oh, I have nothing new to say about it. just wanted to reprise that famous song from when I was in the Village People, HXDA, and get everyone up on the dance floor. “It’s fun to play through an HXDA...”
Now that is one amp I'm really wanting. Based in the UK, we don't have any here, but I am told by PRS that may change at some point in the future No idea why we can get all the others, but HXDA's and DG's are sadly missing from the UK line-up
Can you get one from a dealer in the US and use it with a voltage converter, the way US bands do when they tour, or have it modded for 240V operation? I’ve seen 5000 Watt step-up, step-down voltage converters for around $125 USD. Might be worth looking into if the amp appeals to you a lot. Here are two tracks with all guitars recorded using the HXDA, just to demo the variety of tones possible with the amp (and of course, there are many more tones on tap). The first one is McCarty with HXDA, the second is PS20 Ltd with HXDA: https://soundcloud.com/lschefman/waves-of-blue https://soundcloud.com/lschefman/pedaland-3 And for another take on tone, here’s a track with a 594 Soapbar and a 594 humbucker, through the DG30: https://soundcloud.com/lschefman/messya-deux-v2
So earlier today, prior to Les's last post, I was inspired to go play with my HXDA. But they reality struck - I needed to get to the grocery store, which meant not looking like something the cat dragged in, so I went about my chores. But I got them done, and just had a nice session with my CE into the HXDA - mostly straight in, but also messing with a reverb and a dirt pedal. I somehow managed to remember how to play You Shook Me All Night Long, a classic that I usually fumble over (esp. the intro), but with no accompanying rhythm guitar the solo section soon turned into David Gilmour messes around with the Angus Young sound and wanders off into the wilderness. Yeah, I like my HXDA.
My HXDA found a new home (WHAA-whaa) and the PRS amps I'm keeping are the DALLAS 50w 4x10 combo and my 100w Archon head which I converted to use EL34's. To each their own, right?
The HXDA is my favorite PRS amp. However, one has to like old school (way pre-JCM) Marshall tone and feel.
My feeling is that a great many players admire the sounds that at least one of their fave players got through a Plexi. A few notable examples among a great many, for those unfamiliar with Plexis: Allmans, Hendrix, Cream, Zep, Jeff Beck (Truth Album), AC/DC, Trower, Eric Johnson, Free, some ZZ Top, the Cars, some Grissom, Pete Townshend for a while, Ramones, Neil Young has used them, Slash (if memory serves), countless others from several eras. And of course, EVH used a famously modded one. There have been Marshall reissues that don’t quite sound like the older versions to me, and of course tons of builders have tried, to varying degrees of success/failure. I think PRS and Doug Sewell hit the bullseye with the HXDA, obviously, but I’ve tried to find my own sounds with the amp instead of duplicating others’ sounds. The beauty of the Plexi is that it’s very adaptable. A player can make it his/her own without difficulty, as most of the players in the above list did.
