The 68 vibrolux gives the best of itself above 4 in my opinion. Demos below that setting also end up sounding thin, but when I have played them at clean gigging volume they give a little more low end and low mid that fills out the sound more
Cranked up a bit, I almost prefer the Custom. Just a bit more clean headroom on that guy (and of course a little brighter). Great video - thanks for the upload. :)
Nice playing! Reminds me of Jim Messina's finger style. As for the tone difference, I'd guess the different speakers (Celestion 10s vs. original speakers) have more to do with that than circuitry. That and the age of the components in your '69 (47 yr old components and speakers. Wow!).
Joel said thank you very much, he'll take that for sure as he's a massive fan of Jim Messina!! Thanks for the comment and we're glad you enjoyed the demo. Please subscribe if you get the time. Thank you!
the old 69 is just a little smoother, but that's probably more due to speaker break-in than anything. Give the new one some gigging hours for the speakers to open up and they will be very close.
This was where my head went. I have 1990 65 twin reverb which smokes modern twins, and it seems to be because the nearly 30 year old speakers are much smoother and warmer - I’d wager the same is true here
Lovely amps. It's interesting that the original amps tremolo is slower than on the re-issue on the same setting. In terms of tone though the original is just that little bit smoother on the gain and slightly mellower on the clean, BUT it's a great testament to the quality and the consideration that they put into the re-issue amps. :-)
plus the tolerance they assembled the amps to was like "within 10% of this value" so there is lot's of variance within the tolerance allowed when making these. That's maybe why some of this old stuff has more mojo than others. Sometimes everything aligns and you get that "something special."
You can tell that the speakers haven't yet broken in on the reissue. The high end gnarl is almost completely down to that. After it breaks in it'll be a nice little contender for sure
The original is at 2.5 volume which is way too low for it to shine. The custom is at 3.5 volume which gives it an advantage in this test. Have owned both and when you turn it up the original Vibrolux is a lot more vibey an amp. The custom has a more modern generic almost solid state tone.
I haven’t heard them side by side but it seems like the 68 custom vibrolux and the 68 reissue deluxe reverb are basically the same except that the vibrolux has more wattage. I’m sure the difference in Watts will affect the sound in some way, but I would suspect it’s minimal.
id be interested in seeing the chasis pulled out of both and swapped with no other tweaks made..... I think alot of that fatness and smoothness comes from old cabinet wood and speaker, but who knows
I agree the `69 sounds perfect and the reissue has a nasty 2-3 kHz boost. But this is really the speaker-cabinet break-in, or even the mic position. Do the Jimmy Page trick and burn them in with two weeks of full blown white noise and you will be happier. Speakers make the main part of a sound, people often forget this..., so it´s better called Guitar Speaker than Amp ! So thanks for this demonstration.
Any mods to the 69? Removing the V1 tube or 12ax7 instead of 12au7 on the original? There was no contest when turned up with humbuckers. Just wondering if its mods or the original just sounds that much better.
Hi Marty, no mods to my '69. The amp is all original and has the original valves in the back and speaker! I got lucky! The new one is still lovely, but the old one definitely has that little bit extra. Thanks for the comment.
I bought a '68 Custom Vibrolux when they first came out and have gigged/jammed/played on it quite a bit since. I used to think all of that speaker break-in talk was hooey. but it's true, mine has definitely warmed up a little and the break-up has smoothed out noticeably over the last couple of years. it has never let me down, and I've done nothing but changed out the metal feet on the bottom for rubber ones. beautiful amp. :)
art gillespie it depends on the guitar you use art. the Vibrolux tends to start breaking up a little at around 5-6 (more so with humbuckers than single coils). it gets pretty loud, and I've gigged without micing it plenty of times. but at 35 watts, it's obviously not strong enough to do massive gigs on its own. when i push mine into break-up territory it has a really nice bluesy crunch that I personally love, but ymmv. I do have a pedal board that goes straight into the front without issue as well...Fenders take pedals really well. :)
Thanks so much for the info. That really helps. I am using a guitar with humbuckers and my deluxe breaks up at 4 and although it is a nice sound, it isn't what I want at the time. I need real clean with no breakup.
art gillespie maybe the Twin Reverb would be a better option? the Vibrolux does stay cleaner longer, but humbuckers (I have a Les Paul with Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers and a Gretsch 5420T Electromatic with 'Black Top' humbuckers as well) do tend to give an on-edge break up sound at stage volumes. it is manageable (and I really like it actually), but if you want super clean, this may not be for you. also, I did a hard-rock gig with it once, and had a bit of trouble getting loud and clear distortion. for this reason I'm kinda looking at Twins as well (I'll keep my VL though). the Vibrolux is a wonderful amp, and very versatile, but it can't do everything. just thought that was worth pointing out. 👍
The original murders the reissue, at least in this demo. Tubes are probably the biggest variable and I'm guessing that original has some nice old tubes. I have an orig '66 Vibrolux Reverb and I keep a log on what goes where when I tube roll. The better tubes (and it varies not only by manufacturer, but by individual tube) can totally make the amp. Don't count out that original hand wiring either. Nice demo.
WizardsMachine I too have a late blackface Vibrolux Reverb. Still has Original caps in it... I have had nice sounds with JJ tubes overall, but for warmer jazzy, Telefunkin 12ax7s in the front tube of the reverb channel. Speaker wise,...Oddly the original buyer selected one each Jensen and Oxford.. The amp model was offered with both, but in pairs, not mixed. Original buyer asked dealer to mix them, one for lows, one for highs... and it was delivered that way. I got it from him about 6 months after original purchase. These are incredible amps, and I love hearing others like yours... Thanks for sharing your sounds with it🙋😉
The 68 Custom Vibrolux is built off a totally different tone stack. It uses a Bassman style of channel on the custom side and a Silverface type on the Vintage side. The custom inputs give it an almost "Tweed" like tone. It was designed to give it a little earlier break up. It's still pretty damn loud though. Also, the new one has speakers that aren't broken in like a 50 year old amp might have. They will sound a bit harsher for awhile.
The '68 Custom amps just have one circuit, in the "Custom" channel has a modified AB763 circuit that Fender markets as a "Bassman tone stack", but it is nothing like a Tweed Bassman, it's actually more like a Super Reverb on steroids or a less gainy Mesa Boogie MK I that can get you right into the Soundgarden territory at full volume, and in the "Vintage" channel has a normal AB763.
The 69 original is tube rectified. It's going to have a touch of sag and rounder tone. 68 custom is solid state rectified its going to have a touch more snap and brightness. I have the 68 custom awesome amp! I upgraded to Weber 10F150 and 10A125 sounds greater!
I have a 65 deluxe reverb reissue but need a little more clean headroom. Will the 68 vibrolux do it? Or would I need the 65 vibrolux reissue? Or something else?
The '69 does sound a bit warmer but that speaker is well worn in Im sure/ Also, what channel was the '68 Custom on? Vintage? The '68 Customs are killer amps and better than the originals IMO. You get a vintage BF tone stack on one side and a Tweed Bassman tone stack on the the other, two amps in one! Plus you can use the reverb and tremolo on both channels and you get great sounding Celestion's instead of the spiky and harsh Jensens. Oh, and you dont have to fuss with 50 year old circuitry, tubes and speakers. Just got the 68 Custom Twin Reverb and love it! Best amp Ive owned yet.
there are advantages to both. At higher volumes not shown here the newer model out shines the old and there is no comparison. The smoothness of the original is speakers plus a few other things the new could be in time with mods are be close enough that I would prefer the new as I've had both
the vintage original one is better. Ronder sound, warmer. However, the Vibrolux reverb amp from the 90s (the blonde one) sounds better than the black face, probably as well as the original (although they have a different sound)
sorry but, if you have to make a comparison of amplification, in n you can compare them using Different Volumes, and everything is there, compression and tones, s every variation of the volume changes the response dynamics and compression tones as well as general saturation, and here one amp is at 2.5; and the other at 3.5 ... you don't do that, if you had to balance the volumes in the audio track, you would adjust the Master REC, but not the Head Volume ...
No comparison once you're up to 5. Hear the slight harmonic at the end of the phrase on the original? You can't get that on the reissue. And if it had been taken up to 6 or 7, with a player that can really play, the original would have taken off with beautiful harmonics everywhere. This demo doesn't really show off what the original Vibrolux can do. And in this case, the original is a Silverface. You can get Hendix style controlled feedback on the blackface Vibrolux's ('65 & '66). I had one years ago. It was truly an amazing amp. It is really worth it to save up the extra money and get an original (about $2,500 rebuilt).The reissues aren't even close in sound.
I agree,i'm here looking/listening/reading to get a better view on this amp as i'm designing a new amp at the moment,same power output,but more flexibility throughout.
The re-issue is strong on social distancing. The original just wants a big hug.
The 68 vibrolux gives the best of itself above 4 in my opinion. Demos below that setting also end up sounding thin, but when I have played them at clean gigging volume they give a little more low end and low mid that fills out the sound more
Cranked up a bit, I almost prefer the Custom. Just a bit more clean headroom on that guy (and of course a little brighter). Great video - thanks for the upload. :)
Nice demo and super nice playing.
Nice playing! Reminds me of Jim Messina's finger style.
As for the tone difference, I'd guess the different speakers (Celestion 10s vs. original speakers) have more to do with that than circuitry. That and the age of the components in your '69 (47 yr old components and speakers. Wow!).
Joel said thank you very much, he'll take that for sure as he's a massive fan of Jim Messina!! Thanks for the comment and we're glad you enjoyed the demo. Please subscribe if you get the time. Thank you!
I luv Poco!!!
the old 69 is just a little smoother, but that's probably more due to speaker break-in than anything. Give the new one some gigging hours for the speakers to open up and they will be very close.
You're potentially right. Only time will tell, we'll try and find a played in modern Vibrolux and give it a blast next to the '69.
The main reason, i think, are worn speakers!
This was where my head went. I have 1990 65 twin reverb which smokes modern twins, and it seems to be because the nearly 30 year old speakers are much smoother and warmer - I’d wager the same is true here
Good call.
Thank you for a real demo
Lovely amps. It's interesting that the original amps tremolo is slower than on the re-issue on the same setting. In terms of tone though the original is just that little bit smoother on the gain and slightly mellower on the clean, BUT it's a great testament to the quality and the consideration that they put into the re-issue amps. :-)
David H I noticed the trem speeds too...interesting
plus the tolerance they assembled the amps to was like "within 10% of this value" so there is lot's of variance within the tolerance allowed when making these. That's maybe why some of this old stuff has more mojo than others. Sometimes everything aligns and you get that "something special."
Easy to get the "slow mod" done on the tremolo; just a matter of swapping out one or two capacitors.
I'd love to hear these amps through the same cab.
You can tell that the speakers haven't yet broken in on the reissue. The high end gnarl is almost completely down to that. After it breaks in it'll be a nice little contender for sure
The Meters !...very nice!
def. should turn the amp up. Amps are not developing tone at this volume.
The '69 is quite a lot darker and softer sounding. And probably a little better too.
The original is at 2.5 volume which is way too low for it to shine. The custom is at 3.5 volume which gives it an advantage in this test. Have owned both and when you turn it up the original Vibrolux is a lot more vibey an amp. The custom has a more modern generic almost solid state tone.
Very good demo congrats
my opinion is that the reissue is thinner sounding amp :(
Subtle differences. Both sound great.
Your thoughts on comparison between custom and 68 resissue Deluxe reverb. Thank you! Great comparison
I have been looking for this information myself forever! Have you ever managed to find anything meaningful?
I haven’t heard them side by side but it seems like the 68 custom vibrolux and the 68 reissue deluxe reverb are basically the same except that the vibrolux has more wattage. I’m sure the difference in Watts will affect the sound in some way, but I would suspect it’s minimal.
id be interested in seeing the chasis pulled out of both and swapped with no other tweaks made..... I think alot of that fatness and smoothness comes from old cabinet wood and speaker, but who knows
yea but...you switch to the neck pickup when u switch amps??? How can we compare?
I agree the `69 sounds perfect and the reissue has a nasty 2-3 kHz boost. But this is really the speaker-cabinet break-in, or even the mic position. Do the Jimmy Page trick and burn them in with two weeks of full blown white noise and you will be happier. Speakers make the main part of a sound, people often forget this..., so it´s better called Guitar Speaker than Amp ! So thanks for this demonstration.
Any mods to the 69? Removing the V1 tube or 12ax7 instead of 12au7 on the original? There was no contest when turned up with humbuckers. Just wondering if its mods or the original just sounds that much better.
Hi Marty, no mods to my '69. The amp is all original and has the original valves in the back and speaker! I got lucky! The new one is still lovely, but the old one definitely has that little bit extra. Thanks for the comment.
I bought a '68 Custom Vibrolux when they first came out and have gigged/jammed/played on it quite a bit since. I used to think all of that speaker break-in talk was hooey. but it's true, mine has definitely warmed up a little and the break-up has smoothed out noticeably over the last couple of years. it has never let me down, and I've done nothing but changed out the metal feet on the bottom for rubber ones.
beautiful amp. :)
How much clean headroom do you get out of that amp? When does it start to break up? Is it different in both channels (headroom and breakup?)
art gillespie it depends on the guitar you use art. the Vibrolux tends to start breaking up a little at around 5-6 (more so with humbuckers than single coils).
it gets pretty loud, and I've gigged without micing it plenty of times. but at 35 watts, it's obviously not strong enough to do massive gigs on its own. when i push mine into break-up territory it has a really nice bluesy crunch that I personally love, but ymmv.
I do have a pedal board that goes straight into the front without issue as well...Fenders take pedals really well. :)
Thanks so much for the info. That really helps. I am using a guitar with humbuckers and my deluxe breaks up at 4 and although it is a nice sound, it isn't what I want at the time. I need real clean with no breakup.
art gillespie maybe the Twin Reverb would be a better option? the Vibrolux does stay cleaner longer, but humbuckers (I have a Les Paul with Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers and a Gretsch 5420T Electromatic with 'Black Top' humbuckers as well) do tend to give an on-edge break up sound at stage volumes. it is manageable (and I really like it actually), but if you want super clean, this may not be for you.
also, I did a hard-rock gig with it once, and had a bit of trouble getting loud and clear distortion. for this reason I'm kinda looking at Twins as well (I'll keep my VL though). the Vibrolux is a wonderful amp, and very versatile, but it can't do everything. just thought that was worth pointing out. 👍
thanks i appreciate your response and opinion
The original murders the reissue, at least in this demo. Tubes are probably the biggest variable and I'm guessing that original has some nice old tubes. I have an orig '66 Vibrolux Reverb and I keep a log on what goes where when I tube roll. The better tubes (and it varies not only by manufacturer, but by individual tube) can totally make the amp. Don't count out that original hand wiring either. Nice demo.
Thank you! Hope you're '66 is doing just fine! Joel is still gigging his and using it a lot! Thanks for the comment and kind words.
WizardsMachine
I too have a late blackface Vibrolux Reverb. Still has Original caps in it... I have had nice sounds with JJ tubes overall, but for warmer jazzy, Telefunkin 12ax7s in the front tube of the reverb channel. Speaker wise,...Oddly the original buyer selected one each Jensen and Oxford.. The amp model was offered with both, but in pairs, not mixed. Original buyer asked dealer to mix them, one for lows, one for highs... and it was delivered that way. I got it from him about 6 months after original purchase. These are incredible amps, and I love hearing others like yours... Thanks for sharing your sounds with it🙋😉
The 68 Custom Vibrolux is built off a totally different tone stack. It uses a Bassman style of channel on the custom side and a Silverface type on the Vintage side. The custom inputs give it an almost "Tweed" like tone. It was designed to give it a little earlier break up. It's still pretty damn loud though. Also, the new one has speakers that aren't broken in like a 50 year old amp might have. They will sound a bit harsher for awhile.
The '68 Custom amps just have one circuit, in the "Custom" channel has a modified AB763 circuit that Fender markets as a "Bassman tone stack", but it is nothing like a Tweed Bassman, it's actually more like a Super Reverb on steroids or a less gainy Mesa Boogie MK I that can get you right into the Soundgarden territory at full volume, and in the "Vintage" channel has a normal AB763.
Reissue speaks are new - probably mellow after 100 hours of use and become less bright with a rounder low end.
The 69 original is tube rectified. It's going to have a touch of sag and rounder tone. 68 custom is solid state rectified its going to have a touch more snap and brightness.
I have the 68 custom awesome amp! I upgraded to Weber 10F150 and 10A125 sounds greater!
Great speaker combination!
older vibrolux have a bright switch too. i always left mine on
New one has bright switch also.
There’s a huge controversy that it only has one Note (A) on the ascending line (the 6th & 7th nite)
I have a 65 deluxe reverb reissue but need a little more clean headroom. Will the 68 vibrolux do it? Or would I need the 65 vibrolux reissue? Or something else?
The 69 is Rounder sounding and has more low mids ,...great demo and playing btw.
The '69 does sound a bit warmer but that speaker is well worn in Im sure/ Also, what channel was the '68 Custom on? Vintage? The '68 Customs are killer amps and better than the originals IMO. You get a vintage BF tone stack on one side and a Tweed Bassman tone stack on the the other, two amps in one! Plus you can use the reverb and tremolo on both channels and you get great sounding Celestion's instead of the spiky and harsh Jensens. Oh, and you dont have to fuss with 50 year old circuitry, tubes and speakers. Just got the 68 Custom Twin Reverb and love it! Best amp Ive owned yet.
what u had before ?
there are advantages to both. At higher volumes not shown here the newer model out shines the old and there is no comparison. The smoothness of the original is speakers plus a few other things the new could be in time with mods are be close enough that I would prefer the new as I've had both
Let me relieve you from that old thing. You don't need it. You have a new shinny one.
I'm making you a favour
What kind of speakers in the original? Great vid!
The speaker in the original is the blue label 10' that came as stock in 1969. Thank you! Please subscribe if you would like!
for whats its worth i have a 1966 vibrolux reverb and a 66 deluxe reverb for sale....both excellent shape 2400 for vibro 2000 for deluxe
Hi, do you steel have the Vibro ?
The new one is not really a reissue, hence the "custom."
Noted and changed to the Custom name in title and description. Thank you.
2:30min ... Entendí la referencia!
What speakers are in these amps?
the vintage original one is better. Ronder sound, warmer. However, the Vibrolux reverb amp from the 90s (the blonde one) sounds better than the black face, probably as well as the original (although they have a different sound)
sorry but, if you have to make a comparison of amplification, in n you can compare them using Different Volumes, and everything is there, compression and tones, s every variation of the volume changes the response dynamics and compression tones as well as general saturation, and here one amp is at 2.5; and the other at 3.5 ... you don't do that, if you had to balance the volumes in the audio track, you would adjust the Master REC, but not the Head Volume ...
The reverb really sounds lacking on both. Expected more on 7.
EQ flat would be 0 bass and 0 treble. The amp would be completely flat across the frequency response.
definitely the vintage
Neither of these are Vibroluxes. They are Vibrolux Reverbs. Very different circuits.
No comparison once you're up to 5. Hear the slight harmonic at the end of the phrase on the original? You can't get that on the reissue. And if it had been taken up to 6 or 7, with a player that can really play, the original would have taken off with beautiful harmonics everywhere. This demo doesn't really show off what the original Vibrolux can do. And in this case, the original is a Silverface. You can get Hendix style controlled feedback on the blackface Vibrolux's ('65 & '66). I had one years ago. It was truly an amazing amp. It is really worth it to save up the extra money and get an original (about $2,500 rebuilt).The reissues aren't even close in sound.
I agree,i'm here looking/listening/reading to get a better view on this amp as i'm designing a new amp at the moment,same power output,but more flexibility throughout.
Reissue ... all the bottom dropped out. Yuk. IF people can't hear that, they need to pack up their axes and head for the basement ...
they sound close.....69 is a little clearer
the orig has 10x the tone of the custom to my ears
The original sounds less treble and metalic. It´s more sweet than the reissue
69 sounds better
cissy strut,tune