Fender Reissue Amps Part Two | The Good | The Bad | How to Fix the Flaws 

If there's a better amp channel on RU-vid, I've never seen it. Yet another fantastic insight into amp construction and repair. Gold standard stuff.

Lyle, gotta put in a word of thanks for this. I've been an M.I. tech since 1989 and I know some of the "value added" (read: 'make it cheaper') shortcuts FMIC did with their amps (as well as all the other manufacturers have). I recently had a TRRI in the shop for a reverb issue (easily fixed) but the customer still had a lot of white noise in the reverb channel. There was a 1.4MHz oscillation that I couldn't put a finger on (measured at the PI grid), so I did a lot of searches for similar issues but none were found. Then someone pointed me to your Y/T videos on the reissue issues. Bingo!! Replaced 'the trace' with the shielded cable and now the vibrato channel is actually quieter than the normal channel. Old dogs can still be taught new tricks! Thank you again sir!!

So every new Fender Reissue I’ve played from 2021-2022 recently…65,68 and the new 68 custom pro reverb all had one thing in common. The tubes even at low volumes would rattle like a jar of Wasps. You could hear it across the room with certain notes. Swapping tubes it could get a bit darker or just change where it’s buzzing tonal wise. But all of them did this! By just touching the bottom of the offending tube with a shirt barely it would stop completely. Or using some silicon type block behind the tubes attached to the cage backing. I went to a Fender tech, and the issue seem to be the cheap tube sockets, as well as all the loose parts. I know a combo will rattle at high volumes. But even at low volumes, it was a horrible glass rattle. Many may never notice with distortion, a drummer and cranked to a 6 volume in a band. It just disregard it! But as someone who records…I just couldn’t keep any and returned any I bought. Even at low 2 volume it did it. And even with treble bridge pickup it would do it. Is this something you see a lot of on these amps? I can’t be the only one as I haven’t but run into it yet, and I’ve played in store, bought, exchanged and went through 5 weeks of this over several of these! In the end I returned everything and bought a Tone King Imperial MK2. I wasn’t looking at going that far pocket book wise. But it was very hard to find a new Fender combo that didn’t have issues. Especially noticeable in a studio when your mixing it at a volume of 2, and using clean Neve and API preamps with nice mics. Drive me crazy, and I was really stunned how low the bar Fender set. I was told pretty much there’s an entire thing of out the box, bring to a tech day one “life improvements” on this amps tech do for $300-$500 dollars. At that point I just bought a different amp that’s based on the same sound made in America. Is this normal?

"Congratulations! You've just created the Vibrolux Reverb." That's hilarious. Kudos. I was smiling from ear to ear when I heard that.

Being the owner of a 65 tweed Princeton reissue, this has been a great/depressing couple of videos. Thanks for the time you put into your videos.

Thank you for making these videos, sir.

Rewatched this again, a year later. What a helpful, informative resource. Thank you!

No ego, just straight knowledge. Thank you

Good stuff Lyle! I own one of these so this info is very much appreciated.

Another great set of videos and it’s obvious the community agrees as it seems reflected in your growing subscriber base.

Thanks for the video! Very informative, much appreciated 👍

Thanks so much for this video series. I think it's time to take my Fender Twin 65 Reissue in for service!

👍🏻 I love watching your videos! Especially your no BS evaluations on equipment and manufacturers. You have my future service business brother

I’m happy I found this channel. I was in the market for a new amp and was considering a Fender Princeton or deluxe reverb, but I wanted to buy something nice to last the rest of my life. Instead of buying a Fender I ordered an amp from my local shop. In the process I did a lot of research and now I’m getting exactly what I want instead of settling for what is available from major manufacturers, and it doesn’t cost that much more.

VERY familiar with things breaking by just looking at them wrong🤣😎👍 Thanks for heads up about tightening all control knobs and jacks😉😎👍

Stayed til the end, as usual. Cool to know about the Deluxe/Vibroverb difference. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know, then BING! on goes the lightbulb.

I’m starting to have a much better understanding of how amps work and why from your content. But I’m still not sticking my fingers in one, not yet. Thanks Lyle

These are absolutely so well done and informative. I doubt it's happening, but I sure hope/wish some amp companies are following your channel and updating their designs/components! I doubt it, but they should ;)

Thank you for these videos. Class is in session.

Lyle, this is Wayne. Fantastic. Well done.

Thanks for the great informative videos! I am on my second Deluxe Reverb reissue. The one I have now is about 8 years old. I took off the tube cage as it rattled. My first reissue didn't have the cage or the rubber over the switches. I checked all the screws and nuts I could without taking out the chassis. I must have got a good one because everything is tight. I would love to do the "fatal flaw" heater wire mod and change the speaker. Maybe the bright cap mod, I like the clean glassy brightness with my Strats though, but dig what your saying about a little harshness with distortion or fuzz. Thanks again for sharing you knowledge and I'm looking forward to the amps under 1K video, even though I am happy with my amps! Much love brother!

Some of this works for every amp. As in anything you need to always keep a close eye on all your equipment. Amps, pedalboards, guitars, and other things related to playing music.

Amp savant par excellence!! I wish i understood half of it- but knowledge is dazzling

Best sounding Deluxe Reverb I ever had (of which included a late-'67 Silverface 'drip edge'/black line) was one I built based on a Mojotone kit. Used Mallory 150 for tone stack caps, original big blue Sprague atoms in filter, output tranny from David Allen which had both 8 and 4 ohm taps, JJ 6V6's and JAN preamps. Actually had pretty nice headroom up to 6 or 7, especially with those JJ's. Speaker I went with was an Eminence Red White & Blues which to me sounded the closest to the original gold-label Jensen C12N that came in the '67. I went with a little higher value for coupling cap in phase inverter...like I think an .0047 over the stock .001uF. Gave a little more punch.

LMI used to make a neat little tool that went into a 1/4 inch phone jack and held the jack tightly & safely in place (sort of) from the outside while you cranked the mounting nut tight with an open end wrench. It actually grabs the jack's bushing barrel from the INSIDE and holds it nice and tight. Very handy with F hole guitars or worse yet the Gretsch true Chet Atkins' models with the painted on F holes.

Great presentation! Thanks!

Thanks for these videos!! I was *SO* *VERY* *EXTREMELY* close to getting a 65' PRRI, but decided to reconsider as I looked at more information. These are perfect! Thank you!

Great stuff. My takeaway is see what speaker replacements are out there and tighten up the nuts and screws once in a while. Oh, and consider removing the bright cap on at least one of the channels, especially if you're running some high gain overdrives.

Just have to say that you are The Man, Lyle! I've watched dozens of your videos, mainly on Fender amps, and have learned so much from you. I'm grateful that you take the time to explain and demonstrate all of the work you do, in an entertaining, no BS manner. For those who would like to know if what you are providing here is valid, let me just say that yes, it has helped me to transform my own Deluxe Reverb re-issue, and I feel I now have something that sounds better than ever and will last a lifetime. Some history: I purchased my DRRI brand new back in 1997 for $560 (that seemed like a lot back then!). The first change I made to it was to replace the stock speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30, which sonically improved things immediately. Over the next 26 years, I didn't change anything else, not even a tube. I'm not a gigging musician, so the amp only got occasional use in my home, or in little jam sessions. Because I moved around the country a lot with my regular job, the amp was often stored away in my attic or garage. Now having retired, I recently decided it was time to fire it up and kick the tires. I found that it had some sonic issues that needed to be addressed, mainly some 60-cycle hum, noisy and flaky pots, and horrible feedback from the reverb. That's where your excellent videos really came in handy. I've worked with electronics and tubes since the early 70's, so I know my way around a soldering iron and had no reluctance in tackling the work it needed. Your videos really saved me time by helping me focus on the important stuff. I addressed just about everything you documented in this video, including: - Discharged the caps and verified using your nifty method described in the link above (yes, it really does work)! - Removed the bright cap (C10) - Pulled that stupid fusable resistor (R69) and jumpered it - Re-capped the power supply with F&T's and eliminated the parallel 220 uF cap (C31), since I'll never switch to a solid-state rectifier in this amp. The original IT caps were not visibly leaking, but since they were 27 years old, I knew they had to go (a no-brainer there). I also upgraded the dropping resistors to 2-watt ratings. - Moved the heater wires off the PCB and over to the first output tube socket. (The original quick-connects weren't burnt, but I could see some definite discolorization there) - I have an old tube tester, so I tested all tubes and the only weak tube was the 12AT7 phase inverter, which I replaced. The amp still has the original 6V6 output tubes. - I removed the tone stack PCB and cleaned all of the pots (they were crackly/noisy), and replaced both Volume pots (which appeared to be rotary encoders) with proper Fender 30A1M pots. I also replaced the Treble pots with new Fender 30A250K pots (the old ones were quite out of spec). I also replaced several caps on this board. - I rewired the plate and grid socket connections for the reverb driver (V3) to match how Fender used to do this back in Leo's day. I believe this simple change alone fixed 90% of the hum issues! Very stupid that Fender still wires V3 in these amps with the grid acting like a little antenna (even in those spendy 'hand-wired' models)! - Reverb feedback: After all of the above, I still had really nasty feedback when turning the reverb knob past 3. Turns out it was due to the crappy stock reverb tank, so I replaced that with a new MOD tank and a new shielded reverb cable, and voila! no more feedback. It's a pity Fender equips their Reverb amps with such junky tanks like that. - Added a 10 uF cap between R45 and C24 to help reduce the annoying ticking sound coming from the vibrato oscillator circuit - I also had new a 'helicopter' noise in the background, at all volume levels, which baffled me for a moment. Then I realized the amp was about 5 feet away from my Wifi router. A real head slap moment! Of course, these amp circuits were designed decades before Wifi and cell phones, and can easily pick up RF from those devices if in close proximity. - There is still some low level hiss/buzz, so my final task will be to cut that trace and run the shielded wire from the Vibrato volume pot to the grid of V2. That should help. All in all, these changes have made this old DRRI re-issue safer and more reliable. It now runs quieter at idle, with crystal-clean reverb, and it cranks up to room-clearing levels if I ask it to. I know there are other amp repair content providers out there, but you stand out to me as the best, and the most enjoyable to watch. A big THANK YOU for all you are doing to help educate and support the tube amp community!

I’ve run 5881s at 4 ohms output in my Deluxe (2x10 baffle running 8s in parallel) impedance and discovered via oscilloscope and power resistors that the output transformer presents a 25w bottleneck. It’s a very sweet set up. Yes the power transformer runs a little hotter. One of these days I’m going to put heat sinks around it for good luck. Playing around I’ve discovered I would rather have the output transformer be the slight bottleneck than the tubes. Vice versa kind of presents a mid range growl that is more British whereas having an under powered output transformer seems to be more Fendery. That “discovery“ was with 6v6 in a power transformer swapped rectifier running bassman... yes, Siri, also in a basement. Excellent videos as always sir.

Great video series Lyle! My deluxe reverb was burning through 6v6 tubes and frying screen resistors pretty regularly until my tech moved me to 6L6 tubes (amp has a mercury transformer). No issues since the switch, but I do wish I was able to use 6v6 in the amp without worry if it blowing during another gig.

Great content as always, really interesting stuff, even for a guy who doesn't own a tube amp yet. Really looking forward to your amps under 1,000 video too...coming soon I hope?

This is great info.

This confirms my prior and future moves to just get these gutted and hand wired. My Alessandro Deluxe has held up 12 years of steady gigs and never a problem. And although I run JBL I’d take the Jenson over the celestion.

If one follows your logic then modelling amps are, to some degree, consumables. I agree, and that’s the whole point of why we still make amps pretty much like we did 60 years ago. However, if you want an idea of whether this amp is gonna last, you can always look back at the modelling amps and pedals of the last 20 years. For the most part, whether you have a POD, a Mustang, a DL4, or a Vox AD, then it’s going to work and sound EXACTLY like it did when it came out of the box 20 years ago. Sure, electronics fail, especially when abused, but most equipment produced over the last 20 years works perfectly fine today.

Had a mediocre experience with a 68 custom Princeton. Excessive white noise, cheap fizzy speaker, GT preamp tubes very microphonic. Now I know a lot more about it. Thanks Lyle.

I may have said this before, but you’re doing the Lord’s work, sir

So good! Also, in case no one else has mentioned it, you could do voice-over work on the side. 😄

I bought a Fender Princeton in 1977 and had zero issues with it.

Really made me happy that you called the dog an a******. I mean, it's a great video all around, but I must say that was my highlight.

re. multiple angle shots done easily and effectively, a small mirror can throw the camera's vision around corners and under things without having to alter the setup of the shot. A bit dirty, but quick and easy.

Like most who’ve done a fair amount of touring, I’ve played a lot of Fender reissue backline amps. Occasionally one would sound spectacular, but most were pretty unremarkable. In fact, I had a pair of 68 Super Reverbs at the time and I only had to play one show with a RI SR to never want to repeat the experience. In hindsight it was probably mostly the speakers. After watching your videos, it’s not hard to see why the one great sounding Deluxe Reverb reissue was so nice. I believe the venue told me it’d been upgraded every way imaginable.

Thanks for posting this info. Bye Lucio

Great channel and info! Question: I've seen some of your videos where you highlight shortcomings in the point to point wiring approach in some "boutique" amps. What about the Fender Custom Shop hand wired amps (e.g. '64 Custom Deluxe Reverb or '64 Princeton Reverb, both hand wired and with alternative components vs RI versions etc)? Have you had the opportunity to see them inside and what's your take on the build quality and component choice?

Hey. Thank you so much for your very interesting and informative videos. We are pretty much the same age, I’ve been wondering why things don’t work and trying to fix them,with some success since I was knee high to a Mesa Boogie. Ended up a Land Rover tech the last 36 years( I can tell you that’s getting harded and harder to keep them on the road. but my love is amps. Any who , I recently bought a mint 75 Superlead, an oddball over powered amp. I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts on the circuit, mainly the 750uf 3v bypass on V1 and any possibility of improving the disturbtion :) circuit. Keep em coming Thanks Trev

Lyle, I just discovered this channel and I'm learning and enjoying so much from your deep dives into these various amps! I've had my eye on a '68 Custom DR, but after watching all of your videos on that amp and this video I'm wondering if it would be better to get the 65 DRRI. I have found both of these amps used for about the same price locally. From your videos, it seems like the DRRI has the better circuit but the stock speaker is not as good. The 68 seems to have a noisier circuit but a better stock speaker. Is that a fair assessment? Do you recommend one over the other?

I would love to hear your take on the Fender 57 Custom Hardwired Tweed Series; (Champ, Deluxe and Twin.) I believe Fender is still using those IC caps in that series too. My 2006 57 Custom Twin has them. Keep up the great videos ! Thanks

3:34 - mine (manufactured in 2020) had some pink glue on the transformer nuts. Maybe Fender has been watching your channel :-)

One of my favorite parts is when you talk sh*t on the neighbors dog! You rock man!

Thanks to you, I’m no longer the average person. I replaced all of my filter caps (15 of them) on my 65 DRRI. The improvement in tone was significant! Thank you for your excellent instruction.

I find it incredible that such an expensive amp is sold with low quality speakers. One more reason to use heads. Could you do something on lower cost tube heads at some time in the future, please?

Love your videos. I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the custom handwired reissues from Fender.

"Because its Tuesday" thats hilarious... Sounds like something my dad would say😂👍

New to the channel and really liking it as I’ve done a few mods myself... anything specific on Supersonic 22, Engl Fireball, or JCM800? I’ll keep looking through your stuff - thanks.

The metal pointer mean to me joke got me. lol

Thanks for the very useful information. Question: A fender tube amp is unplugged and not used for several years, how long will components remain charged with voltage and deadly dangerous?

Just to repeat an earlier comment, I too was wondering if you have had a look inside the recent hand-wired Deluxe reissue - any thoughts or issues?

Great video. Sorry about the neighbor's dog...that can be 'rough'

If you remove the heater wires from the board and solder them to pins 2-7 of 6V6 socket, do the male quick connects remaining on the PCB need to be jumped, or just left alone?

I actually like the sound of the 6v6’s more than 6l6’s😁😁

After purchasing a set of JIS screw drivers, I never use a philips to tighten the screws in the amps. Although it is technically the wrong tool, it affords me more purchase with the least chance of damage...

Very good videos. Just got a used Deluxe Reverb RI. It was broken. Actually thrown through a window. Not joking. But it was mainly the chassis that was damaged. Fixed it with some screws and some glue. These videos really inspire me to make this amp great :) One output tube was broken, so I replaced the 6V6's with a (matched, I think) pair. I have a pair of Jensen p10r 8 ohm speakers and I would like to replace the stock c12k (that you not a fan of, I guess) with a pair of 10". Just to test it. But what to do about the output impedance of the amp. Do I have to change the OT or does it have either 4 or 16 ohm choices with some soldering?

Do you have any video on solid state amps. I have a little Peavey Rage, it was a good practice amp, but I haven’t used it in awhile. I have a Chibson LesPaul Special I with P90s. I plugged in an it seems a little microphonic. I know that P90s have a 60 cycle hum, but they really sound good as long I keep the Gain button off. Clean it has a great single coil ring and a little dirt if you turn it up, but hit the dirt button and it nearly howls. Not quite but it Quacks . So if you have any video for an amp like a Peavey Rage, can you please direct me to it? By the way, this is the best tech channel I have ever heard! Thank You. I have learned a lot !

What's your opinion on the 64 custom shop deluxe? Had one and the fuse blew 5 minutes in playing it. Still loved it for the sound. But would really like to hear the opinion of a specialist. Love the channel. Very informative.

Where can i send/drop off my Princeton for upgrades to reliability and tone. Definitely willing to drive to Memphis, see Stax and get some BBQ!

Thanks for the video! A couple of questions: is the partition around the speaker and foot switch inputs necessary or just a way to keep dust out? Also, is the foil shield inside the amp on top of the chassis guts needed? Will it hurt the amp or cab if removed? Thanks!

As a tip.-Never use a powertool on an amp while the tubes are in place.you might not feel it,but they shake the chassis in multiple frequencies.

You might have already addressed this, so apologies if you have, but would you recommend an OT upgrade for these amps? Obviously a mercury will probably be better than stock, but I'm wondering if it's worth the hassle.

Hey, great videos, thanks a bunch; what speakers would you recommend for a Deluxe Reverb reissue upgrade?

I just bought a new Deluxe Reverb '65 RI and there's already noise when the reverb is turned up. I'd like to find someone, like you, locally who can do the upgrades you suggested. Thank you.

can you answer a question for me i have a febder hotrod deluxe and the pilot light is intermittent, any ideas how to fix that that i can do

For the bias supply resistor, what would be the difference between jumping and replacing it with a 470 ohm resistor? Thanks!

Would a celestion vintage 30 be a good speaker upgrade for the 65 deluxe reverb reissue

In this video you mention again mains wall voltages being higher than they should be. Same issue here in Melbourne, Australia; nominal mains supply here should be 230v @ 50Hz but it's often over 240v. Would there be any value in running an amp off a Variac (autotransformer) which these days costs less than a full set of quality tubes? Thanks for your great channel

Thanks for the content. Regarding the noise from Vibrato channel Volume wiring. Is it possible to stick the foil on top of the circuit board of the pots, and ground the whole foil plate? Because, the board already isolated by lacquer, so you safe there from the shortage.

Do you have any recommendations on techs in the Boston area ?

have you done anything on the princeton reverb ri? great videos!

Hi Lyle, recently found your channel and love the content. Question - in this video you recommend a jumper for R69 but in another video it looked like you installed a vishay fusible resistor (2w 22R) - is one better than the other?

10/10

Lol im so glad even a professional such as yourself dislikes interacting with those fiddly quick connects. I keep thinking ill deal with them enough eventually and get the hang of removing them consistently but each one i have to remove seems as difficult as the first one i ever encountered lolol.

Which of these issues should be immediately swapped out as in can be cause more severe issues if it fails than simply swapping out the components that have failed? My amp correctly has the 6v6 tubes in it so is the heater wire issue a big deal still?

So I just had my Fender DDRI start making static when I turn on the amp. Doesn’t matter the channel or volume. The static is consistent even when I do not play. Would some of these issues be the culprit? or is it just needs new tubes?

Hi My name is Lyle and I am awesome! Thank you Lyle!!!

Overall, an excellent video tutorial. Only one criticism. I believe you meant picofarads, not microfarads when discussing the bright caps.

You should sell these modified deluxes, I’d prob buy one ☝🏿

What is your recommendation for a full set of deep-well sockets in metric and imperial? I keep running into the issue of not having the right sockets, and doing the research on Amazon or Home Depot is a total minefield. It'd be nice to have a good complete set that will serve me for US and Japanese/metric guitars and amplifiers.

Another great video - particularly for a novice like me. Does the handwired ‘64 Custom Deluxe Reverb Reissue contain the same cheap filter caps, and is the Jensen C-12Q it contains appreciably different than the C-12K. (I think I know the answer to both questions and neither will make me feel good about what I paid for the amp). Wish I had found your channel sooner! Thanks!

Now when you solder those green wires to pins 2 and 7 does it matter which wire goes where? Are they interchangeable or do they have specific pins to connect to?

My favorite response to the question "What do you want for Christmas?": "My neighbor's dog's ashes in a box."

After tightening the nut on the pots, is it worth re-flowing the solder joints anyway? I'm just wondering if the tightening process would leave some rotational tension on the joints.

The original 60's and 70's DR power transformers had a heater winding rated at 2 amps and a total load of 2.1 amps with 6v6's - okay. But a 6L6 has twice the heater draw as a 6v6, for 3 amp total draw which overloads the original power trans by a full 50%. Does anyone know if the DRRI power trans heater rating has been increased to safely handle the 6L6 substitution seen here? (Agree the 6v6 is the better match regardless.)

Have you gotten one of the newer fender handwired reissues yet? 64 Princeton and Deluxe

It might be worth noting that the fuse values are halved for 240 volt supplied amps.

I am currently thinking about buying the Fender Pro Junior tweed amp at Sweetwater . After watching these videos I want to make sure that all of the components are optimal for this amp to function properly for many years. I am sure all amps have their specific spec problems. Is there some kind of list of amp repair guys that do the standard of work you do? I live about an hour and a half west of Indianapolis in Illinois and wondered who I could have check it out. Thanks for your help if you read this and thanks for the great advice and content. Really good stuff!

Do you suggest the original from 68, 77, 79 or do you think these re-issues are good to buy new?

You say "back not long ago classic tone" Did something happen to classic tone? I used them in some builds and really liked them. I haven't done any builds in awhile so I haven't ordered anything.

Remember the heathkit amp?

When you say the reissues can be awesome for about $300, does that include a speaker swap or just your recommended mods?

Your kind of talking me out of buying a new Fender tube amp.

'65 Super Reverb Reissue?