Fender Vibrolux Reverb vs 65 Deluxe Reverb RI's, your thoughts....

millsart

New member
Judging just between the 65 Deluxe Reverb RI (22w 1x12) and the Vibrolux Reverb (40w 2x10) which is your preference ?

Pro's and con's of each in terms of volume, both stage for smaller clubs as well as playing at home quieter, headroom, how well do they take pedals, etc
 
Re: Fender Vibrolux Reverb vs 65 Deluxe Reverb RI's, your thoughts....

The Custom Vibrolux Reverb has very little in common with a 60's/70's Vibrolux Reverb...it is in fact based on the 1963 Vibroverb reissue Fender did in the 90's with a few changes to give it less headroom and more gain.

Having owned a Custom Vibrolux Reverb and having played several DRRIs I;d say the headroom is about the same in each despite one being a 22 watt amp svs the other being 40.

The CVR is a cool enough amp...not really a BF Fender tone, more in the mids and a more crunchy tone all around and the DRRI does it's thing well to altough it's a different thing.

Both amps can be made better with a speaker upgrade and maybe some choice tubes but things like that all come down to opinion.

Biggiest issue with the CVR overall is that it is a little on the hissy side and is a little brittle in the top end not to mention still a little on the loud side for what I personally want these days but all in all they can be pretty decent amps.
 
Re: Fender Vibrolux Reverb vs 65 Deluxe Reverb RI's, your thoughts....

Yeah, very different amps, but very similar clean headroom.

I prefer the Custom Vibrolux, but that's because I prefer fatter sounding pre-blackface fenders as a rule. Plus I really like 2x10 as a combo configuration. Even though my one had something going on in the low end that would fart out any speaker I still miss having that tone around.

Caveat: the CVRs I've played have been all over the map in terms of sonic consistency. Some I've played have been warm and thick, and others have been bright and brittle.
 
Re: Fender Vibrolux Reverb vs 65 Deluxe Reverb RI's, your thoughts....

Those new Fenders arenet very highly regarded onthe Fender forum. You buy one and your opening a big can of worms.
 
Re: Fender Vibrolux Reverb vs 65 Deluxe Reverb RI's, your thoughts....

I've test drived both only at a shop, so take my comments with a grain of salt. I thought that the CVR sounded nice, okay, but somehow a bit nasty and it somehow was a bit of a letdown. I loved the DRRI, very sparkly, dynamic and very nice smooth overdrive when turned up. I wouldn't hesitate to get one if one came up used.
 
Re: Fender Vibrolux Reverb vs 65 Deluxe Reverb RI's, your thoughts....

Thanks for the feedback guys. I must admit I'm a bit surprised that they are pretty close on the headroom as I would of naturally assumed thats one thing that the CVR had going for it. Its one of those things I really like hearing peoples firsthand experiences with though as trying them at GC with a 14 year old "demo'ing" a 300watt stack 10 feet next to me hardly allows me to be very subjective lol
 
Re: Fender Vibrolux Reverb vs 65 Deluxe Reverb RI's, your thoughts....

Thanks for the feedback guys. I must admit I'm a bit surprised that they are pretty close on the headroom as I would of naturally assumed thats one thing that the CVR had going for it. Its one of those things I really like hearing peoples firsthand experiences with though as trying them at GC with a 14 year old "demo'ing" a 300watt stack 10 feet next to me hardly allows me to be very subjective lol

Yeah, the CVR is low headroom on purpose. Bruce Zinky removed the negative feedback loop from the circuit to achieve this. I had a switchable negative feedback loop installed on mine (very simple mod, less than an hour's work by a tech) and that gave me the choice of more headroom if I needed it. Cool mod.
 
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