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Topic: Evil Twin Reverb |
Ken Pippus
From:
Langford, BC, Canada
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Posted 19 Mar 2007 12:56 pm |
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I have a shot at a pretty good deal on one of the "Red Knob" early '90's Fender "The Twin" amps, and have heard very mixed reviews. Anybody like 'em or hate 'em?
Thanks for the input.
KP |
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Dan Beller-McKenna
From:
Durham, New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 19 Mar 2007 1:25 pm
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Ken,
I used one for a while last year and found it to be acceptable for steel. Not great, but more than useable. If it had a problem it was that there was TOO much variety in the tone you could get. I really only used the first, clean channel. Also it is heavy+.
On the night I sold it, I plugged in my telecaster and discovered it was an excellent six string amp. Too late.
Dan
_________________
Durham, NH
dbmCk mUSIC |
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 19 Mar 2007 5:43 pm
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Hated it. I would rather play through the arguably worst sounding amp in history ,the JC120. The times I have been stuck playing through the red knob fenders have been nights of suffering and pain. Absolutely hideous. I have even brought decent amps for guitar players that I knew were bringing one just so I wouldn't have to hear that awful sound. I wish I were kidding. Truly dreadful.
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Bob |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 19 Mar 2007 6:21 pm
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Not much for pedal steel (and that's about the best thing I can say about them).  |
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Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
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Posted 19 Mar 2007 8:27 pm
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| Bob Hoffnar would know. He roads and gets a chance to try many different amps. I aalways trust Donny's experience also. |
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Keith Cordell
From:
San Diego
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Posted 20 Mar 2007 12:03 am
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| If it's good enough for Lindley... I had one and couldn't get loud enough to get the tone out of it but Mr. Dave did fairly well with it. |
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Tommy Allison
From:
Transfer, Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 20 Mar 2007 4:27 am
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| Great lead amp, worst amp I ever played steel through. |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 20 Mar 2007 5:35 am
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Bob Hoffnar nails my sentiments.
One of the absolute worst amps ever. Great for anchoring a boat, though. Heavy, expensive to service, cold sounding (and in a way no usual tube amp mods can warm up) - for completely clean sounds coupled with microphinic pickups and cheap guitars (as Lindley used) it works well, though. Really a strange amp - plug a good guitar into it and it sounds so sterile you wonder if it's a bad solid-state amp. But it IS heaven with a Teisco.
And yes, I did make the mistake, out of morbid curiousity, of buying one once. Kept it for about a year, trying to find out what it would do - but at the time, being mainly a Stringbender Tele player, it was absolutely useless to me. IT DID sound terrific with my Teisco and Dano Masonite-body 6-strings, though.
As a steel amp I think it would bring out the absolute worst, as it seemed to like REALLY low impedance pickups. Plugged a Les Paul into it and thought I had accidentally stepped into an elevator with one button - hell.
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional |
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Keith Cordell
From:
San Diego
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Posted 20 Mar 2007 5:56 am
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| Another guitar that these work well with is the Danelectro baritones, as well as Rickenbackers- chime city. |
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Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
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Posted 20 Mar 2007 8:37 am
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| Kevin Hatton wrote: |
| Bob Hoffnar would know. He roads and gets a chance to try many different amps. I always trust Donny's experience also. |
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John Macy
From:
Rockport TX/Denver CO
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Posted 20 Mar 2007 9:27 am
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| I have seen Robben Ford playing through two red knob Fenders with a Zen Drive and he sounded amazing... |
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Keith Cordell
From:
San Diego
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Posted 20 Mar 2007 9:33 am
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| One pitfall of these forums is that sometimes good gear is dismissed out of hand over what are really taste issues. For me, it was a great amp if you need the volume, but you gotta be able to get really loud to hear what it has in it. That's why I use low power amps! But I'd love one if I had a real gig again. |
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Dan Beller-McKenna
From:
Durham, New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 20 Mar 2007 10:42 am
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Well,
to put my more positive assessment of the amp into a context: my iedal sound is the SF Twin I played through in my first life as a steel player back in the 70s-80s. When I got back into steel a couple of years ago I picked up a Peavey Heritage cheap; the evil twin was way better sounding than the Heritage (which is to say it came much closer to the SF Twin sound in my head). Sooon after I got the Evil Twin I picked up a 65ri Twin. This was noticably better than the Evil Twin, but the difference was not as great as between Evil Twin and the Heritage.
There was a tendency for a cold ice picky sound on the Evil Twin that quickly went to dull thud. But in between there was a relatively sweet spot, maybe not worth the trouble to find compared to other Fender amps et al, but it was a spot I can not to this day come close to on the Peavey.
Bottom line, Ken: if you live close enough you should go try this amp and decide for yourself. If not, it might be a very heavy gamble.
Dan |
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Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
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Posted 20 Mar 2007 11:19 am
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The 80's Red-knob Twin! What a monster. Poor thing, no one loves it. That amp was designed to accomodate the heavy metal that was ruling the day. Why do you think all those metal Gods had huge biceps?
As far as tone goes, it's supposed to make that God-awful shriek when you strum a real chord. It only responds to finger-tapping and whammy dives. The snake-skin models are particularly nasty. They actually smell like a real snake, and they're almost as dangerous to approach.
I used one for some recording a few years ago, and it wasn't bad. I just dialed in a clean, unobtrusive tone and laid down some rhythm with it. (My AC30 took a hissy fit and clammed up, and I was stuck.) I wouldn't be afraid of playing Tele through one live; I'd coax something out of that damn thing. But lifting it? No way. And for steel? Not a chance.
_________________
Jackson Steel Guitars
Web: www.chrisledrew.com |
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Drew Howard
From:
48854
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Posted 20 Mar 2007 12:07 pm
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I used a red-knob Twin on a EU tour in '95 for Telecaster. Not great sounding but more reliable than the Peavey I used the following years.
Drew
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http://www.drewhoward.com |
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Paul Arntson
From:
Washington, USA
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Posted 22 Mar 2007 9:59 pm
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The best Rolling Stones type rock sound I have ever got in my life was a Fender Champion (one of the yellow MOTS 6 string laps) going into my old red knob twin set to the 25W mode and cranked. That sound captures the essence of rock.
Unfortunately, the amp is really heavy and I sold it to get a Hot Rod Deville 4x10 and I never looked back. The 12" speakers in the twin didn't have a very sparkly top end.
Great amps for what they were. |
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