Vintage Fender Amp...please help!

Dirty Mosquito

Hey guys, I need some help. I am considering purchasing a 1972 Fender Twin Amp and wanted to know some details about it. I've always preferred the sound of vintage amps and had some friends in Portland that used to play on vintage Fenders. I've heard that it's better to get one from the early to mid sixties, but I may be able to get a good deal on a 72. Does anyone have an info about this model or year? I know I want a twin for sure. I've also considerred a Vibrolux, but I am not really sure on the difference.

Note: I am looking for a classic warm tone, but have the ability to have it crunch and be intense.

Pacomc79

it's a silverface. Post CBS buyout (67) the circuit was changed in the silverfaces in late 67 early 68 resulting in a bit of a cleaner sound compared to the blackface fenders. It's probably got JBL speakers in it with the big silver domes. It should be very very very loud. They are cool amps regardless of what era you get. I've found many silverface amps I love and I'm generally a tweed (50's) and blackface (middle 60's) fan.

https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/cali12f.htm speaker probably looks like this right? that's a JBL 120

If you get it you should definately check out the new lovepedal super 6 even if it's just for fun.

http://lovepedal.com/45.htm

You can make it warm, but silverfaces are more known for thier clean tones and clarity more than warmth.

You might check out the new tweed twin while you have a chance they are a bit warmer as are the old bassmans. Then again if you get the 72 and it's too bright and clear you could always go with some different speakers like alnicos or some other warmer british 12. That will warm it up quite a bit.

do try Bjorn Juhls suggestions though from the love pedal website.

Dirty Mosquito

Pacomc79 wrote:

it's a silverface. Post CBS buyout (67) the circuit was changed in the silverfaces in late 67 early 68 resulting in a bit of a cleaner sound compared to the blackface fenders. It's probably got JBL speakers in it with the big silver domes. It should be very very very loud. They are cool amps regardless of what era you get. I've found many silverface amps I love and I'm generally a tweed (50's) and blackface (middle 60's) fan.

https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/cali12f.htm speaker probably looks like this right? that's a JBL 120

If you get it you should definately check out the new lovepedal super 6 even if it's just for fun.

http://lovepedal.com/45.htm

You can make it warm, but silverfaces are more known for thier clean tones and clarity more than warmth.

You might check out the new tweed twin while you have a chance they are a bit warmer as are the old bassmans. Then again if you get the 72 and it's too bright and clear you could always go with some different speakers like alnicos or some other warmer british 12. That will warm it up quite a bit.

do try Bjorn Juhls suggestions though from the love pedal website.

Thanks for all your help. I think the speakers are "supposidly" original and made by Utah, custom engineered for fender. The amp is in really good shape, only two owners.

Pacomc79

Dirty Mosquito wrote:

Thanks for all your help. I think the speakers are "supposidly" original and made by Utah, custom engineered for fender. The amp is in really good shape, only two owners.

ah. Ok, probably Utah's then. No worries, those are good speakers too.

one thing you need to check on is the maintence. Old filter capacitors (paper in oil) can leak and get old. So you might find out when the last cap job was if ever and if the amp has received a clean bill of health recently from a repair shop. It's probably a freaking killer amp. Lots of people used to tour with them. I think the guy from the white stripes uses twins too actually.

and try it out before you shell out the cash. Other than that have fun. Just know that it's going to be LOUD!!!

Dirty Mosquito

Pacomc79 wrote:

ah. Ok, probably oxfords then. No worries, those are good speakers too.

Good to know. Thanks for your insight. I wanted to get something that would be good enough on stage, but also something that I can use to record. Currently I have a fender strat, but plan on getting either a Schecter PT or a Fender Telecaster to diversify my sound and some pedals. I will definitely consider the pedal you referred me to. Thanks again.

Pacomc79

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=189400&highlight=Silverface+Fender+Twin

here's a good thread from TGP.


oh and IMHO, I detest Master Volume mods in vintage fenders.

Dirty Mosquito

Pacomc79 wrote:

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=189400&highlight=Silverface+Fender+Twin

here's a good thread from TGP.


oh and IMHO, I detest Master Volume mods in vintage fenders.

Hey, I am sort of ignorant on this subject...would you be able to explain in lehman's terms what the difference is between the MV and the NMV and what that means exactly? I am lost to be honest.

Pacomc79

non master volume is channel volume only, no pre gain control.

In a master volume amp there are two knobs, the amp volume (master volume) and the channel volume (gain volume pre gain etc)

The master volume allows you to work the pre amp or channel volume hard while keeping the total volume of the amp lower.

I tend to think on fenders adding the master volume kind of ruins the tone. It's not designed into the circuit. to me the integration of the preamp and power amp is integral to the overall tone and the MV's that have been added sound mushy.

I hope that's lehman enough.

Master Volume allows you to turn up the gain, while keeping the amp volume low.

The exceptions are the amps designed around those fender circuits (virtually everything) You can design a good MV with fenders and Paul Rivera has made a really nice living doing it (as well as a ton of other guys) I just have never found a vintage fender with a master volume mod I really liked. I prefer them as God and Leo Fender intended.

Dirty Mosquito

Pacomc79 wrote:

non master volume is channel volume only, no pre gain control.

In a master volume amp there are two knobs, the amp volume (master volume) and the channel volume (gain volume pre gain etc)

The master volume allows you to work the pre amp or channel volume hard while keeping the total volume of the amp lower.

I tend to think on fenders adding the master volume kind of ruins the tone. It's not designed into the circuit. to me the integration of the preamp and power amp is integral to the overall tone and the MV's that have been added sound mushy.

I hope that's lehman enough.

Master Volume allows you to turn up the gain, while keeping the amp volume low.

The exceptions are the amps designed around those fender circuits (virtually everything) You can design a good MV with fenders and Paul Rivera has made a really nice living doing it (as well as a ton of other guys) I just have never found a vintage fender with a master volume mod I really liked. I prefer them as God and Leo Fender intended.

That was perfect, I understand now thanks. Well I hope I can get this amp. it's for like $560 right now, hopefully I win it. I plan on upgrading the speakers to JBL or something better and getting other mods done, but I am not sure on the blackfacing yet.

ledhed43

Pacomc79 wrote:

ah. Ok, probably Utah's then. No worries, those are good speakers too.

one thing you need to check on is the maintence. Old filter capacitors (paper in oil) can leak and get old. So you might find out when the last cap job was if ever and if the amp has received a clean bill of health recently from a repair shop. It's probably a freaking killer amp. Lots of people used to tour with them. I think the guy from the white stripes uses twins too actually.

and try it out before you shell out the cash. Other than that have fun. Just know that it's going to be LOUD!!!

i think jack white uses a 70's fender twin reverb and two sears silvertone 6x10 100 watt combos. there was a twin in the local store i lusted after but now its gone. the replaced it on the floor with an old bassman. if had the cash i would be knee deep in vintage tweed.

Dirty Mosquito

Yay!!! I won the amp. I can't wait to get it. Thanks for all your advice guys. Can't wait to plug it in and crank it up. I will probably get evicted, but at least I will go out in style...LOL

sennin

Dirty Mosquito wrote:

Yay!!! I won the amp. I can't wait to get it. Thanks for all your advice guys. Can't wait to plug it in and crank it up. I will probably get evicted, but at least I will go out in style...LOL

Yeah....that's one problem with renting.

*thinks back to Micheal J. Fox in Back to the future*

Dirty Mosquito

sennin wrote:

Yeah....that's one problem with renting.

*thinks back to Micheal J. Fox in Back to the future*

Yep, great reference by the way.

mccreadyisgod

Be prepared, the Twins are a tad bright. But put a classic Tele bridge PU into that thing, crank the Master Volume all the way, and then bring the input volume up 'til it sings, and you're in Keith Richards' private heaven.

lucylespian

I'm bumping this, cos i'm dying to see if dirty mosquito gets evicted, cos when I bought my reccy, the effects lopp was out so i was running it effectively without a master volume.
It was so fucking loud I had a migraine every night for a week until I learned how to activate the master volume. I'm lucky I only have horses to hear me play.
100 watts of tube heaven for dirty mosquito, 100 watts of hell for his neighbours !!!
They won't be able to evict you anyway, you could fight off a SWAT team if you really turn it up.

Dirty Mosquito

lucylespian wrote:

I'm bumping this, cos i'm dying to see if dirty mosquito gets evicted, cos when I bought my reccy, the effects lopp was out so i was running it effectively without a master volume.
It was so fucking loud I had a migraine every night for a week until I learned how to activate the master volume. I'm lucky I only have horses to hear me play.
100 watts of tube heaven for dirty mosquito, 100 watts of hell for his neighbours !!!
They won't be able to evict you anyway, you could fight off a SWAT team if you really turn it up.

LOL. Yeah, I don't know what I am going to do. I had to have the amp, eventhough I probably won't be able to put the volume past 1, if even that. Well when I get a house, which hopefully will be soon, I will be able to crank it.

lucylespian

BUmping again, still need to know how it's going.
Have you got it yet ?? Is it good ?
Come on, fess up !!

Dirty Mosquito

lucylespian wrote:

BUmping again, still need to know how it's going.
Have you got it yet ?? Is it good ?
Come on, fess up !!

Haven't got it yet. I got the tubes. The Amp should be here today or tomorrow....due to the Holidays.

lucylespian

Bumpity bump, how's that amp dude? I get my H&K back from hospital tomorrow, and have been in Lonestar land for 2/52 now. Am just a bit amp crazy at present, so keen to hear how it's going !!

Dirty Mosquito

lucylespian wrote:

Bumpity bump, how's that amp dude? I get my H&K back from hospital tomorrow, and have been in Lonestar land for 2/52 now. Am just a bit amp crazy at present, so keen to hear how it's going !!

Just got my amp on Friday. It took me a while to put it all together from shipping, but I love it. It has such a nice tone. As expected, I need to do a little maintenance. I need to repair some of the knobs, replace some of the tolex, and make sure all the wiring is to spec. It isn't as loud as I anticpated, which is cool, because I can't be that loud anyway. I was able to put the master volume to like 5 and main volume to 5. It gets pretty loud at this level, but then I just turn down the volume on my guitar and is sounds pretty decent. Due to living in my apartment I haven't been able to crank it loud enough to get major distortion or anything, but I love the clean, vintage tone it gives me at lower volumes. I think I may eventually upgrade the speakers to Celestion (SP).

lucylespian

Cool, I got my H&K back on the weekend after a few weeks away. It is heaven to have my baby back.
Nice to hear that you can enjoy your amp, rather than flinching every time you turn it on.
There just ain't nothing like a nice set of tubes !!

Dirty Mosquito

lucylespian wrote:

Cool, I got my H&K back on the weekend after a few weeks away. It is heaven to have my baby back.
Nice to hear that you can enjoy your amp, rather than flinching every time you turn it on.
There just ain't nothing like a nice set of tubes !!

I hear ya. Can't wait to get a house so I can really crank it...

exhausted

yeah, by the time you get to a house, there's this chick and sometimes a really short person with you. so you still don't get to crank it.

Dirty Mosquito

exhausted wrote:

yeah, by the time you get to a house, there's this chick and sometimes a really short person with you. so you still don't get to crank it.

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!1

Dirty Mosquito

So Sunday after the Bears won the conference, I put my cheap $30 mic in front of my amp and recorded about 1 minute of playing to see how it would sound. I was actually pretty impressed. For a crappy mic, it sounded really good, in a lot of ways better than close mic'ng it. So now I am excited to get my money saved up for some better gear and put a nice Sm57 or something better in front of it and see how it records.

All Those Yesterdays

lucylespian wrote:

Cool, I got my H&K back on the weekend after a few weeks away. It is heaven to have my baby back.
Nice to hear that you can enjoy your amp, rather than flinching every time you turn it on.
There just ain't nothing like a nice set of tubes !!

A really nice set of speakers seems way better then a nice set of tubes!

All Those Yesterdays

Dirty Mosquito wrote:

So Sunday after the Bears won the conference, I put my cheap $30 mic in front of my amp and recorded about 1 minute of playing to see how it would sound. I was actually pretty impressed. For a crappy mic, it sounded really good, in a lot of ways better than close mic'ng it. So now I am excited to get my money saved up for some better gear and put a nice Sm57 or something better in front of it and see how it records.

No offense, but the world is stuck on Sm57's, but there are other mic's out there that aren't that expensive and sound better (in my opinion). Sm57's color the tone to much.

Try a E609

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Sennheiser-E609-Silver-Dynamic-Guitar-Microphone?sku=276668

Dirty Mosquito

All Those Yesterdays wrote:

No offense, but the world is stuck on Sm57's, but there are other mic's out there that aren't that expensive and sound better (in my opinion). Sm57's color the tone to much.

Try a E609

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Sennheiser-E609-Silver-Dynamic-Guitar-Microphone?sku=276668

Awesome!!! Thanks for the tip. I may have to look into that. For my vocal mic, I have considered many kinds. Prices range all over the place. I am thinking about a Rode NTK Condenser mic. It's about $499. A little pricey, but I have heard nothing but good things about it. I don't really have money to spend $1000 on an AKG Pro mic or anything, but this mic has been used in a varietly of studios and supposidely has done pretty well from what I've read.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/R0DE-NTK-Microphone?sku=271577

All Those Yesterdays

Dirty Mosquito wrote:

Awesome!!! Thanks for the tip. I may have to look into that. For my vocal mic, I have considered many kinds. Prices range all over the place. I am thinking about a Rode NTK Condenser mic. It's about $499. A little pricey, but I have heard nothing but good things about it. I don't really have money to spend $1000 on an AKG Pro mic or anything, but this mic has been used in a varietly of studios and supposidely has done pretty well from what I've read.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/R0DE-NTK-Microphone?sku=271577

As soon as I get home I'll get the name of a good vocal mic we use at my buddies studio

Dirty Mosquito

All Those Yesterdays wrote:

As soon as I get home I'll get the name of a good vocal mic we use at my buddies studio

Cool, thanks

All Those Yesterdays

Dirty Mosquito wrote:

Cool, thanks

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/AudioTechnica-AT4033CL-Large-Diaphragm-Condenser-Microphone?sku=270573

$399 ain't free, but when it's compared to a tube condensor it's not bad. Does sound really good though.