Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Twin Reverb Sweetness

Fender Silverface Twin ReverbOne of the prizes in my guitar collection is my 1976 Silverface Fender Twin Reverb. I bought this sucker in the mid 90s for around $350 from a dude in PA. This 100 watt powerhouse uses vacuum tubes rather than transistors for power, which results in high quality sound that musicians and audiophiles go nuts for.

It's referred to as a "Silverface" due to the silver color of the panel where the control knobs reside. "Blackface" Twin Reverbs of the late 60s have slightly different innards and are considered by purists to have better tone. But you won't hear me complaining about the sound of my Silverface - its clean tone (sound when not using distortion) has the warmth that Fender is famous for. If I add a little bit of chorus, plus reverb or delay, it'll bring a tear to the eye. Cranking up the distortion results in a unique growl that has weight and power.

I recently discovered Paul Marossy's most excellent Twin Reverb page, which has a ton of information on how to tweak this titan of guitar amplifiers. I plan on putting his discoveries to great use.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.diyguitarist.com/DIYStompboxes/MyStompboxes.htm

OK - that guy you linked to goes _way_ beyond the norm of most folks, in terms of dedication to tone. I was afraid to count just how many guitar pedals he's built/owns, but a quick perusal of the above page will give you some idea. I hope some of his amp tips are doable by ordinary people.

11:08 PM  

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