British Overdrive Series

British 60s and 70s Plexi Tones with London Power Scaling

20W, 50W, or 50W+

We build 1x12, 2x12, 4x12, 2x10, 4x10, and 1x15 matching closed back and open cab with Weber or Celestion speakers. Contact for current pricing.

Description

The British Custom Overdrive is based on the late 60's and early 70's Marshall Plexi amps that defined rock tones.  Pretty much every great rock band worth it's salt has had Plexi amps as part of their sound as one time.  Hendrix, Clapton,  Van Halen, AC/DC, Cream, Aerosmith, Gary Moore, Robin Tower and so many more have used Plexi amps. The only trouble is that Plexi amps are made for large stages making them difficult for most guitarists to use. The British Overdrive 20W,50W and 50W+ (50W but with four power tubes for 100W feel) amps are far more versatile in terms of volume the original amps were!  London Power Scaling allows you to dial in the sound at any volume without losing any tone.  The Multi-plex switch allows you get  all  plexi sounds you can imagine.  Now you can have all the Plexi sounds in your head without blowing out your ear drums or buying a roomful of amps.

Flexible Tone: 

  During the 60's and 70s Marshall produced many  Plexi models with very minor circuit variations that made a big difference in tone.    The British Overdrive put all those sounds in one amp!  The Multi-Plex switch allows you to switch between a 67', 69' and 71' Plexi and a 60's/70S negative feedback switch allow even more tonal combinations. You can get all the tones in your head! 

London Power’s Power Scaling:

The 60s and 70's Plexi are incredibly  loud amps and were designed for big stages.  They too loud for most players to use even in a club setting.  The British Overdrive series features Power Scaling which solves this issue. Power scaling allow the player to dial in anything from full power down to 1/10W.  So these amp are capable of playing anything from a bedroom to a stadium.  Many amps have  "wattage" and "power" controls that sound unnatural.  The British Overdrives  is different from most of these and very transparent.  Plus in any setting below full power it extends the life of the power tubes.   

Other Features:

Linked Input:  

The amp has a linked input so there no need to use a patch cable to jumper channels. This allows you to blend the sounds of normal and bright channels just like having jumped input on the amp.  

Tube Swapping:  

The 20, 50, and 50+ Watt versions can use any of the following power tube types with re-baising: EL-34, KT66, KT77, 5881, 6L6WGC, 6L6GC, 6V6 (20 watts with these), or 6550s. Bias ports and externally accessed bias pots allows the user to swap tubes. The 20W and 50W versions use two power tubes. The 50W+ captures the tone and feel of a 100W power section with four output tubes but only puts out 50W. You can also pull out two of the power tubes for 50W amp feel.

Spec/Features:

All tube,  Bright and Normal volume controls,  treble, mids, bass, and presence, power and limit controls,  ON/OFF Switch,  hand wired for great sound and reliability with method that shortens the signal path, super quiet grounding for low noise, special resistor selection for low noise and great tone, adjustable fixed bias, solid state rectifier. 100 Watt model is fan cooled.

Parts:
Custom made toriadal power transformer, Heyboer or Hammond output transformer, Malory 150 and Panasonic Tone Caps, Panasonic/Nichicon Ultra Long Life Filter caps, UK made Cliff jacks, aluminum chassis, 12 ft power cord, JJ's Tubes. 

Customer Comments:

“It’s really super nice. It gets close to an 800, but I actually prefer this driven sound for metal more than an 800 …and easy to get it more distorted with a boost (no distortion blech).

It does what I was looking for that very, kind of chimey lower end to bass sounds

Chungs….tubey 

I thought based on everything I read about owning an amp like this it would take a while to dial it in but maybe it’s just because I’ve been playing so long, but it really didn’t take me long maybe 10 or 15 minutes to really understand the amp it wasn’t that complicated

But still warm no matter what

And I love how lightweight this is in my smokin ace road case it’s really not hard to carry

I’m sure I’ll have some questions but I’m a big, merciful fate fan and that’s some pretty raunchy death metal stuff and he just uses an amp like this and I can see why

I’m trying different boost pedals. It definitely needs it …sometimes and I’m still trying to get that settled but I definitely will need a noise gate when I’m using them with this particular amplifier. But yes an OD more with this than my higher gain amps obviously.

And it gets the best out of the boost pedal without it affecting the tone of the amp they work together really well and honestly that’s all I ever use unless I need to use something else like a reverb pedal or wah
I’ve tried all my warrior guitars, and they have different pick ups from bare knuckle Nailbombs to original Joe Barden and some throwback pick ups, and it really brings out the personality of the guitar more so than my Mesa or Dr. Z or Buddha’s

I’m sure I may have some questions later but so far I’m really happy and I’m glad I went with this amp.”

Randy K.

Hey Carl,

Phenomenal amp, absolutely awesome.  Spent the weekend playing with it and found all kinds of sounds I love by tweaking the power and limit levels as well as the multi-switch. The build quality is amazing as well.

I don't know when I'll need new amp....Between this and the tumblin dice, I really can't imagine what else I would need, but if that time ever comes, I won't hesitate. I've also been trying to spread the word when I can on forums and people, I meet about how good your amps are. 

Wish you nothing but the best.

Joe

“Hello Carl,

Still exploring the amp, very happy with the sound quality. The distorted sound is typical of all the good songs we were listening to in the 60-70’s but the clean sound should not be neglected as it is truly amazing with a lot of details, and very dynamic too, a lot of headroom, all the nuances are there when picking soft or hard.

I can say that all the permutations are good with they own subtleties. 67 has a warm feeling, 69 is more or less as 67 but more grit in it (grainier). 71 has a more modern feeling, tighter, the notes are more separate. The feedback switch on the rear panel helps on this aspect when positioned on 70’s. However for the other selections (67 & 69), I prefer the 60’s position as it provides a more ‘bluesy’ sound, specially with a Stratocaster.

On my model, I really like the SAG option that you have added to your standard design as (again with the Stratocaster) it gives this springy/spongy feeling of the tube rectifier.

By the way, the Weber CV123 that you have put in my cabinet is a great match with this amplifier, can hold bass easily without distortion (when required), and the particularity I noted is the quality of the high frequency notes, no harshness.

I have not tried too many pedals yet, this is my next move, will let you know in time.”

Francis G.

“Carl,

I had sampled every Marshall amp out there over the past four years and just could not find the sound I was looking for. I wish I had known about you back in the beginning of my quest. Thank you for helping me decide which amp to buy and for building this amazing amp for me.”

Bill P.

"Carl,

I finally got to plug up the amp to a 4x12 can (2 greenbacks, 2 Eminence Lil Texas) and it is incredible. I finally got comfortable with the the limit and power controls...I can control the amp directly from the guitar and my Belle Epoch Deluxe sounds great even without an effects loop. I can get compressed "violin" tones (with a tube driver of course) or the Brown Sound and everything in between.

I find that I like the '69 sound the best ('67 is really bassy)...and I usually keep it in solid state rectifier mode.

Overall I have to say I'm glad I got this amp instead of the Marshall Origin...I just have total control! And in an amp that still feels and sounds like a vintage amp, no need for channel switching or extra gain stages. It's exactly what I had hoped for.  

Keep doing great work and I can't wait to add a Tweed Twin head to my gear!"

David G

"Carl I just wanted to drop you a line and tell you about the amp you built for me . Armed with a  SG and a Stratocaster I played the amp for about three hours . I managed to coax every tone that’s been hiding in my head for the past 25 years . It’s unbelievable . It has that tone and touch that can’t be described . I couldn’t be happier . You have made a life long customer out of me . Thanks for all the hard work you put into this and thank you for taking the time to help me get the amp I have been looking for my whole life ."

Eric S

"Carl I just received the amp and all I can say is  WOW !!!! Incredible in every way!" 

Nyles--

"I wanted to give a shout out to Carl Carl's Custom Amps and leave a review for both the amps he built for me.
The one on the bottom is from his British Overdrive Series, its 18w, cathode bias and I can swap in and out any octal power tube combo I want without having to have it re-biased, it was modified by Carl to have 3 different voicings, 67' 69' 71', those are based on a few legendary Marshall amp tones, it also has a Master volume and a power scaling knob which are both extremely useful for dialing in the right amount of clean headroom or gain depending on where I'm playing and how loud I need to be, it also has a switch on the back for adjusting the feel of the rectifier tube either Tube or Solid State which is very helpful for tightening up the bass depending on if I'm using single coils pickups or humbuckers, there's another 60's/70's switch on the back further enhances my option of 60's style or 70's style Marshall tones. This amp is so unbelievably versatile and I've had it for about 9 months and am still finding new ways to use it. It is so intuitive to my playing and responsive to pick attacks ,and it is a great pedal platform. I run a very simple rig and don't like to "color" my amps tone much with a bunch of effects. With a amp that sounds this amazing it would be doing myself and the amp a disservice. I love the custom cosmetics on it as well!"

Nyles---In depth comments