Damn it! ive just got a new amp too!

firks91

I went to visit my sister in liverpool over the weekend, and whilst there i popped into Dawsons. I decided to compare the low end tele's to an american standard (classic vibe was the best btw). Anyway, i tried the guitars through a SF custom deluxe reverb reissue. 

What a sound! even at low volume it was just lovely! i played through the custom channel the most, which was my favourite. That channel was just fuller, whilst still sounding chimey etc... meant to be some sort of tweed sound is it?

Anyone got one of this amps? any experience with them, reliability etc... Ive just got a Victory v40 which is lovely and honestly much more versatile, but that fender was so nice to me! 

im sorely tempted but it would mean getting rid of the victory already. My head says keep the victory being that it has more sounds to be gotten out of it and that its bound to produce better overdriven tones through pedals etc.. But that Deluxe...

downbytheriver

I have the Custom 68 Deluxe Reverb (silverface reissue). I bought it about 2 years ago because I loved the look (took me back to my childhood when I lusted after sf amps). Didn't use it much until we did a festival and for some reason I thought I'd give it a go. I never put guitar in my monitor but I was really struggling that day so j asked the monitor guy just to put a little in - I couldn't believe how good it sounded!

How much did I like it? I went home and put my lazy j 20 on the market. That's how much. I've used it as my main amp ever since and I recently bought a 68 custom Vibrolux which just might sound even better! They are the very epitome of fender clean sounds, take pedals like a dream. There is some talk of reliability issues and the DR clicks like a bugger when the tremolo is used (probably could fix that by dressing the wires) but I have simply never heard a better amp for me.

Evildurka

Dibs on the v40

firks91

downbytheriver said:

I have the Custom 68 Deluxe Reverb (silverface reissue). I bought it about 2 years ago because I loved the look (took me back to my childhood when I lusted after sf amps). Didn't use it much until we did a festival and for some reason I thought I'd give it a go. I never put guitar in my monitor but I was really struggling that day so j asked the monitor guy just to put a little in - I couldn't believe how good it sounded!

How much did I like it? I went home and put my lazy j 20 on the market. That's how much. I've used it as my main amp ever since and I recently bought a 68 custom Vibrolux which just might sound even better! They are the very epitome of fender clean sounds, take pedals like a dream. There is some talk of reliability issues and the DR clicks like a bugger when the tremolo is used (probably could fix that by dressing the wires) but I have simply never heard a better amp for me.

im dying to own one now! i kinda wish i tried those guitars through a HRD, save me the hassle haha. 

@Evildurka - pm me if you really fancy the amp. no matter how much i really like the v40, that deluxe really hit the clean tone ive been after for a long time! makes me wonder why i never bought a reissue fender in the past.

Fortheloveofguitar

Sell the Victory

firks91

one step ahead of you!

BGG

As I told you on FB I've been gigging mine for over a year now and it's been great.

Yeah the tremelo/vibrato can have that annoying tick but you can't hear it live, even when mic'd up so it doesn't bother me at all, the sound of the vibrato is LUSH !

I've gigged using the Custom channel which is based on a Bassman but recently I plugged into the Vintage channel at a gig just for a change. WOW that channel is superb too, really sat in the mix well, but not bright just a bit more chime and edge.

I use a Suhr Koko boost of boosting clean solos, and it's brilliant, and i use either an XTS Precision Overdrive or Suhr Riot depending on how much dirt I want, and can also add the Koko to that too.

Great set up

ICBM

The Custom channel isn't really anything to do with a Bassman or any Tweed amp, it's just a slightly revoiced version of the standard Normal channel on the '65 reissue (more mids) but going through the reverb section, and the amp has a bit less negative feedback in the power stage. These things make a noticeable difference though - and it has a different speaker.

If it has the 'magic sound' to you, buy it. If you can't afford keep both, sell the other amp. One great sound is better than versatility, unless there are things you really need that the magic amp can't do.

BGG

It's a Bassman tonestack !

"The ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverb Amp pays tribute to the classic look, sound and performance of Fender’s late-’60s “silverface” amps. In a special twist, both channels boast reverb and tremolo, and the “custom” channel has a modified Bassman® tone stack that gives modern players greater tonal flexibility with pedals. "

firks91

BGG said:

As I told you on FB I've been gigging mine for over a year now and it's been great.

Yeah the tremelo/vibrato can have that annoying tick but you can't hear it live, even when mic'd up so it doesn't bother me at all, the sound of the vibrato is LUSH !

I've gigged using the Custom channel which is based on a Bassman but recently I plugged into the Vintage channel at a gig just for a change. WOW that channel is superb too, really sat in the mix well, but not bright just a bit more chime and edge.

I use a Suhr Koko boost of boosting clean solos, and it's brilliant, and i use either an XTS Precision Overdrive or Suhr Riot depending on how much dirt I want, and can also add the Koko to that too.

Great set up

yeah the vintage channel was nice but the custom channel just had the extra thickness that made me think ohh yes, this is what i want. was only on 1-2 vol wise too. ive read that the silverface breaks up earlier than a blackface. how would you say the headroom is? thats one nice thing about the v40, i can get nice break up tones at a low volume. 

any decent boost always does wonders for a clean tone

have you tried a blackface against the silverface? i wish i had done that now but i wasnt even thinking about amps when i tried it. blackface reissues seem to be much easier to get 2nd hand, but if the vintage channel on the SF is almost identical to the BF (speaker difference omitted i guess) then i know i will be much happier with the SF. plus they just look nicer imo. 

ICBM

BGG said:

It's a Bassman tonestack !

"The ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverb Amp pays tribute to the classic look, sound and performance of Fender’s late-’60s “silverface” amps. In a special twist, both channels boast reverb and tremolo, and the “custom” channel has a modified Bassman® tone stack that gives modern players greater tonal flexibility with pedals. "

No it isn't.

Fender might say it is, but if you look at the schematic it's just a standard BF tone stack with an extra mid resistor and a smaller mid cap.

Yes, the circuit values in the tone controls themselves are similar to a Bassman - as are almost all Fenders - but there's much more to a Bassman tone stack than that, and it needs a completely different circuit layout.

It's just marketing. The amp is actually built using the same PCB as the '65 reissue, with a resistor added and one cap value changed.

You could say it's very similar to the tone stack of the Normal channel on a *Blackface* Bassman head, but that's not what they're trying to imply .
 

firks91 said:

blackface reissues seem to be much easier to get 2nd hand, but if the vintage channel on the SF is almost identical to the BF (speaker difference omitted i guess) then i know i will be much happier with the SF. plus they just look nicer imo. 

They're similar but not identical - the '68 has less negative feedback, which gives it earlier breakup and a slightly middier tone than the '65. (Also achieved by changing just one resistor.)

firks91

ICBM said:

BGG said:

It's a Bassman tonestack !

"The ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverb Amp pays tribute to the classic look, sound and performance of Fender’s late-’60s “silverface” amps. In a special twist, both channels boast reverb and tremolo, and the “custom” channel has a modified Bassman® tone stack that gives modern players greater tonal flexibility with pedals. "

No it isn't.

Fender might say it is, but if you look at the schematic it's just a standard BF tone stack with an extra mid resistor and a smaller mid cap.

Yes, the circuit values in the tone controls themselves are similar to a Bassman - as are almost all Fenders - but there's much more to a Bassman tone stack than that, and it needs a completely different circuit layout.

It's just marketing. The amp is actually built using the same PCB as the '65 reissue, with a resistor added and one cap value changed.

You could say it's very similar to the tone stack of the Normal channel on a *Blackface* Bassman head, but that's not what they're trying to imply .
 

firks91 said:

blackface reissues seem to be much easier to get 2nd hand, but if the vintage channel on the SF is almost identical to the BF (speaker difference omitted i guess) then i know i will be much happier with the SF. plus they just look nicer imo. 

They're similar but not identical - the '68 has less negative feedback, which gives it earlier breakup and a slightly middier tone than the '65. (Also achieved by changing just one resistor.)

interesting! makes me think i might get a 65 if one came along really cheap or something

ICBM

firks91 said:

interesting! makes me think i might get a 65 if one came along really cheap or something

You could even make the NFB and the tone stack values switchable quite easily. That still wouldn't give you reverb on the Normal channel (which also has an effect on the gain due to the way they're mixed) but it would get it into the same ballpark.

p90fool

firks91 said:

interesting! makes me think i might get a 65 if one came along really cheap or something

I switched my Princeton back and forth between 68 Custom and 65 Reissue spec a couple of times until I settled on what I wanted.

In fact the 68 Princeton is based on the 2008 65 Reissue PCB. They've changed a capacitor, cut a track on the board the pots are mounted on and added a resistor in its place. It's kind of factory modded, but the mod looks almost home made, very like the PCB mods I used to make on data loggers when I worked in the meteorological industry.

FWIW I stuck with the 68 Custom spec in the end.

firks91

ICBM said:

firks91 said:

interesting! makes me think i might get a 65 if one came along really cheap or something

You could even make the NFB and the tone stack values switchable quite easily. That still wouldn't give you reverb on the Normal channel (which also has an effect on the gain due to the way they're mixed) but it would get it into the same ballpark.

thats what i was thinking, but then yes there is the verb and trem to think about then. 68 would just be the better choice really

firks91

p90fool said:

firks91 said:

interesting! makes me think i might get a 65 if one came along really cheap or something

I switched my Princeton back and forth between 68 Custom and 65 Reissue spec a couple of times until I settled on what I wanted.

In fact the 68 Princeton is based on the 2008 65 Reissue PCB. They've changed a capacitor, cut a track on the board the pots are mounted on and added a resistor in its place. It's kind of factory modded, but the mod looks almost home made, very like the PCB mods I used to make on data loggers when I worked in the meteorological industry.

FWIW I stuck with the 68 Custom spec in the end.

thats an interesting one. princeton would be nice really but the small speaker doesnt do anything for me, and i cant be arsed to get an external cab to solve that. 

ICBM

You can get a 12" speaker into a Princeton if you're willing to modify the baffle.

The first Mesa/Boogies were done like that! They took a Princeton and fitted it with a 12" Altec speaker and a Bassman power section...

noisepolluter

ICBM;977659" said:

You could even make the NFB and the tone stack values switchable quite easily. That still wouldn't give you reverb on the Normal channel (which also has an effect on the gain due to the way they're mixed) but it would get it into the same ballpark.

I keep meaning to get the tone stack modded on my '65RI normal channel. I'd also like to get it connected to the reverb circuit - not because I dislike using the jumpering trick (which is indeed useful) but because I'd like that little bit of extra brightness from the reverb circuit, without the full-on bright cap on the volume control that the other channel has. Hopefully that shouldn't be too drastic a mod for a tech who's familiar with the amp?

ICBM

It's pretty straightforward, yes.

firks91

Hmm, ive been looking at the 68 princetons. it may be a better choice really, given that im only playing at home these days. that said though, it also means i cant play live if i wanted to then...just not enough headroom. 

Anyone know how similar the 68 princeton tone is to the custom channel on the deluxe reverb? that is the channel that had me sold.

ICBM

firks91 said:

Hmm, ive been looking at the 68 princetons. it may be a better choice really, given that im only playing at home these days. that said though, it also means i cant play live if i wanted to then...just not enough headroom.

The 'Stokes mod' (which is simple on the originals, although I'm not certain about the reissues) and a maximum efficiency speaker - even a 10", rather than a 12" - can make quite a difference to a Princeton. It will never be quite as loud or full-sounding as a Deluxe but it might be closer than you would expect.

firks91 said:

Anyone know how similar the 68 princeton tone is to the custom channel on the deluxe reverb? that is the channel that had me sold.

Not sure, although it should be in the same ballpark since the '65s are fairly similar. The Princeton does have a different overdrive character though, it gets a bit flappy and uncontrolled, whereas the Deluxe is thicker and more together even though it's quite flubby… if that makes sense.

There will be someone who has tried both the new ones though.