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Topic: Fender Twin |
bob drawbaugh
From:
scottsboro, al. usa
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Posted 22 Jul 2001 5:40 pm |
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| Has any one played the new Fender Cyber Twin. I have not but I have heard it. Killer tone but a bit expensive side . $1700 I think. |
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ajm
From:
Los Angeles
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Posted 23 Jul 2001 6:53 am
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| There is a review in a recent issue of Guitar Player magazine. If I remember correctly they liked it. |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 23 Jul 2001 7:35 am
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I think there was a thread on this amp, or at least several comments about it, a couple of months ago. I don't remember the comments but do a search on this amp or a Fender Twin - may come up with something.
As far as GP, their review probably didn't include steel guitar applications.
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Jeff A. Smith
From:
Angola,Ind. U.S.A.
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Posted 23 Jul 2001 1:02 pm
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I tried one at a local music store, playing lead guitar through it. This is just my personal opinion, so I understand if someone sees it a little differently, but I think strictly with regard to the sound, it's like many other products that try to do a lot of different things. It ends up not being very good at any of them. It also didn't seem to have much volume.
It's a lot of fun to go through all the different imitations of classic amps and players, watching the knobs move all by themselves to show you the settings. If you want to tweak the programmed setting a bit you can.
I guess if someone was in a situation where they did a lot of cover tunes or different musical styles, they might like this, but for me personally I prefer a setup that will offer two or three realy good tones (or even just one).
It reminds me of what a friend said when I asked him what he thought of a particular tone that in his mind wasn't quite what it was supposed to be:
"Its like kissing your sister."
Of course I realize judgement of tone is pretty much a personal subjective matter.  [This message was edited by Jeff A. Smith on 23 July 2001 at 02:06 PM.] |
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Jeff A. Smith
From:
Angola,Ind. U.S.A.
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Posted 23 Jul 2001 1:40 pm
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| I should qualify the above by saying that most of the tones that I found unsatisfactory were those that required distortion. I've never liked the distortion of Fender solid state amps (the Cyber is solid state). I generally like the clean tones alright. I didn't think the Cyber's imitation of the clean tones of some of the old Fender tube amps was all that bad either. |
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Terry Downs
From:
Wylie, TX US
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Posted 28 Jul 2001 9:42 pm
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I Cyber Twin was a disappointment in my opinion. However I quickly purchased the Evil Twin, which is the new Twin 65 face "look alike". It sounds more like my old 65 than anything I have ever heard. It is an all tube amp. It is the loudest amp I have ever plyed through. It has the additional features that allow you to have a distortion channel plus an over drive gain setting on the vintage side. It also has a switch to remove 2 of the 4 6L6s from the circuit to allow lower volume level distortion. I love it. Tubes still rule for a guitar. Most of the Brent Mason Telecaster stuff we love in the Alan Jackson songs were played through a Fender Deluxe Reverb I'm told.
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Terry Downs
http://nightshift.net
terry@nightshift.net
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Doug Earnest
From:
Branson, MO USA
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Posted 30 Jul 2001 7:26 am
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I bought a CyberTwin recently because I wanted a single unit stereo amplifier with all the goodies built in. I only play local dance gigs with "good ole boy" type bands and was really tired of lugging a rack system around. I play pedal steel, fiddle and guitar.
This is not the ultimate steel amp, but with a little tweaking of the programs I have gotten some sounds that work OK for me. This is the easiest amp to program that I have used. The instructions are well written also.
The basis for my steel programs are the Vibro King preset. Using "amp edit", I selected the full body option and adjusted the tone controls (using the knobs) to suit my tastes, then pressed the "save" button. You can then use your basic program to create other programs with the built in effects. This thing really is simple, if I can do it anyone can.
The same basic steel sound works pretty good for a fiddle, also.
I like several of the factory presets for Tele type guitar. Most of them are too bright to suit me, but that's why they put knobs on it.
I did have problems with one of the pre-amp tubes, (this particular amp had been dropped pretty hard, so I got a good deal) but it was easy to replace. Sounds great now. The stock Celestion speakers do a much better job than I ever would have guessed. I taped the first gig I used it on, using a boom box recorder at the side of the stage, and the darn thing sounds good! Kind of that classic twang thang.
To sum it up, it is a VERY versatile amp for a number of applications, and I can lift it easily. It doesn't sound like an Evans or Webb or even a good Nashville 400. The sound has an "edge" to it, but I'm starting to like it. (Johnny Cox says he likes a little "hair" on the note !) If I was only going to play steel, I would probably use something else, but for my situation it's working pretty well. You can buy them for about $1250.
Melting in Missouri,
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Doug Earnest
Zum2000U12,Sierra12,Sho-Bud ProII D10 |
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Dave Diehl
From:
Mechanicsville, MD, USA
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Posted 30 Jul 2001 5:43 pm
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| My first amp was a tube Fender Twin Reverb in 1968. I really liked it and when I blew up I immediately went out and bought a new one... WRONG! It had the worst tone of any amp I've ever heard a steel guitar played through. It's still like new and I'll probably have to give it away to get rid of it. I swore I would never buy another Fender Amp for steel guitar applications. |
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Terry Downs
From:
Wylie, TX US
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Posted 30 Jul 2001 5:58 pm
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| Doug, I was interested to see if anyone had tried it with steel. It is a very versatile rig. I was hoping it might be that "new" craze for steelers. I was a little harsh about saying it was a dissapointment. I was speaking stictly with a Tele sound and using distortion especially. I would think some creative steel guitarist would dial up some great sounds with it. I never tried it on steel. |
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Jeff A. Smith
From:
Angola,Ind. U.S.A.
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Posted 30 Jul 2001 6:11 pm
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| Then it has preamp tubes. Well that has to help. [This message was edited by Jeff A. Smith on 30 July 2001 at 08:23 PM.] |
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Doug Earnest
From:
Branson, MO USA
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Posted 31 Jul 2001 7:33 am
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Yes, it does have preamp tubes, Groove Tubes 12AX7A. It's an American amp made in Mexico with Russian tubes and British speakers. Good Grief!
This thing is NOT a Twin Reverb with a digital effects section added in. As I understand it, the internal circuitry is actually changed to emulate the type of amp selected in the program. That's about as deep into electronics as I care to try to understand.
I do know that there are a few different types of preamps that can be used in making the programs, some of which use the tubes. I made some programs using the solid state preamp, based on the Hot Rod DeVille amp. I saved these in case a preamp tube went bad again, I will still have something to use.
The footswitches (included) allow you to select between four programs of your choice, and with a little imagination you can get a lot more options out of them. The single button switch allows you to turn an effect off or on in the program, so you could have a clean mono sound going, tap the button and instantly be into stereo delay (or whatever). This thing will do a lot and it really is simple. Two knobs on the front allow you to tweak the effects as you are playing. They control the parameters most likely to be used with the effect(s) selected. For example, delay time, chorus depth, regeneration, etc.
The built-in chromatic tuner works O.K., but I have used it mainly with the guitar and fiddle.
The amp switches to stereo when you select a stereo effect in a program (tape echo, chorus, etc). It has two 65 watt solid state power amps. I don't know if they are automatically bridged for mono operation.
It isn't the loudest amp I ever used, but it has been satisfactory so far. I didn't have any trouble blending with my lead man's Tele through an Evans, and he ain't afraid of the volume knob! I prefer to have my amp miked into the PA anyway, so I don't really need or want a megawatt of amp blaring in my ears.
I don't think this will be "the next great thing for steel", but for some people it may work very well.
Still Melting in Missouri,
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Doug Earnest
Zum2000U12,Sierra12,Sho-Bud ProII D10 |
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