What is your favorite Fender amp?

[Phil O'Keefe]

Any era, any model - what's your favorite Fender, and why?

 

[freshchops]

Weeeeeell... I haven't really met a Fender Amp I didn't get along with and that is a loaded question. But, If I had to be stuck playing one amp, rest of my life... it'd be the Twin Reverb. My current favorite player (and I have about 7) is a SilverFace 70's Supersonic Reverb. It's essentially the Twin Reverb circuitry, tube compliance and body of the Twin Reverb with the 1x15 speaker. I have one with the original JBL D130F (orange) speaker. It's just so thick, rich, smooth and lovely! I'm starting to keep an eye out for vintage, low wattage (110 or 210) combos for recording. Regardless, I think it's highly arguable that the Twin Reverb may very well be the best amp ever made!

[onelife]

Since I put a Jensen Alnico P10R speaker in my '73 Silverface Princeton Reverb (about 12 years ago) I would have to say it is my favourite amp simply because it sounds so good. It's also quite easy to move around and never gets really loud.

 

I also like the Blues Deluxe and will not complain if I play a festival somewhere and there is a Hot Rod Deluxe in the backline. I like the sound of a BF or SF Super Reverb but I don't like the lug (Vibrolux Reverb is a nice compromise). Of course there is the mighty Twin but agin it's not something I want to lug around any more.

[WRGKMC]

I bought my Blackface Bassman new back in 1968 and still have it.

I've owned several others as well including an M-80 head which I built into a 4X10 combo.

Fenders have a good working mans tone and most of their amps produce that similar tone.

 

The main differences with them is of course gain obtained by preamps and speakers.

The tube amps use similar tone stacking and the amps themselves are fairly generic

circuits that came from old radio designs.

 

I'm not "as" impressed with their solid state designs.

They have tried to break into amp modeling and built in effects builds.

Many are inexpensive and give a guitarist the ability to get some Fenderish tones

but the circuit quality isn't there. Its like my M80 head. Its built well, its has decent components

that have lasted a long time for an older head.

 

Then they do something stupid like put crap knobs on there that fall off and get lost and install plastic jacks that get cracked.

I don't mind the fact its a budget head, just don't cheapen up on the things that can get abused on the outside of the amp

when you're gigging. Tone wise their SS stuff is mediocre at best. Cleans on their SS amps are pretty good and close to the tube amps

SS Drive doesn't come close to their tube counterparts. They had one older SS blackface twin back in the 80's which wasn't too bad but

some of their newer stuff is awful.

 

I did sound for a friends band several yeas ago and he had one of Stage 100 DSP twins with onboard effects and had the expression pedal and all.

I did two gigs and a recording session with them so I was pretty much forced to analyze the sound quality. That crap amp gave me tinnitus every time

I heard it. The Drive (or speakers) had the nastiest piercing tone to them that made you want to leave the room. Its too bad because it was very versatile for tones.

 

It was one of their many attempts to capture the other modeling amps markets like Line 6 and Vox. Since the discontinued the line pretty quickly for something else

I'm guessing they didn't cut the mustard in sales. Fender still does well with their tube amp line but they have made so many SS amps that were duds.

Marshall make the Valve state amps which produces very good quality tones. Vox same thing.

 

Fender has to focus everything into One really good quality design, even if it does cost allot more. Then they can use that model as a framework and standard

for a series. Right now with all their toy amps they are more into the kindergarten Play school amp line selling junk to make a buck. If they don't turn that around and

get back on the professional line of amps, people will be looking back when those amps are vintage and saying that company used to make good amps 100 years ago but thay

lost it to the competition for 25 years and never got it back.

[guitarcapo]

Concert II.

 

I dread the day people find out about this awesome gem that's a vintage sleeper.

[Mark_Ramdular]

It's a toss up between the Deluxe Reverb, or Twin, though they sound quite similar.

 

They get the job done, and they are pretty damn iconic So many records I love use them both that it's hard to argue.

 

[thom]

A totally personal thing, cause none of the fender tube amps I played flatout sucked, some of them were even frikkin stellar impo...

 

But for me it's the ToneMaster. Classic fender cleans and a creamy dirt channel in one package. No reverb, I like plate/room pedal verb myself. The cleans aren't as sparkly/spiky as the cleans of a bassman/twin, which depending on your taste/style can be a good thing:)

 

The dirt can go from mild and bluesy to fuzzy hairy high gain, but not in a compressed marshally sorta way that tends to make every bar chord sound like ac/dc or guns'n'roses:)

 

I've been through countless of dirt peds...Vintage, boutique, you name it. And none of them could come remotely close to the ToneMaster's dirt channel. Bruce Dinky really knew what he was doing with that one. Too bad they're sorta pricey/rare, or I'd get myself a backup:s

[eflatminor]

Hard to beat a '59 Bassman. My favorite most-versatile amp.

 

But, my favorite Fender is probably a black face Super Reverb. Wonderful clean tones.

[mbengs1]

The fender twin reverb had the nicest clean tone i've heard. but I tried a VHT pitbull and the clean sound was just as good. the other fenders i've tried were not that special, like the Hot rod deville and the blues deville. I wasn't that impressed. the solid state fender amps I've tried were not nearly as good as the all-tube ones.

[Lawton]

AB763 Bandmaster!

[AlamoJoe]

My '67 Super Reverb. Owned it now for 39 years. Have had to work on it a bit, tube failures, blown speaker or two. Finally replaced the wiring harness to the tank....10 years ago. But she's clean toned when I want it...And Stevie Ray when I wind her up. Have played Dual Showmans, Princetons, Twins, Vibroverbs...I could go on...But I guess my 'ol trusty Super...is just Home...

[liquidsmoke]

The only one I've ever owned, a black knob Dual Showman. Very heavy to lug around but the clean channel takes pedals well and I got it for a good price just a few months back. Loud and lots of headroom.

 

I currently run it into two 2x12s and am looking to get more volume. I'd like to get 4x12s but they aren't cheap and they aren't fun to go up and down stairs with by yourself. The manual says the amp can take a third cab assuming the ohms are correct, I'm just wondering if each speaker would get the same amount of juice(assuming every speaker is the same). Adding another 2x12 to my stack would be cheaper than starting over with 4x12s.

[w-w-wertard]

I probably miss my old super reverb as much s my old plexi 50 watt.

[liquidsmoke]

Any of you have a Dual Showman or any amp that can power 3 cabs at once each from an output jack? The DS manual talks about how you can do this if you have 16 ohms cabs plugged into the main jack and extension parallel jack and an 8 ohm cab plugged into the extension series jack for a total load of 16 ohms(8+8). I'm just wondering if each cab had the same number of speakers and each speaker was the same model if each speaker would receive the same amount of juice. I'm guessing however that in this scenario half the power would be split between the two 16 ohm cabs and the one 8 ohm cab which would make the 8 sound louder. Can anyone confirm this? [TABLE]

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[PurpleTrails]

Twin reverb...specifically my early 70s one with the JBL k120 speakers in it. If only I could get that sound in an amp that weighed about half as much. With the JBLs and their huge magnets mine weighs in around 100 lbs.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Concert II.

 

I dread the day people find out about this awesome gem that's a vintage sleeper.

 

I'm a big fan of the II series amps from the early-mid 1980s... including the Concert. If I had to pick one amp that I'd call my "main amp", it would be my Princeton Reverb II with the factory-option EVM in it. Except for the Super Champ (which I also own), the whole II Series is rather under-rated IMHO.

 

But if I had to pick my favorite Fender amp of all time, I'd probably say Blackface Princeton or Princeton Reverb. They're great recording amps, have great reverb (at least one of them does), and killer vibrato (sic), and take pedals great.

[ken361]

I have the new 68 Custom Twin, its sounds just great! Strat or my SG running with my Bogner red or blue and Soul food. Owned a bunch and im done! loving this for a pedal platform. Cleans are sweet and the speakers when broken in voiced just right.

[Ripper7620]

Blonde Bassman or low powered Tweed Twin.

[Phil O'Keefe]

My '67 Super Reverb. Owned it now for 39 years. Have had to work on it a bit' date=' tube failures, blown speaker or two. Finally replaced the wiring harness to the tank....10 years ago. But she's clean toned when I want it...And Stevie Ray when I wind her up. Have played Dual Showmans, Princetons, Twins, Vibroverbs...I could go on...But I guess my 'ol trusty Super...is just [i']Home...[/i]

 

Supers are fantastic amps, and it sounds like you have a good one!

[Phil O'Keefe]

Twin reverb...specifically my early 70s one with the JBL k120 speakers in it. If only I could get that sound in an amp that weighed about half as much. With the JBLs and their huge magnets mine weighs in around 100 lbs.

 

You could try a Pro Reverb, but honestly, with the JBLs in there, it's still going to be heavy - just not quite as bad as a Twin. My Princeton Reverb II has a EVM in it, and feels like a MkI Boogie weight-wise. The amp will make a difference, but with heavy speakers, it's always going to be a heavy amp.

[Bb]

57 Tweed Deluxe and the 59 Bassman. These two amps have plenty of mids...and a guitar is a "mid" instrument. And if you need extro dirt, jumper the inputs. Need reverb? Play in a bigger room, remove the carpets, and use a longer cord. :-)

[Phil O'Keefe]

57 Tweed Deluxe and the 59 Bassman. These two amps have plenty of mids...and a guitar is a "mid" instrument. And if you need extro dirt' date=' jumper the inputs. Need reverb? Play in a bigger room, remove the carpets, and use a longer cord. :-)[/quote']

 

Both are classic amps, no doubt! philthumb

[Phil O'Keefe]

I have the new 68 Custom Twin' date=' its sounds just great! Strat or my SG running with my Bogner red or blue and Soul food. Owned a bunch and im done! loving this for a pedal platform. Cleans are sweet and the speakers when broken in voiced just right. [img']http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/filedata/fetch?filedataid=93753&type=medium[/img]

 

I've been wanting to check out those '68 reissues. I've heard that they break up a bit earlier than the '65 reissues - or at least I saw that mentioned somewhere about the two Princeton models. Any truth to that with the Twins?

[Peter Doubt]

I'd have to agree with the Princeton Reverb II. Highly under - rated.

[Kevbo599]

Tweed Vibrolux, love the sound of it.