Wampler Plexi-Drive review

Stompbox for Marshall-ing your tone

  • £189
  • €199
  • $209
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The bass boost is designed to emulate the effect of a sizeable cab

MusicRadar Verdict

Vintage Marshall flavour in a stompbox.

Pros

  • +

    Captures the Marshall flavour. Excellent build.

Cons

  • -

    Lacks the versatility and therefore value for money of some other Wampler pedals. But we're nit-picking...

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The amp-in-a-box genre is something that Wampler has specialised in with a range of individual pedals channelling Fender, Vox and Marshall sounds, as well as a couple of boutique US amps. The Plexi-Drive is designed to be a Marshall in a box, part of the Heritage Series along with AC30 and both 'blackface' and Tweed Fenders.

"Classic rock tones are delivered with ease as you turn up the wick"

Controls-wise, you get gain, volume and tone knobs to dial in the variations, plus a switchable bass boost, designed to deliver the heft of a 4x12 pushing air.

Wampler says this sits somewhere between a JTM45 and an 18-watt model, and that vintage Marshall tonal flavour and crunch is certainly apparent. Classic rock tones are delivered with ease as you turn up the wick, but there's also a range of lower-gain overdrive that doesn't immediately scream the 'M' word.

If you don't have a Marshall stack but want to give your amp that sort of voice, or you want to run a Marshall quieter while retaining the tone, try it out.

Trevor Curwen

Trevor Curwen has played guitar for several decades – he's also mimed it on the UK's Top of the Pops. Much of his working life, though, has been spent behind the mixing desk, during which time he has built up a solid collection of the guitars, amps and pedals needed to cover just about any studio session. He writes pedal reviews for Guitarist and has contributed to Total Guitar, MusicRadar and Future Music among others.