new amp day! Fender Deluxe Reverb!

JDOD said:
Bob, would you use a big solid state lump if you want loud cleans?
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well, not generally.

Those Roland JC 120 amps are often touted for their cleans but I find them a bit sterile sounding.
And they're kinda limited as they have NO decent dirt ..... of course you can get great dirt thru a clean amp with pedals and there are many, many wonderful sounding pedals.

But for me, in general, I don't care for SS amps ..... and immediately I have to say that's a general statement and I already have exceptions ..... a friend of mine uses a Quilter and it sounds very nice .... you get your dirt thru pedals but it has a nice organic sounding clean.

Also ..... there were two times in my life when I gigged a SS amp as my main amp.

I used to use a SS traynor 2x12 combo that was awesome and even had a good dirt channel. It weighed as much as a Buick though.

I also gigged for some years with a Dean Markley SS amp that I might still be using if it worked or was fixable.

So it is possible to have a wonderful sounding SS amp and I'm not close-minded to the idea.
But, in general, I still prefer tubes.

And let me be very clear, that old Deluxe he got is a WONDERFUL amp! Not criticizing it in anyway ..... it's a great score and he should be thrilled to have such a beautiful old amp.
 
I mate of mine used (before it broke) a Fender Power Chorus 2x12 which I believe was SS. It was also fucking loud!

He now uses a Fender Stage 160 which is very, very loud indeed. He leant it to me for a while before I got my Blackstar - it was so loud as to be un-usable at home.
 
I had a Fender Power Chorus when I was a kid. Just plain awful.
I tried to play in a band with it and it was barely loud enough to match a drummer, and playing it at that volume kept rattling the solder joints apart. After paying a tech to go in there a couple times, I'd spent enough to have bought a decent amp instead.
 
fat_fleet said:
I had a Fender Power Chorus when I was a kid. Just plain awful.
I tried to play in a band with it and it was barely loud enough to match a drummer, and playing it at that volume kept rattling the solder joints apart. After paying a tech to go in there a couple times, I'd spent enough to have bought a decent amp instead.
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Power Chorus not loud enough? It was plenty loud enough to compete with a drummer in rehearsal, was definitely louder than my Peavy Bandit, which is also plenty loud enough to complete with a drummer.

Are there different versions of the Power Chorus with different wattages?
 
I don't know, maybe I got a lemon, I just remember resenting the thing. I think mine was 65 SS watts per channel.
It did have cool flashing red/green light that blinked w the chorus modulation tho.
 
antichef said:
I'll try and take some guts shots soon. Since today is my actual anniversary, I think I'll have to follow up a little later

I think the reverb is messed up - it sounded OK in the store but now I think maybe the springs are hitting the inside of the tank or something.
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I've had that happen with a Fender spring reverb tank. Give it a giggle and it's fine for a while, then happens again. I'm thinking the springs lose their tautness and start to sag.
 
fat_fleet said:
I don't know, maybe I got a lemon, I just remember resenting the thing. I think mine was 65 SS watts per channel.
It did have cool flashing red/green light that blinked w the chorus modulation tho.
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That's the one. Should have been fucking loud.
 
fat_fleet said:
It was dad-says-turn-it-down loud, not Dual Showman or V4 loud.
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No, I remember it being rattle the windows in the frames and plenty loud enough to drown out the drummer loud! It was a fair bit louder than my Bandit.
 
IMG_20160119_210739.1.jpg
The amp in the foreground is not loud. The amps in the background are loud. (sorry, Greg's not here - somebody's gotta do it)
 
Nice score antichef, happy anniversary too man!!!!!! I've never been a fan of Fender amps, but I've honestly not had much experience with 'em either...From what I've read, a lot of those old amps are the holy grail to a lot of guys, but I've always been into the Marshall-y thing myself....

Congrats man!!!
 
Congratulations Anti,
Nice amp nice condition and nice reason to have one. I hope you get the tank sorted.
 
Lt. Bob said:
They are actually wonderful lead machines ..... the breakup is a different one than marshalls and sounds glorious.
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I'm kind of reluctant to say it (because of my reflexive loyalty to the British amps), but this Deluxe Reverb might have the best lead sound of any amp I've ever played - sounds great even completely dry and at low volume - much better when cranked of course, and I haven't tried much in the way of pedals yet. I'm hoping to be able to post some clips this weekend.


edit: I'll backpedal a little - this is partially a function of the size of the room I'm in (small) being well matched to the Deluxe -- the Marshalls both need to be cranked to get into their zones - especially the NMV one (details in other threads - these are a 2204-circuit JCM 800 (MV) and a 1987-circuit JMP 50 (NMV)). The Orange (pictured, which is pretty new) can sound good to me at lower volumes, but also likes loud. But still - the DR...
 
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I'm a fan of the British sound myself ...... BUT .... when you get a Deluxe cranked to around 6 or higher .... they respond to the tiniest changes in your picking in a way that only the very best Marshalls do.
They're just freakin' responsive in a difficult to describe way .... almost like you're controlling a singers voice.

Like I said, a totally different thing than a Marshall ..... in fact, I think it's pointless to compare them ..... they're just so different.
I like 'em both a lot ..... if I could only have one for leads I'm not sure which I'd choose but prolly the Deluxe.
 
Bob, any experience with Kustom amps? I just picked up a 72 Coupe tube amp. So far I like it. I've done some tracking with it but haven't gigged it yet.
 
DR is the perfect amp. I use a supersonic 22, something based on this but with a gain channel, but I could play my whole life with a stock deluxe reverb.
 
Track Rat said:
Bob, any experience with Kustom amps? I just picked up a 72 Coupe tube amp. So far I like it. I've done some tracking with it but haven't gigged it yet.
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well .... not that amp.
I did have a couple of Kustoms back in the day .... when they were roll-pleated.
Those were solid state amps and I had a bass amp with 2 3x15 cabs that compared favorably with the Acoustic 360 I also had. Nice bass amp actually although huge.
A friend has an old Kustom roll pleated guitar amp I got to try about a year ago and it was terrible.
Sure looked great though!

But that Coupe's a modern amp with tubes .... a totally different beast.
When the 72 Coupe came out I was very interested in it and would have bought one if I hadn't been close to homelessness.
Now that times are better I'd buy one if they came around for a good price.
Post up some tones in the tone thread ..... I'd be very interested in hearing it ..... I'm betting it's a sleeper ..... should have gotten more attention than it did.
 
I made one quick recording but didn't like it - bad mic position, I think. I'll do better and post soon.

I took out the reverb tank and discovered it was brand new - I think the bag it was in had a wrinkle in the bottom that was pushing the spring assembly up against the top of the tank. Anyway, I went to the store, and they dampened it a little with some foam. (they also said they had replaced the original because the springs were really saggy) Much better now, but I'm still not completely in love with the reverb sound, except for when it's at 1 or 2.

I found out the owner of the store got the from a single owner who bought it at a music store here in town way back when. He played in a high school band in the 60s, then the amp sat in a closet for decades

I did some more research, and I think it's actually a 1965 model, not 1964 - a transformer in it has a 1964 date code (so they said at the store - I'm still learning) but the code on the tube chart is "OB" - which after some web searching, I think means February of 1965:

IMG_20160122_172818.1.jpg

that would make this a CBS era amp by a week or two, I suppose, or maybe among the very last of the pre-CBS amps, depending on how you look at it.
 
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