Fender Cyber Twins etc

rpr

Never really been aware of these Fender Cyber Twins before, but they seem to be cropping out, used, fairly regularly  at suspiciously  low prices. Assume that it's a pre-curser to the Mustang, they also look very heavy. Any knowledge or wisdom on them. Also whats the score with the Vibro Champ XD?

ICBM

It's not a precursor to the Mustang at all - it's a very complex hybrid analogue/valve/solid-state/digital amp The 'amp' section is fully analogue with valves for the overdrive and solid-state for the rest, and is digitally controlled via the motorised knobs. The effects section is standard digital. The power amp is analogue solid state.

They are heavy like a Fender Twin, loud like a Fender Twin, and appear to be reliable - I've never seen a broken one, and if they're as well-made as a standard Fender solid-state amp they should be pretty good. The only thing that would really worry me would be the motorised knobs - if you haven't seen these, they look amazingly cool rotating by themselves when you change patches - but if you break one it could be a difficult and expensive repair.

I thought the ones I've tried sounded very good - maybe not quite a full Fender Twin depth to them, but close. The stock speakers are Celestions which might not be the best choice for that, although they probably improve the overdrive sounds.

The Vibro Champ XD is a modern hybrid modeler with a digital preamp and a valve power amp. It sounds not bad, but not great to me. It has a minor reliability problem with the valve part - I've seen a few (and the similar Super Champ XD) with burned-out 'choke' or cathode resistors which can happen if a valve blows. Not a big job, but it won't run again until the resistor is replaced as well as the valve.

GavRichList

The guy from Doves used to use a cyber twin. Remember them coming out as very much top of the range. Always intrigued by them.

Fuzzdog

I played through one a few years back, I remember being rather impressed - really nice bit of kit with some rather decent tones.  Definitely a modelling amp built for stage use rather than just home noodling, as most of the best tones came when you were pushing some air.

They do pop up silly cheap these days, I keep meaning to pick one up!

monquixote

I remember the bloke from Def Leppard saying he used a cyber twin as his whole rig for smaller gigs

richardhomer

Steve Winwood (who uses a very traditional 'Fender' sound) uses them - or certainly used to.

StefB

monquixote said:

I remember the bloke from Def Leppard saying he used a cyber twin as his whole rig for smaller gigs

For gigs with his other band, Man Raze.

I've got a Cyber Deluxe, the 1x12 smaller brother of the twin, and its ace.  Its the 4th or 5th one I've had, and I've also had a Cyber Twin combo and the much rarer head.  Fine amps one and all.

meltedbuzzbox

I think they can be had for chips as well

EricTheWeary

Buddy Guy was part of the original Cyber Twin promotion and toured with one for a bit IIRC.

ElectroDan

There was a second version of these, which IIRC was supposed to have better drive sounds and had a switchable filter option? I'm sure there was a vid of Greg Koch demoing it.

Sounded ok as I remember. It would though with him at the helm.

Flanging_Fred

A mate of mine had one and I found all the blinking lights on the front a bit off putting. Like the a flight deck of a Boeing 777 it was. Sounded alright though.

p90fool

EricTheWeary;610158" said:

Buddy Guy was part of the original Cyber Twin promotion and toured with one for a bit IIRC.

I saw that tour, he sounded great. I was near enough to the stage to hear his amp directly and although he had a load of treble dialled in and it was seriously loud, it was never painful.

I was impressed, though they were pretty pricey if I remember rightly. I have the Guitarist issue from 2001 next to the bog atm, I'll have a look later.

EricTheWeary

p90fool;612125" said:

[quote="EricTheWeary;610158"]Buddy Guy was part of the original Cyber Twin promotion and toured with one for a bit IIRC.

I saw that tour, he sounded great. I was near enough to the stage to hear his amp directly and although he had a load of treble dialled in and it was seriously loud, it was never painful.

I was impressed, though they were pretty pricey if I remember rightly. I have the Guitarist issue from 2001 next to the bog atm, I'll have a look later. [/quote]

Very loud, loads of treble? Sounds like Buddy Guy.

I've seen him live twice and first was awesome, second was awful. He was on at Glastonbury a few years ago and it was on the telly. He talked and made some guitar noises, I don't think at any point he played a recognisable musical phrase aside from bending a random string as far as possible or hitting the strings with a drumstick.

Anyway, I digress. IIRC his tech was interviewed in Guitar Player saying how they'd used the Cyber Twin as he had to do all the changes live, Buddy not doing pedals except for wah.

p90fool

Lol that sounds familiar. The first half of the show was genuinely awesome and we settled down in the interval for a real treat, but he came back out and was absolutely crap, to the point where friends of mine who'd hero worshipped him for decades actually started to heckle him.

It's a real luxury to play to an audience who've always loved you and have paid good money to see you, and a special kind of arrogant incompetence to completely fucking blow it.

ICBM

p90fool said:

The first half of the show was genuinely awesome and we settled down in the interval for a real treat, but he came back out and was absolutely crap, to the point where friends of mine who'd hero worshipped him for decades actually started to heckle him.

Do you think he might have had the benefit of 'substances' of some sort at the break...?

lustycourtier

GavHaus said:

The guy from Doves used to use a cyber twin. Remember them coming out as very much top of the range. Always intrigued by them.

Yeah, jim was using one for the solo album tour and it sounded brillinat

EricTheWeary

ICBM;612353" said:

p90fool said:

The first half of the show was genuinely awesome and we settled down in the interval for a real treat, but he came back out and was absolutely crap, to the point where friends of mine who'd hero worshipped him for decades actually started to heckle him.










Do you think he might have had the benefit of 'substances' of some sort at the break...?

I think Buddy doesn't quite understand how British gigs work. He mostly plays at club level in the US ( often at his own club) were good or bad nights are acceptable because it's just the band on in a club. Whereas here you are paying £25 to sit and watch him with
nothing else to do.
He is fairly anti drink and drugs in interview so I'd be surprised if there were substances involved. Although I remember Phil Lynott taking part in an anti drugs campaign shortly before his drug related death so...

HarrySeven

Re. Cyber Twin - I've fancied one for a while. A friend had one ages ago and it sounded great.

mfin

A bandmate used to run one, but the noticeable lag in changing channels when playing live meant he felt he had to get rid of it. It sounded really good though. I don't know if they did any revisions to improve or solve this though.

boogieman

I saw Jakko Jaksyk (sp?) using one when he was in the 21st Century Schizoid band. He sounded very good to me but I got a chance to chat to him after the gig and he wasn't happy. Apparently his amp had a nasty habit of changing patches by itself.

monquixote

Just spotted one for sale if anyone is after one:

http://www.pmtonline.co.uk/fender-cyber-twin-guitar-amplifier-combo-pre-used.html