Fender '57 Twin-Amp Info

[Gunny47]

Yes, this is a very popular amp lately. I went ot Guitar Center in NYC to try it out. I posted a review of it at another forum and Ill post it here. You dont have to read it but it basically says that I loved the amp. Here it is...

So what I played for the most part were two Gibson USA guitars, on LP Deluxe in black and one LP Standard in black. Looked around for an amp and found the Fender Tweed 57 Twin in the soundproof room so I went in and checked out the it out (played it before a few months ago, but not for too long). What a sick looking amp! Looked solidly built, and sounded amazing. Plugged the LP Deluxe into the normal channel #1 input first and just cranked it to the max (12) when I first turned it on. Sadly, I didnt check at what levels the amp started to clip on. Forgot, I was so into the cranked tone. The EQ was about at 12 oclock all the way through and because the volume was up so high and I was using the normal channel, opposed to the bright, the speakers started to flub out. So I lowered the bass to around 10 oclock, and put the prescence up to about 3 oclock which added a lot more mids and cleaned up the tone a little bit. Tone was not as thick as I remembered when I did the same thing a few months ago with an R8. Unplugged the Deluxe and plugged the LP Standard into it. Ahhhh, thats better! HUGE TONE! Switching from B minor to B major penatonics and playing D major scales on top of the B minor and adding the flat 5th too. Very rockin' tone. The Standard sounded way better than the Deluxe. The Deluxe has sort of a farty low end to it and was a little fuzzy sounding. The Standard was ultra fat tone with the ultimate crunch on the bridge pickup (tone at 10 w/ both pickups). A lot of gain was available. Very good distrotion. Plugged into the bright channel too and the tone just added more prescence pretty much. Not too noticeable at higher volumes. But more rock, less blues. That was the summary of the difference between the channels.

Then I plugged into input 2 of the normal channel and put the volume low (I dont remember where exactly) and that gave big ultra clean tones. It was actually very clean. I can definitely see some Jazz being played on it. Chords rang out perfectly and then shimmered into some ear pleasing feedback (not squeeky ****). The amp is a tank. I checked out the back of it and the speakers seemed nestled in there pretty good. Everything was solid. I picked it up with the handle only and it seemed to support it. I can definitely picture myself having this amp and having a few pedals in front of it including a Reverb unit and a good tremolo pedal.

Okay, basically, I want some technical info about it. I was recently considering a Victoria 50212 (their version of the 57 Tweed Twin) but now I kind of went back to wanting the Fender. Did a lot of research on parts and it better speakers than the Victoria IMO (the Italian Jensens sound too hard and over the edge for me compared to the tight Weber/Eminences that come with the Fender version). And also, the Fender is slightly cheaper, cheap enough that I can buy a tremolo pedal or reverb pedal with the difference.

Anway, how do the parts in the Fender compare to the Victoria version? The Fender has Mercury Magnets Transformers (I dont know crap about transformers and stuff like that) but how are they? What will they do for me that will differ from the normal transformers? Is Mercury Magnets a good brand? And what else do you guys know about this amp? I am definitely getting it within this year. Hopefully, Ill have enough cash to get it in late summer after my Birthday (I love buying myself guitar **** for my birthday)! :dance: Thanks a lot guys :smokin:

 

[jeremy]

Re: Fender '57 Twin-Amp Info

mercury magnetics makes some of the best trannys in the biz. not sure of the specific ones in the twin, not considering the speakers i think the victoria might be a better amp but in all honesty i havent tried this fender

 

[jdm61]

Re: Fender '57 Twin-Amp Info

As previously stated, my Twin is thr shizzle:laugh2: The problem you run inot is that replacing those Jensens won'tbe cheap if you go that route., so ad at least another $150 (probably a fair bit more to get a cpomparable speaker) to the price of the Victoria. Victoria has ruled the roost for a fair number of years, but it looks like Fender came to play with this. Think about the Vibro King. Lots of people think that it is the cats meow and the Twin is built by the same guys. I got my Twin for $1500, which was a hell of a deal, but I saw another one for $1700 on Ebay,so they are out there. Discounters are selling it for $2200 or so whihc still doesn't suck.

 

[Gunny47]

Re: Fender '57 Twin-Amp Info

Thanks for the replies guys, I tried a Vibro King and its not really what Im looking for. Great amp, and if I were considering a cleaner like blackface tone id consider it. It actually has like a brownface era tone with reverb. It's pretty damn loud (louder than the Twin at least) and just doesnt deliver the tweed gritty tone I'm after. I really liked the Twin's clean too. And Im not looking for reverb.

Ill probably go with the Fender, I can get it serviced in any shop I come across because not many shops are authorized dealers of Victoria and Id be afraid to bring it to those locations. I dont know much about changing speakers or tubes, and I dont want to spend extra money for speakers and getting a tech to change them. See, the Fender has the speakers while the Victoria has the tubes. The Victoria has the 12AY7s in the first 3 pre-amp spots while the Fender has all 4 spots 12AX7s. Sadly, the Victoria tubes are not the greatest (I think they are Groove Tubes and various Chinese tubes) and so are the Fenders, so Id change the ones in the Victoria anyway. Id get some good tubes (maybe even some NOS ones if I got some extra money) and make the sucker sing.

Im still wondering about the parts specifically in the Fender 57 Twin-amp if anyone knows about them. Thanks a lot.

 

[ES350]

Re: Fender '57 Twin-Amp Info

The speakers in the Fender are special design Webers, a version of a P12Q made especially for Fender. WAY better speakers than the Recoton 'jensens' in the Victoria (sorry, but I've bought my last Italian alnico). If Fender is using Merc Magnetics iron as well, you are getting a pretty good deal for a good tweed clone for under 2K. As far as caps, pots, sockets, hardware, etc...I don't know, but Fender did buy most of the last big run of the older design of CTS pots. As far as the 12ax7/12ay7 issue, it's a pretty cheap swap if you want more of a real tweed vibe vs. faux Marshall.

 

[jdm61]

Re: Fender '57 Twin-Amp Info

Mine came to me with the NOS 12ay's already installed. I played one with the stock tubes and there seemsto be an improvement. It does the overdrive thing real nice like:fingersx:

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Fender '57 Twin-Amp Info

Tweedy goodness.... I need to build one of these some day.

 

[Gunny47]

Re: Fender '57 Twin-Amp Info

Thanks for the replies. I will definitely swap the tubes when I first get the amp. Maybe after a few weeks Ill do it. I really want to get some NOS tubes, Tung Sols and RCAs (Ill try to find them cheap)...

 

[ES350]

Re: Fender '57 Twin-Amp Info

Some people like using 5751 in V1 and V2 as a compromise between 12AX7 and 12AY7...You can also try using one 5AR4 or two 5V4 instead of the two 5U4 for the rectifier (less current draw, a little easier on the PT). Have fun.

 

[jdm61]

Re: Fender '57 Twin-Amp Info

I would double check on this, but i have ben told a have read that you can pull one of the 5U4 rectifiers and run a single one for more sag.