(Electroplex image. Click to see it bigger.)

Part 1

A few weeks ago I’d never heard of Electroplex amps let alone actually heard one. But Electroplex was at the NY/NJ Amp Show and I was too, so…. I stepped into the Electroplex room with my Les Paul, saw a bunch of Fender-looking amps and thought: I doubt it but I’ll give it a shot – the “it” being a sweet (and hot) classic rock tone.

I’m greeted by an enthusiastic, nice guy who I later learn is Don Morris, the owner and designer of Electroplex amps. I plug the available cord into my geetar, tell him I’m a rock meathead – a “rock head,” if you will – and he’s way ahead of me, already twisting knobs to get me where he thinks I want to go.

He gives me the high sign and I commence to playing my rock head licks. It sounds sweet. A little Fender, yeah, but not just Fender. There’s grind in there, and roar, and warmth. There’s that Fender bigness but with some Marshall-esque stuff going on.

Don plugs me into another one of his amps. More power but the same deal: tone. And it wasn’t just me. The next day of the show I wandered in and listened to a guy play a Strat through it (sounded great) and another Les Paul slinger play some fast, clean, blues. All the guitars and tones sounded different and good through the same amps. Key!

Because Electroplex amps were some of my faves from the Amp Show, I chased down Don for a brief interview. Here it is.

AmpGAS: I understand that Electroplex made amps a while back and then fell off the radar – what happened there?

Heeeeeeeere's Don!

Don: I started in ’94 and we were building them pretty much out of my garage – and I was in the garage all the time. I had a full-time job working for a music company, and was doing the amps part-time at night.

Around the year 2000 we were at the point with the amp business of going big or going home because over the 6 years doing it things were really revving up. People were getting excited about it. So it was: Should I quit the day job and do it full-time.

I have a daughter and son who were in high school at the time and weren’t going to be around the house too much longer. And as far as they were concerned, I was the strange, crabby guy in the garage. So I decided to enjoy the kids while they were still in the house, and put the amp company on the shelf for a while. I’m so glad I did, and now that they’re out of the house I’m able to start up again.

How long have you been back in business?

I started again last July and it’s been nice having that [Electroplex] history.  A lot of people recognize [the amps] from before, some of my dealers have contacted me and want to sign up again, so it’s not like we’re starting from scratch, which is kind of nice.

Are the new amps similar to the old ones?

They’re exactly the same. That’s what I wanted to start off with. I made some adjustments to the reduced power mode switching circuit, but everything else is the same as it was.

One thing that’s new, though, is there are a lot more choices in speakers than in the ’90s, and that’s exciting. So I’m able to add a broader palette of tone colors by way of speakers than I was able to in the ’90s.

Are the Electroplex 22, 35, 50 and 90 basically the same amps/preamps just more or less power?

Yes, that’s a good characterization. They are basically the same preamps with different output sections to them. It’s really interesting how different power levels react differently to the preamp. Each have their own little dynamic cooking.

For example, the 90 has plenty of headroom and it takes a good deal of pop from the preamp to overdrive the output section. The 90 and 50 both use 6L6s so they have a similar sound. The 35 uses 5881s and they overdrive a bit sooner, and use smaller transformers so it’s a good balance between headroom and getting dirt from the output section.

The one that’s really distinctly different is the 22 [6v6s]. It sounds more woody. It has a more old-school tweed sound to it. It’s a nice change to the tonal spectrum and overdrives quite readily – you can really push the output stage without getting unmanageably loud. It also has a 12w setting, and it’s really kind of fun to mix the preamp overdrive with the power stage overdrive and not have to clear everyone from the room.

- End of part 1 of 2 -

Here’s a Premier Guitar vid of an Electroplex amp at the Amp Show. Naturally it’s not the greatest – and no rock tones – but at least you can hear Don talk about the amps.