Great detailed and comprehensive look at repairs/upgrades to the '68 Deluxe Reverb. Looking forward to "Stopping the HISS and deepening the Reverb." Thanks so much!!
I learned a lot from this one - Thanks. I learned quite a bit from the last 4 (switching pops - resistor just after switch for example). I have many pages of notes now. I really look forward to each video now. Thanks!
I had to replace stock tubes in mine and the rectifier tube was so bad it kept blowing the fast-blo fuses. I replaced all pre amp and power tubes and switched to slo-blo fuses but the trem kept motor boating. Sent it back and they managed to quiet it down to a reasonable level. After that, a tungstol 12ax7 blew (brand new) blew and broke apart in the reverb position 4. After all these issues it finally performs as it should. The overall design and layout is fairly ordinary with this amp but when a few issues are fixed they do sound amazing.
Thanks for all the videos as always. I just wanted to thank you for in one of the other videos you did of DRRI pointing out that 6L6s cant be dropped in without a lot of work and that it doesnt magically make the amp better etc. Ive seen a lot of people do this and their amp is not as reliable and always has little things going on with them. A stock DRRI cant run correctly with 6L6s !!! Greatly appreciated ;-)
You have reminded me of seeing Johnny Winter play in a small club in the early 90's ---- his amplifier (a Music Man, IIRC) buzzed like a swarm of bees (murder hornets?😬) was coming through it; the buzz sounded like what you'd get if the heater-supply center-tap wire or balancing resistors went dead. Maybe it was a rental amp? (The club had a good PA but didn't supply instrument amps). Johnny mostly played his Erlewine Lazer but did pull his Firebird out for a couple songs. "I like the sound of that old guitar better", said the guy sitting next to me.....
I have a Creamback 75 on the way for my Brown Deluxe. I have a Weber 12A125 in there now and I like it. It’s just a experiment. If I don’t like it, I have enough parts lying around to gut this very dead DSL2000 15 watt combo and throw in a JMP Lead circuit. I know that’ll be good for the Creamback.
Love the vids, you do a really good job explaining things. If you don't care about having reverb/trem on both channels is it as simple as removing the C5 component to prevent the effects being mixed on both channels?
Learned alot here in the first five mins ......I'm often irked by noisy amp and guitar buzzes . And I've been curious about these reissues in general. ** But a note here on vid production.....I cant actually hear any buzz on my phone....oh ya and nice guitar playn too
I have the '65 with the alnico blue and I just tried the knobs to zero... little hiss and hum, but isn't very loud. I'm definitely going to get it looked over now, thx
This is the amp I own. I’ll look forward to sending it your way for a controller repair and all around mod to maximize performance and signal to noise.
@@lastofthe4horsemen279 seems like I can’t get it serviced. I’m worried this is the fate of vintage hardware. No available technicians anymore. Will have to abandon the hardware and go with modeling… not happy with my options. Modeling is ok for recording but doesn’t compare to a real amp in live situations
@@clemdog76 absolutely agree nothing replaces real tube tone.Im lucky to live in St Louis we have Killer Vintage which is a great supplier and top notch repair shop for all things Vintage if you are near its worth the trip.
I just got mine for $600 from offer up. it hums but nothing out of the ordinary like my super champ x2. everything works well. hopefully I never have this problem like those who have stated. I plan to put Russian valves soon.
I have a fender 68 custom dlx rvb and it sounds good but when i put on standby there is a loud pop ? I appreciate your channel and your professional expertise thanks
I'm in the UK and have one. It was impossible to get rid of the ticking from the trem circuit when it was engaged, despite adjusting the trim pot for lowest noise. Just changed it out for a roach and it sounds so much quieter and the trem is of a much better quality.
It’s unfortunate that these are having hum/noise floor problems, besides these bad tubes. I actually like the way they sound. I just built an AB763 Deluxe Reverb. If I didn’t have the ability to do so, I would have picked up one of these.
For anyone coming here with a new 68 that’s buzzing, try replacing the preamp tubes before taking it in, although the improvements that can be made are worth it. I replaced mine with vintage 1974 RCA’s out of my Twin and the amp is completely silent now. The situation is still very frustrating though. Replacing the 6 RCA preamp tubes will cost me at least $400 bucks, that’s for NOS RCA…which for my ear is the best thing you can put in a Fender amp.
Great tips. I am in the market. I like the 68= played one. But would you suggest I get a 65 Deluxe instead? I play very low volume if that matters (ringing ear so like 2-2.5 level only.) I think the Deluxe is half the wattage 22 vs. 40. Less clean headroom but I am not worried about that because I never crank it or I pay a steep price. I don't like hum and don't feel like doing surgery on a $1500+ new purchase. Any tips would be greatly appreciated...build quality, tone, reliability, etc. I guess I am willing to give up a touch of sound quality if the Deluxe is that much better in your opinion. I like the sparkle, reverb and Jimi/SRV tones. ANYONE?
I grabbed one of these second hand, a year old and mint condition. Besides the hum, after one gig it has started making a high pitched whistle noise? Anyhow, I found a 3rd Power Dream Solo 2 for the same price. Thinking I’ll bring the 68 back and get the Dream Solo
I always noticed on my supersonic 22 that one of the wires makes a sound through the speaker when I touch it with a chopstick and I believe it was the V4 tube socket. And it is also the same, it hisses like a cobra. Of course I'd rather fix the problem then mask it. I just went with a temporary solution and put a 12ay7 in V4 position. I'm sure you would be able to explain if that's bad for the amp to do this.
Supersonics hiss, and there's really nothing an owner can do about it. Not that much a tech can do without expensive modifications. It is just a really bad design. A shame, because the concept was great. The good news is the 22 is less noisy than the 60. Which I suppose is bad news for those who own the 60. But yes, a 12AY7 is safe there.
Appreciate your videos. Learning a lot from them. I have one of these amps and really enjoy playing through it. Good complement to my VOX AC30. Biggest issue I have observed - a loud pop when the Standby Switch is turned Off. How is this resolved?
I also have this amp and a Vox AC30 C2 what a killer pair .I like to use the standby on both my amps for many reasons tho people say they are not needed seems to be a matter of opinion .I know exactly what you are talking about mine does that also and I turn down the volume before flipping the switch.
Adults don’t place screwdrivers into output jacks. That is something very young children do. That is why the cardboard is covering the jacks. Liability. However awesome show God bless
You should see how these things come when you buy them in Europe. Because the optocoupler isn't RoHS compliant (lead free), Fender have to replace it with two additional circuit boards - one to take the place of the optocoupler, and one to derive power for that board. The result is a rediculously noisy amp with an utterly useless tremolo. They also have to add grid blockers to all the preamp tubes that aren't present on the US version. I've reverted mine to the non-European design but still have that noise from the channels being configured to both utilise the reverb and tremolo, so I can't wait to see how you solve it.
I’d love to know if you have.a solution for this. I love my amp and it sound better than any other amp I’ve played, but as soon as you turn up the tremolo or the reverb the noise is terrible!
Over the last 20 years or so I've found that modern tubes are just not built as well as the vintage, I can see why people pay big money for NOS for use when recording. I've a 1947 MEC amplifier that I just don't play as often as I'd like due to it still having what appears to be its original tubes. Especially the Octal Preamp Tubes, the newer ones I've tried don't necessarily sound bad, just different.
Thanks Lyle. I bought one of these hiss, hum & buzz boxes last December. Swapping out the OEM GT/JJs & Chinese preamp tubes for some better glass did help with the tone, but the fundamental noise floor of the thing remains atrocious. Tossing the stock reverb cables in favor of some quality braided cables and swapping out the Ruby reverb tank for an Accutronics helped with the hum, plus improved the reverb response. The Ruby was just plain weird. The hum sounds like a bad filament ground to me, so I'm hoping you might explain how Fender grounds the PT & heater center taps and filter caps on these things. It looks to me like they ground it all through the pots, which is just weird.
I have one of these and mine isn’t altogether too noisy... they say the quality control has improved on the imports. I actually love the silver face era... too much stigma around CBS designs. SRV played a silver face superverb and Eric Johnson plays some silver twins or deluxe amps.
@@jerrymcgeorge4117 right and that opinion because of the pc board... which has an upside if you’re going to make a lot of units compared to the limited hand wired approach. I compared the reissued amp to the vintage and they are really close in tone... the only real difference I heard was the higher gain in the modded amps... little bit different reverb sound.
@@jerrymcgeorge4117 and I a ‘64 and the reissued rig was right on par... just tweaked to a modern players taste. I personally feel like there is a cult like bias towards the actual vintage hardware. There were issues back then with some of that older gear that had been mitigated over the years... especially in terms of modern manufacturing.... but that is just my subjective opinion. I am aware that there is a sorta ‘lemon’ margin for the Mexican made stuff. I do agree on that front. But my amp is fine... my Mexican strat? Different story... really crude workmanship.
I have one of these. Completely gutted and rebuilt properly….. 1st rebuild by a supposed reputable renowned guy…. Not soo much. Second rebuild by a friend who really knows his shit. Sounds incredible. All Mercury transformers and Mallory coupling caps. The amp stock was unusably noisy. Odd thing though…. Having a reverb feedback issue and i was thinking it was the tank and im now thinking its 100% proximity to the speaker, with connectors in the proper direction. I honestly think it’s un fixable unless i replace the baffle. I think the baffle hole needs to be moved up about a quarter of an inch….. might in fact try to find an offset baffle, moving the speaker closer to the input side. Any similar cases of this that you’ve run across?
Also, the reason i say im almost positive it’s not the tank, is because if i move the tank out of the amp and dime the reverb control there’s absolutely no feedback.
Could also be the cables. But if an amp came in with those symptoms I'd swap tanks to see. Might just need some silicone on the wires at the RCA connectors inside.
@@PsionicAudio it actually had some pretty crap cables and I replaced them with some nicer rca’s….. not exactly made for a reverb tank. Well thanks, I’ll try that first
12AT7s are just barely rated for the current driving the reverb tank. The standalone reverb tanks used 6V6s for this. It's essentially an output tube driving an output transformer, just with a reverb tank instead of a speaker.
Those Groove Tube preamp tubes must be garbage. My 2018 ‘65 DRRI is in like new condition but all 6 GT preamp tubes tested very low on my Eico 667 tube tester,….and 2 GT preamp tubes had pieces of the tube micas floating around inside the tube.
Look at that speaker plug and cable. Talk about a weak link. Also, if it's pointing down, the rear board can push on it in transit. Should say Hasbro or Mattel . They used to make Zippos. Then they made Bics. Now they make products that make Bics look like Zippos.
@@PsionicAudio Mr. P.A., Memphis, eh ? I was in a blues band in Boston in the late 80s. We went to the national battle of the blues bands . I saw Rufus Thomas and Albert King walking around. The contest was kina jive but we sat in at Rum Boogie on Beale St. Mojo Buford on harp, bass player , drummer and guitar player .That was their line up. They played so simple and to the point. We sounded like the clown band . We went back to Boston and did our little gig and we played simple and to the point like Mojos crew. When it was time for me to solo the world opened up. I was really good. The next gig ,we were the clown band again. We had the golden ring and then threw it away. That's what I learned from that trip. Great town , great people, great ribs , great lemonade and really great local players. Hal, Guitronics , S.F. ,Ca. Thanks for all of the cool videos .
airplane mode is a joke.... assuming iphone? iphones broadcast signals nonstop whether in airplane mode or, most alarming (to me), when turned off. just an fyi ... not at all detesting your analysis!
