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I see that the numbers of surf guitarists using Fender Dual
Professionals is slowly growing - Paul of the Atomic Mosquitors and
Bob of the Beloved Invaders, as well as me. That's very cool.
The Madeira played a private party on Saturday, and we had both the
Troubadours and Madeira practices before that. I was using my Dual
Pro the whole day, and was struck again, as I am pretty much every
time, how GOOD it sounds. It even cut it for the Shadows stuff,
giving a very close approximation of Hank's signature tone. I just
LOVE this amp! It's loud as hell, too, and the reverb in it is very
juicy and drippy.
I know Eddie Katcher doesn't much care for it, and I believe him
that his vintage amps sound better for what he's doing. But man,
Showman amps are starting to get really damn expensive (I was going
to bid last night on a blackface one without tubes, and in uncertain
working order - it went up to $661 - what the hell????!) I noticed
that my Jazzmaster (Eddie's preferred axe) doesn't sound very good
through the Dual Pro - it definitely likes the Strat better. Maybe
that explains a part of it, or maybe Eddie just got a dud. But I
really can't recommend mine highly enough - with one proviso: the
original speakers (Celestion Vintage 30s) don't work well for surf.
They break up very easily, making the amp sound like a Marshall
wannabe (what the hell was Fender thinkning? I bet this is the main
reason why the amp was never a success - not a good match of amp and
speakers, something that is SO important). I see Paul, Bob and I
all have swapped (or are swapping) out the speakers. I got Weber's
replicas of alnico JBL D120Fs (with an aluminum dust cap), and that
really made the amp sing. So, you can sell the stock Celestions for
$150-200 or so, and get yourself some good speakers. And I bet the
15" JBL or JBL-like speaker (with properly matched impedence, of
course) would work very well. In fact, I saw one that was modified
in this way on eBay some months ago...
Anyway, the reason I bring this up now is cause i've been seeing
Dual Pros selling on eBay in the $1000-1200 range, which for a
relatively new handwired Fender 100W amp WITH built-in reverb unit
and the awesome brownface tremolo and that beautiful blonde-oxblood
look, well, it's really an amazing deal. I had two guys come up to
me on Saturday after our set, and compliment me on the tone and the
amp. This sort of a thing happens all the time. If you're in the
market for a good surf amp, keep in mind the Dual Pro. I give it a
big thumbs up! (Though still hoping to buy a Showman head in good
shape and working order for less than $600.)
Ivan
I saw one listed around here recently for $900!
I got mine for $1200. Still a great deal when you consider it would cost more
than that to
get a new TRRI with a RI outboard, and this is better. Plus, they went for $2100
plus when
they were new.
Grab em up now! Before somebody figures it out.
You're right though the V30's are a mismatch for this amp.
-Paul
--- In , "ipongrac" <ipongrac@g...> wrote:
> Anyway, the reason I bring this up now is cause i've been seeing
> Dual Pros selling on eBay in the $1000-1200 range, which for a
> relatively new handwired Fender 100W amp WITH built-in reverb unit
> and the awesome brownface tremolo and that beautiful blonde-oxblood
> look, well, it's really an amazing deal. I had two guys come up to
> me on Saturday after our set, and compliment me on the tone and the
> amp. This sort of a thing happens all the time. If you're in the
> market for a good surf amp, keep in mind the Dual Pro. I give it a
> big thumbs up! (Though still hoping to buy a Showman head in good
> shape and working order for less than $600.)
>
> Ivan
>
