1970 Plush P1000S

Plush amplifiers are not very common and it is likely you have never heard of them. If have you have seen or heard one though you are not likely to forget them. Plush amps were made in New York starting in the very late 1960’s and made until the mid 1970’s. These are basically copies of Fender Black-Panel amps - this one being a near identical clone of the Twin Reverb/Dual Showman circuit from the mid 1960’s. The only real difference between this and a Twin Reverb are the construction techniques, and the super flashy aesthetics. The schematic and tube lineup are the same but with an added 12AX7 for the tube-driven line out circuit. These are covered in a “Kustom” style blue-sparkle tuck-and-roll upholstery and sport a groovy faceplate/font design which certainly makes them stand out. With 85 Watts RMS of power and tube driven Reverb/Tremolo they can get ear-bleedingly loud and sound great while doing it. Inside they are hand-wired on a unique eyelit board not unlike vintage Gibson amps. Later on in the 70’s they moved to PCB construction, which due to poor quality engineering of the power supply circuit boards, meant they had a reputation for failure and low reliability - even these models can be remedied though. Famous users include: Jeff Beck, and Sly and the Family Stone for brief periods each.

This amp came in to my shop in almost original electronic condition. It already had the power cord replaced along with an old re-tube, but nothing else. This one needed a full restoration including a cap job, new power/misc. resistors, cleaning, and new tubes. The customer also wanted the amp modded to work better for high and low volume scenarios.

Amp was completely restored. The electrolytic cap can was replaced with a new USA made CE brand (40/20/20/20uf x @ 525v) unit for the filter section. All other filter/bias/bypass caps were replaced with upgraded voltage and temperature rated MOD brand electrolytic’s. New 2 Watt Metal Oxide power dropping resistors were installed for better reliability and lower noise floor. The cathode resistors for V1/V3 and V7 were replaced with 2 Watt Metal Oxide type units due to heat damage and for preventative maintenance. All plate resistors were replaced with 2 Watt Reduced Mass Metal Film type units for preventative maintenance and reliability. All screen resistors were replaced with 3 Watt Cement 470 ohm type units for same reasoning. Four resistors in the cathode and NF positions were replaced with 1/2 Watt Carbon Film units in the process of other maintenance. A Trainwreck style Type-3 Master volume was put in to replace the “External Speaker” jack so the amp would be more versatile tone-wise and be more usable for household playing.

The original tubes did not test good and were all replaced. This was the lineup chosen: V1-V2 = JJ 12AX7S, V3/V7 = EHX12AT7, V4-V6 = JJ 12AX7S, V8-V11 = JJ 5881 Matched Quad. These tubes were picked for best tone, reliability, and to lower the overall volume of the amp and bring on earlier power tube distortion. The switch to 5881’s (approx. 75% of the output power of a 6L6GC) was desired by the customer so that it would be easier too use in lower volume situations and to not have it be so clean in tonality. The 5881's Fixed Bias was set to %51 Class AB Plate Dissipation with a B+ of 458VDC. The tube sockets were all treated with De-Oxit to remove/prevent corrosion. New hardware was installed for the bottom panel to replace the stripped out screws present. The pots were sprayed out and the amp was cleaned inside and out. Amp now functions well.