Looking for a twin...

G

Gdntoneguitars

New member
I think I've decided that a nice Fender Twin will be versatile enough to handle all that I'm looking to do. Now to find it.

I'd like to keep my price under $700, and from the looks of the completed sales on ebay, there should be a ton to be had at that price.

I think I'm most interested in the clean, the ability for it to be pushed, a good reverb, and the vibrato (footswitchable).

Anybody know of a good twin for sale or another amp that fits the bill?

-Andy
 
Re: Looking for a twin...

Gdntoneguitars said:
I think I've decided that a nice Fender Twin will be versatile enough to handle all that I'm looking to do. Now to find it.

I'd like to keep my price under $700, and from the looks of the completed sales on ebay, there should be a ton to be had at that price.

I think I'm most interested in the clean, the ability for it to be pushed, a good reverb, and the vibrato (footswitchable).

Anybody know of a good twin for sale or another amp that fits the bill?

-Andy
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They are very heavy, very loud and very clean. You'll have to turn it up to ear damaging volume to get it to break up.

I'd just look on Ebay for an all original Twin without a master volume control. All original meaning orignal transformers, cabinet, etc. It would be OK with me if the filter caps had been changed, there'd been a silverface to blackface bias conversion and the original speakers had been replaced.

Twins are good for jazz and country and cleanish blues.
 
Re: Looking for a twin...

Lew,

What's the draw of the 'Red-knob' series and 'black-knob' series of these amps? From what I can find, these appeared in the 80's?
 
Re: Looking for a twin...

The Red Knob Twins are sought after by a few players - not many. To many bells and whistles and even though you can dial in a fairly distorted overdrive on the Red Knob Twin I don't much care for them. It's not the tone I'm looking for.

Robben Ford likes them and when he does a clinic he'll often ask for one to be supplied. Most guys don't like them as much as a non master volume Twin from 1974 or before.
 
Re: Looking for a twin...

Any experience with the Gibson RVT amps? It looks like they've been discontinued, but everything spec-wise seems like a nice amp. 20 watter, PTP wired, Eminence speaker, reverb & tremelo, etc.
 
Re: Looking for a twin...

Gdntoneguitars said:
Any experience with the Gibson RVT amps? It looks like they've been discontinued, but everything spec-wise seems like a nice amp. 20 watter, PTP wired, Eminence speaker, reverb & tremelo, etc.
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No experience. But there's huge diff between a 80-100 watt Twin and a 20 watter. If you want to go that route get a Deluxe Reverb - I love those!
 
Re: Looking for a twin...

Lewguitar said:
They are very heavy, very loud and very clean. You'll have to turn it up to ear damaging volume to get it to break up.

I'd just look on Ebay for an all original Twin without a master volume control. All original meaning orignal transformers, cabinet, etc. It would be OK with me if the filter caps had been changed, there'd been a silverface to blackface bias conversion and the original speakers had been replaced.

Twins are good for jazz and country and cleanish blues.
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+1000000

VERY heavy VERY loud VERY clean.

You can get an original SF twin for a song, and compared to the BF reissues it's going to be built MUCH better.

Luke
 
Re: Looking for a twin...

When I was 17 we went to the Elk's Temple Lodge in Detroit to hear the Paul Butterfield Blues Band doing an all ages show.

The stage will filled with blackface Fender Twin Reverbs. Paul Butterfield even sang and played his harp through one.

They were the loudest band I'd ever heard up until that time. Man, were they loud!

All those cranked up Twin Reverbs...

We were expecting to see Mike Bloomfield but he'd quit the band. Elvin Bishop sounded just great that day though and after a tune or two I didn't miss Mike Bloomfield. Never got to see him play live though.

I bought a brand new blackface Twin Reverb when I graduated from high school. Plugged it in, turned it up like the guys in the Butterfield Band, and blew the speakers instantly!

So I put a pair of Jensen lifetime 12's in it. They were a heavy duty Jensen C12N. They lasted until I sold the amp a few years later and started down sizing my amps. Bought a used 4 x 10 Bassman, then a 4 x 10 Fender Concert, and then finally settled on a Pro Reverb which is a 40 watt version of the Twin Reverb. Liked that best and I kept it for many, many years until I decided to downsize even more and started to build up my collection of 22 watt and under Fenders.

Last time I saw him, even Eric Johnson had stopped using Twins and switched to using Deluxe Reverbs for his Fender tone.

I really think the Fender Twin, like a 100 watt Marshall, is just to loud and to much amp for the gigs most of us play.

Lew
 
Re: Looking for a twin...

Well, I'm getting rid of my Mesa Stiletto Trident Head, possibly the 2x12 recto cab (just a nice versatile cab that I'd hate to get rid of), and my Peavey 5150 straight cab.

That said, I've got that 15 watt Gibson (correction, I thought it was 20, but it's 15) on the way via an ebay transaction, and there's a chance I'll be able to pick up a twin for $700 even, so that may happen too if I can loosen up enough change.
 
Re: Looking for a twin...

Gdntoneguitars said:
What's the draw of the 'Red-knob' series and 'black-knob' series of these amps? From what I can find, these appeared in the 80's?
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I like them. It doesn't have the classic Fender Twin clean sound, which I prefer, but it is still very good, and usually much cheaper. I like the OD channel, not perfect, but one of Fender's better OD channels, IMHO.

I've played my bro in law's Twin, and I have a Super 60, which is a 1x12 60 watt combo.

If you have your heart set on the classic Twin sound, I'd follow Lew's advice. However, it's worth taking a red knob for a spin if you get a chance.

Lew mentions the Pro Reverb. If you like the Twin format, I can say from experience that the Pro is a great alternative to a Twin.
 
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Re: Looking for a twin...

They sound incredible and huge with a TubeScreamer giving you the overdrive, but they're sooooo heavy.... They need casters, the size and weight is just over-the-top. In that same class of amps, I prefer the size/power of an HR Deville, or preferably, a HR Deluxe. Unless you're playing massive venues, the audience won't know the difference between any one of them, but the Deluxe will break up sooner and be much, much easier on your back.

But there is something awe-inspiring and awesome about the huge clean tone of a Twin....
 
Re: Looking for a twin...

If you look around, you should be able to find an early SF (sans MV) for about 600-800. Look for the cosmetically challenged, speakerless, mismatched tube orphans you may find in the local pawn/ma and pa shop...OTOH, you can get a later MV or even the UL models (less $$$) to give up the goods with a few judicious mods.
 
Re: Looking for a twin...

Lewguitar said:
When I was 17 we went to the Elk's Temple Lodge in Detroit to hear the Paul Butterfield Blues Band doing an all ages show.

The stage will filled with blackface Fender Twin Reverbs. Paul Butterfield even sang and played his harp through one.

They were the loudest band I'd ever heard up until that time. Man, were they loud!

All those cranked up Twin Reverbs...

~~~

I really think the Fender Twin, like a 100 watt Marshall, is just to loud and to much amp for the gigs most of us play.
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Maybe four years ago I mixed a show with PBS... George Porter Jr, Russell Batiste & Brian Stoltz... basically the meters w/o Art Neville and Brian was using a rented Twin, I think a reissue with only a strat and a tube screamer for about 350 people in a packed club. Assholes to elbows, nobody could move.

Stoltz was SO loud off the stage that I basically had his channel off the whole night. This, in a packed club with four Meyer MSL2 cabs and a pair of dual 18" bins... several thousand watts of power and that amp was slicing through.

Got on stage at the half and the Twin was on 10...
 
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