Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

[Lewguitar]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3758770225&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT


The amp came yesterday. Before it arrived, the seller fessed up that he'd put a 12" speaker in it and enlarged the speaker opening in the speaker board. So he refunded me $200.

So I got this '65 Vibrolux Reverb for about $979 shipped.

It actually fires up and works pretty good. It needs all new caps and some work, but it's all there. :dance:

Even the grill cloth is in pretty good shape and I'll build a new speaker baffle for it and just reuse the old grill cloth.

I have a spare '66 Jensen C10N just the 10 that's in it, so I'll be starting the restoration of this bad boy today.

I'm very pleased...I've wanted one of these for about thirty years.

Roy Buchanan, Danny Gatton, Seymour Duncan...they all used one. It's a Tele players dream amp!

Lew

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

So I have a decision to make here: the original speaker board in these old blackface Fenders is 1/2" particle board. 1/2" Baltic Birch sounds better. Some feel that 1/2" fir ply sounds more resonant than Baltic Birch.

Should I restore it with 1/2" particle board? 1/2" Baltic Birch? or 1/2" fir ply?

I'm leaning towards the Baltic Birch.

 

[Falstaff]

Re: Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

Baltic Birch sounds cooler. I mean the name sounds cooler!

Nice score!

IIRC, you like to mod one channel, right? Does the mod you do "tweedify" the normal channel? I was playing my PR last night kinda loud (don't get that opportunity much) and wondered if any of the mods folks do to give one channel a bit more of a tweed vibe would be worth it. I know you can't turn an apple into an orange, but if you or your bro have ever done such a mod I'd love to hear about it.

THanks and congrats.

 

[Curly]

Re: Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

I'm surprised that it's a 1/2" thick baffle, but I'm gonna take your word for that.

Off the top of my head, without looking in any books, it seems like the tweed amps had 5/16" baffles, and the BFs were closer to 3/8"

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

Hi Curly!

1) Yes I always put reverb and vibrato on the normal channel. That's easy and adds another stage of gain to the normal channel. It's why the normal channel on a black or silverface Fender sounds weaker and less ballsy than the reverb/vibrato channel.

2) To give the normal channel a fatter tone, Fender puts a .047 coupling cap at the end of the normal channel to thicken the tone a little. The "hotter" vibrato/reverb channel uses a coupling .02 cap in that same relative place in the circuit. When I put vibrato/reverb on the normal channel, I change that .047 cap back to a .02...just like the vibrato/reverb channel has. Otherwise, it sounds a little muddy.

3) The '59 tweed Bassman and the Marshalls that copied that circuit, uses a pair of .02 caps for the tone control stack. Blackface Fenders use .1 and .047...that gives them the scooped mids and cleanish SURF/JAZZ/COUNTRY tone those amps are known for. I always change those two caps to a pair of .02 caps for more of a Marshall tone: more mids, more pluck, more drive.....mo better!

4) The treble cap in the tone stack of a tweed Bassman is a 250 pf silver mica cap. The treble cap in a blackface Fender is a 250 pf ceramic disc cap. I change it to a 250 pf silver mica cap. I think it gives an amp a less grainy and more bubbley, more pleasant treble tone.

5) I also go through the circuit board and replace all of the ceramic disc caps with Sprague Orange Drops or Mallory 150 caps of the same value.

That'll help a blackface or silverface Fender's normal channel get alot more of a Marshall-esque tone and feel...but I usually do alot more too.

Lew

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

Everytime I've done those mods to the normal channel, I leave the vibrato/reverb channel stock at first. And everytime I wind up doing something similar to the vibrato/reverb channel because it sounds like a weenie when I compare it to the modded normal channel.

In my old blackface Deluxe Reverb I have both channels voiced as described above, but tweaked the normal channel further so it overdrives more easily with single coil pickups.

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

You know what to do......whattya' asking us for????!!!!! hahahahaha :laugh2: :laugh2:

I'm glad you got your amp & it didn't turn out like it seems Biu's is.

Enjoy restoring that puppy.......and send some before & after pics!!!!

 

[Artie]

Re: Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

Nice score Lew. Obviously, I have little experience with guitar amps, but I'd choose fidelity over authenticity any day.

Artie

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

You know what to do......whattya' asking us for????!!!!! hahahahaha :laugh2: :laugh2:

I'm glad you got your amp & it didn't turn out like it seems Biu's is.

Enjoy restoring that puppy.......and send some before & after pics!!!!

Thanks Terry! I will. You can see the before in the auction photo. I'll do a photo of the after too.

I really am split on what to replace the baffle board with. Particle board, so it looks stock again in 25 years (when I'm 80!) and looks old and original....or go for tone and use Baltic Birch or Fir Ply????

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

Thanks Terry! I will. You can see the before in the auction photo. I'll do a photo of the after too.

I really am split on what to replace the baffle board with. Particle board, so it looks stock again in 25 years (when I'm 80!) and looks old and original....or go for tone and use Baltic Birch or Fir Ply????

Is it going to be a player or a collecter?

I say go for tone...toneliness is next to Godliness...

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

Yeah, I would go with whatever sounds best. If it's a player, you want it to sound the best it can, right???

If down the road you wanna sell it, it should easily be converted back to its original state.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

I don't plan on selling my gear like the Vibrolux ever. But my wife will probably outlive me. I'll probably do what I always do: go for the tone!

Lew

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

More importantly.................what does Bruce say??? :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:

 

[Curly]

Re: Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

I'd definitely do the baffle with plywood ... AFAIK, the thinner plywood baffle was an ingredient in the tweed Bassman's response and liveliness.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

I'd definitely do the baffle with plywood ... AFAIK, the thinner plywood baffle was an ingredient in the tweed Bassman's response and liveliness.

Yep. The thinner, floating baffle in tweed Bassmans and tweed amps from the 50's measures a little thicker than 1/4"...almost 5/16". Today's 1/4" fir ply is not quite the same thickness. There is a fir ply poster board material available that measure's 5/16". It's a fir ply with paper on each side. That's what Gerald Weber uses and recommended to me and that's what I've used in the few amps I've built from scratch.

The baffle in the Vibrolux needs to measure of total of 3/4" or else it won't line up with the underside of the control panel on the front of the amp though. It's 1/2" particle board with a surround of 1/4" x 1" fir strips to keep the grill cloth away from the actual baffle board so it doesn't buzz.

Lew

 

[jeremy]

Re: Got me a Blackface Vibrolux Reverb Amp!

if the fir sounds the most resonant, i might go for that even over the birch.