Marshall 1987X "plexi" Reissue

Made in 2006. A loud 50 watts. 2 x EL34 valves in the power amp, 3 x ECC83 valves in the pre amp. 2 channels (1 normal, 1 high treble), no footswitching, 4 inputs, simplistic operation, simple as you can get apart from maybe the Epiphone Valve Junior head, Presence, Treble, Mid, Bass, then two loudness controls for the two channels. These reissues have an effects loop, though I have no need for it. No headphone jack, don't need that either, I have good neighbours and even if i didn't, **** em. If you are looking at this amp you know what you are getting, straight up tone, simple operation and sounds from spanky cleans to raunchy crunch. If by features you mean a surplus of knobs, switches, effects loops and built in effects then this head doesn't rate, but less is more for me, and the ability to patch the channels together and blend them for tonal control is all the features I need for the music I play. For those who like to keep it low in their bedrooms I can see that a master volume would come in handy and some may like to take up the option of a Power Brake or Hot plate.

I use either a Gibson Explorer or Firebird running into a TS808 Tubescreamer placed smack bang in front of this thing. Got the head going through a 1960AX 100 watt cab loaded with Celestion Greenbacks. The overall sound and tone of this head running through the cab and pedal is exactly the sound I was looking for. The band I play in probably sounds like a glass of The Vines, two pieces of Foo Fighters and a big bowl of feedback. I like the old school rock sound, The Angels, ACDC yada yada. This provided that tone. Crank it to 5 and it breaks up nicely, especially with this cab, not so much with a stock 1960A. Distortion is not there with this amp, it is all overdrive. If you need or want high gain then get a Boogie, Peavey or a TSL. But if you want tone and extreme clarity from your notes and rich harmonic feedback when you're standing in front of this thing at it's lowest volume, then this is the amp for you. We play small to medium size venues and this has more than enough bark. 100 watts is too much and all techs will have you turn it down to the point where you might as well be using a ****ing Peavey Rage. As previous reviews have said, it is a one trick pony with a few variations, but I'm yet to hear another amp do the same trick as well.

Who gigs with a back up? Imagine lugging two of these things around, you'd either need a good roadie or a permanent myotherapist. I never gig with a back up, if our amps blow up we just finish early and get pissed. Does seem nicely built though, pretty tough I'm tippin. Still, that doesn't give you a license to ****in spill **** all over it, take care of it or it will take care of your wallet.

Never dealt with em. Figure they've got enough whinging bastards withouth me getting on their goat. They're probably alright, few of em might be down on their luck but nothing too major.

I've been playing 10 years, I own alot of amps, 8 in all. From my first little practice amp (Peavey) through to a Mesa Roadking. I play Gibsons, got a few, but i like my Explorer the best. I've compared it to alot of amps, Fender DeVille, VOX AC30, my brothers old skool Vardis, and this takes the cake, just. The Vardis sounds pretty rad. I love it's simplicity, it's tone and obviously it looks killer, with the cab (tolex covering) especially. This amp does what I want, but spend some time with it, really work the knobs and patch the channels, blend em and **** with the presence, get your sound and you won't be dissapointed. Vote Quimby.

Depends on what your idea of features relates to. If its knobs and buttons and all the in betweens - It wouldn't score highly as it only has the bare essentials but...Judging it on the variety of sounds this baby can achieve...It's up there. The ability to jumper 2 channels and balance accordingly makes it really diverse

Effects loop - can't complain

I use a Les Paul through this amp and connected to a Marshall TV cab - unbelievable!!!! These vintage re-issue amps are renowned for there clean/crunch sound and rightly so. But don't be fooled into thinking thats all it can pull off. Turning this amp anywhere between 6/7 onwards is an experience I would recommend - it's got some real crunch to it and breaks up nicley, perfectly in fact.

Unless you play huge venues - forget the 100w 1959slp. You'll never get a chance to crank it up like it ought to be. This 50w version is ideal and LOUD as it is - besides, when amps are mic'd up at gigs most of the time anyway, it is beyond me why anyone wants 100w

Although there are only a few pots on the amp - each one effects the other in unique ways and can create all sorts of lovely tone. You won't get the pure filth distortion you'd find on the crappy valvestate amps but if your looking at these plexi amps you know what you want. You can always stick a pedal on if you want that anyway

Great for hendrix sounds - lets face it - everyone wants this

Natural compression is spot on....eveything is spot on....buy one and get a tv cab.

Not had enough use out of it yet.....

Marshall have extended their warranty from 1 to 3 years so you can't argue. Given the fact that Marshall are so big, you can always get replacement parts so there's no messing about. Some people moan about marshall support - I see no reason why....

I'll always use this amp and there's no going back. I hate 90% of marshalls but adore this one. Lots of people mod these amps so go ahead but I personally wouln't change a thing.

I tried the JTM-45 as well in the shop and it was awsome too - just didn't have as much BITE as this beast

This amp is PERFECT and sounds great through the marshall TV. JUST BUY ONE

Made in 2006. Tailored for early 1970's British rock tones. No bells or whistles. Does have an effects loop though. I wonder why? Luckily bypassable. Has all necessary features to achieve a great rock tone. 50 watts of Marshall is much too powerful for home practice. You'll need some kind of attenuator to obtain the right crunch at a bearable sound level.

You'll need to get rid of the silly bright cap they still put on there. It makes the amp distort very early (like at 2 on the volume knob) and gives an overly bright and brittle tone. They now put this capacitor on the board at C5. Snip it off and the tone will improve 100%.(IMPORTANT: Make sure you know what you're doing when you open up that chassis, it contains LETHAL VOLTAGES!!! If you're not sure, have it done by a qualified tech!) You'll have nice cleans and warmer distortion. IMO, this amp is made to be played with humbucker equipped guitars (such as Les Pauls, SGs), although strats can sound great with it too. I play it through a greenback loaded 4 x 12" 1960TV cab which is the right match for this type of amp. Since I value my hearing and got more than my share of decibels in the past, I use a THD Hotplate to keep the sound level at an acceptable level while enjoying the great distortion that we rockers love.;-)

I baby all my gear, always have, always will. So I never had any failure. But I guess I'm not truly representative of the typical on the road hard working rock n roller. I never had any reliability issues with any Marhshall amp that I owned in the past. My very first one was a 1969 100w Superbass. It unfortunately was stolen. I wish I still had that one.

Never needed service.

I've been playing for 35 years. I've owned or played almost everything available out there at some point or other. I just keep a 1997 Celestion Blue equipped Vox AC-15 which I truly love, a Gibson GA-15RV, a Gibson GA-5 Les Paul Jr. and a MetroAmp JTM45 clone which I assembled myself. The MetroAmp JTM45 blows the Marshall clean out of the ballpark in all respects. Quality of the components, quality of assembly (;-)), sound quality are truly miles above anything Marshall makes nowadays. If you want that classic Marshall sound that you've heard all your life on records and on the radio, do yourself a favor and check out www.metroamp.com.

I have a 2005 model 50w with the basic tone features - treble, mid, bass and presence. Two channels high treble and normal. There's an effects loop which I don't use. This amp leans more towards the 70's era Marshalls. Limited features but I'm after that classic/prog rock sound so don't expect for it to have 8 channels and 100 eq knobs

I've own this amp for a year now and its the only one I really love to play everyday. The sound is warm and not overly aggresive. The distortion has a singing quality to it. I like to set the volume past 5 to get the most tone out of this amp.

I've never had to mod it. Everything is stock. To my ears it's perfect for the kind of music I play which are classic, prog, blues rock and electric blues.

I mostly play my Les Paul Standard through it and occasionally my strat. The Les Paul just sound, in my opinion, better and stronger and it's the time tested classic combo for rock. My rig is pretty simple - Dimebag wah and TS9 tubescreamer but it's also lovely plugged straight in. The cab I use is the 1960a marshall 4x12 with celestion g12 75w stock speakers.

When I first bought this amp a year ago I played it for 3 weeks and it went south on me...I was pissed but I had my dad who's experienced with amps and electronics fix it and rebiased. So I won't slam Marshall for my amp because it's not an issue that occurs that often (been reading forums about my problem). I just happen to get the one with a loose connection. But since then (about 8 months after the fix) it has not failed me, even after 4 hours a day jammin.

I would have sent my amp in for the warranty repair but didn't feel like sending it or driving all the way out to long island which is 2 hours away to get it fixed. Just let my pops handle it which took only an hour or less to fix. I haven't had to deal with Marshall yet so I really have no opinion on their customer support

I've been playing for 4 years and since then I've own mostly Fender amps and other Marshall models. So far I'm very satisfied with this amp. It just gives me what I need and more. I just love the simplicity of plugging straight in and getting that classic rock marshall sound. I don't need anything else. For some time now I've been chasing "that sound" kind of like a Paul Kossoff, Eric Clapton, bluesbreaker sound and I must say I'm pretty much there. My hats off to Marshall.

Its got what you need.

They nailed it. (but you have to spend some time with it)...clip the brights, and patch the channels manually( 6 inch patch cable from channel 1 "bottom input" to channel 2 "top input". invest some time tweaking the knobs on the amp and any effects you run and you'll get the sound/tone you want. A speaker attenuator is a must. I originally tried the Hotplate, and it worked well. However, the Power Brake is the sh**. Plexis are very unforgiving amps. They pick up everything***especially mistakes**
I bought a 1996 1987xl from a guitarist that hated it. Instead of experimenting with it himself he just tried suggestions from other players.. used it for 1 or 2 gigs, sounded horrific and gave up. After a gig I offered him 750 for it. He said I was nuts for wanting it, even more so for buying it without playing it..that was about 4 months ago.. He popped up at one of my gigs a few weeks ago.. He says I had to have had major mods done,. All I did was clip the brights, mix the channels and use the pb. He wants it back now..I think Im gonna keep this beast. Like it so much I just picked up another. I found a 2006(the number says it was made in november, so its brand new). found it on ebay from the second owner. 6 months old and Im the third owner. This one cost me 900 and is worth every penny of the 1800.00 they go for in stores,. The new one has an effects loop, I run a gt-8 through the loop and a PB before the cab, Its a reissue PLEXI.. and can hold its own against the original.

The bad reviews the RI plexi's get are few and far between. Theyve been selling the reissues at insane prices longer than they made the originals.

I live near the Marshall factory in Melville. Any time Ive gone there theyve been great

This is an amazing amp

It's got the power. No wimpy master volume. Want more? Turn it up! Want clean? Roll back that knob on your geetar! That's what they're there for...


Is it supposed to do something else besides give the magic rock sound? Have 8 footswitchable channels with flange and delay and built in hardrive with automatic porn downloader?

Roars like a Lion. Not fuzzy distortion just rich big delicious sound penetrating to the back of your brainstem.

It's strong. It's Heavy.

Marshall's dont break do they?

It's that sh!t.

Say you want a 50 watt plexi but you feel that a real plexi is ptp wired and say you want a post phase inverter master volume as standard and say you want a new one because the old ones are collectable/potentially unreliable you could go here:
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp/product/Akselrud+Amplification/50+watt+plexi/10/1

1995 re-issue 1987x 50w "plexi"
I have spoken with Marshall England regarding the amp circuit.
It has the "67-69" plexi face but its innards are the more favoured "72-73" metalface era, these have increased treble and more gain/crunch.

Its got everything you need for a good tone and nothing you dont.
I like the FX loop but dont think its a great design, I do like it being in series though.

Been playing this amp for 2 years now, the honeymoon is over but Im happily married now ;]

The amp is 100% tube, nice and simple as any guitar amp should be if you like big tone,
Definitely in the top ten amps of all time and for good reason.

It has a special soft, yet hard tone that just has something that puts a smile on your face. it takes pedals like no other, roars at any volume but especially up high.

Ive played alot of amps with the intention of buying whilst owning this one and have bought none of them, nothing compares to it at all.
Ive tried the Twin Reverb, "59" Bassman LTD, "57" Twin, Blues Jnr, all the Hot Rods, Most other Marshalls [although I like any Marshall before the JCM-800] Vibroverb, Supersonic, Vox AC-30 [came close to keeping that one] Roc Pro's, Stage series Fenders, Concerts, and so on,

As for people that bash this amp compared to original specimens I say nonsense, apart from using metal film resistors instead of carbon comp which go out of spec after years of service [not a desired effect at all] and re-issued transformers and some other current production parts, the amp is well built and does sound as good if not better than the amps of the day [I actually prefer the re-issue myself]
Marshall have always used off the shelf, cheap parts for their amplifiers, now these "cheap parts" have an apparent mojo with some amp snobs.

I wouldnt worry about installing MM tannys and point to point turret boards, that would be a total waste of money, but a boutique clone if thats your intention.

Marshall are now using Svetlana winged C tubes as standard, thats my tube of choice, always has been.

Ive had no problems with mine.

Electric Factory [Marshalls Australian distributor] are really bad for service.

Im a Marshall dealer and feel bad selling their products because I know how long it takes to get any spares for any Marshall product.

Its a big shame because I really like their products.

Been playing for about 20 years,
I love my strats and old Marshall amps, I play in a hard rock cover band and dont need any other amp, Its as versatile as they come and has the biggest tone.

I use a low SPL rated 4x12 cabinet so I can usually crank it at most gigs without using an attenuator or blowing patrons away.

I really love it, what more can I say?
Build quality is good, sounds great, easy to use, versatility in its 4 inputs, I always play it bridged.
Plus they look really really cool.
Pretty expensive though but its all good Jerry.

This is a 1987X model plexi reissue amplifier (head). nothing fancy at all which is good in many ways. Bass, mid, presence, volume, standby switch, no effects loop. I recently had mine repaired by my tech because it was blowing fuses every ten minutes. Luckily, it was just a shorted tube and therefore an easy fix, but when he was in the amp, my tech said that it has a circuit board. The big selling point on this amps is supposed to be POINT TO POINT "HAND" WIRED. He told me that it was built cheap and that anyone who buys this amp thinking he or she is getting an exact replica of an original plexi has another thing coming.

I usually run a Bunker Prostar (early seventies model) with a Bill Lawrence 500 xl keystone humbucker in the bridge and a seymour duncan (can't remember what kind) humbucker in the neck both with coil taps. The amp does ONE thing extremely well and that is rock and roll. It has that glassy kind of distortion that angus young is known for and you can really nail some of the harder zeppelin tunes etc. with it, but in terms of clean tone... give me a break. I don't understand why everyone is giving this amp such a great review for sound quality! If you crank it too far, it tends to get mushy and the headroom is limited at best. I have found that I mess with the knobs on this thing trying to get it to sound good more than I actually play it. I think another guy nailed this phenomena quite well when he said that the amp is inconsistent. I can't put my finger on it, but the amp doesn't ALWAYS sound good. When it sounds good though, it sounds great for that ONE kind of music.....

I run it on seven or ten for volume almost all the time. I've been doing that for a year and a half now with a marshall power break attenuator and it's only screwed up on me once... I'd say that's pretty good for any amplifier.

Never dealt with them

The bottom line is that this is a dependable ONE TRICK PONY at best. If you want to sound just like angus young and jimmy page, then this is the amp for you... but it's not that special of an amp because everybody wants or has that very sound. Very fun to play with and it's like a tank. Phony point to point wiring upsets me... it's an OKAY amp for the price if you buy it used for eight hundred and not new for double that.

Recent model (2005). Features...hmmmmmmm...well, not a lot of bells and whistles, but the simplicity was what I was after, and that's something I think just about all of the real classic amps share. Of course, these have the effects loop, but I leave that on "bypass" mode, so it's not really part of my review. I've heard so much about everybody having to "mod" these, and that the effects loop really trashed the tone...blah blah,etc., that I kind of expected something vaugely hideous. Which brings me to the next section...

When I first plugged this in to my Sonic 4X10" cab (Celestions), it had wayyy too much treble going on. I mean WAYY too much. I had some experience with a couple of older (mid 70's) 4-input Marshall heads that I used to have, and opened it up to look for the capacitor they used to solder across the volume pot. I had found before that by clipping that, it warmed the amp up considerably without losing anything in the tone section. Well, this was just a little different, but after going online and finding the right schematic, I figured out that they were still doing that, just that it's on the pc board now. I removed that 4u7 cap..problem solved. That's it. My only mod. Sounds great now..all the tone controls do what they're supposed to, Strat sounds like a Strat, ES-335 sounds like an Es-335, etc. I use minimal effects..a Boss OD-3 for overdrive, a digital delay, and a chorus once in a while. By the way, I do a house gig with a band that plays everything from funk to classic rock to country, and my simple rig covers it all. BIG TONE from this amp. It's why they're still around, and such an icon in the music industry. I use Strats, a Firebird, Les Paul, Lonnie Mack V, Jerry Jones..Marshalls in general really like humbuckers, but after ditching the bright cap, the single-coil stuff sounds good too. Quieter than my Dr.Z too.

I used my mid-70's head for 12 years without a glitch. Wish I hadn't gotten a case of the dumb-ass and traded it off, but...I digress. My point is, I've always had good luck with Marshall reliability. I've always just owned 50 watt heads (and one Bluesbreaker combo)though..your mileage may vary. This one gets used every week at the gig since I got it a few months ago, and sounds exactly and consistently the same every time. I've also been in road situations where the amps got moved around a lot..still didn't have any problems. I don't consider reliability to be an issue with these amps.

I've never had to deal with Marshall directly. These amps are kind of like Harleys though..parts are always available if you need them. Aside from a yearly power tube change and bias check, never really had to mess with it that much. I bought mine in used-but-clean condition, so I suppose no warranty applies.

I've been playing for almost 40 years (yikes!). My other amp is a Dr.Z MAZ 38. It sounds great too, just different. Guitars are a Historic Firebird III, ES-335, Eric Johnson Strat, Early-90's Custom Shop Strat, 2001 Relic Strat, Jerry Jones Neptune, Mid-90's L.P Standard, Lonnie Mack V, and a Gretsch Anniversary. This amp lets the individual character of these guitars come thru. The less crap you put between your guitar and these simpler classic type amps, the better they sound, I think. I have a few Boss pedals and a Budda Wah, and that's it (there's a space left over in my 6-space Boss board/case). I can get the classic Marshall thing without cranking it to 10 by the way. You gotta NOT let your effects overwhelm the amp. The inherent tone of a good Marshall 50W is the beautiful part. Listen to, say, David Grissom for a lesson in amp/guitar tone. Yes, I would definitely replace this with the same thing. It works and it's easy to use. If you need 128 presets, then run as fast as you can from this amp; you don't 'get' it.