Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

[MasterKtulu]

I'm extremely close to buying one of the new Fender Excelsior amps. The only thing stopping me from ordering one, its the lack of reverb or an FX loop (So I could plug a reverb pedal into it). There are no good music shop near by so I can't go out and try one. And before anyone tells me to play it without reverb, my tone sucks too much to play without it. I can't make anything sound good without reverb... I really need reverb...

So anyone out there tried to plug a reverb pedal into it with good results?

 

[Psykel]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

I haven't tried out that amp, tho it seems quite cool.
My advice would be to work on your tone tho.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

Its an intentionally lofi amp for people who want grungey garage tones.

Buy a Tubemeister for what you want.

 

[Powdered Toast Man]

I tried one out and thought it was cool, but yeah, only good for garage rock.

 

[trevorus]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

I tried one out and thought it was cool, but yeah, only good for garage rock.

Sounds good to me.

 

[MasterKtulu]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

I've been looking for a super simple, low wattage & different sounding tube combo for a while now. Especially one with a bigger speaker than the 6 or 8 inch speakers that are found in most 5 watt tube combos...

I already have a Marshall JCM900 MkIII with a 6 pedal pedalboard for all my 80's & 90's Marshall tone needs, and I also have a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III with a 15 pedal pedalboard for every other sound imaginable.

Now I want a bluesy amp that I don't have to fiddle with knobs, and just plug any of my guitars and just play! And of all the vintage type low wattage amps out now a days, the Excelsior looks to be the most interesting.

 

[MasterKtulu]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

Its an intentionally lofi amp for people who want grungey garage tones.

I tried one out and thought it was cool, but yeah, only good for garage rock.

To me, it sounds more bluesy that garage rock.

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

And before anyone tells me to play it without reverb, my tone sucks too much to play without it. I can't make anything sound good without reverb... I really need reverb...

Either you're over exaggerating or you really need to practice, not buy a new amp.

 

[MasterKtulu]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

Either you're over exaggerating or you really need to practice, not buy a new amp.

I'm exaggerating, but I really do prefer to play with some reverb or echo.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

You may want to consider something like a Hot Rod Deluxe or something that already has reverb.

Otherwise, an EH Holy Grail always works for me, whether it's in front of an amp or in it's FX loop.

 

[MasterKtulu]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

You may want to consider something like a Hot Rod Deluxe or something that already has reverb.

I Already posted above...

...I also have a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III with a 15 pedal pedalboard for every other sound imaginable.

 

[lareplus]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

more power to you. . .I'd bet they sound damned good with a reverb pedal. .

 

[IM4Tone]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

I use the Boss DD-3 w/ my Excelsior. Sounds great in the signal chain. I've been toying with getting a Boss RV-5, but I'm not sure it would sound much different given my prefered setting(s)....Echo/slapback

 

[BrianS.]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

Have you looked at the Peavey Windsor Studio? If nothing else, it has reverb!

I own the Peavey and it's not bad. Speaker breaks up too much for my taste, so it will get replaced. Decent tubes make it sound better, too.

I tried out the Excelsior at GC a while back. I really wanted to like it...but I didn't.

 

[indie folk guy]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

I really loved using one in the workshop with my Wampler Faux Spring reverb. I also tried my Hall of Fame with it and got some cool tones.

So I'd say if you want a real budget friendly Fender rig get the Excelsior and a Wampler Faux Spring.

If you like versatility and options get a TC hall of fame or a Line 6 verbzilla.

 

[MasterKtulu]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

Well, I bit the bullet today and ordered one and it should be arriving within a week. Hopefully It will sound as good as I saw in those YouTube demos. The only constant complaint about the excelsior I hear was that the tubes were really cheap and unreliable. So I ordered new Power and Pre-Amp tubes from TheTubeStore. I noticed in the YouTube demos that when they cranked the excelsior, it sounded a bit fuzzy and I always prefer smoother tones. So going only from the descriptions given, I chose Tung-Sol 6V6GT power tubes for more creamy overdrive. And I chose Svetlana 12AX7 Pre Amp tubes for a smoother and open overdrive sound. Hopefully my choices will give me the nasty little blues amp I've been looking for.

As for the reverb, I already own a EH Holy Grail Reverb for my Marshall Rig and I also own a Hall of Fame Reverb for my Hot Rod Deluxe Rig, so after looking at a few pedals I ordered a T-Rex TongBug Reverb pedal.

 

[indie folk guy]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

Well, I bit the bullet today and ordered one and it should be arriving within a week. Hopefully It will sound as good as I saw in those YouTube demos. The only constant complaint about the excelsior I hear was that the tubes were really cheap and unreliable. So I ordered new Power and Pre-Amp tubes from TheTubeStore. I noticed in the YouTube demos that when they cranked the excelsior, it sounded a bit fuzzy and I always prefer smoother tones. So going only from the descriptions given, I chose Tung-Sol 6V6GT power tubes for more creamy overdrive. And I chose Svetlana 12AX7 Pre Amp tubes for a smoother and open overdrive sound. Hopefully my choices will give me the nasty little blues amp I've been looking for.

As for the reverb, I already own a EH Holy Grail Reverb for my Marshall Rig and I also own a Hall of Fame Reverb for my Hot Rod Deluxe Rig, so after looking at a few pedals I ordered a T-Rex TongBug Reverb pedal.

I found that the amp really benefited from a speaker upgrade more than anything else just my two cents

I'd look at Weber and Eminence, both are affordable and made in the USA.

I pretty much exclusively use Weber speakers these days just ordered a pair of Legacys and am about to order a couple more of their Vintage series.

 

[lareplus]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

Best of luck with your new Excelsior, MasterK. . .please do give us a report when it's settled in. Always good to hear what's working and what's not.

 

[MasterKtulu]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

I found that the amp really benefited from a speaker upgrade more than anything else just my two cents

Yeah I heard that too, but I'll wait until the stock speaker is broken into first before making that decision.

I've installed an Eminence in my Fender HD Deluxe and also one in my Marshall JCM900 MkIII with great results. As for Weber, I'm not that familiar with their speakers.

 

[indie folk guy]

Re: Anyone Tried The New Fender Excelsior With A Reverb Pedal?

Yeah I heard that too, but I'll wait until the stock speaker is broken into first before making that decision.

I've installed an Eminence in my Fender HD Deluxe and also one in my Marshall JCM900 MkIII with great results. As for Weber, I'm not that familiar with their speakers.

Weber's are all hand made to order they are out of Indiana if I remember correctly off hand.

To give you a run down the Vintage series is an assortment of various "fender" style speakers usually based on Jensens.

The British series is mostly celestion clones but they also do a few Fanes.

The Legacy series were originally built for the Scumbacks so they are all based on vintage "holy grail" greenbacks.

The NeoMag are based on the old JBL speakers.

I haven't tried the High Power series because I pretty much have low wattage amps.

But everything I've used from Vintage, British, and Legacy has been great and I've heard a friend's amp with the NeoMags.

IMHO they are one of the best speakers available and they are very affordable these days compared to Eminence and Celestion.

They will break in speakers free of charge if you leave a note in the comments section also.

They offer AlNiCo and Ceramic versions for a lot of their speakers which is fantastic imho. The AlNiCo give you a great compression and vintage tone while the Ceramics tend to be punchier and give you better headroom.

If you email them with some details on what you're looking for they usually give you great advice.

I've used/owned the 10A125, 12F150, 1225 (this is their Greenback model), 1230/1230-55 (their take on the G12H30), Silver Bell, Blue Dog, Gray Wolf, Legacy (I own a 10" 30 watt, 30 oz magnet, Pre-Rola treated, 16 ohm and a 12", 55 Hz cone, 30 watt, 30 oz magnet, Pre-Rola treated).

I really like their stuff and would recommend them highly.

As for Eminence offerings I really like the Big Ben (15"), Texas Heat, Ragin Cajun, Private Jack, Red Fang, Canis Major, and Cannabais Rex.