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Softube and Marshall have partnered up for two new native guitar amp plug-ins – the Marshall Plexi Super Lead 1959 and a replica of the Beast, Slayer guitarist Kerry King’s Marshall 2203KK.
The Marshall Plexi Super Lead 1959 is modeled on a pristine 1967 example taken from Marshall’s museum. It’s combined with an era-appropriate 1960BHW 4x12 cab recorded by AC/DC engineer Tony Platt.
Other features include mic selections and placements by Platt, captured in London’s Kore Studios; more than 50 Platt-designed presets; three microphone combination setups (FET, valve, and dynamic); three separate mics per setting (two close and one room); and a Channel Strip that includes pans, volume faders and solo for each mic, plus a two band Main presets Out EQ.
The Beast, meanwhile is an exact recreation of Kerry King’s model, down to the KT88 power tubes and hand-wired circuit. Softube further replicated the amp’s tone by going in the studio and on the road with King to capture cabinet responses and microphone combinations for both live and recording situations.
Features include two Marshall Mode Four cabinets recorded in two studio setups and one live stage setup; studio setups Studio and Custom recorded by producer Terry Date in L.A.’s Henson Studios; more than 25 King-inspired presets; and three different cabinet recording options (studio, live and custom).
For more information on both plugins, head to Softube.
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Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
