Fender Excelsior

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firepaulmusicfirepaulmusic Frets: 362
edited April 2016 in Amp Reviews
I lent my Bad Cat Cub 3 to Koneguitarist for a rock band gig he is depping for because he was worried that this amp wouldn't have enough oomph. We agreed to review each other's amps. I was doing a solo rock gig with backing tracks and would normally have used a a Kemper direct. This time I took my pedal board and went straight in the front of the Excelsior. Taff has replaced the stock 15" with a Jenson 12" and also the stock cabinet with a nice pine one. I was initially greeted with a nice round clean tone so good start. He also has a Peavey DI box installed in the back between the amp and speaker which is a great speaker sim for going direct to the desk. This worked really well as expected as I know the unit well. The amp sounded great through the PA and took my Suhr Riot really well. The tone was full and there was easily enough headroom for this gig. I was really pleased with the whole experience. Sorry, not much of a review but I'm just chilling out with a glass of wine post gig. I'll update when I've slept on it.....
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Comments

  • jonnyburgojonnyburgo Frets: 12253
    I've had an Excelsior, kind of wish I hadn't sold it now, didn't do any mods other than the tone control mod and it was perfect for at home, although did start to rattle a bit on the few times I was able to open it up. I really like the trem on it.
    Why did I sell it? I can't even remember now, damn GAS!
    "OUR TOSSPOT"
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  • EdGripEdGrip Frets: 736
    It's a great straight-ahead amp - I'd love to hear how it can sound in different speaker/cab contexts. 
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  • The Jenson 12" certainly seemed to tighten the whole sound up compared to what I remember from the 15". I was told recently by a very experienced session guitarist that the biggest difference you can make to an amp is a speaker change...
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  • soma1975soma1975 Frets: 6625
    I had one and it had an absolutely great tone, especially with single coils, and looked fab but it was too loud for the living room so I offloaded and got hold of a 1watt marshall Offset. 

    If I'd kept it I would have done the tremolo footswitch mod as it sounds wonderful. 

    Has to be the greatest value for money tube amp out there.
    My Trade Feedback Thread is here

    Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
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  • There's one on EBay now for £220 which I thought was a bargain until I realised they were only £225 new...
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  • soma1975soma1975 Frets: 6625
    Didn't think you could actually get them new. 

    My one on Ebay recently went for about £240
    My Trade Feedback Thread is here

    Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
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  • A bit of a dilemma - £220 for an Excelsior or £1500 for a Carr Rambler.....
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  • Why would you need either with the BadCat?
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  • Why would you need either with the BadCat?

    Too many toys, not enough time.....
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  • JezWyndJezWynd Frets: 6021
    They really nice amps but like soma1975 I found it much too loud for home use so I sold it (it had had pretty much all the upgrades done inc. new transformers which made it *very* loud). I still have an Excelsior cabinet with the original 15" speaker that I use with a Laney Cub 10. The original speaker was disdained by lots of people but I really like its sound with guitar (and bass at low volumes).
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