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Topic: 1964 Fender Twin Reverb Restoration (AB763) |
Jerry Fleming
From:
Roanoke, Virginia, USA
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Posted 12 Nov 2012 6:51 pm |
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Guys,
I recently totally restored a friend's 1964 Fender Twin Reverb (AB763) chassis. The circuitry had been butchered and all of the pots were bent or bad. The tube sockets were in very poor shape with a couple broken. Almost every resistor and capacitor I checked was way out of tolerance. I made the decision the most effective thing to do was replace everything but the chassis, magnetics and the tone capacitors (after testing). I removed all of the components from the chassis and cleaned it with steel wool and hand cleaner. I was very careful not to remove the AP1564 date stamped on the chassis. The serial number is A 0033X. I do not claim to be a vintage expert but this is one of the nicest amps and circuit designs I have had the pleasure to work on. The AB763 is widely used and one of my favorite circuits.
I used JJ/Telsa tubes for the power amp, PI, reverb driver & preamps. Sprague Atoms for the electrolytic capacitors. I was very surprised at how quiet the amp was and the tone into a D130F JBL. I spent about 4 hours playing through this amp. All I can say is the tone and reverb is to die for! My friend (also a steel player) was very pleased with his new amp.
Below are a few photos you may enjoy of the rebuild.
Kind regards,
Jerry
Original Chassis
Original Power Amp
Clean chassis & OT, paint Power Transformer - New Power Amp
Chassis after a little steel wool and cleaning & new parts
New sockets, circuit board & wiring
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Brad Sarno
From:
St. Louis, MO USA
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Posted 12 Nov 2012 8:06 pm
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Sweet, sweet, sweet....
B |
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Len Amaral
From:
Rehoboth,MA 02769
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Posted 12 Nov 2012 11:13 pm
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Wow....that work is a labor of love and you did a wonderful job. I'm starting to tear up and get the shivers looking at that piece of art.
Lenny |
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Bud Angelotti
From:
Larryville, NJ, USA
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Posted 13 Nov 2012 4:08 am
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Love it = Love it. My dad once performed a similar operation, on our house.
Everything old will be young again.
Thanks for the pics Jerry!
_________________
Just 'cause I look stupid, don't mean I'm not. |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 13 Nov 2012 7:32 am
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| Outstanding job. I have done quite a few this way in the past. A true "labor of love". These amps are well worth the effort and when done like yoou have done them they are ready for another 40-50 years of service. |
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Tim Marcus
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 13 Nov 2012 8:01 am
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first rate amp work!
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Milkmansound.com |
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Kirk Eipper
From:
Arroyo Grande, Ca.
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Posted 13 Nov 2012 8:20 am
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Wow, it sure looked like it was gigged heavily due to the nicotine stains on the chassis.
_________________
'10 Williams 700 Series SD10 4+5/ '71 Emmons S-10 3+4/ '73 Emmons D-10 8+4/ GK MB 200/ Custom Tommy Huff Cabinets/ Webb 614-E/ Steelseat.com Pak-a-seat/ Magnatone and Fender lap steels/ Cobra Coil bars & Strings/ pod 2.0/ Peterson Tuners/Goodrich V.P./ Boss RV5/Teles and Martins
www.kirkeipper.com |
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Rich Hlaves
From:
Wildomar, California, USA
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Posted 13 Nov 2012 9:11 am
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Proof positive you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Very nice Jerry!
_________________
On man....let the smoke out of another one. |
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Jerry Fleming
From:
Roanoke, Virginia, USA
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Posted 13 Nov 2012 9:42 am
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Guys,
I sincerely appreciate your kind complements. This project rekindled my long time passion for tube amplifiers. I am still amazed at how forgiving the wiring is to pickup and 60 cycle noise.
Best wishes,
Jerry |
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Rich Hlaves
From:
Wildomar, California, USA
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Posted 13 Nov 2012 10:10 am
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"I am still amazed at how forgiving the wiring is to pickup and 60 cycle noise."
It's all about lead dress and grounding scheme. You did a fine job putting an evening gown on this one!
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On man....let the smoke out of another one. |
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Murnel Babineaux
From:
Mermentau, Louisiana, USA
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Posted 26 Nov 2012 8:41 am
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JJ's regular ECC83 sound anemic in the midrange.
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Rittenberry D10 E9/C6 Session 400 |
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Jerry Fleming
From:
Roanoke, Virginia, USA
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Posted 26 Nov 2012 10:02 am
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Murnel,
What is your preference or recommendation for ~$10.00? In my opinion JJ has one of the best and reliable products on the market for the money. I have $100 Mullards in my personal Twin and they both sound outstanding into a D130F.
Jerry |
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Tim Marcus
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 26 Nov 2012 10:26 am
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Jerry you should try the Ruby 12ax7 - they are the best new production tube I have heard. The JJ is good, but I agree that they have their own very scooped out sound. If you use JJ, spring for the gold pins - they pull the best tubes and plate the pins in gold. In the old days they all would have been thrown out and only the good ones sold, but those days are long gone - manufacturing is too expensive now to throw anything away
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Milkmansound.com |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 26 Nov 2012 1:29 pm
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| I have used 100's of the ECC83S by JJ and never found them weak in the mids. Sound is very similar to NOS RCA tubes, from what I have heard in the shop. |
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Jerry Fleming
From:
Roanoke, Virginia, USA
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Posted 26 Nov 2012 5:17 pm
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Tim,
I will check out the Ruby 12AX7's. It's been a while since I had a chance or time to AB compare preamp tubes. Ken, I have used a lot of JJs with good success also. They are hard to beat for the money in my opinion. I found the ECC81 Mullard to work really well for the reverb driver.
I have got the bug again... I am building and experimenting again.
Thanks for sharing guys. I do apprecaite your advice and opinions.
Best regards,
Jerry |
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Len Amaral
From:
Rehoboth,MA 02769
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Posted 26 Nov 2012 6:13 pm
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Christmas came early this year as I put a deposit on a 1965 one owner twin that was sitting in a closet for many years. I realize it will never get played out but the look of a fresh Twin with the amp tipped back on the chrome legs is sweet.
I am going to have the amp recapped and new tubes and anything else it may need. 
Lenny |
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Murnel Babineaux
From:
Mermentau, Louisiana, USA
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Posted 20 Dec 2012 3:11 pm
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| Jerry Fleming wrote: |
Murnel,
What is your preference or recommendation for ~$10.00? In my opinion JJ has one of the best and reliable products on the market for the money. I have $100 Mullards in my personal Twin and they both sound outstanding into a D130F.
Jerry |
RCA-7025..IF you can find them... Telefunken Smooth Plate tubes are incredibly awesome sounding.. as for new production tubes. Tung-sol's are gritty, but be sure you burn the cathodes for 100 hours prior to use...They CAN exhibit high leakage and low cathode emission before this procedure.
_________________
Rittenberry D10 E9/C6 Session 400
Last edited by Murnel Babineaux on 21 Dec 2012 10:22 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Jerry Fleming
From:
Roanoke, Virginia, USA
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Posted 21 Dec 2012 4:34 am
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Murnel,
I apprecaite your suggestions. I have a few old RCA 7025's and they are nice and very low noise. The consistancy between tubes of the same manufacturer now days is not the same as in years past as Tim stated. I doing a new build and experimenting some over the holidays. I will share my results later.
Kind regards & Merry Christmas,
Jerry |
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Murnel Babineaux
From:
Mermentau, Louisiana, USA
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Posted 21 Dec 2012 10:39 am
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Mullard, Philips Holland and Amperex tubes from these manufacturers can be noisy/microphonic. I'm using Telefunken smooth plates for the steel guitar channel and reverb recovery.
I'm using an old sylvania 12ax7 for my fiddle channel. ..The new re-issue Tung-Sol has the tightest tolerances that resemble a real 12AX7 than any tube I've tested. The problem..Their mid curve is just the opposite of JJ's tube which can make the twin too midrange responsive. This is why I recommend the American/European tubes for V1, V2.
Use very high quality 12AT7's in your V3 position (Reverb Driver). Fender runs these hot and are prone to short. I use high quality Sylvania, RCA, Mullard in this position. I've NEVER had this tube short on me in the 25 years of using them. I've had lots of customers tubes short in V3. Most of them, current manufacture tubes, although NOS or CM tubes can short.
The phase inverter/driver 12AT7..I'm using a Military RCA 6201. Power tubes...I'm using 6L6WXT+ from Sovtek.. To me, these give the best balance in power/tone that I like.
Also..I have a Mercury Magnetics fatstack output transformer in my 1968 Twin that allows me to play C6th at high/clean volume levels. I couldn't get the amp to respond to this low tuning without the extra iron.
You and your family have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, as well !!
Thanks,
Murnel
_________________
Rittenberry D10 E9/C6 Session 400 |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 26 Dec 2012 3:39 am
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awesome Jerry...thanks for posting
t
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Emmons L-II , Fender Telecasters, B-Benders , Eastman Mandolin ,
Pro Tools 12 on WIN 7 !
jobless- but not homeless- now retired 9 years
CURRENT MUSIC TRACKS AT > https://tprior2241.wixsite.com/website |
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Daniel Vorp
From:
Burlington, NC USA
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Posted 6 Dec 2017 10:22 am Will Sell This 1964 Fender Twin Reverb Amp
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Hello All,
Jerry did this work for me. It belonged to a friend of mine from Butler, PA since the 60s, and he kept it until he passed away. I purchased it from his family and wanted to bring it back to life. Since its' rebirth I have used the amp sparingly. If anyone is interested I will sell it for what I have into it. $1800.00 with a 4 ohm JBL K-130 speaker or $1600 without a speaker, and that includes a D2F cover.
Dan
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MSA Legend SD10, ZumSteel SD-10, Telonics X10 pickups, Hilton volume pedals, Fender Steel King with TSNEO-15-4, Evans FET 500 LV with TSNEO-15-4, (2) Webb speaker cabinets loaded with 4 OHM JBL K-130s |
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