Re: Restoring/Modifying Gibson175's Beloved Twin Reverb (lotsa pics)
Yep. Crusty should be our Prime Minister. I've said it before, but now that ive had a chance to try out the newly rebuilt amp, I am planning on starting the Crusty Philtrum party hopefully in time for the next election.
He has managed to nail all the tones i was hoping for out of both channels. Here is what he did:
Both channels now have reverb so ill call the old reverb channel the main channel and the old non-reverb channel, channel 1.
Channel one has sprague tone caps and exhibits the classic sparkly, spanky cutting fender twin tone with some serious top end slice. It is how we all imagine really good twins to sound. I am stoked that it has reverb. My only wish is that i still had a telecaster because i think it would be an amazing combination.
The main channel has mallory tone caps for a smoother sound than the spragues with slightly softer edges. He also changed the cap values to match that of a super reverb's tone stack which has significantly more lows and low mids than a twin. Its an altogether thicker and warmer sound with a softer feel. If it was a pickup it would be a fat sounding alnico II (perhaps a pearly gates neck) whereas channel one is somewhat like an alnico 5 '59.
The way cool thing that i did not request from crusty, but was a kind of happy outcome of having the reverb on both channels is that both channels are now in phase. What this means is that i can jumper the two channels and blend them.
This is pretty awesome.
Last night i plugged into the main channel, then ran the jumper via an overdrive pedal into channel one, allowing me to have an overdrive sound on once channel and blend in as much clean tone as i wanted to get extra dynamic response. Its pretty wild and something i know ill be using a lot. This is something reverb equipped fender amps normally cannot do.
Essentially, crusty has created a "two amps in one" kind of amp. Most twin users pull out the first tube and never use channel one, so its great that i can get a completely different amp sound just by plugging into a different input -and still have reverb on either channel! I guess i can get an a/b box and channel switch if i want to also.
Another bonus of the shared reverb is that now the main channel has a much smoother taper on the volume knob. It can still go as loud as it used to but now the graduation between 1 and 6 is more like what i used to get between 1 and 3 or 4. It allows me to fine tune the volume much more easily. Channel one is still as "all or nothing" as it ever was. If both channels are on 4, channel one is sugnificantly louder, so i need to crank the main channel to 6 for the same volume. At "10" they are both more or less the same.
Im really happy with crusty's amazing eye for detail and meticulous work and im indebted to him. This amp is now ready for another 40 odd years of great tone.
Thanks Neil.
