I used to have one but sold it. Not sure how suitable for surf rock these are, really, but they are fun. Certainly it will produce a different sound than you are used to. Be sure to clean out that reverb pan. Mine used to give me the nastiest shocks! Anyhow, here are some photos I took of my old one:

Sorry, I do not recall the dimensions. Also, the schematic is available online.

SSIV

I remember reading somewhere that Evan Foster used one of these in the early days of the Boss Martians. I believe he even used it on the song "XKE" which is simply awesome, one of the great surf tunes of the nineties. And the reverb there sounds great.

Ivan

Ivan
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LHR - thanks for the pics. Now imagine someone drove over that unit with their truck and you'll be getting close to what I have! I started lookin' for one after reading that Link Wray used 'em on his early stuff. I'll have to do a ground-up resto on the one I've bought. If a repro cab looks like it's going to be too much work I have a few beat up old tube caddys that would make cool looking cabinets in a pinch. I'll have to fabricate a new chassis as the portion of it that makes up the control panel has broken off (very simple as it's just a piece of sheet metal w/ 2 90 degree bends!).

Here are some pics - and before you start laughin' too hard, keep in mind the price tag on this mess was only $30 (and I 'm an electronics tech so I do all my own work!). Btw, I hadn't heard that the Premier 90s were more prone to damage than any other 'verb unit - heck, this one still works after all it's been through!!!

Hummmmm.....Reverb unit...Boat anchor? What a project. best of luck. You need to borrow one to do a apple/apple comparison. ed

Traditional........speak softly and play through a big blonde amp. Did I mention that I still like big blonde amps?

I seem to recall the Danos have a small transformer on the tank that is prone to failure and once it does there isn't a current replacement that'll do the trick. Something to watch for if you see a fixer upper on fleabay.

I would think about mounting the reverb in an amp except:
- I don't want to hack any of my amps up
- I'm hoping to try the Premier as a preamp too (when the 'verb is turned down)
- outboard 'verb is way cool
- most of my amps have onboard 'verb already
- nothing beats the sound of kicking an outboard tank on stage!
- I like a challenge

I can't help but see potential when I come accross stuff like this - guess I appreciate old gear too much to just let something like this go for parts or to the landfill. It's probably going to take me a few weeks to come up with a cabinet and rebuild the chassis, but I'll be sure to post pictures when I'm done!

Richard - I'm surprised those old units were written off by those techs. Maybe it was a time/cost judgement call on their part? The design of the circuit is decent enough, so it's just a matter of upgrading or replacing parts until it works. As the Premier units don't fetch anything near what Fender unit goes for maybe they didn't think they were worth putting any effort into 'em?

I had a premier 90. It was cheap ($250 on Ebay) Mine was a '65.

It was very cool sounding in that it was as much a reverb as it was an overdrive. No clean tone there, at all.

In the end, it was NOTHING compared to a RI fender tank, so I sold mine on Ebay last year. I rarely ever used it. Like I said, too dirty sounding and mine was a 10 in terms of working conditions. I had it checked and re-tubed. It looked better than it sounded.

The mix control had a wierd curve, it was not "linear".

g

i got one a few months ago off ebay. i love it! i havent had any problems at all w/ it like the others above have stated. i use it at every show and i love to kick the crap out of the thing for those crashes. the soundman usually hates me. of course ive never played through a fender unit so maybe i dont know what im missing. but for the 300 bucks, the looks, the sounds and the eyes of hatred from soundmen are worth every penny! good luck in your rebuild.

get coosta mingy!!! www.myspace.com/nocoastsurfers

Wow, that’s a great am!

The Exotic Guitar of Kahuna Kawentzmann

You can get the boy out of the Keynes era, but you can’t get the Keynes era out of the boy.

Update:

Well, time has become more of a premium lately following the birth of my son so I ended up selling the Gibbs tank from the reverb unit to my buddy who needed a good sounding tank in his Uncle Spot reverb unit - strangely enough, I ended up making a profit on the deal. I still have the guts - if anyone needs any replacement parts to bring a Premier 90 back to life, fire me an email as I would like to them put to good use!

btw, I'm very happy with my '64 6G15!

zak wrote: With the reverb and trem turned off, it sounds a lot like a brownface Deluxe

Zak, that is one good lookin' amp! I've got a brown Deluxe and if your 100T gets that sound, you've definitely got yourself a keeper! Besides that 10th Anniversary show, are the Treblemakers playin' much? Love to see you guys play out west sometime!