Fargen's British amps....a bit confusing

[bonchie123]

They have the Mini-Plex, Mighty-Plex, and the Old 800.

All 3 share the same "decade" switch that is said to do the same thing, that being switch between a JTM/Plexi/JCM800 circuit.

So besides the wattage differences (and power scaling on the plex amps) do they sound drastically different and do they share the same gain levels to some extent?

 

[RoguePlayer]

I own a Dual British Classic head that runs EL34's with the decade switch at around 50 watts and I've played a Miniplex. I can say that both of these share similar qualities as far as the gain stage is concerned. Of course the headroom is different, but overall the character is alike. I changed my pre's from JJ's to NOS JAN Phillips and my tone is rich and chewy if that makes any sense. I'm in love all over again.

 

[bonchie123]

That's cool. The Mini-Plex intrigues me being such low wattage plus power scaling for home use.

The main thing I was wondering was in what ways to the Mightly Plex (30 watt) and Olde 800 (25 and 50 watt) really even differ since it appears they are of the same circuit? Perhaps the Old 800 is gainier?

 

[RoguePlayer]

Well, my amp has one channel that is an Olde 800. It originally had the 25 watt transformer. I just had Ben upgrade it to a 50 watt one. To me, the overall tone has just opened up with the larger transformer. The 25 watt one just didn't have the headroom I need. It had great tone, but as I turned up, it seemed to choke on itself. To be fair, it was only 25 watts and I was trying to do outdoor shows with it. I guess some people prefer to take a low wattage amp and crank it, but I guess I don't. I think if you intend to use it mainly at home or small shows, the Mini should do great. I really don't think that one amp is gainier than the other. You should ask Ben about it. He's pretty easy to work with. Good luck.