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Topic: Thoughts on Fender Twin Reverb II? |
Travis Bubenik
From:
Marfa, Texas
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Posted 13 May 2023 4:35 pm |
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| I believe these were made in the 80s? Anyone use em/have any thoughts? I’ve been looking for a silverface twin of some sort but one of the 2’s came up for sale near me for pretty cheap so I’m curious. Thanks! |
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Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
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Posted 14 May 2023 8:18 am
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They are pretty good.. I have had at least 5 of the Rivera era Fender amps over the decades and know them well.. They can be made to sound close to a SF or BF Fender IF you really know what you are doing, but honestly, if you want the classic Fender clean sound we all know and love the Rivera amps are not the best way to go about it... They made changes to the circuitry to accommodate the channel switching capability of these amps, and just sound different from the older designs.. Not bad by any means, but lacking the classic Fender tube amp chime, sparkle, ""harmonic complexity"", whatever...
I tried hard to make them work, used them on the road, but ALWAYS went back to SF or BF Fender designs, simply because they sounded better.. I am not a tech, but from what I gather, they can be modded to get a lot closer to a classic Fender sound, but by the time you buy a Rivera Fender in good shape, then get it serviced by a really good amp tech that knows the ins and outs of Fender designs, you might as well just buy a good SF Fender, unless you know how tomake the adjustments yourself... I like the Rivera Fender amps, but LOVE original Fenders.. I dunno, even the reverb on those amps just wasn't "fendery" enough.. Good, but just not "genuine Fender"... bob
_________________
I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!
no gear list for me.. you don't have the time...... |
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Dave Grafe
From:
Hudson River Valley NY
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Posted 14 May 2023 9:33 am
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| What Bob said. Easy to obtain, not ultimately satisfying, and hard to get rid of when you're tired of it. You would be better served to find a decent AB763 BF reissue and upgrade the speaker and it's cheap molded connecting wire, and the reverb tank and its cheap molded wiring. With a good set of tubes you are good to go with the real deal, and one which will hold its value over the long term. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 14 May 2023 7:47 pm
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Popularity of Rivera-era amps is pretty much Super Champ, Princeton Reverb II, Deluxe Reverb II, Concert 112 (there are other variants too), and then at the bottom of the heap sit amps like the Twin Reverb II, Super Twin, and so on. The issue is that the big amps are so heavy, loud, and clean. This is pretty much the same pecking order as the blackface/silverface Fenders, with the exception that the BF/SF Champ is frequently not thought of as giggable, although they are in some situations. The Super Champ is definitely giggable, I've done it. Yes, I've gigged with BF/SF Champs, but they were coffeehouse volume-level things.
I guess the question is "How cheap?". I would much, much rather have a pre-ultralinear (before the 135-Watt version, which started circa 1976-77) Twin Reverb. Between the ultralinear and Twin Reverb II, I'm sorta agnostic. The TR II is not an ultralinear circuit. But neither makes a very good candidate to return to blackface specs.
I'd say unless it's really, really cheap - say a (very) few hundred - and in decent shape, I wouldn't bother. I like the Concert 112 - it does about 60 Watts RMS clean, plus or minus, and with a high-power 12" neodymium speaker, isn't so much of a beast. I used mine for gigging plenty like that. But it's still pretty durned heavy.
But seriously - good silverface pre-ultralinear (and even pre-master-volume) Twin Reverbs aren't really expensive at all. I picked up a real nice 1970 pre-master-volume TR a year or two ago for around $700, did about $100 in tune-up stuff. It's great. But it's totally superfluous to my '66 blackface TR, so I traded it. I just can't help myself sometimes when I see these great amps reasonable.
Anyway - unless it's dirt cheap, I'd pass. Maybe you can use that as bargaining power - these big, heavy, loud and clean amps are not easy to sell. Especially in the 6-string guitar market. |
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Travis Bubenik
From:
Marfa, Texas
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Posted 15 May 2023 10:53 am
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| Thanks for the input y’all. Yea I’m leaning toward passing on the Twin 2 - turns out it’s got some awful loud humming issues that I don’t really have it in me to try and suss out. If it was in pristine shape maybe. Anyways appreciate the feedback! |
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