One Control Purple Plexifier V2

The One Control Purple Plexifier V2 is a mini distortion pedal that aims to put a late sixties British plexi amplifier on your pedalboard. Delicious Audio describes it as "a high-end mini Plexi pedal offering a very responsive distortion with a gain range of +6dB to +67dB"¹. It was the first amp-in-a-box design One Control released, and the V2 revision gives it a full four knob layout in a small aluminum enclosure.

The tone the circuit is built around, as Delicious Audio puts it, is "Tight bottom end, bright highs, and a thick mid-range"¹. The MID control is the key to shaping that character: the thick mid-range "can be scooped or flattened with the MID control" for a fuller or more scooped voice¹. One Control also says the pedal "responds well to different playing dynamics, allowing guitarists to control the strength of the distortion based on their touch"², so backing off your pick attack cleans it up the way a cranked amp would.

Tight lows, bright highs and thick mids

The Purple Plexifier's goal, in Delicious Audio's words, "was to reproduce the classic sound of that iconic late sixties amp that has a similar name"¹. That means the pedal is voiced like a plexi-era Marshall rather than like a modern high gain pedal: firm low end, present treble and a mid-range you can either leave thick or scoop with the MID knob.

One Control describes the same target on its related Purple Plexifier 4K pages, saying that pedal "is designed to capture the legendary tone of classic British plexi amplifiers"². The 4K and the 4K Japonism Edition are later four knob versions of the same idea; the 4K is currently listed as sold out on One Control's site².

Because it is an amp-in-a-box rather than a pure boost or overdrive, the Purple Plexifier works two ways. One Control says you can "create a three dimensional distortion by itself or use it in conjunction with the amp's own distortion settings"¹, so it drives a clean amp on its own or stacks onto an amp that is already breaking up.

The controls

V2 puts all four controls on top of the case. In V1, the mids knob was a side trim pot, something you set once rather than adjusted while playing¹. The V2 layout:

One Control's 4K pages describe the MID control as "a new versatile MID control that allows for precise tone shaping"³, and the same four knob arrangement carries over from that design.

Power, bypass and specs

The pedal runs on a 9V battery or a standard DC power supply¹. One Control notes a recommendation here: "we do recommend the use of a balanced power supply to maximize the life and quality of this effect"¹. A balanced (isolated) supply rather than a daisy chain keeps noise out of a high gain pedal's output. Current draw is only 4mA at 9V¹, so it is easy on a power brick's budget.

Switching is true bypass¹, so the pedal leaves your signal alone when off. The full specification list from the V2 product page¹:

Where it sits among Plexi pedals

Delicious Audio added the Purple Plexifier V2 to its article about the best Plexi-style pedals¹, which is the field it competes in: pedals that aim to sound like a cranked plexi amp rather than a generic distortion. Other amp-in-a-box takes on the same amp include the Victory Amps V1 The Sheriff, based on Victory's Plexi-inspired Sheriff amp⁴. Within One Control's own range, the Purple Plexifier sits alongside other 4K series distortions such as the Dyna Red Distortion 4K and the Anodized Brown Distortion 4K.

On price, Delicious Audio was blunt: "It might be mini, but, at $179, the [One Control Plexifier] is not exactly affordable"¹. That was the June 2024 price, and the small size buys board space rather than a small bill.

Questions