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New Amp!

Deep93Deep93 Posts: 86
edited December 2011 in Musicians and Gearheads
So my dads girlfriends father passed away before i got a chance to meet him. He was a guitar player and a big blues fan. She decided to give me her fathers mint condition 1971 Fender Twin Reverb Combo. Its my first tube amp and Ive been getting too know it for the last few hours. I'm wondering if anyone owns one? Or has ever tried one?

Like i said, its my first Tube Amp so i don't know exactly what to expect, Its sounds fantastic to me. But let me know what you think!
Toronto 9/11/2011
Ottawa 9/14/2011
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  • F5AgainstOneF5AgainstOne Posts: 1,462
    Deep93 wrote:
    So my dads girlfriends father passed away before i got a chance to meet him. He was a guitar player and a big blues fan. She decided to give me her fathers mint condition 1971 Fender Twin Reverb Combo. Its my first tube amp and Ive been getting too know it for the last few hours. I'm wondering if anyone owns one? Or has ever tried one?

    Like i said, its my first Tube Amp so i don't know exactly what to expect, Its sounds fantastic to me. But let me know what you think!

    The Fender twins are nice! They are particularly great for that warm clean tube sound. For that biting blues crunch this might need to be cranked (and these amps are loud). For lower volumes I'd suggest a vintage Ibanez tube screamer (Stevie Ray Used these).

    Whether or not it is right for you will greatly depend on what style of music you play though. You could always change the tubes and go for a bit different sound, but if you don't know how to do the tube biasing, i'd let a pro handle it.
    Either way, I'd hang on to it. They are great amps.
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  • Deep93Deep93 Posts: 86
    F5AgainstOne wrote:
    Deep93 wrote:
    So my dads girlfriends father passed away before i got a chance to meet him. He was a guitar player and a big blues fan. She decided to give me her fathers mint condition 1971 Fender Twin Reverb Combo. Its my first tube amp and Ive been getting too know it for the last few hours. I'm wondering if anyone owns one? Or has ever tried one?

    Like i said, its my first Tube Amp so i don't know exactly what to expect, Its sounds fantastic to me. But let me know what you think!

    The Fender twins are nice! They are particularly great for that warm clean tube sound. For that biting blues crunch this might need to be cranked (and these amps are loud). For lower volumes I'd suggest a vintage Ibanez tube screamer (Stevie Ray Used these).

    Whether or not it is right for you will greatly depend on what style of music you play though. You could always change the tubes and go for a bit different sound, but if you don't know how to do the tube biasing, i'd let a pro handle it.
    Either way, I'd hang on to it. They are great amps.

    All about the tube screamer man! and I'm definitely going to have to bring my amp in for any tube related issues, I really don't know much about them. Loving this amp though. Thanks for your response!

    Also if i wanted to switch between this amp and a JCM 800 or 900 depending on what style im playing, that would mean buying a signal splitter right?
    Toronto 9/11/2011
    Ottawa 9/14/2011
    Amsterdam 6/26/2012!
  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Posts: 6,395
    Two words describe the Fender Twin Reverb: Bright, and Loud. It's a great amp for bright, glassy clean tones, and can get really good country and surf-rock sorts of tones. Unfortunately, you tend to need to crank it up really loud to get any sort of saturation and warmth. It can take overdrive and distortion pedals relatively well.

    If it's an actual 1971, then it shouldn't be a Master Volume model, which was available starting in 1972. That means it's essentially the same design as the blackface models, with just a little more clean output available from the power tubes.

    As you probably know, the amp is barely capable of bedroom volumes. At "1", it's probably loud enough to shake windows. And it doesn't start to sound really good until it's at around "5". The reverb, though, is gorgeous, as is the tremolo. A lot of players would use a Twin as their "clean" amp, and switch to something else for their "dirty" sound; an A-B, A-B-Y, or Pan unit works great for this.

    If you're interested in this amp over the long term, find a good overdrive or distortion pedal and a power attenuator (Weber Mass, THD Hot Plate, Marshall Power Brake) to get a little more out of the power tubes at lower volumes. Either that, or move to a farmhouse in the country with no neighbors for 5 miles, and get some really good earplugs.
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
  • Deep93Deep93 Posts: 86
    mccreadyisgod wrote:
    Two words describe the Fender Twin Reverb: Bright, and Loud. It's a great amp for bright, glassy clean tones, and can get really good country and surf-rock sorts of tones. Unfortunately, you tend to need to crank it up really loud to get any sort of saturation and warmth. It can take overdrive and distortion pedals relatively well.

    If it's an actual 1971, then it shouldn't be a Master Volume model, which was available starting in 1972. That means it's essentially the same design as the blackface models, with just a little more clean output available from the power tubes.

    As you probably know, the amp is barely capable of bedroom volumes. At "1", it's probably loud enough to shake windows. And it doesn't start to sound really good until it's at around "5". The reverb, though, is gorgeous, as is the tremolo. A lot of players would use a Twin as their "clean" amp, and switch to something else for their "dirty" sound; an A-B, A-B-Y, or Pan unit works great for this.

    If you're interested in this amp over the long term, find a good overdrive or distortion pedal and a power attenuator (Weber Mass, THD Hot Plate, Marshall Power Brake) to get a little more out of the power tubes at lower volumes. Either that, or move to a farmhouse in the country with no neighbors for 5 miles, and get some really good earplugs.

    Thanks for all the advice man. You were right. The amp is actually a 72. I'm looking at a Morley ABY AB box. That should do it right?
    Toronto 9/11/2011
    Ottawa 9/14/2011
    Amsterdam 6/26/2012!
  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Posts: 6,395
    Morley makes a great, cheap passive A-B-Y box (I own and use one). If you want to go fancier, Radial makes some pretty good passive and active boxes.

    So you've got a Master Volume Twin, eh? That means it's got even more wattage, so even louder. Very nice amp, though... I love the sound of just about any bridge pickup into a cranked Master Volume Twin. One note: You can crank the Master Volume all the way up, and then use the channel Volume to control actual loudness, essentially bypassing the Master Volume section of the amp. But play around with it; some people are Master Volume types of players, and some aren't (like me).
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
  • All Those YesterdaysAll Those Yesterdays Posts: 2,723
    mccreadyisgod wrote:
    Morley makes a great, cheap passive A-B-Y box (I own and use one). If you want to go fancier, Radial makes some pretty good passive and active boxes.

    So you've got a Master Volume Twin, eh? That means it's got even more wattage, so even louder. Very nice amp, though... I love the sound of just about any bridge pickup into a cranked Master Volume Twin. One note: You can crank the Master Volume all the way up, and then use the channel Volume to control actual loudness, essentially bypassing the Master Volume section of the amp. But play around with it; some people are Master Volume types of players, and some aren't (like me).


    With the push pull on the master volume as well. A friend of mine owns one. His has the upgrade option JBL speakers in lieu of the standard Jensons from back then as well. It's a nice piece. Ridiculously loud. AC Booster works well in front of it.

    Pre-amp tubes tend to go microphonic pretty quick in those.
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  • F5AgainstOneF5AgainstOne Posts: 1,462
    Deep93 wrote:
    mccreadyisgod wrote:
    Two words describe the Fender Twin Reverb: Bright, and Loud. It's a great amp for bright, glassy clean tones, and can get really good country and surf-rock sorts of tones. Unfortunately, you tend to need to crank it up really loud to get any sort of saturation and warmth. It can take overdrive and distortion pedals relatively well.

    If it's an actual 1971, then it shouldn't be a Master Volume model, which was available starting in 1972. That means it's essentially the same design as the blackface models, with just a little more clean output available from the power tubes.

    As you probably know, the amp is barely capable of bedroom volumes. At "1", it's probably loud enough to shake windows. And it doesn't start to sound really good until it's at around "5". The reverb, though, is gorgeous, as is the tremolo. A lot of players would use a Twin as their "clean" amp, and switch to something else for their "dirty" sound; an A-B, A-B-Y, or Pan unit works great for this.

    If you're interested in this amp over the long term, find a good overdrive or distortion pedal and a power attenuator (Weber Mass, THD Hot Plate, Marshall Power Brake) to get a little more out of the power tubes at lower volumes. Either that, or move to a farmhouse in the country with no neighbors for 5 miles, and get some really good earplugs.

    Thanks for all the advice man. You were right. The amp is actually a 72. I'm looking at a Morley ABY AB box. That should do it right?
    This is what I use to switch between my Fender '65 Deluxe reverb and my Orange Dual Terror.
    It carries a steeper pricetag than most, but if you read up on it (see link) you'll understand why it is necessary
    Bones-TwinCity-slice-310w.jpg
    http://www.tonebone.com/bones-twincity.htm
    EV Solo Boston 6/16/11
    East Troy 9/3/11
    East Troy 9/4/11
    Amsterdam 6/26/12
    Amsterdam 6/27/12
    Wrigley Field 7/19-20/13
    Worcester, MA 10/15/13
    Worcester, MA 10/16/13
    Hartford, CT 10/25/13
    Seattle, WA 12/06/13
    Denver, CO 10/22/14
    Fenway 2016 #1
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  • Deep93Deep93 Posts: 86
    F5AgainstOne wrote:
    Deep93 wrote:
    mccreadyisgod wrote:
    Two words describe the Fender Twin Reverb: Bright, and Loud. It's a great amp for bright, glassy clean tones, and can get really good country and surf-rock sorts of tones. Unfortunately, you tend to need to crank it up really loud to get any sort of saturation and warmth. It can take overdrive and distortion pedals relatively well.

    If it's an actual 1971, then it shouldn't be a Master Volume model, which was available starting in 1972. That means it's essentially the same design as the blackface models, with just a little more clean output available from the power tubes.

    As you probably know, the amp is barely capable of bedroom volumes. At "1", it's probably loud enough to shake windows. And it doesn't start to sound really good until it's at around "5". The reverb, though, is gorgeous, as is the tremolo. A lot of players would use a Twin as their "clean" amp, and switch to something else for their "dirty" sound; an A-B, A-B-Y, or Pan unit works great for this.

    If you're interested in this amp over the long term, find a good overdrive or distortion pedal and a power attenuator (Weber Mass, THD Hot Plate, Marshall Power Brake) to get a little more out of the power tubes at lower volumes. Either that, or move to a farmhouse in the country with no neighbors for 5 miles, and get some really good earplugs.

    Thanks for all the advice man. You were right. The amp is actually a 72. I'm looking at a Morley ABY AB box. That should do it right?
    This is what I use to switch between my Fender '65 Deluxe reverb and my Orange Dual Terror.
    It carries a steeper pricetag than most, but if you read up on it (see link) you'll understand why it is necessary
    Bones-TwinCity-slice-310w.jpg
    http://www.tonebone.com/bones-twincity.htm

    Definitely seems like the Cadillac of amp switchers. Ill be sure to pick one up.
    Toronto 9/11/2011
    Ottawa 9/14/2011
    Amsterdam 6/26/2012!
  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Posts: 6,395
    If that's the Cadillac, then here's the BMW:

    http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/ ... 8000000000

    Lehle also makes really good high-end boxes.
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
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