Comparing Fender amps

[Guest HRB853370]

I was playing through my Twin last nite, with my EJ Strat. I had not played it in a while and was thrilled at the fullness and bottom that the amp has, in addition to the mind blowing volume it can generate. I had the channnel 2 volume on level 4 and my wife was complaining upstairs that she could not hear the TV.

 

I would like to hear other's feedback on how they like their Twin Reverb. I am sure some of you still have your original Twin from the 60's or 70's also.

[FrankV]

I saw Junior Brown last night and the man was rockin' it through a Fender Twin Reverb. What a great sound. He had it loud and loads of reverb, beautiful sound.

[Guest HRB853370]

I saw Junior Brown last night and the man was rockin' it through a Fender Twin Reverb. What a great sound. He had it loud and loads of reverb, beautiful sound.

 

Where was that Frank? I am not familiar with Junior.

[FrankV]

Junior is a fantastic player, great voice too. I saw him at Infinity Hall in Norfolk Connecticut. A cozy little place, seats about 300. It's a bit of a haul for me, but I don't get much of a chance to see him. This clip is very similar to the line up last night.

He's got a few of what you could call gimmicks, he likes to turn the low e tuning knob during a song, almost like a whammy bar effect on only one string; he quotes Hendrix or other familiar riffs in the middle of an unrelated type of song; he hits the harmonic tones just like regular notes during solos, all to great effect. But holy cow, he's got it. On a lot of numbers he goes back and forth between the guitar and the lap steel on his custom made Guit-Steel, just so smooth.

 

[DetroitBlues]

The twin is another amp I see no point in. 100 watts is way too loud. If you're playing a stage, you'll have a PA system. Unless the amps are far away from you, its just way too much amp. A 1x12 or 1x15 is all anyone should need considering usually only one speaker gets mic'd up from multi speaker cabinets.

[tulk1]

Twins are insane!! Wonderful tone, yeah. But on 4, I'm surprised your neighbors weren't after you about the volume, as well. Back in the mid-70s my brother was rocking out a Dual Showman - twin on steroids. Not to be out done, I took a Bassman 15" cab and ran that on the bottom. The Twin was rigged for the mids/highs, and the bass was shunted to the bottom cab. Tremendous tone, tremendous volume. At 3.5 it was ungodly loud. At 4??? - Ouch!!!

[NoNameBand]

Clapton uses a Vintage reissue Twin 40 watts on stage in concert. Most guys are using 50 watt heads or combos with 50 watts or less. The days of 100 watt amps being in high demand went out with the Shure Vocal Master PA. Once the Altec Voice of the Theaters came out, guys started running their amps through the PA. Less to carry. Carrying a Fender Twin is almost as bad as carrying a Hammond B-3 without the dollies. I know guys that have them from the old days and keep them. I don't know anybody that is looking for one now though. Great clean sound, too much power to break up at lower volume like in a club or something. I have Three old BGW 550 power amps I used to use in a tri-power syatem. Great amps/boat anchors. They weigh 85 lbs each. We used to carry those along with some other signal processing equipment, in an amp rack with casters & 8 handles. It took 4 guys to lift it up in the truck.

[smurph1]

The twin is another amp I see no point in. 100 watts is way too loud. If you're playing a stage, you'll have a PA system. Unless the amps are far away from you, its just way too much amp. A 1x12 or 1x15 is all anyone should need considering usually only one speaker gets mic'd up from multi speaker cabinets.

I gotta Agree..i have a Peavey Classic 30..Pop a 57 in front of it, and i'm good to go..I almost bought a Twin last year..But, it was a backbreaker!! OUCH!!

[Guest HRB853370]

The twin is another amp I see no point in. 100 watts is way too loud. If you're playing a stage, you'll have a PA system. Unless the amps are far away from you, its just way too much amp. A 1x12 or 1x15 is all anyone should need considering usually only one speaker gets mic'd up from multi speaker cabinets.

 

Correction Detroit, only 85 watts. Perhaps too loud for a basement, but a small auditorium, you would appreciate the wattage and the 2x12. Give one a listen.

[Guest HRB853370]

Clapton uses a Vintage reissue Twin 40 watts on stage in concert. Most guys are using 50 watt heads or combos with 50 watts or less. The days of 100 watt amps being in high demand went out with the Shure Vocal Master PA. Once the Altec Voice of the Theaters came out, guys started running their amps through the PA. Less to carry. Carrying a Fender Twin is almost as bad as carrying a Hammond B-3 without the dollies. I know guys that have them from the old days and keep them. I don't know anybody that is looking for one now though. Great clean sound, too much power to break up at lower volume like in a club or something. I have Three old BGW 550 power amps I used to use in a tri-power syatem. Great amps/boat anchors. They weigh 85 lbs each. We used to carry those along with some other signal processing equipment, in an amp rack with casters & 8 handles. It took 4 guys to lift it up in the truck.

 

Mark, my PV C50 2x12 is heavier than my Twin, believe me! I just moved it today and I think I have a hernia now.

[NoNameBand]

Correction Detroit, only 85 watts. Perhaps too loud for a basement, but a small auditorium, you would appreciate the wattage and the 2x12. Give one a listen.

 

My band, the No Name Band, plays about 8-10 outdoor shows a year with 500 - 5,000 people present. My guitar players are using a Egnator Renegade (65 watts clean channel & 18 watts dirty channel) and a Dr. Z Stangray 30 watts. Both amps are mic'd with 57s. The bass player uses a David Eden Full Stack 810 with a direct out to the PA as a supplement. Everythig else is mic'd and the only issue is stage volume with the monitors. Even if you try to use the 85 watts in a "small auditorium", the stage volume will be screwed up. Nobody will be able to hear anything but the twin.

[NoNameBand]

Mark, my PV C50 2x12 is heavier than my Twin, believe me! I just moved it today and I think I have a hernia now.

 

Get rid of those ball busters. Todays amps sound better and weigh less than half of the old ones. Save yourself.

[Guest HRB853370]

My band, the No Name Band, plays about 8-10 outdoor shows a year with 500 - 5,000 people present. My guitar players are using a Egnator Renegade (65 watts clean channel & 18 watts dirty channel) and a Dr. Z Stangray 30 watts. Both amps are mic'd with 57s. The bass player uses a David Eden Full Stack 810 with a direct out to the PA as a supplement. Everythig else is mic'd and the only issue is stage volume with the monitors. Even if you try to use the 85 watts in a "small auditorium", the stage volume will be screwed up. Nobody will be able to hear anything but the twin.

 

65 Watts vs 85 Watts, not a hell of alot of difference. Its the tone man, the Fender has the tone. Nothing against Egnator, Dr. Z and all those new fancy wancy pricey brands, I just like to stick with what has been tried and true for over 40 years. Besides, being a drummer, I am used to carrying heavy gear, all the time. My trap case weighs as much as 2 Twin Reverb amps, and yes, I do enlist assistance in loading into my SUV.

 

So the No Name band is a corporate band?

[Steiner]

Correction Detroit, only 85 watts. Perhaps too loud for a basement, but a small auditorium, you would appreciate the wattage and the 2x12. Give one a listen.

 

The Twin is the schnitzle! Clean all the way up to ear-bleed. Very friendly with hollowbodies and PERFECT with acoustics. The HFT-445 sounds just like an acoustic only louder. It's a stellar amp for what it is.

[NoNameBand]

65 Watts vs 85 Watts, not a hell of alot of difference. Its the tone man, the Fender has the tone. Nothing against Egnator, Dr. Z and all those new fancy wancy pricey brands, I just like to stick with what has been tried and true for over 40 years. Besides, being a drummer, I am used to carrying heavy gear, all the time. My trap case weighs as much as 2 Twin Reverb amps, and yes, I do enlist assistance in loading into my SUV.

 

So the No Name band is a corporate band?

 

Yup. www.nonameband.org

[ingeneri]

I never get above 4 on my DRRI for jazz gigs. And that's with a miked piano, amped up bass, and loud drummer. But the 2X12 configuration on the Twin is great for a big, not just loud, sound.

 

That said, I recently played a couple of jam sessions using the house guitarist's twin and Carr Rambler (1X12). The Rambler's clean tube tone blew even the twin away and the wattage switch made it much more practical volume wise. There's a 50 pound 2X12 Rambler on Ebay right now that's really tempting if I didn't live in a 4 story walk up and cart my amp 20 blocks to gigs.

 

I hate PAs, as I don't trust sound guys. Outside of the top clubs like the Blue Note or Blues Alley(where I am certainly unworthy to be gigging)they're almost always trained for rock. As such, I've never been on a gig where the sound guy didn't screw up everyone's tone and balance. I was doing one outdoor gig where the idiot kept boosting my comping over the sax player despite my frantically turning my volume knob down to 1. You wouldn't believe what nighmares those guys were on gigs for my old big band. Nonetheless, it's till hard to imagine needing more than 25-30 watts on stage these days.

[Guest HRB853370]

I never get above 4 on my DRRI for jazz gigs. And that's with a miked piano, amped up bass, and loud drummer. But the 2X12 configuration on the Twin is great for a big, not just loud, sound.

 

That said, I recently played a couple of jam sessions using the house guitarist's twin and Carr Rambler (1X12). The Rambler's clean tube tone blew even the twin away and the wattage switch made it much more practical volume wise. There's a 50 pound 2X12 Rambler on Ebay right now that's really tempting if I didn't live in a 4 story walk up and cart my amp 20 blocks to gigs.

 

I hate PAs, as I don't trust sound guys. Outside of the top clubs like the Blue Note or Blues Alley(where I am certainly unworthy to be gigging)they're almost always trained for rock. As such, I've never been on a gig where the sound guy didn't screw up everyone's tone and balance. I was doing one outdoor gig where the idiot kept boosting my comping over the sax player despite my frantically turning my volume knob down to 1. You wouldn't believe what nighmares those guys were on gigs for my old big band. Nonetheless, it's till hard to imagine needing more than 25-30 watts on stage these days.

 

 

I have heard of Carr, some dude in po-dunk Pittsboro NC? I have been through there, not much of a town.

 

You are correct about 30 watts being enough, my Gibson RA40 is a very powerful 30 watts, and I probably never will need what my TR is capable of delivering-but nonetheless, I am going to keep it. Kind of like having a Dodge Viper in your garage, where can you use the 550+ HP but its there if you ever want it!

[yoslate]

Nonetheless, it's till hard to imagine needing more than 25-30 watts on stage these days.

 

Absolutely, Matt! I've been using my Princeton Reverb reissue almost exclusively, lately. I had Ken build a 1x12 extension cab for it. So now I have a Princeton "stack." Kind of funny. The other night, with my band plus a couple of horn guys sitting in, I had as good a tone as I've ever had on stage. Just a touch of OD, and the amp not quite on 4. And I think Ramblers are just fabulous. Wish I could own one!

[ingeneri]

Me too!

 

The other boutique amp I really lust over is the Headstrong Lil King S, which is basically a souped up Princeton Repro with a 12" speaker and 28 watts (I think). I really like the Princetons, but the silverface I've tried (at the same jam session) didn't have enough headroom without a PA. Your extension idea sounds pretty cool, I saw Bobby Broom do that with his Henricksens when he played at Blues Alley for a huge sound coming from both ends of the stage.

 

Here's a cool link to a Just Jazz Guitar review of both the Rambler and the Lil King S: http://web.me.com/jazzyb64/jjgampreviews/Home.html

 

And here's a cool JazzTimes review of the Rambler: http://jazztimes.com/articles/25115-gearhead-carr-rambler-amplifier

I can't say I agree with him abou the limits of 1X12's, but it does get back to the original topic of how useful the Twin is in the modern day and age.

 

That said, some drunk doofus tripped over my Twinkat during a gig this weekend. I was so glad I hadn't brought the DRRI since he probably would have killed it. Stuff like that brings me back to reality fast when contemplating $1,500-$2,000 boutique tube amps.

[NoNameBand]

I never get above 4 on my DRRI for jazz gigs. And that's with a miked piano, amped up bass, and loud drummer. But the 2X12 configuration on the Twin is great for a big, not just loud, sound.

 

That said, I recently played a couple of jam sessions using the house guitarist's twin and Carr Rambler (1X12). The Rambler's clean tube tone blew even the twin away and the wattage switch made it much more practical volume wise. There's a 50 pound 2X12 Rambler on Ebay right now that's really tempting if I didn't live in a 4 story walk up and cart my amp 20 blocks to gigs.

 

I hate PAs, as I don't trust sound guys. Outside of the top clubs like the Blue Note or Blues Alley(where I am certainly unworthy to be gigging)they're almost always trained for rock. As such, I've never been on a gig where the sound guy didn't screw up everyone's tone and balance. I was doing one outdoor gig where the idiot kept boosting my comping over the sax player despite my frantically turning my volume knob down to 1. You wouldn't believe what nighmares those guys were on gigs for my old big band. Nonetheless, it's till hard to imagine needing more than 25-30 watts on stage these days.

 

If I ever get to the point of justifying a new amp, it would be a Carr Rambler. Obviously, after my new 150 VSB.

[yoslate]

Ken, whom I'm very lucky to know, is just a great resource. He has bags of experience restoring amps, and he builds cabs for Reinhardt, Germino, and a bunch of others. Asked him about my concept. He said he'd cook it. Just a few days later I got the call; it was ready. I think it's all pine, with a Baltic birch baffle. Same tolex, grill cloth, and footprint as the Princeton, but just a tad deeper. The back has three removable panels, to change the sound. I leave the middle one out. What I get from that is all the bottom you could want from a fifteen-watt rig, all the bottom inherently missing in the ten-inch Princeton. Must weigh only ten or twelve pounds, if that much.

[pressure]

When I saw Johnny Winter in 1967 or 1968 or 1969 (can't remember the exact year after all it was the 60's) he was playing out of 2 Twins with JBLs,

not miked into a PA and it sounded great. I got as close as 15 feet away from the amps because you could get right up to the edge of the stage.

The club was just one giant room.

I looked at Carr Ramblers and almost got one but I bought a Tone King Metropolitan (40 wats, 4 6v6s) because of the power scaling and gain channel, really a very versatile amp.

But I'm a bedroom player and usually have the amp sat on 1/10 of a watt, kind of a waste but it sounds fantastic.

[Guest HRB853370]

If I ever get to the point of justifying a new amp, it would be a Carr Rambler. Obviously, after my new 150 VSB.

 

Whats up with Carr? Who is this guy?

[Guest HRB853370]

When I saw Johnny Winter in 1967 or 1968 or 1969 (can't remember the exact year after all it was the 60's) he was playing out of 2 Twins with JBLs,

not miked into a PA and it sounded great. I got as close as 15 feet away from the amps because you could get right up to the edge of the stage.

The club was just one giant room.

I looked at Carr Ramblers and almost got one but I bought a Tone King Metropolitan (40 wats, 4 6v6s) because of the power scaling and gain channel, really a very versatile amp.

But I'm a bedroom player and usually have the amp sat on 1/10 of a watt, kind of a waste but it sounds fantastic.

 

I have seen Derek Trucks several times and he has played through twins as well. Question: When you see a guitarist with two Twin Reverbs on the stage, how is that he is playing through BOTH amps? Is it called bi-amping??

[Hfan]

I've got my old Twin that I used in high school. It is a 73 Silverface, it was dead as a doornail laying around my house for many years, finally had a chance to refurb it and also dead a blackface conversion. It had original JBL's in it but I recently replaced them with Eminence Patriot Red white and Blues (they sound good and it seems a few pounds lighter now). I get the impracticality of the amp but I have a sentimental attachment to it. I didn't play electric for many years since the late 70's and have been behind the times when it comes to effects. Recently started playing around with a digitech multieffects pedal / amp modeler I got cheap on Craigs list. Having some fun with it used with the Twin, getting some decent distortion with out blowing down the walls and or my eardrums.

 

Also have a Blues Jr. I installed pretty much all of Bill M's mods in it. Nice little amp. Would love to try some of the the other amps out there like the Carr, Dr Z, Egnator etc etc. Some of the Heritage amps I've seen look tempting as well. I like the idea of the external bias adjustment.