Fender Amps

[willo]

Anyone know any good resources, places of info, soundclips etc for Fender amps? I'm pretty interested in the current Bassman reissue and the Vibroverb...

Cheers! :D

[_tom_]

www.fenderforum.com and www.tdpri.com seem to be useful forums, I prefer tdpri just because fender forum is cr@ppily laid out and the guy who runs it seems like a bit of a tit.

[Crazy Gra]

G'day,

I like Fender amps...........

I'm hoping I'm not teaching grandma to suck eggs here but with the greatest respect, beware those Fender reissues, mine sounded like s*#t until I biased the thing (it was waaaaay cold presumably to ensure they actually didnt replace any power valves under their "super dooper" 6 months valve warranty) and swapped the Sovteks out. I'm still working on the tone stack on mine to get rid of the harshness in the tone. Also they're just not even close to the real ones, in tone or build, except for the genuine custom shop versions..............

I think they do a nice '64 Custom Vibroverb,  a Custom Bassman'd be sweet too. They should even have decent transformers etc in them unlike the re-issues.

The link below takes you to an article about "restoring" a reissue to something like the "real deal" and why he did it. If you can get past the sidetrack bits about pizza, cats etc it's a fairly enlightening read. I think if I had my time again I'd buy either a second hand reissue and "vintage" it or save my pennies up hard and buy a Custom version which are already built in a very similar way to the real deal, ie should be pine cabinets, PTP wiring, premium speaker, PT, OT, choke etc.

It's unfortunate that the reissues are built down to a price because Leo built his originals (anything up to Blackface era) to be quality first and priced accordingly.

Anyway I hope I've been some help to you. I wish I'd have had the same knowledge as I do now before getting the reissue brand new. :roll:

http://aga.rru.com/Events/MM-DRRI-rebuild/Cheers,

[Crazy Gra]

sorry that link is just this http://aga.rru.com/Events/MM-DRRI-rebuild/

[willo]

Hey man, cheers for the help. That link seems interesting; I'll give it a thorough read-through tomorrow. :)

I hear you regarding the quality of the reissues, this is one of my biggest concerns. Although, I must say that I am often sceptical when I read people on Harmony Central or whatever, and they never seem happy until they've changed the speaker, the transformer and everything which made the amp that particular amp in the first place!

For instance, this guy's custom Twin (in the link) - surely it would just be cheaper to get the custom made one in the first place rather than gutting the reissue?

Anyhow, my big big big problem, is of course, cash. I've got a JCM800 2203 from 1987 here which I think I could sell and make a fair amount towards the £1000 or so needed for the reissue, and make the rest up through work. But the Diaz & custom shop ones are more like upwards of £2000 - I don't think that I could - or even would - pay that, you know?

I remember reading somewhere that Marc Ribot plays Vibrolux (or Vibroverb?), and some of them may well have been the new (reissue) ones. He has incredible tone, in my opinion. The problem with Fender is their range is so complicated, a reissue Vibro could be the Diaz one, or the standard one...Anyhow, it could be internet myth.

So, any ideas man? You seem to know the score

[Crazy Gra]

Well for instance there's a '64 Vibroverb custom, yeah the Diaz, I love the solid state/valve rect switch deal on them. Sag or no sag, it seems like a smart update to me it's also got the "mojo" yankees love so much, slightly second hand, going for $3200 here in Australia that's about 1360 Sterling  (they're $6295 (2675 Sterling)new!!!!).

http://www.grouseguitars.com.au/amplifiers.htm#top  (scroll down)

Sure it's 425 pounds more than I paid for my DLX reissue but I believe  it's an entirely diffrent amp quality/vintage wise and I wouldn't be spending a crazy 2675 pounds!

Ya see?

My ass is red raw from spanking myself for stupidity 'cos I now have no $ for the Vibro.

I'm no expert but if you can look around the net (careful!) there are some experts (and some not) that do give of their knowledge on all things valve..............        http://www.tone-lizard.com

Harmony Central is in my opinion to be viewed only as mild entertainment LOL!

Artists using a particular amp seem to quite often have something sure that LOOKS like a 'lux or a 'verb or a super or whatever but what's under the hood? eg What did Diaz do with the Supers and Verbs for SRV? I don't know but I do know the standard bloody reissues don't sound the same.

Good luck and remember all the above is JMHO. Love the Vibroverb though!

[Jp.]

Another fender valve amp fan over  here... although I tend to play dirtier stuff so an adequate clean channel is good enough for my need so I prefer the Blues deville 4x10 and smaller 40w job.

although I do love the amps you guys are talking about I just dont  have a need for cleans that good.

because fender forum is cr@ppily laid out and the guy who runs it seems like a bit of a tit.

Thats AWESOME tom. I coudnt agree more.   :lol:

I used to hang out there a lot till I was told I couldnt have access to most of the functions till I paid up money. Then had a thread removed for being not PC. I presume.

He never responded to any of my e-mails.

Crazy Gra thats gonna take some digesting that page.... give it go tomorrow

[willo]

Hmmm...so I guess I've gotta look out for something second hand then?

Really, I'm just after a good clean tone; preferably with built in reverb. So, I've looked at the new VOX custom classics (even though, I know, they are a reissue), the Cornells (although he doesn't have a price on his website), and possibly at a Matamp - although I wasn't too chuffed with their clean samples posted up here before (I think I need to try them in person).

[Crazy Gra]

jp, the tone lizard bloke is just another guy with opinions, you know one of those "experts" that like to debunk other "experts" but a cracking good read anyways. His theory on speaker magnets (ceramic v alnico) is a particular piece that draws fierce criticism from the (electronics) engineer here at work.

It'd be good if Tim made  2 of the exact same pickup but used ceramic in one and alnico in the other and we'd see if there a difference in tone. I'm assuming that a difference would be heard in speakers too.

willo, Lots of those jazz type blokes go after clean and use a Roland don't they, you know solid state?  I haven't heard them but it may save you a quid AND tube hassles? There's a lot of good kit out there if you've got the $ though.

Ahh the Vox, I turned down a clone (and I mean it was an exact copy) of a Vox AC30, brand new, for $4000 Aus and risking like sounding like a broken record, I wish I'd've known..............

Choosing anything to go in the "tone chasing chain" is tough, there's so many variables.

[willo]

Hey man, cheers for the advice. I might go back and catch a train to my local Hughes & Kettner stockist, check out the Trilogy amp. A bit of a sharp diversion, right? :lol: Well, the amp covers a lot of ground and the cleans seem great too. I also got the new Tool album today and it reminded me that if I got a Fender amp, chances are I'd be shutting the door on making that kind of music.

[HTH AMPS]

Willo, how about this...   http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FENDER-TWIN-2X12-100W-ALL-VALVE-GUITAR-COMBO_W0QQitemZ7412166207QQcategoryZ10171QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

you're getting that classic Twin Reverb clean channel and a fire-breathing gain channel too.  They are pretty tasty amps, wouldn't like to lift one though (ouch!)  

 :twisted:

[willo]

Hey cheers for the link - but I don't think I'm going to be able to afford anything before the summer, when I shall hopefully get a full time job.

Just how heavy is a Fender Twin? I have the JCM800 2x12 combo, is it heavier than that? I live in the bloody attic and it's a right chore getting that up and downstairs for practice!