CeriaTone 50 Watt Plexi 1986 Bass Head

This is Nik`s version of a 1986 Bass Plexi, It has 2 chanels and 4 inputs. the usuall plexi controls.
I had a Master Volume installed on this amp also

This is where the amp shines!!!
It doesnt have as much top end as a regular eeissue plexi and it`s a much warmer sounding amp. It has a ton of low end on tap and i find myself running the bass at around 2.
It cleans up superbly with a roll of the volume on the guitar and what a clean sound it is.
I bought this amp to nail the AC-DC crunch tho and this is where it sounds it`s best IMO. With the bright chanel volume around 6-7 it just nails the back in Black album tones like no other. You can jumper the chanels and run both volumes on 10 and still it sounds clear and defined, it gets into van halen territory here.
This is by far and away the best sounding plexi style amp i`ve owned or even played and i`ve played a few.

I cant say as i`ve only had this amp for about a month.
but going on the build quality alone i`d seriously doubt that i`d ever have an issue.
I feel sure Nik being the guy he is would help out if anything went wrong.

This has been one of the most pleasent experiences dealing with Nik Azam.
I am in no way affiliated with ceriatone at all but Nik was happy to respond to emails allmost immediately and no question went unanswered.
I`m about to order a Trainwreck Express clone from Nik, i`m that happy with this amp amd his customer service.

I can honestly say that i`d replace this amp immediately with another 1986 from ceriatone if this amp was stolen.
I`ve owned many plexi style amps in the past and the RI marshalls too. This amp is everything i wished those other amps were and then some.
It doesnt do the high gain thing but if your after a great organic sounding amp that cleans up with a roll of the volume on your guitar then look no further.
The fact that Ceriatone amps are great value for money is just an added bonus as they stand up to amps worth 3 times the price.

The amp is brand new, Nik knocked it out in around 3 weeks from order.
This model is based upon the Marshall 1986 head, the bass version of the 1987 Lead model, (not the Marshall Super Bass model which is a 100 watt amp). As such it has the same controls as these legendary non master volume marshall amps.
This amp does not feature any channel switching, Effects loops, Headphone jacks etc, I guess if you wanted them Nik could add some of them, this amp is about TONE and it has got bags of it believe me.
This amp is rated at 50 watts and is mighty loud, for my requirements I have to use it with an Ultimate Attenuator made by Mark Gregg which is a fantastic piece of equipment. This amp is powered by 2 matched JJ EL34L power tubes which Nik provided me, I used my own pre amp tubes, 3 Mullard 12AX7's. When I ordered this amp I was not after features just an affordable option to have one of the best kept secrets in guitar amps.

I'm using the amp with a Quilted Top Tokai Love Rock guitar set-up with humbuckers. I slung the originals and bought an Alnico II Gibson 57+ and I also have a pickup from Aero Instruments Level 2 humbucker in the neck position.
The style I like is mainly old school rock. Allman Brothers, ZZ top Lynard Skynard, Stones, Cream etc.
This amp is really quiet, no ossicillation problems.
As the amp is the bass version the amp has a much thicker sound than the lead version. The pre amp section utilises the earlier marshall shared cathode circuitry as opposed to the later split cathode version on the plexi lead amps, I use the top normal channel input and bridge from bottom normal input to top Bright channel input. I set the volume to 8 on the normal channel and anywhere from 2 to 4 on the bright channel. I have treble and middle almost maxed out and bass needs are about 4. Presence I keep down to mid.
The amp's distortion is fantastic, at these settings I just use the volume on the guitar to clean things up. The amp tones can be varied on both neck and bridge by use of the volume/tone guitar controls.
This amp has it all, beautiful sweet distortion to distortion with an edge, there is however no harshness in the sound it's just so musical, now I know why Duane Allman favoured this particular model.
Think Duane's solo on Mountain Jam 'Will the circle will be unbroken'or 'Blue Sky' this amp can deliver those tones. I think NIK was very surprised at the tone of this model, the requests he receives are always for the Lead versions, 1959 100 watt or the 1987 50 watt plexi's. I read somewhere that Paul Kossoff of Free used this model Bass amp as well, another tone king!

This amp is new and is hand wired, built with a lot of care and attention, it's a replica of the circa 1968/70 solid state rectifier EL34 amp. It just sounds better with each play, the workmanship looks first class. I'm sure there will be no problems, BTW if you need to contact Nik he responds so fast to any queries you have.

I blew the O/T on my other amp and Nik sent me a replacment out straight away, great service.
Nik is a great guy, I'm confident he would support anyone who's amp develops a problem, his amps are real quality and will last a very long time. Nik is based out in Malaysia, to be honest I never enquired about any guarantee I'm sure he'd provide it though. His location is the only slight drawback I can think of, best talk over your expectations with him direct.
I told him what I was after and he's delivered it at a price I think is very competitive, try a quote from a boutique maker for an amp of similar standard in the States or here in the UK and your talking over $1500 or #1000+.

This is a great product, I wanted a sound near to Duane Allmans live tone Fillmore East style. If you appreciate a tone like that then I'm sure this amp would fit the bill, this is not a production model it was a request that Nik was glad to do to order. I'm not a pro I've been playing for many years this amp IMHO is the best sounding amp I've ever owned.
I could never afford an original plexi 1986 bass model, they just go for silly money on the likes of Ebay this is the next best option for me.
If I lost it I'd buy one again, I also have a JTM45 off NIK that I set-up with vintage GEC KT66 it's a great amp but I do have to say this is my ultimate.