X12 Greenback cab you have is only rated for 50 watts maximum. You will blow your speakers. I’d switch your power down to 50 watts first, but if 100 watts didn’t work for you, 50 won’t either.

Just out of curiosity, where the heck do you play where 100 watts didn’t have enough headroom for you?  

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On 11/23/2019 at 12:08 PM, gtrdaddy said:

Be careful with that if you’re using the Lonestar as you indicated earlier at its full headroom potential, that 2X12 Greenback cab you have is only rated for 50 watts maximum. You will blow your speakers. I’d switch your power down to 50 watts first, but if 100 watts didn’t work for you, 50 won’t either.

Just out of curiosity, where the heck do you play where 100 watts didn’t have enough headroom for you?  

As I said in the original post, I've been using an old Vox Tone Lab into a 4x10 Tech21 Power Engine.  Using the Lonestar as a pedal platform is an entirely new application - when I used it before I didn't use any clean tones.

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1 hour ago, HamerHokie said:

As I said in the original post, I've been using an old Vox Tone Lab into a 4x10 Tech21 Power Engine.  Using the Lonestar as a pedal platform is an entirely new application - when I used it before I didn't use any clean tones.

Ah, somewhere in all of the dialogue I must’ve lost that. The greenbacks will work nicely then, but my recommendation for that amp (if you’re just running at 50W) would be the Celestion G12H 30 Greenbacks, or some 12-65 variant. I prefer the 30W Greenbacks for that sweet woody tone.

Also Weber makes some very nice Alnicos that are super pedal friendly too.

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The JHS Charlie Brown V4 arrived over the weekend.  Very nice low gain pedal voiced to get JTM tones.  The Drive control is kind of odd - it doesn't add a lot of drive until it gets past the 3 o'clock setting.  Takes you into AC/DC territory at the top but at noon it's a very chimey tone with nice midrange. Combined with the Power Stack it allows you to get three distinct overdrive levels - Charlie Brown at the low gain end, Power Stack for crunch, and the two stacked together for heavy drive.

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  • 7 months later...

So here's how this resolved itself...

I had given up on this for a while because I wasn't getting what I wanted.  Then I started playing around with the LoneStar.  I wanted to see the impact of installing THD Yellowjackets in the two outside tube positions and EL34s on the inside.  This drops the overall power output to 65-70 watts in the 100 setting. Turns out this gave me exactly what I was looking for - in the clean channel.  The drive channel didn't fare so well.

I figured I could use the clean channel exclusively with the right pedals.  The right pedals turned out to be the EH Soul Food and the Catalinbread Naga Viper.

I set the clean channel up to break up slightly.  That level of gain is good for most low-crunch chord work.  The Yellowjackets add a slight chimey effect to the tone.

For AC/DC-ish low level drive I kick in the Soul Food and get a great Plexi grind.  To take it over the top I add the Naga Viper, which is technically a treble boost but is very adjustable over the mid-treble spectrum.  And of course the Lonestar has a solo boost switch for added volume.

The only real issue now is the Lonestar is not a bright amp.  In the least.  I solved that partially by using a Celestion Vintage 30 instead of my Greenbacks.  Still I'd rather have more top end.  Eventually I might switch out the Lonestar with a Stiletto Ace. 

And there was one pedal I was high on but didn't ever audition - the Dirty Shirley by Friedman.  It sounds killer in Youtube vids.  Someday maybe.

 

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Went ahead and got the Dirty Shirley.  It did not like my amp, unfortunately.  I'm thinking amps-in-a-box just aren't going to work in this rig.

Also jettisoned the Naga Viper.  Right now it's Soul Food for crunch-drive with the Boss Power Stack on low gain for a stacked kick.

Might give AIABs one last chance with something like the Bogner La Grange.

 

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