The Plexi SE
PCB
The Plexi SE PCB (SE stands
for Single Ended) is a circuit board for
use in a low wattage tube guitar
amplifier. It runs a 6V6 power tube in single
ended configuration so the output power is rated
for around 5 watts. The pre-amp is driven by
two 12AX7 tubes, which can be configured to
clone the pre-amp of two historically
significant Marshall amplifier circuits.
Depending on how you configure the amp, the
Plexi SE PCB can have a:
A Plexi (aka 1959 Super Lead)
preamp, or a
The Plexi configuration has two
channels, bright and normal, one input, and a full
tone stack (treble, middle, bass). Since it only has one input
jack, the Plexi SE PCB ties the Normal and
Bright channels together similar to jumpering the
inputs. The Volume I (Bright) and Volume II
(Normal) channels both serve along with the tone
stack to dial in a WIDE range of
tones.
The bright and normal channels
allow the use of various guitar styles. Of
course humbuckers work well, but the Plexi
accomodates single coil pickups, too. Just
add some of the normal channel to fatten up the
tone and increase the bass response.
A High Gain Cascaded
(aka JCM800) preamp.
The Cascade configuration is
essentially a one trick pony - rock and
metal. It has one channel that feeds into
three gain stages. The circuit is equipped
with a Gain control (Volume I), a full tone stack
(Treble, Middle, Bass) and a Master Volume (Volume
II). The master volume allows you to dial up
the distortion with the preamp gain while keeping
your playing volume at reasonable levels.
What All Do I
Need?
Sorry but we do not sell the
complete kit. We focus our efforts on the
design, development, and production of quality
circuit boards for use in guitar amplifiers. So
all we sell is the circuit board.
But a circuit board does nothing on
its own, right? That's why we've published all
of the supporting documentation to guide you through
the entire process; from an itemized parts list to an
illustrated build manual.
Refer to the Build
Information page for all of the tecnical
stuff.
Quality
The quality of these boards is
superb. With the construction features listed
below, this board will take plenty of abuse and is
sure to stand the test of time.
- 1/8" thick board material
instead of the usual 1/16",
- double sided copper
layers,
- 2 oz. copper layers,
- full board ground
plane,
- plated through holes,
- ventilated socket mounts,
and
- detailed artwork indicating
component number and value.
The boards have a blue solder mask
with white silkscreen layer for the component
labeling and artwork.
Refer to the Plexi SE PCB page
menu for all of the supporting
documentation.
Purchase
Goto the Purchase page.