13 of the Best Extended Range Marshall Pedals with Plexi + JCM800 Coverage

crazytubecircuits.com/heatseeker

Controls - PREAMP } Master (Gain), Presence ±, Volume, WoS Wall of Sound Switch, MODE : JTM45 / SUPER LEAD PLEXI / MV JCM800, Bass, Middle, Treble, Preamp Footswitch, VEGA TYPE ENHANCER } Level, Enhance : More Dynamic Range and Harmonics, Enhance Footswitch.

Excellent starting point - 3 flavours of Marshall style Amp - JTM45 / SUPER LEAD PLEXI / MV JCM800 - sounds richer with WoS Wall of Sound Switch On, and Vega Type Boost - I normally have both engaged by default - and then the Mode Switch selects Amps Type. You can gain up the Plexi Voicing and then max out the Vega Enhancer for a short of Plexi / JCM800 switch-around, or else just used the main voicing toggle. Obviously the Toggle gets you pretty bang on - while High Gain Plexi + Full-on Vega Enhancer can sort of ballpark the JCM800 flavour for you - or near enough! We're off to a strong start here - plenty of variablity and versatility with this pedal!

drybell.com/product/the-engine/

Controls : PLEXI } Level, Gain, Tone (Highs Mostly | Active Asymmetric Filter), Shape (Mids Refine | Active Asymmetric Filter). All Plexi Dials on Max yields c. +53dB; RANGEMASTER } Range (Mid Sweep Effectively | Active Symmetric Filter), Level (-7dB > +22.4dB) Low (Active Asymmetric Filter), High (Active Asymmetric Filter).

Obviously a Plexi style Preamp with a RangeMaster style Treble Booster. Much like with the above Heatseeker - you can use the Boost to focus and add sear to the Plexi voicing to give you a ballpark JCM800 tone. The core Plexi voicing is typically fat and punchy and juicy, with the JCM800 voicing more mids-forward / focused / slightly narrower sounding and with more sear and gain onboard. Applying the RangeMaster in the appropriate manner gives you a sort of 2-Channel Plexi > JCM800 experience - much like you get with the above Heatseeker. Works pretty well for me - and this is another particularly fine sounding Marshall style Preamp.

www.dsmhumboldt.com/silver-linings-1

Controls : Master Boost (Clean Boost +20dB), Level (Output), Gain (Variable Gain Bandwidth), Pre Boost (Gain Boost / Compression + 30dB), Mode : Normal (Transparent) / Preamp (Insert) / Mid Boost (+800Hz Mid-Hump Drive), Style : Soft (Soft Symmetrical Clipping), Vintage (Fat Asymmetrical Clipping), Hard (Tight, Amp-Like Hard Clipping), Treble [>2kHz ±15dB], Mid [300Hz > 2kHz ±12dB], Bass [<300Hz ±10dB], Pre Tone (Tilt / Balancing Input EQ). Engage Boost Footswitch (also independent), Engage Drive Footswitch.

Here you combine the 'Vintage' or 'Har style Mode per preferences - with both Pre and Master Boost engaged - and then with the 3-Band EQ adjusted appropriately. This Silver Linings has a great Marshall-esque profile - which gets nicely fuzzy on the Vintage Mode, or is more focused and searing on Hard mode. The combination of parameters you have onboard - allows for incredibly potent shaping of the main Drive Channel, as well as as the Pre and Master Boost. Both my Multi-Drive pedal here are incredibly sounding - with really cool shaping abilities onboard - so you can sculpt your own Plexi sound - and then use the incredible Boosts - to get up to the JCM800 profile. You can of course dial those on separately for the main Drive section - but it's a lot more fun to be able to Boost up to ballpark JCM800 levels - on the fly! This is still a somewhat under-appreciated and under the radar pedal - especially nowadays - while it's capable of really incredible Marshall style voicings.

empresseffects.com/products/multidrive

Controls - FUZZ  } Filter : LP / None / HP, Gain, Volume, OVERDRIVE } Filter : LP / None / HP, Gain, Volume, DISTORTION } Filter : LP / None / HP, Distortion Type : Crunch / Mild / Lead, Gain, Volume, SHARED EQ } Mid Frequency : 500Hz / 250Hz / 2K, Mid, Hi, Low, Master Output, Select Channel A/B Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch. Internal Channel Combination Select : A} 1 DIST, 2 OD, 3 FUZZ, B} 1 DIST, 2 OD, 3 FUZZ, (On/Off).

This was my first proper Multi-Drive pedal - where it comes with 3 different core circuits  - Fuzz, Overdrive and Distortion - which you can combine over 2-Channels - as set internally with dip-switches. I always combined Fuzz with Overdrive, and Fuzz with Distortion - to give me my two Marshall style Voicings. Both share the same 3-Band EQ - with Semi-Parametric Mids - and you further set Shelving Filters on each element - as well as a Distortion Type selector. Much like with the above DSM & Humboldt Silver Linings - this one also has a core killer Marshall voicing - which combines beautifully with the Fuzz - for a slightly more dug-in sound. This pedal was on the board for quite and extended period. The 3 elements are combined beautifully in parallel - this is such a smart pedal, it's a shame it got retired. It sounds excellent!

flattleyguitarpedals.com/shop/platinum-range/overdrive-platinum-range/the-outlaw-dual-pedal-plexi-overdrive-with-clean-tone-booster/

Controls - ACE TONE BOOST } Volume, Tone, Left Footswitch; PLEXI DRIVE } Volume, Tone, Gain, Right Footswitch; Order Switch } Up = Boost First / Down = Plexi First.

The most recent of my Plexi types to arrive - accompanied by the superb Ace Tone Clean Boost on the second channel. That tone-enhancing boost is incredible - and comes with its own Tone control - so you can easily boost the core Plexi voicing up to JCM800 levels - with that more focused output. This is one of the easiest ones to dial in - having just 3 controls on the Drive / Plexi side - and 2 for the Ace Tone Boost. It's perfectly balanced - with a juicy and punchy core voicing with the perfect amount of low end frequencies. Superbly balanced at default values and honed for instant satisfaction - one of the most satisfying ones around - so easy to dial in!

www.formulab.it/index.php?rt=product/product&product_id=133

Controls : Volume, Gain 1, Gain 2, Modeling (Presence), Bass, Mids, Treble, CH1/CH2 Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

An excellent 2-Channel Compact Overdrive with dual gain controls, and essentially 4-Band EQ. You can easily dial one of the Channels down a touch from the core JCM800 voicing - and then re-adjust the 4-Band EQ to get you as close as possible to the Plexi Voicing, and then just doubling down on the gain. You're not going to get he additional focus between the channels - but the higher gain will certainly deliver the customary JCM800 sear - with one of the two voicings a little compromised - while it should be close enough for must - obviously a Boost with additional Tone Shaping is ideal for the task - where different gain levels won't quite get you all the way there - but close. The Eighty Master is another one of those which has an insanely appealing core tonality with everything at Noon - a really smart 2-Channel Marshally type!

fortinamps.com/products/kali-preamp-distortion

Controls - Bass, Mid, Treble, Master - Vintage / Raw / Saturated, Gain 2 - 1 / 0 / 2 (Bright), Gain 1 - 1  / 0 / 2 (Bright), Channel 1/2 Footswitch, On/Bypass Footswitch.

This is the first of the pedals with dedicated separate channels for Plexi and JCM800 voicings - while I still find the toggle switches a little odd. The rest of the controls work well - and you can dial in the appropriate voicings with relative ease - albeit not nearly as easy as for say the Flattey Outlaw. The Kali takes a little effort on the dial-in - but with some degree of due diligence yields excellent results - and proper separated Plexi and JCM800 channels - this one is really poised and well-balanced by default - and somewhat tight too!

fuzzworship.com/product/architect-of-reality/

Controls - Presence, Bass, Mids, Treble, Bass Boost : On/Off, Mids Boost : On/Off, Treble Boost : On/Off, AOR Volume (Ch2), Master Volume (Ch1), Preamp Gain (Ch1 mainly + Ch2 Blend), AOR Gain (Ch2), Channel Footswitch, Engage/Bypass Footswitch. Channel 1 is Red, Channel 2 is Green.

I have an incredibly rare all-white Snowblind Edition of this pedal - which is based on the Laney AOR - in turn a heavily modded take on the JCM800. So this is another proper 2-Channel variety - with separate Volume and Gain Controls per channel - and with 4-Band EQ, and some additional voicing switches to hone your output. As with the other core JCM800 varieties - you need to tune down one of the channels - and set the EQ - so you get enough punch for the Plexi type channel, and more searing focused JCM800 as the second gainer channel. So this is another ballpark device - which you can still get pretty close to the two voicings - but you naturally have to compromise a touch because of the shared EQ. While this one works decently enough for that two channel approach - but not quite as accurate / authentic as the ones with separate Plexi and JCM800 voicings.

jackson.audio/products/asabi

Controls - JCM800 DISTORTION } Volume, Presence, Gain, Bass, Middle, Treble, Distortion Footswitch; PLEXI DRIVE } Volume, Tone, Drive, Drive Footswitch; CLIPPING } 4 Clipping Options via each Footswitch - Amber (2 x LED) / Green (2 x Symmetrical) / Blue (3 x Asymmetrical) / Magenta (4 x Symmetrical), GAIN CYCLE via Dual Simultaneous Press : 25% / 50% / 75% / 100%.

Another separated 2-Channel type with independent Plexi and JCM800 channels - where you can swap the JCM800 for a RAT Distoriton module - which clips into the main PCB. I own both the El Guapo and Asabi Jackson Audio pedals - they are bother nigh identical - while the Asabi can accommodate a separate Rat Distortion Module. This one can be a little fiddly to dial in on occasion - and I tend to favour the Amber Dual LED Clipping mode - that delivers the appropriate the core full-fat tonality. For some reason not always the easiest to dial in, but can deliver excellent results. It's important to be on the correct clipping mode - otherwise you don't fully get the require texture.

www.sinvertek.com/2nd/mgat1ge/mgat1ge.html

Controls - Volume, Top End : Modern / X / Vintage, Low End : Full / Tight / Medium, Gain, Destity / Core EQ : Dark / Poweramp / Bright, Gain Structure : Low / Medium / High, Gold Era Filter : 1987X / 1959SLP + High Gain / 2203 JCM800, Presence, Gain : Green / Orange / Red, Treble, Mid, Orange Saturation : ++ / 0 / +, Red Saturation : ++ / 0 / +, Bass.

A magnificent 14-Controls long-term favourite that has the highest gain range here and most shaping ability - work your way up through the gears from Clean, through Punchy and full-fat and onto super High Gain at its extreme. The one downside is that it only has the one channel - so you will need to dial in the 2 voices separately. Some will find the 14 controls a little much and somewhat fiddly - while we Sinvertek fans know just how good these are. An incredibly range of tones across those various gain levels - while no Dual Channel action. The pedal is a singular force - utterly ransack - but alas is singular and thus can't fully functionally compete with those fully dual-channel overdrives. It's still probably the best singular Marshall pedal out there - but not quite perfect for this category from its duality deficit!

thorpyfx.com/products/the-electric-lightning-valve-overdrive-and-booster-chris-bucks-signature-pedal

Controls - PREAMP } Volume, Treble, Mids, Gain, Bass; ACTIVE HIGH PASS FILTER } Boost, Lows.

This is one of two actual Tube Preamps in this selection - alongside the Tubesteader Gainlord - which has 2 12AX7's onboard versus the one for the Electric Lightning. The Electric Lightning has 7 controls and 2 Footswitches vs he 12 and dual footswiches of the Gainlord. And this Chris Buck Signature Pedal also happens o be he dearest in his selection by some margin - at $499. It's one of those Plexi + Boost types - which does allow you to ramp up towards the ballpark of the JCM800 - where for the Gainlord you're getting two independent Gain Channels for each of the Plexi and JCM800 flavours, and with the additional remote switch - you get an additional 3rd Channel sort of - courtesy of a Bright Gain Boost. The Electric Lighting matches the Gainlord well for the Plexi side - but rather more ballparks the JCM800 style. The Electric Lighting sounds excellent - but you could argue that it's rather pricey comparatively! Of course still a very decent Marshall flavour!

ttps://tsakalisaudioworks.com/product/room40/

Controls - Master, Variac, Vol II [19] / Body [22], Mode 19/22 : Plexi/JPM & JCM800, Vol I [19 & 22], Presence, Bass, Middle, Treble, and Internal Trim-Pot for Boost Level.

Another long-term favourite of mine which entered the collection in June 2021. This was pipped by the Jackson Audio Asabi and El Guapo from 2020 - which I feel was mu first dedicated Plexi + JCM800 - albeit the dual-channel action is Overdrive + Boost. So you don't get easy undefended channel switching - but another kind of ballpark situation - where you use the Boost channel to add further sear to the core Drive side. A really cool control-topology here - with 10 controls, including a boost adjustment trimmer - accessibly via a hole / aperture on the back of the pedal. This is another fantastic pedal - with both the core flavours onboard - albeit no ability to directly switch between those two voicings.

tubesteader.com/products/gainlord

Controls - Lower Blue Plexi Style Channel 1 } Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Bright Switch, Gain; Upper Red JCM800 Channel 2 } Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Bright Switch, Gain; Tone Bypass for Direct Out on side of pedal.

There are just 3 fully independently switching dedicated Plexi + JCM80 pedals here - the Fortin Kali, Jackson Audio Asabi, and this Tubesteader Gainlord - which has to be the most impressive of those - with 6 dedicated controls per channel / side, and even a 3rd higher gain channel equivalent - when using the additional  / optional FS-2L Remote Switch. Value here is exceptional @ $349 - which equates to £272. I was somewhat blown away by every aspect of this pedal - its dynamics, and high quality build and output. This is he largest pedal here by some margin - but it's also the most accomplished pedal here - for that core Plexi + JCM800 task. Besides its size - this is surely the most complete and capable one here for that intended core category!