The Deluxe Non-Reverb

[slider313]

Playing in clubs these days calls for lower volumes. It seems most clubs are pub type restaurants which turn to live music after dinner hours. I find myself leaving the Deluxe Reverb home in favor of the non reverb version. It's the same height but not as long, which gives me a bit more set up room. The volume can be turned up to 5, for a nice full sound without being too loud. A perfect pedal platform in every way; with any speaker. I'm not much of a pedal user; wah, tuner, OD and a nano holy grail reverb just in case I should feel the need. The non reverb blackface Deluxe was only made from September of 1963 through mid 1966. The prices have recently gone up, as most players want a low to medium watt "grab and go" amp, but they still don't command the prices of their reverb counterparts. If you have the chance to plug into one, please do, and keep your eyes open if your in the market for an amp with that classic blackface tone that won't break the bank!

 

Here's my '65. It has a re-coned 1955 Jensen P12N in it now. Every speaker I've tried in it sounds great.

 

[golferwave]

Looks great Mike. Any other differences in the amp (other than being sans the reverb) compared to a DR?

[koula901]

I'll bet it's lighter than it's reverb counter part to.

Thanks for the info.

[Gitfiddler]

Does this non-reverb Deluxe have more headroom than the DR?

 

 

I'd sure like to get more cleans from my Silverface DR!

[Kuz]

Mike, your killing me man.... your killing me......

 

I will let the "Amp Whisper" chime in (get it, "chime" on a blackface? well a bad pun), but we have talked about this before. Mike said the Non-reverb Deluxe balckface will sound more like the "normal" channel of your DR. Which has less output, more richness, and rounder.

 

Mike, those amp pics... your killing me man!!!

[slider313]

Looks great Mike. Any other differences in the amp (other than being sans the reverb) compared to a DR?

Well, the reverb stage is a big thing. You have a driver tube (12at7) a reverb transformer and a recovery tube (12ax7) and the components in the circuit. One big difference is one half of the recovery tube is acting as a gain stage to boost the signal, so there's more gain when using that channel. Plug into the normal channel and use the same settings. You'll see what I mean. The non reverb Deluxe is pretty close to the normal channel on a DR with a more "spongy" character. The reason is the filtering. The DR has a pair of 16uf@450v caps in parallel,for 32uf of filtering. The NRD has only one 16uf. This relates to more "sag" and that "spongy feel". I replaced mine with a single 20uf and use a 5V4 in place of the GZ34.

 

I'll bet it's lighter than it's reverb counter part to.

Thanks for the info.

 

Yes, it's much lighter.

Does this non-reverb Deluxe have more headroom than the DR?

 

 

I'd sure like to get more cleans from my Silverface DR!

 

It's comparable to using the normal channel. Give it a try. Set the normal channel to "5" on the volume, add treble and bass to taste, and see what you think..

[slider313]

Mike, your killing me man.... your killing me......

 

I will let the "Amp Whisper" chime in (get it, "chime" on a blackface? well a bad pun), but we have talked about this before. Mike said the Non-reverb Deluxe balckface will sound more like the "normal" channel of your DR. Which has less output, more richness, and rounder.

 

Mike, those amp pics... your killing me man!!!

 

Hey John, that's what you said the last time I posted some amp pictures. Damn, you must be dying a slow death! :-0

[Kuz]

 

Hey John, that's what you said the last time I posted some amp pictures. Damn, you must be dying a slow death! :-0

 

Ah, yep..... but I am enjoying going to the other side slowly with your pics. Keep them coming!!!!

[Guest HRB853370]

Fender should "reissue' that amp if they were smart.

[slider313]

Fender should "reissue' that amp if they were smart.

The "reissue" amps Fender is putting out leave much to be desired. I just had a DR reissue here for a complete preamp tube overhaul. It still didn't sound "right" after installing choice tubes. These "reissues" have different tapered pots and this one didn't "open up" until you hit 4.5 on the knob. The cheaper components like; input jacks, 1/4 watt resistors, very small coupling caps, lower grade preamp tube sockets and of course pcb with very thin trace are some of the reasons they will never sound like an original. This one sounded pretty good after the swap but when put side by side with my non reverb Deluxe, just for a basic comparison, it wasn't even close. Fender is in it to make $$$. The only thing in common the new DR has with the original is cosmetic. Calling these amps "reissues" is a joke.

[bolero]

that is a good looking amp, I never knew they made one without reverb!

[tulk1]

Couldn't you just unplug the 'verb on a DR? But agreed, that is one sweet looking amp.

[Gitfiddler]

The "reissue" amps Fender is putting out leave much to be desired. I just had a DR reissue here for a complete preamp tube overhaul. It still didn't sound "right" after installing choice tubes. These "reissues" have different tapered pots and this one didn't "open up" until you hit 4.5 on the knob. The cheaper components like; input jacks, 1/4 watt resistors, very small coupling caps, lower grade preamp tube sockets and of course pcb with very thin trace are some of the reasons they will never sound like an original. This one sounded pretty good after the swap but when put side by side with my non reverb Deluxe, just for a basic comparison, it wasn't even close. Fender is in it to make $$$. The only thing in common the new DR has with the original is cosmetic. Calling these amps "reissues" is a joke.

 

 

Now Fender is coming out with a whole series of Silverface '68 'Vintage Modified' Reissues.

 

http://www.fender.com/series/vintage-modified/

 

 

Thanks for the tip on using the non-reverb channel of vintage Deluxe Reverb amps. Since I always have a bit of reverb going, I rarely use Ch 1 on my old Silverface. Last night I had a bunch of fun plugged into Ch 1. Yep, a bit more headroom and a definite sag, but great tone.

[koula901]

 

 

Now Fender is coming out with a whole series of Silverface '68 'Vintage Modified' Reissues.

 

http://www.fender.com/series/vintage-modified/

 

 

Thanks for the tip on using the non-reverb channel of vintage Deluxe Reverb amps. Since I always have a bit of reverb going, I rarely use Ch 1 on my old Silverface. Last night I had a bunch of fun plugged into Ch 1. Yep, a bit more headroom and a definite sag, but great tone.

could you please describe what sag means?

[tulk1]

could you please describe what sag means?

 

 

One of the terms you often hear in discussions about tube guitar amplifiers is "sag". Sag refers to the drooping of the power supply voltage in response to large transient signals, which lends a certain dynamic "feel" to the tube amplifier that is not generally found in solid-state amplifiers.

 

Great explanation of the whole phenom at http://www.aikenamps.com/Sag.html

[bolero]

LOL they are reissuing SF amps??

 

 

it's not like there aren't thousands of used ones around already, for dirt cheap, that are built better than anything Fender could put out now for anywhere under $1,500 list ( $2,200 MSRP )

[Kuz]

Couldn't you just unplug the 'verb on a DR? But agreed, that is one sweet looking amp.

The signal is still running through the reverb caps, and other do-hickeys that alter the tone.

 

Probably a bad analogy but kind of like when a pedal doesn't have true-bypass, even though it's off it still colors the signal.

[Kuz]

LOL they are reissuing SF amps??

 

 

it's not like there aren't thousands of used ones around already, for dirt cheap, that are built better than anything Fender could put out now for anywhere under $1,500 list ( $2,200 MSRP )

EXACTLY!!! And the original Silver Faces are hand point-to-point wired.

 

I have no idea why someone would buy a reissue over a silver face. And like Mike said the vintage stuff just can't be replicated anymore, they don't have vintage components that make them sound so good.... Except vintage speakers, most of them are inferior to today's speakers.

[Guest HRB853370]

EXACTLY!!! And the original Silver Faces are hand point-to-point wired.

 

I have no idea why someone would buy a reissue over a silver face. And like Mike said the vintage stuff just can't be replicated anymore, they don't have vintage components that make them sound so good.... Except vintage speakers, most of them are inferior to today's speakers.

Simple. They sound good enough (maybe not to your ears), they are affordable and they DO NOT MAKE THE POINT TO POINT WIRED MODELS ANYMORE. So why wouldn't somebody??

[Guest HRB853370]

could you please describe what sag means?

Umm, you don't want to go there, trust me!!! LOL

[koula901]

Umm, you don't want to go there, trust me!!! LOL

can always count on you for an answer like that! ; )

[Guest HRB853370]

The "reissue" amps Fender is putting out leave much to be desired. I just had a DR reissue here for a complete preamp tube overhaul. It still didn't sound "right" after installing choice tubes. These "reissues" have different tapered pots and this one didn't "open up" until you hit 4.5 on the knob. The cheaper components like; input jacks, 1/4 watt resistors, very small coupling caps, lower grade preamp tube sockets and of course pcb with very thin trace are some of the reasons they will never sound like an original. This one sounded pretty good after the swap but when put side by side with my non reverb Deluxe, just for a basic comparison, it wasn't even close. Fender is in it to make $$$. The only thing in common the new DR has with the original is cosmetic. Calling these amps "reissues" is a joke.

Yeah? Really? Well until Fender decides to start making the REAL ONES AGAIN, this is what you got!! Given the fact that there is a shortage of nice original DR's, PR's Champs and the like, people are scarfing them up and the prices are enormous. My question is, why doesn't Fender start remaking them LIKE the ORIGINALS with point to point wiring, and better components!! Sure they would be pricey but so are the 60's models. This just puzzles me why they would not do this, and instead come out with a hand wired line of Eric Clapton amps that sell for so much dough.

[Guest HRB853370]

can always count on you for an answer like that! ; )

Ha! Well, you asked!!

[Gitfiddler]

Yeah? Really? Well until Fender decides to start making the REAL ONES AGAIN, this is what you got!! Given the fact that there is a shortage of nice original DR's, PR's Champs and the like, people are scarfing them up and the prices are enormous. My question is, why doesn't Fender start remaking them LIKE the ORIGINALS with point to point wiring, and better components!! Sure they would be pricey but so are the 60's models. This just puzzles me why they would not do this, and instead come out with a hand wired line of Eric Clapton amps that sell for so much dough.

 

 

They do, Will. They are now called Victoria Amps (as well as many other Fender derived 'boo teek' builders).

 

Or you can plunk down huge dollars for one of the Fender Custom Shop Clapton amps.

[slider313]

Yeah? Really? Well until Fender decides to start making the REAL ONES AGAIN, this is what you got!! Given the fact that there is a shortage of nice original DR's, PR's Champs and the like, people are scarfing them up and the prices are enormous. My question is, why doesn't Fender start remaking them LIKE the ORIGINALS with point to point wiring, and better components!! Sure they would be pricey but so are the 60's models. This just puzzles me why they would not do this, and instead come out with a hand wired line of Eric Clapton amps that sell for so much dough.

 

Yes, they would be very expensive and most likely just as expensive as the originals. Which would you spend your money on, a true reissue of a Deluxe Reverb for $2,500 or a real 1966?

 

Here's my '65