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Topic: Help me set up my Fender Amp |
Pat Haley
From:
Walker, LA USA
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Posted 16 May 2010 5:47 am |
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I bought this fender amp from a pawn shop and now need to get it set up. In Sep of last year I bought a Sho-Bud Pro II Custom from Rickey Davis and am starting the long journey of learning how to play. I was in the Austin area in Feb and was able to take a lesson from Herb Steiner. A guy at the office has a band and has been after me to play once he learned I had bought a PSG. I sat in with his band for about 2 hours a couple of weeks ago and I am now hooked. I know nothing about amps and how to set them up. I bought a Peavey N112 around Christmas. I found this Fender Twin in a pawn shop and could not pass it up. I have no idea what it is worth. I took it to the hotel room and plugged it in to see if it works. The fist few times I turned it on it would act like it needed to clear its throat. It would make crackling noises after about 3 to 5 minutes then acted fine. As you can see it is missing 3 knobs and I will have to find them. What would be needed to add to this amp if any thing. Right now I have the PSG, volume pedal, and amp.
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Thom Ferman
From:
Las Vegas, NV, USA
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Posted 16 May 2010 7:35 am
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Hi Pat,
Welcome to the wacky world of pedal steel. This will be both the most frustrating yet most rewarding journey you'll ever take. Just remember that even the steel greats were at the same point you are right now at some point in their lives.
My guitar player has the exact same amp you have there. He uses a Boss RV-3 to get the reverb the amp doesn't have. I've also heard some very good things about the new Boss FRV-1, supposed to do a very good emulation of the old '63 Fender tube reverb unit.
As far as your crackling noise on warm up there's a real good chance your tube sockets are a little oxidized and the crackling and popping you hear is the heat expansion of the tube socket contacts. A very good item to get is Caig's Deoxit contact cleaner:
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=341-200&source=googleps
With amp off and unplugged, remove the tubes one by one, spray the tube pins, reinsert and work the tube in and out a bit. Remove again, wipe the pins, respray and reinsert. Repeat with each of the remaining tubes. This should remove the oxidation and quiet things down quite a bit. You probably should have a tech check the filter caps too. They will go bad and can have a catastrophic effect on expensive output transformers and such.
Finally, I can't stress enough how valuable Jeff Newman's steel guitar videos and audios were (are) to me when I first learned to play. Jeff's no longer with us but his wife Fran still sells the material on-line: http://www.jeffran.com/
Best of luck and don't give up now that you've got the itch!
_________________
Thom Ferman
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Pat Haley
From:
Walker, LA USA
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Posted 16 May 2010 12:56 pm
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| Thom, thanks for the response. After a little research it looks like this amp is a Fender Twin, “The Evil Twin”. Looking at “The Amp Guide” website the Fender Twin Reverb (Blackface) made 1963 – 1967 has Vibrato plug in’s. The one I have does not have these. The Amp Guide website states year of production 1995 – Present. When you look at the Fender website they do not show up. I did find a post where they were not in production any longer. |
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Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
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Posted 18 May 2010 4:29 am
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Yes, this amp is more guitar-oriented with three gain stages. It is much different from the Twin Reverb which most use for steel. Your sound on this amp will be hotter. There may be things you can do to make it more steel-friendly, but unless you're looking for more rock-sounding steel you might be hard-pressed to get what you want from it.
_________________
Jackson Steel Guitars
Web: www.chrisledrew.com |
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D Schubert
From:
Columbia, MO, USA
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