Two Interesting Fender Amps and One VERY Interesting Owner's Manual

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stevieb

Just another guy, really.
Recently acquired, for our pro New Orleans rehearsal and recording studio, a Fender Ultimate Chorus 212, and a Fender red knob "The Twin." These things are interesting...

UC has DSP chorus, delay, flange and reverb, and a 3-button footswitch, but it's most interesting feature is a mono AND a stereo effects loop- one of each. Never seen that, before.

Red-knob Twin has things like an easy-to adjust tube bias and balance system, lotsof pull-boost knobs, etc.

Looking forward to trying them out, perhaps in tandem.

But perhaps the MOST interesting thing is the owner's manual for the Twin. It includes things like a good, easy to understand explanation of why tube amps are louder than SS amps. I've never seen an owner's manual quite like this one.
 
nice...

i'm curious of the ss and tube, my son got a ss 120w / 2x60 combo (like the UC),

the gig last night it was on 8....

the fender hrdeville 60watt tube was louder, and generally played at only 7!!!

60watts louder than 120watt....
 
That exact issue is addressed in the red-knob twin manual...

I am using my GF stupid, near-useless mini computer (what a fuckin TOY!) but when I get my puter back, I will adress it for you.
 
I'm also curious why some use 2 amplifiers? a A/B switch...one player in paticular has 2qty boss pedals in front of a A/B splitter that feeds a Marshal JCM800 and a Roland Jazz Chorus 120?

Either way he's going to need more volume it appears and running at 8 all the time seems a bit rough on any piece of equipment.
 
COOLCAT said:
I'm also curious why some use 2 amplifiers? a A/B switch...one player in paticular has 2qty boss pedals in front of a A/B splitter that feeds a Marshal JCM800 and a Roland Jazz Chorus 120?

Either way he's going to need more volume it appears and running at 8 all the time seems a bit rough on any piece of equipment.
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Since I got an attenuator, my 80-watt tube beast is on 9 or 10 all the time! I probably only log 1 to 10 hours per week on it though, but the power tubes are just now fizzling out after about 3 solid years. So that's what, maybe 150 to 1500 hours of use on full-throttle over the past few years. I think that it's rough on the power transformer but man some of those vintage amps have been pushed to the point of ignition for decades. I think that a lot of amps are designed with this type of abuse in mind.

For multi-amp setups, the most common reasons I see are either to have different amps for your clean and distorted tones, or to blend the sound of amps. In the case of a JCM800 and a JC, I'd say it'd be to get the distorted tones of the Marshall and the clean tones of the Roland.
 
stevieb said:
That exact issue is addressed in the red-knob twin manual...
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... One of the distinguishing characteristics between solid-state amps and tube amps is that most solid-state amps are effectively constant-voltate outputs for varying load inpedance. tube amps are a mixture of constant-voltage and constant-current and actually approimate constant-power output into a varying load inpedance. This is inportant since speakers present a load inpedance that varies with frequency. A tube amp actually puts more power into a speaker at low end resonance and more noticeably at high frequencies than a solid-state amp...in order to duplicate the tube amp, the solid state amp must have much more headroom available: i.e. a 20 watt tube amplifer driven into heavy clipping can actually put out signal levels equivalent to a 180-watt solid-state amp...
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So, Coolcat, go out and buy your son a 3,600 watt solid state amp!:)

Most of the time, two amps are used for two different tones. A Marshall and a Jazz Chorus sound quite different.

You son will need more volume, but frankly, the other guys are just being stupid. That kind of stage volume makes the band sound like mud, and gives the soundman fits. Far better for the other guys to turn it down, than your son to play the "mine's bigger than yours" game. Him finding another band is not a bad idea, either.
 
stevieb said:
So, Coolcat, go out and buy your son a 3,600 watt solid state amp!:)

Most of the time, two amps are used for two different tones. A Marshall and a Jazz Chorus sound quite different.

You son will need more volume, but frankly, the other guys are just being stupid. That kind of stage volume makes the band sound like mud, and gives the soundman fits. Far better for the other guys to turn it down, than your son to play the "mine's bigger than yours" game. Him finding another band is not a bad idea, either.
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Depends on the gig.I've done my share of small PA/crank the amps/vocals only shows.
 
As was mentioned - two amps provide more sound options. I used to use a Dual Showman and a Royal Guardsman for just that reason. Why limit yourself to only a few colors when you can have the whole box of crayons?
 
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