Product: TopHat T-50 Plexi Head
Price Paid: US $875 used
Submitted
10/26/1997
at
08:15pm
by
Glenn Gerhardt (no relation to Brian)
Features
:
9
This a 2 channel amp head made to be much like an old Marshall plexi and a Fender Bassman. A "normal" channel is for the Bassman sounds and the "bright" channel for the plexi sounds. Knobs on the front pannel are bright volume, normal volume, treble, middle, bass, and presence. On the back is a master volume, a 3 way switch for treble- boost/normal/mid-boost. The master volume on the back can be a pain to get to. I realize it's on the back for the front panel to look more like an authentic old amp, but it's pretty impractical having to reach back there with an axe hanging around your neck.
Sound Quality
:
10
The sounds quality of this is great! It has a nice old blues/R&B sound to it without the hiss and hum of an old original plexi. I typically use a Y-cord to plug into both channels to give a great blend of the smooth bassman sustain with the crispness of the plexi channel. I get a great rythmn tone by setting the volumes at about 6 for the normal channel and 4 to 5 for the bright channel. Then I drive it with a tube driver for leads. For a guitar I'm using an old strat or a 335. By setting the volumes way up to 9 or 10, you can acheive a killer old plexi crunch. Just the normal channel alone up to 10 will give a sweet Clapton Bluesbreakers tone. I've used this to drive an old Marshall 4x12 and a Tophat 2x12 closed back cab. Both cabs sound great with this amp.
Reliability
:
10
No problems with it so far.
Customer Support
:
10
I've spoken to Brian Gerhard directly about it, and he's a great guy. Always willing to help out with tweaking things as to how I'd like them.
Overall Rating
:
10
I would buy it again, but I'm not sure if they are currently still making this model. They seem to have headed off to the Vox-like world of amps and left the marshall-like stuff alone.
