Fender Red Knob Dual Showman

[timorousme]

I'm having a hard time finding any information on these amps. I heard they're great, but can't seem to get any research on them. I can't even get any good close-up pictures of them. I know it was from the 80's but that's about it.

Can anybody help me out on this one?

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Fender Red Knob Dual Showman

I suspect it's the same as the Red-Knob Twin, but without the speakers. I used to own one. I think I have a schematic around here somewhere...

Overall, it was a pretty good amp. The clean side was fairly typical Fender. The distortion side was very flexible, with a lot of pull-pots for boost and stuff. There were some good sounds in there, but it was hard to dial in.

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Fender Red Knob Dual Showman

I've got a catalog that shows it, but I don't know if there's anything valuable in there. I just kept it around because I've had late '60's Showmans so it was interesting to have. If I dig it up and there's anything good in it I'll scan it and/or let you know.

 

[timorousme]

Re: Fender Red Knob Dual Showman

I suspect it's the same as the Red-Knob Twin, but without the speakers. I used to own one. I think I have a schematic around here somewhere...

Overall, it was a pretty good amp. The clean side was fairly typical Fender. The distortion side was very flexible, with a lot of pull-pots for boost and stuff. There were some good sounds in there, but it was hard to dial in.

Yea, the Dual Showman is basically the head of The Evil Twin, which I can't find anything on either.

What cab would you suggest for it?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Fender Red Knob Dual Showman

a 2x12 with one weber alnico and one ceramic

 

[krankguitarist]

Re: Fender Red Knob Dual Showman

Its not much, but its a start:

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

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Fender Red Knob Dual Showman

Yea, the Dual Showman is basically the head of The Evil Twin, which I can't find anything on either.

What cab would you suggest for it?

I have the schematic - I'm sure I got it from Fender's support site, but it's not in the downloads section any more. They do have hardcopies available for sale, of the manual.

 

[timorousme]

Re: Fender Red Knob Dual Showman

Alright, I got some pictures sent to me, and the guy tried to explain it, but maybe you can simplify it. What's the switching mode and what's the parallel mode?

Anybody else with cab suggestions?

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Fender Red Knob Dual Showman

It's been 12 years since I owned that amp, but I suspect "switching" means the footswitch selects either the clean channel or the dirty channel, and "parallel" means the footswitch adds the dirty channel to the clean channel, so you're running both mixed together.

I have the schematic on my computer at work - I'll try to remember to confirm this tomorrow. If I forget, PM me.

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: Fender Red Knob Dual Showman

I almost bought one of them back in the day, But I went with a Super 60 head. If I remember correctly? It had a power switch to go from 100 watts to 25 watts.
BTW, The red Knob series are prone to Input jack failure. Have a tech hard wire a switchcraft in, And you will never have a problem again.

 

[timorousme]

Re: Fender Red Knob Dual Showman

I almost bought one of them back in the day, But I went with a Super 60 head. If I remember correctly? It had a power switch to go from 100 watts to 25 watts.

Yea, that's one of the big perks of getting one. As a college student, I need something about 25 watts (the same as my old practice amp that died) for when I'm at school, but loud enough (instead of borrowing amps I don't like from other bands) for when I need it.

It's a plus.

BTW, The red Knob series are prone to Input jack failure. Have a tech hard wire a switchcraft in, And you will never have a problem again.

Thanks for the advice. Will do.

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Fender Red Knob Dual Showman

I looked at the schematic, and don't see a switch for choosing select vs. parallel modes forthe channel switching. Although, the input jacks are the most complicated I've ever seen - there might be some hocus-pocus going on there. How are the input jacks labeled? If you can tell me what each jack says, I can probably suss out from the schematic how it works.

There IS a switch for the reverb - the schematic better shows how it's wired rather than how it works, but I assume it allows selecting reverb on A, Both, or B.

Overall, its a great amp - lots of power and features for decent money. As KMC said, improve the jacks and it will serve you well.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Fender Red Knob Dual Showman

there are two sets of jacks, one is for switching the other set turns on both channels in parallel

when both channels are on there is no footswitching as far as i remember (well reverb but not channels). you can get some cool sounds by mixing the channels, a feature i used recording more than live.

the 25w setting is still pretty loud, this aint no peavey envoy