Fender M80 Tweaks?

STRATDELUXER97

STRATDELUXER97

Stratoblaster Tone Meister
Hey all....So I picked up this 1x12 Fender M80 combo for $10.

Had to clean every pot and jack in this thing and got everything working as it should.

Spent about $15 and replaced the 26 y/o electrolytic caps throughout the circuit.

Love the clean channel but the overdrive channel is just terrible!

Any of you guys done any tweaks to improve on the amp? Mainly the overdrive side?

I plan on leaving this amp at our drummer's house to practice through or as a backup.
 
Re: Fender M80 Tweaks?

I had one- clean channel good, dirty channel only good if you're trying to be CC Deville. Not much more you can do to it but play a good dirt box through the clean channel
 
Re: Fender M80 Tweaks?

jmh151 said:
I had one- clean channel good, dirty channel only good if you're trying to be CC Deville. Not much more you can do to it but play a good dirt box through the clean channel
Click to expand...

Actually I did some tweaks to the OD channel and it's usable now..
 
Re: Fender M80 Tweaks?

I have one I still use. jmh151 is dead on about the tone. The dirty channel is heaven if you are playing 80's metal. Acebob would be smart to check out one of these babies for his gig. The clean channel does take to pedals fairly well and the reverb is Fender reverb, tank and all. If you need a cheap, loud amp, you can not beat the M80.

So what did you do to the overdrive?
 
Re: Fender M80 Tweaks?

masta' c said:
What did you do?
Click to expand...

You'll have to get a schematic off the internet but....

C4 to .047

C10...Mica 330 pf.

R15,17 10K

Changed LED 1 to stock 2mm red

changed LED 2 to 5mm clear/yellow LED..

I may also try dropping C7 down to like 250 pf as I think it might remove more of the highend and mids I hate at the gain pot?

I used some wires sticking up off the board in some places so I could quickly sub in other values w/o having to get under the pcb always.

You still have to run the contour control between 8 and 10.These small mods def made the OD more usable for my tastes..Mids are still pretty out front but I think an EQ in the loop would help tremendously.

These are not my mods,but someone on another amp forum gave me these ideas and I tryed it.Happy with the results.

I also added an extra speaker out on this amp so I can unplug the stock speaker and run the amp into a 4 ohm seperate cab if needed.

The stock Fender speaker kinda sucks imo.

Pretty loud amp...It's rated at 69 watts at 8 ohms and 94 watts at 4 ohms..
 
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Re: Fender M80 Tweaks?

Securb said:
I have one I still use. jmh151 is dead on about the tone. The dirty channel is heaven if you are playing 80's metal. Acebob would be smart to check out one of these babies for his gig. The clean channel does take to pedals fairly well and the reverb is Fender reverb, tank and all. If you need a cheap, loud amp, you can not beat the M80.

So what did you do to the overdrive?
Click to expand...

I'm a classic rock guy and don't need all that bright buzzy harsh gain..I wanted less gain,less buzz,and a bit warmer tone.I really only see myself using the clean channel with pedals,but was still worth tweaking that OD channel...Not my mods as I mentioned.Someone else gave me some ideas.
 
Re: Fender M80 Tweaks?

I'm still doing some tweaks on the M80 because the presence pot doesn't seem to be doing much..Work in progress..Stay tuned.
 
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