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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink I am about to give up on my Fender 1963 RI reverb tank

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guitar wrote:

Hey mate, come and compare it to my original tank if you like, give me a call, Martin

Wombat, that's about as good as it gets from a very busy but generous fellow. I'd avail myself of that opportunity.
Yes

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

DannySnyder wrote:

I'm a firm believer of the pan being the main element that impacts how drippy the tank works.

Yup.

SSIV

Oh, the dreaded crumbling-PCB issue. Been there, and I'm not going back. You can either spend a lot of money paying a tech to fix that or more having them rewire it as a p2p circuit, which will last. Cheaper, just get the Surfy Bear and solder it into the existing pots and jacks. It will sound close enough to fool most listeners, if you ask me.

Gawd, I hate that Fender calls PCB-based gear 'Reissue'! That is so disingenuous.
ncgalt1984 wrote:

JObeast, I believe the problem with my tank is the PCB. The input and output connectors are built onto the PCB. When I first started having problems I could wiggle my cables and it would cut in and out. Now it just doesn't work at all. I've read various places online that these jacks are known to be jinky.

I am not a techy kind of guy. I was foolish enough to think that a vintage reissue would actually be a vintage reissue and not just a fake modeler PCB. What I really want is to have the tank completely gutted and hand-wired from scratch like an actual vintage tank.

Squink Out!

I've been using my "dreaded reissue" for probably close to 10 years with no problems. I do not ever kick it. The PCB board is basically the same circuitry (I've been told by someone well known here who built his own amazing sounding tank from scratch). It is not fake or modeled, it does not change the sound, although hand wired units will undoubtedly last longer and have higher resale value. The person I mentioned used an old Gibbs pan chosen from a stack where each pan was tested...they are not all the same. I've been using my bandmate's vintage blonde tank lately and while it definitely sounds better, it is not really a dramatic difference.

Stormtiger wrote:

I've been using my "dreaded reissue" for probably close to 10 years with no problems.

I used mine for 13 years, I sold the chassis a few months back. I never had issues with mine and it sounded good. The Gomez I replaced it with sounds better, but it hasn't opened up a new world of possibilities. The gomez really tamed the highs, so that was good. The knobs were more responsive as well.

The KNOBS DO A LOT for a tanks characteristics.

There's your problem!

So the RI tank has been gathering dust in the shed for a year or two, and I recently managed to get a few replacement pans to try out.

  1. old Gibbs pan
  2. old unbranded pan
    3 new TAD pan
  3. new Altronics pan

Disappointed in the TAD and Autronics pans, the two old ones were a lot better. So I went with the Gibbs, its still does not have a huge drip but is very musical sounding, the RI tank is now fun to play! Cowabunga!

'Surf Music Lasts Forever'

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