What kind of Fender amp for someone who knows nothing about them?

rico

I saw a recent vid from Johan Segeborn playing a LP Custom through a vintage Silverface Deluxe Reverb and it sounded bloody awesome. Last night I set about looking into Fender amps but only managed to confuse myself further. 

Tweed, Silverface, Blackface, Brownface...are these all cosmetic differences or differences in circuit design?

I’d like to dip my toe into the world of Fender amps and I can only offer that vid as a tonal reference point. I don’t need the Reverb or tremolo and I’d need it to be loud enough to gig unmic’d with a very loud drummer in a rock n roll covers band. 

Thanks in advance. 

Fretwired

What sort of sound are you after?

Sassafras

Fretwired said:

What sort of sound are you after?

At a guess, I'd say the kind of sound Johan Segeborn gets playing an LP through a vintage silverface Deluxe Reverb.
  

jellybelly

Briefly:

in order of apperance
- tweeds were introduced in the 50s and are similar to vintage Marshalls in a lot of ways and generally liked for the natural overdrive and ‘saggy’ response they have, though the bigger amps are known for their clean sounds too. Lots of midrange (like a Marshall) 

- Brownface was early 60s and bridged the gap between Blackface and tweed... but they have the most defined distortion of any classic fenders (imo). Still plenty of midrange but a slightly stiffer response. 

- Blackface is clean, and perhaps ‘hard’ and ‘bright’ sounding - ‘bouncy’ is how I think of them. They have more treble and bass giving the characteristic bell-like clean tone though some like to overdrive them too. I like them with humbuckers as it gets a bit of grit and midrange. Others feel exactly opposite.
 
- Silverface is late 60s and is a harder, brighter Blackface, though some amps (e.g. Princeton) didn’t actually change between Blackface and Silverface. Also, the new silverface reissues aren’t necessarily like the old ones, in fact I’d suggest they swing back a little toward the brownface sound but I’m sure there are plenty of opinions there. 

The model names can get confusing but it generally goes, from small to big/quiet to loud:

princeton
deluxe
super
bassman
twin

though there are lots of other models, often specific to the era in there. Power output rose steadily too so for example a tweed Deluxe was 12w, brownface 20w and Blackface 22w. All are giggable, depending on your application!!

Hope that helps! My opinion is that the new Fender silverface amps are great but there are some great clones about and great builders on this forum...

Fretwired

Sassafras said:

Fretwired said:

What sort of sound are you after?

At a guess, I'd say the kind of sound Johan Segeborn gets playing an LP through a vintage silverface Deluxe Reverb.
  

Touché ...

Rock n' roll can cover a wide range of tones .. and does the OP use any pedals?

lustycourtier

I’ve had loads and loads of Fenders from 60s BF to RIs to tone kings etc and I’ve settled on a Supersonic. 

uncledick

As others have mentioned, the blackface amps suit humbuckers very well.  In my experience, using a Strat or Tele type guitar works best with the older tweed type designs.  I'm not saying you can't go Tele/blackface, but it's certainly at the sparkly end of the spectrum.  There are, of course, copies of all the best designs, some better, some not.

ICBM

rico said:

I’d like to dip my toe into the world of Fender amps and I can only offer that vid as a tonal reference point. I don’t need the Reverb or tremolo and I’d need it to be loud enough to gig unmic’d with a very loud drummer in a rock n roll covers band.

If you don't want reverb or tremolo (you're nuts, by the way ) then that opens up quite a lot of less-desirable models and hence keeps the cost down. In particular, the Silverface Bassman 50 is a huge bargain - it's fuller and more powerful-sounding than most of the guitar models (obviously since one channel was designed for bass, although it has a guitar channel too), easily loud enough for a loud band, and has the same simple controls and basic tone of the Deluxe.

The only slight snag is that you also need a 4-ohm cab to go with it, traditionally a 2x12" but it will work with anything really. It will run at 8 ohms but you lose some power and bottom end.

Fretwired

rico said:

I saw a recent vid from Johan Segeborn playing a LP Custom through a vintage Silverface Deluxe Reverb and it sounded bloody awesome. Last night I set about looking into Fender amps but only managed to confuse myself further. 

Tweed, Silverface, Blackface, Brownface...are these all cosmetic differences or differences in circuit design?

I’d like to dip my toe into the world of Fender amps and I can only offer that vid as a tonal reference point. I don’t need the Reverb or tremolo and I’d need it to be loud enough to gig unmic’d with a very loud drummer in a rock n roll covers band. 

Thanks in advance. 

Is this the video?





Personally I'd try an amp and if it has reverb I'd still buy it if the tone is right. You don't have to use it. However, many of Fender's best sounding amps have reverb as standard.

Here are three Fender amps you could start looking at:

SunDevil

Bare in mind that Johan Segeborn plays so loud he has to live in a Dockyard to avoid pissing of the neighbours!

slate

I don't know much about them either - although i have owned a few.
IMHO the 59 bassman RI is glorious (and very loud) although i prefer a JTM45 and a cab for both clean and drive tones.
I had a blackface deluxe reverb RI which I hated because it was harsh and brittle however I set it and when cranked the distortion was hideous , and I now have a 68 custom deluxe reverb RI which I absolutely love (even more than the bassman) although I've disconnected the reverb tank as I don't like reverb and the tremolo is way too fast and my suhr tremolo pedal sounds better.
Thats my two pennies worth :-)

Teacherphil

He means this video

rico

Thanks for all your comments so far - they are very helpful.

One more question, do many Fender amps have a master volume?

RiftAmps

Tweed Bassman or low power Twin

slate

RiftAmps said:

Tweed Bassman or low power Twin

^^^This^^^
 Having re-read the OP, from my (fairly limited) experience with Fender amps I'd say deffo try a bassman for what you describe that you want it for . 

Bridgehouse

Er, Katana?

DJH83004

For my money 2 x 10" SF Vibrolux Reverb, classic Fender, all the cleans you ever need AND you can carry it!  

crunchman

If you liked the video with a Deluxe Reverb, then a Deluxe Reverb might be a good option to look at.  The stock speaker isn't great though.

If you need a bit more volume and/or don't want to spend that much, then a Hot Rod Deluxe is worth a look.  Again the stock speaker is a bit ropey.  I had Weber 12F150 in my old one, which was a huge improvement on the stock Eminence.  Not sure if the newer ones still use the Eminence or something else.

rico

@crunchman i'm trawling the classifieds and eBay even though I said to myself that this is the year of no GAS! Or at the very least its one in, one out...

57Deluxe

is a lifetime's devotion in finding out about all there is to be knowing about Fender amps. One thing for sure - they all sound great clean. After that, well, we haven't enough years in us to know...

ICBM

57Deluxe said:

is a lifetime's devotion in finding out about all there is to be knowing about Fender amps. One thing for sure - they all sound great clean.

I assume you haven't heard a Bassbreaker 007 yet then .