Softube / UAD
Marshall Plexi Classic Amplifier
Models a 1967 Marshall Plexi amplifier with patchable bright and dark input channels and a fixed SM57-recorded cabinet path, providing classic guitar drive without the full collection's multi-microphone mixer.
GUI Screenshot
From My Notebook
The page is ready. Listening notes, favorite settings, and experiments will live here.
The Overview
Marshall Plexi Classic retains the amplifier model used by the larger Plexi Super Lead product but simplifies the recording side to an SM57 microphone. The linked collection manual gives it a dedicated chapter; its controls should not be confused with the additional microphone choices and blending facilities of the full version.
The amplifier's two channels are central to its flexibility. Input I is bright and present, Input II is darker, and each has high- and low-gain jacks. Patching them together allows their Volume controls to act as both drive controls and a practical tonal blend. Bass, Middle, Treble, and Presence then shape the combined result.
The cabinet capture uses a 1960BHW 4×12 with Celestion G12H-30 speakers. A small channel strip provides final microphone level and pan, plus output EQ and volume. Start by choosing a jack and patch configuration, establish the channel balance, and use the strip for final placement and level rather than expecting it to reproduce the larger product's microphone-selection workflow.
Manual, Marshall Plexi Classic, pp. 17–20.
The Controls
Input patching
Click one of the four input jacks to place the guitar input there. Clicking that selected jack again cycles its available patch-cable arrangements. The top jacks are the higher-gain inputs; the bottom jacks are lower-gain. Input I is the brighter channel and Input II the darker one.
A useful starting patch is guitar into upper Input I, with lower Input I connected to upper Input II. This enables the two channel volumes to blend complementary voicings. Other patch arrangements change gain and tonality, so compare them before adding corrective EQ.
Amplifier panel
- Volume I controls the bright channel's contribution; Volume II controls the dark channel. With channels patched, their relative settings materially change the sound. They are not a left/right pan pair.
- Bass / Middle / Treble are the amplifier's tone controls. Establish a channel blend first, then use them to adjust body, midrange emphasis, and top end.
- Presence changes high-frequency negative feedback in the modeled power stage, adding presence in a different way from the Treble control.
- On / Off bypasses the amplifier.
- Clicking a front-panel parameter name returns the associated knob to its twelve-o'clock position, which is useful when comparing a heavily edited tone against a neutral starting point.
Channel strip
Click the wooden side with the green Channel Strip sticker to open the recording controls.
- Channel fader adjusts the microphone channel's level and Pan places it in the stereo field.
- Main Out Low is neutral at noon. Clockwise adds a low shelf; counterclockwise introduces a low cut.
- Main Out High is neutral at noon, with shelving boost or cut on either side.
- Main Out Volume adjusts the entire plug-in output for level matching.
Classic uses the fixed SM57 microphone path. The collection manual's multi-mic selection, blend, and pan capabilities for other models are not additional hidden Classic controls.
Manual, Patching and The Cabinet Choice, p. 18; The Mic and Amplifier Parameters, p. 19; Patch Switching, Input Channels, and Channel Strip Parameters, p. 20.