Original or reissue?

I have a lot of experience with both the reissues, but I've only fleetingly played the originals. As far as athe originals go the '64 Vibroverb is one of the more overrated amps Fender ever made. Not bad, just not a holy grail or anything. The '63 however... there is an amp.

And reissues... the '64 is an amp to stay away from. Luckily I bought mine for $800 and sold for $1600. The '63 reissues is, in my opinion, the best amp Fender has made in the past several decades.

I wouldn't use the name of the circuit to describe the reissues.

'63=brown
'64=black

There are originals and reissues of each. Quite different amps.

I own a 63 RIVV (brown) and it's an outstanding amp. Probably the best of the lot out of all the Fender reissue amps I've owned or demoed.

It's not a high power amp but thus far it has sufficed for most of the venues I play. Great onboard reverb and tremolo channels.

Fender could have included an adjustable bias but it's fixed on the RI.

The one I purchased has Weber speakers in it and they sound great for most stuff especially Blues.I 've been considering purchasing a 1x15" cab to use with it. Just use the amp as a head.

If you can find one at a fair price they're great amps. Kind of rare though?

I'm sure they are great amps, really. Looking at the link you sent it says 6G16 (Circuit varies from the original), it also says that it has a SS rectifier. The original was a tube rectifier. I'm not sure maybe an owner can confirm this one way or the other.. If I'm saying anything it's that the Brownface Vibroverb borrowed essentially the Tremolux circuit and added reverb. Both are ~ 35 watts. The entire Brownface Pro series were ~ 40 watts and the Showman and Twins were ~85+. The power rating and the features "less reverb" on the Vibroverb made them lower-end on the amplifier innovation scale during the Brownface era. I believe that given you have an outboard reverb tank, the Super is the better amp with a similar configuration but all the enhancements introduced into the Pro line. The configuration is highly desirable for both the 2-10" Vibroverb and the Super, but the value of the 6G16 Vibroverb is the rarity and not its features. I had the opportunity to buy a near mint 6G16 last year at a pretty good price point, but I couldn't justify it based on its design.

Cool topic.. I own two 64 original Vibroverb w/ JBLD130f it's a great amp for sure.. I also owned a 63 2x10 original Vibroverb sadly sold it to a guy out in Hollywood.. for large $$$ I was so bummed that I did that because I bought the reissue thinking it would be a close copy Wrong!!! Now I own two 64 1x15 Vibroverbs... and I am still kicking my own ass!!!

Emilien03
Does anyone here has try this amp?
I have read in similar posts that most of
the Vibroverbs (64 original and RI) you have try tried are the AA763 ones ...

But what about the 6G16 ... ??

I have a 1963 Vibroverb 2x10". I have not had it very long, but have used it in the studio doing Country/Rockabilly type stuff. It has all the original pre-amp tubes in it. Mullard, and RCA. The power tubes I installed are NOS Tung Sol 5881. The circuit board is all original except for the 4 coupling caps which ar Zozo's. I have been given some original blue Ajax caps for it, but have not tried them yet. I put in a Mercury Magnetics Power Transformer becuase the original was blown. The speakers are not original. I put in some 1950's Jensen P10r ... sounds great with a Shure SM7b in front. This amp reminds me of a crossover of the richness, gaininess of a tweed, or Brown Fender, and a suggestion of fidelity of a Blonde. I now see why these are highly valued. The reverb is very nice, too, a little different than the later reverb combo amps. it's about 38watts with the Tung Sols... just about perfect. Thinking of bring it Saturday to Don's in HB to use with the new Slacktone Amp.

Last edited: Jul 27, 2010 23:04:51

Hoosier-Hodad
I have a pair of 1959 Jensen P10R's in my 5G4 Super. I can't imagine the amp sounding any better.

Yes, the P10r are the absolute King of clear HiFi tone. I kinda like the the bark of an original P10Q, though a nicely balanced combination can be unstoppable. I wish I could find some of the original brown Oxfords that the Vibroverb came with originally. I will guess they sound a little bit more rock attitude.

I'm down a pair of Oxford 10K5's for my Concert as well. The Super is a very early version so the Jensen P10R are period appropriate, but oddly enough the speakers (not original to the amp) I have are actually RCA OEMs.

I did locate a completely original and stunning `63 Vibroverb here in California. The owner had removed the original Oxford's for safe keeping. I couldn't justify what I would have had to put into the trade to get the amp in the end.

The recent Ewa thread got me thinking, and in lieu of derailing that one too much further, I figure I'd dig this great thread up. I'd like to ask the opinion of those with more experience in such things concerning a dilemma I've been having. I'm looking to do a speaker upgrade in my '63 RI Vibroverb. I know that the '64s have 1x15, while the '63 has 2X10s. I'm not sure which way to go on this. I love the low end response of 15" speakers, and I fear that I won't get the same with 10's. Am I way off here? I just don't have a lot of experience with 10" speakers, and I don't want to unfairly judge them by the anemic stock speakers that are in there currently.

I chatted Ryan and Kyle about this a couple of months back, and Ryan spoke about the Eminence Ragin' Cajun 10s and how much he loved them. I did the same with Kyle, and he ended up switching out to 12" speakers (and a different OT), and now Ferenc is talking about Celestions. These are all great recommendations, and I'm happy to have all of this info. Just looking to get as many opinions as possible from people who have experience with these things.

Anyone else care to chime in? 15 vs 10s? Speaker prefs?

• Jamie
  SSS Agent #181
  Cartoons drenched in reverb!
  The Mystery Men?
  El Capitan & The Reluctant Sadists

Ruhar wrote:

The gods created the vibroverb with 10" speakers in
mind. Changing this would cause the forces of nature
to spiral out of control

nice

haha

• Jamie
  SSS Agent #181
  Cartoons drenched in reverb!
  The Mystery Men?
  El Capitan & The Reluctant Sadists