Fender Deluxe vs Twin

some_dude

Raging BB Gunologist
Can anyone fill me in on the tonal differences between the 65 Twin and 65 Deluxe?

General thoughts about them?

How hard is it to overdrive them? And do they overdrive nicely?

Does either one take humbuckers better than the other?
 
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Re: Fender Deluxe vs Twin

The difference???

Oh, about 40lbs.:laugh2:

Go to this site, high light the amp in question on the left hand side & it'll break it down for ya' :

http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/

Or wait til Christian chimes in & HE'LL break it down for ya' :D

Basically, 2x12 vs 1x12 80w vs 22w....6V6 vs 6L6...tube rec vs SS rec.....
 
Re: Fender Deluxe vs Twin

A Twin will overdrive right after your ears start bleeding :) ...It is probably the most recorded amp ever and known for gorgeous clean tones.

The deluxe has great cleans also, but will overdrive beautifully at a livable volume. I prefer single coils with a Deluxe...the twin will take buckers just fine.
 
Re: Fender Deluxe vs Twin

as much as their specs are different, they don't "sound" too terribly different to me. Difference is, Twin can produce more bass, more clean volume for sure, and less compression at reasonable volume. I think the Deluxe overdrives quite early, especially with humbuckers, though it still can get great clean tones, just nowhere near the volume of the Twin. You got to watch the treble on both of these amps, but i feel like the deluxe might be a bit brighter. Maybe thats because it crunches a little more so theres more of a mid spike.

The Twin can overdrive, but not until it is very loud, and even then, it just crunches slightly. Like a dirty rock n roll rhythm sound. The deluxe can crunch alot more, but i prefer to run a pedal into it if i need a lead tone.
 
Re: Fender Deluxe vs Twin

What's the consensious on the re-issues; did Fender hit the mark or fall far short?

Has there been any quality control issues?
 
Re: Fender Deluxe vs Twin

You got to watch the treble on both of these amps, but i feel like the deluxe might be a bit brighter. Maybe thats because it crunches a little more so theres more of a mid spike.

I never had the time to fire up the Deluxe but when I flipped the bright switch down on the Twin the tone went strait from 'not my bag' to 'holy sh*t that smokes'.

Unfortunatly I never had the chance to push the volume past 2 so I don't know how it sounds past that.
 
Re: Fender Deluxe vs Twin

Those 2 amps are indeed different but very similar in lots of ways. Fender amps from each era are all very similar but still different mostly because of speakers...all tweeds have the same character, as do Blonds/browns as do BF/SF. The typical BF Fender tone is big bottom and a sharp top wqith very little in the midrange and very clean. Twin Reverbs and Deluxe Reverbs both use 12 inch speakers but the twin has 2 12's, Im sure you can figure out what that does to the tone, the Twin is also 85 watts vs the Deluxe's 22 and Im sure you know what that means too...both have reverb and a tremolo circut.

The Twin is far better with buckers IMO simply because it has much higher headroom to handle high(er) output pickups, oposite that the Deluxe breaks much sooner and IMO sounds far better doing so...a Twin reverb is so loud by the time it starts to breakup it's just silly.

As for basic tonal differences I would be willing to be that on tape you'd be hard pressed to tell the clean tones apart...the Twin will be a little more robust and have more solid bottom end but on tape you could fake it! live the Twin will be much better for clean tones and the Deluxe would be far more suited to OD tones. I do think that a Deluxe has a much sweeter OD tone than the twin due to the tube rec, lower power overall and the creaminess of 6V6 power tubes.
 
Re: Fender Deluxe vs Twin

Both great, pretty much covered. Twin is WAY louder, almost impossible to get an overdrive out of it without breaking stuff, and since they were not meant for overdrive, their overdrive sound could be a little farty and just muddy (from other people tell me, I never heard that kind of volume)! So I cant actually comment on that for real, thats just what other people tell me.

Deluxes are nice too, same type of clean sound, except get a nice overdrive pretty early. It aint a Marshall, but it gives a nice creamy, fat sustainy tone that good for some blues and rock. Not as much on the crunch as a tweed or marshall, a little smoother I think and just more bluesy and subtle (not as in your face sort of break up).

I personally am not the biggest fan of the common blackface amps, I prefer tweeds, some early marshalls and other 50s style amps like my little Gibson GA5 beast. One of the main reasons for this....the speakers. I like the alnico magnet speakers much better, sound richer, warmer and have an amazing break up quality when taken up the volume. My favorite blackface amp is the one that contains these alnico speakers, The Fender Super Reverb. I find this amp to be the perfect blend (for me at least) of clean headroom and overdrive. Of course, your not getting break up at bedroom levels, but the alnico speakers to me really fatten up the clean sound at low volumes and just adds a warmth and creaminess to the overdrive tone (if you heard Derek Trucks live, you will know what I'm talking about. For me, blackface amps sound great as with humbuckers as they do with single coils. But if it wer my choice, id go for the Super Reverb, which encompases some of that tweed bassman sound (4 x 10 alnico speakers and a mid control).
 
Re: Fender Deluxe vs Twin

I dont know about quality control of the RI's as ive never owned one, but ive spent alot of time on all of them. I think they sound very good, especially for the used prices you can find on some of them, but they fall a little short of the real blackface and early SF amps. In all, i'd sum it up by saying that the RI
s have a bit more of a bright and steely sound to them. a little "harder edge" to them.Some RI twins ive played have almost sounded stale because the tone was so hollow and bright. In contrast, the older amps have an intrinsic warm sound to them that just comes from age, i guess. Combination of older (usually better) parts, and older speakers.

That said, i still think the RI's sound very good, particularly when looking at used prices. Maybe some better speakers would give them a rounder, warmer feel.
 
Re: Fender Deluxe vs Twin

What's the consensious on the re-issues; did Fender hit the mark or fall far short?
Has there been any quality control issues?

The reissues are OK, but just OK...I woudl say that the reissues could use new speakers and all new tubes and then would be a little better but still not as good as a real BF. If you want BF on a budget grab a SF and spend the money on it...it will sound far better when done IMO and will retain some resale value that the reissues don't have.

Keep in mind that starting in 1970 Fender switched to an MDF baffle board which is a NO NO IMO and by 1973 or 1974 the cabs in general had just turned to crap...a new cab is a costly upgrade but well worth IMO if you plan to keep the amp long term. Taking a SF to full on BF specs, including a cab will more than likely turn into an expensive amp but not as expensive as a real BF and it will stop a SF or reissue BF in the dirt with a quickness!
 
Re: Fender Deluxe vs Twin

Good enough?

I would say good enough until you set them side by side with a "real" BF or a good SF. I have a SF twin Reverb that has been gone over, given a full on cap job and was blackfaced by Bruce Collins and it kills every other SF or reissue BF Twin I have set it next to BUT I still have my CBS era cab around it and if I go head to head with a mid 60's BF Twin rev, I lose!

All that said, with good tubes and maybe, depending on what you want from the amp new speakers you could be very happy with the reissue.
 
Re: Fender Deluxe vs Twin

Good enough?

The reissues are OK, but just OK...I woudl say that the reissues could use new speakers and all new tubes and then would be a little better but still not as good as a real BF. If you want BF on a budget grab a SF and spend the money on it...it will sound far better when done IMO and will retain some resale value that the reissues don't have.

Keep in mind that starting in 1970 Fender switched to an MDF baffle board which is a NO NO IMO and by 1973 or 1974 the cabs in general had just turned to crap...a new cab is a costly upgrade but well worth IMO if you plan to keep the amp long term. Taking a SF to full on BF specs, including a cab will more than likely turn into an expensive amp but not as expensive as a real BF and it will stop a SF or reissue BF in the dirt with a quickness!

I think TGWIF hit the ball outta the park.
 
Re: Fender Deluxe vs Twin

I would say good enough until you set them side by side with a "real" BF or a good SF. I have a SF twin Reverb that has been gone over, given a full on cap job and was blackfaced by Bruce Collins and it kills every other SF or reissue BF Twin I have set it next to BUT I still have my CBS era cab around it and if I go head to head with a mid 60's BF Twin rev, I lose!

All that said, with good tubes and maybe, depending on what you want from the amp new speakers you could be very happy with the reissue.

Hmmm.

I can get ahold of a 66 Super for ~$2250US.....

I'm actually kinda leaning towards the Deluxe right now.....I'm not sure that I need all the headroom of the Twin as I like my cleans to have some dirt to them.
 
Re: Fender Deluxe vs Twin

Hmmm.
I can get ahold of a 66 Super for ~$2250US.....
I'm actually kinda leaning towards the Deluxe right now.....I'm not sure that I need all the headroom of the Twin as I like my cleans to have some dirt to them.

If you like your cleans with a touch of grit a BF fender might not be the best choice for you at all but a Super might possibily do it...that said a Super is aloud mutha...not as ear splitting as a Twin but loud.

What type of setting is this for...home practice, gigging?

What kind of guitar?
 
Re: Fender Deluxe vs Twin

Good enough?

Well, the deluxe is quite great, IMO. I've had a deluxe for a year, and have only fitted it with an SS rectifier and JJ tubes a month or two after getting the amp.

In a band setting, it is never SPARKLING. You put the volume up to 3.5 - 4.5 and you get mostly clean, but dirt when you dig, especially on a single coil axe. Volume up to 6-8 starts getting nice, but you gotta watch out for bass fart. That's really the only thing i dislike about it, when you get loud, the bass really likes to fart, but if you use a bridge pickup it stays tight.

The speaker is good- it sounds very clear and tight most of the time, and waaay overrated for the amp so dont expect the deluxe to ever blow it. IMO, the only fault in the deluxe design, vintage or RI, is the bass cut off. Isn't there a cap that is in the phase inverter circuit that limits the bass past a certain frequency? If fender were smart, they'd raise that lower limit to a higher frequency so the amp stays tighter at higher volumes.

That pretty much covers it. I love the sound of this amp at moderate volumes, that semi clean crunch is really really nice, and it simply rocks OUT with my TS9 in front, i mean really rocks out. :smokin:
 
Re: Fender Deluxe vs Twin

I have a deluxe reissue I just got about a month and a half ago. I really like it, but I've notice there seems to be some kind of speaker rattle or noise when I hit certain notes. Its hard to describe, I haven't figured out if its the speaker or something else. I really like the amp but that has kind of been bugging me a little. Do any of you guys have any suggestions for me to check out in the amp to try and find out what is making that noise? And ya the deluxe breaks up early, I play a tele with an alnico II ro in the bridge and it breaks up pretty good at about 5 on mine.
 
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