Best pedal to push my 50w Plexi?

[SlyStrat]

I'd like a pedal that will sound the same as my Marshall NMV 50w amp cranked.
Something that will give me that tone at a lower volume.
A transparent OD?

[Bobby D]

my friend Wes who plays guitar with Porcupine Tree uses Marshalls, and he SWEARS by the Analogman King of Tone for boosting his already overdriven marshall.

[IronDoll]

Timmy
Transparent OD and great booster!

[LSGoCards7]

Originally Posted by SlyStrat

I'd like a pedal that will sound the same as my Marshall NMV 50w amp cranked.
Something that will give me that tone at a lower volume.
A transparent OD?

Well, you're not going to want to push the plexi with a boost at lower volumes. I think everyone who has replied missed that part. You will want something like a Catalinbread DLS or a Fulltone OCD. Those two are, with the gain maxed out, medium gain overdrives (think JCM 800) that are capable of doing a good lower gain Marshall tone. If you are looking to push your already cranked up Marshall I suggest either a Timmy or I use an OCD, but I also use it as an OD at lower volumes, otherwise I would've gotten a Timmy.

Another thing you could do is put a Lar/Mar PPIMV on your amp. If you built it this is a very easy mod that for the money, $5, is a great solution for getting cranked tones at low volumes.

[stevemcm]

I don't have a Plexi, but I've been led to believe my Clubman is in the ballpark tonewise. All of the following thoughts are based on the desire to find a setup where I had a good low- to mid-gain rock tone that I could clean up by rolling back on the guitar's volume or juice with the right pedal.

I thought the OCD was a nice pedal, but I never thought "this is it -- this is what I'm looking for." I tried a bunch of different pedals, and the OCD, the Braber Small Fry, and the Lovetone Brown Source were my favorites -- until I played through a Klon. With the Klon, I've got what I've been looking for.

Regarding different volume levels, I love the way the Klon sounds from my cranked Clubman, to my Lightning with the V at 1:00 and MV at noon and through an attentuator to get it down to living room jam levels, and everywhere in between.

I think the Klon is a direct competitor with the OCD in that each excels at that Plexi-level of gain and compression, meaning not overly compressed -- just a nice early 70's amp-like compression. To my ears, the Klon sounded more like a cranked amp, and particularly exceled for bridge pickups. For me, my biggest area of disappointment with OD pedals has come when playing the bass strings on my guitar. The Klon keeps things tight and punchy, like my cranked Clubman, so the whole guitar is usable on leads.

To get a fatter, higher gain, more compressed sound, I like the way the Klon sounds stacked into my Analogman OD9 + silver mod (which is supposed to retain more bass than your typical TS style pedal). I like this setup particularly for neck and middle pickups.

I've been on the waitlist for a KoT for a year now, so one more year to go. I'm hopeful it sounds better than my stacked Klon+OD9 setup. I plan to pick up a Tim someday as well, but I'm not in a hurry at the moment.