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.