Carl Martin Plexitone

Very easy

Sound great, you can get sounds like Slash, Angus, Nirvana, Green Day, Foo fighters, van halen etc....

I used to play with Boss distortion, metal zone, mxr distortion never get the right one, but this is the right one... Where have you been in my entire life...?

I've been surfing in the net and seen it in Youtube and get in love with it and buyed the day after seen it.

I have Boss GT-8, but It's very heavy and can not be bothered to take it to a gig..

I use les paul copy with Seymour Duncan APH-1N II pro and APH-1 bridge II pro - Marshall stack, fender champ 600.

I play rock, heavy rock, metal and instrumental, like Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani...

Very easy to dial in the tone I needed. I was going for the Angus Young sound (rhythm and lead) and was able to very quickly achieve this. Very simple design (which I like). The manual is more of an ad for all Carl Martin effects so not much there. Simple, straight forward, but I give it an 9 due to the lack of in depth documentation.

I play a Gibson SG standard through a 1987x 50 watt Marshall Plexi Reissue. I use no other effects, but need something to beef up the cleaner sound (even through a HotPlate) of my Plexi. I turned it on and heard just a very (I mean almost undetectable) hiss. As soon as I put it on the Crunch turned at 10:00 it was there! Back in Black, Highway to Hell, Shook Me. Just nailed the tone! I put it on High Gain (again 10:00), and had a good lead tone for Whole Lotta Rosie, etc. If you can't tell, I play in an AC/DC tribute, and want to get a very authentic tone. I feel this pedal really nailed Angus' rhythm and lead tones both. Plus the boost is just an added bonus. I tried the same with my modded TS9, as well as a very fine Barber Electronics Tone Pump, but the Plexi Tone gave me that edge that the others did not. I am extremely pleased with this.

Seems to be well built, and have no problems. I like the metal housing and the rubber bottom. While it would be nice to have battery, I think the built in chord offers more reliability.

No interaction

I got this pedal for one reason and one reason only - to beef up my Marshall Plexi Reissue along with my SG to get Angus Young's sound. It fit the bill perfectly. An added bonus is that should I pull out my Les Paul and turn the High Gain up, I can get some great hard rock sounds. A very pure sound NOT FOR METAL HEADS but for higher gain tone purists. I have only left reviews for two effect pedals in my 20+ years of playing and this one impressed me enough to leave a well deserved 10.

Very easy, just set the amount of gain, level and tone.
It's very useful to have an independient clean and transparent booster, although you have to be very careful with it because it can make you pass from almosr silent to bleed your ears.

I play with an american deluxe strat >- Roger Mayer 9090 Wah > Elektraphon Smokey Drive > Carl Martin Plexitone > Elektraphon Mr. Lee Fuzz > Roger Mayer Vodoo Vibe > Mesa Maverick with extension 2x12 Celestion V30.

This pedal is what is name says: plexi tone. It's not a transparent overdrive / distortion (although it has a lot of definition, punch, dynamics and respect your guitar tone): it sounds like an old Marshall. If you don't like this sound don't buy this pedal: it would be a loss of time.

It responds very well to your picking and it's cool to have a overdrive which can be cleaned with the volume of your guitar and a disto when you want really rock.

With the strat you can get the clasical strat/marshall sound of Hendrix, Blackmore, etc. It can be a little harsh if you pass the tone pot from 12 o'clock.

No problem at all.Carl Martin is suposed to be one of the best firms.

non required

I've been playing for more than ten years in various projects and I've pass through a studio quite amount of times and I want TONE. This pedal has the enough quality to work in most demanding situations.

I have a really good overdrive and really good fuzz, so this pedal is just a luxury/caprice for me. However I would by another if stolen or lost.

Extremely easy. turn the knobs. You're done. Hit the button. INSTANT PLEXI. Hit another, and have more gain for choruses. Hit the third and you are soloing right through the band mix. Glorious.

Very quiet running through my REAL plexi, and other tube amps (Mesa's). Remember Jimmy Page live from The Song Remains the Same? Remember Michael Schenker from Strangers in the Night? How about Angus? Or Eddie? Well, it's all in there. Just stomp on a button. Christ, where has this pedal been all my life? No loss of tone at ANY volume. No hardness, no brittleness. Just an honest to God plexi AT ANY VOLUME YOU WANT. It's almost too good to be true.

Seems very dependable. I gig with it a lot. Plug it in and go. I will be buying another for backup just in case, seeing as I USE IT ON EVERY SONG WE PLAY.

Not had to deal with them, but I have heard good things.

I play rock and have been playing since the 70's. I play Gibsons and Fenders and PRS's. I use Marshall amps, and a couple of Mesas. ALL MY STUPID life I have been trying to get 'that' sound at any volume - it has dictated my equipment purchases, even the songs I write. The simple truth is that you cannot crank a 74 JMP 50 watt to where you need it, even in a medium size club. Not with these PA's these days. Rememer, Plexis were made in the days when PA's sucked, and they had to be brutaly loud to get that sound. Well, Carl Martin somehow got that sound and put it in one box. No Hot Plate, Power Brake, distortion box, tube screamer or preamp has EVER gotten me this tone at these volumes. It is heaven on earth. It goes for 200 new, but knowing what I know now, I would pay twice that easily. It is THAT good of a deal. BUT LOOK: It's called Plexi Tone for a reason. If you want modern, or recto, then go elsewhere. If you want the sound of the artists I described above, then this is the one. Go to carriersignalmusic.com to hear it in the studio. I used it on our EP. Write me at sjkenny1@yahoo.com if you have any concerns I have not addressed.

The pedal is well described by other users, so I'll save some words here. Its usage is really for dums, basically a gain knob, a volume level knob and a tone knob. The boost knob does just boosting (for e.g. a solo level), the secondary gain knob is for the 2nd gain channel. So, mainly you deal always with 3 main knobs: G,T,V...
No good manual, but who needs that?

Hello!!!! This is called PLEXItone, not METALFACEtone, nor JTMtone, nor MV2203tone, nor JCM800tone. OK?

Let's start then...
If you KNOW how an old plexi sounds (67-70), especially when ovedriven (turned up to hell), then you CAN imagine how this pedal sounds. From that point on, it heavily depends WHERE the pedal is connected to (other stomps, amp, SPEAKERS CAB), and how it's been operated. The best way to check it and nail that tone (hello again: PLEXItone here!!!!) is to use it first of all standalone (no FX, other stomps, loops etc.) in front of your (clean set!) amp, and hopefully you'll like it. This is NOT a high gain pedal, nor a versatile one. If you like the Plexi tone, obviously you'll like the Plexitone. If you are after something different, even a different Marshall product tone (JTM, Metalface/early 70s MK-II, JCMXXX, Jubilees, etc.) LOOK FOR SOMETHING ELSE, or at least try it on a similar amp like yours before any further decision.

Apart from this, the sound is plain awesome! I use it mainly with my 1987X reissue head and some Marshall cabs (see below for details). Especially the crunch channel is 100% that old 67-70 Marshall overdriven sound. It sounds perfect on any further amp I've used it, but, as some reviwers correctly mentioned, it "prefers" British sounding amps. But that's not a thumb rule...

CM Plexitone has more gain than a full tilt 1959 Plexi top, even in its crunch channel. Yet it retains that classic sound, with a very high dynamic range (almost no compression). By using Les Pauls, only low settings of the gain knob deliver crunchy sounds. Above 10 o'clock gain settings deliver the typical Marshall ovedrive, noon settings' sound is like a full driven Plexi with a stomp box in front of it to crank it further up! However the art of that fictive "stomp" is of an active fullrange booster, and NOT of a (more traditional)treble booster!!!
The high gain channel is very similar to the crunch one, and far from a real high gain channel. It just has a little higher gain range. Though, it sounds a lot darker than crunch (both channels share the same tone control). Therefore, I use the normal crunch ch. for Gibson guitars and the darker high gain ch. for my Fenders. Concerning the huge dynamic response of the pedal, you need to play some serious guitar on it to be heard. This is a old-school "Non-forgiver". Period.

The pedal reacts very well on guitar's volume pot usage, and provides very wide range of sounds, but (for higher gain settings) it does not clean up when rolled back. More an "electric bite" sound.

Some reviewers complain about some loss of mids. Well, this is a PLEXItone: A slightly scooped sound with lots of the typical Marshall uppermids, far from the typical mid boosted MV-2203 sound of the late 70's. Further, the mid contain depends heavily on the speakers choice. I've tried it through my cabs (2x12", 4x12") with Greenbacks, Vintage30s and G12-T75s. The Greenbacks on a 4x12" cab provide the real old-school sounds (think Kossof/Free). The G1275Ts on a 2x12" cab provide a more 70's sound with enhanced uppermids (think Thin Lizzy on "Bad reputaion" & "Live and Dangerous" albums). The V30's give a more powerful mid boosted sound. All sounds are definitely inside the Marshall vintage 60s/70s territory.

The Boost feature is a league of its own, very effective, very powerful, you can also use it as a typical "front end" booster, to crank up a slightly driven amp. It drives the guitar sound to hell!

All in all a very faithful and original sounding pedal, though perfect ONLY if you like THAT particular sound. I do!

Very well build, in-built transformer, true bypass, what more?

Not needed yet.

I play in 70's rock tribute bands (Free, Bad Company, Thin Lizzy, Purple, Rainbow, ealry Whitesnake). For this purpose, the Plexitone feeds perfect. Guitars are mainly Les Pauls, Strats and Tellys. Playing since 1980, being also a guitar tech since 1985. I also have the DeLayla XL echo pedal from Carl Martin, a further brillant device. My only complaint is for the hi gain channel, as it's not a true hi gain. Further, as described above, by setting the crunch channel tonewise correct, the hi gain ch. sounds darker. But it is still a very usable channel, too.
If you like the early Plexi sound, give it a chance.

The Plexitone is one of those pedals that is so easy to get a great tone out of it without having to spend a lot of time trying to tweak it to find your sweet spot. It's a pretty basic set up. You have 3 options: overdrive,high gain,and boost. The great thing about the boost is you can kick that in on either of the other channels. The manual they supply is a universal one and has the entire Carl Martin line of pedals in it.

Where do I begin? I'm one of those guitarists who's always trying to improve my tone. Because of that,over the years I've invested in a lot of overdrive and distortion pedals. There's too many to mention. But I've either owned or tried just about everyone under the sun. I can honestly say that the Plexitone pedal is by far the best pedal I've ever owned. Up until I got it,my 2 favorites were my Radial Tonebone Hot British and my Tech 21 SansAmp GT2. But after comparing those 2 to the Plexitone,I've determined that the Plexitone is in a league all it's own. I've never played through a vintage Marshall Plexi head,but I know the guitarists who have and I know it's the tone I've always been after. Before I bought the Plexitone I bought the Godlyke British Steel. Needless to say,I returned that. I wasn't impressed in the least with that one. This Plexitone pedal is special. I have 2 amps that I've played it through; A Roland Cube 30 with an Eminence Ramrod speaker and a Framus Dragon half stack. My 2 guitars are gibson Les Paul Standard and a Gibson SG Standard. Both of them have the Rio Grande Genuine Texas/BBQ Bucker set. It sounds so good through the Roland. Plenty of harmonics and it makes it sound like a tube amp. When I played it through the Framus I thought I was going to come in my pants. As good as my SG sounds,it seems like this pedal was custom made for Les Pauls. I've never heard my Les Paul sound so good. It's the perfect combination. What really sold me on this pedal is the way my neck pickup sounds. Up until now,I've never really liked how my neck pickup sounded. No matter what pedal or amp combo,it just lacked something. But with the Plaxitone,I can't stop playing my neck pickup. With this pedal it has so much clarity. It sounds almost like a Strat. It has that glassy,narly,growl to it. Very Hendrix and Trower sounding. I'm also getting serious Page tones out of that neck pickup and the middle position as well. I've never enjoyed playing my guitar as much as I do now. I can't put it down. I can finally say that I've found MY "Holy Grail Tone". I can't stress enough how great of a pedal this is. If you're into all those classic hard rock bands from the 70s,then you HAVE to get one of these. If you're like me and you don't have thousands to spend on a Marshall Plexi head,then this is the way to go. It's worth every penny. This is the only pedal you'll need.

This pedal is made to withstand a nuclear war. It'll be there with the cock roaches. I can't believe the outstanding quality of this pedal. I have total confidence that this pedal will outlive me. I'm sure this pedal will survive many,many world tours.

I've yet to deal with Carl Martin's customer service dept so I have no opinion.

I'm 46 years old. I grew up in the 70s in the heyday of all those great classic hard rock bands. I guess you can call me "old school". That's fine. So it's no surprise that the tone I've always heard in my head was that Marshall Plexi tone. I chased that tone for years. My search has come to an end. I don't know if I'll ever own the real deal,but in the meantime,I'm totally satisfied with the Plexitone. Thanks Carl Martin for making such an awesome product.

Somewhat confusing manual, does not explain well that you need to have OD1 engaged in order to use teh Select switch to engage OD2.

Great sound quality, very closely voiced to the real thing.

Carl Martin Plexitone

The Plexitone is a great pedal for those players that need the boutique sounds found on Marshall Plexi heads plus boost without the hefty price tag.

Features
The build is amazing ??? really strong metal chassis with ???chickenhead??? retro style knobs. This pedal is also full bypass so it doesn???t degrade your sound when not in use. Another useful extra is that Carl Martin has built the power supply inside the box itself, so you will never forget your adapter last minute before the gig. The downside of this design is that the unit has to be used on US electricity alone and cannot be taken to say Europe while you???re on tour. CM makes versions of this pedal for other countries so you can buy one for different electricity as well. If you power supply blows up due to a clubs??? power failure (happened to me before) you???re also toast. You cannot use batteries due to the fact that this pedal requires higher voltage to run. With these cautions aside I find the benefits outweigh the cons and it is more likely that I???d forget the power supply than blow the pedal so I am happy in regards to this design.
The CM Plexitone has a guitar input and output ?? in. jacks, 5 chickenhead knobs labeled ???Boost???, ???Level???, ???Tone???, ???High Gain???, ???Crunch??? and 3 on/off momentary switches labeled ???Boost???, ???Select??? and ???Drive???.


In use
To test this unit I used an Ibanez mid-grade guitar ($500) with Seymour Duncan distortion pickup upgrade and a Dean Z with PAF Joe Satriani humbuckers. The amps I tested it with were: Fender Princeton 112 (clean solid state amp), Marshall VS100 head amp, Laney AOR 50 Head (tube) running into a 2x12 speaker loaded with Celestion greenback speakers. To top it all off I also ran it into an H&K Redbox (speaker emulation device). On all amps tested the CM Plexitone had a very distinct sound to it and one thing that always came through in the sound was ???quality???.

The pedal has 3 switches ??? ???Drive???, ???Select??? and ???Boost???. The manual provided with the pedal was too busy boasting Carl Martin???s other products and offered little insight on this pedal, besides showing some presets. It took me a while to figure out why the ???Select??? button by itself did not change the sound. It turns out ???Drive??? has to be first on in order for ???Select??? to work by adding the second distortion section! It would???ve been nicer to at least have a diagram or a simple explanation on how this ting works ??? I was about to ship the unit for servicing until I remembered the usual operation on the Plexi amp, which required you to hot patch one channel to the other in front of the amplifier itself. So in essence, ???Drive??? engages the ???Crunch??? section, which can be described as ranging from bluesy Clapton sounds to AC/DC distortion. By engaging the ???Select??? button on top of the ???Drive??? the player engages a second overdrive channel on top of the first one adding yet more gain which brings the sound closer to Van Halen 70s and 80s sounds. The ???Tone??? control basically changes the tone of the unit and the contour as well. From the left you can dial in a smoother bassier sound with the highs rolled off and as you move towards the right the sound gets grittier and the high frequencies start to become more predominant. The ???Boost??? pedal engages a signal boost which is very useful for soloing, and the ???Level??? knob controls the output of the pedal. There are lots of useful sounds to be found on this pedal, by playing with the two OD sections (???Crunch??? and ???Drive???) and varying the ???Tone??? controls. One thing that I missed on this unit was a dual eq for each channel or at least a bass and high eq control for the whole pedal. Regardless of that omission the pedal sounded great with pretty much anything I threw at it. It kept is character on all amps but sounded best on the solid state units. I tried to also run it as OD pedal in the

Pretty easy to figure out. I played with it live only, no recording, so i have no opinion on that. Don't need any Doc's, as it's not rocket science .... a tone-driver box, so just plug-n-play.

Naming this thing a "Plexitone" is a bit mis-leading.....it turns an amp into a Plexi on steroids. I thought there would be more tonal range in this device, but it took my sound, pretty much out of the gate, and just went to the moon from there. Even the "Crunch" dial was too over-the-top for my use. Don't mis-understand me .... it's a good-quality box, and i'm a fan of CM products in general. It IS possible to shape the sound in several useful ways with it. Fundamentally though, it's design is intended to drive an amp into the stratosphere, is all. I'm a Blues and Rock player by background, and certainly love all manner of 'crunch', but this particular device was just too MUCH for what i was after. If you're looking to turbo-charge your rig, and have the HEADROOM for it, then the Plexitone might work for you; nothing under 50 watts .... 100 watts would be better. The PT is so un-abashedly heavy that you don't want to compete with your amp's distortion.....get a good-quality clean signal, THEN fly to the moon. Good luck :-)

While i had it, no problems. I sold it (justification: see "Sound Quality" section.) The PT has its own builtin power supply, which is good.

No opinion.

CM markets a GOOD line of products....i have a couple, and have no complaints. The Plexitone didn't work FOR ME .... no slight on the company or PT, just the product itself didn't suit. YOU may find that it works for you .... buy it from a reputable dealer with a decent return policy, or if you run over the limit, try to move it on a good forum if not satisfied. Other than that, just make sure that you have a rig that can handle it, then go to town!

It takes a while before you figure out wich combination crunch/high gain is your thing and before you find the right balance. But I haven't really had big troubles with it.

I love this sound. I use it over a Fender m 80 transistor Amp and never got htat warm tube-overdrive untill I got this pedal. From a slight crunchy punch towards a screeming 70's Hard Rock overdrive, this is just what I need for the music I play. The boost function really takes the level up for solo's the way I want it to be and doesn't distort the sound further. This was exactly what I was looking for. Don't buy it you want any (modern)metal distortion, this pedal doesn't have that sound.

It seems solid enough

No experience

I play 60's 70's inspired Rock and this is just the pedal for me. I've been playing for more than 15 years. My set up is A: Fender M 80 - DD3-Plexitone-Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Wah- Gibson LP. It has all the overdrive and distortion options I need and I would definetly replace it if I lost it. (It was pretty expensive though)

It's fairly easy to get Great Sounds out of this one.
Five knobs, three switches; a no brainer.
The manual is actually a catalogue so EastSound could do better in that department.

If you want to sound like all those great guitarists of the late 60's early 70's all you need is a good sounding clean amp,in my case a Fender Blues de Luxe, and this box. Instant Jimmy Page!
I have used it with a Stat,a Tele,a PRS Soapbar SE and an Epi Les Paul,and with minor adjustments all sounded great while retaining their distinct character.

It's built to last and since I do not perform that often I don't think I need a backup; just treat it with care and maybe even your grandchildren will have fun with it.
Internal powersupply = quality components.

These Danes are the most friendly of people around and Soren is definitly one of them. Ask a question and he'll get back to you.
Join their VIP club.

This box is early Marshall territory so it fits my needs perfectly.
I've got a host of overdrives/distortions and untill recently this one was the best I ever owned(the OCD is now #1)but it's still in my pedalchain. At first I had some trouble with the footswitches, kicking in two at the same time, but then again, I've got big feet.
Wanna do AC/DC at reasonable levels? Switch from Malcolm to Angus with one stomp of your foot.
Use level and boost with care; you would't want to blow any speakers.

Very simple layout, easy to use under live conditions. The switches are placed far enough apart to allow changing modes without doing the pedal dance.

The Plexi-Tone nails the vintage Marshall Plexi vibe. The best combination I have found is my Gibson Les Paul standard R9 through a Marshall JTM-45 reissue head and a Marshall 4x12 cab loaded with greenbacks. The amp has enough power and headroom to just barely stay clean at preformance levels and starts to break up slightly if you really dig into the strings. The Plexi-Tone matches beautifully with the Marshall rig to deliver very warm tones from a slight blues crunch up to a pretty high gain singing solo tone. It really does the vintage blues/rock tones well but may not be what you are looking for if you are into heavey metal. The solo boost is great for placing your solo level above the band. Use some caution though because it has a lot of gain. I have also had very good results with a Stratocaster through this same setup.

I have been using it for over a year now with no problem and it came from a friend of mine who used it for over a year befor that. It seems to be very well made and reliable.

I have never had a need for repair service but I have asked several questions via E-mail about other products and got back quick responses.

I have been playing now for over thirty years and have owned a great deal of very high end equipment throught that time. I think it is a great pedal for getting the natural tones of a good Plexi amplifier. It allows me to get the tones I want and to be able to get them at real working levels. Having the ability to produce clean, crunch and high gain tones from a non master volume tube rig is great. The tones are warmer and more organic without the buzzy top end that I have experienced with master volume rigs. And because your amp is still running clean you can place modulation and delay effects after the Plexi-tone. If you are a blues player, or classic rocker you will most likely be pleased with the Plexi-Tone.

It's got five knobs and three buttons which are pretty self-explaining. You won't need a manual at all!

Anyhow, it takes a little bit of experience to dial in a good tone. First of all, the TONE knob acts like a presence circuit, so you wouldn't want to turn it all the way up. In fact, you won't ever get past a 12 o'clock setting. Also, you shouldn't use it with a very bright setting on the amp's equalizer.

But with any knob on 12 o'clock, nothing can go wrong!

Well, well, well - this little box sounds killer! The tone can be described as Marshall Plexi (Crunch) and Marshall JCM 800 (High Gain). It doesn't have a "distortion-box" sound to it at all (which is the "key" problem of many BOSS pedals); if you run it through a decent amp (not your little practice amp), it will sound "real" - perhaps more original than the original.

I use it in connection with a Gibson Les Paul Standard (equipped with a DiMarzio PAF Pro (treble) and a DiMarzio Humbucker From Hell (rhythm)) through either a Hughes & Kettner TriAmp Mk. II Head (cleanest channel with almost flat EQ!) or a Engl Fireball Head (clean channel - almost flat EQ again!) connected with a Hughes & Kettner CC 4x12 box (Celestion Vintage 30 speakers). I personally get a slightly better sound with the 6L6-equipped Engl than with the EL34-equipped Hughes & Kettner.
The noise created by the engaged box is minimal, even with cranked settings.

You will get the basic British tone that can be heard on numerous recordings of the 70s and early 80s. If you add a MXR ZW-44 Wylde Overdrive in front of the Plexi Tone (booster setting!) you'll get what I'd call a hot rodded Brian May tone.

Once turned on, it's really hard to turn off that pedal!

It's been on my pedal board from day one and I never had any problems with it!

Didn't need it until now!

I've been playing for almost 10 years now and my band does cover tunes from any decade. Since I don't use any modeling amps I need quite a few (distortion) boxes to create the tones I need. The 2A channel of my TriAmp (which sounds similar to a JCM 800) is set for a 50s tone so I needed another pedal for the actual JCM 800 sound (the 70s department, as it were). And what can I say - perfect match!

I love the exquisite tone of that little monster. As I said, it's hard to turn it off (only if really clean tones are needed). I'd rater roll down the volume!
If playing solos I add a little boost from a MXR Wylde Overdrive since I need a little more sustain than the pedal alone can provide.
I don't use the boost funtion of the Plexi Tone for kicking my solos. Instead I use it to get more input signal for my amp tones (more distortion) - a really great clean boost that doesn't chance/modify the tone of your amp like a Tubescreamer does.

If you happen to own a one channel vintage amp, the Plexi Tone adds two "channels" AND a solo boost! Great value for money!

Some of you might miss a three-band EQ - I don't!!! The pedal is voiced perfectly for my needs.

The tone is really inspiring. It really makes you wanna play all day (and night) long.

It's not the cheapest pedal on the market but then again you get three (!!!) pedals combined: a two-step distortion unit and a clean solo boost. Go buy three BOSS pedals that do the same (e.g. Blues Driver, Distortion and Equalizer) and you'll spend the same amount of money. But in terms of (sound) quality, the Plexi Tone is way ahead of Boss pedals. But again, you shouldn't compare it to BOSS - completely unfair!

Easy to use. The manual is helpful. But alas, I didn't end up keeping it for the reasons below.

I really, really, really wanted to like this pedal. It sounds pretty good. I was using it with a 1987x reissue plexi. The pedal has a bit of scooped mids to it. It has a pronouced amount of bass and treble, and to my ears, it was a bit much. It sounded a little harsh -- not buzzy, but close. If it had a tad more in the mids, and a tad less in the bass, it would be awesome! The boost was great and didn't pop when engaged.

Seemed very sturdy and reliable.

I ended up returning it. Very close, but no cigar.

I play old-school heavy metal/rock/hard rock, blues and some progressive stuff on the electric. I own a JCM-800 head with Metaltronix 4x12" cab by Lee Jackson. I've been searching for this sound for six years now or something, since I started to understand what sounded good. I like the kind of mixture of van Halen/Malmsteen/Blackmore/SRV/Hendrix sound with a little kick like on it like on Gary Moore or Michael Schenker recordings. Since I play Ibanez Rg-s they have humbuckers like Moore and Schenker for example and it differs alot from the Blackmore/Hendrix sound since they play Stratocasters mostly. I used to own a TS-9 witch I liked alot,and I got all the noise I needed for electric blues playing but it wasn`t nearly as versatile as Plexitone and used to cause a real loud humming wiht Marshall. I got the sound a little tighter wiht an MXR 6-band E.Q. but something was missing. Since then I tried more modern pedals with no success untill now. I haven't even tested it with Marshall but I tried it with a 60 watt Peavey transistor with really dry clean sound without any overdrive coming from the amp and it just hit me right to the chest! Both, the crunch and the hihg-gain sounded absolutelu incredibly good and you can really get alot of different variations of the overdrive. I could just listen it for hours and hours. I also tested Plexitone with a Fender combo (tube) and I was blown away imediatly. The search was over. If you're looking for the "real" sound you need to seek no more. I think it'll sound even better with a singe-coil pick-up strats if you're just into that SRV sound.

With three different uses, this is an outstanding pedal to play with. First, you get a boost. Great for kicking up during a solo! Then you have the level which sets the volume for the whole pedal, a tone knob, and your drive settings for crunch (plexi) and high gain (70s JMP or JCM 800). Really easy to use and quite a few uses.

You HAVE to use a british, or Marshally type of voiced amp. This comes straight from the man who designed the pedal. My own experience says that the speakers you use make a big difference as well. I bought this pedal to use with a custom made 59 Bassman circuit amp I have. This amp is in a 2X12 housing like a Bassbreaker. When I put the Plexitone through this amp is sounded horrible. I was going to sell it when I figured I'd try it through an old Univox U1246B bass head I have that I was going to sell because it wasn't living up to its advertising as a "cheap plexi". On a sidebar, I found out that the Univox doesn't drive a 4X12 that well, but through a 2X12 it's a plexi sound to the bone. Anyways, I've got a 4X12 with V30s and G12H30s in an X pattern. I put the Univox on that cab and tried the Plexitone and OH MY GOD! Okay, I've owned five plexis--two real ones and three reissues, so I know the tone. This pedal nails it to the T. Even better, it's at controlable levels. Even better than that, this whole setup costs less than half of a plexi head, and you get the amp, cabinet, pedal and two distinct Marshall amplifier sounds AND A BOOST! If you're a collector, yeah, you're gonna get a real plexi. If you're a schmuck like me who loves Marshalls for the tone, and not the collectibility, this setup does the job in spades.

Here's the kicker now. That Bassman amp I was talking about had Celestion V12-60 speakers in it. I swapped them out for a Celestion G12H30 and Eminence Cannibus Rex and now with the Plexitone it sounds ungodly. Just as good but different than the Univox. I've also put the Plexitone through a Univox U45-B, Gretsch 6150, Bogen CHB50 and an old Gretsch amp from the late 40s, early 50s. It sounded great through everything but the Bogen. Nothing matches it through the Univox through the 4X12 or the Bassman. Now when I put the Univox through an Earcandy Buzzbomb 2X12 (V30 & G12H30) it sounded like a real Plexi by itself but not good with the pedal. Go figure!

Match this pedal up with the right setup, take your time and set the tone and you will easily be able to justify the cost. Don't just plug it in and think it sucks. It doesn't. You've got to find the tone, so be prepared to experiment a bit. By the way the guitars I've used were a 75 Les Paul Custom with Duncan antiquities, 73 LP Deluxe with a Duncan Brobucker bridge, 68 Epiphone Casino with a Duncan JB and a 77 Gibson double neck with a Seth Lover in the six bridge. No, I'm not rich, just old LOL. Paid under $4k total for all four over the years, and that includes the pickup swaps!

Built like a tank. I have no problem not using a backup.

On the Seymour Duncan forum, the man who designed this pedal posts regularly and he is the most helpful, friendly cat you can imagine, as is everyone else there.

I play mainly old school metal, metal, hard rock & blues. Been playing 27 years since I was 15. I've got a lotta stuff, again accumulated over the course of time. The Plexitone to me is the ONLY way to go if you don't have a Marshall, or if you have one but can't play it as loud as needed to get the sound. Plenty of people have old non-master Marshalls and they use the Plexitone through them to get the Marshall sound at a reasonable level. I sold all of my Marshalls for that very reason. I never played them anymore because I moved to a suburb and that was that. They were even too loud to practice with or play out as well.

I love this pedal!!!
Actually simple to use it. It's almost like an amp. NO LCD MENU HERE! PURE OLD SCHOOL SOUND! Drive - High Gain - Tone - Master Volume - Boost with knob control (+20db) - REALLY AWESOME!!!

Sounds great!
I'm using it for small venues live shows without amp. Yeah, It Rocks!!!
My small venues rig is:
::ROCK BAG
::BOSS Tu-2
::PLEXITONE
::CABTONE (Digital Music Corporation)
::GUITAR EXCITER 1403 (Aphex)

I play with an AC/DC Tribute (www.icebreakker.com) so I don't need effects like chorus, delay and so on. Straight to PA Console and man... it works!!! GREAT Sound with no noise overall. Great dynamics, great bottom, always clear. I give it a 9 only because there is no little crunch tones from the pedal. Gain is always rough, also at 2 drive setting, but you can simply roll off your guitar volume and the crunch you're looking for will be stunning.
I have some great amps like Marshall Plexi modified, Wizard Modern Classic, Roccaforte Custom 80, Marshall with Greenback cabs... I played in the past with a lot of stuff including Soldano, Mesa, Marshalls, Fenders, Steavens, Peavey... but believe me: this pedal with the cabtone is terrific!!!

One year on the road and have never had a problem!
It's built like a tank. The switch buttons and blue lights are very good too. IMHO It's one of the best overdrive pedals I ever had. And it sounds good in front of an amp too! Only the boost quality worth the whole price of the pedal.

I never had a problem but every time I need some info they mailed me back. Very good customer care!

Highly recommended for every Marshall big fans. I play mainly hard rock and rock-blues tunes and I tried EVERY pedal out there.
I have good amplifiers and some good guitars too, but this pedal is incredible and night after night rock hard with the band. It nails JCM800 sounds and beyond. Now I can carry on my bag, a pair of guitars and forget about the rest and you know what I mean. For small venues show It's simply perfect.
I recommend it with cabtone and aphex exciter directly into a PA console: you don't believe your ears, guaranteed!!!
If you need some other info or tricks contact me or go directly to my band site at http://www.icebreakker.com

A single drive with an extra highgain feature, simple buisness to use.

Tried it on a Fender BF 65 Super reverb, no match, then I switched to my 67 Marshall 100 watts head, perfect setup!
The normal gain channel sound alot like the amp at 7 to 10 with both volumes mixed(had mine modded so I can use both volumes without the usual small patch cable)
I had no balance troubles with neither channel, the sound on the first is like the amps own voice, clear and glassy, got a nice bite, but still with that vintage sweetness, the mids was dead on Marshall!
No lack of lows on either setting, that was THE selling point as well as the tone of the unit.
The second channel, well that is the mean one, slightly more dark but that is due to the different value of the pot, the sound is really the same, just with a much wider gain range, and that ads a very small amount of spongyness that compresses the whole signal oh so slightly, but just enough for that sweet singing leadvoice, now that is nifty.
I use the excellent cleanboost to drive the amp sometimes, just for variations sake.
This pedal is dead on old Marshall, and it works awesome on my amp set on glorious cleans, Hendrix chimes and others alike, and then just hit the plexi overdrive and it roars with authority.
It makes no more noise than my amp at full blast, I use it mainly with a LP equipped with Duncan Seth Lovers, and a superstrat with a maple body and a Screamin' Demon humbucker, plus a tele and a EJ strat.

Got no troubles, nice build and solid.

No dealings.
But on this pedal alone I will make it a 9!

Use your amps as the foundation, I tried it on my Super Reverb, but I already knew that it would not work but I just had to try, it sounded best with the LP, got some Dumble like tones, but that was not what I was looking for, neat anyways.
But on the Marshall, now that delivered on all accounts.
It sounds like the amp, no further praise is needed here, a great pedal for those with big Marshalls that are not allowed to play it loud and proud, this pedal will help you out in a very commanding way, one should think that a mere pedal could do this, but it does.
Kudos to CM for a topnotch product.

Fairly easy to use; the hardest thing to do is to balance the levels between the two overdrives properly. A concentric knob that would allow you to set both overdrive channels independently would be a nice addition without changing the form factor of the box.

With crunch, high gain, and boost 'channels' in one box, the PlexiTone is a jack of all trades. It also means that it's a master of none, but that's the tradeoff you usually make. The crunch channel is decent, with plenty of drive. I keep it set with the drive either all the way down or nearly down, depending on the guitar I'm using, with the level control set for just a hair above unity gain. The high gain channel is rather 80's, but useful when I want over-the-top gain. I only use it a few times a night. I find the overall tone a little bright, so I keep the tone at about 10 o'clock. The boost is excellent at about 10 o'clock--it gives my clean channel a big kick in the pants and my amp's drive channel a smaller boost in volume.

I find it about average in terms of the noise that it adds to my signal. If there are any bits of hum or noise elsewhere in your system, the boost will amplify them, just like any other boost would. I am confident it makes less noise than running two separate overdrives and a boost in your pedalboard.

I use the Plexitone in my main pedalboard, Punch Factory compressor > Strobostomp tuner > Budda wah > Plexitone > H20 > Budda Superdrive > effects loop with Boss DD-20 and RC-20XL. When used with the clean channel, the crunch channel is useful for a slight boost with a little bit of hair (which can be cleaned up by backing off the volume). I find the the high gain channel to be too harsh with my clean channel, but it's fine as an extra effect with the amp's drive channel. The boost is great with both channels, the only caveat being the boost dB difference between the two channels of my amp.

I would rate the individual sounds about a 7, but the flexibility of combining them all as an 8.

I've had it for a year or so with no problems. All the components seem to be of good build quality.

Never dealt with Carl Martin. I hope I don't have to since that means my PlexiTone will keep working fine.

Considered as a single overdrive pedal, the PlexiTone is pricey. Considered as three separate effects, it's a decent value. I would like it better if it had a warmer overdrive, especially when driving a clean amp. I'll give it an 8 for its versatility, though.

Easy and quite versatile at the same time.

It is a very clear and natural sounding pedal, good variables in gain and the tone should be renamed as precense.
Almost works the same way.
I use it with my old metal panel JMP 100 watts Marshall head.
Use it with two different cabs, depending on where I am playing, a 2x12 with Celestion blues for low volumes, and a Marshall 1967 cab with 30 watts greenbacks.
It gives a fantastic overdrive, more plexi sounding that my JMP really, quite fun.
I just set my amp for a good fat chimey clean, and the plexi takes more than good care of my overdriven sound, no more earbleeding gigs, that alone is a major achivement.
Even at loud volumes does the pedal sound clear and defined, the bottomend is firm and has that spongy feel, not modern and tight, but you can get there with some different eq'ing, like an additional eq pedal or rack unit.
It all can be dialed in from the amp, the drive will just follow the foundation on which it rests, so let the amp be the tone shaper and then use the drive for dirt.
That was the selling point for me.

It works well, no breakdowns or funny sounds.
Wellmade.

Had not spoken to CM.

If you have different highpoweramps with different sounds, and just want that extra drive from gnarly crunch to some good screamin' British hotrod tones, this pedal will deliver, just do not use it with amp with Fender voicing, if you do not mind then no worries, well if you want it to sound like a British Plexi, then use British sounding amps, that is the secret for this pedal.
No wonder they seem to have some succes with this one, very well made and the sound is great.

Easy to use but as others have written, be careful of the sensitive chicken style knobs. Manual is ok but too brief and suppose it's left to the user to find their tone - fair enough.

Setup is 2005 Gibson Jimmy Page Custom Authentic Les Paul, JCM800 2203, Marshall 4x12 handwired cabinet. Unit is disappointingly noisy even with settings at 8 o'clock - put this unit through a transparent guitar and amp and the noise is obvious. On clean tone, lower frequencies pickup a multiplexed overtone with hiss.
Surprising, if you can believe it, at these prices the unit is NOT true bypass and the s/n ratio is only 58db. Carl Martin is off my list of future pedals.

Very easy to use. All controls are simple and intuitive.

Currently using 56 reissue les paul with P-90's and Es 355 with PAF's. Unit is absolutely perfect for Marshallesque plexi sounds. Sound is reminiscent of a lot of 60's and 70's rock like Ten Years After. The unit is clearly designed as a distortion pedal as opposed to an overdrive pedal. There is a great deal of gain available. This pedal works perfect with my main rig which is a demeter TGA head through a 4x12 Marshall cab with greenbacks. The unit did not quite fit with my blackface twin as it was overly bright even with the tone control backed off.

Seems very solidly built with AC power cord. Pots are smooth with an even and gradual taper. I have had the pedal for about 2 months now with no problems.

Never had to deal with company but would expect decent support.

For older rock and blues (like Gary Moore, Alvin Lee, Etc.) This is the best pedal I have found. A very useful tool indeed.

Easy!and versatile, 3 channels, od/heavy and independent boost

Sounds perfect when used with my jcm 900 half stack, but using bluesbreaker 1962 reissue, the pedal produces additional bass thump on the drive and high gain channel that is very unpleasant...I set my bass control on the amp at 2!If anyone know how to get rid of this bass thum can you please email me?Thanks

Built like a tank...not really, but i'd gig without backup

PLEASE PLEASE ANYONE THAT KNOW HOW TO GET RID OF THE BASS THUMP EMAIL ME..I'd really appreciate the help :)

Be mindful of the volume, this is one loud beast.
Plenty of everything here, the tone goes from dark to wide open.
Thew crunch is crisp and still maintains the bottomend and go to a very good highgain tone, the highgain is just even more, cool harmonies when playing this thing.
A very straightforward pedal.

Lots of clarity and a very very good defenition, chords never squash out and becomes muddy, well your amp may do that if it is a small anemeic one;)
Big and bold, for those who wants that expensive super Marshall tone without playing insanely loud, or modding their old precious Plexi tops.
Fat and gnarly on the bottom strings, squeacks and whistles when dugged into, lots of response to picking.
A very alive pedal.
For all who wants that clear and fat overdrive, it still lets your guitar sound like one.
It is not a deathmetal machine by any means.
Look for something else if that is needed.

It is 5 months old now, no troubles, and has gigged a "few" jobs now.
Love the switches and the blue clear LED's.

No dealings

Guns and Roses and stuff like that!!
Lynch mob..well you get the point.

Plug and play like alot of other drives.
Easy.

Noise: for that amount of punch and gain it works well, nothing I cannot live with...what do you expect from a drive?? Silence? It is the noise we want after all, and it is working well
Guitars:HW1 bighead strat, Kramer Baretta, Tyler Strat, HW1 Texas Tele
Effect:Strong fat not weak, clear and very very good chord defenition, sounds great on any pickup combination, can go from whisper to a big roar, with some compression you can even nail some of those pop-tune lead sounds..lol You know Dann Huff and Landau studio smooth stuff.
Amps:Fender 57RI Tweed Twinamp, 1978 JMP Superlead 100 Marshall, Fender 66 BF Showman top, Vox AC 50 top, cabs 2 2x12 Celestion equipped, one with Classic lead 80's and one with G12H's.
4x12 with Classic Lead 80's.
Sounds:Everything from Marshall hotrod glassy sounds to oldstyle crunch, covers the grounds from Hendrix to Faith Hill here.
Very versatile thing for a Marshall in the box drive.

No issues, nice blue LED's and switches and knobs feels nice too.

As I pointed out earlier, I play from old 60's stuff to modern pop things.
It is letting me play the way I am, it is a tool that works, not a magicbox, but an honest to god wellmade functional tool.
Maybe if the painted it funny and lost the name, it would perhaps sell more??
It is one more drive in a large toolbox of sounds, and it will stay there, because this is a serious drive that delivers if you have the goods.

There are 5 knobs: boost, level, tone, high gain, and crunch. It's very easy to dial in crunch from a little to a lot.

I sold this pedal a few months ago because this was my "Marshall-in-a-box" for my clean amp. But, then I sold that amp and bought a Marshall clone. No sense in having a pedal that emulates the amp you're playing. Otherwise, I'd have never let this pedal go. And, this was such a great pedal that I'm compelled to write a review on it even though it's long gone.

I was using this pedal with a Peavey Classic 50 head and Marshall 4x12 cab. For a distortion unit it's very quiet.

The Carl Martin Plexi Tone is the best Marshall-in-a-box I've heard - by far - and I've heard a few (Boss DS-1, EMMA reezaFRATzitz, V.S. Jekyll & Hyde, etc.). It has a very high quality clear sound that the others don't have (chords are nice and clear) and it responds quite well to your attack for a distortion unit.

The big plus is that it is as dead on Marshall tone as you could ever possibly expect from a pedal. You can dial in great plexi-like crunch from the crunch channel, or you can dial in some beautiful 80's JCM800 tones from the lead channel, and the tones are as convincing as you could possibly ask out of a pedal.

I had it for about a month with no problems, but that obviously isn't enough to tell, so I really can't rate this category.

I had no contact with Carl Martin, so I can't rate this category.

I play mostly hard rock and blues. I have a total of about 7.5 years of experience playing music, just over 3 years of which is on electric guitar.

The gear I owned at the time I had this pedal was: 3 Carvin electric guitars, Peavey Classic 50 head, Marshall 4x12 slant, Visual Sound Jekyll and Hyde, Dunlop 535Q Crybaby, MJM London Fuzz, and a Keeley TS-9.

My only complaint about this pedal was its size. I think they should loose the boost feature and squeeze this into a smaller enclosure if they can. I think it?s something like 7 inches by 5 inches - takes up too much territory on your pedalboard. So I'm giving it a 9 overall.

Bottom line: I think this is probably the best sounding Marshall-in-a-box out there right now.

Hooked it up with my various amps, a very easy pedal to setup and use, does not take long to find the sweet spots on both channels.
Good layout and no big manual to plow through before getting it fired up.

I use it with an Orange amp, vintage 100 watter from the early 70's plus
an vintage BF Fender Twinamp, plus one Marshall SLP 100 1970 model(Plexi with a metalpanel essentially).
Cabs 4x12 Silver Jubilee Marshall cab and one 2x12 Bogner cab with G12H Celestions, Also used a black tolex Peavey DeltaBlues combo, the Peavey has a Weber 15 F150-0 speaker.
Guitars, PRS old Dann Huff signature, Tyler classic strat with a JB and two classic stacks Duncans, one Schecter Black Jack with a JB and a 59 duncan(extended scalelenght guitar)26,5" I belive it is, forgot the exact specs there, and a Highway1 Texas Tele all stock.
On the highest gain some noise it there...well a whole lot less than I expected so that was a nice thing.
It has alot of output, enough to make most amps live up and deliver fat glassy clear overdrive, it has a good bite that you can tame with the toneknob, almost like the presence control on those old Marshalls, very cool.

It gives me that classic Marshall tone with extra gain as a plus.
Now I can take out my big amps from the studio and use them set to clean, the Plexitone has no trouble driving those amps, it works very well with big clean amps.
With the Peavey I take it more easy, or I'll probally blow the 15" in the open combo.
But it sounds swampy and bluesy on that amp, great for that slightly harder blues and old style bluesrock style, healthy bottomend in the pedal too, and the mids are high as they should be on a Marshall style drive, cuts very convincing in the two bands I play in, one is a traditional Bluesrock band and the other is more fusion hardrock oriented, works very well in both enviroments, the ticket is the good amps imho.
Bottomline this is a very useful overdrive, good harmonics, plenty of sensitivity on big clean amps, less on smaller combo's(not surprisingly really), cleans up well when you roll down your volume on the guitar.
I have had a few very expensive highend stuff before this one, this suited my playing and amps better, kinda funny as I just stumbled over this pedal by accident.

Looks well and neat, not fancy or all that colorful, nice blue LED's though.
Good contacts and nice knobs, the latter had a nice easy touch.
It has worked very good for 7 months now.
I am bying another one for a setup more.

Had no dealings

Well I have said most of this, I have played for 30 years now and this is one of the better useful overdrives I have tried, kudos to CM for making a very good product here.
It has that Marshall clear and slightly glassy overdrive that those Plexi's of old times gives you when they are stock, in this case with extra gain if you like, nice hotrod without sacrificing that vintage vibe.
Maybe not for all players, and you need to to make sure that it will work on your amps and speaker setups, and I guess it takes a slightly seasoned player to get the most out of it.
But the rewards are nice imho.

Unpacked it from a cool box, wrapped neatly in a plasticbag.
Power is from a mains cord, no 9v here.
This is a straightforward box, crunch, highgain, tone. level, boost(clean) at the end, good postition, glad they got that one there.
The crunch has everything from a slight break up to fat overdrive, highgain makes the sound denser and even more sustaining, the boost offers alot of db's, enough to send my amp into a screamin' rage.
All controlled by 3 switches with generous spacing between them.

I use a Marshall ri "Bluesbreaker" combo with an extension four twelwes cab, one Marshall 1960 AV cab.
Other effects are, delay(2290 TC), chorus Ibanez cs-9(org 1980's unit), MXR Flanger(also an 80's one), CM compressor Limiter(10 years old), Lexicon PCM 70 reverb, Yamaha SPX 90, Radial Classic British, and basicly all my old stuff I have had since the 80's.
As you probally can guess I use this for an 80's sound, and it does those great, gobs of classic sounds and everything in between, I play alot of old 80's pop stuff, mainly Huff and Landau roles, it really shines for this kind music, it has plenty of headroom and volume which is a huge plus, it replaces my old Mesa Boogie Quad preamp and a Soldano plus a Kasha preamp, it has gotten to cumbersome to carry around, so it is making up for some classic stuff from back then, and it does it in style.
Even at very high gain it does not produce that much noise, of course it produces hiss, what highgain without a gate doesn't do that??
But it is never overbearing and annoying, fat and glassy Plexi sound, very smooth and articulate, got lotsa grind, those powerchords rings out with authority and a most welcome clearness, you can hear your strings, and chords never looses clarity, your lines can go from screamin' divebombs to huge long notes, overtones piles themselves up, lotsa cool harmonics, very juicy and fun.
My JB equipped Strat loves its Danish.
The Tonebone and the Plexi are a perfect pairing here.
If you play 80's stuff like VH, Huff, Bratta, Landau, Luke, but I also use it for fusion that I dabble with from time to time, a very flexible piece of equipment, I am most happy to leave my preamps and poweramps at home, only use those for recordings now, for livestuff and jams I use the Plexi now.

It is a very neatly made overdrive, clean on the inside, nice switches, love the placement of the jacks as I still uses it on the floor.
My old compressor has worked for a decade now, don't see why the Plexi should not do the same.

Never had the need to contact CM. the comp just kept working so why should I bother them?
They seem like a sober professional company to me, so I expect no troubles.

As I explained above, it replaced some rather heavy equipment that really has paid its dues for +20 years, so they are big shoes to fill, it does a very credible job of it, a very clear and bigsounding od, top of the line sound, it does sound like a Plexi, I know since I once had a 1959 SLP 1968, same glassy smooth overdrive and crunch, it reacts well to dynamic playing and you have lots of control over harmonics and feedback, keeps the top when you roll down your volume on your guitar,
hotrod for sure.
I really am happy with both the Radial and the Plexi, they are a killer combo, and no monsterrack to drag around anymore now.
Huge relief and I kept myself the sound I need.
It is a serious unit, maybe not for all but for us who are stuck in the eighties or play music with some attitude it is a great box.
To me this is a blessing in a black and purple box, those chickenheads and blue LED's looks the part too.

Now the knobs say it all, the sound roars out of this one.
No need for a manual, simple straightforward pedal.

Use it with two amps, a BF Fender Showman and a Park75 head.
Have two 2x12 cabs with G12H speakers.
Various guitars, old 62 strat, 71 Fender Thinline with humbuckers, Tokai loverock with P90's, etc etc.
This baby is loud and clear, not for those who likes to cover themselves with compression and wolly tones.
Very big bottom that is clear and defined, even at pretty high gain this one stays clear, you can still play chords with more than 3 notes, some
noise at highgain, but hardly anything to sniff at when you play in a band, no more than a normal amp would do when dimed.

Solid build, good switches, nice blue leds, love the build in supply, +-12 volts is what Carl Martin informs me it has, that would be 24 volts to play around with.
This is a quality pedal, no fuzz no hassle.

As said above, asked them a few questions about how it was made, polite fast answers, they know about customerservice in Scandinavia it seems.
Cool company in my book, give it a shot if you have good amps and guitars, these guys knows their stuff.

I play pop, rock, classic rock, some alternative stuff, some studioworks.
The Plexitone does not mess up my foundation, it reacts well to different settings on my amps, it has plenty of range and sounds, just tweak your amps or amp, presto new sound.
I had it from old VH to some Hendrix and beyond, even had it chugging away with the mids turned way down and the bottom and top turned up, evil, not my fave sound but it did it without any hiccups, massive sound.
It has a nice bite and good healthy bottom, nice uppermids, I'll look forward to what else these guys will do in the future.

Great combination of versatility and simplicity. Great clean boost (up to 25db) SINGLE tone control (Hooray!) and separate gain controls.
Really like the single volume control.

Right, my setup - PRS custom 22 with HFS and Vintage bass pickups - Compressor/Limiter, Crybaby 535Q, PlexiTone, Hot Drive & Boost mk3, Trem-0-Vibe, Chorus xII and DeLayla (all Carl Martin except for Wah) into Marshall JCM600 combo with Vintage 30's.

As I'm sure you've noticed, I am a huge fan of the Carl Martin range.
I tried this pedal as I needed something a bit more gainy than my HDB mk3, but still like to hear the difference between my PRS and a Les Paul.

This pedal is extremely transparent and cleans up brilliantly when I roll my volume pot back, even when the High Gain control is maxed. Sounds great with Single coils or humbuckers. Wouldn't recommend the high-gain channel for use with Fender valve amps, as the big bottom end can get a bit flabby.

The crunch channel goes from a subtle, biting grit at 0 (which I often use in front of my HDB) to instant Randy Rhoads at 7. This channel sold me on this pedal before even trying High Gain.

But it's the High Gain mode that I just can't get enough of. Fat bottom end without getting muddy, searing gain and a tone that remains clear, concise and cuts through the mix beautifully.

The clean Boost is the icing on the cake.

This unit delivers on it's promises, and I even prefer it's full sound to the very mid-range focused tone of the 2nd channel on my Marshall.

I do get feedback when I use extreme compression with extreme high gain, but that's my own dumb fault.
Not true bypass tho, buffered bypass. Still won't wreck your clean.

So far so good, tho I have had problems with my Delayla. S?ren at Carl Martin was V. helpful, but shipping the units back to Denmark is a pain, though the good folks at Andy Mcgibbon's guitar world made my life far easier by simply exchanging the unit. (Thanks Andy!)

S?ren at Carl Martin is very accommodating, but like I said, shipping the units through to Denmark is not convenient, especially if you live in South Africa.

This pedal kicks serious butt. Have received many compliments on my tone using the Plexi. Best Hard Rock/Metal pedal I have heard - maybe not the best for nu-metal, but playing tight will make you heavier than gain to 11.

My previous amps have all been Marshall, except for a two year romance with Line 6. Loved the versatility, but nothing compares to the dynamics and feel of valves.

If this was stolen, I would very quickly replace it - unless someone offered me VHT pitbull in exchange. (Yeah, that's gonna happen...)

A bit pricey, but I consider Carl Martins great value if you like transparency in your tone.

Easy to use with 4 analog controls. Tone does not change radically when you turn the knobs which is a good thing, but all knobs have an affect on the tone. Boost, Level, Tone, High Gain, Crunch.

This pedal sounds absolutely fantastic. I have owned a couple of tube distortion pedals - Tube King from Ibanez and HK Cream Machine Still Own). This pedal is better than tube. Yes better than tube. The sound is full, very harmonic, never fake, and much quieter than the tube distortion pedals. It is also very versatile. You can use the boost in from of a hot amp and push it over the top or use the boost in conjunction with either of the two distortions. I play Blues, Rock, and some Early 90's Hard Rock. This pedal is perfect for what I play. It sounds great with my strat or les paul. You do not get sick of this pedal. It grows on you like a weed. This is the best distortion pedal I own and /or have owned. Definitley does not sound like the new heavey metal pedals. It has a sound all of its own.

Had it for two months without a problem. Built great. It's a Carl Martion.

I chose this pedal because of its true sound. If it only had the crunch sound, I would have purchased this pedal, but by tweaking the knobs you can get so many great tones. Plus when switching between settings, there isn't a drastic change in the overall tone. In other words, if you switched from a Rat to a Blues driver, you will notice a big difference and often you would need to really tweek your amps tone controls. With this pedal, the sound is still the same, but more gain, less gain, or boost. Also, it has great responsiveness to the attack on the strings. The harder you play, the more distortion it produces and vice versa.

It's easy to dial up a good sound. Both channels sound good at any gain level, you can't go wrong. The tone knob works on both channels, so the high gain channels differs from the crunch channel primarily in gain. Still a very flexible pedal. You can have a light crunch and heavy distortion in one pedal, or drive the crunch channel at high gain and use the high gain channel for adding even more cream. On top of things you get a loud, clean boost, geat for soloing and easy to set.

Use it mostly with a '96 strat with Hot Noiseless (JB) pickups and Boogie studio .22+ on the clean channel. This thing is hot. With my amp and pickups, I gives me a classic, full high gain tone, even using a strat. A very different animal than the HDB's. Rich, harmonic and full sound, great response. Makes my amp sound three times bigger. It adds a lot of bass, but the sound remains creamy and mid-focused. Even at very high gain settings it still sounds musical. Not noisy at all. The boost is very loud and very clear, and I wish it would at a little more compression to the signal. This pedal has a very high sound quality. Not every sound is in here, but for rich, full and distorted sounds, check it out.

I have been playing with CM pedals for many years now, and never had a problem so far. Although it's a new design, it's built like a tank. No backup needed.

Never dealt with them about a repair, so I don't know. I once asked them a question, and mr. Jongberg answered the next day.

I actually went for a Carl Martin Hot Drive & Boost MK 3, having played for many years with the HBD 2 and (for a while) the HDB 1. But I couldn't resist the luxury of an extra high gain channel for the same price. I've been playing it for about two months now. The funny thing is, that since all gain settings sound good, it's hard too pick up your own sound at first. I liked the HDB MK 2 a lot, but it was more limited. That's not always bad. When trying to find the right settings on a distortion unit, I often found out that there was only one setting that was right for me. In a way, this limitation always helped me to find a peronal guitar sound. I must say I sometimes miss the more transparant, but warm overdrive of the HDB MK 2. Maybe the sound is in here as well, but I haven't found it yet.
I must say I love Carl Martin pedals. I own several (delayla, chorus and compressor), and they all have an excellent quality to them. I can't understand why there are so little overdive units with a boost option out there.

Easy to use, it's analog. 4 knobs. Boost, Level, Tone, High Gain, Crunch. 3 Footswitches. 1 Boost. 1 To select Overdrive or Not. 1 to select between high gain and crunch.

Setup: Les Paul -> Plexitone -> Boss MT-2 -> Boss Delay -> Peavey Classic 50

A little bit of noise on when turned up loud, but it is a distortion pedal and you really can't get around that without a noisegate. This pedal is not for New Metal. This is the reason that I use an MT-2 if I need to go way over the top. This pedal is awesome for blues, old school rock, and some soundgarden like sounds. The best thing about this pedal is that it keeps your guitar's tone. When I first got it, I wasn't impressed, but after playing it a while, I like it more and more.

You can really hear every note when playing chords and it doesn't mush the bass at high volumes. Like I said, this isn't for playing new metal, but if you are looking for a very versatile pedal that maintains the tone of your guitar and amp, this is it. I bought this to replace two other pedals in my chain (Blues Driver and DS-1) to reduce the number of chords and batteries that I needed.

I give it a 9/10. Nothing is a 10. Unless I can steal Eddie Van Halen's setup on VH1.

Had it only a few weeks, but seems to be well made. Time will tell.

Don't know.

This is a great pedal if you want to hear your guitar. It is very transparant and versatile. However, it is pricey. I would not pay the full retail of around $220 for this pedal. That is a little too expensive, but I bought it used and at the price I paid, I would buy it again. I also think many other boutique pedals are way over priced. Boss, Digitech, MXR, and Ibanez make some great distortion pedals at about 1/3 the cost of a lot of boutique pedals. The mainstream pedals get you 90% there while boutique pedals like Carl Martin get you 99%. If the extra cost is worth the exra 9%, then buy this pedal.