Cornell Plexi Seven

This is a brand new 2008 single channel 7 watt valve (tube) amp. This amp is built to do one thing, provide overdriven Marshall Plexi type sounds at practice volume levels, but do that brilliantly. It is not a versatile amp in terms of range of tones but it does have three output levels, 7 watt, 2 watt and 1/4 watt, and the "tone" and "edge" controls provide access to a wide variety of smooth, valve overdriven classic rock sounds. For that reason, and noting its deliberate limitation, an 8 seems fair - it's versatile for what it is.

I've used this amp with a Charvel EVH Art Series and a P90 equipped Gibson Les Paul Special. The tones are out of this world with both guitars at civilised home volume levels thanks to the low wattage. Tones from Robin Trower, to early Eddie Van Halen via Jeff Beck, Cream era Clapton and Jimmy Page are available.

The amp is very quiet, even with the single coil guitar.

The tone is smooth power-amp tube overdrive rather than the fizzy pre-amp overdrive that you'd get on a more powerful amp with the master volume backed off. If late 60s through to late 70s rock tones are your cup of tea, this amp delivers like no other at these volume levels. The best sounding amp I've ever used.

Having taken the back off the amp I can attest that the point to point soldering is first rate and the amp's construction is solid as a rock. The only concern would be valve (tube) reliability but that's the case with any valve amp.

I e-mailed Denis Cornell when I wanted to run one of the output settings at a lower volume level to ask his opinion on attenuators. He replied, inviting me to take the amp down to his workshop so he could have a go at tweaking this within the amp circuit itself. Having had the work done (Denis worked a Saturday morning so I could make the journey) the amp sounds just I'd like on every setting. The man is legend; the customer service is beyond excellent. 10 doesn't really seem to do him justice.

I've been playing guitars for twenty years and this is the best amp I've ever played through let alone been lucky enough to own. Within the limitations of the Plexi circuit design (it's not built to do clean tones especially well) are a host of classic rock tones that I've never been able to capture as well with any previous amp I've owned. In creating these kinds of tones at comparatively low volume levels, this amp seems to be the leader in its class, and it's hand-built by a complete gentleman to boot. Cannot recommend it highly enough.