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Topic: Settings for a Fender Twin |
Tom Palmer
From:
East Wenatchee, WA USA (deceased)
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Posted 15 Jan 2004 2:15 pm |
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| I have a old 66 Fender Twin that rarely use for steel, in part because I haven't figured out what settings will work best. Any advice? |
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Ricky Davis
From:
Bertram, Texas USA
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Posted 15 Jan 2004 3:55 pm
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Well what kinda guitar do you have and what pickup is in it??>would better suit my answer....but ball park.
Bright switch down....
Treble on 4...
Mid on 3 or 4....
Bass on 5 or 6.....
Reverb in the 4 area...
If it's a master volume....turn it all the way up...and use the regular volume for your volume level.
Ricky |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 15 Jan 2004 4:10 pm
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Hey Ricky--I got a Dual Showman Reverb recently that I have been digging big time. I did some forum searching on this subject and----------------please trust me, man, I'm not busting you here---I'm interested in how you got to where you've got------------in the past you absolutely used the bright switch up. Curious about your thinking. I'm still working on that fine line between thrill and shrill.
Also a note, Tony---as has been said elsewhere, Fenders seem to come alive at higher volumes. It may seem a bit dead at living room level and make you wonder. But my experience is that it just wants to open up. |
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JB Arnold
From:
Longmont,Co,USA (deceased)
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Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
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Posted 15 Jan 2004 6:46 pm
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| Guys.. I have used Fenders exclusively for over 30 years. They DO want to be "opened up" a bit . I use a few different settings but this is ballpark.. Bass- @ 5 to 6[depending on room of course]. treble -@around 5 or a bit less.. mid- depends on roomm usually about 3 to six. Often I will raise the bass over 6, decrease treble to 3 and put the bright switch on.. This gives a nice "Fenderey "sparkle to the sound without being too piercing. I CANNOT get a good sound out of ANY Peavey even if my life depended on it... ITS NOT THE AMPS.... ITS ME!!! I have owned Session 400...A session 500 a Vegas and all sounded horrible... I also had a Peavey Deuce.. w/2 12 JBL's that sounded like the voice of heaven.. that was a tube output[4 6L6]amp 120 watts... I wish I could make those big Peavey amps sound great like SOOO many other steel players do!.. I am also a lead guitarist and The Peavey hi waatage clean amps [Sessions etc]are just not my cup of tea. I Just have the sound of tubes in my brain I guess. I am VERY glad to see so many of my fellow steel players STILL use Fender amps for steel!.. It IS a timeless sound! bob |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 15 Jan 2004 8:08 pm
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Put the bass on 10, then turn up the middle and treble until it sounds good.
I'm moving this topic to the "Electronics" section.
------------------
 Bobby Lee
-b0b- quasar@b0b.com
System Administrator
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Ricky Davis
From:
Bertram, Texas USA
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Posted 15 Jan 2004 9:14 pm
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Jon and JB; your absolutely right as I've always opened up the amp by putting the bright switch UP....UNTIL...Lloyd Green Gave me his settings he used on the Twin for all those years and that was with the bright switch down.....
So I went to the gig after he told me that..and did his settings....and Wow..it was way cool....>so I'm easily persuaded by someone like Lloyd ya know and can change my mind.
I do however..go back and forth..depending on which guitar I'm playing...>as some of these steels just won't clear up until that bright switch comes up..
So my settings with the bright switch up are.
Treble 3 to 4
Mid 2 to 3
Bass 6 to 7
....and so there ya have it...>Good eye Guys...ha.
Jon; I'm glad your diggin; that Showman man...those are a good amp....>my partner/student; Archie Cox has one...and it's Killer.
Ricky |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 16 Jan 2004 3:04 am
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Oh, you've heard of this guy Lloyd Green, eh? Cool.  Thanks for the response. |
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Dave Van Allen
From:
Doylestown, PA , US , Earth
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Posted 16 Jan 2004 4:05 am
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| Quote: |
| Put the bass on 10 |
Really b0b!?!? with a TWIN?
What is you reasoning behind this? (I am not disputing, just seeking clarification...)[This message was edited by Dave Van Allen on 16 January 2004 at 04:09 AM.] |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 16 Jan 2004 4:13 am
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Treble at 3, mids at 1, bass at 10, bright sw. "on". These are my "starting settings" for any Fender tube amp.
DVA...players who run the bass at 6 or less are missing the real beauty of the Fender tube sound! I use lower bass settings only in the studio. |
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Brad Sarno
From:
St. Louis, MO USA
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Posted 16 Jan 2004 8:20 am
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I saw Brumley use a Twin in St. Louis. He had the bass on 10, mids around 3-4 and also the treble was down around 3 or 4. Sounded great. On a Twin, all the bass kicks in at around 2.8 and by 3.5 it's pretty fat. From 4-10 there isn't a huge difference. Also, it's my understanding that the bright switch has varying degrees of effectiveness depending on the volume setting. At real low volumes, the bright switch seems to be dramatic. At higher volume settings, the bright switch is less effective. Sometimes with the treble way down and the bright switch up sounds pretty cool. I ususally use settings real close to what Ricky just posted. Lately it's been:
Bright off
Treble 3.7
Midrange 3-7 depending on guitar and mood
Bass 6
Brad Sarno
ZB Custom, Emmons P/P, Webb, Fender Twin, Gretsch, Session 400 |
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David Doggett
From:
Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
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Posted 16 Jan 2004 9:02 am
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I have a SF 135w Twin with JBL 12s, a SF 100w Dual head with a 15" JBL, and a 100w Custom Vibrasonic head. The speakers make a huge difference. With the 12s the bass needs to be up, but not so much with the 15. The 12s get too shrill with the brite on, but the 15 sparkles with it. The mid needs to be down with the 12s, but can get up pretty high with the 15. Imuch prefer the 15 for steel. I use a metal thumb pick, which may mean I need less from the bass. The settings do seem to need to be quite different at low/moderate volume compared to high volume (but I haven't sorted out precisely what they should be at high volume).
I definitely agree that the Fender Twin family amps are the best at high volume, which is what I got them for. Peavey ss steel amps sound okay to me at low/moderate volume, but really sound ugly to me at high volume. It's not distortion, it's just a blaring, ugly, sterile bratt compared to the lush textured sound of the big fender tubes. [This message was edited by David Doggett on 16 January 2004 at 11:24 AM.] |
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Mark Herrick
From:
Bakersfield, CA
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Posted 16 Jan 2004 10:52 am
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From what I have gathered in my research, the Fender amp tone controls are "passive". They do not "add" any bass, middle or treble; they only "subtract". So, with all the controls at "10" the response is "flat".
I think this is why Bob and others start with the bass at "10". It might be worth trying all controls at "10" and working back from there.
Any comments? [This message was edited by Mark Herrick on 16 January 2004 at 11:00 AM.] |
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David Doggett
From:
Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
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Posted 16 Jan 2004 11:23 am
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| Seems to me that with the contols flat at any level the Twin has a big mid scoop. Steel needs a mid scoop, so with a stock Twin with 12s, flat is not too bad, and you might even want to increase the scoop by have the mid set lower than the bass and treble. But with a 15" you don't need as much scoop. Particularly at low volumes I might even set the mid higher than the bass and treble. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 16 Jan 2004 1:55 pm
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| Quote: |
| It might be worth trying all controls at "10" and working back from there. |
I suppose you could, but starting that way just puts you farther from where you want to be! Look at it this way, I don't think I've ever seen anyone play a T/R with the treble over 5, so 6 thru 10 are a waste (well, except for metalheads). Likewise, with the mids, I've never seen anyone run them over 5 or 6, so 7 thru 10 are also a waste. The bass, well, that's a little more liberal, but I've never seen anyone use a setting less than 4, so 1 thru 3 are a wash, too. T/R's with high power (the 100 & 135 watt) may need lower bass settings, as might those with speakers weighted towards the low end (like the SRO and EVM), or fifteens. In addition, T/R's sound better (to me) with the volumes "pushed". Yes, I know, your T/R at "3" is really loud, but the real solid tube-tone doesn't "come on" until the volumes are well past 6 (I run mine wide open).
As far as the "passive" tone controls, 99% of the amps out there have passive (cut) controls. Passive controls just make it hard to get good bottom end at low volumes.
(Keep in mind that, personally, I like a solid, "ballsy" sound, so those of you who lean towards early Brumley and Mooney sounds might do well to ignore my setting suggestions.) |
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Brad Sarno
From:
St. Louis, MO USA
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Posted 16 Jan 2004 7:24 pm
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Well, even though the tone controls are passive, they are still part of a tonestack that is far from flat. With a Twin's tone controls all on 10, it's still very much mid-scooped. The tonestack has a big bass boost and a big 500Hz mid dip in it. To get the low end flat you need to put the bass at around 2.5. By 4 the bass is very boosted compared to the rest of the frequencies. With bass on 2.5, the mid's cranked on 10 and the treble down around 3, you begin to get closer to flat. Flat doesn't seem to sound real good on steel for most people. The Twin's voicing is very steel friendly with that big bass boost and 500Hz mid dip.
I had modified my Twin with the mid dip shifted up to around 800Hz for a while. It sounded pretty cool, but I recently went back to stock, 500Hz, and I think I'll leave it there for a while. Sounds great.
Brad Sarno |
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David Doggett
From:
Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
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Posted 16 Jan 2004 9:52 pm
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| Does anyone know of any currently manufactured big tube amps that sound anywhere near as good for steel as a Twin with a 15"? There are lots of 100w tube combos and heads, but they seem to have all been designed to play fuzzy with early breakup for 6-stringers. Is there anything with the big but clean sound of a Twin? Could some modern new amps be modified to play clean like a Twin? And suppose you wanted something with about half the volume of a Twin, but the same full and clean tube sound, maybe with a single 12" speaker. What would be the nearest thing to that? In other words, a clean tube equivalent to the Peavey Nashville 112? |
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Jody Carver
From:
KNIGHT OF FENDER TWEED
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Posted 16 Jan 2004 10:14 pm
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| A Music Man amp if you can find one. |
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James Morehead
From:
Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.
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Posted 17 Jan 2004 7:25 am
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Dave, Check out some of the Traynor tube amps.  |
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