Get great tone out of your Fender Twin Reverb at a lower volume without spending a penny. Transform it from a way too loud beast to a sweet tone machine. Easy, safe, reversible, and free!
Just a couple notes for folks new to this... I did the mods suggested and the amp sounds great: 1. To remove the metal shields on the preamp tubes, press them up and twist clockwise gently. They'll pop right off. To put them back on, find the little nub on the side of the socket and match it with the divot in the side of the tube. Push it on and twist a little counter clockwise. 2. Use a small towel and gently wiggle the tube out of it's socket - don't grab it by the middle of the bulb. 3. If you pull out Tube 1 on the preamp side and the tube says ECC83 - that's just the European designation for a 12AX7. 4. For the power tubes, you'll see these little metal holders around the base of the tube. Just press them up slightly as you wiggle the tube out. 5. When you remove your power tubes, carefully wrap them in a few paper towels and mark the slot position on the outside with a felt tip marker. If you ever want to put them back in, you'll know where they belong. 6. Test you amp before putting the back panel back on. If you get no sound, check to see if the preamp 6 tube is seated properly.
@@ryantaxter6149 The speaker wire coming out of the back of the amp that connects to the speakers, you basically just want the white of that to connect to the + on one speaker and the black to connect to the - of the same speaker , so the speaker cable just goes to the one speaker and nothing else. Any other connections that run to the other speaker, just disconnect them.
There are a lot comments saying that "you got eh wrong amp" that i don't understand. I loved the mod, it allows me to play in my bedroom without making anyone crazy and also allows me to go to a big gig with it. It is reversible and fast to do in both ways..
you are playing that monster in your bedroom? get a fender sidekick id say, fab little amp. I got a small Yamaha I guess 10 watts trans amp wich is great, also on stage next to yr twin. just mike it and couple it. sounds awesome mate.
This is JUST an 85 watt twin. My pro tube Twin is heck. I eat Marshall half stacks even with 2 tubes pulled. 60 watts and using a pre amp in/ pwr amp out master volume. Great amp though, love it. With a Les Paul I get a Sex Pistols sound w/o a pedal involved.
This is brilliant for recording or home use, what a solid, robust and versatile design to be able to effectively just take parts off and still have a functioning amp. This is so reassuring as I just took the plunge and picked one of these up, now I know, if a power tube goes bad, I can still play by basically just manually attenuating the amp by doing these mods. Thank you so much for this!
To make the Twin the lowest power possible, pull two power tubes to make it about 40 watts with an 8-ohm load BUT ... then replace those 2-6L6 tubes with two JJ-only 6V6’s that will want to “see” a 16-ohm load. (The JJ 6v6 sounds as good as vintage U.S. tubes and can handle the Twin’s high voltage.) So either attach it to a 16-ohm speaker (it will also work with one 8-ohm speaker but there will be a tolerable impedance mismatch), OR rewire the Twin’s two 8-ohm speakers to make a 16-ohm load. Now you’re down around 20 watts which is Deluxe Reverb territory (but you have a solid-state, diode rectifier circuit instead of a nice, saggy tube). Now you’ll be able to turn it up to 7 which is where it starts to cook. Replacing the stock speakers with a pair of Celestion Greenbacks, or some other Celestions, will also greatly improve the tone.
Tubes wanting to "see" a particular impedance is a myth. The current drawn from the tubes follows ohms law just like everything else. Look at the schematics of different amps and youll find that you can roughly calculate the output power of the amp by finding the B+ voltage and the turns ratio of the output transformer. Often the real output power is different than the marketed power. 100w marshalls are actually around 144w and twin reverbs are around 85w. (Interestingly what the original blackface ones were marketed as being...) Different tubes have different transfer curves and operating them in different ranges may change the though. I suspect the 6v6s may tame the top end and transients a bit, making it seem a little less loud.
This is a very useful idea! I bought my '67 Blackface in the mid-'80s, back when I was in a band - as it really cuts through with unbelievable power with its amazing, clean tone. And it works great with effects! But it is an overwhelming sonic beast if one is just playing, jamming or practicing at home - WAY too much amp for such use. But what amazing tone - such a beautiful sound - but far too much for home. What to do??? Really, I was gonna sell it - and mine is truly the "holy grail" of vintage amps - its in excellent condition, would bring around two bills. But this has me thinking - I just KNOW I'd regret selling her. This allows me to always have selling her as a future option, but gives me the ability to enjoy her at home as long as I desire! Thanks!!! .
Personally I LOVE having all that headroom and lack of break-up. My '65 reissue Twin sounds sweet @ 2 & 10. If you want a Fender to break-up naturally & musically, get a Deluxe or (my choice) a Super and just crank the living shit out of for a while to break in the tubes & speakers.
But that's exactly what this amp was originally designed to have. Loads of head room before it breaks up. The distortion of these amps was originally an undesirable bi-product. The only way to get the desired volume without it distorting was to give them loads of head room that would allow you to get a reasonable volume and remain reasonably clean.
Oh my god this is a godsend. As he was talking about the tone and volume I found myself yelling at my phone, “OH MY GOD YEASSSS!!!” The tone with the volume at 4.5 or 5 is full, with the volume at 4 it dies completely, like I’m playing out of a solid-state practice amp, only louder. And this has ruined my experience with it live, I don’t even bother bringing it to gigs now. But with this mod I am excited to be able to actually use this thing again. I’m also hoping this helps when recording it too, some of my mics can’t handle the SPLs normally.... can’t wait to try this out, so glad I stumbled across this, absolute serendipity.
Just my opinion: I don't use the normal channel but I don't remove V1. I agree you get more gain if you do, but, a lot of character on the vibrato channel comes the shared cathode resistor. You change the bias on the preamp tubes and while you gain some more grit, you loose a bit of clarity and some harmonics (which I find pleasing personally). Using a 12ax7 PI is also legitimate, but again, I find it altered the noise floor on my amp and wasn't a pleasing sound. In other amps I have found that lower gain 12ax7 (where speciifed) for PI duty were actually more pleasing, especially when the amp was pushed in to saturation, than higher gain ones. Removed two power tubes is, again, a time tested and perfectly legimate mod. But you also then need to disconnect a speaker and you will need to adjust the bias. You will also go through those two tubes faster. Less of an issue if you are NOS or using 6L6GCs but still. I like the sound of a 2x12, that's why I bought a vintage 2x12. Try all these mods people! You might love them. I can well understand why people did them back in the day, but these days, let's be honest, you won't be buying a vintage twin because you hate the tone and want to make it as Vox or Marshall like as possible (easy breakup, great distortion, midrangey af etc). The single best mod you can make to a vintage SF twin is replace the speakers for modern ones. Almost all the nasty raspy farty ice-pick comes from the crap 70's speakers. Put in some modern Eminence Legend or Webers or Warehouse speakers (all cheap enough) and you'll hear a huge difference.
Very interesting. In quad power tube sections, I really prefer to keep all 4 in and just turn the volume down. Regardless of amp. The low end is so much bolder, and honestly going from 100 to 50 watts the volume change is subtle at best. Cool to know bumping the 12AT PI to 12AX is worthwhile. In some amps I go from 12AX to 5751 or 12AT, and like how it works. Just makes it all a little more fundamental which is nice for a high gain design that's already loaded with harmonics. Last, if you're pulling tubes I'd watch the voltage drop and then variac the mains down, and maybe even a touch browner. Especially with a vintage amp - built to run on 110, then feed it modern 120, then pull tubes and lower the load on power xformer causing voltage rise, etc. If you play around with vintage amps, just get a nice old stacco or similar variac. Just my .02, cool video.
Whough, this is incredible: I followed instructions, and for the first time since I got the FTR (1979), it sounded absolutely great! Now I have put it to the test with my Epiphone "Lucille" B.B.King Signature model and a classic/accoustic gitar with a Shadow (Bridge) mic. and WHOUGH, what a sound! (Although the Shadow needs a lot(!) less gain to function well.) Thanx 4 sharing: Glory to our heavenly Father, the best musicmaker ever!!
very useful ,it could be argued if you have to do all this you might have the wrong amp.. But i have been in situations with 100watt amps where the band were complaining about my volume and it was saying it was too clean ,so a great technique in a pinch.
Very interesting. I have owned 4 Twin Reverbs in my life and I have never thought they sounded choked when turned low. It is Clean until it is past 4 and to get any distortion it does have to be loud. If I want distortion, I just add a pedal. I have also owned a number of 20-40 watt Fenders and to me, they distort at 4 so I never have the high volume clean.
Bob Hickman Same, man. Aint' no 'choking' with mine. People are scared of normal wattage amps these days but what they don't seem to realize is: you need headroom in a band situation for clean tones.You cannot get this from a 15w amp.. you also can't get that same 'boldness' they can produce. low wattage amps are unusable to me both in tone and headroom. See the knob that says 'Volume' on an amp? you can use that to turn ut down!
Have a 76 silver face twin, I do not experience these issues either. It sings just fine at all different volume settings. Has the master, and boost pull, but never really use it, not much positive addition to sound, but I do fiddle with master vol, and channel vol, tones, reverb, pedals, guitar settings etc. to get the right sound I am looking for, or trying to get lol.
My 64 Black Face Twin sounds good at any volume. It is low, it does not light up, but still sounds good. In clubs in seems there is a point where it is loud enough to light up my sound, and make it alive, and the tone big and clean and just right. I put it around 2 1/2 to 4 3/4 or so, but usually like around 3.75 to 4.75, ...in that range depending on the band. Maybe even past 5 on occasion. But at times if the club power is good, and the band quiet, 2 1/2 is loud. I think I would rarely want this mod, but instead, just a 2nd practice amp. This mod sure sounded good on his amp though. I love the idea, especially with no permanence.
Yes! A Twin Reverb is perfect as is! I have a bone stock 75 and a 76 that is converted to ab763 and they both sound KILLER at any volume. I have tried the mod in this video and to me it turned my amazing twin in to a weird sounding Deluxe Reverb.
Funny to come across this video 8 years later. Guess Fender was listening as this is essentially what the new single 12 inch Celestion Creamback NEO speaker "'68 Custom Pro Reverb" model is. I own that one and love it. Wish it was two vs one speaker, but the tone quality and usability in my home is fantastic, so I am ok with this tradeoff.
You don’t ever want to physically remove one of the speakers. That will leave a big round hole in the baffle, which will cause a huge loss of bass response.
I have considered this as well. If I ever pull one speaker to lighten the weight I would probably cut a circle the same diameter as the speaker in a sheet of 3/4" plywood and attach that where the speaker used to be. I would make some sort of gasket to minimize the chance of any weird vibration or buzz.
I didn’t take this seriously until he said Telecaster. What I put on My Twin was a Voodoo Octave Fuzz, a Vox Ice 9 and an Eagletone (Biyang) OTD-100 Tube Distortion/Overdrive. This combo rocks with My American Special Telecaster with Compensated Bridge, Locking Tuners, Custom Shop Texas Special pickups (yes Custom Shop pickups are better than Stock) and 2 huge Russian oil in paper capacitors. Another thing I wont put resistors inline with the pots. Everything is just right.
This is great information, and I appreciate the technical advice! I would advise to just buy a Blackstar Black and Blue Ht40 mkii. They sound amazingly similar and you will spend at least half as much.
As I understand it, the main effect of removing V1 is that it increases the idle current through V2b (the vibrato channel's tone stack recovery stage). V1b and V2b share a common cathode resistor (820 ohms). Because it's common to two stages, the value was engineered to be roughly half of a that used for a single 12AX7 stage's cathode (820 vs 1.5K ohms). A lower value resistor have a decreased voltage drop across it (yielding a lower cathode-to-grid voltage), so the tube will be biased at a hotter idle current.
you can also put the speakers in series vs parallel.......the output transformer is 4 oms, 2 8ohm soeakers in parallel are 4 ohms, in series they are are 16 ohms. that cuts the power by 4x.....
Whoa! I didn't expect to see you here. For whatever reason I always placed the distortion in front rather than in the finals. So, my so called "ultralinear" amplifier was never much of a concern for me. And, going back one or two decades I switchEd to solid-state simply because it was easier to carry.
Just did this mod and had a really hard time trying to unplug the speaker. I didn’t wanna force anything so I left it. I totally see a difference just from removing the power tubes and swapping the preamp tubes. It’s crazy to play the amp on 4 and it not be blasting through my home lol. Sounds incredible. Thank you! Also. Please let me know if this will cause an issue by NOT unplugging one of the speakers. Thanks! UPDATE: I ended up getting the speaker unplugged. Was a fun project but honestly I don’t see a huge difference between having the amp un modded at 2 and the modded twin at 5. Idk I reversed it lol
@@jordanpene5279 exactly. I’m actually selling my twin today. I got my hands on a hand wired Reverb Deluxe that’s wired to sound like a 60s blackface. It’s lighter and a lot less loud than the twin. I tried a jc120 and a vox ac30 in the last few years and this new Deluxe reverb is the only thing I found that can replace my twin.
I have a 1970’s Silverface and doing this mod and removing one speaker opposite the power supply would be worth doing simply to decrease the weight of this monster. I only mic one speaker anyhow to blend the guitar in the mix and the gigs I do with my band are all small venues so I don’t need that much volume. Plus being a total gear head I’m anxious to hear the before and after tones. Thanks man, you just gave my old relic new purpose!
Oh man, I had one of those silverface twins for years with the master volume. Swapped out the factory speakers for JBL E120's. I remember the new speakers alone weighed as much as the amp. That thing was a beast! Loud as all get out too. Hope this helps save your back a bit.
Besides all this mods you can also play with the V2 valve and replace it with and 12AT7 or 12AU7, personally I like the AT which will drive the power section harder for a lesser volume, the AU will be too low, but for night practising is fairly right.
...another thing, this way you will also notice a fairly difference from the 2 inputs that will enhance the versatility to this wonderful amp. I've once traded it for a deluxe in the past but went back the other day to get it back :)
Great video! I did this to my Twin I built from Mojotone and it sounds "normally loud" LOL. I had the luxry of my OT having 3 different impedance taps so I was able to keep the loads matched between the speakers and the OT.
This is awesome Mark. Thank you so much. I don't see on the comment chain your opinion as whether you can keep both speakers connected, and if/how it adversely affects anything. Any chance you can provide your opinion and feedback? I would like to keep both speakers connected for stage coverage, but not if it adversely affects tone and sound, or it it's harmful to the amp. Thanks!
I just removed the v1 then switched it out for the tremolo and that was enough. There was no need to take out the power tubes. It really did make a huge difference for low volume.
wow thanks man that was helpful indeed. I like loud and I gotta lean into the sound so to speak. I usually turn my amp away from the band wich works ok and still gets the proper sonic mass to lean into so taking out one speaker is no option for me. removing the tubes on the other hand I will surely try. Thank you so much, GrtzFreek
I've seen people do this same modification for decades, but I'm curious as to how this would work with a late 70's Twin w/ master volume. I haven't seen anyone do it with one of those. Perhaps the master volume would finally be usable since the tone will now be a little thicker?
Me too. I also have blackface mod and it's literally amazing. I'm going to try these mods though but I will probably get an attenuator. I think when cranked hard enough and with the MV knob out there lies a rather mean sounding amp!
+Dread ~ Those are legitimate concerns. I know you can't just yank two power tubes from a Marshall amp without running into problems, but as I understand it, removing them from an old fender is not a big deal, and many people like the tone better after they've done it. I'm sure it's safe to do because another common modification to drop power is to install a “pentode/triode” switch which will also drop the power by half, and many newer amps come with such a switch stock, and they don't seem to worry about the output impedance. I've only had experience doing this with one amp. It was a Webber clone of a Victoria Double Deluxe that used four 6V6 tubes to get double the power of a Fender 5E3 amp. It included a pentode/triode switch that the guy who owned it before me installed, but I had it removed by a tech who told me it would run cooler without it. In fact, that tech was Bruce Collins who designed that amp for Webber. He told me it was better to just pull two of the power tubes if I wanted less power. I can only tell you that, whether I used the pentode/triode switch or ran without two of the power tubes, either way I noticed nothing different about the sound. It was always dead quiet. I just had less volume with less tubes. I imagine hiss might be a concern with some amps though. I currently use a Laney VC30 (30-watts) for gigging and a little Super Champ XD (15-watts) for practice and recording. For someone without the funds to own two amps, I would opt for a 30 to 40-watt amp and find a way to use less power at home and in the studio. Aside from pulling tubes or using switchable power, they cold also experiment with attenuators. At any rate, I'd rather have too much power available to me than too little.
I'm exactly with you on that. I think the old Fender tweeds and Gibsons sounded really good cranked with a Gibson humbucking guitar, but I never liked that power tube distortion with Strats and Teles. I use a Tele mostly today and would much rather use a clean amp with a good overdrive pedal. It just sounds better. I like old Bandmaster Reverbs and Pro Reverbs for a good clean platform and will be going back to something like that before long once I get rid of this Laney. I'm not really a Twin fan because I like having a rectifier tube for more sag. (Incidentally, Bandmasters had SS rectification, but the Bandmaster Reverbs used a tube for it. You can often pick them up pretty cheap.)
It's funny, on my 66 bassman I've tried a ax7 in the phase inverter and hated it, it broke up far to early and sounded harsh and bad. Never tried it on a twin, nor will I, the at7 sounds great, also twins, (like most blackface amps) sound good starting at about three. 3 is a completely manageable volume, but to get it to have some ass you need to be at of a volume of about 5-6. Eh just my two sense.
An even simpler "mod" is to buy a longer patch cord and play in the other room from the Twin. :) Twins sound great but lugging them around is another story.
But... what damage would it do, if you left the speaker hooked up? The Fender transformers are pretty stout and can handle half or double the designated impedance usually. And the 2x12 sounds better than 1x12, always. What about using a tube rectifier instead of a solid state? And lastly, the 12AT7 should soften the tone in V6, the AX7 in theory would make it more brittle, can you do a video comparison of those?
For a Twin Reverb, keep the impedence of the speaker(s) between half and double the amp's output impedence. Some have even tripled it, but it made them nervous. Half to double is within spec. . ( speaker *Ω* ) ≥ ( 0.5x amp output *Ω* ) & ( speaker *Ω* ) ≤ ( 2x amp output *Ω* ) . The two 8Ω, 12" speakers are normally wired in _parallel_ (the + wire from the output jack attaches to the + terminals of both speakers, and same for the -). Wiring speakers in parallel divides the total speaker impedence by the number of speakers, so 8Ω / 2 = 4Ω speaker impedence for a Twin Reverb...which matches the amp's output with all four 6L6 power tubes. . I pulled two of the 6L6s, doubling the output impedence to 8Ω. Instead of unplugging one speaker to bring the speaker impedence up to 8Ω to match, I wired my two speakers in _series_ (the + wire from the jack connects to the + terminal on speaker 1. The - terminal on speaker 1 connects directly to + terminal on speaker 2. The - terminal on speaker 2 connects to the - jack wire). Wired in series, two 8Ω speakers produce 16Ω. . Speakers with double the amp's output impedence will be quieter than speakers that match its impedence, allowing you to crank the amp up a bit higher for a given output level.
@@willywillywillywillywillyI’ve heavily considered doing this but and am hesitant. Wouldn’t 16 ohms be 4 times the spec of 4ohms? Or am I missing something? Also how has your amp faired over the last year?
@@chiefline7084 Good luck! And if your and blows up, just set the Time Machine to 2023, and don’t do whatever you did to the amp. But it should be totally fine.
@@Wangholes Yes, but I pulled two 6L6s, so the amp wants 8ohms now, not 4, meaning 16 is merely double. The amp is doing great! But seriously look into this - it'll last decades like this. There are countless amps out there wired like this for decades.
Grateful for this advice but, if you are going to do that much to take the punch out of the amp, why not go with a smaller amp to begin with? Fender makes so many 1x12 combos that converting an amp with an 80 watt transformer, a heavy 2x12 cabinet, and two speakers into a 1x12 combo gets you a really heavy, hard to transport combo that is not running as designed (which is lots of punch - moving a lot of air). There is the Super Reverb, the Deluxe Reverb, the Viibroverb, etc. All smaller, easy to transport combos that have the kind of power suggested here. I do get that, if this is your only amp, there are things to do to reduce the tendency to blow your head off. But, I would just sell it and get something smaller in that case, n'est-ce pa?
A Super reverb isn't that much lighter. My blackface twin is 64 pounds and my Super is more of a pain to move because of the awkward cabinet and that sucker is heavy too
I have a 1980 Twin Reverb but have since shifted to bass guitar. I have other bass amps, but wondered about things I might to do to make it more "bass friendly." Are there different tubes to consider, different tube placement (similar to your mentioning), and should I replace the speakers for adding bass guitar drivers? When asked elsewhere, the advice was "just buy a bass amp," but there's some sentimental value with this amp and if I'm going to keep it it should be usable. Thanks!
I tried pulling two power amp tubes and unhooking one 12" speaker. Sounded awful. But I did not replace the 12AT7 phase inverter. And actually, the NORMAL channel is the best sounding channel on pretty much all blackface amplifiers.
@@WarIsOver-ifyouwantit Don't remember, but pretty sure I did it exactly like the experts of the time said to do it. It did not stay with just two power tubes long enough to damage the amp; at any rate. It sounded puny and awful. I still stand by my comment of buying a 4 OHM VHT attenuator and cranking the amp.
@@WarIsOver-ifyouwantit Yeh. The "experts" don't always tell you all you need to know ... The amp sounded great just left alone and run up to about FIVE, but at 85 whats? it was just too loud for the house and I didn't play out anymore. It was the last amp in my brother's defunct music store, so it is a family heirloom, so-to-speak, so quite keepable. Nowadays, no one can afford these little amps because most players, it seems, just play at home, thus driving up the cost of little amps. At any rate: CHOOSE LIFE, CHOOSE JESUS. Time is running out! God bless and thanks for your reply!!
Please help! I did this with my 68 twin.I didn't notice any major improvement so I put the tubes back and reconnected the second speaker.Now there is a buzz that alternates louder and a bit softer.I may well have done the modification wrong but think I replaced the tubes, etc. correctly.Not sure what to do.Thanks
i would try Pseudo triode mod .. its like a half power switch you find on some amps .. also , how about replacing the output tubes with 6V6 GT or similar ?? just a matter of biasing to suit..
Thanks for the great idea, I've always wanted to reduce the output on my amp. The only thing is that my amp is "The Twin" not a "Twin Reverb" and seems to have a different valve set up as follows; Front vales left to right -1 ECC83, 1 ECC83, 1 ECC81 then 4 x 6L6's and behind the above mentioned is 1 x ECC81 and 3 x ECC83's. Would anyone know if something similar can be done and if so what would be the way to go? Thanks in advance.
Just noting to my above request - I've just googled the above numbers that are written on the valves (being new to this) and found that the ECC83's are 12AX7's and the ECC81's are 12AT7's. This clears up a little of the confusion but then which 12AX7 do I pull out and replace with which 12AT7???
Tube rolling is questionable. Phase inverter is wired to burn the lower output at7. So to simply put a higher output tube in the same location isn't exactly the full story. To do this correctly you have to change the values at the socket to compensate.
You could experiment by running a jumper cable out from your primary channel, through your effects, and then into your secondary channel. This will also allow you to blend the two channels' volume to taste and open up some new tonal options. You wont hurt the anything in the amp by jumping channels.
NORMAL channel, IMHO, is the better sounding channel. I've done all these things with my '76 Twin and nothing got better. Just buy a 4 OHM VHT attenuator and crank it.
hetjaar do they have 6 power tube tubes? (at a guess ) you double the imopedence each time you pull two valves,so if you had 4 ohm speakers youd need 8 ohm, taking another 2 you need 16 ohms speaker.unplugging 1 speaker def reduces volume,butit doesn't sound as full. I don't understand removing v1 because that's the basis of your tone on most Amps, that's where your favourite preamp should be... they seem like good ideas but his is buzzing.also I speaker with lower sensitivity will attenuate,(make sure you write on the valves where they were or you all round the bias), but it'll still be a 50 watt amp so although quieter still loud
Hey Mark great video, I just bought a '65 reissue Twin that I absolutely love but the only downside in my opinion is how loud it is. Can you do these mods and still have both speakers running? The twin has a great thick clean which I wouldn't want to lose, so I'm wondering if I did all these mods except kept both speakers in would it harm the amp in any way?
Ok so, if I remove a speaker, the load changes to respect the removal of the two tubes. Load was 4 ohm now should be 8 ohm right?.. Now if I want to use the external speaker for my 2x12 cab, that cab should be wired for an 8 ohm load as well right?
I just bought myself a twin and I'm stoked to try these mods. Thanks very much for the video! Would leaving both speakers connected damage them because of the tweaked impedance? Like, is this important because of electrical issues or is it more tone driven? You explained in the video, so forgive my ignorance...
Hi Bob, Removing two of the 6L6's tubes and leaving both speakers connected does result in an impedance mismatch, but as long as you aren't cranking the amp hard, this shouldn't cause any issues.
Yeon Park , I just got a pro reverb amp that is a 2002 and it from the pro tube series, guy a super deal $240.00 can't beat that, then today I just got a twin reverb II hand wired for $265.00 then when I got it home discovered it has a VINTAGE Rat pedal in the back and the shop that I frequent is asking $300.00 for one so I sell the rat then I got a $900.00 amp for free basically. score !
Hand wired Pro Reverbs are not anywhere near as common in my area, Seattle, as Twins. Why would I buy a reissure anything, when Silverfaces can be had all day $5-900? A cap job runs $200, on the high side. I hadmy '62 Bandmaster redone for $90, and the pots, and jacks aren't stuck to the board. Way better build. Seems like this is a much less expensive way to go. To me.Thank you
I had my Twin on 5 today and back in the day I had it on 7 for gigs. The singer used to cry a lot but I still don't see what his problem was. Nothing sounds as good as these amps, nothing!!!! You can't make a dirty amp clean but you can always make a clean amp dirty with a preamp or pedal.
The pro reverb was discontinued in 1982 and is going for a premium. I got my twin reverb for $1150 new with a coupon so I'm happy with it. I do like to dial it up but not all the way, just for rehearsals and gigs.
This is a useful tip. Except, for me, the removal of the V1 tube disables the Custom (leftmost) channel. I rather like the tone of that channel over the other - my twin reverb is new (2017) and the channels are labeled "Custom" and "Vintage." I discovered another trick and am wondering if this would harm the amp. If you plug your guitar into the first jack of the Custom channel, and, using another guitar cord, plug it into the second jack of Custom and then just ground the other end of the cord (for example, put it only slightly in a jack of the Vintage channel - not all the way in), you lose a little volume but the tone you get is quite nice if you are looking for one that is a bit dirtier and warmer. Has anyone else discovered this? Thank you for the informative video.
the drop in volume you hear is the signal being canceled out because the channels are out of phase with each other.... it's not recommended to do that.
You have the "Fender Custom 68 Twin Reverb" model, as I do. You are correct in that this amp's normal channel is what they call the Custom channel. This is based on a Bassman circuit and is warmer to my ears (i prefer it too). Also, on this amp both channels go to the reverb and vibrato controls, so yes, for this amp I would not remove V1.
If you look at the schematic, you will see there are two tubes in parallel on each side of the transformer. All that matters is that you pull one tube from each side of the circuit. If you pull both tubes from the same side then the circuit is incomplete. So the 2 outside tubes should work just fine.
Hi thanks for the video. Great guide. I bought a fender "the twin" 80s red knob quite a few years back and have done the 6l6 tube mod. Works well. My amp has an impedance switch so I can run the two speakers or one. I've dropped to one speaker to try to get the amp revved up! One question I have is this: can I replace the at12 with an ax12 also? I think it's got two at12 tubes and five ax12
After reading the comments, I’m realizing this was his issue with this one amp and many not be the case for all twins. Wish these mod-ers would stop painting with such a wide brush.
It is just a simple way to get a different sound out of your twin that doesn't cost money, takes maybe 5 min, and is completely reversible. Nothing wrong with the stock Twin, but if you want a more cranked sound, this is one way to do it.
great video Mark!! I have not tried this mod yet but I am definitely going to give it a go. I do have a question related to the twin reverb. Mine twin reverb reissue has int speaker and ext speaker jacks on the back. It says parallel speaker jacks. of course the int speaker jack is for the two cabinet speakers and the ext is not connected to anything. Can I connect a cab to the ext while also having the int speakers connected or do I have to use one or the other. I have a Marshall 12 X 4 I would like to connect. should I disconnect the int and use int jack for the 12 X 4 or should I leave the int connected to the 2 on board speakers and use the ext for the 12 X 4. I have asked the guys at the music store where I purchased the amp but they could not answer the question.
The answer depends on the impedance of the speaker cabinets. One thing is that you _never_ want to run just the external jack with the internal one unplugged. First set of speakers goes into the internal jack, extra ones go in the external jack. Failure to do this shorts the output to ground which is pretty hard on the output section... effectively a 0 ohm load.
Sounded reasonable until he disconnected one speaker! Why would u do that? IT'S A TWIN for a reason. Besides, I'm not really sure it's great idea to change the load the amp sees ... not an expert but that's sounds like it might damage amp. I've tried an attenuator and it sounded not so great. The only thing that works is running my vintage MXR Distortion+ (1978) with output @ 10 and distortion @ 1. That's the ONLY fuzz/distortion/overdrive I've EVER used that does not change or "color" the original tone of amp ... it just adds a bit of hair on it if you keep volume of guitar 5 or below. If u want more fuzz bring guitar vol. closer to 10.
Haha.....yeah, I had some buzzzzz in that recording that I should have eliminated, LoL. Sorry about that. It was from the amp, not the recording setup. Izotope Rx would have fixed it in post, or even ReaFIR. Eliminating noise from tube amps and guitars with single coil pickups is always fun - noise gates, iso transformers, lighting (the video lights weren't helping I'm sure), lots of things to try, but every situation is different.
got a newer reissued, 65 fender twin reverb custom 15. It only got a single 15in speaker. If I were to remove 2 power tubes, I can't unhooked speaker. what do you suggest? thanks.
Won't greatly effect a robust 15" speaker if just bedroom practicing, might hurt it if consistently used for practice volumes. Speaker and amps are dynamic things, they aren't experiencing 100% of time of full voltages, loads, they're in flux
Hey Roger, I'm pretty sure that amp only has 2 power tubes, so no, you can't do the power section mod. I'm not familiar with the preamp section on that amp, but it is probably similar, so you can try the preamp tube swaps.
I’m picking up a Twin that houses a single 15 in speaker. I’m assuming all these mods will still work? Will pulling the two inner power tubes be okay to do still considering there’s only a single 1x15 speaker? Just making sure so I don’t mess anything up! Thanks!!
Tbh I used pull two of the valves out of my twin for smaller gigs, and kept both speakers wired in. I've not blown the transformer yet, that said, I did blow a couple of capacitors a year or so later but idk how related those are If you're not sure, don't mess with it, just take it to a tech and get a master volume / tone circuit mod, much less risky in the long run
Uh oh! I’ve been running my 74 twin with 2 power tubes out for over 20 years... I have 2 10” jensens in it wired to 16 ohms! Should I drop them to 4 ohms??
tube amps are pretty robust. You can try placing the speakers parallel (4 ohms) vs series (16 ohms) vs only 1 speaker (8 ohms - assumes your speakers are 8 ohms each). As long as you aren't totally cranked or don't short the transformer it shouldn't be a problem. Pick the setup that gives you the sound you want.
