I love the early Concert amp as well at this model. A sealed cabinet with 4 - 10" speakers, 12" or 2 15" sounds fantastic..!! Glad you inspected and resoldered all the Cold Solder Joints..!! From Wikipedia >> The Fender Concert was a guitar amplifier made by Fender Musical Instruments. Its production can be split over 2 phases. The first of these running from 1960 and until approximately 1965, at which time a typical Fender Concert was priced at $315. During the 1960s, the Concert was for all practical purposes the same amplifier as the Vibrasonic but with four 10" speakers. In a later phase, the Concert was updated by Paul Riviera in the early 1980s ("concert" and "concert II") and a subsequent 1x12 variant of the Concert amp appeared briefly in the mid-1990s.
Well, I've never heard of this one, but I'm sure your video did two things: * informed me of an amp I'd like to have * screwed up the market so that I can't get one now
@@tednugentlives I guess that's due to the fact that the J231 transistor in the reverb circuit is rare and will cost $20+ if you can find one and as far as I'm aware there is no equivalent and no equivalent for the 2 one off components used in the Champ 12 the LED/ LDR packs . You might be able to make these but Fender don't give values just a part number which is discontinued I believe . Solid State components have a limited life span and are dumped or made obsolescent. Hybrids are even worse unless you go for something that has op amps as there are plenty available and continously upgraded to improve their sound quality and reliability. This amp is a doddle to fix compared to many produced in the 90S , and as the man says you burn a circuit board from one component failure you have a scrap amp on your hands . I'm dealing with one now and Crate is not exactly well known for releasing the necessary detailed schematics to trouble shoot this thing . Would be nice to have some test points and voltages on their drawings .
It is a 3 channel amp. Clean and 2 different gains. Still one of my favorite amps I have owned. Very versatile in the sounds you get. Great clean channel.
Thanks so much for posting this procedure! I had the exact same problem with the reverb not operating on my '93 Super Amp (the big sister amp to this one - same pc board design). I am not nearly as electronics savy as you. I have good experience soldering pickups and caps in my guitars but that's the extent of my experience. However, I followed the same steps in resoldering the connections to the reverb circuit and came away with it working perfectly. It sounds so great now. I was going to sell the amp - I'm holding on to it at this point - it's toooo good.
I'm on board with an Eminence factory tour Brad. Big fan. As much as I love Celestion (and I do love them) I have probably modded more amps with Eminence speakers then any others over the years. Outstanding company.
The Guitologist I'm actually not to far from ya in Louisville. I'd be happy to take that tour with you. I've been a few times already and it never gets old. If you wanna add me on Facebook I'm there as Sam Serv'on Alvey. I'll try to find you and send a message.
Man, ok... I've heard you say you're "not a world class guitarist" but 25% of the time with your videos, I skip to the end and listen to when you play the gear. You're skilled man. I'd call you world class in my books.
Good playing! I love your troubleshooting process. I'm going to have my 10 yo son watch these videos with me just to build some critical thinking skills.
I own one and it is still my main amp. I fell in love with the warmth on channel one. It's only been in the shop once to replace some components and power cable. DEPENDABLE.
So glad I found this video. Thank you Brad. I have the Super Amp version of this with 4 10” blue alnicos….and now I will tackle fixing it. I bought mine new in 1995 from guitar center. I was in a surf band and it was the perfect amp. They were on close out for $499.00. (Now I know Why) I had sold my 73 Twin about 4 years earlier (I know, WHAT!) newly married, little kids, needed money…….I brought it home took it out of the box and it didn’t work! WTF! It Powered up but no sound. When I leaned on the top of the amp to look at the speaker connection it came on! Stood up and it went off. Warranty repair for a bad solder joint, or cracked circuit board never really got a clear explanation but i had a working amp. Also I didn’t know much about amp operation then. I ain’t no expert now, but I have a much better understanding. Used the hell out of it the first five years or so. Went through some tubes, this is when I started getting educated by a few friends. The. Other guitar player got a recapped 1966 BF super reverb, and his 45 watts was blowing my 60 watts out of the water. When I swapped out the stock Sovtek 6L6’s with NOS Phillips and replaced the Chinese fender branded preamp tubes with old but working mullard 12AX7s and RCA 12AT7s holy crap did this thing open up and take off! ANYWAY…..I had ongoing issues with bad speaker jacks and connections and then one day about 4 years ago it just died after putting in new tubs. Amp tech told me the same thing you said “what a shit show in there”. I could buy a used one on eBay for what he would have to charge me in hours to trouble shoot. So the chassis sits under my work bench. I bought a 1967 blackface super reverb chassis and slid it in the cabinet and Voila …fits like finger in rectum. I have in the last few years, begun repairing simple things and done a few recap jobs on my own amps, a 69 Bassman, a recently acquired 1973 SF Twin, yes I am reliving my youth, and outfitting my studio. I am going down stairs now to unwrap and inspect that old SUPER AMP.
Direct mount tube sockets suck. I have a Carvin X50B half stack and sure enough the board caught fire , man I was pissed lol. However I have a friend that is a spectacular amp-tech and cut the burnt section of board out, mounted the tube sockets to the chassis and hand point wired that whole section. It's worked fantastic for the past 20+ years or so! Keep up the great and very heartfelt vids , cheers!
Fender made a 4x10 Super Reverb model in the early 90s with the multiple push/pull gain stages. It was a fantastic amp. I used to play it frequently in the local shop but was too pricey for my budget at the time. Wish I had one now.
It looks like someone was in there before you; a bunch of the solder pads on the board near the reverb jacks appear to have been reflowed. Did you notice under the Fender address on the schematic: "No Guts, No Glory?"
i am not sure if any one saw the wick flash f a squirl with a gun holding up the middle finger but this is a wonderfull amp and i am glad you were able to fix it. You made a costumer very happy.
I have one of these. One of the SWEETEST sounding amps EVER! Amazing cleans (full, loud, chimey, fat, sweet) and: great 2nd channel Tweed-style crunch + great saturated hi-gain 3rd channel. This is one of Fender's best sounding amps. (I've had 'em all too: vintage blackface Champ, Princeton Reverbs, Deluxe Reverb, Vibroluxe Reverb, Super Reverb, and Twin Reverb). This is the best sounding and most versatile. Very loud, 50lbs; too bad about the circuit board design, but mine still works great.
Many Fender amps with circuit board mounted connection points have a problem with cracked solder joints. Heat, cold, loading, unloading and general jostling and dropping can be responsible but, luckily, the fix is easy. The Hot Rod series is notorious for this on the power tube board. I have had to fix my own, and other bandmates' HRDs, numerous times over the years. Good catch!
This was great. Glad I found your channel! This reminds me of my Fender Pro Concert Reverb, another model that seems to only have been made for a short spell. I’d love to learn more about it: it’s a beast with loads of bass.
Too many people have been wiggling that reverb connector before you got it. Your warning of stay at home brought back memories of a band I worked with a few years ago. They were to perform in a Asian country in a opera house, when they went to set up they were quickly stopped & told that the place was a union house & the inhouse staff would set up all their equipment for them. So off they went for supper. When they got back it was immediately discovered that every piece of equipment was toast. They used the same type of AC plugs & sockets that we use here in North America, only problem was that they use 220vac in that country. You would think that there being a 220-110 transformer packed with every piece of gear would of been a hint. Stupid is, as stupid does.
Yes! I'm from Brea! I graduated from Sonora right on the Brea/La Habra line. That was such a cool place to live. We all (many of us teenagers) had bands when we were in high school.
A very good friend of mine, and a very good guitar player, uses this same amplifier. I have had to service it a few times, and they are a nightmare to work on. A while ago a plate load resistor decided to go open in the preamp. Rather than spend 912 hours trying to get the board out, I unsoldered the resistor, and let it drop out. Then I just soldered a new 100K resistor on the backside of the board. Quick and easy. There's a rash of amplifiers from this era using 1/4-watt resistors. I use 1/2-watt just because I never want to see this amplifier on my bench again.
The Guitologist It did after I unsoldered it. Just poke it out through the solder pads, and tip the chassis until the resistor falls out. I suppose you could even leave the old resistor in, but I wanted the new resistor through the holes.
Randy Jams - Did you find the cause of the fried plate resistor? Watch the stage after the channel gain pots. They feed the grid bias through the channel switch relay, and if the relay contacts get wonky, it loses bias and cooks the plate resistor! I don't know if I have the schematic for this. I haven't worked on this stuff in ages, but I want to look at that bias circuit and try and figure out if they had a reason not to hook the bias in on the tube side of the relay or if it was just another brain fart somebody missed in the design.
Board mount Tubes,jacks and pots = Design Obsolescence ! But at least its not a pain in the ass Mesa MK4 . Someone would need to pony up a ton of cash to get me to work on one of those again.
Brad thanks for all your excellent efforts in working to put out all the information. Fender made the Concert Amp much earlier but discontinued it circa late 60s early 70s and the Super Reverb was selected to be produced. I had a 1960s 4x10 model in the 1970s, early 1980s. These were also in a 2x12 configuration too. The earliest models were rated 40 wpc and the last editions 60 wpc. Mine was originally the 40 wpc but modded into the 60wpc by a prior owner before I purchased it. Cheers from So Cal
Thanks for the additional info on the amps and series manufactured by Fender. I have seen some additional info/videos on the early Concert and Super Reverbs. The SRs being more available due to larger unit number hence the rarity of the 410 and 212 models. Cheers
Hi Brad. Many thanks for all you do for your members! I bought one of these that did not work, fully informed having had previously viewed this video that this may be one of the worst amps ever to work on. I am so glad I had because I did have to get those PC boards out. I found bad solder joints, the negative feedback wire was broken off and a plate resistor for V6A was open! Now I have a killer 200 dollar amp! Keep up the awesome work.
@@TheGuitologist the Fender schematics with all the voltages and test points listed are worth the price of any of their amps. Lol It said they could vary 20% but they were all within a couple percent except for where this resistor was open. Curiously, at the plate the volt meter would show 200 volts drop to nothing in a few seconds and I realized I was seeing a cap discharge that had no way to actually charge and like a static charge would build up and drain away quickly when measured.
I was watching and thinking "Man, this guy shreds like crazy"....then I remembered that I was watching it at 1.5X speed. 27:45 is when the playing starts.
I owned a 4x10 version of this amp. More like a Mesa Boogie than a classic fender. Unfortunately, I left it at a friends house and it mysteriously disappeared. I’m still angry about it. Lesson learned.
I used to own a Fender Concert that had 2 - 10s in it. It was a great sounding amp. I wish hadn't sold it, but I didn't need it anymore. It was probably the best Fender amp I ever heard.
The machete is one of those rare amp models from a really well known manufacturer sounds really killer. And combination of its short existence, obscurity among guitar players and that Fender certainly isn't what comes to mind when talking about higher (or high-ish) gain, you can pick it up for much less $ than all the other models in this category.
This is the 3rd iteration of the Concert amp. The first ones were in the early 1960s. The second were the Paul Rivera designed amps in the early 1980's, and were a hand wired circuit, similar to the Silverface amps. The Paul Rivera Concert had a volume control on the effects send and the line out.
The Swaze is strong with this one. This thing sounds surprisingly good, especially the clean (right around 30:00). I've grown to be a bit of an amp snob, but this sounds like a legit fender. Prob a good 2 X6L6 pedal platform. Looks like you can get one for $500-$600. My first real amp (i.e., non-Gorilla) was a Fender M-80 that was around this vintage. You may not remember them, but it was covered with Grey indoor/outdoor carpet. It certainly didn't sound like this.
Yep, I blew the transformer in my traynor TS 25? Back in 1990? And had a pep rally performance that week at school so I needed a quick replacement. I lived on a island in Washington so it was a ferry ride to the mainland to get to the nearest music store, so my mom had her friend pick my up a M 80 combo. I was thrilled at the time moving up from the traynor, it was solid state but a lot louder and more aggressive. Grey carpet covered with red knobs. I played it through my Jr year and traded it in for my first tube amp, Peavey VTM 60 with a old vox 4x12 with celestion greenbacks. I used a Peavey hotfoot overdrive for boost/leads and a ART rack effect delay reverb unit in the loop. The next year I bought a Yamaha FX 500 effects unit and actually ran it through the front instead of through the loop. It was actually amazing for that polished scooped tight metal sound and made it so much easier to play fast😆👍 I lowered my action to just above a buzz on the frets and put 9-42 strings on. By 93 the grunge scene took over and I sold everything and walked away from my hopes and dreams of making it...you can check out that pep rally performance on my TH-cam channel 😁 bartramtab and the title is " take me with you baby" and another one called "paradise road". I'm sure you'll all get a kick out of it and remember those days. Travis
@@Nickpaflas 1990 👍 I just realized I'm playing my band mates crate g 40 and he's using my traynor. So it must have been the next gig that I used the m 80
I’ve got a 94’ Twin which is very similar. They made those for 6-7 years. The main difference I’m seeing is that the first gain stage on the Twin (aka the “Vintage Gain”) shares EQ with the Clean channel, rather than the “Modern Gain” channel. So you get Clean, a Bassman type sound that has its own Volume and Gain knobs that shares tone stack with Clean, and a Modern Gain channel that I find very fizzy at volume (might try swapping AX7 for AT7 at some point). The only other differences are: Twin has a Pull Bright instead of Pull Cut, a Presence Knob, and has Bias/Balance adjustment screws in the rear with test points.
I believe that Amp was designed by Paul Rivera in the early eighties, probably why it's serial number starts with "PR". Played one, nice amps. Best, Pete.
I had a 2x10 version of this amp and beat the crap out of it all over the southeast for 3 or 4 years. I wasn't all that crazy about it but I never had any trouble with it. The 10s just didn't do it for me. I sold it and got a fender 75 1x15. It's pretty decent.
I dig the way you play. I’ve been adapting alot of your style with my own. At first I didn’t realize it. But it hit me one day that you are where i had picked up the sudden use of pull offs.
I noticed the tube fed by the relay selecting the gain pots is grid biased by a DC voltage through the selector relay. That is bad news when that relay's contacts get dirty and open up, leaving that tube running full throttle on it's plate resistor! I couldn't see the entire bias source at the bottom of the schematic, but I would have designed the bias voltage hard wired on the tube side of that relay and if they are making an adjustment to the bias as part of the channel switching (not sure if they would, but in a blind shotgun analysis...) ...if switching the bias is something one wants to do with channel switching to get a slightly different harmonic response between the two "channels", I would try and make a hardwired path to the more negative bias, and then switch in a parallel resistor for the less negative bias so there is no chance of there ever being an open grid due to switch failure! If switching bias was not even a consideration (the very reason I posited the bias change possibility) then there's no earthly reason to risk running the bias through the potential problems of switching contacts. Then bias should be permanently wired on the tube side of the relay! I couldn't see the entire bias circuit at the bottom of the schematic to tell if they are switching bias. I'm curious what they did on later models. I stopped following them around when this amp was made and I switched my focus to computers, video, animation, in production as well as sales and tech. I just like to know how every damn thing works! Thanks for your videos! Great to see people helping others find there way and find new vocations and hobbies!
I once had a customer that tried to do his own mods on a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. He ended up destroying the pads and traces in many spots. By the time I was done repairing everything, it was just as much point-to-point wired as it was PCB. Worked fine after that though. It cost him more than just replacing the board, but he couldn't wait for the shipping time to Hawaii.
SRT Amplification But, now he has Far Superior wiring that is so much more reliable ! You customer absolutely has to thank you for the "upgrade" to his amp !
It's actually pretty easy to just jump wires from point to point under a board. I have actually done mods for guys that wanted all of their PCB mounted pots and jacks replaced and wire jumpered to the board. It sure makes them last longer.
I just rebuilt an old Peavey Triumph 60 from the late 80's. Of course it was all stacked up circuit boards like this and very flimsy the way it was put together. Thing was dead for years, once inside I found a blown fuse on the heater supply and then found all the typical cracked Peavey solder joints on every pre amp tube socket. They must use the most brittle solder on earth. Apparently one of these cracked joints caused a short and blew that fuse. Once fixed I was blown away on what a killer sound this thing had. Wow, talk about a 1*12 Mesa Boogie killer. The Clean tone was great and the gain tones were amazing. A 3 channel budget amp. Other than build quality, the sound in the circuit was amazing. Could use a touch more bottom in the circuit but I just did the repair with no mod. These PCB stuffed amps are a PITA to fix most times.
I’m so glad I got my hands on one of these recently. Got it for 500 $!!! The clean tone is magnificent and pure. Real classic fender tube sound. If u don’t like this amp then u don’t like fender tube amps period. Go get a crate or a shitty line 6.
I have a Fender Deluxe amp and I did $100 parts replacement mod. It turned it into a high gain amp and a lot of the parts replaced were more in line with the black face from the 60s. It took me a month to complete, and there must have been about 30 parts that I replaced. I had to make several calls to the person's mod kit in Seattle because I had questions, and some things were different from what was listed in the mod diagram. Just because a Fender amp doesn't have High Gain when you bought it doesn't mean it can't be.
i bought this amp last week. Took the board out last night. Only a few of the tubes are mounted direct to the board. Also you must remove the pot board as well to get it flipped over.. Mine has a couple of caps and a resister soldered to the back of the board i see yours does not have this which tells me someones been in here. The pots are decent alpha pots i cleaned them. Still debating if i should convert this to a PTP AB763 Circuit. This amp is solid state rectifier.
Really tearing it up on this one Brad! Nice playing and great sounds man. I especially enjoyed the somewhat lower gain settings. I'm sure the customer was glad to have you be able to fix everything relatively easily. Just curious, do you have some favorites for amps with master volumes?
I have one from 93, bought it new in the shop and played with it for 10 years about 80 gigs a year. It just needed a repair so as it came back I fooled around with it again. It delivers the typical Fender clean sound but also there are better models for this, I keep mine as it is not worth big money. The distortion sounds I don´t like, I used it as a pedal platform and it did the job. Brings back memories from my beginnings.....
After owning, and repairing many PCB based amplifiers, I can say that I thoroughly dislike repairing them, even more so after now owning, and restoring a '68 Bassman (AB165). They may perform fine. But, repairing them is akin to sucking ape ass. For money though, I happily (not really) put-up with them, and brush thoroughly afterwards.
Unfortunately, PCB's are difficult to adapt to such a high heat application. If cost were not a concern, could it be done? Certainly. Many high-power instrumentation amplifiers are built on PCB"s. But, unless they're being sold to a government, it will be cost prohibitive to make a truly dependable PCB-based vacuum tube amplifier. However, it would probably be preferable to the funds currently wasted by them. Just imagine the speaker of the house opening a session with a rippin' solo!
It's really just a simple matter of isolating like components and using the correct materials to hold them. Tube sockets need to be chassis mounted because they need to be on a rigid platform and they need to be physically distant from heat-sensitive components. A good PCB amp designer will take these (and other) factors into consideration when laying out the design and will require the appropriate materials. A bad PCB amp designer will just throw shit on a board to make it cheap to build and small in footprint.
My theory is that the guy that designed this particular amp had a whole different layout in mind on the PCBs. Then the bean counters walked into the shop, where bean counters should never be allowed. Zingy probably chose his battles, and saved them for getting the features and “sound” he wanted out of the amp, and had to give up component choices he wanted.
Adventures in Amplifier repair land, product reviews, trips to markets, box openings, innovators home visits, tradesman visits, honest opinions via SPF and on the horizon a possible tour of Eminence You spoil us Brad
Ha !! I bought this amp and this is the first and only one i have seen since!! I loved this little amp and did many gigs with it sadly I sold it and recently talked to the guy I sold it to and he said it's not working anymore.. Man would I like to get it back .. thanks for sharing this !!
Hey Brad... How did you discharge the caps without being able to see them, seriously??? I laughed at loud when you jerked your finger back poking at the reverb connections - you ain't quicker than electricity! And, what was up with the squirrel? That kind of random crap is why your vids are so enjoyable. And, "Shitfest"... too funny!
I highly advise people to discharge caps, even if I don't always heed my own advice. ;) But seriously, with the layout diagram, you can figure out where the caps are. Or you can just drain from the plate of a tube.
I think the pots and jacks were on their own PCB board, separate from the main board, which is a slight improvement over throwing them on the main board, but putting the tube mounts directly on the main board is absolutely inexcusable.
My buddy is a licensed Fender tech and he mentioned to me that they're going the route of the big car manufacturers and making amps that, outside of tubes, can't be serviced. Apparently some other stuff like parts I think are getting discontinued as well. This was mentioned to me quickly in passing but I'll get more info from him and report back.
"Little"? Aren't they 50w and available in 4x10 config? Slightly more powerful than a Super Reverb - and I definitely wouldn't describe mine as a little amp. I see it's a 1x12. My Mesa Lonestar is 100w and is a 1x12 - though I'm adding a 2x12 to the mix with that. I suppose by the same token, you could pump the Concert through any # of cabs that have the proper ohms rating. I'll bet two of those in a stereo rig sounded amazing. I used to do the same thing with my Pro Reverb (the one I stupidly let go) and Super Reverb.
Oh my gosh, Your shot at soldering the reverb connections are so good I caught myself blowing the smoke away after you soldered it Lol. That is how real vids can be to your psyche. Truly a fake world faking you out to the core! Kind of disturbing in a way, Ya know?
I've owned two of these amps - they are off-the-charts GREAT. Amazing tone and flexible EQ. I never dug into the high gain aspects, but it dialed in excellent overdrive tones with ease. I wound up selling both of the ones I owned (at different times) because it was just too powerful for my needs, even though I loved the tone - on 1 1/2 or 2 - I wound up feeling like I was forcing a thoroughbred to work on a kiddy ride - or a Ferrari run on a go-cart track. If you're playing out on major stages - buy one of these. You won't be sorry...
The original 1960s concert amp was exactly the same amp as the vibrasonic, just with different speakers.. of which I own one (albeit heavily modified in the 1970s) in the poo colored brown tolex, mine has a built in germaniuml big muff believe it or not and, apart from slighlty annoying hiss on that channel sounds pretty bad-ass in a bizarrely unique way.. also the extra knob placement (which are off the chassis and on the grill cloth) LOOK awesome but are very impracticle. It was modded back in the day by a sound engineer from abbey road and made its way to me via Peter Hook of Joy Division. It's a pretty special amp, I want someone to draw up a circuit diagram so it could be reproduced. I'd send it to Brad but I'm in the UK :-(
Great job of troubleshooting and thinking it thru before you tore it apart. Amp sounds pretty dern great too. Fender should have kept that one in production.
I had one of these 20+ years ago. I think i used it a few times and sold it. I was left a bunch amps when an uncle died. I kept a modified early 70s Pro Reverb, a DDRI and Princeton Reverb recording amp that i also sold. The Princeton is one of those times where you trade or sell off something that you regret forever.
Hi Brad! A very sweet sounding amp. But what a pos to repair! It should have half a dozen or more separate pcb's, not EVERYTHING on one! I could tell, as soon as you revealed the single giant pcb - you were speechless! Oh well it's good the pots at least are on a separate pcb.
It isn't only on Fender amps that the plastic jacks fail - they fail on ALL manufacturers' amps. What a lousy way to save a penny or two on manufacturing costs.
Glad you didn't have to take out that monster board and had a relatively simple repair lol great sounding amp (when it's fixed) and great playing there really enjoyed it.👍
many years back i worked on a 92~93 fender twin 12 amp, it was a nightmare x2(multiple circuit boards)! It had over a hundred broken solder joints and took all day to repair. then the owner brought it back a week later because of more of the same issues. Problem was he would play it at band practice for 2-3 hrs then while its hot throw it in his car banging around. cheap lead free solder just wouldnt hold up to that abuse. I told him after the first repair to let it cool down before he banged it around , but apparently didnt listen. i did video it on my Hi8 just so he knew i wasnt dickin him around on the problems. i should upload that sometime. thanks for sharing this rare amp!
Reveb connector solder joints; “hard to see around the camera”. Thank you for going through the effort to show us. Your viewers really appreciate it!
I love the early Concert amp as well at this model. A sealed cabinet with 4 - 10" speakers, 12" or 2 15" sounds fantastic..!! Glad you inspected and resoldered all the Cold Solder Joints..!! From Wikipedia >> The Fender Concert was a guitar amplifier made by Fender Musical Instruments. Its production can be split over 2 phases. The first of these running from 1960 and until approximately 1965, at which time a typical Fender Concert was priced at $315. During the 1960s, the Concert was for all practical purposes the same amplifier as the Vibrasonic but with four 10" speakers. In a later phase, the Concert was updated by Paul Riviera in the early 1980s ("concert" and "concert II") and a subsequent 1x12 variant of the Concert amp appeared briefly in the mid-1990s.
I have a Paul Rivera with a 4x10 variant.
That concert amp is one of the amps Paul Rivera designed when he was working for Fender.
Very cool amp!
Well, I've never heard of this one, but I'm sure your video did two things:
* informed me of an amp I'd like to have
* screwed up the market so that I can't get one now
Get a Super and put a single twelve baffle in it.
I have a tweed Super replica I have decided that that is what I want to do with.
He pulled it!
I won't mention its little brother the hi gain champ 12. AC-DC crunch in a single 6l6. Not cheap anymore either.
@@tednugentlives I guess that's due to the fact that the J231 transistor in the reverb circuit is rare and will cost $20+ if you can find one and as far as I'm aware there is no equivalent and no equivalent for the 2 one off components used in the Champ 12 the LED/ LDR packs . You might be able to make these but Fender don't give values just a part number which is discontinued I believe . Solid State components have a limited life span and are dumped or made obsolescent. Hybrids are even worse unless you go for something that has op amps as there are plenty available and continously upgraded to improve their sound quality and reliability. This amp is a doddle to fix compared to many produced in the 90S , and as the man says you burn a circuit board from one component failure you have a scrap amp on your hands . I'm dealing with one now and Crate is not exactly well known for releasing the necessary detailed schematics to trouble shoot this thing . Would be nice to have some test points and voltages on their drawings .
It is a 3 channel amp. Clean and 2 different gains. Still one of my favorite amps I have owned. Very versatile in the sounds you get. Great clean channel.
Thanks so much for posting this procedure! I had the exact same problem with the reverb not operating on my '93 Super Amp (the big sister amp to this one - same pc board design). I am not nearly as electronics savy as you. I have good experience soldering pickups and caps in my guitars but that's the extent of my experience. However, I followed the same steps in resoldering the connections to the reverb circuit and came away with it working perfectly. It sounds so great now. I was going to sell the amp - I'm holding on to it at this point - it's toooo good.
Judging by the quality of the noodling that it inspired you, I say this is a top notch amp.
The Fender Concert amp was one of the best amps Fender ever made. They should reissue it.
Except for my FENDER 97 Deluxe 112 OH YEAHHH OOO HOOO
Hi Brad, I just came in from the Middle of the street with no trousers on.
Hallelujah, may the force be with You.
Love your Channel.
I'm with you in spirit.
Yes please on that eminence factory tour! Sounds awesome!
Ya, it would be cool to see how speakers are made!👍😎🎸🎶
How about warehouse guitar speakers too
Eminence is in Kentucky right?
I'm on board with an Eminence factory tour Brad. Big fan. As much as I love Celestion (and I do love them) I have probably modded more amps with Eminence speakers then any others over the years. Outstanding company.
Eminence make fantastic speakers. I'm not just saying that because they're down the road either.
@@TheGuitologist Cheers buddy. Great video. Enjoyed the pickin'. Smooth.
Legend V1216 is my favorite, what's yours?
@@bolland83 Great speaker. I am looking and putting one into a single 12" extension cabinet right now. For 10" I like the Ragin Cajun.
The Guitologist I'm actually not to far from ya in Louisville. I'd be happy to take that tour with you. I've been a few times already and it never gets old. If you wanna add me on Facebook I'm there as Sam Serv'on Alvey. I'll try to find you and send a message.
Aside from the obvious tech ability, your chops are unique and wicked as hell, to the prettiest sounds you can get.
That thing is mint! It’s awesome the board is screwed in like a 3 ply fender scratch plate. :)
Man, ok... I've heard you say you're "not a world class guitarist" but 25% of the time with your videos, I skip to the end and listen to when you play the gear. You're skilled man. I'd call you world class in my books.
You are a great teacher. Thank you so much for making this information so accessible.
Good playing! I love your troubleshooting process. I'm going to have my 10 yo son watch these videos with me just to build some critical thinking skills.
I own one and it is still my main amp. I fell in love with the warmth on channel one. It's only been in the shop once to replace some components and power cable. DEPENDABLE.
how.much did you pay American?
David Gilmour's 1980's era Rivera concert amps looked just like this one, I wonder if that was the inspiration for this short lived Fender hidden gem.
Holy shit. Your reaction to seeing the board is EVERYTHING!
It was too funny and still is..... Get some... Hahahaaa... ;)
The beginning and end of why I'll never own another PC Board amp!
That board looks like it’s lasted for 25 years.
So glad I found this video. Thank you Brad. I have the Super Amp version of this with 4 10” blue alnicos….and now I will tackle fixing it. I bought mine new in 1995 from guitar center. I was in a surf band and it was the perfect amp. They were on close out for $499.00. (Now I know Why) I had sold my 73 Twin about 4 years earlier (I know, WHAT!) newly married, little kids, needed money…….I brought it home took it out of the box and it didn’t work! WTF! It Powered up but no sound. When I leaned on the top of the amp to look at the speaker connection it came on! Stood up and it went off. Warranty repair for a bad solder joint, or cracked circuit board never really got a clear explanation but i had a working amp. Also I didn’t know much about amp operation then. I ain’t no expert now, but I have a much better understanding. Used the hell out of it the first five years or so. Went through some tubes, this is when I started getting educated by a few friends. The. Other guitar player got a recapped 1966 BF super reverb, and his 45 watts was blowing my 60 watts out of the water. When I swapped out the stock Sovtek 6L6’s with NOS Phillips and replaced the Chinese fender branded preamp tubes with old but working mullard 12AX7s and RCA 12AT7s holy crap did this thing open up and take off! ANYWAY…..I had ongoing issues with bad speaker jacks and connections and then one day about 4 years ago it just died after putting in new tubs. Amp tech told me the same thing you said “what a shit show in there”. I could buy a used one on eBay for what he would have to charge me in hours to trouble shoot. So the chassis sits under my work bench. I bought a 1967 blackface super reverb chassis and slid it in the cabinet and Voila …fits like finger in rectum. I have in the last few years, begun repairing simple things and done a few recap jobs on my own amps, a 69 Bassman, a recently acquired 1973 SF Twin, yes I am reliving my youth, and outfitting my studio. I am going down stairs now to unwrap and inspect that old SUPER AMP.
Direct mount tube sockets suck. I have a Carvin X50B half stack and sure enough the board caught fire , man I was pissed lol.
However I have a friend that is a spectacular amp-tech and cut the burnt section of board out, mounted the tube sockets to the chassis and hand point wired that whole section. It's worked fantastic for the past 20+ years or so!
Keep up the great and very heartfelt vids , cheers!
Fender made a 4x10 Super Reverb model in the early 90s with the multiple push/pull gain stages. It was a fantastic amp. I used to play it frequently in the local shop but was too pricey for my budget at the time. Wish I had one now.
It looks like someone was in there before you; a bunch of the solder pads on the board near the reverb jacks appear to have been reflowed. Did you notice under the Fender address on the schematic: "No Guts, No Glory?"
i am not sure if any one saw the wick flash f a squirl with a gun holding up the middle finger but this is a wonderfull amp and i am glad you were able to fix it. You made a costumer very happy.
i ment of the squirl with a gun with the middle finger. I definatly have my moments. this however, was not one of them.😂
I have one of these. One of the SWEETEST sounding amps EVER! Amazing cleans (full, loud, chimey, fat, sweet) and: great 2nd channel Tweed-style crunch + great saturated hi-gain 3rd channel. This is one of Fender's best sounding amps. (I've had 'em all too: vintage blackface Champ, Princeton Reverbs, Deluxe Reverb, Vibroluxe Reverb, Super Reverb, and Twin Reverb). This is the best sounding and most versatile.
Very loud, 50lbs; too bad about the circuit board design, but mine still works great.
Many Fender amps with circuit board mounted connection points have a problem with cracked solder joints. Heat, cold, loading, unloading and general jostling and dropping can be responsible but, luckily, the fix is easy. The Hot Rod series is notorious for this on the power tube board. I have had to fix my own, and other bandmates' HRDs, numerous times over the years. Good catch!
This was great. Glad I found your channel! This reminds me of my Fender Pro Concert Reverb, another model that seems to only have been made for a short spell. I’d love to learn more about it: it’s a beast with loads of bass.
Too many people have been wiggling that reverb connector before you got it. Your warning of stay at home brought back memories of a band I worked with a few years ago. They were to perform in a Asian country in a opera house, when they went to set up they were quickly stopped & told that the place was a union house & the inhouse staff would set up all their equipment for them. So off they went for supper. When they got back it was immediately discovered that every piece of equipment was toast. They used the same type of AC plugs & sockets that we use here in North America, only problem was that they use 220vac in that country. You would think that there being a 220-110 transformer packed with every piece of gear would of been a hint. Stupid is, as stupid does.
Sorry no Shit Post Friday this week. I'm going to try to put something together for the weekend.
Be careful, don't get constipated
@@DeDeNoM Thanks for the laugh; I needed it today, as it happens...
I sat for a long time, straining to evacuate something, but nothing would come out. I'll try again later. Maybe a laxative...
Checked your email? Sent you a download link for a video I made on the Vingtor amp.
The Guitologist l
Yes! I'm from Brea! I graduated from Sonora right on the Brea/La Habra line. That was such a cool place to live. We all (many of us teenagers) had bands when we were in high school.
A very good friend of mine, and a very good guitar player, uses this same amplifier. I have had to service it a few times, and they are a nightmare to work on. A while ago a plate load resistor decided to go open in the preamp. Rather than spend 912 hours trying to get the board out, I unsoldered the resistor, and let it drop out. Then I just soldered a new 100K resistor on the backside of the board. Quick and easy.
There's a rash of amplifiers from this era using 1/4-watt resistors. I use 1/2-watt just because I never want to see this amplifier on my bench again.
I was thinking I might be tempted to do that exact thing if I had to change a component. Did the old one rattle out?
The Guitologist It did after I unsoldered it. Just poke it out through the solder pads, and tip the chassis until the resistor falls out. I suppose you could even leave the old resistor in, but I wanted the new resistor through the holes.
i still have flashbacks to pulling the PCB from my concert pro, sooo many pots...and spade connectors
Randy Jamz ......Yep! Been there did that!
Randy Jams - Did you find the cause of the fried plate resistor? Watch the stage after the channel gain pots. They feed the grid bias through the channel switch relay, and if the relay contacts get wonky, it loses bias and cooks the plate resistor! I don't know if I have the schematic for this. I haven't worked on this stuff in ages, but I want to look at that bias circuit and try and figure out if they had a reason not to hook the bias in on the tube side of the relay or if it was just another brain fart somebody missed in the design.
Board mount Tubes,jacks and pots = Design Obsolescence ! But at least its not a pain in the ass Mesa MK4 . Someone would need to pony up a ton of cash to get me to work on one of those again.
"Well - well - well! Look at this shitfest.".... INDEED. That's crazy.
sski Sad.
Cl
Cluster Fuk
Brad thanks for all your excellent efforts in working to put out all the information.
Fender made the Concert Amp much earlier but discontinued it circa late 60s early 70s and the Super Reverb was selected to be produced. I had a 1960s 4x10 model in the 1970s, early 1980s. These were also in a 2x12 configuration too. The earliest models were rated
40 wpc and the last editions 60 wpc. Mine was originally the 40 wpc but modded into the 60wpc by a prior owner before I purchased it.
Cheers from So Cal
Thanks for the additional info on the amps and series manufactured by Fender. I have seen some additional info/videos on the early Concert and Super Reverbs. The SRs being more available due to larger unit number hence the rarity of the 410 and 212 models.
Cheers
Hi Brad. Many thanks for all you do for your members! I bought one of these that did not work, fully informed having had previously viewed this video that this may be one of the worst amps ever to work on. I am so glad I had because I did have to get those PC boards out. I found bad solder joints, the negative feedback wire was broken off and a plate resistor for V6A was open! Now I have a killer 200 dollar amp! Keep up the awesome work.
That's killer. Congrats!
@@TheGuitologist the Fender schematics with all the voltages and test points listed are worth the price of any of their amps. Lol It said they could vary 20% but they were all within a couple percent except for where this resistor was open. Curiously, at the plate the volt meter would show 200 volts drop to nothing in a few seconds and I realized I was seeing a cap discharge that had no way to actually charge and like a static charge would build up and drain away quickly when measured.
Also this one clearly has 1995 transformers so they must have made them 3 or 4 years. Thanks again, Brad!
what is the advantage of having the tubes mounted off board?
I was watching and thinking "Man, this guy shreds like crazy"....then I remembered that I was watching it at 1.5X speed. 27:45 is when the playing starts.
BWAAAAAHAHAHAHA!
This amp has a much nicer clean tone than I would have expected.
I owned a 4x10 version of this amp. More like a Mesa Boogie than a classic fender. Unfortunately, I left it at a friends house and it mysteriously disappeared. I’m still angry about it. Lesson learned.
Choose your “friends “
Wisely😂, been there👍
I used to own a Fender Concert that had 2 - 10s in it. It was a great sounding amp. I wish hadn't sold it, but I didn't need it anymore. It was probably the best Fender amp I ever heard.
Please do an Eminence tour. I love their speakers. Ive use their Man O War, Governor, & Texas Heat speakers. They all sound amazing.
Everybody has a box they play in. Just that everbodies box is just a little different. Always fascinates me.
true
Fender did make what is basically a replacement for this with the Macete. Unfortunately, that's been discontinued as well.
The machete is one of those rare amp models from a really well known manufacturer sounds really killer. And combination of its short existence, obscurity among guitar players and that Fender certainly isn't what comes to mind when talking about higher (or high-ish) gain, you can pick it up for much less $ than all the other models in this category.
This is the 3rd iteration of the Concert amp. The first ones were in the early 1960s. The second were the Paul Rivera designed amps in the early 1980's, and were a hand wired circuit, similar to the Silverface amps. The Paul Rivera Concert had a volume control on the effects send and the line out.
The Swaze is strong with this one.
This thing sounds surprisingly good, especially the clean (right around 30:00). I've grown to be a bit of an amp snob, but this sounds like a legit fender. Prob a good 2 X6L6 pedal platform. Looks like you can get one for $500-$600.
My first real amp (i.e., non-Gorilla) was a Fender M-80 that was around this vintage. You may not remember them, but it was covered with Grey indoor/outdoor carpet. It certainly didn't sound like this.
The cab I use in most demos is a Fender M-80 grey carpet cab. I've owned an M80 Chorus. Loved the tone.
Yep, I blew the transformer in my traynor TS 25? Back in 1990? And had a pep rally performance that week at school so I needed a quick replacement. I lived on a island in Washington so it was a ferry ride to the mainland to get to the nearest music store, so my mom had her friend pick my up a M 80 combo. I was thrilled at the time moving up from the traynor, it was solid state but a lot louder and more aggressive. Grey carpet covered with red knobs. I played it through my Jr year and traded it in for my first tube amp, Peavey VTM 60 with a old vox 4x12 with celestion greenbacks. I used a Peavey hotfoot overdrive for boost/leads and a ART rack effect delay reverb unit in the loop. The next year I bought a Yamaha FX 500 effects unit and actually ran it through the front instead of through the loop. It was actually amazing for that polished scooped tight metal sound and made it so much easier to play fast😆👍 I lowered my action to just above a buzz on the frets and put 9-42 strings on. By 93 the grunge scene took over and I sold everything and walked away from my hopes and dreams of making it...you can check out that pep rally performance on my TH-cam channel 😁 bartramtab and the title is " take me with you baby" and another one called "paradise road". I'm sure you'll all get a kick out of it and remember those days. Travis
@@travisbartram2943 Great video. What year is that?
@@Nickpaflas 1990 👍 I just realized I'm playing my band mates crate g 40 and he's using my traynor. So it must have been the next gig that I used the m 80
I’ve got a 94’ Twin which is very similar. They made those for 6-7 years.
The main difference I’m seeing is that the first gain stage on the Twin (aka the “Vintage Gain”) shares EQ with the Clean channel, rather than the “Modern Gain” channel. So you get Clean, a Bassman type sound that has its own Volume and Gain knobs that shares tone stack with Clean, and a Modern Gain channel that I find very fizzy at volume (might try swapping AX7 for AT7 at some point).
The only other differences are: Twin has a Pull Bright instead of Pull Cut, a Presence Knob, and has Bias/Balance adjustment screws in the rear with test points.
I have the Super version of this amp, its fantastic.
Had one too. Wish I hadn't sold it.
I believe that Amp was designed by Paul Rivera in the early eighties, probably why it's serial number starts with "PR". Played one, nice amps. Best, Pete.
No Rivera had his own amp company in the 1990’s
This in not the concert Paul designed
I had a 2x10 version of this amp and beat the crap out of it all over the southeast for 3 or 4 years. I wasn't all that crazy about it but I never had any trouble with it. The 10s just didn't do it for me. I sold it and got a fender 75 1x15. It's pretty decent.
Might have a PCB, but it’s the best sounding amp you’ve demoed on this channel. Great playing by the way.
Whoah! That amp sounds amazing!
I dig the way you play. I’ve been adapting alot of your style with my own. At first I didn’t realize it. But it hit me one day that you are where i had picked up the sudden use of pull offs.
That amp sounds killer!
I noticed the tube fed by the relay selecting the gain pots is grid biased by a DC voltage through the selector relay. That is bad news when that relay's contacts get dirty and open up, leaving that tube running full throttle on it's plate resistor! I couldn't see the entire bias source at the bottom of the schematic, but I would have designed the bias voltage hard wired on the tube side of that relay and if they are making an adjustment to the bias as part of the channel switching (not sure if they would, but in a blind shotgun analysis...) ...if switching the bias is something one wants to do with channel switching to get a slightly different harmonic response between the two "channels", I would try and make a hardwired path to the more negative bias, and then switch in a parallel resistor for the less negative bias so there is no chance of there ever being an open grid due to switch failure! If switching bias was not even a consideration (the very reason I posited the bias change possibility) then there's no earthly reason to risk running the bias through the potential problems of switching contacts. Then bias should be permanently wired on the tube side of the relay! I couldn't see the entire bias circuit at the bottom of the schematic to tell if they are switching bias. I'm curious what they did on later models. I stopped following them around when this amp was made and I switched my focus to computers, video, animation, in production as well as sales and tech. I just like to know how every damn thing works!
Thanks for your videos! Great to see people helping others find there way and find new vocations and hobbies!
I once had a customer that tried to do his own mods on a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. He ended up destroying the pads and traces in many spots. By the time I was done repairing everything, it was just as much point-to-point wired as it was PCB. Worked fine after that though. It cost him more than just replacing the board, but he couldn't wait for the shipping time to Hawaii.
SRT Amplification
But, now he has Far Superior wiring that is so much more reliable !
You customer absolutely has to thank you for the "upgrade" to his amp !
Man, I wouldn't even touch something like that after a "handyman" job. I value my sanity too much.
It's actually pretty easy to just jump wires from point to point under a board. I have actually done mods for guys that wanted all of their PCB mounted pots and jacks replaced and wire jumpered to the board. It sure makes them last longer.
Yeah, me too. It just becomes more and more of a patch job as things fail and board pads wear out, traces break, etc. You know what I mean.
I just rebuilt an old Peavey Triumph 60 from the late 80's. Of course it was all stacked up circuit boards like this and very flimsy the way it was put together. Thing was dead for years, once inside I found a blown fuse on the heater supply and then found all the typical cracked Peavey solder joints on every pre amp tube socket. They must use the most brittle solder on earth. Apparently one of these cracked joints caused a short and blew that fuse. Once fixed I was blown away on what a killer sound this thing had. Wow, talk about a 1*12 Mesa Boogie killer. The Clean tone was great and the gain tones were amazing. A 3 channel budget amp. Other than build quality, the sound in the circuit was amazing. Could use a touch more bottom in the circuit but I just did the repair with no mod. These PCB stuffed amps are a PITA to fix most times.
I’m so glad I got my hands on one of these recently. Got it for 500 $!!! The clean tone is magnificent and pure. Real classic fender tube sound. If u don’t like this amp then u don’t like fender tube amps period. Go get a crate or a shitty line 6.
I have a Fender Deluxe amp and I did $100 parts replacement mod. It turned it into a high gain amp and a lot of the parts replaced were more in line with the black face from the 60s. It took me a month to complete, and there must have been about 30 parts that I replaced. I had to make several calls to the person's mod kit in Seattle because I had questions, and some things were different from what was listed in the mod diagram. Just because a Fender amp doesn't have High Gain when you bought it doesn't mean it can't be.
Reminds me of the "Evil Twin" amps from the early/mid 90s....Good sounding amps, but SUPER HEAVY!
I have an evil twin and it is heavy as F. But I'll never part with it loud, clean, and clear
This was so cool. I had the Super Amp that was released with it. Great amp! Got it for $499 new at Guitar Center in 1995 when they closed them out.
6:46 I was bracing myself for one of those loud bangs amps do when I try to fiddle with something .
i bought this amp last week. Took the board out last night. Only a few of the tubes are mounted direct to the board. Also you must remove the pot board as well to get it flipped over.. Mine has a couple of caps and a resister soldered to the back of the board i see yours does not have this which tells me someones been in here. The pots are decent alpha pots i cleaned them. Still debating if i should convert this to a PTP AB763 Circuit. This amp is solid state rectifier.
SS rectifier limits your options somewhat as the PT probably won't be center tapped and won't have a 5V supply. Sounds like you know that already.
Really tearing it up on this one Brad! Nice playing and great sounds man. I especially enjoyed the somewhat lower gain settings. I'm sure the customer was glad to have you be able to fix everything relatively easily. Just curious, do you have some favorites for amps with master volumes?
I have one from 93, bought it new in the shop and played with it for 10 years about 80 gigs a year. It just needed a repair so as it came back I fooled around with it again. It delivers the typical Fender clean sound but also there are better models for this, I keep mine as it is not worth big money. The distortion sounds I don´t like, I used it as a pedal platform and it did the job. Brings back memories from my beginnings.....
After owning, and repairing many PCB based amplifiers, I can say that I thoroughly dislike repairing them, even more so after now owning, and restoring a '68 Bassman (AB165). They may perform fine. But, repairing them is akin to sucking ape ass. For money though, I happily (not really) put-up with them, and brush thoroughly afterwards.
PCB board-based amps don't have to be poorly designed. It just seems like most of them are because of lazy designers and to make them cheap to build.
Unfortunately, PCB's are difficult to adapt to such a high heat application. If cost were not a concern, could it be done? Certainly. Many high-power instrumentation amplifiers are built on PCB"s. But, unless they're being sold to a government, it will be cost prohibitive to make a truly dependable PCB-based vacuum tube amplifier. However, it would probably be preferable to the funds currently wasted by them. Just imagine the speaker of the house opening a session with a rippin' solo!
It's really just a simple matter of isolating like components and using the correct materials to hold them. Tube sockets need to be chassis mounted because they need to be on a rigid platform and they need to be physically distant from heat-sensitive components. A good PCB amp designer will take these (and other) factors into consideration when laying out the design and will require the appropriate materials. A bad PCB amp designer will just throw shit on a board to make it cheap to build and small in footprint.
My theory is that the guy that designed this particular amp had a whole different layout in mind on the PCBs. Then the bean counters walked into the shop, where bean counters should never be allowed. Zingy probably chose his battles, and saved them for getting the features and “sound” he wanted out of the amp, and had to give up component choices he wanted.
Adventures in Amplifier repair land, product reviews, trips to markets, box openings, innovators home visits, tradesman visits, honest opinions via SPF and on the horizon a possible tour of Eminence
You spoil us Brad
Nic Thomas and possibly a smoked squirrel recipe coming soon.
i have the super one, its my favorite amp by far.
Great bit of wrench'n bro and not too much head scratch'n to get up and running. Turned out a great video. All the best
Maybe you’re someone watching this thinking you want to put your finger in the amp chassis while it’s turned on. Do it.
My father just bought this amp today! Lol So cool, man. Great video
That was a lot of trouble just to see 38 packin squirrel give me the finger...
Ha !! I bought this amp and this is the first and only one i have seen since!! I loved this little amp and did many gigs with it sadly I sold it and recently talked to the guy I sold it to and he said it's not working anymore.. Man would I like to get it back .. thanks for sharing this !!
Hey Brad... How did you discharge the caps without being able to see them, seriously??? I laughed at loud when you jerked your finger back poking at the reverb connections - you ain't quicker than electricity!
And, what was up with the squirrel? That kind of random crap is why your vids are so enjoyable. And, "Shitfest"... too funny!
I highly advise people to discharge caps, even if I don't always heed my own advice. ;)
But seriously, with the layout diagram, you can figure out where the caps are. Or you can just drain from the plate of a tube.
I have a Concert 112 made in 1983 so they were produced for a lot longer than 1or 2 years.
Your concert is quite a bit different than this one.
A good example of poor use of pcb boards. Tube sockets, jacks and pots all connected straight to the board. Not my idea of reliability.
I'm pretty sure he stated that in the video
@@deedevlin3934 Oh really? Thanks for letting me know
@@baydenyoung5417
Anytime
@@baydenyoung5417
I can't believe I'm the reason you pull down two videos from your Channel LOL what a fucking douche
I think the pots and jacks were on their own PCB board, separate from the main board, which is a slight improvement over throwing them on the main board, but putting the tube mounts directly on the main board is absolutely inexcusable.
My buddy is a licensed Fender tech and he mentioned to me that they're going the route of the big car manufacturers and making amps that, outside of tubes, can't be serviced. Apparently some other stuff like parts I think are getting discontinued as well. This was mentioned to me quickly in passing but I'll get more info from him and report back.
12:24 scared you didn't it lol..man, I don't how many times I've jumped because of sudden noise working on stuff like this. :P
It's involuntary.
I had2, used in stereo. Great little amps. Lost them in a trailer wreck.
"Little"? Aren't they 50w and available in 4x10 config? Slightly more powerful than a Super Reverb - and I definitely wouldn't describe mine as a little amp. I see it's a 1x12. My Mesa Lonestar is 100w and is a 1x12 - though I'm adding a 2x12 to the mix with that. I suppose by the same token, you could pump the Concert through any # of cabs that have the proper ohms rating.
I'll bet two of those in a stereo rig sounded amazing. I used to do the same thing with my Pro Reverb (the one I stupidly let go) and Super Reverb.
Great video Brad,I would really dig seein' the Eminence Factory Tour ! :-)
Nice amp really digging the tones on there 👍
Oh my gosh, Your shot at soldering the reverb connections are so good I caught myself blowing the smoke away after you soldered it Lol. That is how real vids can be to your psyche. Truly a fake world faking you out to the core! Kind of disturbing in a way, Ya know?
@Redheaded Step Pedal
I vote c) both and he kicks the dog
Wherever you get your weed from is poisoning you. Get a better dealer m8
Another very rare Fender amp was the Studio 85. incredible gain/compression and beautiful clean. it was a 1x12" transistor amp !
I've owned two of these amps - they are off-the-charts GREAT. Amazing tone and flexible EQ. I never dug into the high gain aspects, but it dialed in excellent overdrive tones with ease. I wound up selling both of the ones I owned (at different times) because it was just too powerful for my needs, even though I loved the tone - on 1 1/2 or 2 - I wound up feeling like I was forcing a thoroughbred to work on a kiddy ride - or a Ferrari run on a go-cart track. If you're playing out on major stages - buy one of these. You won't be sorry...
I have a 94 Fender ‘The Twin’ .. very similar set up to this amp. Clean and two levels of overdrive with pull out knobs and reverb.
1. Cripes, that’s a damned nice sounding amp.
2. Hell, yeah! on the Eminence factory tour idea.
I'd love to see an eminence tour !
The original 1960s concert amp was exactly the same amp as the vibrasonic, just with different speakers.. of which I own one (albeit heavily modified in the 1970s) in the poo colored brown tolex, mine has a built in germaniuml big muff believe it or not and, apart from slighlty annoying hiss on that channel sounds pretty bad-ass in a bizarrely unique way.. also the extra knob placement (which are off the chassis and on the grill cloth) LOOK awesome but are very impracticle. It was modded back in the day by a sound engineer from abbey road and made its way to me via Peter Hook of Joy Division. It's a pretty special amp, I want someone to draw up a circuit diagram so it could be reproduced.
I'd send it to Brad but I'm in the UK :-(
if you ever wish to sell that, email me brich2929 at aol.com
Great job of troubleshooting and thinking it thru before you tore it apart.
Amp sounds pretty dern great too. Fender should have kept that one in production.
I hate to work on amps like this....
I had one of these 20+ years ago. I think i used it a few times and sold it. I was left a bunch amps when an uncle died. I kept a modified early 70s Pro Reverb, a DDRI and Princeton Reverb recording amp that i also sold. The Princeton is one of those times where you trade or sell off something that you regret forever.
Loved the squirrel with the gun to it's head... nice touch! lol
That guitar thru that amp has an awesome sound. Love the tones.
Designed without consulting the guys in the workshop
Hi Brad! A very sweet sounding amp. But what a pos to repair! It should have half a dozen or more separate pcb's, not EVERYTHING on one!
I could tell, as soon as you revealed the single giant pcb - you were speechless! Oh well it's good the pots at least are on a separate pcb.
One thing for sure is that the plastic jacks on these Fender amps do not hold up.
This is true. Common failure.
It isn't only on Fender amps that the plastic jacks fail - they fail on ALL manufacturers' amps. What a lousy way to save a penny or two on manufacturing costs.
this is the one i love to fix.. the cold solder joints! nice video, please keep them coming!
The 1983 Rivera Concert does not suck either.
Glad you didn't have to take out that monster board and had a relatively simple repair lol great sounding amp (when it's fixed) and great playing there really enjoyed it.👍
"High Gain" Lol
Compared to a twin or a deluxe, it is. That’s how I’d compare it, to other amps of the brand. It’s not a Soldano, true.
@Linden Butler made me chuckle
It wasn’t made for metal monkeys!
If you're looking for a bohgner buy a bohgner 🤷🏻♂️
many years back i worked on a 92~93 fender twin 12 amp, it was a nightmare x2(multiple circuit boards)! It had over a hundred broken solder joints and took all day to repair. then the owner brought it back a week later because of more of the same issues. Problem was he would play it at band practice for 2-3 hrs then while its hot throw it in his car banging around. cheap lead free solder just wouldnt hold up to that abuse. I told him after the first repair to let it cool down before he banged it around , but apparently didnt listen. i did video it on my Hi8 just so he knew i wasnt dickin him around on the problems. i should upload that sometime. thanks for sharing this rare amp!