Most of the guitar slingers on SG101 are looking for one thing: blackface Fender sound. Some go the classic vintage route; others go the Fender reissue route. Still others buy silverface amps and have them wired back to blackface circuit specs. Some make do with whatever they can afford, hoping one day for enough dead presidents to buy the dream.
My quest has been to find a Fender amp that has classic blackface tone - without the reliability issues of a 40-year-old piece of electronics. Recently, I found a company called Vintage Sound Amps that does the unthinkable: they build a blackface-correct Fender amp for a reasonable price.
Fender Hayes Twin Reverb
Rick, the amp guy, takes silver-face era amps (Twin, Super Reverbs, Deluxe Reverbs and Princeton Reverbs). The amps are cleaned and tested, with inferior parts tossed in the can. Then, he wires them back to AB763 specs, using quality Sprague electronics. The chassis are housed in finger-joined Mojo Tone wood cabs covered in era-correct black Tolex, given vintage-correct faceplates, new control knobs, new Accutronics reverb pan, and new speakers (generally, Weber VST, although a customer can make substitutions).
Rick also makes a mod to the vibrato circuit: an on/off feature is added that allows you to bypass the vibrato circuit, giving you extra clean boost. He also retubes the amp with Ruby Tubes.
I bought a Twin Reverb with 2 Weber VST 12" California speaker. It arrived in a heavy cardboard shipping box, padded with 2" thick aluminum-backed styrofoam padding. All the power tubes had been carefully placed in their boxes and bubble wrapped. Rick also includes a new two-button foot pedal for the vibrato and reverb controls, and a new Fender embroidered cover.
First impressions: the amp looks absolutely dynamite. Imagine going back in time to the 1960s and buying a new Fender Twin out of a store. Mine was flawless.
I plugged the tubes into their correct sockets and fired it up. No electronic noises when dialed to 4 on the volume scale. The amp sounds exactly like you would expect of a vintage blackface kept in immaculate condition; the sound is warmer and a little less defined than the vintage reissue units made by Fender.
Because of the 100-watt power supply (my amp was originally a 1972 silverface), it was noticeable louder than my 85 watt Fender reissue. Before I shipped my reissue to an eBay buyer, I plugged its 15" speaker into the Vintage Sound cab. It sounded noticeably better than the reissue, with a mellower tone to the high treble notes, which I always found ice-pick shrill on my Twin Custom 15. So, there was something in the reissue amps circuitry, not the Eminence speaker as I had supposed.
My Vintage Sound had two problems: a feedback note that developed in the reverb circuit when the reverb was turned up and a buzzing sound that sounded like a loose tube. A couple of calls to Rick and my local amp tech, Mike, and I solved both problems. The Reverb pan had a loose wire and one of the preamp tubes was bad. After replacing the tube and tightening the reverb output wire, the amp was perfect.
It is difficult to describe how good the old blackface amps sound; suffice it to say, this is the finest sounding Fender amp I have ever heard or played through. I can't wait to play it in a bar setting, where I can really turn it up and hear it sing.
If you are looking to buy a vintage blackface Fender amp but worry about the old electronics or don't want to pay a huge price, Vintage Sound may be your solution. Rick also makes his own custom amp based on the AB763 circuit; it is equipped with a single 12" or 2 10s" and has a cool art-deco speaker grille and a cool blackface style faceplate that says "Vintage Sound Amp." You can check out the web site at:
ww.vintagesoundamps.com.
Prices for the amps are listed on the site. Suffice it to say, they fall somewhere in the middle ground between a Fender Vintage Reissue and a vintage Blackface on eBay or at your local quality guitar store - if you can find one.
Thanks for the review.
I was looking at blonde piggyback Fender amps on eBay the other day and was thinking - why doesn't someone do a PTP, hand-wired recreation of these increasingly expensive vintage gems?
Maybe I can convince Rick at Vintage Sounds to do a blonde Tremolux head restoration for me.
Rick does work on vintage Blackface amps - I am sure he would be happy to work on a Tremolux. Since it has the same AB763 circuit as the Showman and Twin, it is surely something he can handle. Since the Tremolux was discontinued in 1966, there really aren't any silverface versions available - but Rick could probably do one from scratch.
I really can't express what a great job he did on my amp. It is kinda surprising that there are so many boutique makers that do the Tweed-era amps, but hardly any that do Blackface. Many still regard this as the high-water era in Fender amplifiers.
If anyone knows of more amp builders doing Vintage Blackface designs, it would be interesting to know.
very nice review Gavin! I am a little envious of your "new" Fender!
I wonder if he'd take on a Bassman project?
-dp
Hey dude, How you been? Nice article on 80's surf revival. I don't have much of this stuff in my collection. I think a lot of it was inferior (not a fan of The Malibooz, Jon & The Night Riders, etc. and Dick Dales 80s stuff), but I was hugely surprised you included the Raybeats, who I thought were brilliant. I think that may be what brought me back to surf ... in the back of my mind, I recalled their album in my roomates collection. Loved their cover of Link Ray's "Jack the Ripper" - before I even knew who Link was!
To answer your question, Rick at Vintage Sound will work on any silver face Fender amp. I am sure he could wire your Bassman back to blackface specs. He does fantastic work! I wish you could hear my amp, it is a work of ART!
I am currently restoring a '64/'65 Jazzmaster I got on eBay. It was originally daphne blue, but some idiot stripped it, routed the neck pocket to put in wider pickups (no idea here, maybe dimarzios or P-90s), and generally screwed it up. No neck, either. So, I got a neck from USA Custom guitars (70s headstock, clay dots, maple fretboard, vintage fret wire, vintage 60s "C" shape, drilled for Kluson tuners), and some Seymour Duncan antiquities II pickups. Should be nice when I am done.
Thought about going the 100 percent vintage route, but with stuff like pickguards going for $100 or more, I thought better of it. Collectors don't make any sense to me - give me the right feel and sound, that's all I ask.
Well, hope you are enjoying the summer. Probably hot as Hades inland, are you getting out to the ocean at all? Still boogie boarding? Or are you back to giving surfing a try? I suggest a big longboard that picks up waves really easily. They're fun and befitting an old-timer like yourself!
I am going to Punta Mita, Mexico (near Puerto Vallarta) in September. Hoping I don't drown.
Best wishes,
Gavin