Fender 68 Custom Vibrolux Reverb?

RandallFlagg

Anyone got or tried one of the Fender 68 Custom Vibrolux Reverbs? If so, what did you think?

TheMarlin

They sound great.  Build quality can be a bit iffy though.  Play a few before you buy.  

ThePrettyDamned

Is that the silverface one? 

I've tried the vibrolux custom and although it sounded nice it hummed a lot. I used it to test the new generation boss ds-1x, da-2 and sd-1x so thought it was quiet! Sadly, put any normal pedals in front and it's quite hummy. 

Apparently the newer silverface is more true to original spec, so cleaner and less hum. 

Pittster

RandallFlagg said:

Anyone got or tried one of the Fender 68 Custom Vibrolux Reverbs? If so, what did you think?

I've got one. great amp. lovely clean sound. great pedal platform. light (comparatively!). no issues with QC or humming. it's a great gigging amp. if you push the front end it has a lovely natural OD sound, though it's pretty loud and it takes some pushing to get it to OD.

pmg

My bandmate has one and it sounds very good to my ears. 

ICBM

ThePrettyDamned said:

Is that the silverface one? 

I've tried the vibrolux custom and although it sounded nice it hummed a lot. I used it to test the new generation boss ds-1x, da-2 and sd-1x so thought it was quiet! Sadly, put any normal pedals in front and it's quite hummy. 

Apparently the newer silverface is more true to original spec, so cleaner and less hum. 

The older Custom Vibrolux with the cream knobs is noisy, yes - both hum and hiss - they removed the negative feedback loop entirely, which was a mistake.

The current '68 Custom has NFB, although less than a vintage SF or BF one - about half as much, which seems to be the right balance between giving it a bit more drive, and not making it noisy.

For what it's worth it's very easy to add this amount of NFB to the older model, I recently did one for a friend - you need to cut a link, and fit two resistors and a wire.

peaches

I had a 68 Custom Twin that I found very noisy at low volumes, a very audible hiss with nothing even plugged in and volumes on zero. When cranked it didn't get worse (arguably better in contrast to higher volume guitar) but yeah, pretty unbearable at low volumes. 

Vibrolux is half the power though so I can't imagine it's anywhere near as bad, that being said, you should definitely try before you buy or at least make sure it's returnable.

the_jaffa

I've got one. Had it about 18 months or so, maybe more now. I love it. A great amp imo. The cleans are proper tasty, the reverb is fantastic and it seems to take my pedals well. I've changed the pre-amp valves for a set of Harmas which improved the sound.

I've never had any issues with hum but then I've not done any recording with it either.

Only other thing I have done is change the footswitch for a Bright Onion one with LEDs showing the status of the reverb and tremolo.

Can't see me ever getting rid of mine. I might get other amps to join it but I don't think this one will be going anywhere

ThePrettyDamned

ICBM said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

Is that the silverface one? 

I've tried the vibrolux custom and although it sounded nice it hummed a lot. I used it to test the new generation boss ds-1x, da-2 and sd-1x so thought it was quiet! Sadly, put any normal pedals in front and it's quite hummy. 

Apparently the newer silverface is more true to original spec, so cleaner and less hum. 

The older Custom Vibrolux with the cream knobs is noisy, yes - both hum and hiss - they removed the negative feedback loop entirely, which was a mistake.

The current '68 Custom has NFB, although less than a vintage SF or BF one - about half as much, which seems to be the right balance between giving it a bit more drive, and not making it noisy.

For what it's worth it's very easy to add this amount of NFB to the older model, I recently did one for a friend - you need to cut a link, and fit two resistors and a wire.

That's interesting. It's a bloody good sounding amp otherwise, I loved it. 

ArchtopDave

Slightly different, but I own a Rift Vibro '63, which is based on the Brownface era Vibroverb. Absolutely still love it - basic sound is great, and the Reverb and Tremolo are excellent. If you go on the Rift website, there's Anysley Lister demos of it.