Questions and answers

Anyone can comment, ask questions and even answer questions here.

Please place specific questions about amps, distortion or artists ++ in their respective pages. This section is meant for general matters or questions about amps we haven’t written about.

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142 Responses to “Questions and answers”

  1. hoerlebnis says:

    Hi!
    I´d like to get a cloned BF Deluxe (non-reverb). I am in contact with a tech, who is not convinced by the trem in the aa763/ab763 vibrato channel. I would be even fine with the amp without the trem circuit. this would mean a deluxe with two identical channels? (that´s my first question).
    Is it possible to simply build a deluxe without trem without changing the rest of the schematic? could this harm the amp for being layed out for having a trem? (2nd one)
    I read the deluxe channels could be patched (instead of the deluxe reverbs channels). that´s one of the reasons I am after the deluxe. I guess this would mean more powertube crunch and less preamp than with the deluxe reverb (when patched). I guess I could also use the patch as an effects loop for modular effects (to mix them in). that´s true, too?

    thanks for help in advance.

    hoerlebnis

    • Hi.
      Sorry for delayed answer. We blame it on vacation plans… .-)
      If you disabled the tremolo circuit from the tremolo channel in this amp, the two channels would be almost identical. The bright cap on the volume pot in the trem channel would be the only difference. Personally I would think the channel jumping is not good reason enough for having two identical channels in this amp. I would recommend a single channel amp having only the normal channel, and that you beef up this one in other ways.

      Jens

  2. doc w says:

    I like a lot of things about this site but what is up with all the Eb demos? You can’t really get a feel for what a mod has done to the tone, for example, by listening to someone play in Eb. Man, I just don’t get it.

    • Good comment. A guitar will sound different when tuned half step down. We have pointed this out in our video “Five fundamental tricks to create the holy grail of Fender tone”. Otherwise, there are lots of other things one must consider when comparing videos from different youtube users; recording equipment, techniques and audio qualities in the recording room. One can really just compare videos from the one user who uses te same recording environment on his/her videos.
      Best.

      Jens.

  3. To all members:

    We are currently writing an article about the Fender Bassman. If you have any experiences that you’d like to tell us about, let us know. We are covering mostly the blackface and silverface era, as usual.

    Best.

    Jens

  4. Lars Sonic says:

    Hi,

    do you know any in the Oslo area who can repair my twin reverb?

    cheers,

    Lars

  5. kbcountry says:

    I have a 72 twin. It gets pretty hot when its been on for a couple of hours. It still sounds good though. How hot is normal

  6. mojojo33 says:

    Hi there.
    I’d like to know if anyone can recommend a newer Fender amp that will have a sound like
    that of the pro reverb. I’d love to buy a pro but there just aren’t any around in my area and
    I don’t want to buy online. I just sold my Super today and, in spite of myself, I already miss it and
    wonder if I haven’t made a mistake. That said, I’m in LUV with the Pro Reverb I played a few weeks back and really want to find something comparable.

    thanks

    JM

  7. vintageus says:

    Hello,

    I just spoke to a guy who builds killer blackface amps and he mentioned he had a Mid Pot Mod for The Princeton, 1-5 gives a normal 1-10 range mid pot adjustment.

    5- 10 on the mid pot enables one to crank gain out of the amp.
    Just curious and I don’t see any mention of it here but is this type of thing
    possible for a blues jr?

    My Blues Jr I modded, love the Clean and Overdrive but would like more gain and to be able
    to do it at lower levels while still having the full range of clean tones I currently have now.

    Any Ideas?

    Oh and one other thing, check this out, this once thing improved my tone WAY HUGE!

    http://youtu.be/VY-0k1zPehQ

    Thanks

    Vinnie

  8. finnkj says:

    Hi, I have just donated EUR 15,-
    Do you have copies of user manuals for vintage fender amps? such as princeton silver face and princeton 1957 or even deluxe from 1958?

    When the amp reads total load 8 ohms – what is then the correct ohm load to connect using an extension speaker?
    brgds

  9. fast442 says:

    Hi, Here’s an interesting problem maybe you can help me solve. I have an early 70′s Deluxe Reverb with the cool tweaks listed on this site, and sounds great! But there is an intermittent quirk. A slight hick-up will occur, then the amp will be slightly less ballsy/gainy, and the worst part… the guitar volume pot gets Crazy Noisy as it is turned up or down! Any guitar, Strat or Les Paul. This happens only on the Reverb/Vibrato channel, not the normal. If I reinstall the Normal channel tube, it is immune to this issue. I have swapped preamp tubes, Sprayed the pots and sockets, soldering all looks good, no closer to solving it. Any suggestions, or experience with an issue like this?

    • Hi. First guess: Input jack on the vibrato channel has gone bad, or a bad connection somewhere close to the input jack.Sure all pots on vibrato channel are working and are problem-free? Bad pots on treble and bass may cause severe tone issues.

      Otherwise, all I can say you have an issue with the preamp section of the vibrato channel. Since the normal channel is working you have verified the phase inverter, power amp section, output transformer and the power supply circuit (power transformer, rectifier, filter caps). If you also have eliminated possible corrupt tubes and pots, it has to be some other components in the vibrato channel, maybe plate resistors. You don’t mention what mods you implemented so it’s impossible to say what can have caused this. If one mod is implememted wrong, i.e. the trem disconnect mod, trouble will come. The amp should not behave the way you describe if these mods are implemented correctly.

      It is fully possible that a general error and bad component will fail more often if you have a stronger signal and higher voltages in the circuitry caused by any of these mods. Anyway, I recommend rolling back all mods one by one and see if something changes.

      Best.

      Jens.

      • fast442 says:

        Hi, Thanks for the quick response! Here is some additional info on the mods. Channel 1 tube is pulled, Vibrato wire is disconnected at the pot and sealed with heat shrink. I forgot to mention, the problem occurs on both inputs of the Vibrato channel equally. Turning knobs on the amp does not change anything. At least I do know it is somewhere in the vibrato preamp section.. I suspect a resistor, although it is a bit like finding the needle in the hay stack! I have my same year Vibrolux and Pro reverbs set up identically and they rock, but are trouble free. Hope the culprit will be revealed soon!

        • This is strange. I recommend opening the amp chassis and to poke around with a pencil or pen and see if you can reproduce the error by tapping and streching all components, wires, soldering points and fiber board. Sometimes I have had to systematically resolder and freshen up old and worn solderings. At least you know which tube sections to suspect, those belonging to the vibrato channel. I would start with the EQ/tone stack circuitry, reverb and then tremolo. And I forgot to mention, pull V3 and V5. You dont need reverb send or tremolo when debugging this. If the problem would dissapear with these tubes out, you have isolated the problem… It could be bad reverb phono cables, terminals or plugs, perhaps the tank.

          Good luck.
          Jens

  10. fast442 says:

    Hi Jens, Fpund the culprit! Turned out to be the first Electrolytic Cap off of the V-2 preamp tube gone faulty. Was tough to find, due to it being intermittent. The deluxe is rockin’ trouble free, finally! It was a really strange problem, but lesson learned… Change them electrolytic caps as well! Thanks again for your input.

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