Fender 68 Pro Reverb. (Reissue single channel) Anyone got one?

fretmeister

I keep listening to the demos of this.

Is it stupidly over powered for home use? I'm only thinking about clean tones and then drive from pedals.
Or is there something more suitable for the home that sounds 90% of the way there?

Any thoughts?

Fuengi

It does seem excessive for home use, but if it gives you the clean platform you want it could work well. 

I've been re-listening to a couple of Walkmen albums, Paul Maroon uses an original Pro Reverb with his Gretsch and Rickenbacker. No pedals. 

The way he plays accompanying the vocal is generally to play a mixture of single note riffs around chord shapes. The single notes just about stay clean but everything else overdrives the amp. I love that approach but it's much harder to do at home, especially with a larger amplifier.

roberty

I have an early 70s silverface Pro Reverb which is the same wattage but 2x12 and it is ridiculously overpowered for home use. I have a Spark for practicing at home, or else play through my powered monitors via the computer

DiscoStu

Have you been following this?
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/228523/identify-value-amp

fretmeister

DiscoStu said:

Have you been following this?
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/228523/identify-value-amp

Yes - an amazing find!
I see that @ICBM thinks they are controllable to whisper level. Seems quite handy if the re-issue is as good for that.

The re-issue version only has 1 channel.

bertie

if you're playing clean (ish) and getting drive from pedals, nothing is too overpowered  

you know the TM word will be raised at some point...........................

fretmeister

Once upon a time I used to really like spending a couple of hours with a strat and a good Fender amp I had.

The Blues Deluxe Reissue obviously, not the BJ!

I'm wondering about doing that again.

tomajoha

fretmeister said:

DiscoStu said:

Have you been following this?
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/228523/identify-value-amp

Yes - an amazing find!
I see that @ICBM thinks they are controllable to whisper level. Seems quite handy if the re-issue is as good for that.

The re-issue version only has 1 channel.

I have an early 70s silverface and I wholeheartedly agree with @ICBM, it’s the most controllable valve amp I own at low-volumes, more so than my Deluxe Reverb. I’m using inefficient speakers in there (c12qs) but it was similarly well-mannered running GA64c’s. 

Not sure how the reissue compares, if it’s anything like the other silverface reissues, the circuits are quite different to the originals.

PAL

The amp sounds good but I think it's too loud for home use ! It's a gigging amp maybe try the 68 Princeton or the 
  68 VibroChamp.

fretmeister

I've just been watching some demos of the Vibro Champ.

Nice sounding thing. Can't find a shop with one in stock to try it out though. Even the big box shifters don't have them at the moment.

bertie

fretmeister said:

I've just been watching some demos of the Vibro Champ.

Nice sounding thing. Can't find a shop with one in stock to try it out though. Even the big box shifters don't have them at the moment.

go for the pro,  you'll prefer the bigger cab

bertie

PAL said:

The amp sounds good but I think it's too loud for home use ! It's a gigging amp maybe try the 68 Princeton or the 
  68 VibroChamp.

in which case they're all too loud

ever tried 1 watt through an efficient speaker in a 12' x 10'  room?   


if Fret's after cleans and OD from pedals,  bigger amps = bigger cabs = fuller sound.  -  win win win

Dave_Mc

bertie said:

PAL said:

The amp sounds good but I think it's too loud for home use ! It's a gigging amp maybe try the 68 Princeton or the 
  68 VibroChamp.

in which case they're all too loud

ever tried 1 watt through an efficient speaker in a 12' x 10'  room?   


if Fret's after cleans and OD from pedals,  bigger amps = bigger cabs = fuller sound.  -  win win win

Yeah. I haven't tried one watt, but I've tried 5 watts- far too loud if you want to crank it. I've also tried 5 watts through a 6" ~90dB Jensen speaker (about as inefficient a guitar speaker as you can get)- and even that is still too loud in a smaller home-sized room.

bertie

you dont "have" to max out an amp to get great sounds..................

ChrisCox1994

I had one for a couple weeks. Much prefer the 68 Princeton or the vibrolux for home and gigs. The smaller size cab made it sound boxy and loud like a blues jr almost

bertie

ChrisCox1994 said:

 made it sound boxy and loud like a blues jr almost

not exactly two things Id want,  ever

noisepolluter

fretmeister said:

Is it stupidly over powered for home use? I'm only thinking about clean tones and then drive from pedals.
Or is there something more suitable for the home that sounds 90% of the way there?

Any thoughts?

Have you tried and ruled out a 65 Princeton reissue for this purpose? Great with pedals, virtually no circuit noise and the reverb and trem are glorious. It’s also got enough poke for a small pub gig etc

fretmeister

noisepolluter said:

fretmeister said:

Is it stupidly over powered for home use? I'm only thinking about clean tones and then drive from pedals.
Or is there something more suitable for the home that sounds 90% of the way there?

Any thoughts?

Have you tried and ruled out a 65 Princeton reissue for this purpose? Great with pedals, virtually no circuit noise and the reverb and trem are glorious. It’s also got enough poke for a small pub gig etc

Not tried any of them yet.

My local shop (PMT) doesn't have a lot of stock of amps over £500

fretmeister

ChrisCox1994 said:

I had one for a couple weeks. Much prefer the 68 Princeton or the vibrolux for home and gigs. The smaller size cab made it sound boxy and loud like a blues jr almost

Well that's put me off the smaller ones completely.

CaseOfAce

I've got the '68 Vibro Champ Reverb. 
Absolutely love the tone of it for clean Fender sounds at home. (I plug in my Custom Shop strat and it's gorgeous - as someone else said above there's something to be said for plugging straight in and just ...playing thru a Fender amp).

To get any sort of breakup you'll need pedals or attenuation - even with humbuckers you'll be shaking the windows to get it otherwise (but that's true of any 5 watt-er).

To my ears it's nothing like the lifeless sounding Blues Junior (which ain't that much cheaper).

Reservations - well it's pricey - 800 notes sat on the bedroom floor... but ...quality costs right.?
AND I made the mistake of plugging into channel 2 (Vintage Channel) of a '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb..and it smoked the vibro champ tone wise BUT ...it should at 400 quid more.

A Pro-reverb for me is complete overkill for home use...but I realise we're on a guitar forum and there's guys with Marshall Majors and 4x12s at home saying no replacement for displacement...so...there you go...!

fretmeister

Well, my MOT just cost £800 and my boiler packed in this morning.

So bang goes this idea.

Thanks anyway chaps.