Re: Fender The Twin Red Knob 87-94
Only 4 months late here, and you have probably bought and sold it or decided against it, but for what it's worth the best mod you can do for this amp is put castors on it or buy a good hand cart. Forget about improving the drive channel unless you pay for a dumble mod which apparently can be done on these. pedals into clean channel is best option for any kind of dirt or drive imo. Unless you are a wiz with the dials and channel blending. If you bought it for cleans, which it sounds like you did, it's loud and in your face with stock Emi special design speakers and "made for Fender power tubes".The Emis are really efficient and would make great speakers for somebody wanting more perceived power or volume from a combo, but they are just a wee bit stiff and in yer face in the RKT, I replaced power tubes with some TAD shorts ( just a pair) and run it at 50 watts with impedance switch down to 8 ohms. I also put in a WGS ET65 and a WGS G10C with a converter. These mods make a positive difference but it's still never going to be a Twin Reverb. I play it in a loud Soul band so am mainly strumming chords and am happy with the bass and mids but the high end is still a bit stiff so i tried a joyo american sound pedal and now I am able to get better sounding high end and soften the high with a bit of drive, so I'm very happy now. One day I will buy an old Twin Reverb or Deluxe Reverb as that is the sound I guess I am after, but wheels are a must if gigging and the joyo or similar sansamp type pedal into clean channel with amp eq dials set flat then adjust with pedal, will give you much more usable clean channel tone imo. More what I consider "Fender like". You can also push the effects switch into middle position for a little extra bite or growl, but I prefer it off. just remember to switch impedance selector switch if you pull 2 of the tubes. Old GE 12ax7 shorts sounded best for me in this amp, even over some RCA, Mullard and various other long and short plate nos. The GE's have the softest and sweetest high end to my ears and this amp needs that. Hope all that helps, if you need a preamp tube layout I can link you. just a disclaimer, I have only ever played a Telecaster into mine, various Fender OV pickups and hot classics, so my observations are based on that. Great clean amp if you can do something about the slightly harsh and bland high end and adding just a tiny tiny bit of drive with an amp sim pedal as mentioned, sounds counterproductive to add gain to a clean channel, but in my case the amp still has headroom all day long, just a better sound on the top strings, bit more sparkle less spike.
