I have been gigging for the last few years with my Vintage 1960 Fender Vibrolux. For the most part I have been satisfied. Even though we are a fairly loud five piece I would say that i can hear myself pretty well all the time. I have an opportunity to purchase this 1966 Fender Blackface Super Reverb at a good price (1200 CAD). Has anyone used this amp for gigging? Would I have to crank it to get that beautiful warm fender tone that I achieve with my Vibrolux. I don't play really large venues, mostly bars and I'm afraid it may be too much amp. Advice???
I don't own one myself, but I've played through one on numerous occaisions. And for me, it's never really been an overkill amp like the RI Bassmans have been for me. It can be dialed for good tone at low volume depending on what your preamp arrangement is. The biggest issue that I find with big combos like Supers and Bassmans and Harp Kings, is just that. THEY'RE BIG! And heavy. If lugging around a big sucker like that doesn't bother you, then go for it man. They're great amps. And look at it this way, more than likely, you'll never have to worry about being heard over the guitarist again. ;-) ----------
Hawkeye Kane
Last Edited by on Sep 18, 2012 9:33 AM
I used to own a real '65 back faced Super Reverb in the mid 70's, and like a Twin Reverb, they were a heavy SOB to lug around, but they were good amps for harp, tho there's a bit of variance from amp to amp. When I bought that amp in 1977, I had bought it from a guy who bought brand new in '65 for $300 US but sold it in 1983 to put towards a real Bassman that I still own and use (paid $425 US with a silver faced Fender outboard tube reverb unit thrown in the deal).
What makes Super Reverbs amnd Twin Reverbs so heavy in terms of weight are the tremelo and reverb circuits in there. The mid 60's reverb tanks are far better sounding than what's presently being used on the newer Fender amps. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I owned two blackface Supers in the early 1990s. One had stock 4 x 10". The other had 2 x 12s. I've seen several good players, including Steve Guyger, use them. They're a little too clean for my taste; even Steve, with his Astatic, played fairly clean. It's that Big Walter sound. You have to work hard, hit the harp hard, but when you do, it's a good sound--just not very much overdrive. I was using the same dynamic mic I'm using now.
I'd personally rather play right on the vocal mic than play through a tube amp that got me more or less the same sound, because you'll get better diffusion through the house playing through the vocal mic & PA.
The BF Super is NOT a good amp for a small club, IMHO. But again: it depends what sort of sound you're trying for, and it depends greatly on the output of the mic you're using. I suspect that folks around here would suggest pre-amp tube swaps that would make it a better amp for small venues.
On the up side, it's a great guitar amp and will hold its resale value.
edited to add: And yes, you would have to crank it hard to get that warm sound. Given the amp you've already got, there's only one good reason to get the BF: if you're going to be playing outdoors and need to move air. In that case, a larger amp could help you.
Here's a video test by Harpsucker. The BF Super sounds great! Watch this vid and you'll buy the amp:
Blackoak -- You have the tweed Vibrolux? Wow, nice amp! You will never get that same tone from the Super Reverb.
They are totally different. The Vibrolux is 2x 6V6 power tubes with cathode bias, 10 watts. The Super Reverb is 2x 6L6 power tubes with fixed bias, 40 watts.
The BFSR tone is all early Paul Butterfield. It will sound great I'm sure, but in a different way than your tweed amp. If it were me I would buy it, but part of that is my bias: I think tinkering with amps is fun.
And Tim Kane: Guitars will always be able to scream way WAY louder on stage than harps, no matter what amps or devices we use. They don't have the same challenges with feedback.
I agree that guitars will always be able to overpower a harp because of the onstage feedback issue. No argument there. I suppose what I really meant was in response to blackoak saying he can hear himself in his fairly loud five-piece with his Vibroluxe, in that the SR would make damn sure of him being able to hear himself.
LOL...careful there Rick. I have no gubernatorial ambitions unlike my harping political counterpart. ;-) ----------
Hawkeye Kane
Last Edited by on Sep 18, 2012 1:23 PM
Tim, guitar amps can indeed make it very difficult to hear yourself on stage, no matter what gear you are using. Volume discipline is way more productive than relying on a loud amp to be heard.
I thank everyone for their input. I'm afraid that I have the fever as put by Kudzurunner, the Vibrolux pretty well has it all. It might however be fun to play with the BFSR for a while. Thanks again so much for all the contributions. BTW mine is a Tweed and I think I had better keep it!!!!!
Last Edited by on Sep 19, 2012 5:25 AM
Don't forget time's recommendation. If you can run both those amps at once, or even line the Vibrolux's output into the SR somehow, you might be very surprised at the results! ----------
If you want more dirt out of the Super Reverb or even the Twin, do NOT play thru the channel that has the tremelo and reverb because the input jack impedance is totally different than what the Tweed stuff was and the inputs are a better match for mics that are either like a 545, CM/CR cartridge type bullet mics, but not that great for a crystals or ceramics.
However, if you have a crystal/ceramic but want to play in the channel with the effects, the first thing you need to do is turn the bright switch off, nefver run the treble past 3, keep the mids no higher than 5, idcedally 3-4, but leave the bass at about 5 or 6. Many players use 8-10 on those amps, but for crystals/ceramics, it doesn't work as well because with those crystals/ceramics Astatic had used has more bottom end than the CM/CR types and doesn't need as much boost, wheras 8-10 for CM/CR and most dynamics, it works much better, and this is from personal experience with them.
Adam's right about BF Supers or Twins being a bad choice for a small club because they are gonna be far too loud for one, sometimes even for a guitar player.
I wish I could've afforded to keep the BF Super & BF Twin Reverb when I sold them back in the day, because if I had them now, I'd make a huge killing, money wise , on the vintage amp market now. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
@BBQBob "If you want more dirt out of the Super Reverb or even the Twin, do NOT play thru the channel that has the tremelo and reverb because the input jack impedance is totally different than what the Tweed stuff was and the inputs are a better match for mics that are either like a 545, CM/CR cartridge type bullet mics, but not that great for a crystals or ceramics."
The input impedancs on Fenders have remained the same since about 1956 (5E# onwards) - 1Meg for #1 (or for #1 & #2 together), 68K for #2 on it's own. There may be a couple of rare exceptions...the only one I can think of being the Musicmaster bass amp.
You can get a little more grind from BF & SF 6L6 powered amps, by taking out the preamp tube for the channel you are not using (e.g. if using the Normal channel, remove the 2nd "Vibrato" channel preamp tube from RHS whilst looking at the back of the amp) and replace the phase inverter (next to the power tubes) with a 12AX7.
Make sure the amp is cooled down & unplugged from the wall when switching preamp tubes.
This doesn't make the amp any less powerful...just distorts a little earlier. ---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
http://www.facebook.com/markburness
Last Edited by on Sep 19, 2012 8:50 AM
