Eddie Van Halen’s “brown sound” is, for many players, the Holy Grail of guitar tone. Featured on his band’s 1978, debut album, it continues to captivate listeners and amp builders, many of whom have taken on the challenge of re-creating it. The latest to try is SoCal’s own David Bray, with his Coco 50.

Bray’s 50-watt head is powered by a pair of EL34s in a circuit based on a ’68 Marshall Model 1959 Super Lead “plexi.” On the front panel are controls for Volume 1 (bright) and Volume 2 (dark) that blend like a classic plexi and work together to set overall gain, along with Hi and Lo inputs, Output (which acts as a master Volume), knobs for Bass, Middle, Treble, a Tight switch to tweak low-end, and a Presence control.

With a Les Paul plugged into Hi, Volume 1 cranked, Volume 2 at 10 o’clock, and all three EQ knobs at 2 o’clock, the Coco 50 nailed recognizable sounds from ’80s hard rock and metal records, with more gain on tap than a stock plexi. Tone was rich, thick, and articulate, even at the highest gain settings. Dripping with harmonic overtones and a vocal quality, it offered fat, juicy mids and exceptional responsiveness that made every note sing.

The Lo input yielded lower gain but was still fat, warm, and very capable of dialing-in classic-rock, blues, and clean tones that retained the bouncy feel of the Hi input.

Experimenting with the Volume controls unlocked an even wider variety of tones; plugged into Hi and cranking Volume 2 past noon while keeping Volume 1 at 10 o’clock puts you in early Santana territory with a fat low-end, round highs, and just enough gain and bite to make notes soar. The increased bottom also enhances the bouncy feel when playing leads.

The Bray’s footswitchable Gangster feature provides instant volume/gain boost to 10 no matter where Volume 1 is set, effectively mimicking a dual-channel amp. The Quieter knob controls volume jump.

The Coco 50 isn’t just a plexi replica, it’s a reimagined, finely tuned amp that captures the soul of the Model 1959 Super Lead and spirit of EVH’s legendary tone, but brings modern functionality in a hand-wired package with high-end components. Whether it gets you into “brown sound” territory depends on you and your fingers, but no matter what, the Coco 50 will not disappoint.

This article originally appeared in VG’s February 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.