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Topic: Fox Vintage Tube Reverb (MP3 added) |
Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 30 Sep 2017 8:22 am |
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Finally doing some custom building in my old shop in Ray City. Building a batch of 12 Fox Vintage Reverb units. Been around 7 years since I built any of these. This is a tube reverb unit loosely based on the old Premier 90 tube reverb. With the help of my dear departed friend, Jim Evans I redesigned the unit to elimate problems that it had.
Thanks to Danny Beasley for building the wood cabinets. I am doing all the Tolex, grill and hardware for the cabs. each circuit board is hand built from scratch in the shop as well.
Last edited by Ken Fox on 30 Oct 2017 4:37 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bryan Martin
From:
Quebec, Canada
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Posted 30 Sep 2017 2:56 pm
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Ken,
How would you compare these to the Fender reverbs?
And
What problems with the Premier did you fix?
Cheers, Bryan |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 30 Sep 2017 3:26 pm
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| The Premier had headroom issues (distorted easily), had internal ground loop issues. The Premier circuit was unique as it recirculated the reverb back into the tank, creating a wonderful hall type reverb. The Fender reverb unit is a totally different reverb sound, very springy or surf music type reverb. |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 30 Sep 2017 3:34 pm Premier 90
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Here are some pictures of the old Premier 90 internals. As you can see it was a spaghetti factory of wiring !
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 30 Sep 2017 3:45 pm
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| Other improvements are full wave rectified power supplies for plate voltages as well as tube heaters. It's been a while so these things are coming back to me slowly😀 |
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J Fletcher
From:
London,Ont,Canada
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Posted 2 Oct 2017 6:35 am
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Hi Ken
That's pretty cool! Any chance of a schematic being posted?
The 6v dc supply looks interesting , at least I think it's a 6v dc supply.
Thanks , Jerry |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 2 Oct 2017 6:38 am
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It is my own design and I have never shared it. No plans right now to do so. Thanks for asking and hope you understand my position on that
For sure I am using the filament power off of the same power transformer used in the Fender Reverb Units. That was a nice upgrade to the Premier 90 original power transformer. Also using a choke in the power supply for more filtering. |
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Charlie Tryon
From:
Glovertown Newfoundland, Canada
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Posted 2 Oct 2017 8:00 am
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Well one thing for sure is we will be getting a great product from Ken. Quality and great workman ship. He is the best at this sort of thing ...imho
_________________
My NEW TUBE AMP CWT Amplifiers I build, JACKSON COMMEMORATIVE all wood 3&5, Fender Steel King Amp,Telonics pedal |
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Peter Harris
From:
South Australia, Australia
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Posted 3 Oct 2017 3:28 am
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Hi Ken,
Good to see things happening for you!
Cheers,
Peter
_________________
If my wife is reading this, I don't have much stuff....really! |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 5 Oct 2017 5:10 am
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Finished the first reverb unit yesterday. Playing with my pedal steel thru a Nashville 400 with a 12" Peavey 1203-4SB speaker. Also my 1976, S12-MSA with an original Bill Lawrence/Buddy Emmons pickup I put in there in 1976. I forgot how great these units sound as well as warming up the Nashville 400 amp. The reverb has a variable input impedance knob, wet/dry mix and a knob for amount of reverb. Basically you have a tube buffer and reverb unit all in one. Can't wait to get all the parts ordered and start the last 11 units. They will be produced in a variety of Tolex/grill cloth combinatIons. Anyone ordering in advance can choose their cabinet colors.
Still working on the sale price. Most all parts have gone up in 7 years, of course. The largest single cost years ago was the Mojotone cabinet. We are now able to produce our own quality cabinet right here in South Georgia! |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 5 Oct 2017 5:12 am
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Tim Whitlock
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 5 Oct 2017 8:54 am
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| Breathtaking work - love the color scheme! |
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J Fletcher
From:
London,Ont,Canada
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Posted 5 Oct 2017 9:49 am
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| Looks great Ken. Love that colour. Reminds me of some of the 50's Gibson amps. |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 5 Oct 2017 10:44 am
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| Yes that's true. I used that covering on my 1953 GibsonGA-75 years ago. Had a bunch left over. One of my favorite amp covers |
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Chris Boyd
From:
Leonia,N.J./Charlestown,R.I.
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Jim Goins
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 6 Oct 2017 1:11 pm Amp cover
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WoW! Ken how old are you if you used that amp covering 75 years ago.  J.G. |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 6 Oct 2017 2:14 pm
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6 volt circuit?
_________________
Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps |
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Jon Zimmerman
From:
California, USA
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Posted 11 Oct 2017 10:22 am Fox Premier
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| Ditto all above, Ken. A very elegant, clever upgrade solution to the hiccup-prone early product.. full wave rectifier solves headroom glitch as well. Same type rev'b tank as Fender? The cab is plenty spacious. Enjoy the ride.. this will "gain" "ground" for you, for certain! 😎 |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 12 Oct 2017 11:14 am
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Yes the heated are st 6.4 DC. Center tapped to audio ground. Audio and chassis ground are separated via a 10 ohm FP resistor with two 6 amp diodes that are back to back and in parallel with the 10 ohm resistor. All jacks, pot bodies are at audio ground and isolated from the metal chassis. No hum from power supply at all.
Same reverb tank impedance a sca Fender tank. I am using a short 3 spring tank. My first run was with the 3 spring long tanks. Have tried the 2 spring tanks as well. All doing good. |
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Gerard Drury
From:
Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 12 Oct 2017 1:14 pm ken fox reverb
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| I have ken Fox reverb from when he was building them before and I can tell you they are great product they make your steel sound fantastic. buy one as soon as he has them for sale |
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Rick Abbott
From:
Indiana, USA
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Posted 12 Oct 2017 4:47 pm
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I had a 60's Premier reverb a few years back. I got it in a trade at my music store. I absolutely hated it; it was impossible to get clean tone out of. I think it was functioning "right" but had such limitations. That being said, I could tell it had a potential reverb voice and tone that I would love. This is a very interesting thread!!
How can we hear one in use???
_________________
RICK ABBOTT
Sho~Bud D-10 Professional #7962
Remington T-8, Sehy #112
1975 Peavey Pacer |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 17 Oct 2017 7:34 am
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Many years ago I covered a Super Reverb cabinet for my recently departed friend, Cloyd Bloser. Cloyd purchased leather cowhide that was embossed in alligator print. Fortunately I still had enough to put on this reverb unit. Combed w a brown ostrich and a vintage leather handle I had in the shop.
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Bobby Nelson
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 18 Oct 2017 11:57 pm
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| This looks great Ken! I'll be looking into it. I really like your take on Sleep walk. I have one question that is a little off topic about the video: Is that a Hemi Belvedere? |
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