Fender 68 custom twin reverb

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philthis

New member
what a killer amp, its got 2 seperate channels a vintage twin channel and a bassman channel. its also got two inputs for each channel. the second imput for each channel is a -6db volume decrease meaning it can be played at club or moderate bedroom levels without sacrificing the amps great tone. the reverb and tremolo work on both channels and the amp is extremely dynamic and touch sensitive. its not harsh but really sweet and chimey in tone. this is the closest to the original twin amps sounding amp Fender has made in my opinion. It actually sounds like a vintage amp with its vintage transformers and better speakers. I got from brutal surf tones to fat jazz tones out of this amp.
the bright switch when engaged decreases as the amp is turned up so its not ice picky or too treble heavy at loud volumes.
you need to open the amp up to make it sound good though. the volume needs to be near 4 to achieve its awesome sweet tone goodness so crank the volume near 4 and use input number 2 on ether channel for bedroom or small club sound levels.
I played 4 guitars with different pickups to try out the amp
fender deluxe lone star-texas special pickups
fender american ash strat-fat 50's pickups
fender 60th anniversary strat with custom pickups
Gretsch white falcon with a bigsby

the reverb and tremolo work on both channels and the bassman channels controls feature bass-mid-treble so you get more control then many fender amps with bassman circuits that have controls with just bass-treble only.
this is an outstanding amp for the money with 2 great tone circuits and two volume levels for each tone circuit. Its like having 4 amps in one. two for headroom and two for lower volume all built into one amp. Ya I got one. Is it heavy? Sure its heavy but its essentially 4 amps in one with 2 speakers built in so I haul around one amp that does the job of 4 amps with great tone. Check it out and remember to start with the volume around 4 to really open up the amp.
 
Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

sounds almost exactly like the recipe the crusty used when he rebuilt my 69 twin reverb for reverb on both channels etc.
I reckon the reissue would be a killer sounding amp if that is the case.
 
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Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

102_1486.jpgI have one and love it! great warm cleans and takes pedals well after its broken a few hrs in. Its still sounds awesome at low volumes at bedroom levels! I replaced all the preamp tubes with my favorites and NOS for the reverb and PI/speaker cable. My new amp days are over! love this MF...R!
 
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Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

I'm curious what replacement tube did you use in the preamp and what effect did it have on the tone? What mods did you make on the reverb?
I love this thing but hey if you have any tone secrets you don't mind sharing I'm all ears. I'm even thinking two of these would be cool running in stereo with a Strymon El Capistan pedal and maybe a Strymon Flint as well.
 
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Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

The 68 Custom Deluxe is fanfreakintastic, so I am sure the 68 Custom Twin is beyond awesome. They have had me GASing to put a Fender amp back in the stable since I played one at XMas time.
 
Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

JeffB said:
The 68 Custom Deluxe is fanfreakintastic, so I am sure the 68 Custom Twin is beyond awesome. They have had me GASing to put a Fender amp back in the stable since I played one at XMas time.
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I just played one of those. They are awsome cool. The bass man side of it is the best I've heard for single coils and jazz tone for that size of amp without being a ridiculously expensive boutique amp. Again its very close to the tone of the 60's amps tone but much more versatile with the bass man circuit and the reverb and tremolo on both channels is an awsome feature. I ran an ash strat with fat 50's which is a tottal mid type tone and it still chimed nicely through the bassman side. The Gretsch white falcon sounded amazing thru that side as well. For the money you can't go wrong with that amp. Even the.speakers sound good but you could tweak them to taist and any pre tubes as well.
 
Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

I been using the gold lion for my v1 for 3 yrs now its a bit better sounding then the Tungsol with some warmer mids. V2 and v4 are for the vintage side i use the JJ 803 and a Sovtek LPS. v5 EH for the Trem and v6 for PI the nos AT7 brought out some cleaner dynamics over the duller stock JJ 83's. I never really care for the stock tubes there kind of dull and dark with a bit raspy top end. Since I have a bunch laying around I figure I would use them over the stock. I would at least use a good V1 and V2 and the PI V6 if you get a chance. Reverbs the v3, better tubes will get ya a more cleaner tone and use a buffer up front for even better tone.
 
Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

Bassman side for the pedals and the vintage black face for the cleans,even my SG is crystal clear when playing clean with lots of head room:)
 
Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

JeffB said:
The 68 Custom Deluxe is fanfreakintastic, so I am sure the 68 Custom Twin is beyond awesome. They have had me GASing to put a Fender amp back in the stable since I played one at XMas time.
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I'm glad Fender put these out, since it lends more respect to the silverface Fenders. They could have made them Custom Shop spec, but they would have priced themselves out of reach. I'm glad they just made them souped up vintage reissue spec. They still sound really good.

If you want one, it's probably best to act fast, because as soon as they discontinue them, they'll be hard to find at a good price. Some are just starting to pop up used.
 
Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

you know I played the Fender Twin head with all the options on it. I think it retails for around 2,000 just for the head. I liked all the versatility features including auto biasing and sag but in the end it seemed to have lost the tone and character of a Twin and to me sounded really laud and plain. I think they over engineered the cool Fender Marquee tone right out of the thing when it seems like the more simple amps they produce retain some of the best fender tones like the bassman, blues jr, Hot Rod Deluxe 3, and the Deluxe Reverb. I know they are making expensive cool reissues but honestly you guys-would you drag a super expensive amp to a gig that you may only make 100 to 150 bucks on after you split the take with the rest of the guys? I guess its all in what you can afford but I saw on here one of the guys went to see George Lynch play out at a club in So Cal and he was using some simple Marshall heads for a simple gig. Don't get me wrong I would love to have a Magnatone amp-what a cool tone but I think Supro has the right idea by priceing reasonabley good tone withing reach of a broader guitar playing market. Maybe that's what Fender did here too I don't know but these series of amps finally get a cool tone a lot of guys have been trying to get for years and end up on Ebay trying to buy from old vintage amps. I confess I have never played the Fender 68 reissue princeton yet and I cant say if its a dog or not. I love the 68 twin and 68 deluxe reverb though. These I have played and they sound wonderful. I haven't had mine long enough to vouch for its long term quality yet though so time will tell I guess.
 
Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

If both channels on those new SF Fenders have reverb, they are probably in phase with each other, unlike the older reverb Fenders, which means you can probably experiment with jumping the channels for some different sounds (especially because the two channels are voiced differently). This was a problem with original Fender reverb amp models, as the reverb channel was out of phase with the normal channel. Just something that occurred to me.

Al
 
Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

Zombiwoof said:
If both channels on those new SF Fenders have reverb, they are probably in phase with each other, unlike the older reverb Fenders, which means you can probably experiment with jumping the channels for some different sounds (especially because the two channels are voiced differently). This was a problem with original Fender reverb amp models, as the reverb channel was out of phase with the normal channel. Just something that occurred to me.

Al
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Al what a cool idea, I am gunna have to try that. I never thought to do that.
 
Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

Another trick is to go 'guitar > A/B pedal > A > OD pedal on > normal channel. B straight to vibrato channel. Now, you can switch between a heavy channel and clean reverb/vibrato channel.
 
Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

Gearjoneser said:
Another trick is to go 'guitar > A/B pedal > A > OD pedal on > normal channel. B straight to vibrato channel. Now, you can switch between a heavy channel and clean reverb/vibrato channel.
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Another good idea - overdrive the custom bassman side and use the vintage side for spanky cleans - thnx Joneser
 
Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

it can be fun to plug into channel 2, then run a jumper to channel one via an overdrive pedal and blend the clean and driven sounds too.
 
Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

gibson175 said:
it can be fun to plug into channel 2, then run a jumper to channel one via an overdrive pedal and blend the clean and driven sounds too.
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you guys I am jonesing to try out these ideas. thanx to everyone who contributed ideas. I want to get 2 of these amps and run them in stereo with a Strymon ElCapistan pedal for that dreamy tape echo delay surf tone.-think Wicked Game by Chris Isaak kinda tone and the Erick Johnson tone from avia musicom or The Fixx Red Sky's at night delay tone or cool stuff like the Police Walking on the Moon tone. Cool stuff with this amp. To push the channel I like the tube screamer idea or maybe a Dirty Boy Pedals-Buzzy Boy. What a cool pedal.
thnx for the info and ideas everybody
 
Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

If you're a Stymon fan, make sure you get a Lex rotary pedal. The Lex and El Capistan are classics.

My favorite clean amp is my overhauled 74 silverface Pro Reverb that was owned by Aspen Pitman and his cousin, who owns the best BBQ restaurant in the San Fernando Valley, Ca. After owning this amp, my search for Fender blackface tone is over. But some of the great effects out there sound amazing through it. Strymon, Pigtronix, Xotic, Fulltone, ADA, Bogner, Klon, etc. The beautiful cleans from a great Fender is something that spoils you, and when you put great effects into it, it's unbeatable.
 
Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

Gearjoneser said:
If you're a Stymon fan, make sure you get a Lex rotary pedal. The Lex and El Capistan are classics.

My favorite clean amp is my overhauled 74 silverface Pro Reverb that was owned by Aspen Pitman and his cousin, who owns the best BBQ restaurant in the San Fernando Valley, Ca. After owning this amp, my search for Fender blackface tone is over. But some of the great effects out there sound amazing through it. Strymon, Pigtronix, Xotic, Fulltone, ADA, Bogner, Klon, etc. The beautiful cleans from a great Fender is something that spoils you, and when you put great effects into it, it's unbeatable.
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haven't tried the Lex Joneser, I am gunna have to look into that. was thinking about the ElCapistan first and then maybe a Flint for the 80's verby stuff. Ya the Pro Reverb is my favorite Fender Amp. It to me is their best sounding platform and usable wattage vrs headroom amp. I wish they would make that part of their reissue series instead of the vibrolux when it finally shows up but....ya I'm glad to at least get this and have some massive headroom at least. I will be buying a dolly to move it though. Screw being a he-man I want wheels under that thing when I have to haul it.
 
Re: Fender 68 custom twin reverb

gibson175 said:
it can be fun to plug into channel 2, then run a jumper to channel one via an overdrive pedal and blend the clean and driven sounds too.
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That's what I used to do with my '68 Bassman head. I could get some great tones that neither channel could get on it's own.
 
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