Any Fender Twin/Super/Deluxe Reverb players here?

[fps_dean]

So I am seriously considering trading my two heads and two cabinets '69 Marshall Major for a smaller combo amp that I can fit inside my house (I have to keep them at my dad's) and play at more reasonable volumes. 

My first option is a Fender Twin or Super Reverb -- I am leaning towards the Super Reverb because it has alnico magnet speakers and Jimmy Herring uses alnico magnets with his Deluxe Reverb head.  I love the clean sound on these amps, but they have no distortion.

Has anyone had decent luck with any overdrive pedals and any of these amps?  I don't play much metal, but if I could get enough gain to play something like Frank Zappa's RDNZL, maybe some Led Zeppelin that would be ideal (I also have a Marshall Studio 15 combo which is a bit higher gain).  People seem to have decent luck with a Fulltone OCD and a Fulldrive 2 Mosfet from what I've seen.

Alternatively, I could look at other combos too, but I don't think any have the same cleans.  I'm playing on a Les Paul these days (just bought a '81 LP Custom that should arrive tomorrow -- with Tim Shaws.  Will eventually get Mules with coil splits and phase shifts installed).

Thanks in advance.

[Telerocker]

Twins and Super Reverbs were designed to get a loud clean tone on (bigger) stages. To me they seem overkill  at home. I would get a Deluxe or a Vibrolux, if you are after the Fender clean tone. Even a Princeton will do at home. Maybe a Super Sonic 22 is an option too.

Fender amps can be picky when it comes to pedals. This is due to the bright cap (which can be removed). The OCD might work fine. the Suhr Shiba Drive and Riot Dist. are specially designed to work on clean channels. I had also good results with an Emma Reezafratzitz (what a name, I know), a handmade pedal from Denmark, and the Brunetti Mercury Box 2, which sounds huge on the clean channel.

A Rivera Chubster or R55 is a good alternative. The clean tones are real Fenderish, plus the Rivera's have a classic Marshall-style channel on board. I had an R55, so I know. Loud as hell, btw.

I'm also very fond of the Valvetech amps. The VAC 25 or 50 are great Fender-style amps. Very dynamic and totally handwired. With the classic four inputs you can use a patchcable to drive the amp into classic Marshall grind.

[fps_dean]

The volume on the Twin is certainly much more of an issue as well, and I gather they have more headroom.  I was thinking a Super Reverb would be a happy medium, and the big thing is I can fit it at home where I can't even fit my half stacks (small house).  I know people always say to turn bright off when using pedals...

The store I normally shop at has a Rivera Sedona 55 listed online, and it's slightly cheaper than the Silverface Super Reverb they have listed for reference of a price point.  I'll check that out as well.  They also have a Mesa Mark III I plan to check out (but I think Mesa's always sound a little dark). Thanks

[gwEm]

By coincidence I used a boutique Fender Twin copy for a recording session yesterday.

Very clean, sparky, a mile of headroom, loud too.

Actually, it was a very impressive amp if you like clean. As a rock and metal player thats not really my bag.

To juice it up a bit I tried a couple of pedals - a treble booster and an MI crunch box. Both worked very well.

[Telerocker]

Yesterday at a festival a guitarist played a vintage Guild Starfire  through an old Silverface Deluxe with a drivepedal in front. Superb tones. Even a Deluxe can get pretty loud.

[fps_dean]

Oh sorry guys, I've been insanely busy the past several weeks, and forgot I even posted here.  But I did end up trading my Major for a 1968 (silverface) Super Reverb and also got a Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret pedal.  The D.L.S. is amazing and seems like it was made for the 60s Fender amps and the tone for a pedal was just killer!  My experience with pedals is usually they're a bit fizzy or processed sounding and a decent cranked amp will normally sound better but in this case, I think the pedal put most amps to shame!  It's designed to sound like a plexi, but through the alnico speakers of the Super Reverb, it gives me a very unique tone.  It worked nicely through a Deluxe Reverb as well, in fact I like its crunch sound through the Super better than my Marshalls, even though I was buying the Super for cleans and was hoping for something decent enough to practice with a crunch tone with, so I'm very happy.

The Super Reverb was the winner for me for several reasons.  First, I think the alnico magnet speakers make the Super Reverb the best sounding among the Deluxe, Super or Twins.  Second, it is loud enough to gig with, but not too loud to play at home at lower volumes.  Third, with a Les Paul with 57 classics, the Twin starts compressing at 6 which is neighbor-complaint loud, and the Super started compressing at 3, which is usable at home (although not ideal).  The Deluxe started compressing around 5 and at that point, I believe it was a little louder than the Super Reverb at 3.

[Telerocker]

Nice catch. I like the SR's, but don't like to lift them.