vino_buono
Roadie
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I recently got me a Kourbis Plexivibe tube-based pedal in my pursuit of a great Marshall Plexi tone. I have first used a Helix modeler, then coupled it with external Marshall preamps -- including a Tsakalis Room #40 and now the Kourbis Plexivibe. I liked the Room #40 a lot, and am liking the Plexivibe even more, so I thought I'd write a review based on usage at rehearsal with my cover band.
One thing regarding preamp pedals... you evaluate the *whole* signal chain and not just the pedal (but isn't this always the case?). I have used the Plexivibe on my pedalboard as follows: guitar --> Clyde wah --> tuner --> Source Audio Zio (mostly in "studio" i.e. Pultec mode) --> HX Stomp, with the Plexivibe in the Stomp effects loop. Stomp output into a high quality "FRFR" speaker (or headphones at home). My main preset on the HX Stomp is as follows: gentle low cut, FX loop with the Plexivibe, JTM45 amp model, Greenback 25 York Audio KW IR. The JTM 45 is set to a clean tone and I had to tweak its eq to make it as flat as possible so that it doesn't color the Plexivibe too much; generally (for many amps really, in my experience) this requires putting bass close to 0, mids close to 10 and treble/presence to taste. For leads, an Analogman Prince of Tone model before the amp and a delay after the IR. I used a PRS custom 24 with 57/08 (PAF style) pickups, and at home I played through headphones using also my other guitars (the usual variety). Plexivibe has all switches off, except for the trim switch (I always like to tighten up the low end). When I get around to it, I will also try the Plexivibe into the return of my Mesa Mark V 25; but I haven't had time yet.
The Plexivibe looks, sounds and feels great, there's no other way to put it. See the pedal on my board in the pics below.
Looks: a high quality and very nicely painted metal chassis. It weighs a lot -- almost 2 kg. It needs to be powered from a wall wart.
Sound: It does have a "vintage"-style Marshall sound. This is exactly what I was looking for; I had also considered a Friedman IR-X, but I am not always in love with the more modern Friedman sound. The 3-way switch is very useful and gives access to different gain levels; I mostly live on the lower gain setting, which goes from clean up to AC/DC gain; the other positions enable higher gain levels up to modded Plexi, so the pedal does cover a lot of ground.
How good of a Plexi sound is this? Let me preface this by saying that I have never played a real plexi in the room; but I have listened to more recorded plexi tones than I can count, and I have some experience with Marshall-in-a-box pedals. That said, to my ear the Plexivibe is as good as or better than any other Plexi pedal or model I have tried. It does a great job at getting tight but punchy low end, crunchy mids and syrupy high end. The high end is particularly good -- it kerrangs without harshness. Honestly I do not know if it is *just* the Plexivibe, or the combination of the Plexivibe and the JTM45 amp, but my band members and I have been amazed at how good the combination sounds (I am always fussy about my tone, my band members a lot less so). I tend to attribute this mostly to the Plexivibe; after all I have tried the same setup with other Marshall in a box pedals and never achieved the same great tone. At the very least, it means it is easy to make it sound great.
The pedal eq controls are rather interactive. I tried different combinations and I ended up with bass, mids and treble all at 10; this is something I usually do not do with other Marshall pedals or models, but it worked well here. It's a trick from the "old days", and I imagine the eq circuit must be old-style.
The trim and mid boost are relatively subtle, which is fine. I do use the trim; the mid boost sounds good, but I generally leave it off (it might be useful depending on the guitar or amp used, though). I was a bit surprised that the "fat" and "bright" switches not only change the eq, but also the gain structure (this also depends on the setting of the gain and level knobs). This is ok, once I got used to it. The "comp" switch also works well, though it's not my thing.
Although I do not have extensive experience with tube pedals (I mainly use a modeler), the Plexivibe into the Stomp feels really good under the fingers. The Plexivibe delivers tube compression and sustain, as one would expect. String separation and dynamics are also great. Rolling down the guitar volume cleans up the tone beautifully. The plexi model in the helix also clean up, but it is a bit more noticeable here. It would probably feel even better into an analog power amp and cab.
The other knobs are master, volume and gain. I think "master" should really be called "level", because it only adjusts the output level. And the "volume" should be called "master" because it has (to some extent) the effect of a master volume; it seems to me that "volume" adds both gain and compression, and it does interacts with the "gain" control. It is not hard to find the specific tone and feel you are looking for.
The pedal is extremely silent. I was worried that analog components could generate more noise than my fully digital setup, but this was actually the opposite. The first time I kicked in my lead snapshot, it was more silent than the lead snapshot of my fully digital preset, and I had to double check that the pedal was set up correctly. We'll see how this translates to a real gig with real-world low-quality power distribution :-)
Anything negative with the pedal? As I mentioned, I'd like master to be called level. Moreover, I'd like the switches on the side of the pedal to have the printed name of their function ("TRIM", "FAT", and so on), whereas it's only described in the manual. It's a bit inconvenient, but I usually do not touch them, so not a big deal.
So, all in all I am extremely pleased with the purchase and I am looking forward to gig with the Plexivibe... which will happen during the next weekend
One thing regarding preamp pedals... you evaluate the *whole* signal chain and not just the pedal (but isn't this always the case?). I have used the Plexivibe on my pedalboard as follows: guitar --> Clyde wah --> tuner --> Source Audio Zio (mostly in "studio" i.e. Pultec mode) --> HX Stomp, with the Plexivibe in the Stomp effects loop. Stomp output into a high quality "FRFR" speaker (or headphones at home). My main preset on the HX Stomp is as follows: gentle low cut, FX loop with the Plexivibe, JTM45 amp model, Greenback 25 York Audio KW IR. The JTM 45 is set to a clean tone and I had to tweak its eq to make it as flat as possible so that it doesn't color the Plexivibe too much; generally (for many amps really, in my experience) this requires putting bass close to 0, mids close to 10 and treble/presence to taste. For leads, an Analogman Prince of Tone model before the amp and a delay after the IR. I used a PRS custom 24 with 57/08 (PAF style) pickups, and at home I played through headphones using also my other guitars (the usual variety). Plexivibe has all switches off, except for the trim switch (I always like to tighten up the low end). When I get around to it, I will also try the Plexivibe into the return of my Mesa Mark V 25; but I haven't had time yet.
The Plexivibe looks, sounds and feels great, there's no other way to put it. See the pedal on my board in the pics below.
Looks: a high quality and very nicely painted metal chassis. It weighs a lot -- almost 2 kg. It needs to be powered from a wall wart.
Sound: It does have a "vintage"-style Marshall sound. This is exactly what I was looking for; I had also considered a Friedman IR-X, but I am not always in love with the more modern Friedman sound. The 3-way switch is very useful and gives access to different gain levels; I mostly live on the lower gain setting, which goes from clean up to AC/DC gain; the other positions enable higher gain levels up to modded Plexi, so the pedal does cover a lot of ground.
How good of a Plexi sound is this? Let me preface this by saying that I have never played a real plexi in the room; but I have listened to more recorded plexi tones than I can count, and I have some experience with Marshall-in-a-box pedals. That said, to my ear the Plexivibe is as good as or better than any other Plexi pedal or model I have tried. It does a great job at getting tight but punchy low end, crunchy mids and syrupy high end. The high end is particularly good -- it kerrangs without harshness. Honestly I do not know if it is *just* the Plexivibe, or the combination of the Plexivibe and the JTM45 amp, but my band members and I have been amazed at how good the combination sounds (I am always fussy about my tone, my band members a lot less so). I tend to attribute this mostly to the Plexivibe; after all I have tried the same setup with other Marshall in a box pedals and never achieved the same great tone. At the very least, it means it is easy to make it sound great.
The pedal eq controls are rather interactive. I tried different combinations and I ended up with bass, mids and treble all at 10; this is something I usually do not do with other Marshall pedals or models, but it worked well here. It's a trick from the "old days", and I imagine the eq circuit must be old-style.
The trim and mid boost are relatively subtle, which is fine. I do use the trim; the mid boost sounds good, but I generally leave it off (it might be useful depending on the guitar or amp used, though). I was a bit surprised that the "fat" and "bright" switches not only change the eq, but also the gain structure (this also depends on the setting of the gain and level knobs). This is ok, once I got used to it. The "comp" switch also works well, though it's not my thing.
Although I do not have extensive experience with tube pedals (I mainly use a modeler), the Plexivibe into the Stomp feels really good under the fingers. The Plexivibe delivers tube compression and sustain, as one would expect. String separation and dynamics are also great. Rolling down the guitar volume cleans up the tone beautifully. The plexi model in the helix also clean up, but it is a bit more noticeable here. It would probably feel even better into an analog power amp and cab.
The other knobs are master, volume and gain. I think "master" should really be called "level", because it only adjusts the output level. And the "volume" should be called "master" because it has (to some extent) the effect of a master volume; it seems to me that "volume" adds both gain and compression, and it does interacts with the "gain" control. It is not hard to find the specific tone and feel you are looking for.
The pedal is extremely silent. I was worried that analog components could generate more noise than my fully digital setup, but this was actually the opposite. The first time I kicked in my lead snapshot, it was more silent than the lead snapshot of my fully digital preset, and I had to double check that the pedal was set up correctly. We'll see how this translates to a real gig with real-world low-quality power distribution :-)
Anything negative with the pedal? As I mentioned, I'd like master to be called level. Moreover, I'd like the switches on the side of the pedal to have the printed name of their function ("TRIM", "FAT", and so on), whereas it's only described in the manual. It's a bit inconvenient, but I usually do not touch them, so not a big deal.
So, all in all I am extremely pleased with the purchase and I am looking forward to gig with the Plexivibe... which will happen during the next weekend
