I have this Amp too, basically a really nice sounding one. What I'm missing when I play clean with a SC guitar is the huge room filling sound which comes from having a lot of bass. So I have the feel the amp is lacking bass. I remember Fender amps usually having too much of bass (Fender Blues Deluxe 1x12"). As well many people claim that in resessions. I swapped the speaker to Eminence 10" Legends, it helped but but not that much.
AMAZING information!!! I've been debating on getting either a '65 reissue Deluxe Reverb or a '68 reissue Custom Vibrolux. I was leaning toward the '65 Deluxe, but now I just don't know.
Thanks for your comment Shannon! The DR 65 Reissue stay´s much longer clean as it´s Brother the Custom 68. Therefore it takes your Modulation Pedals better. Even tough it can´t hold against the 68 Custom Vibrolux! I would recommend the Vibrolux anytime. No worry, you can even use it in quieter Environments. The Potentiometers are not as volatile as in some other Fender Series. - You can also unplug one speaker as long as you don´t crank it for hours. Good luck!
@@MrJLobster Interesting, but is the '65 deluxe reissue the same volume as the 68 vibrolux as well? I thought a vibrolux would be louder and have more clean headroom than a deluxe or is this circuit different than vintage vibroluxes?
@@roderickbalt8993 It is! - the Custom 68 VIBROLUX is indeed louder and stays longer clean than the existing 65 Reissue Deluxe Reverb. Not so the Custom 68 Deluxe Reverb, Thanks for your comment!
Hello MrJLobster! First i have to say you did a great job on this thorough review. Thank you for that! And can you tell me if a slight hiss is normal for this amp or should it be dead quiet at all volumes? Thanks a lot!
Hello Modestoney! A slight hiss is normal. Amps with reverb in general induce more hiss than non reverb / tweed amps because there are a lot more components in the circuit. Custom amps with reverb in both channels also cause further more hiss by design. Newer more efficient speakers can also cause the impression of increased hiss.
@@MrJLobster Thank you very much for your fast reply! And is it normal that the hiss (it is not very loud but audible) is also there when the reverb is off? It is always there on mine and gets louder when i turn up volume and/or treble.
@@modestoney1577 Yes that´s normal. Sometimes lower noise and of course lower gain tubes like 12aY7 or 12AT7 can help somewhat. Fender vintage amps are made to play in loud evironments as we all know but nowadays as we´re all restricted to our livingrooms - the noise becomes a factor more and more and can get a bit disturbing. Don´t bother you. My handbuild amps are dead quiet yes but they are also bone dry! You have to use a reverb or delay and - there you are... inducing hiss from an array of pedals.
No I haven´t in this case. The rubi-tank decay is almost always too long... But it´s more subtle in the highs if you use a lot of gain in front of it. There´s some more difference in the circuit. I´ve already made me some notes into my 68`schematic.... I´m on it. We´ll see.
I recently bought this amp and its a 2017 version with original groove tubes. are there any tubes that i can replace with to make amp hotter and have more treble?
Welcome alex garcia! Of course it´s possible. If you like more treble I would replace the V1 and V4 input 12AX7 tubes (wich are GT branded JJTubes) with Chinese TAD branded Premium 7025 Tubes (Nr.: RT010) - Right away much more `"natural Fender" sounding. Replace the phase Inverter 12AT7 with a general 12AX7 for more gain to the pentodes. Make shure that the amp is not biased too high (spongier warmer) and not too cold (bassy and sterile). You can go further and change the power tubes from the RCA Style 6L6GC to a much more tweed sounding GE Style tube set (TAD Nr.:RT811)
Hallo Alex Garcia! Had one in today and ist was on the dark side. With the bright switch off I had to dial in around 9 -10 on the treble knob to get it shinig. Not much left to brighten it up if you got a darker sounding guitar... So I get you! I tell you what I did. I´d left all the input tubes as they was. Took out V5 (right beneth the PI) and find out that this one was a russian 12AX7-R of wich I know tend to be a very dark tube. Changed this one to a much brighter sounding tube and brought it to life. Same amount of trebles now at 5 -6 on the dial of both channels and more! You should definately check this out! I recommend also to change the (original) dark rubytubes reverb tank to a brighter standard accutronics tank. Good luck!
Welcome Jake T. In the 68 CDR Amps there is only one additional Cap C58 220p. Haven´t tried the Mod in a 68 Custom Deluxe Reverb, don´t know if it works simmilar so please tell us here if it works on these Amps. Good luck Jake and do you a favour USE solderbraid!
@@MrJLobster Thanks for the reply! I'm not actually able to find C58 on the circuit board... do you happen to know its location on the actual board? Thanks again
Disappointing I can't believe this doesn't have a tube rectifier and a beefier power cap section. I'll bet the bass response is very weak in this amp/ Way to go Fender, keep building crap.
Illinoys Caps were in fact a bit short lived especially in the 1990´s.These days all capacitors do a little better. Interestingly the most faulty ones that I encounter came from china, also JJ or F+T (wich came from Germany or Swiss btw)
I have had mine since they came out and still love it.
Very intetesting, i have this amp, and i love it! Im a tech but ive never opened it up, so its nice to see inside one
I have this Amp too, basically a really nice sounding one. What I'm missing when I play clean with a SC guitar is the huge room filling sound which comes from having a lot of bass. So I have the feel the amp is lacking bass. I remember Fender amps usually having too much of bass (Fender Blues Deluxe 1x12"). As well many people claim that in resessions. I swapped the speaker to Eminence 10" Legends, it helped but but not that much.
Perfect
AMAZING information!!! I've been debating on getting either a '65 reissue Deluxe Reverb or a '68 reissue Custom Vibrolux. I was leaning toward the '65 Deluxe, but now I just don't know.
Thanks for your comment Shannon! The DR 65 Reissue stay´s much longer clean as it´s Brother the Custom 68. Therefore it takes your Modulation Pedals better. Even tough it can´t hold against the 68 Custom Vibrolux!
I would recommend the Vibrolux anytime.
No worry, you can even use it in quieter Environments. The Potentiometers are not as volatile as in some other Fender Series. - You can also unplug one speaker as long as you don´t crank it for hours. Good luck!
@@MrJLobster THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing your knowledge!!!!
@@MrJLobster Interesting, but is the '65 deluxe reissue the same volume as the 68 vibrolux as well? I thought a vibrolux would be louder and have more clean headroom than a deluxe or is this circuit different than vintage vibroluxes?
@@roderickbalt8993 It is! - the Custom 68 VIBROLUX is indeed louder and stays longer clean than the existing 65 Reissue Deluxe Reverb. Not so the Custom 68 Deluxe Reverb, Thanks for your comment!
@@MrJLobster Gotcha! Thanks very much!
Great video
Hello MrJLobster!
First i have to say you did a great job on this thorough review. Thank you for that!
And can you tell me if a slight hiss is normal for this amp or should it be dead quiet at all volumes?
Thanks a lot!
Hello Modestoney! A slight hiss is normal. Amps with reverb in general induce more hiss than non reverb / tweed amps because there are a lot more components in the circuit. Custom amps with reverb in both channels also cause further more hiss by design. Newer more efficient speakers can also cause the impression of increased hiss.
@@MrJLobster Thank you very much for your fast reply!
And is it normal that the hiss (it is not very loud but audible) is also there when the reverb is off?
It is always there on mine and gets louder when i turn up volume and/or treble.
@@modestoney1577 Yes that´s normal. Sometimes lower noise and of course lower gain tubes like 12aY7 or 12AT7 can help somewhat. Fender vintage amps are made to play in loud evironments as we all know but nowadays as we´re all restricted to our livingrooms - the noise becomes a factor more and more and can get a bit disturbing.
Don´t bother you. My handbuild amps are dead quiet yes but they are also bone dry! You have to use a reverb or delay and - there you are... inducing hiss from an array of pedals.
@@MrJLobster Thank you very much!
Have you made a video of what the amp itself sounds like pre & post mod?
No I haven´t in this case. The rubi-tank decay is almost always too long... But it´s more subtle in the highs if you use a lot of gain in front of it.
There´s some more difference in the circuit. I´ve already made me some notes into my 68`schematic.... I´m on it. We´ll see.
I recently bought this amp and its a 2017 version with original groove tubes. are there any tubes that i can replace with to make amp hotter and have more treble?
Welcome alex garcia! Of course it´s possible. If you like more treble I would replace the V1 and V4 input 12AX7 tubes (wich are GT branded JJTubes) with Chinese TAD branded Premium 7025 Tubes (Nr.: RT010) - Right away much more `"natural Fender" sounding.
Replace the phase Inverter 12AT7 with a general 12AX7 for more gain to the pentodes.
Make shure that the amp is not biased too high (spongier warmer) and not too cold (bassy and sterile). You can go further and change the power tubes from the RCA Style 6L6GC to a much more tweed sounding GE Style tube set (TAD Nr.:RT811)
Hallo Alex Garcia!
Had one in today and ist was on the dark side. With the bright switch off I had to dial in around 9 -10 on the treble knob to get it shinig. Not much left to brighten it up if you got a darker sounding guitar...
So I get you! I tell you what I did.
I´d left all the input tubes as they was. Took out V5 (right beneth the PI) and find out that this one was a russian 12AX7-R of wich I know tend to be a very dark tube. Changed this one to a much brighter sounding tube and brought it to life. Same amount of trebles now at 5 -6 on the dial of both channels and more!
You should definately check this out! I recommend also to change the (original) dark rubytubes reverb tank to a brighter standard accutronics tank. Good luck!
Awesome! I will definitely try this. Thank you!
More Treble! Jeez, thats 1 thing this amp don't need
Could you tell me which capacitor numbers to snip in the 68 custom deluxe reverb to perform the same mod? Thank you!
Welcome Jake T. In the 68 CDR Amps there is only one additional Cap C58 220p. Haven´t tried the Mod in a 68 Custom Deluxe Reverb, don´t know if it works simmilar so please tell us here if it works on these Amps. Good luck Jake and do you a favour USE solderbraid!
@@MrJLobster Thanks for the reply! I'm not actually able to find C58 on the circuit board... do you happen to know its location on the actual board? Thanks again
@@jakestadium You should find it on the small reverb plug breakout board maybe. I haven´t got the layout plan for this puppy yet. So good luck!
🔊😅👍
Disappointing I can't believe this doesn't have a tube rectifier and a beefier power cap section. I'll bet the bass response is very weak in this amp/ Way to go Fender, keep building crap.
Stupid comment of the year
IC caps are garbage!
Illinoys Caps were in fact a bit short lived especially in the 1990´s.These days all capacitors do a little better. Interestingly the most faulty ones that I encounter came from china, also JJ or F+T (wich came from Germany or Swiss btw)