Does anyone out there have a 1976-1978 Silver Face Reverb Unit?

If so, have you compared it to a 61 or a post 93 RI?

If so, what was the difference, if any?

If you still have a 76, I would appreciate it if you would post the innards, caps, etc.

This POS I have sounds terrible and it may be caused by the last owner modifying it, or because of the cheap caps Fender used during the 70's.

If the latter, then if one of you owners experienced the same problem and rectified it, what was the cure? Photos will be appreciated.

Every once in a while I see this POS in the garage and if I have some free time, which is not often, I get the energy to get it to sound like my 61, if that is possible.

Maybe they were built to sound like crap, thus the reason any Fender amp with a SF is avoided like us GI's in Nam avoided the hooker babes so we would not get a dose of the clap.

Hey, don't badmouth SF Fender amps! They are just a $30 parts-swap away from BF.
I heard bad stuff about the reverb units though. It's such a simple circuit, should be easy to retrofit it to early-60s specs, no?
Also, try changing out the tank. Often, they just get worn beyond help. But luckily, there are plenty of NOS and slightly-used vintage tanks laying around in AZ warehouses. I lucked out with 3 good Gibbs tanks for $15.

Squink Out!

Well they did put an extra tube in it.

Surfbeat, you post this question every couple of years. A silver face reverb unit is a pretty rare thing and I'm guessing not too many people have experience with them. Still, it's a fairly simple device and a good amp tech should be able to tell you what's wrong with it. Good luck!

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
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"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

According to Sprung and Teagle, the main differences between the original (and reissued) reverb units and the 76-78 silver faced ones are:

No choke in the power supply, relying on bigger filter caps to smooth out the DC.
Hum balance circuit for the tube heaters

Single diode in the power supply replaced the three in series from before

A 6V6 driver tube rather than the original 6K6

An additional 12AX7 at the output stage of the unit to act as a buffer.

The input jack and output jacks have a connecting wire to short the output when no guitar was plugged into the input.

Seems like Spanky Twangler had one of the SF units at one point. I did too in the 80's and it worked fine. Better than any pedal by a long shot.

ed

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

Or even "worse" - Music Man amps! Beyond SF in clean power, solid state preamps with Master Volume Oh my! I even like the preamp overdrive,esp with Tremolo cranked. Leo knew from amplifier design.

WoodyJ wrote:

And as JObeast said, don't believe everything you read you read on the internet about silverface Fender amps. My unmodified '75 Twin is one of the best-sounding amps I've ever played through in the past half century of playing guitar. The secret is to leave the master volume on 10 and use a pedal for distortion.

Squink Out!

10-4 Da Ron. All my "brown face appearing" killer katcher konversions were once silver face Dual Showman Reverbs. One each '68,'69 and '70. As Woody will concur, they don't take no crap off nobody.

I can "listen" to about 5 minutes of blues wanking and I'm scouting out the closest exit.

Ok Ed.....back downstairs.

ed

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

Actually I do have one, but when you first posted it was still in the shop getting fixed.

I have modified 90's Fender RI, a Gomez G-Spring and a Texotica.

I compared and indeed the SF sounds different, especially with the original Accutronics pan. I swapped some pans around to check, and was able to get some drip from it (pop in your terminology). I did not swap tubes to compare.

You are correct, it does not sound in the same ball park as the other units. I plan to keep mine, probably would work well as a Bass VI unit.

Ran

The Scimitars

KTR, I just sent you a PM to ask if you could send me a photo your the innards of your 76.

Since your 76's sound also is not comparable to a RI, and mine only pops when all knobs are on ten, unlike my 61 where it pops at 5, I am opining that the problem lies with cheap (did not use the "C" word Mr. moderator) innards.

Reading Weber's books, as well as a few others, each state that Fender relied on cheap Chinese caps and electrolytics in the mid 70's, thus lies a significant reason SF's sound terrible.

In an effort to give some input to others who own these POS SF 76 Reverb units, I am posting the innards of mine for you to compare to yours.

All comments welcome.

Kick: Please keep that mother open. I just figured out a techie took my stock tranny out and replaced it with a cheap Mojo and did not hook up one of the wires.

Please give me a close up of the wires coming out of the tranny and where they go.

I may also have some good news for you to bring your reverb up to the 61 sound.

I would talk more, but the wife is on my @$$ to get ready to go out for a dinner engagement.

I will be back with you as soon as I can. You da man.

Joey

Thanks Kicker. I really appreciate the effort you took to help me out.

I am gonna look over your photos now.

I did notice you had Illinois caps. Did it have a cap job? Fender used those in the silverfaces and everything I have read about caps is that is one main reason SF amps sound terrible.

I think it should have Mallorys. Although those caps do not effect tone, since you related that the SF did not sound as good as your 6G15, maybe there is where the problem lies?

When my project ends I will have a lot of data for others who own these relative unknown verbs.

Again, I really appreciate what you did for me.