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OT - Fender Excelsior Amp in Da House!


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I got my Excelsior today and I have a different take on it.

 

Pro: It looks fab! Better than the pics online. NIce solid construction. The tolex is a rich dark brown. Cranked up with a Tele or Strat it gets a mean nasty tweedish overdrive. Great Stones sounds too.

Great price especially with 15% off. This amp should be a dream for mods!!!

 

Cons: There is NO clean headroom at all. Not even with single coils and a Les Paul drives it to mush. I tried a 12AT7 in the preamp and it was a nice sound but still no headroom and the volume dropped.

Trem is nice but not awesome, just nice. Depth is pre set. Mine has tube rattles or microphonics and the power tube cage seems to rattle a bit but could be easily removed. Speaker sounds nice but not deep like I would expect a 15" to sound maybe because the cab is small and open. The bright switch is piercing to my ears and with a Tele on bridge it's harsh. I like the dark setting better.

 

My take after a couple hours in my studio. As it is, it's a one trick pony and a good trick: funky greasy grind. Don't know if I'll keep it. If I do, I check out for mods.

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Just read Revs take that there is plenty of headroom. I just did another test and my Excelsior has NO clean headroom to speak of. My little GA5 reissue has gobs of headroom in comparison.

I have to turn the volume way down to a very soft level to have no hair on it and even then if you use a neck pup with tone rolled back it starts to break up. Not for Jazz!

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Just read Revs take that there is plenty of headroom. I just did another test and my Excelsior has NO clean headroom to speak of. My little GA5 reissue has gobs of headroom in comparison.

I have to turn the volume way down to a very soft level to have no hair on it and even then if you use a neck pup with tone rolled back it starts to break up. Not for Jazz!

 

 

Bad tubes maybe? :idk:

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I tried a few different preamp tubes with no improvement now I'm going to try some good N.O.S. power tubes. . . will report back.

I really think this thing is voiced for vintage breakup but I'm sure someone will come up with great mods. Looks cool in my studio.

It's all Jimmy Reed and no Kenny Burrell.

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I just did another test and my Excelsior has NO clean headroom to speak of. My little GA5 reissue has gobs of headroom in comparison.

I have to turn the volume way down to a very soft level to have no hair on it and even then if you use a neck pup with tone rolled back it starts to break up. Not for Jazz!



:snax:

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It's all Jimmy Reed and no Kenny Burrell.

 

Wow - that's awesome! :lol: I mean, the way you expressed that - it really made instant sense in light of that analogy. Grungy and gritty vs clean and warm. It sucks for you that you're not able to get both (at different volumes of course) - but hopefully the power tube swap will clear things up.

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Ok I tried some nice NOX 6V6s but only got a bit more headroom. No usable cleans. I think the voicing of the tone circuit is awful. Too tinny and thin on bright and no body on dark.

The 15" speaker sounds like a 10" unless you turn the amp around. The wide open back sounds fuller and would a great way to mic this amp. Maybe I got a bad unit but I give it a 10 for looks and 4 for sound. I hear China not USA in the sound. That said, I'm sure the mod freaks will turn this baby into a gem.

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Holy {censored}.


I just tried one at my local music store. Damn it sounds amazing. There is a really good amount of clean headroom too, on all the channels. I played a fat strat into it and got nice cleans out of the bridge humbucker.

 

 

defo gona get one now to replace my VOX Pathfinder now that its Travvy-Approved

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Holy {censored}.


I just tried one at my local music store. Damn it sounds amazing. There is a really good amount of clean headroom too, on all the channels. I played a fat strat into it and got nice cleans out of the bridge humbucker.

 

 

Okay, so that's 2 for clean headroom and 1 who says it doesn't have any?

 

Either way, I'm definitely tempted to get one.

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Okay, so that's 2 for clean headroom and 1 who says it doesn't have any?


Either way, I'm definitely tempted to get one.

 

 

The other guy must've got a lemon I think.

 

The cleans arent super duper fender twin cleans, but it's got clean headroom, and the cleans do sound great.

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