NAD: Fender '68 Custom Vibrolux RI

Loobs

Bought this through the forum a couple of weeks ago. I finally got it down to our practice room last night after a little repair (fell out of the back of a 747, or something, thanks UPS!). It sounds fantastic! The first and second channels are voiced quite differently, the first being a fair bit darker and more midrangey than the second; which is really spanky and bright. Reverb and tremolo also sound good. The first takes my OD and fuzz pedals (boss hyper fuzz, box of rock) very nicely, the pedals sounds a bit klangy through the second channel. It's also pretty loud! I highly recommend this amp, and it looks great!  

It's really new, so I'm curious to see how the tone changes once the speakers get broken in. 

Side note: comparing my Strymon Flint to the Fender's spring real reverb, the Flint's spring reverb emulation is scarily close. You You actually can't tell the difference. Impressive! 

Here's a pic:

BBBlues

I'm out the loop with fender amps. Is this a new range?

ThePrettyDamned

Loobs said:

Bought this through the forum a couple of weeks ago. I finally got it down to our practice room last night after a little repair (fell out of the back of a 747, or something, thanks UPS!). It sounds fantastic! The first and second channels are voiced quite differently, the first being a fair bit darker and more midrangey than the second; which is really spanky and bright. Reverb and tremolo also sound good. The first takes my OD and fuzz pedals (boss hyper fuzz, box of rock) very nicely, the pedals sounds a bit klangy through the second channel. It's also pretty loud! I highly recommend this amp, and it looks great!  

It's really new, so I'm curious to see how the tone changes once the speakers get broken in. 

Side note: comparing my Strymon Flint to the Fender's spring real reverb, the Flint's spring reverb emulation is scarily close. You You actually can't tell the difference. Impressive! 

Here's a pic:

Yup, I don't like spring reverb much but frankly even the boss spring emulations are extraordinarily close to the real thing. I've had a couple of amps with real springs (big tanks, little tanks) and I've always preferred plate or hall sounds except when I'm going for a wild west twang reverb as a special effect. 

Nice amp! I've always found the bright channels on fender amps to be a bit clangy with heavier distortion pedals, blackface amps being the most extreme. The best bit of these is they have that more vintage voiced channel that loves pedals and sounds lovely clean anyway. 

ICBM

Good to see a Hyper Fuzz .

You can also link the channels if you want to blend the warmer sound with the spanky sound - just connect a patch cable from the second input on the first channel to the first one on the second.

What did UPS do to it?

ThePrettyDamned

Also, silverface is surely the best looking amp of all time? 

samzadgan

Wow...I saw this on IG didn't know if you bought it or if it was just something you played... beautiful man. Video??

Loobs

BBBlues said:

I'm out the loop with fender amps. Is this a new range?

Yeah, there's a Princeton Reverb, Deluxe Reverb, this and a twin. They have some cool features - verb and tremolo on both channels, differently voiced channels. 

ICBM said:

Good to see a Hyper Fuzz .

You can also link the channels if you want to blend the warmer sound with the spanky sound - just connect a patch cable from the second input on the first channel to the first one on the second.

What did UPS do to it?

Hyper Fuzz is my favourite fuzz! More people should own one. 

A friend who owns the same amp told me about linking the channels. I'm gonna go down and play it this afternoon. Can't wait.

I bought it from a bloke on this forum and had it shipped to me in Berlin. When it arrived the reverb wasn't working, and there was a low oscillating noise coming from the amp when played loud. The output tubes were f'ed, and various components were loose from the board. The RCA jack in the reverb tank had also snapped. Now I have to try and get some money back from UPS. Luckily, the repair costs were cheap. 

Loobs

ThePrettyDamned said:

Also, silverface is surely the best looking amp of all time? 

It's a contender.

I'd also nominate vintage Hiwatt heads. 

Loobs

samzadgan said:

Wow...I saw this on IG didn't know if you bought it or if it was just something you played... beautiful man. Video??

Thanks, Sam! 

I'll get some video together later! 

ICBM

Loobs said:

I bought it from a bloke on this forum and had it shipped to me in Berlin. When it arrived the reverb wasn't working, and there was a low oscillating noise coming from the amp when played loud. The output tubes were f'ed, and various components were loose from the board. The RCA jack in the reverb tank had also snapped. Now I have to try and get some money back from UPS. Luckily, the repair costs were cheap. 

Ouch. That sounds quite serious… and puzzling, it's odd how all that (especially components loose on the board and a broken RCA jack) could happen just by it being dropped, particularly if there wasn't also massive cabinet damage.

A friend of mine had a little Mesa combo shipped to him from France, and when it arrived the valves were all broken… oddly there was glass from them in front of the speaker cone and behind the grille cloth, which is a closed space. It's absolutely impossible that could have happened unless the speaker was deliberately taken out.

Good luck getting money out of UPS. Another friend had a vintage Rickenbacker shipped to her - in the proper Rick moulded case, and very well-packed - and UPS had clearly jumped up and down on it from the bootprints on the box… or at best used it as a 'walkway' in the van or something. The case, neck and pickguard were all cracked - the neck was repairable, but expensive. She got £100 from UPS after a fight.

I really don't like couriers as you know...

shaunm

Looks fantastic @Loobs nice score mate

Loobs

ICBM said:

Loobs said:

I bought it from a bloke on this forum and had it shipped to me in Berlin. When it arrived the reverb wasn't working, and there was a low oscillating noise coming from the amp when played loud. The output tubes were f'ed, and various components were loose from the board. The RCA jack in the reverb tank had also snapped. Now I have to try and get some money back from UPS. Luckily, the repair costs were cheap. 

Ouch. That sounds quite serious… and puzzling, it's odd how all that (especially components loose on the board and a broken RCA jack) could happen just by it being dropped, particularly if there wasn't also massive cabinet damage.

A friend of mine had a little Mesa combo shipped to him from France, and when it arrived the valves were all broken… oddly there was glass from them in front of the speaker cone and behind the grille cloth, which is a closed space. It's absolutely impossible that could have happened unless the speaker was deliberately taken out.

Good luck getting money out of UPS. Another friend had a vintage Rickenbacker shipped to her - in the proper Rick moulded case, and very well-packed - and UPS had clearly jumped up and down on it from the bootprints on the box… or at best used it as a 'walkway' in the van or something. The case, neck and pickguard were all cracked - the neck was repairable, but expensive. She got £100 from UPS after a fight.

I really don't like couriers as you know...

It's very odd. Neither myself nor my tech could work out what happened. There isn't any damage to the amp externally, nor to the box. The screws holding the transformer to the chassis were so loose that it was almost hanging half off. 

We surmised that the output tubes were oscillating when the amp was played at volume. If you held them, the noise stopped. 

ICBM

Loobs said:

It's very odd. Neither myself nor my tech could work out what happened. There isn't any damage to the amp externally, nor to the box. The screws holding the transformer to the chassis were so loose that it was almost hanging half off.

I'd bet that's been dismantled by over-zealous customs or security idiots. With the Mesa it was literally physically impossible that the damage could have been done with the speaker in the cabinet, let alone the amp in the box.

Even with microphonic power valves self-oscillating you won't get a transformer loosening off, let alone a broken RCA jack in the reverb tank. Fender aren't fools and these amps are built to withstand normal vibration and handling.

bbill335

You might have more luck getting compensation if the sender pesters whoever they booked the courier with (it might have been ups themselves, it might have been something like interparcel or equivalent). Ups will only facilitate a return in my experience, and that would mean putting something in their care again (don't do this if you can help it). Send scans of the repair invoice and keep chasing them until you get somewhere. Myself and @imalrightjack managed to get a positive result from interparcel/ups but it was an arduous process and in the end, it was all on him (the sender). I'm lucky he was happy to help out. 

Ups are to amps what pete townsend was to SG specials in the 60s. 

imalrightjack

Yes, I'm with @bbill335 on this one. It is totally achievable with persistence, evidence and patience. We got a very positive outcome. 

Richardj

It is a puzzle, was the amp in it's original packaging?

UPS managed to literally smash my DRRi on it's way back from being serviced by Fender in Paris. However it was so badly packed with just odd bits of cardboard around a random box it was never going to survive any vaguely rough handling.

I would counter this with the fact that the replacement new amp arrived in perfect nick, along with the new Bassbreaker 18/30 I bought and my new Rivera Pubster that came from Italy. That was the only thing that UPS have ever damaged (including other valve amps, Gibson LPs, PRSs and lots of Fenders). It's all about the packaging. Or whether someone has been in the packaging rummaging around.

RandallFlagg

I have taken an interest in these amps lately, I love the size, looks, wattage and sound. Hope you continue to enjoy it. i'm tempted

Loobs

Used the boy at rehearsal the first time on Friday night. Sounded fucking amazing in a band mix! 

keir

I like mine a lot. Will give blending the channels a try, good tip. 

ennspek

I've been curious about these for ages but put off by reports of them being noisy (in the wrong way). Now I think of it though that seemed to be mainly the DRRI.
Any issues in that regard?

Loobs

None. It's great all round.