1987X 50-watt Plexi Tube Head with FX Loop Review

Read below

It's time to write my story here. Just in case it might help someone, someday. I purchased this amp from Sweetwater in 2012. It was screaming loud, hissed like a snake, didn't sound good, and my guitar playing wasn't very good. So the amp became eye candy collecting dust waiting for me to learn some more. Fast forward to 2020 and I plugged my Marshall into the Boss Waza tube… read more amp expander to tame the beast known as 1987x. I fried the amp. Literally, snap crackle pop fried. My plan for the Waza to rebirth my Marshall killed it instead. Or did it...... Meanwhile, my electronic skills had increased over the last 10 years of tinkering with guitars and amps. I opened up the 1987x to observe. Death was due to an absolute rats nest of a wiring job. Literally, this amp was probably wired by someone drinking on the job on a Friday afternoon with a hot date to get to. There was major arcing and carbon traces across one of the EL34 tube sockets and the power ran up and fried the hum balance resistors, like burned them black. Originally I was concerned the tube amp expander was at fault, but there was a free wire on the amp power tube socket just millimeters away from its neighbor pin. A setup for high voltage arcing. Since I had never cranked the amp, the amp survived until it saw the Boss amp attenuator. Moving on, I decided to repair my amp. Not recommended to the inexperienced here. Keeping it simple, I replaced and rewired the power tube sockets, rewired the preamp sockets, coiled all the necessary wires in the amp for decreased noise, repaired the hum balance circuit and then moved around the preamp wires on the live amp until the lowest noise was achieved, which was basically wonderful silence of the resting amplifier. Ending result, the Marshall plexi amplifier that history has raved about. Absolutely awesome touch sensitive EL34's with everything from wonderful cleans to Marshall crunch and screaming sustain. It really is, now, something special. Worthy of the moniker, 1959SLP little brother. And I can't imaging if this thing was 100 watts. At 50 watts, turned up, you will love it, you will go deaf. I play it at moderate volume without the Boss tae/attenuator and it still sounds great. If I want to turn it up, like past 2-3, it goes on the attenuator. I will add here, it sounds great on the Boss tube amp expander. I love that thing. The Boss waza is like a re-amplification of the signal from the amp, essentially adding something better than a master volume control. Kind of like turning up a stereo volume control. Sounds good quiet, sounds better loud. The Boss still has to get to a certain volume to sound good, but it's no where near where the 1987x would be. Certainly, there are sounds and characteristics that only come about at severely high volumes straight from an amplifier. I get that. It's just that, to enjoy certain amplifiers during long practice settings, I can't do that with max volume without an attenuator. I recommend the Boss waza tae. My recommendation for the Marshall 1987x comes with the above note. I don't know what the build quality of a Marshall is today. I do know that if something doesn't seem right with your 1987x, if you drop some cash and have a tech rewire it for you, it will be a silent beast of plexi all night long.

---

Cancel Comment

Different approach

So I got my plexi and decided to be different. What I do is turn the channel volumes as low as I can without losing sound. Now I know some of you will say thats sac -religious. But if you dime out the presence you get a very loud very clean tone that works great with pedals. When I need overdrive I kick in my joyo plexie pedal stacked with my Blues driver and instant marshall overdrive.… read more Also I use a 5 band eq to shape the tone. If I need more overdrive I kick in my friedman dirty shirley pedal. With the pup configuratuon I have in my Les Paul I can go from a Kossof (Free) sound to those low down dirty ZZ tones of yesterday. Yep its a great little amp. ( and yes my Les Paul is far from stock.) Any check these puppys out and see what new adventure awaits you.

---

Cancel Comment

Fantastic amp. Got it modded, instant VH1 Tone

I ordered this with the soul purpose of getting the VH1 tone. you won't get it stock, I sent mine to David Bray, he works on these regularly, got it sent back to me, instant VH1 tone, sounds amazing. Without the mod I'd imagine pushing the volume you will get the more classic crunch-ac/dc type tone but not as hot as evh. I feel like this amp is more expensive than the price advertised… read more because unless you're playing at a large venue, you're going to need to spend $$ on gear to keep it quiet. It doesn't get crunchy until you really crank the volume and it will blow your house/apartment away. I use a Waza tube expander and it works like a charm. However if you're like me and want to get it modded to get the VH1 brown sound, Dave adds an attenuator knob to the back so you can crank it in the bedroom. Expensive amp, but did what I wanted perfectly. Thanks a ton Marshall!

---

Cancel Comment

Caged Tiger

I say "Caged Tiger" because any caged, wild animal wants to be get out.... and this is a Beast that wants to run free. Not for the faint of heart when it comes to volume levels. As any Marshall Plexi, it does it's best work at 10. Unless you're single and live on a thousand acre farm, you will need an attenuator. I'm using a Rivera RockCrusher attenuator to make the volume levels… read more "room friendly", and it works great. After careful inspection, inside and out, it appears to be a faithful reproduction that is true to the original. Very percussive sound, and responsive to pick attack. Very pleased.

---

Cancel Comment

THE Rock N Roll amp

This amp is everything I"ve been looking for and more. The 1987X can go from delicate cleans to growling riffs with just the turn of the volume knob. This amp is so sensitive to your playing and touch that it actually makes you a more aware player. Everything that you express through your playing comes out through this bad boy. If you"re into AC/DC, Guns, Aerosmith, etc, this is… read more the amp for you.

---

Cancel Comment