Wampler - Plexi-Drive  [traced]

General documentation, gut shot, schematic links, ongoing circuit tracing, deep thoughts ... all about boutique stompboxes.
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mcaviel
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Post by mcaviel »

Gut shot from eBay.
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plexidrive 1.jpg
plexidrive 1.jpg (84.47 KiB) Viewed 9207 times

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bbkassel
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Post by bbkassel »

Very nice craftmanship. :applause:

Is there anybody, who have gut shots of the wampler plextortion. :horsey:

W.

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azrael
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Post by azrael »

IIRC, Wampler himself has stated what the Plextortion is in another thread. Have a go at the search engine, eh?

mcaviel, any chance of trace side?

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mcaviel
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Post by mcaviel »

azrael wrote:mcaviel, any chance of trace side?
This one is from ebay and the seller says it's a non working pedal so it has a low price.

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roseblood11
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Post by roseblood11 »

Buy it! It can´t cost more than a few cents to make it work again.
And then: repair it - retrace it - sell the original for much more than you paid for it - have a big cup of coffee

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Jack Deville
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Post by Jack Deville »

Yeah, that's clean as hell. Kudos, Brian. Nice fucking job.
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Buy my products and make me rich.

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SoulShade
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Post by SoulShade »

I'm very interested in this one as well...

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jamiefbolton
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Post by jamiefbolton »

so who is bidding on this? if you aren't I'll buy it. I've never traced anything for you all and would like to contribute. but i also don't want to unnecessarily bid up the price on you either.

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mcaviel
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Post by mcaviel »

jamiefbolton wrote:so who is bidding on this? if you aren't I'll buy it. I've never traced anything for you all and would like to contribute. but i also don't want to unnecessarily bid up the price on you either.
I thought ill buy it but i live overseas and don't know yet if the seller ships it outside USA/Canada. what's your max bid so i know if to overbid you if you are outbid.

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jamiefbolton
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Post by jamiefbolton »

$75. is that too much guys???

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indyguitarist
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Post by indyguitarist »

mcaviel wrote:
azrael wrote:mcaviel, any chance of trace side?
This one is from ebay and the seller says it's a non working pedal so it has a low price.
such a shame. if it's non-working the seller could've sent it to me and I would fix it, that is unless he did something crazy like plug a wrong supply into it or drop it into a bathtub or something.

circuit-wise it's just a couple of jfet gain stages similar to a tube preamp topology with a couple of LP filters at the tail end.

bw

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mcaviel
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Post by mcaviel »

Thanks Brian!
i am a fan of your work and designs, this is one neat build!

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andregarcia57
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Post by andregarcia57 »

this pedal is based on J201?

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indyguitarist
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Post by indyguitarist »

andregarcia57 wrote:this pedal is based on J201?
yes, topology is similar to the cranked AC, just tuned differently.

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Post by RnFR »

great looking build! the only thing that sticks out to me is that the battery snap should be tied down. I could see it getting weak at the DC jack. that always seems to be the first solder joint to go on pedals that I've bought in the past.
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britmusic
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Post by britmusic »

I just picked up a Plexi Drive and gave it a run on 12v side by side next to a Catalinbread DLS, both with a Vox Ac30 2x12, and a Marshall 100 watt going into a 4x12.....It was most impressive. My only problem with the Plexi Drive was that the added bass toggle switch was useless and waayyyy to boomy. I wish I could change the extra bass option to get a slight mid-bump. This would be amazing plus it would give more of an actual "Plexi/Greenback" tone and vibe. The stock setting without the extra bass has a more modern Marshall gain tone and feel which is great. But that extra bass value has to be changed. Does anyone know how to do this so I can get more mids. Thanks

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jamiefbolton
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Post by jamiefbolton »

how abouts taking some really good detailed close-ups so we can trace the circuit. needing a schematic of this in a bad way!

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britmusic
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Post by britmusic »

I wish I did have a schematic but I'm not that technically savy. As far as a picture goes, mine looks just like the unit pictured at the top of this page with the three JFET's...etc...etc. But yah it would be great to mod that right postions when the toggle is switched to the right for more bass with mids. Then label the toggle Modern (left side) and Vintage (right side) or H30 left G25 right.

With the Plexi Drive running at 12V and at about 7 on the gain, it's really got a nice alive transparent touch. After that going up to 10 on the gain you can hear the bass frequency coming up, and this is in the stock postion with the toggle to the left. Don't get me wrong it sounds great but again this give a much more modern Marshall type gain EQ/tone. Dam....just wish I could flick that toggle to the right and get the samething on the left but a little more mids. Oh well. I guess that's what a Catalinbread DLS is for.

P.S. I emailed Wampler Pedals and have not received a reply as of yet?

jamiefbolton wrote:how abouts taking some really good detailed close-ups so we can trace the circuit. needing a schematic of this in a bad way!

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HEAD
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Post by HEAD »

Yeah of course we've got a detailed shot of the component side. What we need ist a detailed gutshot of the trace side which you could kindly provide so that we can draw the schematic and then might be able to help you. A detailed shot of the trace side alone isn't always that helpfull, you know? ;)

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indyguitarist
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Post by indyguitarist »

britmusic wrote:I wish I did have a schematic but I'm not that technically savy. As far as a picture goes, mine looks just like the unit pictured at the top of this page with the three JFET's...etc...etc. But yah it would be great to mod that right postions when the toggle is switched to the right for more bass with mids. Then label the toggle Modern (left side) and Vintage (right side) or H30 left G25 right.

With the Plexi Drive running at 12V and at about 7 on the gain, it's really got a nice alive transparent touch. After that going up to 10 on the gain you can hear the bass frequency coming up, and this is in the stock postion with the toggle to the left. Don't get me wrong it sounds great but again this give a much more modern Marshall type gain EQ/tone. Dam....just wish I could flick that toggle to the right and get the samething on the left but a little more mids. Oh well. I guess that's what a Catalinbread DLS is for.

P.S. I emailed Wampler Pedals and have not received a reply as of yet?

jamiefbolton wrote:how abouts taking some really good detailed close-ups so we can trace the circuit. needing a schematic of this in a bad way!
If you've emailed this week, we've been short-handed last week and this week. Basically, that switch is just kicking in a bigger cap. the cap size can be changed.

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