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previous: JC I'm cosidering buying one in great ... -- 1/23/2000 12:35 AM

Re: Why should I not buy a Fender SuperTwin Reverb?

1/23/2000 5:58 AM
SteveF	Re: Why should I not buy a Fender SuperTwin Reverb? Hi, JC. I have a Super Twin Reverb, in excellent shape, that I got for $300. My main attraction to the amp was its relative scarcity. I rarely play it because it has what to my ears is a very sterile tone. These amps have very little in common design-wise with the Twin Reverb. The preamp circuit is very low gain, if you can find a schematic somewhere you will see lots of cascaded stages, each set up for only modest gain. If I am reading the schem right, the output stage is ultralinear. Not bad, just not the usual Fender. With a typical Fender guitar and no pedal it is difficult to get the preamp to distort. When it does, the resulting sound is kind of grainy. You'd have to be out of your mind to try to play it loud enough to get output tube distortion (at close range, anyway). I think it would be a great steel guitar amp, or possibly would work for a clean country sound. Low Points: (IMO) Reverb on mine sounds tinny and kind of distorted. Could be typical, maybe not. The "distortion" control is about the worst sounding thing ever devised by humans. A bunch of farting ducks would sound better. Unbelievable. The "equalizer" is no such thing, actually functions more like a series of "cut" controls. Voicing of these controls is reasonably useful, but it would be better to have some boost, too. Overall Construction looks pretty good, although I have never even opened the amp up. As I said before, I bought the amp because it's kind of a curiosity and it was cheap. I gigged with it a couple of times with a tube preamp in front of it, but it was not to my liking. Depending upon your tastes, it could work for you, however. Hope this is of some help. Regards, SF

1/23/2000 5:58 AM

SteveF

Re: Why should I not buy a Fender SuperTwin Reverb?

Hi, JC.

I have a Super Twin Reverb, in excellent
shape, that I got for $300. My main
attraction to the amp was its relative
scarcity. I rarely play it because it has
what to my ears is a very sterile tone.

These amps have very little in common
design-wise with the Twin Reverb.
The preamp circuit is very low gain,
if you can find a schematic somewhere
you will see lots of cascaded stages, each
set up for only modest gain. If I am reading
the schem right, the output stage is
ultralinear. Not bad, just not the usual Fender.

With a typical Fender guitar and no pedal
it is difficult to get the preamp
to distort. When it does, the resulting sound
is kind of grainy. You'd have to be out of your
mind to try to play it loud enough to get
output tube distortion (at close range, anyway).
I think it would be a great steel guitar
amp, or possibly would work for a clean country
sound.

Low Points: (IMO)

Reverb on mine sounds tinny and kind of
distorted. Could be typical, maybe not.

The "distortion" control is about the
worst sounding thing ever devised by
humans. A bunch of farting ducks would
sound better. Unbelievable.

The "equalizer" is no such thing, actually
functions more like a series of "cut"
controls. Voicing of these controls is
reasonably useful, but it would be better
to have some boost, too.

Overall Construction looks pretty good, although
I have never even opened the amp up.

As I said before, I bought the amp because it's
kind of a curiosity and it was cheap. I gigged
with it a couple of times with a tube preamp in
front of it, but it was not to my liking.
Depending upon your tastes, it could work for
you, however.

Hope this is of some help. Regards, SF

Replies:

Todd I owned a Fender Super Twin (not th... -- 1/24/2000 4:19 AM
Steve A. Steve: -- 1/24/2000 7:53 PM