Whatcha’ Doin 2024

[ncrobb]

Burning a couple of days of vacation before I loose them. I spent today servicing a vintage Fender amp, a early 1977 Pro Reverb. Yeah, people trash the Silverface years but whatever. This thing sounds better than any modern Fender reissue; I played it beside my ‘65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue and I’d swap for this silverface in a heartbeat. Anyway, this thing has been sitting for years. I pulled the chassis, cleaned all the pots, switches, jacks and tube sockets. The old tubes were good so I set the bias. Gave the whole thing a scrubbing and put it back together. It is bone stock down to the paper capacitors and resistors. I tried to talk him into updating to modern components but he says leave it. It wouldn’t be as flubby/mushy at higher volumes if upgraded. Over time (decades) vintage components loose the original value and you loose some tone. But at lower, reasonable at home, volumes it still has the sweet Fender clean and a lush reverb. The tremolo is great as well. Best part is the test drive.

I spent most of the afternoon playing this 1977 Pro Reverb against my 1998 Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and my 2022 ‘65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue. To try and compare apples to apples I pushed them through some 1x12” cabinets I built years ago. One has a Celestion Vintage 30 and is closed back; the other has a Celestion Greenback with a half back. I didn’t realize how dead the old Eminence speakers are in the Pro Reverb until I played it through the cabinets. Anyway, this old Silver Panel Fender walked all over everything at my house. I didn’t play it against the Mesa Boogie- they aren’t for the same styles of music. They all sounded good through the cabs but the Pro Reverb loves the Greenback. I had a Blackface 1966 Princeton several years ago and a Silverface Vibro Champ when I was a kid. A good Silverface is better than any new Reissue. There, I said it. @Ruffinogold Have you ever played any old Silverface Fenders?

[Tsal]

Burning a couple of days of vacation before I loose them. I spent today servicing a vintage Fender amp, a early 1977 Pro Reverb. Yeah, people trash the Silverface years but whatever. This thing sounds better than any modern Fender reissue; I played it beside my ‘65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue and I’d swap for this silverface in a heartbeat. Anyway, this thing has been sitting for years. I pulled the chassis, cleaned all the pots, switches, jacks and tube sockets. The old tubes were good so I set the bias. Gave the whole thing a scrubbing and put it back together. It is bone stock down to the paper capacitors and resistors. I tried to talk him into updating to modern components but he says leave it. It wouldn’t be as flubby/mushy at higher volumes if upgraded. Over time (decades) vintage components loose the original value and you loose some tone. But at lower, reasonable at home, volumes it still has the sweet Fender clean and a lush reverb. The tremolo is great as well. Best part is the test drive.

I spent most of the afternoon playing this 1977 Pro Reverb against my 1998 Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and my 2022 ‘65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue. To try and compare apples to apples I pushed them through some 1x12” cabinets I built years ago. One has a Celestion Vintage 30 and is closed back; the other has a Celestion Greenback with a half back. I didn’t realize how dead the old Eminence speakers are in the Pro Reverb until I played it through the cabinets. Anyway, this old Silver Panel Fender walked all over everything at my house. I didn’t play it against the Mesa Boogie- they aren’t for the same styles of music. They all sounded good through the cabs but the Pro Reverb loves the Greenback. I had a Blackface 1966 Princeton several years ago and a Silverface Vibro Champ when I was a kid. A good Silverface is better than any new Reissue. There, I said it. @Ruffinogold Have you ever played any old Silverface Fenders?

When you say you played, what are you playing? That's the important question.

[Mr Beardsley]

Doing laundry and playing with the doggo. Smoking some rollies. Have to drive to the desert tomorrow and install a big ol steel gate we built (side job) so weekend time will be limited

[ncrobb]

Burning a couple of days of vacation before I loose them. I spent today servicing a vintage Fender amp, a early 1977 Pro Reverb. Yeah, people trash the Silverface years but whatever. This thing sounds better than any modern Fender reissue; I played it beside my ‘65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue and I’d swap for this silverface in a heartbeat. Anyway, this thing has been sitting for years. I pulled the chassis, cleaned all the pots, switches, jacks and tube sockets. The old tubes were good so I set the bias. Gave the whole thing a scrubbing and put it back together. It is bone stock down to the paper capacitors and resistors. I tried to talk him into updating to modern components but he says leave it. It wouldn’t be as flubby/mushy at higher volumes if upgraded. Over time (decades) vintage components loose the original value and you loose some tone. But at lower, reasonable at home, volumes it still has the sweet Fender clean and a lush reverb. The tremolo is great as well. Best part is the test drive.

I spent most of the afternoon playing this 1977 Pro Reverb against my 1998 Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and my 2022 ‘65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue. To try and compare apples to apples I pushed them through some 1x12” cabinets I built years ago. One has a Celestion Vintage 30 and is closed back; the other has a Celestion Greenback with a half back. I didn’t realize how dead the old Eminence speakers are in the Pro Reverb until I played it through the cabinets. Anyway, this old Silver Panel Fender walked all over everything at my house. I didn’t play it against the Mesa Boogie- they aren’t for the same styles of music. They all sounded good through the cabs but the Pro Reverb loves the Greenback. I had a Blackface 1966 Princeton several years ago and a Silverface Vibro Champ when I was a kid. A good Silverface is better than any new Reissue. There, I said it. @Ruffinogold Have you ever played any old Silverface Fenders?

When you say you played, what are you playing? That's the important question.

I had my Les Paul with vintage custom wound pickups. They are like original PAFs but the bridge is just a tad overwound. I was playing Jazzy chord stuff like Stormy Monday and Georgia on my Mind. Moondance (the old Van Morrison song) has been stuck in my head too. The blue Strat has Rio Grande Vintage Tall Boy pickups and my old Tele has a Dimarzio single coil in the neck and a stock bridge pickup. It is tuned to open G for Stones and Black Crows songs. I played a lot just straight into the amps clean with reverb for old surf Ventures stuff with the Strat and with the Strat and a 1980s Tube Screamer for SRV songs. I’m a rhythm player so once he gets rolling I’m out. The tremolo (which Fender labels as Vibrato) was on for some old Waylon and arpeggios. The Hot Rod doesn’t have a built in tremolo. I had an old Danelectro Daddy-O drive pedal for Skynyrd, Stones and Black Crows. So heavier stuff like GnR, VH, etc is NOT what these amps do. That’s what the Mesa Boogie covers. But classic rock, blues, jazz and country are perfectly handled. I did find that the Deluxe Reverb would benefit from a speaker swap. The Jensen in it muffles some of the tone like a blanket, the Vintage 30 let it stretch out more and added some mids. Most of the time the volume was kept at a moderate level but when my wife left to go to the grocery store I opened them up. The Deluxe and Hot Rod got loud fast but the Pro Reverb started to naturally break up as it got progressively louder. On the Deluxe and the Pro Reverb I pulled the V1 preamp tube (12AX7) and swapped it into the V6 (the phase inverter) which is normally a 12AT7 for a while. This lowers the clean headroom. At the volumes I was playing I could tell a small difference. I put them back stock and kept playing. The Pro Reverb does have a master volume so you “should” be able to crank the channel volume for more break up and then control the overall loudness with the master but like I said, it wanted to flub out when pushed hard. I do believe updated components would cure that. All the playing was done with a single 12” speaker. The Pro Reverb combo is a 2 x 12” at 45 watts. The Deluxe is a 1x12 at 22 watts and the HRDx is also a 1x12 but 40 watts. All great amps. The Pro Reverb just overall sounds the best - to me.

[Tsal]

I bet that old Tele sounds great straight into that pro reverb overdriven.. that's a nice amp. Build and isolation cabinet for it and crank it then you can wear headphones. The old tube screamer is a great pedal.

[Tsal]

Buzz Feighton was a pro reverb guy. He's a great guitar player, studio guy. He played on tons of stuff. Reppin' Jersy in The Rascals.

[ncrobb]

Buzz Feighton was a pro reverb guy. He's a great guitar player, studio guy. He played on tons of stuff. Reppin' Jersy in The Rascals.

YES!!! I love that funk rhythm playing. I’m gonna have to look up The Rascals!

[Piping Abe]

You instrument guys need a thread for this stuff. I thought there was one?

Not poking fun, but the info could be consolidated in one thread for better.

[Citizen B]

You instrument guys need a thread for this stuff. I thought there was one?

Not poking fun, but the info could be consolidated in one thread for better.

It doesn't bother me. I just skip ahead the way other people do when I blather on about nothing interesting. It adds texture to the thread.

[Tsal]

You instrument guys need a thread for this stuff. I thought there was one?

Not poking fun, but the info could be consolidated in one thread for better.

Nah, we don't need a gear thread. It's not often members talk about gear. This is a pipe forum, if I was the owner I'd do away with the off topic sub forum altogether.