The Marshall 1987X Plexy 50W Head is a Marshall amplifier. Close alternatives include the Strymon Iridium and the Soldano SLO. It pairs well with the Beetronics Buzzter Boost Preamp and the Xotic BB Preamp.

Marshall 1987X Plexy 50W Head

Marshall · amplifier

The Marshall 1987X is the hand-wired 50-watt Plexi reissue, a non-master-volume EL34 head prized for breaking up tighter and a touch earlier than the 100-watt Super Lead. Its four inputs and jumperable bright and normal channels recreate the classic late-1960s British stack tone heard across rock and blues-rock. All of its overdrive comes from driving the power section, giving open cleans that bloom into focused, cutting crunch as the volume climbs.

What stands out

  • “Its great strength is a punchy, articulate crunch; the familiar limitation is that the tone still wants real volume and offers”

    — from the community notes

  • “The Marshall 1987X is the hand-wired 50-watt Plexi reissue, a non-master-volume EL34 head prized for breaking up tighter and a touch earlier than the 100-watt Super Lead”

    — from the listing

  • “All of its overdrive comes from driving the power section, giving open cleans that bloom into focused, cutting crunch as the volume climbs”

    — from the listing

  • “Many players consider the 50-watt Plexi the most usable of the non-master Marshalls, keeping the legendary midrange while reaching crunch at slightly lower volume than the 100-watt”

    — from the community notes

  • “Its four inputs and jumperable bright and normal channels recreate the classic late-1960s British stack tone heard across rock and blues-rock”

    — from the listing

  • crunch
  • lead
  • clean
  • midrange
  • british
  • open
  • hard rock
  • articulate

Good for

  • Live
  • Studio

Genres the Marshall 1987X Plexy 50W Head is commonly used in

  • Blues Rock
  • Rock
  • Hard Rock
  • Metal
    citedInferred from shared tonal signals, not a stated genre tag.
  • Classic Rock
    citedInferred from shared tonal signals, not a stated genre tag.
  • Blues
    citedInferred from shared tonal signals, not a stated genre tag.

Pedals that stack with the Marshall 1987X Plexy 50W Head

Beetronics Buzzter Boost Preamp

Beetronics

27% match
$118.75via Reverb

pushes an already-dirty tonePushes an already-dirty tone harder and tightens it up. (crunchy → clean boost)

Beetronics Buzzter Boost Preamp pushes a crunchy tone toward clean boost

Goes in front of the amp

Xotic BB Preamp

Xotic

27% match
$100via Reverb

fills a frequency gapFills in a frequency range the other side doesn't cover, instead of piling more onto what's already there. (bright → smooth)

Xotic BB Preamp's own bright character is the real reason this is worth trying

Goes in front of the amp

Univox Super-Fuzz

Univox

26% match
$599via Reverb

pushes an already-dirty tonePushes an already-dirty tone harder and tightens it up. (crunchy → mid-forward)

Feed a crunchy signal into Univox Super-Fuzz and it comes out closer to mid-forward

Goes in front of the amp

Origin Effects MAGMA57 Amp Vibrato & Drive

Origin Effects

16% match
$394.67via Reverb

sits in the right chain slotPlaced for where it does its job cleanly in the chain, not for a tonal interaction with the anchor.

Run Origin Effects MAGMA57 Amp Vibrato & Drive after Marshall 1987X Plexy 50W Head in the signal chain, clear of Marshall 1987X Plexy 50W Head's own gain stage

Goes in front of the amp

HomeBrew Electronics CPR Compressor Retro

Homebrew

14% match

shapes the dynamic responseShapes how the tone responds to picking dynamics rather than its frequency or gain. (dynamic → compressed)

What HomeBrew Electronics CPR Compressor Retro brings here leans toward compressed — that's worth building a pairing around

Goes in front of the amp

Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret Deluxe

Catalinbread

13% match
$139via Reverb

Keep Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret Deluxe in Marshall 1987X Plexy 50W Head's effects loop, clear of Marshall 1987X Plexy 50W Head's own gain stage — goes in the amp's FX loop (or last, into a clean amp)

Sits in the amp's effects loop

Caroline Guitar Company Kilobyte

Caroline Guitar Company

8% match
$199via Reverb

sits in the right chain slotPlaced for where it does its job cleanly in the chain, not for a tonal interaction with the anchor.

Run Caroline Guitar Company Kilobyte in Marshall 1987X Plexy 50W Head's effects loop, clear of Marshall 1987X Plexy 50W Head's own gain stage — goes in the amp's FX loop (or last, into a clean amp)

Sits in the amp's effects loop

Dunlop MXR Randy Rhoads Concorde Distortion, model RR104C

Dunlop

tonal match
$129.97via Reverb

Goes in front of the amp

Put Dunlop MXR Randy Rhoads Concorde Distortion, model RR104C in front of Marshall 1987X Plexy 50W Head

Alternativessee all similar tone character →

Strymon Iridium

Strymon

72% similarity

Strymon Iridium recreates this amp's tone in pedal form

Soldano SLO

Soldano

72% similarity
$119.99via Reverb

Soldano SLO recreates this amp's tone in pedal form

Friedman IR-J Jake E. Lee Preamp

Friedman

72% similarity
$499via Reverb

Friedman IR-J Jake E. Lee Preamp recreates this amp's tone in pedal form

Friedman IR-D

Friedman

72% similarity
$377.13via Reverb

Friedman IR-D recreates this amp's tone in pedal form

Marshall 1987X MK II Reissue 2-Channel 50-Watt

Marshall

64% similarity
$2299.99via Reverb

Shared character: punchy, volume, hard rock

Marshall 1959HW Hand Wired

Marshall

59% similarity

Shared character: power section, pick attack, touch

Park P50RH

Park

52% similarity
$4600via Reverb

Shared character: pick attack, volume, crunch

Park PMV800

Park

51% similarity
$4049.98via Reverb

Shared character: pick attack, volume, crunch

Laney AOR 50 Series II

Laney

50% similarity
$934.11via Reverb

Shared character: punchy, hard rock, crunch

Bad Cat Pre-Sale! Hot Cat Head

Bad Cat

50% similarity

Shared character: pick attack, punchy, crunch

Park PLH18H

Park

49% similarity

Shared character: pick attack, volume, lead

Orange Tiny Terror

Orange

49% similarity

Shared character: volume, crunch

See all alternatives to the Marshall 1987X Plexy 50W Head (cheaper + boutique) →

Questions people ask

What are good alternatives to the Marshall 1987X Plexy 50W Head?+

The closest matches in character are the Strymon Iridium, the Soldano SLO, the Friedman IR-J Jake E. Lee Preamp.

What pairs well with the Marshall 1987X Plexy 50W Head?+

Strong matches from rig and tone-complementarity evidence: Beetronics Buzzter Boost Preamp, Xotic BB Preamp, Univox Super-Fuzz — Beetronics Buzzter Boost Preamp pushes a crunchy tone toward clean boost.

Compare

Related searches