Carl Martin Plexitone

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.