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> OK then, anyone feel like taking on the vintage vs reissue issue
> regarding reverb and amps?
Vintage - expensive, unreliable, but tube-tone to die for when properly set up
with good
New-Old-Stock tubes, clean vintage speakers, quality capacitors and etc.
New "reissue" - a good approximation of the classic vintage amps (and the '62
Fender
Reverb), & reasonably priced. Main draw back is circuit boards in place of
hand-wired
circuits; these can fail under heavy stage use, due to their fragility. Some
hand-wired
"Custom" Fender amps are also available; mucho dinero, amigo. Better get a
second loan
on the home!
Other Fender amps: the "Hot Rod" series of amps have been a good compromise for
those
who want tube tone, but with some modern features like effects loops (a place to
plug in
effects after the first stage of signal amplification), master volume switches
(more control
over the amp's distortion levels), headphone-out jacks, etc. Also, cheaper. But,
their
construction and tone leave something to be desired. A good "first" amp choice.
The Fender Reverb is a tube effect, rather than an amp. It processes the signal
thru a
simple tube circuit and a spring reverb tank, resulting in the lush, wet sound
we associate
with surf music. Powered, because the wimpy little electrical signal coming from
your
guitar coils needs to be beefed up to go through the big reverb tank springs,
then that
signal needs to be beefed up or "recovered" so that it can be sent on to the
amp. Most
effects are powered, they are just powered with solid state signal
amplification, rather than
with tube amplification.
The Fender Reverbs (often refered to as (6 G15 Reverb, to denote their circuit
design)
were introduced in '62, and became THE effect for the first surf bands - and all
since. Leo
Fender later incorporated reverb into his amplifiers, but most surf players
still prefer the
Reverb unit because it produces a more lush and wet reverb sound.
Fender amps - including the Deluxe Reverb and the Vibrolux - have been used for
nearly
every kind of rock music, along with jazz and blues. You can affect the signal
considerably
with overdrive and distortion effects pedals, even make them sound similar to a
Marshall.
But we desire and lust for the Fender amp for its clean headroom and crystaline,
angelic,
otherworldly treble response and upper-level harmonics. Yumm...
Headphones? Sheesh! You might want to get a little "pocket" amp to play after
midnight in
the apartment complex. The vintage Fenders did not have headphone jacks, but
some of
the newer, modern practice models do.
Good luck!
Gavin
_________
And, as I understand it, the outboard
> reverb unit does take tubes and power, but is not an amp per se. Can
> anyone explain how that works? I've read the manual on the fender
> website, I understand it works better between the guitar and amp
> (especially if distortion is ever desired), but I don't understand why
> the device is powered. I thought the springs were a passive
> mechanical effect.
>
> How versatile are the Deluxe and Vibrolux amps for non-surf music?
>
> My experience in the past was with Crate, Peavey, and Fender Squier
> practice amp. Actually, the Fender was my favorite, the others were
> too "metal" (in a bad way... like glam metal - I like the dirty stuff
> just fine) sounding.
>
> Do the above Fender amps have headphone jacks? Do they sound
> tolerable at low volumes?
>
> Again, I really appreciate all this advice for an old newbie!
I'm with Gavin on the dissapointment with the modern pc board tube amps. I just
had another problem with one and this time it ain't completely fixable. I've
gone to the new hand-wired Fender Twin. It has wonderful tone but requires
outboard reverb and it ain't cheap. On the upside is that it's not as heavy nor
loud as the usual Twin Reverb. If your young and can lift a twin, you can find
awesome sounding point to point wired silver face models fer reasonable prices,
-Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: Gavin Ehringer
To:
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2005 6:19 PM
Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Fender amps, Fender Reverb, old v. new, etc. (was
Guitar or amp?)
> OK then, anyone feel like taking on the vintage vs reissue issue
> regarding reverb and amps?
Vintage - expensive, unreliable, but tube-tone to die for when properly set up
with good
New-Old-Stock tubes, clean vintage speakers, quality capacitors and etc.
New "reissue" - a good approximation of the classic vintage amps (and the '62
Fender
Reverb), & reasonably priced. Main draw back is circuit boards in place of
hand-wired
circuits; these can fail under heavy stage use, due to their fragility. Some
hand-wired
"Custom" Fender amps are also available; mucho dinero, amigo. Better get a
second loan
on the home!
Other Fender amps: the "Hot Rod" series of amps have been a good compromise
for those
who want tube tone, but with some modern features like effects loops (a place
to plug in
effects after the first stage of signal amplification), master volume switches
(more control
over the amp's distortion levels), headphone-out jacks, etc. Also, cheaper.
But, their
construction and tone leave something to be desired. A good "first" amp
choice.
The Fender Reverb is a tube effect, rather than an amp. It processes the
signal thru a
simple tube circuit and a spring reverb tank, resulting in the lush, wet sound
we associate
with surf music. Powered, because the wimpy little electrical signal coming
from your
guitar coils needs to be beefed up to go through the big reverb tank springs,
then that
signal needs to be beefed up or "recovered" so that it can be sent on to the
amp. Most
effects are powered, they are just powered with solid state signal
amplification, rather than
with tube amplification.
The Fender Reverbs (often refered to as (6 G15 Reverb, to denote their circuit
design)
were introduced in '62, and became THE effect for the first surf bands - and
all since. Leo
Fender later incorporated reverb into his amplifiers, but most surf players
still prefer the
Reverb unit because it produces a more lush and wet reverb sound.
Fender amps - including the Deluxe Reverb and the Vibrolux - have been used
for nearly
every kind of rock music, along with jazz and blues. You can affect the signal
considerably
with overdrive and distortion effects pedals, even make them sound similar to
a Marshall.
But we desire and lust for the Fender amp for its clean headroom and
crystaline, angelic,
otherworldly treble response and upper-level harmonics. Yumm...
Headphones? Sheesh! You might want to get a little "pocket" amp to play after
midnight in
the apartment complex. The vintage Fenders did not have headphone jacks, but
some of
the newer, modern practice models do.
Good luck!
Gavin
_________
And, as I understand it, the outboard
> reverb unit does take tubes and power, but is not an amp per se. Can
> anyone explain how that works? I've read the manual on the fender
> website, I understand it works better between the guitar and amp
> (especially if distortion is ever desired), but I don't understand why
> the device is powered. I thought the springs were a passive
> mechanical effect.
>
> How versatile are the Deluxe and Vibrolux amps for non-surf music?
>
> My experience in the past was with Crate, Peavey, and Fender Squier
> practice amp. Actually, the Fender was my favorite, the others were
> too "metal" (in a bad way... like glam metal - I like the dirty stuff
> just fine) sounding.
>
> Do the above Fender amps have headphone jacks? Do they sound
> tolerable at low volumes?
>
> Again, I really appreciate all this advice for an old newbie!
.
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