Fender amp tones and alternatives.

Fuengi

Thanks to @munckee bending my ear on vintage amps between home, Woking and back I'm heading down the rabbit hole of researching which amps to try.

It's a flippin minefield.

I'm favouring Fender tones, love the sound of the 50s Tweed Super 5e4-a  I heard on YouTube. The '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb sounds good but I've heard they can be noisy. The '64 Deluxe Reverb might be the answer.

I really want a 12" speaker, 12w - 22w. Reverb and tremolo not a deal breaker because I'm keeping my Flint. 

Rift Amps aside, which other amp makers should I be looking at for these kind tones? 

Going to try as many as possible. 

munckee

Tweed deluxe, tone king falcon, fudge brownie Princeton are all on my future amp list. Plus a rift and a 64 deluxe!

Fuengi

munckee said:

Tweed deluxe, tone king falcon, fudge brownie Princeton are all on my future amp list. Plus a rift and a 64 deluxe!

You've just sold a Princeton!

munckee

Fuengi said:

munckee said:

Tweed deluxe, tone king falcon, fudge brownie Princeton are all on my future amp list. Plus a rift and a 64 deluxe!

You've just sold a Princeton!

Yeah but it wasn't a fudge brownie!  I think a 65 would be more me than a 68. 

munckee

@soma1975  is currently in the tweed deluxe rabbit hole so might have some insight?

mixolyd

To my ears tweed and black face may as well be different manufacturers they are so different.  Then there is big and small of each with tweed big and small being particularly different in the way they break up.  I love the sound of the big tweeds but don’t see how I can get that sound in a practical package for home use, even with a reactive load.

markj

Gartone Bluesman absolutely superb. If you lived any where near me you’d be welcome to try mine.

roberty

FWIW I sold my Princeton and I have a 65 DRRI now. It has a creamback neo in. Much happier with the Deluxe, as someone else here said it gives you "more of everything" and sounds great overdriven. The normal channel takes pedals really well so it's very versatile. Bit noisier than the Princeton but the snr is good, you won't notice it while you're playing

Ossyrocks

The Tweed Super is a 2x10. I had a Victoria Tweed Super and whilst it sounded amazing, it was a bit too loud to get into the sweet spot at most gigs. The Tweed Deluxe is where it’s at for tweed tones at a useable volume.

I also have a Deluxe Reverb, and as said above, it’s chalk and cheese with the tweeds.

Rob

munckee

Never tried these but often considered the smaller 5F1 equivalent.  

http://rosewell-amps.co.uk/product/bluesbaby/

Fuengi

Tried a friend's Fender Super Sonic 22 this morning, sounded great. Cleans were decent but the variety of crunch and drive tones were an eye opener. All available at reasonable volume levels, fun to play and inspiring.

Have nothing to compare it to yet but might nip down to PMT at the weekend and try what they have in. 

soma1975

munckee said:

@soma1975  is currently in the tweed deluxe rabbit hole so might have some insight?

I think it all depends what you wanna spend. For me personally I want a 5e3 and I resent the idea of paying crazy prices for such a simple piece of engineering. someone has reached out to me with a good deal on one when I have sold my current amp but on Reverb Morris Amps are offering Chinese made handwired 5E3s for £600. Even figure in 150 for a fancy speaker or tube change and that’s still a bargain. 

But in terms of fancy pants amps the Tone King Falcon Grande seems nice although it’s a PCB amp if that matters. The Rift tweed 15 demos sound amazing and obviously Victoria and Lazy J are a great way to loss money up the wall. 

sweepy

I’d always go with a Rift tbh, Chris is open to tweaks preferences etc and you’ll end up with an amp that’s whisper quiet and choc full of tone 

soma1975

It certainly sounds phenomenal but it's £1600 though which is just outside my comfort zone for a 5E3. Unless anyone is selling one used?  

Fuengi

soma1975 said:

munckee said:

@soma1975  is currently in the tweed deluxe rabbit hole so might have some insight?

I think it all depends what you wanna spend. For me personally I want a 5e3 and I resent the idea of paying crazy prices for such a simple piece of engineering. someone has reached out to me with a good deal on one when I have sold my current amp but on Reverb Morris Amps are offering Chinese made handwired 5E3s for £600. Even figure in 150 for a fancy speaker or tube change and that’s still a bargain. 

But in terms of fancy pants amps the Tone King Falcon Grande seems nice although it’s a PCB amp if that matters. The Rift tweed 15 demos sound amazing and obviously Victoria and Lazy J are a great way to loss money up the wall. 

Thanks Ben, that's useful info.

I think I prefer the Blackface tone to Tweed but until I've played both I'm talking out my Brownface. 

soma1975 said:

It certainly sounds phenomenal but it's £1600 though which is just outside my comfort zone for a 5E3. Unless anyone is selling one used?  

If you book onto the @RiftAmps amp building course you can go home with a 5e3 you've build yourself (under the masters tuition) for £1300. 

Wazmeister

Im a huge Carr fan, and I still think that tye Slant and Rambler are some of the best Fenderish tones Ive heard and owned...

Fuengi

Wazmeister said:

Im a huge Carr fan, and I still think that tye Slant and Rambler are some of the best Fenderish tones Ive heard and owned...

@Wazmeister - it's not like I've spent the entire afternoon googling Fender Supersonic 22 or anything... but did I read on a thread that you had one? 

Wazmeister

I did own a Supersonic 22, and gigged with it for ages... really enjoyed it, but not so much the drive channel...

Then I discovered Carr and Redplate, and they were unfortunately in a different league sound and tonewise...

soma1975

Fuengi said:

If you book onto the @RiftAmps amp building course you can go home with a 5e3 you've build yourself (under the masters tuition) for £1300. 

All booked out for 2019 sadly 

hywelg

In addition to what @Wazmeister said above, the Dr Z EZG is a must try.  I've always regretted selling mine, @bermudianbrit had it off me, but its a gigging amp, and it needs to breathe and I'm no longer in a band so I really couldn't justify keeping it.

It takes pedals better than the Carr Rambler and my Ceriatone OTS.

Modulus_Amps

soma1975 said:

munckee said:

@soma1975  is currently in the tweed deluxe rabbit hole so might have some insight?

 but on Reverb Morris Amps are offering Chinese made handwired 5E3s for £600. Even figure in 150 for a fancy speaker or tube change and that’s still a bargain.

Great bargain, but from the ones I have seen they don't follow full EU safety regs, some are covered in tweed vinyl, (not the real thing) and most importantly I have in the past binned a box of of Chinese made Deluxe power transformers for failures.

Just buy carefully and make sure the seller will give you some aftersales service and decent warranty.