Fender Vibrasonic Reverb Amplifier

William Clark · Posted 26 Sep 2006 8:05 pm

I recently saw one of these amps for sale on Ebay and I was curious if anyone was using one of these for steel. I am very new to the steel guitar scene and I have found that the amplifiers that the qualities that I look for in an electric guitar amplifier are not the same as I would like in a steel guitar amplifier. The Vibrasonic Reverb looks like it might have the attributes that I would look for if I were designing a steel guitar amplifier; ie solid state rectifier for tightness, four 6L6 output tubes and a 15" JBL.

Curt Eversole · From: Kentucky, USA

William
Been using a Vibrosonic when I play out for quiet some time. Love the warm sound only a tube amp can give. I have a couple of Nashville 400's with a Boss SE 70 processor set up in my picking room and I really cant choose between the sounds, they're both good. Its just easier luging one amp out. If you get one,put casters on it.

William Clark · Posted 27 Sep 2006 6:22 am

Thanks Curt!

David Doggett · Posted 27 Sep 2006 6:49 am

The Vibrasonic Custom is a fair PC-board all-tube amp. It is similar to a reissue Twin, but with a 15" speaker. My understanding is that both these amps attempt to copy the black-face Twin sound. Because of this they have earlier breakup and less clean headroom than Fender silver-face era amps. This makes them more desirable for guitar players, but less desirable for steel. I have had two Vibrasonics. They were better than a solid state amp (I like tube amps), but not as good for steel as silver-face Fenders. The hand-wired silver-face Vibrosonic (spelled with an "o" in the middle) was one of the best combo amps ever made for steel.

------------------
Student of the Steel: Zum uni, Fender tube amps, squareneck and roundneck resos, tenor sax, keyboards

[This message was edited by David Doggett on 27 September 2006 at 07:50 AM.]

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

It's my understanding that the Vibrosonic Reverb is a silverface era amp put out by Fender FOR steel players, and not to be confused with the newer Vibrosonic "Custom", which is, as David pointed out, designed more like the earlier "blackface" era amps, for earlier guitar breakup. The Custom probably won't be as clean as the Vibrosonic Reverb amp.

[This message was edited by James Morehead on 27 September 2006 at 12:11 PM.]

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

William, There is quite a lot of info on the forum, if you can go to the search mode at the top of the page. There's quite a few of us who love the Fender tube sound. Some of us have gone to the earlier Twin Reverbs about '70---'76ish, put the chassis in a smaller head only cabinet, and run a pair of extension speakers with 15" JBL's ,Altecs, EV's or BW's, to name a few. And yes, the 6L6 GC's are the way to go for most of us. If you can aquire a quad of Jan Philips 6L6 GC's, you won't go wrong for tone. They can still be found on Ebay occasionally. Jan Philips 7581A 6L6's are better yet---they are the military grade Jan Philips 6L6 GC. Then add your favorite flavor speaker and you've got a pretty nice setup. A lot of us use just the Twin/Vibrosonic's built in reverb, and maybe use a little delay with a Boss DD6 or DD5.

William Clark · Posted 27 Sep 2006 9:24 pm

Thank you to everyone that responded to my topic. I have not really played through any unmodified silver face amps. Most of the ones that I have played through have been Deluxe Reverbs and Twin Reverbs that have been converted to Blackface specs. As a guitarist, I have always gravitated towards the tweed and brown amps that Fender made. The amp that I am using for Steel that I really like is a '61 brown Pro with a JBL D-130. I also have a '61 Blonde 2x12 bassman cabinet loaded with JBL D-120's. I haven't tried it with my steels yet. As far as tubes, I have used the JAN Phillips 6L6WGB's and they are great tubes. I also like Tung-Sol 5881's. What do you steelers like for pre-amp tubes? Do you typically go with 12AX7/7025 or do you load your first gain stage with a lower gain tube such as the 12AY7?

Larry Phleger · From: DuBois, PA

I had a Silver Faced Vibrosonic for about 15 years. I was playing both lead guitar and steel through it. I liked being able to have the 2 separate channels so I could set up one for each instrument. One of the biggest mistakes I made was unloading it.

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

Larry - I have the same regrets. I found one in a pawn shop many years ago. It was pristine, down to the original tubes.

I really miss that amp. Both my Emmons and my Gretsch 6120 sounded wonderful through it. It was heavy though.

Lee

Bennie Hensley · From: Yakima, Washington, USA

Hi William, I like my Vibrosonic better than my NV 1000

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

I assume we're talking about a 70's silverface and not the newer PCB amp.

I'd stay away from the Tung-Sol 5881's - they tend to like lower voltages and may go firecracker in that amp. Too bad, because they sound great. I have a bunch but only use them in lo plate voltage amps. I'd also shy away from Sovtek/Groove Tube/EH stuff. The Sovteks and EH tubes just sound bad to me, and the Groove tubes are often the same ones - except their "made in USA" GE 6L6, which is made in China with some US parts. Had several pairs, all awful. For new power tubes I really like JJ's 6L6's, and I also use NOS Philips or RCA's.

For steel use, my favorite preamp tube is the 5751. More gain than a 12AY7 so you gain some punch with out too much automatically-overdriven signal like with a 12AX7/7025. Stay away from 12AT7's - some people have luck with them, but they are not an audio tube and not meant for use in the tonal part of the circuit.

My '69 Pro Reverb and '64 Vibroverb Custom both have 5751's and JJ's. Both sound just tremendous for steel with a cooler bias setting; for guitar a higher bias is all that's needed.

Bill Myers · From: Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, USA

I'm playing a 74 vibrosonic with the D130-f in it and it is the best steel sound I have come across. This one has a set of RCA 6l6 tubes and I am not going to touch a thing. I have owned just about every peavey and a couple of Evans' to boot....I like this vibrosonic....and you're right... they need wheels!

Buck Dilly · From: Branchville, NJ, USA * R.I.P.

I have a Silver Face Vibrosonic Reverb w/ D-140 speaker. Can't be beat. But heavy as a tank. I still love it.

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Gotta say, Jim S., I really like the 5751 tubes, too. I think they really added to my headroom/cleaness.

Forum Index > Electronics		Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic

All times are GMT - 8 Hours	Jump to: